Kon was especially happy about dinner tonight. Lila was confused by this but didn’t question it since Kon finally stopped hounding her so much about that night of sneaking out.

  “So, Lila, how was your day today?”

  Lila was caught off guard a bit, and as she was currently stuffing her face when the question was asked.

  “It was tiring but fun. Haru finally started teaching me to attack instead of dodging everything. My [Tailor] and [Leatherwork] skills leveled up, but I think that’s more due to working with good material instead of my actual skills.”

  Her theory wasn’t wrong. The cosmos rewards risk as well as the results, so relying on good materials is a method many rich artisan families use to help their family members level up their crafting skills quickly. However, the limit to this method is usually around level three. While a rare few managed to even get the skill to level 4 using this method, no one has ever maxed out the skill without having matching techniques.

  “Well, these sound like more reasons to celebrate tonight!”

  Upon saying this, Kon clapped her hands, and a servant brought in bottles of sake. These bottles looked far more ornate than the other bottles offered in the past.

  “Look, Kon, I’m not twenty-one yet. So, while I appreciate the offer, I will still have to refuse alcohol.”

  “Is that why you’ve been turning it down?”

  The two of them just sat there and stared in awkward silence as they realized there was a misunderstanding going on.

  “Sweetheart. In Spiritus, the drinking age is thirteen."

  After hearing this, Kon could see the gears turning in Lila's head before she mouthed the word ‘Oooohhh’.

  “That explains a few things.” As Lila said this Kon stifled a chuckle.

  “A little secret is that yokai reach full maturity and are considered adults by thirteen. At least enough of us to make that our legal adult age. It also means that we get access to our system five years ahead of everyone else. We keep this a secret to maintain an edge against the other factions. Not like the other council factions don’t already know, though.”

  “That doesn’t explain why your drinking age is the same, though.”

  “If you’re old enough to fight and die, then you’re old enough to have a drink.”

  Lila couldn’t find fault with that logic, so she just grabbed a glass, waiting for some of the sake to be poured. Her orange eyes glowed with anticipation as her tail wagged in excitement.

  ‘So cute’ Kon thought as she watched while the servant poured the alcohol.

  “It took some convincing, but I was able to get this from an old friend who stole the recipe… and several crates a couple of hundred thousand years ago. He swears that few things can increase your attributes as well as this sake. So, enjoy.” Kon gave a toast to a better time, and when Lila reciprocated, they both drank.

  Kon was surprised to see that she got a small attribute increase given her high levels. After seeing that, she looked over at Lila, expecting to see her ecstatic, only to be met with a dreadful sight.

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  “LILA!!!!” Kon screamed as she saw Lila cry tears of blood and coughing up even more. She ran over to Lila while applying all the healing techniques and skills she had at her disposal while yelling for a doctor. Yelling for help.

  “I don’t think the alcohol wants to stay down.” Lila couldn’t help but make the joke with a smile on her face as she read the pop-up from the system.

  [WARNING]

  [Due To Your Body's Instability, You Can’t Increase Attributes With External Factors]

  [Rejection Is Under Effect]

  “You just sit there and keep being ironic, ok?” Kon was terrified but she tried to focus on Lila’s horrible joke to keep herself from panicking anymore.

  Others quickly came in, and luckily, they were able to stabilize Lila with Haruaki’s help. Once the entire shit show was over it was just Kon, Lila, and Haruaki together. Due to Lila’s insistence, they went back to the dining hall to talk over dinner.

  “So, what happened exactly? If that stupid monkey king poisoned the wine, then I should have been affected, right?” Kon asked while Haruaki thought about it.

  “Not really. Your level, my lady, is in the eight hundreds, so you are naturally immune to most poison unless it can affect someone at least level six hundred, which is rare enough.” He responded with. “Besides, poison isn’t his style. He would sooner crash into the palace and rampage than poison someone.”

  “I actually know why.”

  When Lila spoke up, they both turned to her.

  “What happened, sweetie?” Kon asked with her voice full of concern.

  “According to my system, my body is unstable. It said that any attempts to force my attributes to increase outside of the system would trigger that response. It was a little slow in the warning department if you ask me.” She explained with a pout as she kept eating. It turns out that crying and vomiting blood can make someone hungry.

  “Little princess, can you click on your race in your system quickly?” Haruaki inquired. If this were the case, then he worried about what it meant for Lila.

  [Race Status]

  [EP per level up: 3]

  [Body Stability: 0%]

  [Instability effect: infertile, cannot enhance attributes forcefully, susceptible to degenerative diseases]

  [Soul Stability: 0%]

  [Instability effect: can't create other havoc foxes through rituals or skills. Vulnerable to spiritual attacks]

  [Description: Vengeful]

  “WHAT THE HELL!!”

  “What is it?!” Both Kon and Haruaki asked in concern.

  “I give up on math. If I got two points for leveling up, then why does it say I get three?” Lila would vent about this confusion for a few minutes while the other two tried to calm her down.

  She didn’t understand that she leveled up before the cambion pill took root and finished changing her race, so the system saw it as a boosting item and gave her the attribute points before her new race had solidified as much (or little) as it did.

  “Focus, Lila. What else does it say?” Haruaki used the same tone he did in training to get her to focus. Subconsciously recognizing the tone, Lila ended up refocusing on her thoughts.

  “It says my body and soul stability are both at 0%. It also lists the effects of the instability.” As she read the instability effects, it dawned on her just how serious her situation was. Not only were beneficial items now poisonous to her, and her soul was extra vulnerable, but it dawned on her that she was not only the first of what she was, but possibly the last. That fact made her feel alone in a different way.

  She also found it concerning that the only thing in the description of her species was the word vengeful. She was more than a ball of anger and self-loathing, wasn’t she? So, she clicked on the description to see what it said.

  [As The First Of Your Kind, Your Classes, Title, And Actions Will Dictate How The Next Generations Of Havoc Foxes Will Instinctively Act]

  [Once Enough Descriptors Are Present, Your Race Will Be Summarized]

  Her teal eyes were full of fear and anxiety over what she was reading. She didn’t know that she was crying or hyperventilating until Kon pulled her into a hug to calm her down.

  “It’s okay, sweetie. We will figure this out.”

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