Zongman: Evolution Paradise

"no more chance."

Jolyne: "From now on, when Jorogumo sits on the table, you should squat under it."

"Great!!!"

Jorogumo suddenly appeared in the room. Today, the little spider was 1.3 meters tall with a childlike face, wearing a purple kimono that exposed her shoulders and cleavage. She was barefoot and had stepped on the head of the human-faced dog.

She even did a graceful spin.

Jolyne: "..."

The human-faced dog didn't care. She was only ever wary of Ace, the white-haired dog girl. After a moment of thought, she suddenly realized that crouching under the table might work, and her drooping tail immediately started wagging happily again.

"Little Spider, do you know what dreams are?"

Just then, Jorogumo came over, and Jolyne asked her about the dream she had just had. During Demon Slayer, she absorbed the Blood Demon Art of Lower Rank Demon Enmu, and now, dream manipulation has become one of Jorogumo's main abilities.

"Master had a nightmare! I should have worn a nun's habit today and had the therapist Spider give Master some secret treatment!"

"A secret treatment, hmm~"

Mrs. Yukino was woken up and, covering herself with the blanket, blushed as she thought of certain comics under the bed.

"The human-faced dog will keep secrets."

The human-faced dog, completely oblivious to the point, thought everyone was talking about keeping something that was about to happen a secret.

"Jorōgumo, let me state in advance that you are one of the few pure ones in the maid troupe. If you dare to corrupt the human-faced dog, you'll be squatting under the table in the future."

"Oh, I can control my fangs now."

Jolyne: "!!!"

Clearly, Jorogumo was spying again. She was very interested in her master's dream. Her grass-green pupils cast a mesmerizing light as she leaped onto Jolyne's shoulder and pressed her eyes against Jolyne's.

Two or three seconds passed.

Three or four seconds passed.

Four or five seconds passed.

Jolyne noticed her smirk and silently lifted Jorogumo off the wall hanging in front of her. Because Jolyne did not resist, Jorogumo had already come to a conclusion.

"Dreams originate from the owner himself!"

Jorogumo said definitively, "At least I haven't found any trace of interference from external forces."

She ruled out the possibility of the enemy's involvement.

Chapter 514 Devil Fruit

"Just my own dream?"

Jolyne fell into deep thought.

If we're talking about power that originates from himself but isn't fully mastered, it's definitely the numerous talents on his player panel. To date, he has nine talents, the same number as his skills. The three most likely contributors to this are:

Talent - End Watcher?

Talent - Attendant of the Abyss?

Talent - Duke of Malice?

The End Viewer comes from Liu Fu, the Abyss Attendant comes from Nakano Maruo and Jie, and the Evil Duke comes from Liu Fu and Genten Lumo. Just by looking at the names of these three talents, you can tell that they are not low-level items. The effects described in the Paradise panel are also extremely abstract.

Jolyne opens [The Duke's Self-Cultivation].

Although His Majesty the Duke had just woken up, his daily dose of complaints had already arrived.

[Level One Evil Deed: Today, the Source Heavenly Lu Demon is also struggling and suffering because he awoke on the ship.]

[Level Two Evil Deed: Your pet Gastly has changed trainers four times this morning, meaning it has lost its ability to battle four times. Unaware of Black Sun's true strength, it is determined to fight and defeat him, and all of this is due to your suggestion.]

[Level Two Evil Deed: Your friend Kato Megumi killed some nobles in the Kingdom of Goa last night. The atrocities she committed since becoming a player are partly due to your Jorogumo's failure to supervise her properly.]

[Second-level evil deed: A Devil Fruit is searching for Jeanne d'Arc for some reason, and its journey has already caused numerous open and covert struggles.]

Jolyne: "..."

How can Kato Megumi's killing of the enemy be blamed on him?

The Duke of Evil was still a bit too wicked.

Although the Death card has a bad connotation, Jolyne didn't think it was a surprise to see Kei. Now that she's received news of her, she can't help but admire Kei Kato, who has easily accomplished what ordinary people cannot.

The remaining accusations were not worth mentioning; they were mostly common issues in the kingdom. He had been using the Duke of Evil's talent as a daily intelligence station.

Black Sun followed its advice, while Gastly was unaware that Black Sun was a fourth-tier being. Hopefully, it could evolve into Gengar sooner and suffer less beatings from its seniors.

But what's with Devil Fruits?

In search of Joan of Arc?

Based on the description of "causing open and covert struggles," this is undoubtedly a high-value Devil Fruit. Jeanne's specialness lies in her several talents, so the target is locked on a Dragon-type Mythical Zoan Fruit. However, one must be careful that danger will come along with that Devil Fruit.

Putting these trivial matters aside, Jolyne looked at the last guide to destiny. The dream sounded like a prophetic dream that stirred up the long river of fate, and perhaps that dream was caused by the Duke of Evil.

And this passive effect was indeed triggered.

[The great, wicked Duke!]

Good fears you! Evil follows you!

[Your eternal servant brings advice: today is not the time to betray your current love!]

……

Soon after.

The restaurant on the first floor.

"What! You had a nightmare!" Shizuka Kikkawa placed the back of her hand on Jolyne's forehead, checking if Jolyne was alright by taking her temperature. After a while, she brought her face closer and said definitively, "It must be because you weren't with your teacher last night!"

Even with movies, TV shows, and video games, sailing at sea can be quite boring. It's alright to see all sorts of strange sea creatures during the day, but at night, the sea is eerie and lonely without any sea breeze or sound. Even when they take out their fishing rods and put on their food, no sea creatures bite. So the crew members started to have a feast like the pirates. Shizuka Marikawa couldn't help but drink whenever she saw alcohol, and for several nights in a row, she was covered in alcohol and was dragged away by Riko Minami to sleep with her.

"I actually sleep better without you pulling the blanket over me."

Before Shizuka could even pout, Jolyne fed her a slice of grilled meat. It was a blue sea monster with two heads that could spew water cannons. Its texture was somewhere between beef and frog meat. Even though Nanri Kaori, who was practicing her marksmanship, had her brain shattered by a bullet, the meat was completely undamaged.

Regarding the cause of the dream, I have pondered for a long time but have not found a clear explanation. After all, there are too many possibilities when several talents are combined. For example, the [Eye Aperture] talent may have triggered glaucoma when preparing the pupil technique. The calamity aura of glaucoma may have triggered [Duke of Evil], and then Duke of Evil may have sounded the alarm and made an emergency call. Through the dream, he may have advised the Duke not to get involved in emotions again.

The human-faced dog said it would keep the secret, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be tricked into revealing information. Soon, the news spread throughout the 200-meter-long human-faced dog, but Jolyne didn't mind telling Saeko Busujima and the others.

It was just a strange dream, not some predetermined destiny.

"So they really have changed their minds? Even strangers can appear in my dreams, but they won't let the teacher join in."

"...I simply can't imagine it."

Jolyne quipped, "Am I going to dream that after breaking up with Shizuka, half of heaven is taken away from me?"

Saeko Busujima agreed, saying, "Shizuka, you can't even stick to a diet. Even I can't imagine you wielding a sword and killing Rin-kun."

"It's hard not to agree." Joan of Arc, who was occupying the throne on Jolyne's lap, forcefully pushed away Shizuka Marikawa. Her voluptuous figure was far more terrifying than Saeko Busujima's; it wasn't just touching her nose but grinding against her face. "Hurry up and lose weight! Burn off all the fat that shouldn't be there!"

"Hey! You're all bullying the teacher!!!"

Shizuka Marikawa puffed out her cheeks, and when she saw that Jolyne really wasn't going to speak up for her, she turned into a pufferfish.

"It's decided, teachers need to become stronger too!"

"No one will believe that at all."

Helpless, Jolyne lifted Jeanne by her armpits and placed her in Yukino Fuyuki's arms, while Shizuka Marikawa sat sideways on her lap. "But before you regret it, I will try my best to help you improve your strength, such as the Devil Fruit that we will be able to get later."

When the usually carefree Shizuka Marikawa said she was determined to become stronger, it wasn't a joke.

At least she sounded very serious.

Jolyne realized that Shizuka Marikawa was very concerned that she didn't appear in her dream. Like Mitsuri Kanroji, she didn't care too much about how many other people Jolyne was close to, but only if their appearance didn't affect Jolyne's feelings for them, and her own status couldn't be trampled on by others. The fact that she didn't appear in the dream was a signal of the gap.

She knew it was normal that she wasn't in the dream.

After all, that's her personality. She doesn't have Esdeath's domineering possessiveness, and when she has a conflict with Jolyne, she only uses obvious ways like puffing out her cheeks to show that she's angry and that he/she needs to coax her. The kind of disagreement that could lead to the two of them breaking up simply doesn't exist.

Furthermore, the prerequisite for becoming a rebel is to at least possess strength surpassing Jolyne in the future. Since Shizuka Marikawa does not pursue strength improvement, even if she were to truly turn evil without power, she would not be able to harm Jolyne.

The problem isn't whether or not it's understood.

There's a saying: "The squeaky wheel gets the grease."

Chapter 515 Shizuka Marikawa's Awkwardness

Just like in some families, children who cry and fuss often get new clothes, while those who don't cry and fuss and think about easing the burden on the family can only wear old clothes, and may even be hit by their parents with the words, "Your sister's clothes are perfect for you to wear."

"Jeanne, Saeko Busujima, Esdeath, and Medea are all rebellious children who dare to draw their swords against you. So, will you pay more attention to these four in the future? And what about me and Mitsuri Kanroji, who are not troublesome or rebellious? Will Jolyne treat us as sensible and easy to bully?"

"Today you show a little less concern, tomorrow you'll give away my new clothes to someone else. A week later, will you, Jolyne, ignore our grievances and unfairly prioritize the demands of the rebels?"

Shizuka Marikawa is a bit of a ditz, but she is also a very knowledgeable doctor. Only NPCs in games can capture a person's soul in a few words. She is incredibly perceptive in these areas. Yukino Fuyuki and Kanroji Mitsuri never thought of these things after hearing this.

And her keen insight was not wrong.

For Jolyne, Saeko Busujima and her three companions are a bit more special because their souls cannot accept being wronged in the slightest. If Jolyne dares not to take them seriously, her maxed-out affection level will not prevent a magnificent betrayal and a battle of love.

If Jolyne's dream in the morning is a scenario where even Mitsuri Kanroji wants to kill him, Jolyne wouldn't care much about the dream, because it would only prove that he's a blustering fraudster. He could just treat the dream as a joke.

But the dream didn't work; it merely amplified the four people's existing obsessions and possessiveness, then wrapped them in a "future" package, ultimately creating a strange-tasting candy that left people wondering whether it was sweet or bitter.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and the child who demands more will naturally receive more attention. Jolyne is not a machine, so this is unavoidable.

Fortunately, the solution was simple. He didn't need to, and couldn't, make it equal. He just needed to assure Shizuka that even if he gave more to the four of them, he wouldn't reduce the portion that belonged to Shizuka. He just needed to soothe her slight discomfort caused by the dream content.

Only by doing this will Shizuka Marikawa and Mitsuri Kanroji not care who is in their dreams.

Or rather, this is the key premise that allows so many girls to get along peacefully now.

"If you had the Smooth Fruit, you could slide away the fat around your waist and abdomen, and you wouldn't have to worry about your skin getting worse no matter how late you stay up watching movies and TV shows."

Jolyne explained to Shizuka that the Smooth-Smooth Fruit could make diseases and injuries slide out of the body.

"It might work?"

Jolyne thought for a moment, "The premise is that the fruit is developed to an incredible level, but didn't we already have Pochi-chan's time reversal?"

"As a real doctor, I also want to improve my medical skills after watching too many movies and TV shows."

"...Should I criticize Shizuka? Did you only think about your main job because you were tired of watching TV dramas?"

"Jolyne, do you think this is easy? I usually find it very difficult to get tired of watching!"

"...This is nothing to be proud of."

Before she had even finished the barbecue, Shizuka Marikawa had already forgotten what had just happened. She had only felt a little awkward after hearing the contents of the dream, and it was over quickly after Jolyne comforted her.

"Dangdang~"

"Salt and pepper flying gun shrimp is ready!"

"Creamy lettuce and silver dragon soup is ready!"

When Mitsuri Kanroji served the dishes, Genten Lumo, the former master of the demonic lord who had transformed into the Evil Duke, immediately swiftly grabbed the shrimp meat that Jolyne had just aimed at.

Because Jolyne had been constantly provoking her, Genten Lumo's patience had reached its limit, and she began to seek revenge on Jolyne over trivial matters.

"Hard-boiled eggs, eat more if you like them."

Xu Lun didn't care at all, and directly turned around to pick up a piece of shrimp meat next to him and put it into Yuan Tian Lu Mo's bowl. This considerate act towards the prisoner immediately made the ungrateful Yuan Tian Lu Mo look like he had eaten shit.

"An incompetent killer is not worthy of enjoying the shrimp meat personally fed by the great Darwin."

She then placed some more on the plate for the Goldfish Princess, who, being greedy, paid no attention to such things. Yuan Tianlu Mo glanced meaningfully at the girls around Jolyne.

Shizuka Marikawa's emotional changes caused by the content of her dream came and went quickly. She only played around with everyone for a few minutes, and because it was so secretive, many people didn't even notice it.

For example, Jeanne d'Arc, who was placed in Yukino Fuyuki's arms by Jolyne, did not understand what had happened. She was still staring at her Master with a sullen expression, very unhappy that her throne had suddenly been taken away by Shizuka Marikawa.

Jolyne herself also owes a debt to the wicked Duke.

[Your eternal servant brings advice: today is not the time to betray your current love!]