Five o’clock, Number Nine woke Qu Weichen up, and Qu Weichen started her training.
When she finished training that day, another achievement popped up.
[Diligence Makes Up for Clumsiness (II)]: Kept up early morning exercise for six months.
Reward: Skill Point_1
Another skill point in the bag—this trip had been pretty rewarding.
Qu Weichen thought that if she didn’t still need to keep studying at the academy, she’d really want to just travel the continent and rack up skill points.
[Isn’t it the true calling of a necromancer to travel the continent and go on adventures? That’s the real romance.] Number Nine heard Qu Weichen’s sigh and couldn’t help but chime in.
“Too bad I don’t have the chance right now.” Even if she wanted to leave, the Warden of the Inquisition Temple wouldn’t let her go.
They’d invested so much and hadn’t gotten any return—who’d let someone go just like that? Only an idiot would.
“Didn’t expect you to be such a romantic.”
[Heh, that’s nothing.
I’ve got plenty more surprises you don’t know about.] Number Nine finished, and even added a mechanical “gagaga” laugh sound effect, instantly killing Qu Weichen’s good mood.
Qu Weichen was silent for a moment, then said in her mind, “Has anyone ever told you your sound effects are all super creepy?”
[I’ll work hard to improve!] Number Nine opened up its sound effect library, full of confidence.
[After all, none of my previous hosts ever got close enough to chat with me like this, so why would I bother making sound effects for them?]
“…So you actually value me?”
[Heehee, as long as you know.] With a firework “whoosh—boom” sound effect thrown in.
Qu Weichen: “……”
After packing up, Qu Weichen ate two big pancakes to fill her stomach, then set out on her next day’s adventure.
She followed the marker toward the water source, sneaking quietly, and sure enough, spotted a few deer drinking.
“Their antlers are all golden and shiny, let me think…” Qu Weichen recalled that illustrated guide.
“Thunderhorn Deer?” She silently stared at the biggest Thunderhorn Deer—the golden antlers already had purple lightning patterns, clearly a Tier Two magical beast.
The rest were Tier One, but with so many of them… If a few lightning bolts came her way, she’d be toast.
If one was alone, she might have a shot, but with the whole herd, forget it.
Just then, the calm river suddenly erupted with a two-meter-high column of water, drenching the deer as they drank.
Qu Weichen saw a round, black-scaled fish leap out of the water, then crash back down.
In the next instant, the water droplets it splashed turned into countless tiny water arrows, shooting at the Thunderhorn Deer.
One deer didn’t dodge in time and got riddled with holes by the water arrows, collapsing right by the riverbank.
The lead Thunderhorn Deer let out a loud cry, and the rest quickly moved away from the river.
Some were grazed by the water arrows but survived, limping away.
The leader’s antlers crackled with electricity, gathering a big purple lightning ball between them, which it hurled into the river, electrocuting a bunch of innocent fish belly-up.
The culprit fish leapt out of the water again, skimming along the surface.
The deer herd immediately gave chase, each one gathering lightning balls between their antlers and hurling them as they ran.
Qu Weichen: “…No wonder last time I came here, the river was so clean—not even a single fish in sight.”
Once the deer herd was gone, Qu Weichen eyed the corpse, had a thought, and quickly ran over to stash it in her spatial ring.
But just as she finished collecting the poor Thunderhorn Deer, another round black-scaled fish leapt out of the water, looking all puffed up as if she’d pissed it off, its beady eyes staring right at her before it slammed back into the water.
Qu Weichen bolted, only stopping at a safe distance to climb a tree and take a look.
The fish that had been electrocuted belly-up were being gobbled up one by one by the round black-scaled fish—whether it was eating them or just storing them, she couldn’t tell, but they were gone in no time.
[Even the fish are this scheming now?] Number Nine had watched the whole thing too.
[Poor Thunderhorn Deer—lost a kin and still has to do free labor for them.]
A lot of magical beasts, like the Thunderhorn Deer, moved in herds, and Qu Weichen was on her own—not a good match-up.
The two wolves she’d caught before were just luck.
She circled the outskirts a few times and didn’t run into any others.
At least she’d gotten the Thunderhorn Deer corpse, so she could have some venison to fill her belly.
By noon, Qu Weichen kept exploring outward.
She passed through a forest, climbed a slope, and before she knew it, found herself in a more and more desolate area.
The trees ahead thinned out, the ground turned black, and she could even smell something burnt nearby.
Just as she was hesitating about whether to keep going, she heard a beast’s roar in the distance.
Another magical beast fight? Qu Weichen immediately headed that way, and as she got closer, realized the commotion was huge—the ground was even trembling.
She climbed a tree and saw, off in the distance, a three-meter-tall giant ape wreathed in flames fighting a black bear.
The fire had burned all the grass and trees nearby, so there was no big blaze left at the battlefield.
The black bear was clearly no pushover.
Qu Weichen watched as the giant ape attacked with flaming fists, but the bear just braced its belly and took the hit, the flames licking its fur without leaving a mark.
Qu Weichen looked around, annoyed she didn’t have a ranged weapon.
Was she just supposed to watch?
“Bang!” The giant ape suddenly charged, knocking the black bear over.
It pressed down on the bear, its flaming fists pounding the bear’s head over and over.
The bear struggled, howling and biting the ape’s shoulder, and in the next moment, the ape’s whole body burst into flames, looking like it was about to roast the bear alive.
Qu Weichen locked onto the fire ape—“Slow Curse!”
[Ding] A blue circle of light appeared.
The fire ape froze for a moment.
The 10% agility reduction wasn’t much, but it could feel its body suddenly get “heavier,” and was surprised.
The black bear seized the moment, muscles bulging as it flipped the fire ape onto the ground, then slammed its huge paw down on the ape’s head, grabbed it, and smashed it into the ground.
Once, twice, three times—a pit formed in the ground.
Qu Weichen turned her attention to the black bear.
“Bad Luck Curse!”
[Ding!] A dark cloud instantly appeared over the black bear’s head.
Qu Weichen couldn’t believe her eyes.
How was this possible? With such a low chance, how could it work twice in a row? “Number Nine, are you stealing my lifespan!?”
[…How could I control that? Maybe you’re just lucky today.] Number Nine was speechless at Qu Weichen’s thought, but the success rate really was ridiculous.
[Bad Luck Curse… Maybe there’s a hidden bonus when used on black-colored creatures?] After all, the only two times it had worked were on a black wolf and a black bear.
Qu Weichen was silent for a moment.
“True, they’re both unlucky.”
Qu Weichen and Number Nine communicated entirely by thought, so she wasn’t worried about being overheard.
She rubbed her hands together and watched as the fire ape struggled desperately, knocking the black bear off balance and actually breaking free.
The black bear, full of rage, growled and charged again, but tripped over its own feet and fell right in front of the fire ape.
The huge fire ape froze for a second, and just as the bear tried to get up, it leapt into the air, spinning rapidly and curling itself into a giant fireball—
“Boom—” A wave of heat rolled out, and even though Qu Weichen was far away, she still felt it.
After watching for a while, Qu Weichen slid down the tree and crept closer.
[Play it safe—wait until one of them is definitely dead before making a move,] Number Nine said.
[The black bear’s tough hide is hard to deal with, and the fire ape’s flames are weaker now.
Wait for the fire ape to kill the bear, then strike!] Qu Weichen replied with a mental “Got it,” and carefully edged toward the battlefield.
Further back, Constance noticed Qu Weichen’s movements and immediately guessed what her disciple was up to.
She patted her Gale Horse’s head.
“Ah, kids always think it’s easy to swoop in and reap the rewards.
A Fire Ape and an Ironhide Bear—even if one kills the other, it won’t be easy for her to get anything out of it.”
“But she’s got guts, I’ll give her that.” Constance said as she headed over.
The fight between the fire ape and the black bear should be ending soon, but who would win? Logically, the Ironhide Bear’s strength and defense were too high—the fire ape should lose, right? When she reached the edge, she saw the fire ape going berserk, pinning the black bear and pounding it.
It even grabbed the bear’s leg and spun it around, slamming it into the ground.
The black bear, for some reason, was acting like it was drunk—finally breaking free and getting a chance to fight back, only to faceplant again? Constance didn’t get it, but she was shocked.
The fire ape kept hammering the bear’s heart, until the black bear collapsed, its struggles growing weaker and weaker until it stopped moving.
Even then, the fire ape didn’t let up, pounding the bear’s head dozens of times before throwing back its head and beating its chest in victory.
By now, its flames were almost gone.
Its shoulder, bitten by the bear, was still bleeding, and it was covered in injuries.
Even with the bear’s bad luck, its strength hadn’t been reduced—it had pinned the ape down for quite a while.
That’s when Qu Weichen rushed out, casting Slow Curse again.
Another [Ding] sounded, and the unlucky ape’s head glowed blue again.
Qu Weichen threw three or four daggers like throwing knives.
The fire ape, startled by the sudden enemy, dodged in a panic, but one dagger hit its arm—didn’t even pierce the skin, just bounced off.
“Roar!” It was instantly furious—this person was mocking it! Not treating the fire ape like a real opponent! It threw a punch at Qu Weichen, who rolled aside and kept closing in.
The fire ape stomped down hard, but Qu Weichen slid behind it, channeling energy into her dagger and slashing at its ankle.
She was fast, never fighting head-on, just dodging its attacks and slashing whenever she got the chance, dealing small but steady damage.
The fire ape was already injured, and couldn’t even summon its flames anymore.
Getting toyed with by someone it looked down on made it even angrier.
After another missed attack, it started running in a rage, but the wound on its ankle slowed it down, and blood poured out even faster.
It didn’t care, though, and tried to leave, abandoning even the black bear’s corpse.
Now it was Qu Weichen’s turn to be dumbfounded.
She tried casting Slow Curse again, but luck wasn’t on her side this time.
The fire ape—
“Bang—” Just as it reached the edge of the scorched battlefield, Qu Weichen saw the fire ape fly high into the air, tracing a perfect arc before crashing down not far from her.
Over there, Constance was still holding her giant hammer in a perfect follow-through, giving Qu Weichen a friendly smile.
