Chapter 76: Transfer to Sakurasou and an Unexpected Surprise

Time quickly drew into the afternoon. Dusk began to fade behind the buildings, painting the sky with purplish-orange hues. During club activities, Renji and Mai Sakurajima left the school gates together. Renji walked slightly ahead, with a relaxed stride, while Mai followed behind with an expression that was still a little stiff. He was going to help her move, a strange task given her condition.

Boarding a train that moved along tracks that somehow felt different than usual—a little quieter, perhaps, or just Mai's imagination—the two arrived at the gates of an apartment building. The old building had a unique aura, as if it held many stories within its walls. Mai Sakurajima skillfully pulled out a key and opened the room door, her movements so natural as if she had never been an invisible entity. It seemed the reason Sumireko could see her at noon was because the mysterious power that made her disappear had temporarily lost its effect, or at least, significantly weakened.

Her move went smoothly, surprising Renji who had been prepared for complications. Renji took Mai Sakurajima to Chihiro Sengoku to register and rent a room on the third floor for her. The faint scent of old books and new paint wafted through the bustling yet warm corridors of Sakurasou. Mai Sakurajima had successfully moved into Sakurasou.

At the same time, a crisp voice echoed in Renji's mind, as if a direct notification had been sent to his consciousness.

[Ding, congratulations to the player for completing the task, Senior Sister's Dilemma.] [Ding, congratulations to the player for obtaining the special item reward, Smart Crystal.] [Ding, congratulations to the player for obtaining the fixed currency reward, 1 million yen.]

Renji asked Mai Sakurajima to tidy up the room and put things in place, then he immediately returned to his own room. Impatient, he wanted to check the newly acquired props.

[Smart Crystal: Can be activated by integrating it into a mobile phone to create your own unique AI fairy.]

Seeing the introduction, Renji's eyes lit up. A wild idea flashed through his mind. Artificial intelligence was still in its developmental stage and not yet mature in this world. However, he knew that Akihiko Kayaba had appeared somewhere, and there was Ryunosuke Akasaka's brilliant little assistant in Sakurasou. Artificial intelligence would surely be developed and perfected soon, and used in virtual reality games. And what he obtained should be an initial artificial intelligence crystal far more advanced than Ryunosuke's assistant.

Without hesitation, Renji took out the crystal. It was a crystal that emitted a sacred light, sparkling softly in his hand. As soon as the crystal was brought close to the mobile phone, it automatically merged into it, as if pulled by an invisible force. A cocoon of light suddenly appeared on the phone interface, pulsating softly.

[Ding, crystal fusion successful, please connect the data.]

Data, probably network data, Renji thought. He connected the phone and the computer on the desk with a worn data cable and clicked the browser. The computer screen flickered, displaying a progress bar that slowly filled.

[Data merging, artificial fairy being nurtured...]

This progress bar was a bit slow, making him a little impatient. In his spare time, Renji turned his gaze to the Mysterious Treasure Chest in his room. There were three opportunities to open blind boxes every day, so you couldn't miss them. The Annual Ring Cake couldn't be used casually, so he had to save it to coax Shiina Mahiro at the right time. To be honest, he was eager to open the Monster Treasure Chest, curious about what might be inside.

After thinking about it for a moment, Renji grabbed a bag of potato chips and threw it into the treasure chest.

[Ding, reward has been generated.]

He opened the treasure chest, and a dazzling golden light emanated, illuminating the corner of the room.

[Ding, congratulations to the player for winning the Mysterious Treasure Chest item reward, Magic Potion.]

[Magic Potion: used to replenish magic power, invalid if you do not have magic power, use with caution.]

"Good boy," Renji mumbled, rolling his eyes. "This is a useless potion." Renji Kamisaka naturally had no magic power, neither before nor now. He just sighed resignedly. Leave it there. He threw it into a drawer, as if it were just an ordinary item.

The second time he opened the box, he put in a bucket of instant noodles, hoping to get something more useful.

[Ding, reward has been generated.]

Open the treasure chest again, and there was still a dazzling golden light, brighter than before.

[Ding, Mysterious Treasure Chest reward has been generated. Congratulations to the player for winning the Mysterious Treasure Chest item reward: Mysterious Magic Book.]

Renji took it out and looked at it. It was an ancient book made of unknown animal fur, its surface feeling rough and mysterious under his touch. He opened it and saw words and symbols that were completely incomprehensible inside. Some pages also had pictures of herbal plants, but clearly, there were no such plants and materials in daily life.

This book, just use it for collection, he thought.

As he thought about it, the phone suddenly lit up with a bright light and, surprisingly, sucked the magic book into the light cocoon that had appeared earlier. The light pulsed faster, as if processing new information.

[Ding, crystal absorbs advanced data and generates a special module, Magic.]

[Ding, the crystal is mature, please import it to a suitable place for incubation. After incubation is complete, the player will resonate with the bound fairy and obtain the Magic skill module.]

Seeing this magical scene, Renji's eyes widened, a little disbelieving. "I'm in an everyday world, are you seriously going to give me magic?" he mumbled, his brain trying to process the information he had just received.

However, the crystal must be placed in a suitable place to breed? Where is the right place? Renji touched his chin and thought for a moment, and a name flashed into his mind like lightning: Akihiko Kayaba!

If you want to talk about a suitable place for AI fairy development, it must be a virtual reality game terminal! And Akihiko Kayaba and Ryunosuke Akasaka are currently developing it. And now, he has a perfect and ready-made artificial fairy crystal in his hand! A genius plan began to form in his mind.

Without hesitation, Renji sent this crystal cocoon to Ryunosuke Akasaka's phone in the form of data, a file whose contents were unimaginable.

One minute later, Renji's phone vibrated. Ryunosuke Akasaka sent a video call request. Renji clicked to connect. Ryunosuke's face appeared on the screen, his eyes sparkling with excitement, but his tone was very serious, almost trembling.

"Renji, where did you get this crystal?" he asked, his voice filled with uncontrollable curiosity.

Renji smiled casually, hiding the truth. "I don't know. It suddenly appeared on my phone. I thought you, a professional, would be interested, so I gave it to you."

"..." Ryunosuke was silent for a moment, looking at the screen with analytical eyes. Then, he let out a long sigh, as if he had just found an invaluable treasure. "Thank you very much. This crystal is very helpful for my research. I'm keeping it without shame. I'll return it to you when there are results."

"It's alright. You can study it." Renji smiled and waved his hand with a generous expression, as if it were just a small gift.

This crystal is bound to him, and with humanity's current technology, it's impossible to create another, Renji thought slyly. And Akihiko Kayaba is an ambitious man. He always wants to create a real game world where players risk their lives. Therefore, he will definitely make a game terminal with the crystal as its core. When this game gradually matures and is successfully developed, that will be the time when Renji's artificial fairy is successfully bred. Because it's bound, Renji can retrieve it with his phone at any time, and can also observe the situation around the crystal. When the elves are bred in the future, Renji will have an additional Magic skill module and a super AI that can control the network!

Ryunosuke Akasaka was very grateful for Renji's crystallization. Then, he sent him a document to sign using his assistant. A pop-up file appeared on Renji's screen: it was about the virtual reality project development shares. As the one who provided the technical crystallization, Renji himself held 30% of the shares. It's just that Akihiko Kayaba and Ryunosuke Akasaka and other researchers thought they had made a huge profit. However, when the game is successfully developed, the entire virtual game world will belong to Renji.

After finishing the crystallization matter, Renji continued to invest in the Treasure Chest. There was still one chance, and it shouldn't be wasted. Just now, he bought instant noodles and potato chips. He thought about it and bought a bottle of soda.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he put his head into the Treasure Chest, it swelled up and kept burping, making strange noises he had never heard before. The treasure chest burped—what a strange sight.

Before Renji could react, the Treasure Chest suddenly opened on its own, its lid like a mouth, and a large tongue inside let out a loud cough.

[Ding, congratulations to the player for opening the Monster Treasure Chest, the reward is being received, please prepare.]

The prompt sounded, thundering in Renji's mind. The Monster Treasure Chest's huge mouth opened wide. Accompanied by disgusting sticky liquid, two figures were spewed out, thrown towards Renji.

"Ah! Finally out! It's so dark inside!" one voice yelled, loud and cheerful.

"Fool, it said it's a Treasure Chest Monster. And Lady Frieren, you have to open it!" another voice, sharper, chimed in.

What was spewed out were actually two little girls. Renji only felt his body heavy, and he was slammed to the ground by the unexpected impact. There was also a softness covering his cheek. Fragrant and warm.

"Hmm..." He subconsciously pushed the person on top of him.

The girl with the silver ponytail and pointed ears instinctively clamped her legs together. Her cheeks turned crimson. She screamed, her voice shrill.

"Ahhhhh! I was licked by a Treasure Chest Monster!"

Renji: "..."

I'm not a Treasure Chest Monster! he wanted to yell. But I really did lick her.... His thoughts were a mess, between surprise, embarrassment, and a little confusion at this absurd situation.