“This Shop Is a Scam!”
Lynn’s pupils shrunk when he saw that wax seal.
He recognized this mark.
“Since it’s a letter, go back to the dorm to read it.”
Vivian let go of his hand, but her gaze remained sharp.
“Follow me to dinner once you’re done.”
Alicia also took a step back.
“I will wait for you at the dorm to purify the letter for you.”
Holding the letter, Lynn felt as if he were holding a hot potato.
He rushed back to the dorm at full speed, with Vivian and Alicia following behind on his left and right, maintaining a subtle distance.
Once back in his room, Lynn turned and locked the door.
Of course, a lock couldn’t stop those two.
Vivian leaned directly against the door outside, while Alicia stood a bit further down the hallway and began to pray in a low voice.
Her voice wasn’t loud, yet it drifted clearly into Lynn’s ears.
Ignoring them, Lynn walked to his desk and stared at the letter in his hand.
The wax seal was a half-bloomed black rose, and the stamen was shaped like a twisted “L.”
This was the exclusive mark of his adopted younger sister, Lilith.
Wasn’t she supposed to be in the Magic Tower receiving some sort of god-forsaken inheritance?
She wasn’t supposed to come out for eight or ten years.
“Why was she writing to him?”
Lynn tore open the envelope.
Inside was a single, thin sheet of paper.
There was no text on the paper, only rows of crooked drawings that looked like a child’s graffiti.
There were little people, a sun, a moon, a house, and some symbols he couldn’t understand.
As Lynn looked at these drawings, his brows furrowed tighter and tighter.
“This wasn’t graffiti.”
This was a code.
It was a set of secret signals he and Lilith had agreed upon when they were children to avoid those “family members” who harbored ill intentions.
It was a language only the two of them understood.
He took a deep breath and began to decode it.
The first drawing was a small person wearing a crown next to a collapsed tower.
The crown represented the Royal Capital, and the collapsed tower… the Magic Tower?
The second drawing was a moon with three drops of water drawn beneath it.
The moon represented time, and the three drops of water meant “three”…
“Three days?”
The third drawing showed a little girl holding a boy’s hand, running toward a house with a heart drawn on it.
The girl was Lilith, the boy was him, and the house was home…
“Going home?”
Lilith was leaving the Magic Tower and would arrive at the Royal Capital in three days to “pick him up” and take him “home”?
Lynn’s heart sank bit by bit.
He continued reading.
The drawings that followed became increasingly eerie.
A shattered heart was drawn next to a dagger.
A bird was trapped in a cage, and Lilith’s face was drawn outside the cage.
Finally, there was a fully bloomed black rose with red, blood-like stains on the petals.
Cold sweat broke out on Lynn’s back.
“He understood.”
Something seemed to have gone wrong with Lilith’s inheritance, and she was coming out early.
In three days, she would arrive at the Royal Capital.
She knew there were “other women” around him, and she was very unhappy.
She wanted to take him away.
If he didn’t go, or if someone stood in her way—
That blood-stained rose was a warning.
This adopted sister was likely more terrifying than Alicia and Vivian combined.
She was the true yandere—a madwoman who viewed him as her private property and possessed the power to eliminate all obstacles.
“Knock, knock, knock.”
The sound of knocking echoed.
“Lynn, are you done with the letter? Come out for dinner,” Vivian said.
“Master Lynn, do you need me to purify it for you?”
Alicia added.
Looking at the paper in his hand, Lynn felt a chill rise from the soles of his feet to the top of his skull.
His palms were drenched in sweat as he gripped the thin paper.
Lilith’s blood-stained black rose seemed to enlarge before his eyes.
“Knock, knock.”
Vivian’s voice rang out again.
“Are you done? If you don’t come out, I’m tearing the door down.”
“Master Lynn, the air inside must be very foul. Why don’t I come in and purify it for you?”
Alicia’s voice followed immediately after.
Just as Lynn’s scalp felt numb while trying to figure out how to deal with the two women outside, a long-awaited system notification chimed in his mind.
[Detected that the host has successfully survived for more than three days under the dual surveillance of the Saintess and the Imperial Princess and has tentatively stabilized the situation. Beginner Tutorial Mission: Survival in the Cracks — Completed]
[Mission Reward: System Shop access granted. Initial Points: 100]
‘A shop? Points?’
Lynn froze.
‘This broken system actually has a shop?’
He had previously thought the [Danger Perception System] was all there was to it—it could only show Blackening Values and had zero combat utility.
“Hey! Lynn!”
Vivian was growing impatient outside.
“Coming!”
Lynn called out.
He quickly concentrated his thoughts and opened the so-called [System Shop].
A simple light screen appeared before his eyes, displaying several major categories: [Weapons], [Armor], [Items], and [Other].
What Lynn lacked most right now was the ability to protect himself. He immediately clicked on [Weapons].
[Novice Longsword (Includes weak armor-piercing effect): 1,000 points]
[Steel Dagger (Poison sold separately): 800 points]
Explosive Fireball Scroll (One-time use): 500 points]
“…”
Looking at the long strings of zeros, Lynn’s heart sank halfway.
He only had 100 points.
He couldn’t even afford the hilt of the shabbiest novice sword.
Refusing to give up, he clicked on [Armor].
[Chainmail Lining (Better than nothing): 900 points]
[Light Leather Armor (Can barely block a single strike): 700 points]
Everything was even more expensive.
‘Damn it, this system is a scam!’
Lynn cursed inwardly.
“Lynn! If you don’t come out right now—!”
Vivian’s voice was laced with anger, and the door began to rattle under her pounding.
Lynn quickly opened the [Items] tab, treating it as a last resort to see if there was anything cheap enough to handle the current situation.
The items in this category were quite diverse, and the prices were relatively affordable.
[Stamina Recovery Potion (Small): 50 points]
[Antidote Pill (Basic): 80 points]
[Presence Erase Spray (Duration: 5 minutes): 99 points]
[Absolute Sincerity Potion (Diluted, Duration: 30 seconds): 99 points]
[Lucky Dice (Effect unknown): 10 points]
Lynn’s gaze fell on the two items priced at 99 points.
[Presence Erase Spray (Duration: 5 minutes): Upon use, the user’s presence is significantly reduced for five minutes. Others will subconsciously ignore the user, though this is not complete invisibility. The user can still be discovered through close contact or deliberate observation.]
‘A “nobody” for five minutes?’
Lynn’s eyes lit up.
If he used this, could he slip away right under the noses of Vivian and Alicia?
Although it only lasted five minutes, it was enough time to run out of the dormitory building and find a place to hide, or perhaps seek help from his Mentor.
He then looked at the other item.
[Absolute Sincerity Potion (Diluted, Duration: 30 seconds): After being used on a target, the target will be unable to lie for 30 seconds and can only speak their true thoughts. (The diluted version’s effects may be unstable, and the target will realize they spoke the truth.)]
‘Make a yandere tell the truth?’