Love, Gun, Cupid

After ingestion at 2°, the user will experience intense pain. Depending on the training effect, they will receive the equivalent of 5 to 10 ordinary enhancement potions, and moderately increase the user's fire resistance and energy recovery speed.

Unnamed vine magic

The spells used in the game "Tu Yi Le" are not worth recording.

Items held/effects

The Cuckoo's Contract:

A formal contract, which details the rights and obligations of Cupid and his lovers, takes various forms. The contract between the cuckoo and Lin Jiade is manifested as a chain symbolizing domination, binding, attraction, connection, and desire. This contract causes irreversible alienation of Lin Jiade's spirit.

Colt M1873 Single Action Revolver (Imitation)

The celestial weapon, lent to Lin Jiade by Du Juan, was rated by its owner as being at the level of a toy gun, but it could still unleash great power when the correct way to use it was found.

Azalea's Blessing:

When Du Juan repaired Lin Jiade's body twice, the energy she injected caused irreversible changes to Lin Jiade's body.

Oracle - Alternative Death:

The oracle, whose rating is unknown at 1°, is woven from the hair of a cuckoo into three feathers imbued with mysterious concepts, which are then covered on Lin Jiade's left chest in the shape of clover.

2° Within a calendar month, this oracle is forcibly activated only when the blessed person faces the misfortune of death due to a targeted attack, transferring the death to the intelligent being closest to the blessed person;

The transfer of 3° death does not directly cause death, but rather constructs the fact that the blessed one is alive and the nearest intelligent being is dead. The realization of this can take many forms and depends on the conditions on site.

4° Death cannot be transferred to undead creatures. This oracle cannot be activated if there are no intelligent creatures within 500 meters of the blessed creature. If the nearest intelligent creature can resist the oracle, then the effect of the oracle will be resolved on the second nearest intelligent creature, and so on.

Unnamed Blessings and Curses

The spell is unknown, the caster is unknown, and the effect is unknown.

Tidbits

1. Lin Jiade's name comes from Lin God, the Great British Emperor Lin Jiade;

2. The title comes from "The Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic of the Azande," and some of the settings are also referenced from this book.

3. This volume was originally planned to have 63 chapters, but it was written to have 78 chapters, and ultimately had 83 chapters during serialization.

4. The biggest challenge in this volume was integrating the readers' odd and wonderful supporting characters into the plot. The intended outcome was that all the supporting characters would be killed off, but the result...

Author's Note & Bonus Chapter Event

There's not much to say about the release date; let's talk about the bonus chapter event.

From the date of publication until May 31st, one update will be counted for every 100 monthly votes, 2000 recommendation votes, 10000 reward points, and 100 blades. This is mainly to learn from the lessons of the previous book, which was too short of updates and forced to lengthen the plot to continue updating, which actually made the reading experience of the readers worse. So I will control it.

I checked, and as of this time today, I owe 25 chapters. It'll take me over a month to make up for that. Luckily, Shuke shouldn't have any events in May, so it shouldn't be like the last book where I had to pay back a whole year. That's great!

Group number: 1081449927

Group name: Congratulations to Eyjafjalla on getting a new skin!

Introduction: There's not much here, just a place for readers to share their fantasies. Frequent participation gives you a chance to appear in minor roles in the story. Eight minor roles were pre-ordered for Volume 2; three have already been completed, and the remaining five will be available for readers to claim in the next few days.

Chapter One: Charity Activities (Part 1)

On October 15th, the third day of Jasmine's stay at Lin Jiade's house, Lin Jiade appeared in the back seat of the car, yawning. He took off the left half of his coat, and Jasmine crawled in, leaning against his shoulder and sleeping soundly, while the scenery on both sides rushed past.

Sitting in the front were still Kapok and Albizia. Of the four people in the car, three were wounded soldiers who had just been discharged from the hospital. Lin Jiade couldn't help but complain, "What kind of mission is this that wakes people up at three in the morning?"

"Did I disturb your and Jasmine's nightlife?" Hehuan said.

Lin Jiade waved his hand: "No, no, we sleep in separate rooms."

"It's just like a couple going through a midlife crisis, exhausted and having lost their love," Mu Mian complained.

Lin Jiade disagreed. He had various desires for Jasmine, but he was a moral person and would never lay a hand on a minor... at least not at this moment.

Furthermore, he can't break through Jasmine's defenses, and he's not as strong as her. If he attacks now, wouldn't it be like trying to show off in front of Kira Yamato in a regular mobile suit, only to humiliate himself?

"That's not how it works."

Jasmine opened one eye to defend her boyfriend: "Lin Jiade is a good man. Our life has just begun, and it's a time full of passion."

A barely perceptible "humph" escaped from the gap at the neck of Kapok's helmet. Lin Jiade had sensed from the time Kapok was giving him special training that the senior had different thoughts about his relationship with Jasmine.

Despite the great kindness that Kapok had shown him, he couldn't possibly listen to Kapok's opinion on the matter of Jasmine. It was he who decided to become Jasmine's boyfriend, overcome obstacles, and move towards the future.

Thinking of this, he hugged Jasmine tightly around the waist. She was so thin that it felt a little uncomfortable to hug her, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so happiness leaped in his chest.

Jasmine placed her hand on Lin Jiade's hand; her hand was warm, even warmer than his. In the slightly chilly morning, with the sky dominated by pale blue, dew soaking the mountain path, and a chill filling the air, there was nothing more pleasant than holding this 147cm little heater.

"For example?" Hehuan asked with great interest.

Jasmine thought about it seriously for a while, then put on her mask of pain: "Forcing me to eat prison-like nutritional meals, urging me to do rehabilitation work, forcing me to study, not letting me play on my phone, and making me go to bed on time."

We shower separately, sleep in separate beds, and he gets all shy and hesitant when he sees my underwear. He also won't let me wear his clothes, even though they're big enough to be worn as dresses and are very convenient for moving around the house..."

Lin Jiade awkwardly explained, "The play of you wearing my clothes is too damaging. I'm afraid I'll make a mistake."

"It's less about living with my girlfriend and more about having a pet," Mu Mian said.

“No, senior, you’re wrong.” Lin Jiade became serious. “My monthly income comes from the following sources: 500 dinars a month from my parents for living expenses; 700 dinars a month from the club’s magic research subsidy; and 1453 dinars a month from Jasmine.”

Jasmine is, in a sense, the mainstay of my livelihood.

He Huan searched on her phone and laughed, "Last year, the average monthly wage in Fuxing City was 1650 dinars. With these three sources of income, your income will be 1.5 times the average wage."

Lin Jiade complained, "Sigh, it's still not enough. The more magic you learn, the stronger you become, and the poorer you get."

I checked the Magic Researcher's Shop in the Magic Registrar's online friend link and found that the items there were ridiculously expensive. For example, a level 3 spell that boosts physical attributes costs a whopping 57,000 denars...

My goodness, that's enough to buy a 50-square-meter studio apartment outright in the suburbs of Fuxing City.

Hehuan, being a bourgeois girl, paid no attention to Lin Jiade's worldly troubles. She asked, "Is there any particular reason for Jasmine's monthly sponsorship of 1453?"

"This is the annual interest rate of a regular savings account I have recently deposited back into the account for another year after it matured. I then kept the increased amount, divided it by 12, and got 1453 per month."

Lin Jiade added, "Neither of us has a business mind. Although fixed deposits can't keep up with inflation, it's the safest way to preserve wealth."

Then, I don't want to spend Jasmine's money and get ripped off in the shop, so my idea is to use some of that money to upgrade my current lame magic.

"We'll see after that; researching magic is just too expensive."

Hehuan nodded: "It's right not to buy. The items in the mall are priced so high, which forces magic researchers to complete tasks assigned by the empire and exchange points for corresponding resources from the Magic Registrar's Office. They can also upgrade their permissions and unlock more things."

You and Jasmine both take on quests in the club; you can just use your points to exchange for items at the Magic Registrar's Office.

"It's called the Household Registration Department, but it's more like a General Management Department. It handles a lot of things for magic researchers," Lin Jiade complained.

Kapok replied, "Indeed, although it is a department under the Special Statistics Bureau, its number of employees is only less than some powerful departments."

"Speaking of which, what exactly is our mission that requires three wounded soldiers who have just been discharged from the hospital?" Lin Jiade asked.

After thinking for a moment, Kapok replied, "Break down feudal superstitions and help the local elderly out of their predicament."

"This is indeed a matter of public welfare... Well, it's not bad to do some good deeds."

Lin Jiade believed it. He originally thought it was just a science popularization activity and helping the elderly living alone and left-behind children. He instinctively sympathized with these vulnerable groups and was willing to contribute money and effort.

But things didn't go as he expected. At ten o'clock in the morning, Mu Mian drove the car into a cemetery in a remote village. Monsters attacked the SUV from all sides, just like a scene from a horror movie. And then... that was it.

Kapok alighted from the carriage, sword in hand, unleashing a storm of blades. Jasmine reverted to her true form, continuously unleashing dragon breath that sent people into instant cremation.

Hehuan nimbly climbed onto the roof of the car, then leaned down and patted Lin Jiade's side window, saying, "I'll have to trouble you to protect me, junior."

What else could Lin Jiade say? It would be too cowardly to stay in the car at this point. He got out of the car, using the SUV as cover, and with a pale face, fired his pistol repeatedly at the old men and women crawling out of the cemetery.

These monsters were pitifully weak, but visually disgusting; their appearance and smell almost made Lin Jiade vomit on the spot.

"What the hell is this thing?" he asked.

"A zombie, and a corpse demon. The reason the empire mandates cremation for its citizens is that the energy of natural cycles has a chance to mutate corpses into undead creatures."

This was only confirmed a hundred years ago, when the empire began to mandate cremation. Unfortunately, a custom that has lasted for tens of thousands of years cannot be changed in just a hundred years.

In many remote areas, people still secretly bury corpses using traditional burial methods. Most of the time, nothing will happen; there's a small chance it will become practice material for amateur magic researchers like us; and there's an extremely small chance that professional magic researchers will have to be deployed.

Chapter Two: Charity Activities (Part Two)

Hehuan explained to Lin Jiade that she sat cross-legged on the roof of the car and used talisman water to bless Lin Jiade's ammunition (to be precise, it was kindly provided by Kapok), and then she threw it to Lin Jiade.

Lin Jiade loaded seven bullets into the magazine in one go and continued firing at the monsters approaching the vehicle. Every time a bullet hit a monster, it made a sizzling sound like oil being poured into a hot pan.

“I think I don’t want to go into the kitchen for a while,” Lin Jiade said.

The battle lasted only five minutes before the dead in the village cemetery were wiped out... Except for one undead, the child-shaped corpse used the cover of the other undead to escape into the woods behind.

"Lin Jiade, let's give chase!"

Kapok turned around and said, "We usually classify undead by the degree of rationality they possess. The zombies we just eliminated were low-level undead; they had no consciousness whatsoever."

The escaped corpse demon has already gained sentience, and its threat is far greater than these zombies. The corpse demon has the ability to awaken corpses and awaken the sentience in zombies, allowing them to ascend to become new corpse demons.

Hehuan added, "Above the Corpse Demon are high-ranking beings such as Liches and Death Knights. They possess complete intelligence and memories of their previous lives. Most of the magic researchers in the Necromancer school will transform themselves into Liches and Death Knights in order to continue their research."

The Empire's oversight of magical researchers places paramount importance on the necromancy school, as disasters stemming from this group often have a domino effect. Initially, ignoring them may prevent problems, but once the undead establish a hideout, they become a dangerous force that can bring novice magical researchers to their doom.

“I get it, The Collins Killer, right?” Lin Jiade retorted.

Unfortunately, no one present had seen the animation. Mu Mian drew her sword and chased after him. Lin Jiade looked at He Huan, who said, "The cleanup team will be here soon. I will cooperate with them to clean up the village."

The aftermath of incidents involving supernatural powers is extremely complicated, and it would be best if Hehuan could take the initiative to assume responsibility.

Lin Jiade looked at Jasmine. Jasmine's legs were not able to move around for long periods of time, so the best solution was undoubtedly for Lin Jiade to become her means of transportation.

The newlyweds exchanged a knowing glance. Lin Jiade walked towards Jasmine, who opened her arms. She thought Lin Jiade would give her a princess carry, but instead, Lin Jiade hoisted Jasmine onto his shoulder like he was carrying a sack.

"...Forget it, I shouldn't have expected something from someone I only dreamed about playing soccer with," Jasmine said dejectedly.

She wrapped her tail around Lin Jiade's waist, securing herself to him. Lin Jiade took a step, and Jasmine was so light that he quickly caught up with Du Juan, his face flushed and his breath coming in short gasps.

The reason he was flushed and panting was not because of fatigue, but because of the pleasure brought by the constant friction of Jasmine's scales and tail against his skin.

Lin Jiade was glad he was wearing sweatpants today. He held Jasmine's back with one hand, pressed his cheek against her ribs to hold her in place, and took out an eye drop bottle with his other hand. He rubbed the cap open with his index finger and thumb and applied the drops to his eyelids.

The black aura of the corpse demon appeared in his field of vision. Following the trail of its lingering scent, Mu Mian and Lin Jiade caught up with it.

The corpse demon, in its panic, ran into a dead end; it couldn't jump over the dam used to store water. Lin Jiade put Jasmine down, and the three of them blocked its possible escape routes from three directions.

Flames flickered from Jasmine's lips, and Kapok pulled the trigger, channeling energy into the sword, causing it to glow with golden light. The Corpse Demon looked at Lin Jiade and pounced without hesitation.

"Damn it, do you think I'm a fake?!" Lin Jiade roared in anger.

He took off his coat, dressed as a Spanish bullfighter, and immediately wrapped himself around the corpse demon and punched it mercilessly when it pounced.