Seeing the little thing’s huge eyes squeeze into happy slits as its short tail wagged nonstop, Tan You’s mood improved as well. The little system hadn’t been wrong; she really did like dogs.

It was just that the Tan family wasn’t well-off, and she was always pinching pennies. How could she afford to raise a dog? Tan You had already planned it out. Once she bought a house in the future, she was determined to have both a cat and a dog.

The Beauty System didn’t delay, and a Skin Store quickly unfolded before Tan You. She took a careful look around. There were many types of skins: things that flew in the sky, swam in the water, walked on the ground, crawled, and so on. It had everything you could imagine, and some you couldn’t.

After looking through it, Tan You found the skin the Beauty System had bought. It cost a total of 30 Energy Points. A half-smile played on Tan You’s lips. She knew it; the little thing had taken a cut.

’At most, only half of those Energy Points probably went toward maintaining the little system’s operation.’

The Beauty System was still gleefully unaware. "I didn’t have enough Energy Points at first, but the other skins weren’t pretty. I didn’t want to be a little bug..."

Tan You shuddered. "I don’t like little bugs either."

She had also seen the skins that cost less than 30 Energy Points. Honestly, they were almost all in the insect category. Tan You considered herself an ordinary person, and if the Beauty System had bought a chubby little maggot skin, she really wouldn’t have been able to stomach it.

"Right! I knew Host wouldn’t like them! Host likes dogs the most!" the Beauty System said, wagging its tail smugly. Perhaps because it had bought this puppy skin, the Beauty System’s movements had become rather dog-like.

Tan You smiled, her gaze sweeping over the expensive skins. When she saw one that looked like a tiny Elf, her eyes flickered.

Then she saw the price: 20,000 Energy Points. Tan You suddenly felt she was really getting ahead of herself, even thinking about buying something so expensive. ’That said, if the Beauty System is always this obedient and keeps making me happy, it wouldn’t be impossible to get it once I have enough Energy Points in the future.’

The Beauty System saw the skin too. "That’s the most prestigious skin in the store! They say that since it was released, not a single system has ever owned it..."

Hearing the envy in the Beauty System’s voice, Tan You’s lips curved slightly. "As long as you don’t keep pushing me to act unscrupulously just because I’m beautiful, I’ll buy it for you when I have enough Energy Points. Of course, that’s assuming I’m still alive and well."

The Beauty System froze for a second, then suddenly burst into loud wails. Forced to endure the brain-piercing racket once again, Tan You furrowed her brow. ’Have you ever seen a puppy open its mouth wide and just howl its head off? Well, I have now.’

"Alright, stop howling. If you keep it up, my promise is off the table."

That one sentence immediately stopped the Beauty System’s wailing. It leaped in front of Tan You and cautiously raised its right front paw. "Host, when you have Energy Points in the future, will you really buy this prestigious skin for me?"

"When have I ever lied to you? Just as long as you don’t keep pushing me to act unscrupulously just because I’m beautiful." Tan You glanced at the little system. ’I consider myself a person of my word.’

"Host, you’re the best! I knew my Host was the best Host ever!" The Beauty System was so happy it started frantically chasing its tail in mid-air. Tan You facepalmed, but she couldn’t hide the smile in her eyes.

’Speaking of which, wasn’t this just me dangling a carrot in front of the Beauty System? The key is that the little thing actually believed it. Twenty thousand Energy Points... How many missions would I have to do for that?’

’Oh well, that’s a problem for the future. The priority now is to keep the little system happy. As for Energy Points, their only use right now is for the lottery. Speaking of which, how come this little system doesn’t have a proper system store or something?’

’It’s probably because this little thing is too useless. But the thought of it being mocked by others put me in a bit of a bad mood. I can call my system a useless little thing, but no one else can. After all, it’s my system. Insulting it is like a slap in my own face, isn’t it?’

’It’s just that I’m too weak right now. Even if I wanted to get revenge for the little system, it would be very difficult.’

Mulling this over and glancing at her single-digit balance of Energy Points, Tan You secretly made up her mind. She had to go out and do more missions. She would try to upgrade the little system to the intermediate level before her first year of high school started. By her calculations, she had accumulated a total of 50 Energy Points so far. With another 50, she could upgrade it to an intermediate-level system.

If she didn’t factor in any extra evaluations from clients and received an A-rank or higher in every world, she would need to complete five more missions. It sounded like a lot, but in the real world, it would all happen in the blink of an eye.

’Now that I’m constantly shuttling back and forth from the real world, I’m actually a little curious about what the intermediate-level mission worlds will be like. At the same time, I’m self-aware enough to know that the only reason I can get by so easily is because modern society is governed by the rule of law and human rights.’

’But if I went to one of those ancient, xianxia, or interstellar planes, could I still live as comfortably as I do now? Most likely not. So, I really have to carefully consider how I would operate in those worlds.’

Glancing at the Beauty System, which was still giggling foolishly, Tan You ignored it and went back to working on her math competition problems. No matter what, she had to save up Energy Points, and she had to work even harder to earn Intelligence Value. ’If my Intelligence Value goes up, will it also help with my missions?’

’Although, I hadn’t really felt much of a difference when doing the mission in the last world.’

Tan Deming didn’t disturb her. Fanning himself, he said, "You know, you’ve been firing up the bread oven at night these past two days. When I went to town to buy groceries today, someone said you were being stingy."

"Stingy?" Tan You raised an eyebrow. "How am I being stingy?"

"It was those kids’ grandmother. I ran into her at the supermarket in town, and she asked me why you’ve switched to baking cakes at night these days, saying her grandkids are already going to bed by then." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Tan Deming said unhurriedly, fanning himself.

Tan You was amused. "And what did you say to her?"

"Me?" Tan Deming suddenly laughed. "I saw they had all bought meat today, so I asked them, seeing as their kids have come to our house begging for food so many times, if they were buying all that meat to specially thank us."

"Well then, I’m so very grateful. At least they have enough shame to know it’s wrong for their kids to go around begging for food."

Tan You couldn’t help but give him a thumbs-up. "You’re amazing. Aren’t you afraid they’ll get mad?"

Tan Deming was completely unperturbed. "Your grandma is there to run interference. You think they’d dare come over? Your grandma is not an easy person to deal with."

Tan You said, "That’s true. I’ve noticed a lot of people in the village are like that. Their own kids bring stuff home, and they just play dumb. Now they even act like it’s a given, that we’re supposed to give their kids a share."

"Honestly, which of their families isn’t better off than ours? I’ve lived my whole life here, and no one in the village has ever given me snacks or cake."

Tan Deming laughed too. "So, from now on, you don’t have to go to all the trouble of baking at night. We’ll do it openly and honestly. If someone comes asking for some, just charge them. It’s not like our ingredients fall from the sky."