Chapter 41

After walking in the mountains for over an hour, Xu Qiao suddenly spotted a flash of red amidst a dense patch of green. When she stopped to discern it, she also heard a buzzing sound in the distance, reminiscent of bees, and there seemed to be quite a few of them.

Xu Qiao turned around and reminded her relaxed teammate following behind, “It looks like a swarm of bees. Put on your helmet.”

Qin Chi complied and prepared his protective gear.

Xu Qiao lightened her steps, and upon climbing the high ground in front of her, her view opened up.

Ahead was a dilapidated two-story house with trees growing through the middle, barely maintaining its crumbling structure.

In front of the house was a wide courtyard, filled with dense red roses, so thick that even the pathway for walking was obscured.

Each rose was the size of a basketball, with densely packed and sharp thorns, as long as a pinky finger.

These were C-level mutant roses. If any flesh-and-blood creature entered their attack range, the mutant roses would release thorns to attack, and after killing their prey, their roots would absorb the blood soaked into the soil for nourishment.

Amidst the rose bushes, a dozen or so mutant bees, each the size of a ping-pong ball, buzzed around, sometimes hovering over the flowers, sometimes landing to gather nectar.

Xu Qiao observed carefully and found no higher-level mutant roses or bees.

She said to Qin Chi, “I’ll give it a try. You wait here.”

Qin Chi nodded, took out a rattan chair from his space, set it up on a flat grassy spot, and sat down comfortably.

Xu Qiao: “…”

Well, he had already mastered his abilities to perfection, after all.

She figured his first ten years of training must have been far more grueling than her current experiences.

Abilities are fixed in level upon awakening the mental spirit, but different ability users can wield their powers with vastly different effects.

Rather than envying Qin Chi’s current ease, Xu Qiao admired his past efforts.

Calmly, she stepped into the mutant roses’ attack range, which also threatened the dozen C-level bees.

The outermost row of roses shot a “rain of thorns” at her, causing the hesitant mutant bees to stay hovering over the flower bed instead of attacking immediately.

Xu Qiao conjured a half-meter wide, two-meter tall water shield in front of her. Thousands of thorns hit the shield almost simultaneously and fell to the ground, without even piercing its surface.

This scene agitated the remaining roses, causing a dense rain of thorns to fly towards her, blocking the view of the rose bed behind.

Xu Qiao expanded the water shield to cover all the incoming thorns.

Quantity led to a change in quality, just as enough ants can kill an elephant.

This time, some thorns managed to penetrate the outer layer of the water shield but fell within its middle, none making it through to the other side.

Mutant roses can grow new thorns, but it takes time. Finally, the seventeen mutant bees launched towards Xu Qiao like bullets.

Xu Qiao had already pinpointed their locations, and seventeen water spikes shot out like hidden weapons.

With a series of thuds, twelve bees fell to the ground. The remaining five avoided the water spikes and swiftly reached Xu Qiao.

Five water spheres suddenly enveloped each bee and instantly froze into ice.

The ice spheres floated in midair, with the bees struggling inside. As they cracked the ice, Xu Qiao repaired it just as quickly. The bees, unwilling to give up, released their venom, turning the ice spheres black.

Xu Qiao was a bit surprised. Did this mean she had collected five clusters of C-level venom?

With this in mind, she crushed the heads of the mutant bees inside the ice, then gathered the venom into the bees’ stingers.

Five black stingers, covered in a layer of ice, fell into Xu Qiao’s palm, and she stored them in her space.

Her lotus spirit materialized and landed in the courtyard.

The courtyard transformed into a lotus pond. The mutant roses struggled madly but were cut and crushed by underwater currents, then swept into a nearby mountain ditch.

Although there were many roses, there were only seven main plants. The lotus spirit used its water control ability to dig them up and extract seven C-level crystal cores.

Spiritual entities can assist in combat, and while Xu Qiao practiced her abilities, she also consciously developed the combat effectiveness of her spirit.

Just as a round lotus leaf presented the seven crystal cores to Xu Qiao in a gesture of achievement, a black object shot through the air like a bullet, aiming straight for the only open pink-white lotus in the courtyard.

The lotus didn’t notice, but Xu Qiao saw it clearly and quickly raised a five-meter-high water shield on the east side of the courtyard.

The “black light” collided with the water shield, only slowing down slightly before piercing through and continuing toward the lotus.

The lotus vanished, and the “black light” hit the ground, tumbled a few times, and then buzzed into the air. It was a black wasp the length of an adult’s forearm, with a metallic sheen to its heavy stinger trailing behind it, and its cold compound eyes locked onto Xu Qiao.

Xu Qiao’s expression tightened. With that body length, it was clearly a B-level wasp.

Perhaps it had been lurking, watching the bees Xu Qiao had taken out, or maybe it had just happened to fly by and been attracted by the lotus spirit.

The allure of a spiritual entity to a mutant beast is equivalent to the significance of a beast’s crystal core to an ability user; it’s pure energy.

The fire dragon in Qin Chi’s mind raged, wanting to come out and deal with the black wasp that had almost reached the lotus.

Qin Chi simply shifted from a reclining to an upright sitting position, his calm black eyes reflecting his teammate’s figure.

Facing a B-level flying insect alone for the first time, Xu Qiao donned a water armor, pretending she wasn’t wearing her A-level armor.

To ensure clear vision, she left her eyes exposed.

The B-level wasp flew straight for her eyes.

Its flight speed wasn’t as phenomenal as an A-level striped harrier, but it surpassed that of a bullet. Xu Qiao’s water spheres and water spikes couldn’t lock onto it, and the water shield couldn’t stop its high-speed charge. So she abandoned attacking or blocking and instead conjured a twenty-centimeter diameter high-pressure water blade in front of her.

The B-level wasp was too fast; even if it saw the water blade, it couldn’t evade in time and collided head-on.

A high-pressure water blade is essentially a high-pressure stream. The B-level wasp charging forward at high speed collided with the high-speed spraying water blade…

The proximity allowed Xu Qiao to clearly capture the moment the water blade sliced through the wasp’s compound eyes and wings, leaving only the special crystal core intact.

The wasp was shredded.

The water blade continued, slicing through the dilapidated two-story house, leaving holes with a twenty-centimeter diameter before it dissipated after piercing several large trees.

The power was immense, but Xu Qiao’s mental strength was depleted by thirty percent.

In other words, if three more B-level wasps appeared, Xu Qiao would be helpless against a fourth unless she could precisely predict the wasp’s flight path and reduce the diameter of the water blade to save energy.

The intense mental strain caused sweat to drip from Xu Qiao’s forehead.

Her recent sense of elation was shattered by reality. What did it matter if she was B-level? A few more B-level beasts would overwhelm her. The vast dangerous areas outside the base remained treacherous.

Qin Chi put away the rattan chair and approached.

Hearing footsteps, Xu Qiao turned to look at him.

Qin Chi, now helmetless, regarded her with warm, approving eyes, “For your first time dealing with a B-level flying beast, you did very well.”

Xu Qiao heard the implication that she had room for improvement. She pondered for a moment, “If I increased the strength and thickness of the water shield or ice layer, I might have stopped its charge. It was just too fast for me to test it.”

If the shield failed and she didn’t have A-level armor, she’d face the B-level wasp’s venom.

Instinctively, Xu Qiao chose her strongest attack to test the water blade’s effectiveness against the B-level wasp.

Qin Chi suggested, “My wind blades are also B-level. With their speed, they can simulate a B-level wasp’s attack. Shall we practice?”

Xu Qiao agreed, “Okay, thank you.”

Qin Chi smiled and pointed to a nearby tree, “I’ll attack the tree, and you try to block.”
—-
The speed of the wind blades created visible afterimages. Xu Qiao quickly erected a water shield in front of the tree trunk.

Three times, the wind blades cut through the water shield and embedded into the tree trunk at different heights.

Xu Qiao’s water shield grew stronger each time, and on the fourth attempt, it successfully blocked the wind blade.

After that, she tested with an ice layer.

Having a rough idea of her defensive capabilities, Xu Qiao wanted to test her attack strength next. She proposed, “Now I’ll attack, and you defend with a wind sphere?”

Since the practice wouldn’t take long, Xu Qiao didn’t stand on ceremony with her teammate.

Qin Chi agreed, “Sure.”

Xu Qiao glanced at the tree, which had three holes from the wind blades, and chose another tree. Just as she was about to speak, Qin Chi smiled, “No need for that. You can attack me directly.”

Xu Qiao: “…Are you certain my attack won’t break your defense?”

Based on the experiences of ability users, within the same level, wind abilities have a weaker defense than water abilities.

Qin Chi smiled, “Wind, like water, depends on speed for both attack and defense. If your attack can penetrate the first layer of wind, I’ll reinforce the subsequent layers.”

“Of course, if you can break through my defense within a week of leveling up, I’ll be honored to have such a talented teammate.”

Xu Qiao blushed at the thought of being that talented, though her helmet hid her face. “I’m not that skilled, but if water arrows and water blades fail, I might try the water blade. You should wear your helmet.”

Qin Chi replied, “I can dodge, and it’ll help you practice accuracy.”
—-
Xu Qiao gritted her teeth and walked to face him.

Once they were both ready, Xu Qiao began her attack.

She went all out, launching one B-level water arrow, water blade, water needle, and even water ball after another at Qin Chi’s wind sphere. Sometimes, she released several at once. However, no matter what weapon form she used, Qin Chi intercepted them perfectly, turning them into water that soaked the surrounding ground.

When her mental energy was nearly exhausted, Xu Qiao stared at Qin Chi for a moment and then said seriously, “I’m going to use the water blade now.”

Qin Chi responded, “Alright.”

The wind sphere increased its rotation speed, blurring everything below Qin Chi’s chest.

The twenty-nine-year-old military academy instructor was confident. Seeing his teammate only aiming at his chest, he controlled the height of the wind sphere, not even bothering to cover his face.

Xu Qiao fixed her gaze on the wind sphere.

Qin Chi awaited; his handsome face as relaxed as ever.

Suddenly, a stream of water descended from above, drenching his head and face.

Qin Chi: “…”
—-
Having been effortlessly suppressed for an hour, Xu Qiao laughed slyly, “I did remind you to wear your helmet.”

Qin Chi lowered his head as the cool water trickled down his short hair, a sight of disarray he had never experienced.

Xu Qiao’s smile immediately vanished, regretting her impulsive action, especially since he was helping her get familiar with her abilities.

Just as she was about to apologize, a gust of wind suddenly carried her towards Qin Chi. Before she collided with him, Qin Chi raised a hand to press down on her shoulder.

Xu Qiao landed right in front of him, his hand stopping her from falling into his arms.

Xu Qiao looked up at him, bewildered.

Qin Chi reached for her helmet’s clasp and unfastened it.

As he did so, water from his short hair dripped onto Xu Qiao’s visor.

Understanding his “retaliation” method, Xu Qiao closed her eyes in embarrassment, ready to accept her punishment.

She heard a click near her ear, the sound of the helmet being locked back in place.

Surprised, Xu Qiao looked at him.

Through the transparent visor, Qin Chi gave her a helpless smile and tapped the top of her helmet. “Don’t let it happen again.”