Li Ke crossed his arms and let out a long, heavy sigh as he stared blankly at his system interface.
He knew exactly what he was lacking right now: a true, blood-pumping, no-holds-barred battle to shatter his current bottleneck. The problem was, he didn't actually want to fight.
Even though he was constantly pushing himself to get stronger, Li Ke currently lacked the resolve—or rather, the sheer interest—to risk his life in combat just to break through to the next realm.
He had only recently survived a brutal instance where a single misstep meant absolute death. He honestly couldn't summon the enthusiasm to go risk his neck all over again so soon.
This was especially true after facing off against that terrifying manifestation, the World Power entity 'Nezuko'. A lingering sense of futility still plagued his heart, making his past efforts feel almost laughable. In his current state of mind, it was going to be incredibly difficult to get his blood boiling anytime soon.
After all, he had personally experienced that unimaginably vast, utterly monumental power. The psychological impact of that encounter far outweighed any physical shockwave.
"If all else fails, should I just jump straight into the King of Fighters world? Go pick a fight with Mai Shiranui and the martial artists over there? Maybe the combatants in that world can reignite my burning passion and make me crave battle again?"
Staring at his system, Li Ke couldn't help but ponder the possibility.
But after taking a cold, hard look at himself, he realized his current mindset would likely make that a massive flop.
"Yeah, probably not going to work..."
Right now, he was caught in a bizarre paradox: he desperately wanted to get stronger, yet he refused to fight. He craved the thrill of finding new girls, yet he simultaneously felt like having Seria alone was more than enough—as if as long as Seria was by his side, no other woman truly mattered.
"Ugh, I'm literally just quiet-quitting life at this point."
Li Ke ruffled his hair in frustration. His mental state was stuck in this aggravating limbo—he couldn't settle down completely, yet he couldn't stir up any real wild ambition either.
If he were either completely at peace or entirely driven by chaos, he could accept it. But this half-baked, lukewarm state made him thoroughly dynamic-averse, even to his own eyes.
"If this system of mine threw a few mandatory, high-stakes quests at me, I bet I wouldn't be slacking off like this. But actively wishing for your own system to force you into compliance... isn't that a little masochistic?"
Li Ke couldn't help but roast himself again.
In reality, he knew exactly why he felt this way. The raw returns from sleeping with Seria were simply too ridiculously high. Combined with some recent mental fatigue, the path ahead was clear but momentarily out of reach, leaving him profoundly restless.
He'd probably snap out of it in a few days.
Even so, his mind couldn't stop wandering down darker, easier paths.
"If only there were the kind of scumbag villains out there that made me want to exterminate their entire bloodline on sight. Or maybe the kind of girls I could just plunder and take straight to bed without having to waste time building up an actual emotional connection... If those scenarios popped up, I'd probably snap back to normal instantly, right?"
Li Ke ran the analysis through his head and immediately arrived at a rock-solid conclusion.
"Yep! It's entirely the world's fault!"
The very next second after declaring it, Li Ke smacked his own forehead. Blaming the world for his problems—harboring this kind of chuunibyou delusion made him feel like he was having a severe relapse of high school syndrome.
What he didn't realize, however...
Was that this wasn't purely a psychological slump. As his training grew progressively deeper, his physical body was actively screaming to unleash its full potential—it was starved for a true, unrestrained conflict.
A battle between absolute equals.
"So, what am I supposed to do?"
Thoroughly bored out of his mind, Li Ke cast his gaze down the street.
Kiri's shop was finally open for business today. She had been completely ghosting the area for the past few days. Li Ke had dropped by several times, but she was always swamped with erratic business, only giving him a passing nod before rushing off.
But today, Kiri was standing right at the entrance of her shop, lazily scanning the crowds of customers passing back and forth. On pure instinct, Li Ke began walking straight toward her.
"Yo, Kiri. Finally free today?"
Li Ke flashed her a bright smile.
Catching sight of him, Kiri raised an eyebrow. She didn't look the least bit surprised, offering instead a deeply exasperated sigh.
"You really are like a bad habit, aren't you? Completely unavoidable."
Kiri wasn't in the best of moods. A few days ago, she had finally tracked down word of another Empyrean stranded on the continent. But when she rushed over to investigate, she discovered the person had long since abandoned all hope of returning home, completely oblivious to any way back to the Empyrean anyway.
Because of that, she had pretty much given up all hope during this period.
Even if she magically managed to return to the Empyrean now, her old brothers-in-arms were already dead and buried. It was just a final, desperate attempt, yet she still couldn't find the path back, leaving her feeling profoundly lost.
"Well," Li Ke chuckled, stepping into her shop. "I'm actually here to reinforce my weapon. Figured I should finally bring a little business your way."
Li Ke unsheathed the newly purchased Greatsword from his back. He had bought it from Shinda's blacksmith shop, and Shinda was widely considered the absolute finest blacksmith in all of Hendon Myre. Although this weapon didn't have a legendary name attached to it, its craftsmanship was exceptionally top-tier. Even when clashing against a Lightsabre, it wouldn't be severed easily—provided you didn't just stand there and let a Lightsabre-wielding swordsman hack at it continuously.
This was pretty much the absolute ceiling of quality for gear an ordinary adventurer could buy.
At the same time, Li Ke had also purchased a few Lightsabres. Just as he suspected, these Lightsabres were forged using a specialized magical gemstone. Unlike the video game mechanics, however, these real Lightsabres could only deflect energy-based attacks; they possessed zero capacity to block solid, physical strikes.
In other words, anyone wielding a Lightsabre was completely stripped of the ability to parry incoming physical blows. Their only viable tactical option was to attack, attack, and keep attacking.
To make matters worse, Lightsabres required active charging, and they burned through Clear Cube Fragments to maintain their energy levels...
"Oh, please. As if I don't know you inside and out by now," Kiri scoffed, rolling her eyes at Li Ke before letting out a weary sigh. "Though you actually picked the perfect time to drop by. I'm in a terrible mood today, and I'm planning to go out for a drink. Care to foot the bill, and maybe stay out with me all night?"
Kiri gestured toward him, completely discarding any sense of modesty or hesitation.
Sensing the genuine gloom hiding behind her words, Li Ke felt a flicker of curiosity. "What happened?"
Looking at the genuine concern written on Li Ke's face, Kiri could only shake her head helplessly. "Did you already forget why I was in such a tearing hurry to get back here?"
It had already been over a month. No matter how utterly incompetent the Kartel bandits were, a month was more than enough time for them to completely slaughter her remaining brothers-in-arms. Truth be told, she had already mentally prepared herself for this outcome when she was setting up her Reinforcement Shop. But it was only today that she had finally, utterly given up all hope.
Because that stranded Empyrean had been her absolute last tether to returning home.
"...I'm so sorry for your loss," Li Ke muttered, unsure of how else to comfort her.
He knew Kiri wouldn't even get the chance to find the corpses of her fallen comrades. Furthermore, based on the future plot progression he knew, Kiri would never manage to set foot back in the Empyrean ever again.
It made sense when he thought about it. Her own companions hadn't trusted her, turning on her and forcing her into that fateful duel. If they were still drawing breath, there might still be some meaning in fighting her way back to clear her name. But by the time the future adventurers finally bridged the gap to the Empyrean, her old friends would have long since perished. At that point, clearing her name or offering explanations would be entirely meaningless.
Even if she hunted down and slaughtered the traitors, her hands were still stained with the blood of her comrades—and the friends who had once doubted her would never be around to see her vindicated anyway.
Besides, she didn't have any family left back in the Empyrean. Her martial master was currently wandering the wild sands, his fate entirely unknown. By the time any concrete news of him surfaced, he would have already sworn fealty to the Imperial Princess. It could be said that she was completely unattached now; she had nothing left to worry about and nothing left to care for.
She had been raised from infancy in the Lawless District and had never once considered it a good place to live. It was nowhere near as comfortable as the Arad Continent.
At the very least, no one down here actively discriminated against her simply because she hailed from the Lawless District, nor did they look down on her for not knowing poetry, having zero formal education, or being rough around the edges.
Right now, Kiri was rapidly losing the very desire and motivation to ever return to her homeland.
"Sorry for my loss? Please, we Rangers don't do funerals," Kiri sneered.
Reaching out, she clamped a firm grip onto Li Ke's collar. With absolutely zero warning, zero hesitation, and zero maidenly blush, she looked him dead in the eye and laid her terms bare, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Tonight, you're going to match me drink for drink! And then, you're going to take me down so hard I won't be able to climb out of bed tomorrow! Do you hear me, brat?! I don't care what kind of baggage you're carrying, and I don't care how many women you plan on dragging into your bed! But if you ever dare abandon me, I will personally put a bullet right through your skull!"
Li Ke was thoroughly stunned. "Th-that's incredibly sudden!"
He genuinely hadn't expected Kiri to drop a bomb like this right out of the blue!
While he had internally harbored the exact same predatory goal—planning to get her drunk and thoroughly claim her tonight—he honestly hadn't anticipated that Kiri would be the one to actively seize the initiative and spell it out!
"No shit! Which outlaw out of the Lawless District hasn't pulled a highway robbery before?! Yours truly is pulling a stick-up for some eye candy tonight!"
Kiri drew her revolver with lightning speed, pressing the cold barrel directly against Li Ke's forehead. In the same fluid motion, she hoisted her leg up and slammed her boot down right on top of her Reinforcement Machine, proudly flaunting her long, shapely leg. Her tight denim shorts hugged her hips perfectly, emphasizing her jaw-dropping curves.
"So lay it on me, kid! Are you going to wreck me to the point where I can't walk tomorrow or what?!"
Staring at Kiri's flushed cheeks, every ounce of the restless, suffocating boredom that had plagued Li Ke for the past half-month vanished instantly. He was completely, utterly fired up.
The contradictory slump in his martial mindset dissolved into thin air, and a wild, heavy-metal battle anthem practically started blasting through his mind!
"If I don't take you down tonight, I don't fucking deserve to be called Li Ke!"