90 90. Creating The First Monster

The opening of the Shueisha branch was smooth sailing. At first, they were curious about the store selling some games they didn't know, such as Yu★Gi★Oh, Uno, Let's Get Rich(Monopoly), and some tabletop games. The reason why Ryūhei decided to sell other games was because they were so easy to make. Some asked how to play them, and Ryūhei told them how to play. While some of them read the rules by themselves.

The most popular one was Let's Get Rich, which Ryūhei made based on the Teyvat continent. Wooden pawns and dice, banknotes as Mora, and so on.

The second one was Yu★Gi★Oh. Apart from the interesting game rules, they are also attracted by the pictures on the cards. Especially some novel authors that could use those cards as inspiration for their novels.

As for novels, only a few people wanted to try, while no one had touched the manga yet. Not until someone from the Yae Publishing House barged in to buy manga, and that person was Yae Miko herself.

When Miko looked around…

'Tsk. I came when there were quite a lot of people. If I buy the manga in front of them, it will benefit this scoundrel.'

Miko decided to turn around. However, before she left, Ryūhei called out to her.

"Oh, Lady Yae, are you coming for the next volume? Sorry, the third volume of Shokugeki no Sōma hasn't been released yet. You have to wait for next week. If you want, you can buy my other manga. Or perhaps, you can try my novel."

Miko twitched after hearing that. She didn't expect that Ryūhei would take advantage of her arrival by promoting his manga and novels.

As for Ryūhei, he was clearly oblivious to her thoughts since selling manga and novels wasn't his priority. Simply put, he just let the customers know the manga by themselves.

'He did it on purpose, did he? Deliberately making me feel the impact of the cliffhanger and having me come here, then saying that to get people to buy the manga? What a sly move!' Miko could only hide her resentment against Ryūhei.

Yae Miko approached him, and then she brought her face closer to Ryūhei's, which made him flustered slightly as he tried to distance himself from her.

"Good move, little scoundrel. I'll remember this!"

Her sweet scent struck his nose, considering she was a few inches away from him.

"Erm? Did I do something wrong?" Ryūhei didn't understand what she meant. "But, Lady Yae, your posture is kinda tempting, my adolescent spirit will burst out, you know!" Her posture… seemed like she wanted to provoke his adolescent hormones. If she kept provoking him like this, he would definitely hug her even if he would be blasted by her lightning afterward.

His declaration stunned not just Miko, but the people in the surroundings as well.

"He has a death wish."

"Yo, that's kinda a red flag."

"I'm totally impressed by his bravery. He deserves the prostrations."

Those were the reactions of the people in the surroundings after hearing what Ryūhei said earlier.

Meanwhile, Miko chuckled…

"You dare?"

"Probably so. Can I?" Ryūhei had an evil glint in his eyes.

Then, Miko sharpened her gaze while replying.

"Don't get carried away, little scoundrel!" Then, she took a step backward.

"That's kinda harsh. I just want to get along with you." Ryūhei said with a sneer.

"Do you think I can get along with you?"

"Nope! Hahaha."

"Ufufufu. You know me pretty well, aren't you?"

The atmosphere was quite creepy since both of them gave off dark auras in the surroundings, making the people feel suffocated and causing them to back away.

"Hey, it's accelerating so quickly."

"It's not accelerating, it's escalating!"

"They are so scary, I want to go home!"

"Yeah, better to get away."

"But, from what the owner said, Lady Yae seemed to be interested in the so-called manga. Is it a kind of storybook?"

"Maybe. Since Lady Yae already has the first 2 volumes, that means the story is pretty good."

"Do you want to try?"

"Let's overhear their conversation first."

"Granted! That will do."

The people who saw Ryūhei bickering with Miko whispered to each other.

After some time, Miko picked the Journey to The West novel. She asked.

"What kind of novel is this?"

"A story of a monkey born from a stone nourished by the Five Elements, who learns the art of the Tao, 72 polymorphic transformations, combat, and secrets of immortality." Ryūhei explained.

"Tao? An art used by exorcists in Liyue, and Secrets of Immortality? Heh, interesting." Hearing that the main character was a monkey, Miko became intrigued by it.

Then, she heard Ryūhei say, "You know what, we living beings also have an immortal organ. Believe me."

Miko was puzzled by this.

"What do you mean?"

"You don't know?" Ryūhei asked in surprise.

Miko shook her head.

"It's liver. Do you get it?" Ryūhei with a deadpan expression.

After thinking for a moment, Miko's veins popped up.

"Do you believe I won't strangle you to death?"

Ryūhei took some steps backward. "Hey, don't be so serious. Why can't you take my joke? You're not funny at all. I just want to make a mountain joke."

"A mountain joke?"

"Hill areas. Do you get it? Hillari— Wait wait! Your lightning will destroy my new store! Stahp, stahp!"

Ryūhei could see the lightning element gathered behind her and formed fox tails. And Ryūhei asked her to stop before she launched that lightning.

"Humph!" Miko grunted. She knew there were some people nearby. So, she refrained from launching the attack.

Then, She picked another novel. "Romance of The Three Kingdoms?"

"Ah, that's a story about a warring state period. As for the manga, except Shokugeki no Sōma, which is a story about food wars, one of them is a story about a young boy who has a dream to become a pirate king—"

After Ryūhei explained them all, Miko decided to buy all of them although she felt that this was a part of his plan. She admitted that she lost this time. But, she was planning on getting revenge on him next time.

"You really took advantage of me this time." She said. But, Ryūhei didn't bother.

"Advantage? Why do you think so? I only told you about my manga and novels because you like reading."

After he said that, she snorted before leaving as her figure disappeared. Some people asked him about the so-called manga and novels afterward. In their mind, since even the famous Yae Miko came here by herself, coupled with Ryūhei's explanation earlier, the stories from the manga and novels must be amazing since those could even enter Miko's eyes.

As a result, those people bought all of the manga until Ryūhei ran out of stock. Well, it couldn't be helped since Ryūhei didn't bring a lot from Liyue. Moreover, he could just teleport to Liyue to restock his manga and novels.

Later, around 4 PM, Ryūhei sat in the front of the store since no one came in. From there, he could see some people playing Uno below the Sakura tree or some people talking about how to play Yu★Gi★Oh.

'Well, I guess it's quite smooth on the first day. However, I've been wondering. My clone just barged into Tenshukaku yesterday. But, there's still no movement from the Shogun's army at all. Or, was she simply confident that nothing posed a threat to her after eliminating my clone?'

After a while, Ryūhei closed the store ahead of schedule. Then, he got inside while trying to make a monster based on his imagination.

But, he didn't know what kind of monster he wanted to create.

'Let's create something interesting first.' Ryūhei made up his mind.

He imagined a slime with the power to absorb anything and take it to become its power. And since Ryūhei's eyes could see elemental energy, he imagined the slime to have resistance to all elements, and have a lot of abilities such as regeneration, shapeshifting, physical nullification, and so on.

Of course, he failed on the first try because something didn't match what he imagined. However, it didn't discourage him from trying the second and third. And finally, he succeeded in the fourth one. He finally created the most powerful slime in Teyvat.

After that, he chanted, "Arise!"

And the slime came into view.

But, with that said, he covered his face in embarrassment.

"Why did I say that? How embarrassing. I need some cringe protection."

"Moron!" Jiu commented to him. Then, she looked at the slime he summoned. "What is this slime? It seems different from other slimes I've seen before."

"Of course it's different. You can guess by yourself." Ryūhei let out an evil grin.

Anyway, he just didn't expect that the Annihilation Maker could create a monster exactly based on his imagination. He thought it would be a shadow monster similar to Sung Jinwoo's shadow skill.

The slime that Ryūhei created took the shape of a spherical, sometimes amorphous mass of slightly blue and translucent ooze. A very obvious difference from the slime in Teyvat which is formed from condensed elemental energy in a spherical shape and color based on the said elements.

What shocked Ryūhei the most was the slime he created seemed to have a consciousness as it looked around curiously.

It could even shape a little part of its body into a question mark.