The sun set, and Lu Xin lit the candles he had bought from the town, placing them in the small courtyard.
The orange light illuminated the surroundings.
“Wow, Lu Xin, are you a magician or something?” Ailya sat on a stool, resting her chin in her hands and squinting as she watched him ladle soup into a wooden bowl.
She picked up the bowl, took a deep breath of the soup’s aroma, and her face was full of bliss.
“I’ve been eating nothing but black bread lately. It’s been so long since I smelled something this good.”
Lu Xin gave a helpless smile. All he had made was a simple potato soup, merely using his skills to control the heat and water ratio.
Though, if he could get a seasoning skill, he might as well switch careers to become a chef.
Seeing Lu Xin lost in thought, Ailya pulled out a piece of black bread and dropped it into his wooden bowl.
“I’m not eating your soup for free. Here’s some bread for the main course.”
Then she picked up her own bowl, alternating between a sip of soup and a bite of bread, letting out satisfied sounds.
Watching this scene, Lu Xin felt a sense of accomplishment. At least his skills weren’t completely useless.
“Speaking of which, Lu Xin.” Ailya took a small sip of soup and looked at him.
“You’ve got such amazing skills. It’s a waste to only use them in this remote little cabin.”
Her eyes locked onto him, and she smiled, revealing her fangs without hiding her scheming.
“Want me to help you spread the word? Old Martha from town has been complaining that her bread never bakes right.”
“Little Sally doesn’t like the way Old John braids her hair either. If you’re willing, I can quietly tell them you’ve got magic that can help.”
Lu Xin looked at Ailya’s expectant face and smiled. “And what do you want in return?”
“Hehe, just a little finder’s fee for me, or… a bit more food.”
Ailya shared her plan with Lu Xin, then winked at him playfully.
Watching her lively expression, Lu Xin’s heart stirred.
He knew Ailya’s goodwill was aimed at helping him improve his current situation.
Just as he was about to agree, a harsh screeching sound suddenly came from outside the cabin, shattering the warm atmosphere.
“What’s that noise?” Lu Xin frowned. The sound carried a magical energy that unsettled him.
Ailya, sitting beside him, restrained her smile a little and listened closely. “Sounds like… a Noise Bat?”
“These little monsters are active around dusk. They’re drawn to warm, bright places, using noise to drive away other creatures and claim the territory.”
No sooner had Ailya spoken than several black shapes flew down from the sky into the backyard.
Noise Bats were only slightly larger than normal bats, but the sound from their wings was incredibly sharp, rattling the eardrums.
Lu Xin immediately grabbed a nearby broom and swung it. But this was his first time facing flying monsters; their agility far surpassed Mud Monsters or Slimes.
As he debated whether to set the broom on fire for an enchanted attack, Ailya behind him moved.
Her right hand, which had been resting on her chin, had already dropped, and between her fingers now rested two throwing knives no longer than a palm.
Her eyes turned sharp, and her entire demeanor shifted from sweet and playful to calm and dangerous.
While the Noise Bats were distracted by Lu Xin, she flicked her wrist.
“whoosh whoosh“—two sounds of breaking air rang out, and the knives precisely pierced the sonic interference generated by the bats’ vibrating wings.
In an instant, the wings of the two leading Noise Bats were pinned to the wooden boards behind them. They let out mournful cries, calling for reinforcements.
But the remaining bats were already startled by the sudden counterattack, scattering in panic and fleeing toward the Misty Forest.
As the surrounding noise faded, Lu Xin looked at Ailya in surprise.
With that throwing knife technique, she must have learned from a certain yellow-haired vampire.
This dancer was definitely not ordinary. Even if she told him she could stop time now, he wouldn’t doubt it for a second.
Watching Ailya walk toward the pinned bats to finish them off, Lu Xin suddenly remembered something more important.
“Wait, Ailya, go easy on them!”
Hearing his shout, Ailya tilted her head and looked at him in confusion, not understanding what he was up to.
“A girl shouldn’t kill living things. Let me handle this.” Lu Xin grabbed the broom and stepped in front of the bats, acting very gentlemanly.
The real reason was that if he didn’t act now, he’d miss his chance. Taking down two monsters at once, he was eager to see what skills they might drop.
“Hmm… then I’ll leave it to you.” Ailya, of course, had no idea what was going through his mind. She just thought he was very kind.
Watching her sit back down and resume drinking her soup, Lu Xin’s lips twitched as he gripped the broom, barely able to contain his excitement.
The next moment, he thrust the broom’s wooden handle into the core of one of the Noise Bats.
A surge of heat flowed through his body.
[You have slain a low-tier monster: Noise Bat. Randomly extracting its innate ability…]
[Extraction complete. You have obtained the ability: Silence Barrier (Radius 2.5 meters).]
Lu Xin raised an eyebrow. The Silence Barrier wasn’t an offensive or defensive skill, but its utility was definitely significant.
Still, why was the radius such an odd number? Could it be…
With a sinking feeling, he finished off the second Noise Bat.
[You have slain a low-tier monster: Noise Bat. Randomly extracting its innate ability…]
[Extraction complete. You have obtained the ability: Silence Barrier (Radius 2.5 meters).]
[Abilities fused. You have obtained the ability: Silence Barrier (Radius 5 meters).]
Lu Xin: “( ╯°Д°)╯︵┴─┴”
Taking a deep breath to calm down, Lu Xin tried to look on the bright side. At least the effect stacked, and these two extraction opportunities were essentially freebies.
If the two Silence Barriers had just overlapped, that would have been a real ripoff.
He sat back down and noticed Ailya had already started on her second bowl. That reminded him of what he had seen that afternoon.
This girl sure could eat, but the nutrition had all gone to the right places.
After wiping the two throwing knives clean, he handed them to her and couldn’t help asking, “Ailya, that throwing knife technique of yours…”
Ailya looked up, gratefully accepted the knives, and sheathed them somewhere unseen. Then she gave him a radiant smile.
“I’m just a wandering dancer. Isn’t it normal to know a little self-defense?”
A little technique? Normal…?
Lu Xin thought it over and felt there was nothing wrong. As long as a Stand didn’t suddenly appear behind Ailya, he could accept it.
Just then, Ailya picked up a piece of black bread, dipped it in the soup, and brought it to Lu Xin’s lips. “Eat up. It’ll get cold soon.”
Seeing the bread at his mouth, Lu Xin took a bite and decided not to dig deeper into this cute dancer’s secrets.
“By the way,” he said, “I think your idea about promoting my magic is a good one. I’ll leave it to you.”
“Really? Hehe, I’ll make sure to spread the word well.”