Why is my journey to the world of anime a strange tale of rules?

"I clearly said I didn't need it, really..."

After muttering a few words, Zhenfei lowered her head to hide her slightly flushed cheeks, and then quickly turned her attention back to the personnel information sent by the [Market].

The information on this document is very detailed, including the specific blessings possessed by the operatives and the effects of their obsessions—essential information that every organization must keep strictly confidential. The fact that this information has been handed over to Gao Hai demonstrates the importance that various organizations place on him and their determination to succeed in this operation.

However, this was largely thanks to Miss Xiong Mi and Yuanshan Ming vouching for him; otherwise, it's hard to say whether he would have received this level of support. In that sense, I guess I have more powerful backers within the player community now.

While pondering, Gao Hai couldn't help but think of the artifact that Fujiwara Chika had already used—the one called the "Black Contract," which could forcibly transport players of insufficient level into high-difficulty dungeons. This was an item that the "Market" had found for Gao Hai to solve the problem of team movement. With this item, Chika could enter the "School Ghost Stories" dungeon with the others. However, as a special artifact that could help players overcome level barriers, it seemed to reduce the user's luck to some extent, so extra attention would have to be paid to it.

Hopefully, this won't require too many rollback attempts.

In short, the first piece of information is about [Goto Ichiri].

This adorable pink-haired girl, nicknamed "Little Pochi," actually shares many similarities with Fujiwara Chika, such as both having pink hair and possessing excellent figures. However, their personalities are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Fujiwara Chika is an enthusiastic social butterfly who can make friends with almost anyone, while Goto Ichiri is an extreme social phobia who freezes up around strangers and is even unable to open up in front of familiar people.

But this girl, who is almost a social outcast in terms of life skills, is actually a true Red Moon-level player.

With 13 dungeon runs completed, including 4 Twilight-level dungeons, 6 Dark Night-level dungeons, and 3 Red Moon-level dungeons, this player has been surviving in the [Sacrifice Game] for over a year, making them an extremely experienced and skilled player.

He possesses one Twilight-level blessing and two Night-level blessings, totaling three different blessings, making him the player with the most blessings that Gao Hai has ever seen.

The first blessing was the "Miko's Blessing," which Goto Ichiri obtained during her new player tutorial. In other words, this socially awkward girl solved the dungeon on her very first "Sacrifice Game," gaining an extremely rare blessing. Although the information stated that Goto Ichiri achieved this with the help of experienced players who had participated in the quest, Takami couldn't help but want to comment.

"Could she actually be the protagonist of this world?"

Especially when recalling his first mission and the torment he suffered in the Shirakawa apartment, and then looking at this girl's new mission, Takahashi couldn't help but sigh.

The difference in luck between people is truly quite significant.

However, unlike Takahashi's Shirakawa Apartment, which was labeled as Twilight but was actually Night-level, Goto Ichiri's beginner mission was a genuine Twilight-level mission. Therefore, the difficulty of her mission was completely different from Takahashi's, and the effect of this blessing was relatively simple. However, it still has two different effects.

One aspect of this blessing is that, as the holder of the blessing, Goto Ichiri needs to perform a ritual called "purification water," keeping herself completely soaked. In return, she gains the ability to be easily overlooked by spirits and mistaken for one of their own. In fact, to fully realize the blessing's effect, Goto Ichiri seems to need to wear a shrine maiden's outfit and perform a complex purification ritual. Furthermore, if she strictly follows the ritual, the blessing's effect is enhanced. However, Goto Ichiri herself has absolutely no talent for dance, and therefore cannot fully utilize the blessing's function.

Furthermore, this blessing has another way of taking effect: Goto Ichiri can make this blessing take effect on other people as a [witness]. In other words, if another player who knows about this water purification ritual performs the entire ritual in front of Goto Ichiri, then he/she can temporarily obtain the protection of this blessing effect, which will reduce the possibility of being attacked by monsters, or even be ignored by those things as if they were one of their own.

Although this blessing isn't very strong due to its Twilight-level nature, and its effect on Crimson Moon-level monsters is minimal, it is still a blessing that can affect multiple targets and is very easy to activate. Simply splash water on yourself under Ichiri Goto's watchful eye, and you'll gain a buff that won't disappear until your clothes dry—making it quite practical.

The reason this blessing has such complex activation conditions seems to be because the core obsession behind giving the blessing is that of a devout priestess. Information about this priestess doesn't provide a detailed description, only mentioning that the strength of the blessing depends on the rigor of the actions and the sincerity of the inner faith. It also emphasizes that the blessing is significantly more effective on women than men; many male players have even found that the ritual has no effect whatsoever.

Besides this effect, the second effect of this blessing is the one that the girl used when she supported Takami and others at Fujika Middle School: the ability to exchange the existence of a designated person with the items she acquires.

"What a powerful blessing! But how can there be a blessing that discriminates against boys in terms of its effects? I'm so angry and frustrated. When will we ever be able to stand up for ourselves?" Gao Hai couldn't help but complain inwardly after seeing the effect of this blessing before looking at the second blessing that Goto Ichiri possessed.

This socially awkward girl received her second blessing during her second Dark Night-level quest. In that quest, Goto Ichiri participated in the [Market] operation as a newly formed Dark Night-level player team. Since the information about the dungeon itself had been largely analyzed, the quest could be understood in a sense as a PvP battle. Her team successfully outmaneuvered other player teams, finding the key to breaking the core obsession first, and thus the entire team received the blessing.

This blessing was named "Blessing for the Autistic," a name that inevitably reminds Takami of Ichiri Goto's personality.

As a Dark Night-level blessing, this blessing enhanced Goto Ichiri's physical attributes and possessed two different effects.

The first effect is the ability to create a special space at any corner. Goto Ichiri herself can activate this blessing effect by being in the corner where two walls meet—that is, at the intersection of three different surfaces—making herself "non-existent." Neither humans nor monsters will be able to detect her presence.

This blessing is even more powerful when the user, Goto Ichiri, is in a completely enclosed space, such as inside a cardboard box. It makes it almost impossible for Goto Ichiri to be detected by anything unless there is physical contact, making it an extremely powerful concealment blessing.

Besides this effect, this blessing has a second effect: recognizing malice in others' hearts. This blessing will passively take effect, allowing Goto Ichiri to easily perceive whether others harbor malice towards her, and slightly amplifying the intensity of the malice she senses. It can be considered a blessing with a slightly negative effect.

This blessing feels almost tailor-made. Could it be that the strange creature that gave Bochi-chan the blessing was actually one of her kind?

As Gao Hai pondered this, he looked at the other person's third blessing.

The blessing, named "Blessing of the Madman," was a Dark Night-level item acquired by Goto Ichiri during her third Dark Night-level mission. Apparently due to receiving resource allocations from joining the "Market" organization, Goto Ichiri's team had two opportunities. In both of these Dark Night-level missions, she participated in instances where the general layout was already known, requiring players to compete for the core obsession. Although she succeeded in both attempts, Goto Ichiri did not take the core obsession; instead, she chose to release herself from it. This action seemed to have displeased the "Market," and as a result, she never received another such opportunity. Furthermore, she never successfully broke through the core obsession again when participating in Dark Night-level missions normally.

This blessing slightly boosted Pochi's willpower and granted the girl a rather magical power: time acceleration.

Once she enters a state of high concentration, Goto Ichiri can enter a state of accelerated time, possessing reaction speed and action ability far exceeding that of others.

According to calculations, Goto Ichiri in this state can accelerate to about three times her normal speed. Combined with her Red Moon-level basic abilities, she is practically incredibly powerful. Furthermore, this blessing seems to significantly enhance Goto Ichiri's artistic appreciation and her own artistic skills. Because of this blessing, Goto Ichiri, whose guitar skills were already at a professional level, now possesses top-tier guitar playing abilities, and her ability to distinguish pitch and sound has also been greatly improved. It's no exaggeration to say that if Goto Ichiri, with this blessing, were to leave the [Sacrifice Game] and seriously improve herself, she could very well achieve a place in music history.

These are the three blessings that Goto Ichiri possesses.

Unlike the blessing held by Takami, these three blessings are more supportive in nature, with the third blessing enhancing Goto Ichiri's combat power to a certain extent.

However, in contrast, this socially awkward girl possesses S-rank Twilight-level enhancements, S-rank Dark Night-level enhancements, and A-rank Crimson Moon-level enhancements. Her physical abilities alone are extremely formidable, to the point that she can easily knock over telephone poles or smash through walls. It can be said that Goto Ichiri's physical strength is among the top tier of players; neither Kumami nor Toyama Akira are nearly as physically capable as Ichiri.

Furthermore, she also possesses multiple Red Moon and Dark Night-level artifacts. Information regarding this is much more concise, but the basic functions are still described.

Leaving aside the guitar, which could create an object of obsession that doesn't exist in history, this is a true Crimson Moon-level core object of obsession, and its power is beyond the imagination of ordinary people. However, as an object of obsession, it must come at a price when used, and we don't know what price Goto Ichiri paid.

The second commonly used obsession item is a small hair clip, known as the "Disguise Hair Clip," which is a Dark Night-level obsession item. This obsession item can be actively controlled by Goto Ichiri herself, transforming her appearance into that of another person or an object of similar size. The maximum size difference cannot exceed 1.5 times, and if the transformation lasts too long, she will be unable to revert back to her original form.

The third obsession is a military water bottle, also a Dark Night-level obsession. The water inside seems to taste different each time the cap is opened, and depending on the situation, it can enhance the drinker's combat abilities, restore depleted physical strength, improve mental abilities, or amplify desires, among other things. Sometimes, however, it can have negative effects, such as making the drinker irritable or prone to paranoia. This obsession is highly unpredictable, and it's unclear why Goto Ichiri keeps it.

Gao Hai's question was answered by the fourth obsession item, a small pendant obsession item with a very simple effect: it enhances the user's luck and brings misfortune to others within a certain range. This obsession item was rated as Red Moon level, and according to records, it could even bring bad luck to any approaching strange creatures. With this item, Goto Ichiri naturally didn't need to worry about the negative effects of random obsession items like the military water bottle.

The fifth obsession was also a hair clip, this time a simple and easy-to-understand spatial storage type. Seeing this, Gao Hai suddenly remembered that the hair clips he had seen Goto Ichiri wear these past few times seemed to be made of two different colored hair clips strung together.

"Wow, there's quite a lot of stuff."

Continuing to scroll down the data, Gao Hai saw even more records of obsession items, totaling more than a dozen. It was clear that the girl's setup was what a Red Moon-level player should have, and even more so, a high-level Red Moon player.

If every Red Moon-level player possessed this level of strength… no, this little Pochi must be special; reaching her level of power wouldn't be easy. But with her personality, how did she manage to get to this point? Isn't the difference between this world's Pochi and the one from the anime world a bit too great?

While reflecting on this, Takahashi glanced at the end of Goto Ichiri's profile and saw a comment.

The level of detail in a player's profile depends on the level of detail the player is willing to provide. Mr. Takami and Ms. Goto Ichiri have provided you with 100% detailed information; she is willing to provide you with her complete personal data, which is only available to you.

I don't know if it was left by Xiaoheshu or someone else.

Considering Kita Ikuyo's situation, Goto Ichiri's stalking of him, and the message he's seeing now, Takami can already guess what the girl is thinking.

That's quite a roundabout way of asking for a favor, but it's perfect. If there's any hope of saving your friend, I'll put in a little effort. Hmm, as payment, how about letting me touch her a little... cough cough, let's not be so vulgar, a little more restraint is better. After all, she's helped me a few times already, so I should repay her somehow.

But there's nothing he can do about it. Of the three girls he can touch right now, only Fujiwara Chika can truly be called a marshmallow; the others are either a bit too firm or don't have much presence. And considering the girls he'll be able to meet later, only Omiko has any real weight to her, so it's normal to yearn for Omiko's heart.

Lost in thought, Gao Hai did not stop flipping through the documents.

So, the two players from the [Red Guild], Kenta Hayashibe and Ren Nanakawa, along with Xiong Mi, an old acquaintance from the [Slacking Off Gang], and Jianbing Guozi who was cooperating with her this time… uh, the accurate name is Jianbing? No, it's Jianbing. This man, before becoming a player, seemed to have worked in the computer field like Xiong Mi, a somewhat miserable programmer. According to the records, this man seemed to have cooperated with Xiong Mi many times before, and even voluntarily entered the Fujika Middle School instance once after Xiong Mi went missing, only to be seriously injured and escape in a sorry state, taking a long time to recover. Hmm, to be able to venture deep into the instance alone and then escape, he's quite a capable guy.

"what does this mean?"

While Gao Hai was looking at the documents and thinking, Zhen Fei suddenly spoke up in a low voice.

"what happened?"

Turning his head, Gao Hai looked towards Zhen Fei and saw the girl holding up a document.

A document that is almost entirely white and contains no information whatsoever.

This is... information on Aoyama Nanami?

Gao Hai took it and looked at it, and found that apart from some basic information about Aoyama Nanami, there was almost nothing written on it. Blessings, coveted items, number of times participating in dungeons, and the buffs obtained were all blank.

Does the level of detail in a player's profile depend on the level of detail the player is willing to provide?

Upon seeing this almost blank document, Gao Hai couldn't help but recall the message he had just seen on the last page of Goto Ichiri's document.

Interlude 3-35: A chance encounter in the days leading up to the dungeon's opening.

slam-la-

Warm water flowed down beside the girl's fair feet, splashing up water droplets.

After rinsing off the foam, dry off the dripping water.

The girl lowered her head, letting the servant standing beside her dry her hair and put on her pajamas. Then, barefoot, she pushed open the bathroom door and entered the bedroom, where the curtains had already been drawn.

"Any new information from Gao Jun's side?"

Kaguya walked to the bedside and sat down, then looked at Hayasaka and asked.

"There is no further news at the moment. After receiving the list of participants and their approximate abilities and items, the master has not provided any new information. As previously agreed, we should now ensure we get sufficient rest, make sure we are in good condition, and prepare for the next operation."

Hayasaka Ai lowered her head slightly, her voice revealing no emotional fluctuation, just as she usually did when facing Kaguya.

If we disregard the fact that this guy keeps calling me "master".

After so many days, Kaguya had nothing to say about the fact that her maid had been effectively abducted by Takami. Anyway, Hayasaka was still loyal to her, and Takami didn't intend to give Hayasaka any orders that would be detrimental to Kaguya, so she could only pretend not to see it.

However, she was still very unwilling. She had put in so much effort in the rescue, but now this guy was obsessed with Master Takami. He was shameless and despicable. He even disregarded her own orders and only followed Takami's instructions. This made Kaguya, who already had a low sense of security, feel even more uncomfortable.

Sigh, but ultimately, it's no one's fault but theirs. After what happened, it's only natural that Hayasaka would develop that kind of dependence on Taka-kun. After all, even she herself... feels like she can't leave Taka-kun.

"Well then, there's nothing else to do tonight. You should go and get some rest. The Shinomiya family doesn't have as many rules now, so you can delegate some of your work to other servants. Don't overwork yourself."

"Understood. Goodnight, Kaguya-sama."

Kaguya and Hayasaka's conversation ended abruptly.

With Hayasaka Ai gone, Kaguya let out a long sigh in her bedroom, now alone, and collapsed onto the bed.

From becoming a player until now, if you think about it carefully, it's actually been less than two months.

From their life-or-death bond at the Shirakawa Apartment, to that man's idea of ​​confronting the family, and then emerging from the Red Nut Gray Hole. Later, with his help, he truly succeeded in shattering the family's control over him, even turning the tables and taking control of the entire family. And after that, to rescue Hayasaka, the man didn't hesitate to step into a life-or-death situation—no… he actually died in the Hayate Elementary School instance; he had already paid with his life.

Although it started as a way to ensure that she wouldn't be abandoned, and a desire to get closer to the other person due to a lack of security, upon reflection, there must have been an underlying reason why someone as proud as herself would be willing to get close to a man who couldn't be loyal to his partner and had entanglements with many women.

“Gao Jun…Gao Jun…Hai…Hai…”

Kaguya opened her mouth and tried to change how she addressed Takami, wanting to call him something more intimate.

No, I can't do it.

It was just a name, but for some reason, Kaguya couldn't bring herself to say it.

Why do I feel so conflicted?

Exhausted, Kaguya sighed deeply and rolled around on the bed several times.

Forget it, there's no point in thinking about these things.

Blinking, Kaguya tried to calm herself down and let her emotions gradually subside.

It's time to have a good rest.

A new mission is about to begin. Instead of dwelling on these meaningless things, we should conserve our energy and ensure we are in the best possible condition to face the crisis ahead.

Thinking this, Kaguya almost instinctively reached out to unbutton her pajamas, then folded her pajama bottoms and placed them on one side of her pillow before blushing slightly and crawling into the covers.

The aftereffects of being turned into a dog can't be eliminated in just a few days or weeks. Although seeking help from other players and using mental artifacts might have an effect, given Kaguya's personality, she finds it very difficult to ask for help in such matters. Therefore, she prefers to try to overcome it on her own, even though the results so far haven't been very good.

"call……"

Tuck the entire body below the neck into the bedding.