EBE Chapter 484 - 484: DSMW [484]
Chapter 484 - 484: DSMW [484]
"You can even obtain Decks like this? Then doesn't that mean… invincible?!"After struggling to think it through for quite a while, Miles could only sum it up with that single word.
As long as he made contact with the Millennium Puzzle, he could forcibly perform soul traversal and take control of another person's body.
And once he controlled someone's body, he could immediately copy the Deck they used.
In this Spirit Continent where card games reigned supreme, if that ability wasn't 'invincible,' then what was?
So long as Miles was willing to put in the effort and take action, even collecting every powerful Deck would no longer be a dream.
"Just how many people are you planning to possess, Miles? You absolute super scumbag!"
The moment his greedy thoughts slipped through and reached Dark Aisha's ears, it predictably drew a harsh rebuke from the girl.
"I'm just thinking about it a little. Fantasizing isn't a crime, right?"
"I honestly think you're fully capable of doing something like that… Huh? That's weird!"
From her tone, it sounded like Dark Aisha inside the Millennium Puzzle's Soul Room had encountered another anomaly.
"What is it?"
"The door won't open!"
Dark Aisha tried pushing open the door marked with the emblem of the Red Dragon Archfiend.
However, this newly appeared door was sealed tight, as if locked in place. No matter how hard Aisha pushed, even bracing her foot against the doorframe, she couldn't get it to budge.
None of the other doors had ever had this problem.
"Astar, you try too."
Exhausted, Dark Aisha had no choice but to call over Stardust-chan, who had been sleeping curled up on Miles' bed.
Always cooped up in the room, Dark Aisha had little physical strength even by human standards.
However, a Dragon Girl was different. Even if she slept all day, she was still a Stardust Dragon with 2500 Attack—far stronger than Aisha's measly 300.
"Roger!"
Stardust-chan flapped her dragon wings and floated in front of the Red Dragon Archfiend door.
"Hyah!"
Then she threw a full-power punch. The shockwave from the impact alone left Dark Aisha utterly stunned.
There was definitely some personal resentment mixed into that punch.
Even so, the door bearing the blazing demonic dragon emblem remained completely unmoved.
"Looks like brute force won't work," Dark Aisha concluded.
"Let me take a guess," Stardust-chan said, pulling back her fist. The sensation from striking the door left her deep in thought. "Could it be that the bond isn't strong enough?"
"Bond?"
"Today was the first time you met the owner of the Red Dragon Archfiend Deck, right? When I threw that punch just now, I could feel it—opening this door requires a bond with the Deck!"
"Stardust, being able to get such a philosophical feeling from one punch really is asking a lot of you."
Although it sounded very 'spiritual,' Miles unexpectedly felt that Stardust-chan might actually be onto something.
Inside the Millennium Puzzle's Soul Room, each door representing a different Deck belonged to someone who had gone through a life-and-death Shadow Duel with Miles.
That trust, entrusting both one's Deck and one's life, was probably the bond Stardust-chan was talking about.
By contrast, Lost Vela…
"Wow, this is amazing! Body swapping!"
That idiot was still basking in the excitement of the brand-new experience.
"So it's not as invincible as I imagined after all," Miles sighed.
It seemed that the fantasy of copying every Deck he encountered was ultimately just a fantasy.
In terms of analogy, if this were one of those Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Power PSP games Miles used to play, it would be like not having raised a teammate's affection level high enough, so you couldn't use their Deck yet.
Of course, in a game, raising affection was easy; you just fed teammates snacks or kept dueling them.
But how were you supposed to raise affection in real life?
"Don't tell me… I have to sacrifice my looks?"
Miles' intuition told him that this method would probably work very well.
Albeit his dignity as a human being strongly rejected the idea of selling his body like that.
Focusing his mental power on the mark on the back of his hand once more, Miles traversed back from Lost's body into his own.
Something soft and slightly bouncy seemed to be pressed against his cheek.
"Hehe, you're awake~"
With some effort, Miles lifted his head and immediately saw Ren's delicate face leaning over him, wearing a sweet smile.
As for the fact that he had lost consciousness when his soul left his body and ended up being firmly held in Ren's arms—
"I really do appreciate you catching me, Ren."
In truth, with the durability of Miles' brand-new body, even collapsing straight onto the ground while unconscious wouldn't have hurt him at all. The one that would've suffered was the old floor of the magic workshop.
"But the whole 'buried in your chest' bonus… let's skip that in the future, Ren."
For a body that was only fourteen years old, that kind of burden was a bit much.
"So, Lost, you believe it now, right?!"
Krista said to Lost, who had just gotten her body back and was still dazed.
"I believe it…"
After experiencing it personally, if she still didn't believe it, Lost wouldn't be an idiot—she'd just be lying to herself.
"Just as I expected from my destined one. Even your abilities are this special! I'm even more interested in you now, Miles!"
Not only did this fail to make Lost back off, it actually piqued her interest even more—a complete backfire.
"But Miles is Aisha's guardian spirit," Krista pointed out.
"So what?"
"Huh?"
Krista froze. She had never seen this usually laid-back delinquent girl wear such a firm expression.
"Even if the old Miles was Aisha Carlos' guardian spirit, the current Miles is already free!"
"Miles is… free."
Even though she was an idiot, Lost's words struck everyone present straight in the soul.
Clenching her fist over her heart, Lost added solemnly, "A soul no longer bound, a body that's free. The Miles of now belongs to no one—he's completely free!"
"!!!"
She was absolutely right.
After obtaining a new body, Miles truly belonged to no one anymore.
Before, one could still argue that Miles had to reside in the Millennium Puzzle, which Aisha had summoned, tying him to her.
Meanwhile, now, even that seemingly solid justification had disappeared.
This was also something Kaima Seth had already considered before their departure and had specifically warned Miles about.
While the path of a Duelist was important, before that, as an independent human being, thinking about where one belonged was just as crucial.
"After you got a body, the very first Duel you had was against me. How is that not fate connecting us?!" Lost declared with absolute conviction.
"What fate? That was just you speeding and breaking traffic laws," Aoyao muttered under her breath.
"If we're talking about fate, then we wouldn't lose either!" Aisha, Ren, and Krista said in unison.
What those three had experienced with Miles, brutal Duels involving life and death, were in no way comparable to Lost simply crashing her bike into someone.
The proof was that the bonds they had accumulated had already fully opened the doors representing their respective Decks inside Miles' Millennium Puzzle Soul Room.
"Wait a second!" Miles suddenly thought of something.
If he agreed to Lost right now, would that instantly raise her affection level and unlock the Red Dragon Archfiend door?
Even though, if Miles actually did that, the label of 'super scumbag' would probably be permanently slapped onto his head by Dark Aisha… he might even be despised for life.
"I really didn't expect that my spare magic workshop (warehouse) would ever be this lively,"
Just as the atmosphere in the room grew increasingly tense, the voice of the bratty loli Viel finally rang out.
And what had Viel been doing just now? Naturally, she'd been doing business.
If Viel could build a D-Wheel from scratch, then repairing Lost's D-Wheel—whose front end had been smashed—was even more trivial.
"All done~" Viel said smugly, gesturing behind her to the brand-new-looking D-Wheel that Luka pushed out.
"That was fast, boss!" Lost exclaimed excitedly.
When Krista had first dragged Lost back here along with her bike, Lost had been skeptical that such a small kid could really be the workshop owner or that she could repair a D-Wheel at all.
Yet, after learning that Aisha's D-Wheel and Krista's brand-new D-Wheel had both been made by this little girl, Lost truly understood the saying that you can't judge people by appearances.
"Efficiency usually comes with a price. Repairs aren't free, you know."
"Uh?" Lost's expression stiffened awkwardly. "So… how much is the repair fee?"
Viel raised five short loli fingers at Lost.
"50 SP points!"
"F-fifty?!"
Upon hearing the price, Lost's forced composure immediately collapsed.
"Is this a black shop?!"
After all, Lost had only paid 40 SP points to buy this D-Wheel in the first place, yet repairing it now cost a whopping 50—an outright loli lion's mouth.
"What do you mean by black shop? Since I repaired this D-Wheel, I obviously upgraded its quality so I wouldn't ruin my reputation. You get what you pay for; once you ride it, you'll know it's different."
"Uh… what am I supposed to do now?"
Lost wasn't doubting Viel's words. She'd seen the terrifying performance of Aisha's D-Wheel and Krista's new one with her own eyes.
They were indeed far superior to standard D-Wheels on the market.
Although the SP system had only recently been restored, and with Lost's usual lifestyle of never saving money, the delinquent girl was now truly strapped for cash.
She turned her coat pockets inside out and only managed to scrape together a pitiful 10 SP points.
Those 10 points were something she'd just earned from dueling Miles earlier.
Of course, earning 10 points from a single Duel—especially in defeat—was actually quite a lot.
Despite that, Lost had assumed it would be enough to repair the D-Wheel. Who could've guessed Viel's prices were this steep?
"So, um… can I run a tab, boss?"
"This shop does not offer credit!"
As Viel spat out those words viciously, she also shot Miles a glare.
Come on, you already made 1.8 million off him… what's a few hundred on credit?
"Waaah, Aoyao, lend me money!"
"I don't have any."
Shrugging, Aoyao explained that since Axet had only recently restored the SP settlement system, she hadn't dueled much either—nowhere near enough to lend Lost.
"Krista~"
"I just bought a D-Wheel myself. You know how it is."
The loan plan was immediately scrapped, and Lost's expression became even more troubled—and amusing.
"Alright, I'll handle it."
Seeing the usually imposing delinquent girl reduced to this over 50 points, Miles couldn't bear to watch anymore.
Besides, the D-Wheel getting wrecked was also his responsibility—he'd insisted on that leap of faith in the first place. Miles had planned from the start to cover the cost for Lost.
"Put it on my card, Viel."
"(o'?'o)! Hey now!"
Miles suddenly touching her thigh made Aisha's ahoge spring straight up in reflex.
But his real target wasn't the tofu-soft thigh—it was the card case strapped there, containing the remaining 2.2 million gold coins.
"M-Miles!"
Lost's eyes filled with incomparable gratitude.
Thinking back, she had been the one who crashed into Miles, yet he'd still offered to compensate her for the D-Wheel.
So that hadn't just been polite talk.
Just how kind and gentle of a person was he?
He looked even more dazzling now—especially when paying the bill!
"Thank you for your patronage~"
Viel, of course, didn't hold back at all, wearing a merchant's grin as she swiped the equivalent of 50 SP points' worth of gold from the card.
"Alright, this D-Wheel is yours again!"
Taking the D-Wheel from Viel, Lost felt the warm touch of its brand-new upgrades, her excitement nearly overflowing.
"Miles, it's all thanks to you! You're practically my superhero!"
"I just paid for the D-Wheel. Isn't that a bit exaggerated?"
"As a delinquent, my motto is to never forget a single night's lodging or a single meal's kindness—for life. And this was an especially expensive kindness!"
Just 50 bucks, was that really expensive?
Honestly, with how much money he had now, Miles' sense of prices on the Spirit Continent was already starting to blur.
At the same time, inside the Soul Room, Dark Aisha suddenly heard a crisp click.
"Ah, it opened!"
"What opened?"
"The door… Still, not all the way."
At that moment, the door marked with the blazing demonic dragon cracked open.
Though it was only a small gap—opened, but not fully.
"Wait, does that mean… I've already raised her affection enough?"
Miles looked at Lost, whose eyes were filled with gratitude as she stared straight at him.
So it really only took 50 bucks.
Looking at the demonic dragon mark appearing in his Spirit Eyes on his arm, Miles checked his Deck and understood what Dark Aisha meant by the door not being fully open.
It wasn't a complete Deck; only two cards from the Extra Deck had appeared in his Spirit Eyes.
[Red Dragon Archfiend] and [Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend].
Both were Lost's Spirit.
Fifty bucks for a Spirit... wasn't that a little cheap?
...
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