Is It Too Late to Leave the Chat Group?

Book 3: Chapter 11: Regarding the Status of Snacks

“Single-handedly exploding a star, have you heard that before? That means there are powerhouses in this world that can explode a star with one strike. Furthermore, there are many of them. It is still fine for Jeanne d’Arc Alter. At best, she would be viewed as a subdued shikigami. Not only would they fail to snatch her away, but they would incur unnecessary trouble. However, it is different for you. Dragon scales, dragon tendons, and dragon blood are all good stuff. If they cannot snatch you away, they can just kill you for those.” Chen Heng kindly informed Fafnir of the combat prowess of this world.

[TL Note: Shikigami is something like the Japanese version of familiars. Here is the Wikipedia entry on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikigami.]

“Erm…is it too late for me to return to the Poké Ball? At least it is a two-story house.” Fafnir was somewhat cowed. According to Chen Heng, her strength lay somewhere below average. She could defeat most regular people, but anyone with a bit of strength could easily slay her. However, why would she fight ordinary people?

Furthermore, Chen Heng’s words suggested that the people of this world liked to use dragons as crafting materials, waiting to pull out her scales and tendons and drain her blood. Even dragon slayers were not so deranged.

This world is terrifying. I want to go home.

“Wait! Why is Fafnir’s Poké Ball a two-story house, while mine has only three rooms and one living room?” Jeanne d’Arc Alter successfully latched on to the key point. Then she turned what she considered her most ferocious glare at Chen Heng.

“Wait. I think I can explain.” Chen Heng felt he could save the situation.

“Speak, I’m listening.” Jeanne d’Arc Alter took two steps back and sat on the edge of the bed, her arms and legs crossed, as she looked at Chen Heng, waiting for an explanation.

“Actually, Fafnir has a two-story house because her Poké Ball is of a different type. Fafnir’s Poké Ball is specially made for gigantic creatures. Furthermore, the person who made this Poké Ball has a fondness for gigantic creatures, so the living space in the Heavy Ball is larger than that of most Poké Balls.”

One had to trick themselves first to trick others. Chen Heng felt he had already been sufficiently convinced by this reason.

Although lying was bad, it was not good to tell the truth now. The true reason was “You were not my target, so I used a cheaper Poké Ball on you.” Such words could destroy a human life—yes, in all senses of destroy.

“However, there are upgraded versions of your Poké Ball. I do not have the points to buy one now, so I will upgrade it for you later on.” Lie low and survive. Lie low and survive.

In the end, Chen Heng decided to use some points to upgrade the Poké Ball after some time, since he was in the wrong.

“Oh? Is that so? Although it feels off, I am not an unreasonable person. Remember your promise to upgrade my Poké Ball. I can forgive you with that.”

“Yes, yes. Don’t worry. I will immediately upgrade it for you once I have points,” Chen Heng hurriedly promised.

“Actually, you do not have to upgrade my Poké Ball so quickly if you don’t have many points and have an urgent need for them. After all, I won’t stay in the Poké Ball much. Mind you, this is not because I’m concerned about you.”

Erm… Chen Heng’s conscience suddenly nagged him. He felt very sinful, like he was cheating a young child. Upgrading Jeanne d’Arc Alter’s Poké Ball would not take many points. Furthermore, was a tsundere nature deeply ingrained in Jeanne d’Arc Alter’s character?

“Didn’t I just complete a world mission, saving Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others? I have some spare points now.”

“There’s no need to rush. I did say I would stay in the house, so I do not have high requirements for the Poké Ball. Furthermore, the points you speak of are precious, right? Obtaining them is probably difficult, right?” Jeanne d’Arc Alter’s understanding made Chen Heng feel very embarrassed. However, he could not persist since she had already put it like this.

As for the difficulty of earning points, it was not much.

Chen Heng had run into System 10086 on the day he joined the Dimension Administrators Association and gained 10,000 points. Adopting Sirin netted him 2,000 points. Going to Under One Person’s world to pretend to be a powerhouse rewarded him with 500 points and a world consciousness’s friendship. Finally, he had an operation in the 1st Singularity and even dealt with an illegal reincarnator there.

Why did Chen Heng suddenly have the misperception of being the main character? He clearly had D-ranked luck and used to be very unlucky.

Ah! That’s not right. Chen Heng suddenly recalled. Customer Service told me that after becoming a Dimension Administrators Association member, I could avoid the consequences of the overdrawn luck.

My luck should have been A-ranked before that. This was the first time Chen Heng felt the benefits of luck.

Now, he felt the ancestor who had overdrawn on the clan’s luck had been too much. Overdrawing without repaying, how maddening!

However, Chen Heng tried to be optimistic. Perhaps something untoward had happened to him? Just joking. Anyone would be angry if something like that happened to them.

Seeing Jeanne d’Arc Alter forgive him so quickly, he felt guilty, so he purchased another snack box and placed it in the corner of her room.

“Consider this snack box as my compensation. I will upgrade your Poké Ball after some time.”

“Hmm! I’m satisfied with this compensation. However, is the snack box expensive?” Jeanne d’Arc Alter appeared satisfied, but she immediately started worrying about the snack box’s cost.

“The snack box? Let’s put it this way: your Poké Ball is worth 500 of such snack boxes.” Chen Heng tried to explain it in a way Jeanne d’Arc Alter could grasp, comparing the value of the Poké Ball to the snack boxes.

“Five…five hundred? Are you telling me this thing is worth 500 snack boxes?” Jeanne d’Arc Alter trembled as she pointed at her Poké Ball, which she held in her hand.

Chen Heng had already handed the Poké Ball containing Jeanne d’Arc Alter to her so that she could go back inside whenever she wanted. That way, she would not have to seek him out.

“That’s right.”

Jeanne d’Arc Alter looked at the Poké Ball, then at the two large boxes of snacks in the room’s corner. Finally, she decided. “It looks like I misunderstood you. I initially thought you used this Poké Ball because you were cheap. It looks like the Poké Ball is quite expensive. How about this? There’s no need to upgrade my Poké Ball. Just buy me more snack boxes.”

“About this…” Chen Heng’s original intent was to show Jeanne d’Arc Alter that the Poké Ball was not expensive. Who could have imagined that snacks held such an unusually high status in her heart?

“What’s wrong? We can’t do that?”

“We can. We can.” Damn! Why didn’t I realize Jeanne d’Arc Alter was so naive previously? Comparing a Poké Ball to snacks! I’m such a genius!