"Duel, start!"
With Lucas's command, the dueling field instantly rose around them.
"You… want to duel me?" Shenhe frowned slightly as she glanced around at the activated battlefield. "You do realize that even though this is a virtual space, people outside… can still see what's happening inside, right?"
Indeed, while the two of them were currently in an isolated duel space, spectators outside could still view the match.
This area wasn't particularly crowded, but if they were caught "rewarding" each other in the middle of the street, it was highly likely that the Millelith officers would charge them for "public indecency''.
Not to mention, due to the sheer entertainment value of duels, they naturally attracted onlookers. In no time at all, a crowd would undoubtedly gather.
"That's simple," Lucas drew a card and declared, "Activating the Field Effect Card [Magic Mirror Field]!"
The effect of [Magic Mirror Field] was to erect a massive one-way mirror within the battlefield, preventing both duelists from seeing each other's field setup.
However, rather than placing the mirror in the center of the battlefield, Lucas had it rise along the perimeter. Before long, four enormous one-way mirrors encased both him and Shenhe inside.
A one-way mirror, as the name implied, was a mirror on one side and transparent glass on the other.
From inside the battlefield, everything outside was perfectly visible. However, from the outside, all the spectators could see was a giant reflective surface.
Sure enough, the sudden appearance of these four large mirrors quickly attracted curious passersby. Many stepped forward, intrigued, some even reaching out to touch the surface—only to find their hands passing through a virtual projection.
"Relax," Lucas reassured Shenhe, who, lacking common knowledge in such matters, appeared skeptical. "These mirrors allow us to see outside, but from the outside, they only look like regular mirrors."
"How… how can such mirrors exist?" As expected, Shenhe, who had lived in the remote mountains for most of her life, was still doubtful. She frowned and asked, "Are you lying to me?"
"Why don't you test it yourself?" Lucas smirked as he pulled out another card. "Activating Effect Card [Equipment Removal]!"
As the name suggested, this card's effect was to remove all equipment cards from the target.
However, since Shenhe wasn't currently equipped with any gear cards, the system seemingly defaulted to treating her clothing as "equipment."
With a crisp swish, Shenhe's garments instantly "disassembled."
That's right—it wasn't torn apart, but neatly separated from her body in an almost mechanical fashion, far more efficiently than if she had undressed herself.
"Ah!"
Even the usually cold and aloof Shenhe instinctively covered her body's vital areas. However, none of the surrounding spectators reacted in the slightest. In their view, all they saw was the giant mirror reflecting the environment back at them.
"Well? Told you I wasn't lying," Lucas boasted smugly.
"You're dead!"
Before he could even finish speaking, Shenhe lunged at him, tackling Lucas to the ground.
With the restraints of her clothing gone, her figure moved even more freely. The sheer weight pressing against Lucas's chest nearly suffocated him.
[-100]
[-10]
[-10]
[-10]
As Lucas's HP loss indicators popped up over his head, Shenhe finally sat up, frowning in confusion. "Why is your HP dropping?"
"100 points must be impact damage," Lucas wiped the blood trickling from his nose and sighed. "And the 10-point losses are probably from suffocation or blood loss. This system's calculations are way too detailed."
Whether it was direct collisions between players or certain negative effects, the duel system was highly comprehensive in how it deducted HP. It was hard to say if this was a sign of intelligence… or just ridiculous over-engineering.
"In that case, I should've just smothered you completely!" Shenhe huffed, her cheeks burning with both embarrassment and anger. "Then I could've taken all your Mora Tokens!"
"Too bad," Lucas chuckled mischievously. "You can't take my Mora Tokens. But… if it's something else, you can have as much as you want."
Shenhe instantly picked up on the underlying implication in his words.
"I… I refuse." To Lucas's surprise, Shenhe actually looked flustered for once. "Master taught me that a promise must be kept. Since I agreed, I will absolutely follow through. But… can't we at least wait until we get back tonight?"
Lucas smirked, despite being pinned underneath her. "Don't tell me… you're embarrassed because there are people outside?"
"W-Who's embarrassed?!" Shenhe predictably fell for the provocation but still attempted to make excuses. "I… I just think this place has no bed."
"A bed? That's easy." Lucas, already expecting her excuse, pulled out another card and declared, "Summoning [Hydro Slime]!"
The moment he spoke, a smooth, translucent blue Slime materialized behind Shenhe. Before she could react, Lucas suddenly pushed her backward—causing her entire body to sink into the Slime's gelatinous form.
"What are you doing—mmph!?" Shenhe tried to speak, but as she was swallowed into the Hydro Slime, she accidentally gulped down a mouthful of water.
"Activating Effect Card [Sticky Goo]!"
Taking advantage of the moment, Lucas immediately activated another card, transforming the Hydro Slime into a viscous, adhesive state.
Just like what had happened to Bi Yan before, Shenhe's body was now tightly trapped within the gooey Slime. No matter how she struggled, she couldn't break free.
[-10]
[-10]
Just like earlier, due to the suffocating effect, Shenhe's HP began decreasing steadily.
Lucas quickly reached into the Slime and grabbed hold of Shenhe's head, yanking her out as if uprooting a radish.
"You… Are you trying to die?!" Shenhe gasped for air, her anger flaring. "You bastard, let me go!"
Her normally pristine silver hair had become messy and damp from the Slime's sticky residue. But instead of diminishing her beauty, it gave her an unexpectedly alluring charm.
"No can do." Lucas patted her flushed cheek with a grin. "You let me out first, then I'll let you out."
With that, Lucas pulled out yet another card. "Activating Effect Card [Multiplication Technique]!"
[Multiplication Technique: Allows a specific body part to enlarge.]
Without hesitation, Lucas chose to enlarge the very weapon he needed for the upcoming "duel."
It was said that every card in Genius Invokation TCG contained a spirit. If the Multiplication Technique card also had a spirit and knew what it was being used for right now, one could only imagine its reaction.
Lucas's size was already above average, and after using the "Multiplication Technique," he went from being of Asian descent to African descent.
The filthy Tower of Babylon cast a rather large shadow on Shenhe's face.
"It won't fit..." Shenhe's face rarely showed a "panicked" expression: "There's no way it can fit."
"Wow!"
At that moment, a surprised voice came from outside the duel arena: "Xingqiu, look, this duel arena is amazing."
The speaker was a young man with light blue short hair dressed in Taoist robes, and standing beside him was none other than Xingqiu, who had just left not long ago.
That young man was none other than Xingqiu's good friend, Chongyun.
At the same time, he was also Shenhe's nephew.
Logically speaking, Shenhe, who had just come down from the mountains, shouldn't know this nephew yet. However, due to previous experiences with the simulator, Shenhe recognized Chongyun at a glance.
But how could that clear-eyed young man know that at this moment, within the mirror-surrounded duel arena, his yet-to-be-met aunt was facing such an embarrassing predicament.
"It really is amazing..." Xingqiu's gaze swept over the duel arena. Although he couldn't see anything inside, with his wit, he immediately guessed that this must be Lucas' "creation."
"Xingqiu," Chongyun asked like a curious child, "Why is this duel arena surrounded by mirrors?"
"Who knows?" Xingqiu's face showed a meaningful smile: "But logically speaking, things that are concealed are often unspeakable."
"Do you mean something unspeakable is happening inside?" The innocent Chongyun took out a large ice pop from somewhere and started eating it on his own: "Wait, it's time for today's ice pop."
"Wait..." Xingqiu frowned slightly as he looked at the ice pop in Chongyun's hand, which was two or three times larger than usual: "Why is today's ice pop so much bigger than usual?"
Chongyun's constitution was an extremely rare pure Yang body. Whenever he came into contact with heat, his temperament would change drastically, and he needed to eat ice pops to eliminate the excess Yang energy in his body. Fortunately, he possessed a Cryo Vision, allowing him to carry ice pops with him for emergencies.
"Didn't we come today to participate in the Tianshu Selection?" Chongyun sighed helplessly: "My family was afraid I might have an accident, so they specially prepared the largest size. Sigh... why do they force me to participate in such events? I have no interest in being the Tianshu Star."
Indeed, Chongyun was one of the participants in this Tianshu Election. Although he was young, his strength was among the best in the demon-slaying families of Liyue Harbor. Moreover, with his rare pure Yang body, he had always been groomed as the future family heir, so it was no surprise he was here for the Tianshu Selection.
Because the ice pop was so large, Chongyun could only stick out his tongue and start licking it from the top.
Meanwhile, inside the duel arena.
"See?" Lucas gently patted Shenhe's cheek and smiled: "If you can't eat it all at once, just slowly lick it away."
Shenhe glared fiercely at Lucas. She knew this guy's personality well. Although her brother-in-law was usually kind and easygoing, when it came to matters like this, he could be quite persistent. If his wishes weren't fulfilled, he would never let it go.
So, she had no choice but to lower her head and start nibbling away at the enormous ice pop she had never seen before in her life.
Outside the duel arena, the nephew was eating a large ice pop; inside the duel arena, the aunt was also eating a large ice pop.
Although there were some differences, it couldn't help but remind Lucas of the simulator he had experienced a long, long time ago.
Of course, although it seemed like a long time ago, in reality, Lucas had only been in Teyvat for a little over a month. However, because the simulator often made Lucas experience a complete life, it gave him a sense of being in a different world.
In that simulator where Shenhe was the heroine, Lucas had forced Shenhe to do as he pleased through "threats." At that time, he had even taken advantage of Chongyun's deep sleep to have his way with his aunt right beside him.
That moment was just like this moment.
As time passed, Shenhe's eyes gradually became unfocused. However, what she was doing now was undoubtedly a hundred times more difficult than "grinding an iron rod into a needle."
After all, that old lady at least used tools to grind the iron rod, while Shenhe only had a flesh tongue.
"Indeed," Lucas said with a relaxed expression: "This is really too difficult for you."
"Don't look down on me..." Shenhe mumbled: "If my mouth were big enough, this wouldn't be a problem at all."
"That's what you said," Lucas's face showed a mischievous smile: "I'll grant your wish."
"Wait..." Shenhe murmured: "What are you trying to do?"
"Activate card..." Lucas drew a card and smiled: "Equipment card [Curse of the Eight-Foot Tall Lady]."
The Eight-Foot Tall Lady is one of the ghost stories of Inazuma. It is said to be a tall female ghost about eight feet tall (approximately 2.5 meters), usually targeting young human males as prey.
The effect of the equipment card is to add the defense value to the attack value and reduce the defense to zero.
A strange light rushed out from the card and directly entered Shenhe's body. Immediately, Shenhe's body began to grow at a visible speed. Her originally tall figure now exceeded two meters after the transformation, even taller than Yao Ming by a head.
Of course, it wasn't just her height that increased due to the card's effect.