You say this is a love game?

Mizutani Makoto scratched the back of his head, feeling the unreserved kindness from the miko.

Honestly, this gap is really evil.

But how come it is that in the cracks of such a groove, some warmth can pop out from time to time?

Makoto Mizutani felt that he must have been PUA'd by the experience of the crack, so that when he was sincere to Ruriko Kamiya, he was completely powerless to resist.

His respect for Furuya Ruriko deepened.

Mizutani Makoto took a deep breath, and without any pretense of shyness, he took the bow from Furuya Ruriko's hand and said seriously, "I won't bury it."

When he took over the [Chiko Kurei], Mizutani Makoto felt a "vitality" that he had never felt before.

In Japanese legends, there has always been a tradition of "things becoming spirits over time". People firmly believe that all things have spirituality, and even the objects people use have the potential to become spirits.

Old things abandoned by their owners may even become "Tsukumogami" after a long time - in fact, they are spirits, and most of them are spirits that hold resentment for being "abandoned" and are determined to take revenge on humans.

The Cleaver Brother before Mizutani Makoto had a weak spirituality and was able to have "grudges".

Now, Brother Cleaver has long retired, so Mizutani Makoto hung it on the wall. Occasionally, when he remembered it, he would touch the knife and maintain it, which was considered as the care of an old hero.

As for Brother Greedy Knife’s “slight improvement in the freshness of cooking”?

No, no, no, he has used the kitchen knife to chop too many monsters. This kitchen knife is covered in blood and even scraped Miss JK's butt crack. How could he use that kitchen knife to cook?

I just can’t get over the psychological barrier!

And now, the situation of [Senko Guri] is similar to that of Brother Caidao, but [Senko Guri] is more spiritual.

"Lord Mizutani, you can rest assured about this... This child's spirit will always be like this. It is a weapon created by Lord Inari himself, and will never transform into a lowly spirit."

What this means is that this sword and bow will always maintain the posture of an "object", and its spirituality is equivalent to that of a sensible child.

"I understand."

Mizutani Makoto nodded, indicating that he fully understood.

That’s fine too!

He was just thinking that Furuya Ruriko called [Chiko Guri] "child", and he was afraid that this bow could transform into a human form... But now it seems that there is no need to think about this. This bow is a divine bow chosen by the gods. Its spirituality is directly enlightened by the gods and is maintained at this level. There is no danger of "things becoming spirits over time" or even rebelling against their masters.

So I'm taking off?

Mizutani Makoto's mouth curled up, and his fingers reached for the bowstring impatiently. In front of Furuya Ruriko, the bow's luster fluctuated slightly, as if it didn't want Furuya Ruriko to see it being used by someone else, so it hesitated.

However, Furuya Ruriko's expression remained calm, with a slight smile on her lips, so the bow obeyed.

Mizutani Makoto tried to pull the bowstring.

The next moment, he felt a strange sense of awkwardness.

The light on the bow's surface flickered, and the crimson light was particularly dim. Mizutani Makoto actually noticed that it conveyed a sense of doubt.

This sentiment is like saying - little brother, can you do it? Try harder!

"..."

The boy's blush spoke louder than any words.

Cheers! !

You can say anything else, but you can't say I'm boring!

I was born with supernatural powers!

Mizutani Makoto tried to use his innate strength, and found that even under a force that was enough to deform an ordinary bow and arrow, this Japanese bow remained motionless.

"Ok?"

Furuya Ruriko tilted her head slightly.

Miss Miko stood up, put her hand on Kazuyu, and put her other hand on Mizutani Makoto's palm, and a cool touch covered it.

She felt it and suddenly fell silent.

The miko hesitated for a moment before stammering, "Sir Mizutani, I forgot... If you want to use this child effectively, his spiritual power must be at least strong-mid level."

Strong, medium, position?

What?

Mizutani Makoto's eyes immediately became clear.

"Wait, Miss Furuya, are you really that strong?"

"...I can't remember anything about my life either."

Furuya Ruriko shook her head.

"In other words, my current spiritual power is not up to standard, so I can't even pull it open?"

"This child is quite special. Normally, it doesn't need arrows. When the bow is drawn, it automatically absorbs the bower's spiritual power and condenses it into a magic-breaking arrow. However, Master Mizutani, your spiritual power is not up to standard, so the magic-breaking arrow cannot be condensed smoothly. And it needs arrows to draw the bow, which is why you can't draw the bow."

But as soon as this situation came out, the two of them immediately felt embarrassed.

Furuya Ruriko pondered for a long time, then suddenly said, "It's not that there isn't a solution. If you, Mizutani-sama, can provide the raw materials and spiritual energy, I can make a special magic-breaking arrow for you. With it, you'll be able to use this child with ease."

If you don’t have enough spiritual power, make up for it with real objects!

[The shrine maiden Furuya Ruriko will provide you with the "tool making" service.]

[Players can provide raw materials and consume souls to have the shrine maiden Furuya Ruriko help them craft items.]

[Items that can be refined now:]

[1. Sin-stain smelling salts]

[Second, Demon-Breaking Arrow Kill]

【Three, Demon-breaking Arrow Purity】

These props are more expensive to make.

Putting aside the raw materials, Sin-Scarred Smelling Salts requires 300 souls, and the following two types of arrows require 5000 souls per arrow.

These souls are the "losses" required when Furuya Ruriko makes items. She has no intention of making a profit from the price difference, but sells them directly to Mizutani Makoto at cost price.

“What rate of inflation is this?”

But considering the strength, this pricing is not unacceptable.

Furuya Ruriko gave an example. Mizutani Makoto's own strength is insufficient, but if he can hit the enemy with the Demon-Breaking Arrow... even if he can't use his combat skills, he can still cause extremely effective damage to monsters of the same level by relying on simple and unpretentious archery.

"Of course, the possibility of directly killing the enemy is very low, unless the evil spirit is truly guilty of heinous crimes... Ultimately, it depends on your strength, Master Mizutani. Otherwise, even if you inflict heavy damage on the enemy, your situation may still be dangerous."

Makoto Mizutani really couldn't help it and stared at Ruriko Furuya for a while.

Is this the prodigy cultivated by a famous and upright family?

She is so knowledgeable, she is simply an all-rounder.

His unconventional approach to life is completely incomparable to Furuya Ruriko in this respect.

A light bulb went off in Mizutani Makoto's mind, and he took out the [Grudge Prism Fragment] from his backpack. He didn't know the purpose of this item that was exploded by the mirror, but Furuya Ruriko might know it.

"This should be the material for strengthening the knife."

"It can also be used to cultivate Shikigami... Of course, I'm talking about Shikigami related to 'weaponry'. Generally, they are Shikigami of the sword spirit, sword spirit, or spear spirit nature. These Shikigami generally have a 'body'."

"If you, Mizutani-sama, can subdue this type of Shikigami in the future, and then train them, you'll find that, in addition to the spiritual energy provided by the spirit core, these Shikigami generally require minerals, metals, or other special materials to strengthen their bodies."

I understand. This is the material for weapon development.

Makoto Mizutani gained a lot from this trip.

Furuya Ruriko answered every question, and her sincerity made people want to kneel down to the shrine maiden on the spot, break their sword and swear allegiance to her.

At the same time, Furuya Ruriko guessed that Mizutani Makoto had no place to pick the elixir, so she showed him a way.

"Back Mountain."

"That place has been filled with sediments for nearly a hundred years, forming a large number of magical medicines. Also, under the influence of certain monsters, various herbs have grown there as well."

"Lord Mizutani, if you are anxious to refine the secret medicine, you can go to the back mountain to explore. There is a high probability that you will gain something."

Furuya Ruriko provided clues about the back mountain, and Mizutani Makoto immediately understood.

This game also involves collecting raw materials.

It seems that some elements of the magic ring or black monkey are also mixed in.

After noting down the task of “picking herbs in the back mountain”, Mizutani Makoto was ready to explore the subsequent maps.

Before leaving, out of respect for Furuya Ruriko, Mizutani Makoto asked:

"Miss Furuya, do you need my help with anything else?"

Mizutani Makoto asked casually, but Furuya Ruriko seemed to be really worried about something.

Furuya Ruriko was silent for a moment, then slowly spoke:

"Mister Mizutani, have you ever been to the school gate area?"

"The school gate. I'm quite familiar with that place."

Of course, Mizutani Makoto's initial accumulation relied on the support of Ksitigarbha monks. Unfortunately, Tang Shizi suddenly appeared and broke up the couple, preventing him from being close to Ksitigarbha monks, forcing him to go to Miss JK to find a meal substitute.

Now, the incident at Shilipu in the Novice Village is still vivid in his mind. In just over a month, he has become a big fish who can kill small fish at will.

Furuya Ruriko nodded slightly and said softly:

"In that case, has Lord Mizutani ever seen one? There should be a Tang lion there, guarding that area."

Tang Lion?

Mizutani Makoto nodded.

Furuya Ruriko said surprisingly: "It used to be my Shikigami."

--what?

Mizutani Makoto was immediately stunned.

"Thanks to Lord Mizutani for recovering this bow, I now vaguely remember some of the past events."

"I came here to eliminate this rift, but unfortunately, I was not strong enough and ended up dying here."

"And the shikigami who followed me to the crevice back then mostly met the same fate."

"But only Tang Shizi had a different ending."

Back then, Furuya Ruriko brought several Shikigami to suppress the rift, but unfortunately failed.

Before she died, she sent the only remaining Tang Shizi Shikigami to the school gate area, intending to push it out of the gap, but failed.

In the end, Furuya Ruriko was forced to place her spirit in the body of the evil-suppressing stone lion at the school gate. Before her death, she left a final instruction, ordering her to animate the body of the stone lion, use it as the basis of her activities, and do her best to suppress the evil spirits in the cracks.

The Ksitigarbha monks were the Tang Lion's abilities. After completely merging with the crevice's stone lion shell, their abilities were actually strengthened by the crevice, forming a whole Ksitigarbha monk spawning area.

According to Ruriko Furuya's story, the school gate area should have been occupied by Miss JK and Brother DK.

It was the appearance of Tang Shizi and Ksitigarbha monk who joined forces to suppress the evil spirits - Tang Shizi was responsible for the indiscriminate killing, while Ksitigarbha monk was responsible for vigilance and haha ​​- and finally they forcibly seized the school gate area.

This is also what Mizutani Makoto had seen before, the reason why Miss JK would make a sharp roar when she saw Tang Shizi.

"..."

As Mizutani Makoto listened, he began to sweat profusely.

Was that thing placed there by Miss Miko?

Specially used to kill evil spirits?

So, the evil spirit is actually me?

Mizutani Makoto hesitated again and again, but ultimately did not dare to tell Furuya Ruriko that he had been killed by Tang Shizi three times.

“But now it’s changed.”

The witch sighed:

"It was once a shikigami that slew evil spirits, but now it has been eroded by its flaws and has become one of the evil spirits itself."

Having said this, Furuya Ruriko paused again.

Mizutani Makoto understood - even so, the Tang lion still obeyed the orders given to it by Furuya Ruriko and did not leave the school gate area.

"Lord Mizutani, the Shikigami I knew is dead. All that remains is its loyal will... It is no longer the Shikigami I knew, and its former loyalty is nothing but a tragic desecration. You should understand—its mission has come to an end."