Their commission was suspicious.

"Chen Luo, do you think you can't live without causing trouble?" Yakumo Yukari looked at Chen Luo with displeasure.

"You're wrong. This is just a real 17-year-old boy's attraction to a fake 17-year-old girl," Chen Luo said, shaking his head.

"..."

This jerk in front of me is really infuriating.

"Never mind. When it comes to being infuriating, you're definitely better. I admit defeat in that respect."

Yukari Yakumo wondered if she had been spending too much time with Chen Luo and he had forgotten her dignity as a sage of youkai.

But thinking about it carefully, I realize that I'm currently asking for their help, so I don't seem to have much authority.

"Oh, right, since you're here, quickly teach me how to use the Boundary Ability more skillfully." Chen Luo sat down next to Yakumo Yukari and began to ask this youkai who had lived for thousands of years for advice.

Boundary abilities and gap abilities are indeed quite useful.

Moreover, the gaps created by his realm ability can even allow him to travel to other dimensions, such as inside a painting, but Chen Luo can't do that yet, so he's currently seeking advice.

At the same time, Chen Luo was also quite interested in Merlin's clairvoyance that could see all the way to the future, but he couldn't get it for free, so he made do with his gap ability for now.

"...You stole my ability and then brazenly sat next to me asking how to use it. How could anyone in the world be so audacious as you?" Yakumo Yukari glared at Chen Luo with annoyance.

"Don't say that, aren't we having a fair trade?" Chen Luo said, while opening a gap in front of Yakumo Yukari.

"Hmm, I have a feeling... your level seems to be more than just A-level, right?" Yukari Yakumo said uncertainly, looking at the gap in front of Chen Luo.

Yukari Yakumo didn't really know how well Chen Luo had mastered his gap abilities.

After all, it's definitely not as good as myself.

Although there are no A-rank, S-rank, SS-rank, or talent-based rankings in Yakumo Yukari's world, Yakumo Yukari can roughly understand the different levels of Chen Luo's assessment based on his description.

With a little estimation, it's possible to achieve a nearly accurate classification, which isn't difficult for a sage who has lived for thousands of years.

"Can you please stop saying you've lived for thousands of years? If you keep doing this, I'm not teaching you anymore," Yukari Yakumo said, somewhat annoyed.

"Oh, did I accidentally blurt out my true feelings?" Chen Luo asked in surprise.

"..."

"Alright, alright, my current level and ability grade are indeed not A-grade, but S-grade, which is probably considered pretty good among S-grades, because I fused A-grade ability slices with S-grade ability slices," Chen Luo explained to Yakumo Yukari.

"Since they were all projected using the River God's power, they all came from the same source, making it quite easy to merge the A-rank and S-rank together."

"But your contribution is still insufficient," Yukari Yakumo commented lazily.

So although Yukari Yakumo seems quite lazy and indifferent now, she has almost 1 curses in her heart.

Seriously? It's already outrageous enough that you can project Gensokyo, but you can even copy something like talent slices?

And it can even be fused?

Why don't you just go to heaven?

“That’s true. After all, it’s just a slice of ability, more like a seed. So even if it has the potential of a high-level S-rank, in terms of output, it can’t compare to the lowest-level S-rank talent, and it’s not much stronger than A-rank.” Chen Luo nodded.

This is the drawback of talent slices: although they are easier to obtain, they take a long time to develop.

When you buy an S-level ability, they'll just give you a price.

As for the seed of talent, you have to slowly water and fertilize it, and then wait for it to grow.

"Wait, I'll teach you how to use your realm ability, but first answer me a question. If I were to pluck all my talents and throw them into the river, could I conjure up a silver one and a gold one?" Yakumo Yukari didn't listen to Chen Luo's explanation at all, because she remembered a rather important question.

Holy crap, have I suddenly gained a channel for ability evolution?

And it's the kind where you can lie in bed without having to do anything?

But when Yukari Yakumo turned her head and saw the smile on Chen Luo's face, she knew that she had probably fallen into a trap.

Chen Luo ostensibly asked me about my cultivation level, but wasn't he secretly hinting at something?

"Ouch, my shoulders are sore." Suddenly, Chen Luo twisted his neck.

"Master, let me give you a massage," Yakumo Yukari said with a very helpful smile.

Chapter 644 The universally loved mascot—Chen Luo

"Holy crap, ouch ouch ouch! Yakumo Yukari, who taught you massage? Is this how you massage someone?" Chen Luo had only enjoyed three seconds of Yakumo Yukari's massage before he immediately ran away.

If Chen Luo hadn't controlled himself, he would have given Yakumo Yukari an over-the-shoulder throw long ago.

“I learned it from Fu Hua. Didn’t you see it back then? I was prepared for it,” Yakumo Yukari said innocently.

"Alright, you'd better stop giving me massages. I feel like I'm going to die from your massages someday."

"The matter of advancing one's talent..."

"There's no room for negotiation."

"Chen Luo, you might not believe it, but I also learned another massage technique."

"Sorry, I'm afraid of pain." Chen Luo shook his head.

"Hmm... Alright, just tell me already, what do you want?"

"I want you..."

"Huh? Chen Luo, I treat you like a brother, and you actually want to sleep with me?" Yakumo Yukari moved a little further away from Chen Luo.

"...the golden talent."

"...How about silver?" Yukari Yakumo tried to negotiate.

"There's no room for negotiation."

"Alright then, at least I can get a silver one for free," Yukari Yakumo consoled herself.

"And I want you too."

"My what?" Yukari Yakumo indicated that she was already familiar with Chen Luo's tactics.

"I want you." Chen Luo emphasized.

"What Chen Luo? I treated you like a brother, and you actually wanted to sleep with me?" Yakumo Yukari had just closed the distance between herself and Chen Luo, but then moved away from him again.

"What are you thinking about all day? I just want you to help me out whenever you need it. You should understand that sometimes what's free is the most expensive." Chen Luo rolled his eyes at Yakumo Yukari.

"You scared me to death. Don't worry, what kind of relationship do we have? I'll definitely help if I can, but let's make it clear first, that doesn't include venting the stress of a boy's adolescence," Yukari Yakumo said to Chen Luo.

"Why don't you go and get your brain cleaned up first? It's full of filthy rubbish every day." Chen Luo sighed helplessly.

"Putting aside the yellow waste and such, I'm just curious, since you, Chen Luo, can summon three talents and enhance your own, why don't you enhance all the talents on your body? If I remember correctly, you said you had a whole bunch of S-rank talents, right?" Yakumo Yukari asked curiously.

This is what Yakumo Yukari overheard while eavesdropping on Patchouli and Yun Lian'er's conversation.

Even in the bar, Yukari Yakumo couldn't forget her true nature of spying and eavesdropping.

"The situation is complicated. Let me ask you this: can you fully utilize your abilities in this world?" Chen Luo asked.

"No. Judging from your rating, you're probably only at the upper-middle level of S-rank." Yukari Yakumo shook her head.

"The level of mutual exclusion between the worlds is just too high."

"But I didn't. All my abilities can be fully utilized in this world. That's the function of my semi-conceptualized physique. And this ability is also my greatest guarantee for constantly traveling to other worlds."

All of Chen Luo's talents have been conceptualized and transformed.

"So, because of this conceptualized nature, you can't separate yourself from your talent?" Yukari Yakumo seemed to understand.

“No, it can be separated, but my current level of separation ability is not high enough, which may cause the talent to lose its original perfect conceptuality,” Chen Luo said, shaking his head.

"Wouldn't that mean we're caught in a strange cycle? Or is it possible that your stripping power will be enhanced in the future?"

“It’s impossible to enhance the peeling ability for the time being, unless I obtain a high-level talent enhancement card… You don’t need to know what that is, but in short, I can’t upgrade the peeling ability for the time being. However… I can upgrade my manipulation talent,” Chen Luo said.

"What the hell is that?"

"Secret."

"..."

The so-called manipulation talent is the professional talent that Chen Luo obtained when he became a puppeteer. Its effect is to enhance all abilities related to manipulation.

When Chen Luo raised his puppeteer's professional skills from proficient to master, he clearly felt that his control talent seemed to have improved by a level.

This also raises the upper limit of the ability to peel away material; otherwise, it would be impossible to perform such high-level, delicate tasks as talent slicing and peeling concepts from objects.

Chen Luo had a premonition that when he raised his puppeteer skills from master to grandmaster, his manipulation talent might also be upgraded, thereby enhancing his ability to detach.

The conceptualized abilities that Chen Luo possessed were not impossible to remove; it was just like carving patterns on the shell of a raw egg with a 40-meter-long knife without breaking the membrane inside the egg.

Chen Luo had been trying to improve the accuracy of his peeling ability, but in the end he still had to rely on the professional talent of a puppeteer.

Therefore, it's not without reason that Chen Luo kept saying that the profession of puppeteer was quite absurd.

Even if one upgrades to the Grandmaster level and cannot completely strip away the abilities that have undergone conceptual modification, one can certainly do so by raising the puppeteer's skills to a superb level.

Now... let's forget about it now.

If the precision of the stripping ability isn't quite there yet, and those abilities that have undergone conceptual modifications are accidentally ruined into ordinary S-level abilities, Chen Luo will be heartbroken.

Moreover, for Chen Luo, S-level talent is sufficient for the time being.

They haven't even fully explored all the S-level talents yet, and they're already thinking about adding new talents and raising the levels of these existing ones.

This isn't how you become proficient in all skills.

Just like Yun Lian'er, almost without exception they all refused Chen Luo's offer to help them improve their talents.

Chen Luo also wondered if, after raising all his talents to SS level, he could combine his original silver and gold talents together to break through to SSS level.

Stripping away talents is not irreversible, but fusing talents is.

If the talent that has already fused with gold, silver, and the original body were suddenly canceled with the gold and silver version, who knows what would happen.

Soul torn apart?

Talent gone wrong?

Talent downgraded?

Even the best outcome would be unacceptable to most people.

Especially those talents that have undergone conceptual modifications seem more prone to causing trouble.

Hahahaha, it's all gone! All gone! The ability is gone! The person is gone too!

"Since you've already made me promises, I'll make you one too," Yukari Yakumo suddenly said.

"Huh, what kind of pancake?" Chen Luo was taken aback.

"Don't you think your bar is a pretty good resource library? Stop thinking about their props and think about their talent."

"And stop trying to fleece me all the time, okay? Why don't you try fleecing the other sheep? All you do is bully me all day long. Waaah!" Yukari Yakumo said aggrievedly.

"Be normal, thank you." Chen Luo remained completely unmoved.

"Tch. In short, if you demonstrate your abilities and how you can enhance someone else's talent, then even if you want their golden talent, like I just did, they won't be able to refuse."

“With so many talents in the entire bar, if you could extract some of them, you could make a fortune, right? And since it’s not a talent seed, but the talent itself, you should be able to master it quickly,” Yukari Yakumo said with a sigh.

Yukari Yakumo finds it strange that Chen Luo's mind works so fast only when dealing with her.

Is this what they call a love-hate relationship?

If killing exists, then where is love?

“That makes sense,” Chen Luo said.

"Besides talent, can't some skills also be separated? Sometimes skills can even be sold for more money than talents."

"Hmm, anything else?"

"You can even get the other party to pay for your golden talent at the same time."

This is what you call selling someone out and then letting them count the money.

"Of course, I'm giving you this suggestion not so you can use this method against me. You're not allowed to take my money, understand?" To prevent Chen Luo from being shameless, Yakumo Yukari said in advance.

"Don't worry, I'm not that heartless, but talking about money feels a bit hurtful..." Chen Luo hesitated.

"Then just use that pie in the sky you drew for Raven, called work points, to ask those bar patrons to spend work points to exchange for opportunities to enhance their talents, while also taking the golden talent as a reward."