Three Wooden Shield Hilichurls—Amber couldn’t handle them alone.
Fortunately, she had two helpers.
“Use Baron Bunny to draw their attention, then strike them down from behind in one go!” Amber said.
“Amber, wait.” Jiang Chen stopped her from tossing Baron Bunny.
“Is there a problem?” Amber asked quietly.
“No, I mean, let Lumine try her hand,” Jiang Chen said.
He noticed Lumine looked completely at ease, as if she didn’t take the three Wooden Shield Hilichurls below seriously.
She was probably lumping these Hilichurls in with the ones near Mondstadt.
But with the dragon’s influence, the Hilichurls in this temple were stronger—you could tell from their levels.
Not that she could be blamed; only he could see monster levels directly.
“Me?” Lumine was already eager to give it a shot.
The Sword of Favonius appeared in her hand.
She took two running steps and leaped off the platform, the longsword slicing down with gravity’s weight toward a Hilichurl!
“Yayaika!” The Hilichurls suddenly panicked.
One hastily raised its shield overhead.
The sword slammed into the wooden shield, and Lumine bounced back a few steps, stunned.
The Sword of Favonius was sharper than her old blade, and with the added force of a plunging strike, why hadn’t it cut through the Wooden Shield Hilichurl’s guard?
Even if it couldn’t split the wood, the impact should have numbed its arm and made it drop the shield, right?
“Do Hilichurls have different strengths?” Lumine figured it out in a flash.
She looked up at the platform above.
Clearly, Jiang Chen had stopped Amber’s plan and let her test the waters to make her understand this point.
“The ley lines of Teyvat constantly influence the creatures on the surface.
Those that absorb more ley line energy grow stronger,” Jiang Chen said from above, instructing.
“Besides the ley lines, places like the Temple of the Falcon are now filled with the dragon’s power, which these creatures can also absorb, making them even more formidable.”
“Got it!” Lumine acknowledged.
She held her sword horizontally before her chest, eyeing the three Wooden Shield Hilichurls encircling her with gravity.
“I’m throwing Baron Bunny!
Lumine, take the chance to get away!” Amber’s voice rang out, and a red bunny doll descended from above.
The Hilichurls hacked wildly at Baron Bunny, completely ignoring the enemy circling behind them.
“Gust Surge!” Lumine extended her hand, and Anemo gathered before her into a vortex of shredding force.
The three Hilichurls’ unguarded backs were sliced to ribbons by the Anemo.
Ahead, Baron Bunny exploded right on cue.
Anemo and Pyro intertwined and spread, turning the Hilichurls—along with their wooden shields and clubs—to ash.
Lumine’s clothes were singed black by the spreading flames.
Jiang Chen and Amber jumped down.
Lumine hung her head beside him, ashamed.
“I’ll be more careful from now on.”
If not for her companions today, she might have paid a heavy price for underestimating the enemy.
“Mm.” Jiang Chen ruffled her hair to tell her not to dwell on it, then said to Amber, “Use Baron Bunny less from now on.”
“Why?” Amber asked, puzzled.
Baron Bunny was one of her greatest assets, versatile in many ways.
Countless times during reconnaissance, it had drawn enemies away and saved her life.
“Hone your archery,” Jiang Chen said seriously.
“Until your archery is trained, use Baron Bunny less to distract enemies while you stand still and fire wildly.” He continued, “Charged shots—even if you can’t hit weak points every time, you should at least have a fifty percent accuracy rate with mobile shooting.”
“Huh?” Amber exclaimed.
“Charged shots?
And mobile shooting too?”
She was a Pyro user, so charged shots meant arrows condensed with flames.
Wasn’t that asking too much?
When charging, if a monster charged at her, she’d panic, and panic made her hands shake.
“If you’re scared, come find me to accompany you.
I’ll watch over you so nothing goes wrong,” Jiang Chen said.
Though many had used Amber as a torch-and-puzzle-solving specialist before, in the hands of an FPS player, she was top-tier DPS material.
Amber’s talent was sniper specialization!
Weak point attacks had a one-hundred-percent crit rate!
That meant Amber didn’t need crit rate gear—just crit damage—and repeated weak point hits could stun monsters for a while.
The catch was hitting weak points every time.
He hadn’t seen Amber fight for the first time in Teyvat.
He’d occasionally crossed paths with her in the wild before and knew her long-standing flaw.
Back then, he hadn’t intended to train her.
Now that Lumine was here, he could start.
Naturally, he’d be stricter with Amber.
“Jiang Chen is suddenly so strict!” Paimon chimed in.
“It’s for our own good!” Amber said.
Though she found it tough, coming from Jiang Chen, it felt achievable.
She had inexplicable faith in him—he’d always been her idol.
Someone who could repel countless vicious bandit gangs, you know?
If anything, having Jiang Chen be this strict with her made her overjoyed!
From the moment they entered the temple, hadn’t she been so proactive just to show off in front of him?
As the three were talking, mysterious energy drifted from where the Hilichurls had vanished, flowing into Lumine and Amber.
“This is…” Lumine clenched her fist, feeling her strength swell slightly.
“That’s the dragon’s power and ley line energy I mentioned,” Jiang Chen said.
“When targets die, this energy returns to the environment.
But since you killed the Hilichurls, it’s absorbed by you first.”
Happy reading!