Chapter 011: Phantoms

Once a spellcaster broke through Level 10, their lifespan would increase to 200 years. Judging by the middle-aged man’s age, the village chief was likely around 65.

No wonder he was reluctant to accept her, an outsider adventurer—this was clearly a family-based village.

It seemed the “authorities” must have issued orders regarding adventurers: if a village refused to take one in, they were still responsible for placing the adventurer somewhere relatively safe.

Otherwise, the chief could have simply kicked her out and left her to fend for herself.

After a moment, there was a knock on the door.

Yun Xi got up and opened it—it was the same middle-aged man.

“Adventurer, due to the spiritual flame unexpectedly going out just now, the chief has ordered that everyone in the village stay together tonight for safety.”

Yun Xi was a little surprised. She hadn’t expected them to still be mindful of her.

“Alright.”

She followed the man to the bonfire. The moment they arrived, a variety of gazes turned to look at her.

Yun Xi quietly observed them as well.

She’d already suspected it, but she hadn’t expected the entire village to consist of only seven people.

Besides the village chief and the middle-aged man, there was a middle-aged woman, three teenagers, and a little girl.

Just as she thought—it was one family.

The woman, currently holding a girl of about five or six years old, looked at Yun Xi with a friendly gaze. She was likely the man’s wife.

The three teens and the girl were probably their children. The village chief was their grandfather.

The eldest of the teens had a flushed face and an irritated expression—he must be Hada, the one who got scolded earlier.

The other two teens were twin boys. They seemed curious about Yun Xi, the outsider, but didn’t dare say anything in front of the adults.

All in all, this family seemed to have no hostility toward her.

“Young lady, you’re the new adventurer, right? Come, sit here,” the middle-aged woman called out, patting the seat beside her.

Yun Xi returned a polite smile.

To be honest, as an “adventurer” who had suddenly “appeared” in this family-based village, it really did feel like barging into someone’s home.

Now that everyone was gathered here, it was a bit awkward.

“Shhh—” Suddenly, the chief raised his hand, motioning for silence.

Everyone immediately held their breath. The little girl, clueless about the situation, had her mouth gently covered by the woman to keep her quiet.

It wasn’t just the chief—Yun Xi also heard a faint skittering sound.

And right before their eyes, the bonfire began shrinking at a visible rate.

The twin boys quickly added more firewood, while the middle-aged man and Hada stood up and positioned themselves on the outer perimeter alongside the village chief in a protective formation.

At the same time, Yun Xi began preparing for battle, activating her spiritual energy and rapidly sketching the runes for her Water Arrow Spell.

[Beginner Water Arrow Lv1: Consumes 10–100 Spirit Energy to condense a small water arrow. Can deal 39–129 points of water-element spell damage to phantoms, calculated by (Spirit * skill level + energy spent).]

Not knowing the enemies’ level, and with only 290 Spirit Energy total, Yun Xi chose to use 20 Spirit Energy, forming a water arrow with about 49 attack power.

The village chief naturally sensed the spiritual energy flowing from her body—but the situation was urgent; he didn’t have time to be surprised.

“The enemy’s here!” he said gravely, launching a Fireball toward the distance.

Yun Xi stood behind him to the right and followed the fireball’s trajectory—a swarm of rats had appeared there.

Some were basketball-sized, others as small as fists, but every single one had blood-red eyes gleaming with ferocity—phantom rats.

As the fireball descended, the rats scattered quickly, but several couldn’t escape in time. They were hit directly, taking massive damage.

Fire magic deals double damage to phantoms, and the rats hit were medium-sized, with about 200 HP each—yet the fireball annihilated them in one shot.

The chief really was strong—clearly a spellcaster above Level 10.

That one spell had likely cost at least 100 Spirit Energy.

As a beginner below Level 10, Yun Xi’s Spirit Energy cap was her Spirit stat ×10. With her Spirit at 29, she only had around 290 total.

In contrast, spellcasters above Level 10 had energy calculated as Spirit ×100. Even if the chief had only a bit over 10 Spirit, his pool would exceed 1,000.

If he had focused all his free points into Spirit, his total energy might have passed 2,000—a fundamentally different level than Yun Xi.

Sure, Yun Xi could also burn 100+ energy to deal a powerful blow, but with only 290 energy total, she’d only get three such attacks.

And though she had the “cash power” to refill energy using crystals, doing so took time.

In a chaotic battlefield where life and death were decided in moments, there’s no time to recharge—unless you had exceptional defenses or crowd control. That’s why Yun Xi had chosen to learn Light Guard and Counterspell.

Following the chief’s attack, Yun Xi fired her water arrow at a rat about the size of a fist—only 40 HP.

With 49 damage, it was instantly killed.

That move earned her an envious look from the twin boys.

Their base Spirit was too low—neither of them had succeeded in becoming spellcasters.

Even after reaching Level 2 and dumping all four free points into Spirit, they only had 7 total. After two years of trying to learn Beginner Fireball, they still hadn’t managed it.

In contrast, their big brother Hada and younger sister were born with high Spirit.

Hada had already become a certified spellcaster and now mirrored the village chief’s stance—casting fireballs nonstop into the rat horde.

The middle-aged man, meanwhile, was purely a warrior. He gripped a machete, eyes locked on the swarm.

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The moment Yun Xi killed the little rat, a system chime echoed in her ear:

[Ding! Congratulations, +1 Free Attribute Point.]

The Slaughter Jade had activated.

As long as she killed a hostile phantom, she would gain random free attribute or skill points.

If the jade were unsealed, she could gain points by killing any living being.

Even ants counted as “any living being.”

It was hard to believe that the ancient god race, which once owned such a conceptual divine artifact, was completely wiped out…

Pushing aside her thoughts, Yun Xi resumed slaughtering rats with full focus.

[Ding! +1 Free Attribute Point.]

[Ding! +1 Free Attribute Point.]

[Ding! +1 Free Skill Point.]