Chapter 102: Growing Together
Kevin nodded. "You know I can control machines in battle. I need to scan advanced mechanical equipment and schematics for modern weapons."
Hearing this, Lilith nodded. "Kevin, I can help you. But you have to agree to one condition. From now on, for all business in the Eldritch business district, I’m your only agent."
"Deal!" Kevin agreed without hesitation.
[Affection +1]
Seeing Lilith’s affection score closing in on double digits, Kevin felt pretty good.
Lilith closed her eyes and thought for a long time, until a little sweat appeared on her forehead. Then she opened her eyes, picked up a pen, and started marking Kevin’s sea chart. "Five islands in total. Each one has some decent ships. I don’t know exactly how advanced they are, but at least those boats are all iron-hulled."
Hearing this, Kevin’s eyes lit up.
Ships with iron hulls meant they at least had steam power.
"Thanks!" Kevin sincerely shook Lilith’s hand. But before he knew it, Lilith grabbed him by the neck and gave him a kiss.
Smack!
"Next time you want to thank me, make sure you have a big bed ready." Lilith chuckled and stepped into the teleportation circle.
Kevin looked at the empty meeting room and wiped his lips with his hand.
[Ding, detecting that the host’s body has been invaded by a strong aphrodisiac poison. Your blood pressure is rising fast, and your blood vessels are pumping. Activating the "Lance of Condemnation" Talent to resist the poison’s effects...]
Hearing the system’s prompt, Kevin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
So Lilith’s kiss was a trap.
Realizing that, Kevin just shook his head.
Even if the [Lance of Condemnation] Talent couldn’t get rid of the poison, he still had a whole ship full of women. What was there to be afraid of?
Just then, Nova and Amelia led the girls through the door of the Captain’s Room.
When they saw how luxurious Kevin’s suite was — big enough to throw a party — they got excited and started looking around.
Especially when they saw that Kevin had put in a bed big enough for eight people, the girls’ faces turned bright red.
"Pervert." Raphael muttered, quietly stepping back behind the other girls.
Kevin gave an awkward smile, quickly pulled out the map Lilith had just marked, and explained: "Don’t overthink it. Everyone get ready. We’re setting sail."
When the girls found out that Kevin planned to raid the nearby islands and collect the remains of the wiped-out fleets, they all got excited.
Luna especially. She shook three bottles of potion in her hand — each one a different color — and said proudly: "If we can collect organs from powerful Eldritch Entities, I might be able to take my research even further."
Kevin glanced at the potions in Luna’s hand, his eyes twitching. "You did it?"
Luna nodded excitedly. "Thanks to you, my dear, for helping me test them. I can now make six types of Skill Potions steadily."
Hearing that, the girls crowded around to check out Luna’s potions.
[Lamprey Holy Spring: Unknown grade potion. After drinking, you can use the Talent ability "Wind Hole" once within 24 hours. "Wind Hole" summons a super storm that sucks all matter and energy in front of you into a dimensional vortex. Lasts 15 seconds.]
[Mantis Shrimp Holy Spring: Unknown grade potion. After drinking, you can use the Talent ability "Shockwave" once within 24 hours. "Shockwave" makes normal attacks faster than sound, dealing 10 times the damage.]
[Thousand-Armed Octopus Holy Spring: Unknown grade potion. After drinking, you can use the Talent ability "Eight Arms" once within 24 hours. "Eight Arms" lets the user grow eight arms and gain the ability to multitask. Lasts 10 minutes.]
Kevin was very pleased when he saw these potions.
Even though Luna had also developed Talent abilities like "Nerve Stinger," "Lobster Armor," and "Body Softening," they were nowhere near as valuable as these three potions made from the remains of Eldritch giants.
Abilities like "Wind Hole" were both offensive and defensive. Used head-on, it could suck almost any attack into another dimension.
And "Shockwave" and "Eight Arms" were key to helping Kevin unlock the full power of the Lance of Longinus.
Being able to unleash true damage with more than ten times the power in an instant — that kind of setup would have been absolutely insane even in a video game from his past life.
Thinking about that, Kevin gently squeezed Luna’s hand and said softly, "You used the loot you got from me to trade for research materials, didn’t you?"
Luna’s face turned red. She nodded and whispered, "I traded for a B-Tier Eldritch Artifact, the [Doghead Wizard’s Beaker]. It boosts the success rate of potion-making. That’s how I managed to make the Eldritch giant’s potion."
Kevin nodded when he heard that.
No wonder Luna was able to get her hands on a B-Tier Eldritch Artifact. The effect was just too specialized. Most Survivors who got it wouldn’t be able to use it. That’s why Luna got it so cheap.
Kevin smiled and handed Luna an A-Tier random slave chest. "Right now, your combat ability is mostly based on potion skills. You need someone to protect you at all times. This one should fit you."
Luna took the chest and her eyes lit up. "So you really did trade for all the A-Tier items in the Eldritch business district."
Without wasting any time, she opened the chest.
[Please select the slave’s gender.]
Luna didn’t hesitate and chose "Female."
Right after that, a portal appeared in front of Luna. A girl who looked exactly like Luna walked out and said shyly, "Master!"
[Phantom: A-Tier slave, princess of the Shadow Clan. After bonding, she copies the master’s appearance. She usually hides in the master’s shadow, ready to ambush enemies. In dangerous situations, she can also take damage for the master.]
Luna looked at the life form that was a perfect copy of herself, then turned to Kevin and gave him a look. "Looks like I haven’t been satisfying you lately. Is this your way of hinting that you want me to join you for a threesome next time?"
Kevin scratched his head awkwardly.
This time, he was really innocent.
He had no idea the chest would give him a slave like that.
And Kevin also noticed that after Luna got the reward from the random slave chest, he didn’t get any reward back for himself.
Could it be that getting a living creature as a reward doesn’t trigger a return?
Curious, Kevin pulled out another A-Tier random pet chest and handed it to Amelia. "You’re used to shooting. A pet to help you fight might be a good idea."
Amelia didn’t waste time and opened the chest right away.
Meow!
A clear cat cry rang out. A jet-black cat appeared in front of Amelia.
It sniffed Amelia cautiously, then jumped onto her shoulder.
[Mickey: A-Tier pet, Ghost Cat. Can switch between Ghost Form and Hunt Form. In Ghost Form, the body becomes ethereal, speed increases dramatically, immune to physical attacks, and deals massive mental damage to targets. In Hunt Form, the body expands, strength increases dramatically, immune to mental attacks, and deals massive physical damage to targets.]
"This little guy is actually called [Mickey]?" Amelia stroked Mickey’s fur, and the little cat purred happily, not stopping at all.
Kevin waited a moment. After confirming that he didn’t get any pet reward returns either, he was almost 100% sure that when a covenant-bearer received a living creature as a reward, it wouldn’t return to him.
Once Kevin realized that, he didn’t get upset.
He already had the Blood Mist Phantom and the Wraith from the Wraith Revolver. He wasn’t exactly short on minions or pets. Instead of giving himself another pet or slave, it was better to let the girls grow stronger.
Next, Kevin pulled out eight A-Tier weapon selection chests and said generously, "The biggest problem you all had during the storm was not having enough firepower. Pick one weapon that suits each of you."
This time, after the girls made their choices, Kevin finally heard the reward return notification sound in his ear.
Every girl present had a return multiplier in the double digits. By just passing the items through their hands and back to his, Kevin ended up with nearly a hundred A-Tier weapons.
Even though Lilith refused to buy back equipment obtained through this kind of bug abuse, Kevin could still use them at the auction house to trade for S-Tier Eldritch Artifacts!
Heh, wasn’t that basically abusing another bug?
With that thought, Kevin turned to check out the weapons the girls had picked.
Amelia had chosen an assault rifle called "White Wolf’s Eye" that could fire magic bullets.
Its design leaned more toward modern soldier shooting habits. It supported three firing modes: single shot, burst, and suppressive fire at long range. It was reliable in all terrain and had an oversized magazine capacity.
The highlight was the dual magazine design, which allowed magic bullets and regular bullets to be fired at the same time.
Once the ammunition ran out, it could also automatically replenish magic rounds by charging.
Its shooting accuracy and effective range both exceeded 1,000 meters.
It was safe to say that this was the best gun for Amelia so far — a perfect blend of magic and technology.
Celula and Raphael each picked a machete and a rapier.
Celula’s machete, "Molten Edge," could build up energy and release blazing hot flames that melted anything in its path.
Raphael’s rapier, "Unicorn Gryphon," could create an air force field that boosted her speed and slowed down her enemies.
Nova chose a shield called "Medusa’s Aegis." It could generate a defensive barrier, reflect damage, and cast a petrification curse on anyone who looked directly at the shield.
The one that surprised Kevin the most was Monchhichi.
She picked a sniper rifle called "Zero Error" with a range of 3,500 meters. This rifle had the ability to lock onto time and space, making its shots always hit the target. On top of that, if the target survived the hit, they would be weakened for the next 24 hours and take double damage from all other attacks.
Finally, the last one, Nova, chose a magic compound crossbow called "Soul Piercer." It didn’t need to be reloaded with bolts. Instead, it consumed stamina to fire spirit-breaking bolts that dealt massive psychic damage to the target.
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