He Wanying: “…”
The faint feeling of warmth that had just risen in her heart instantly vanished.
Her expression hardened, and she instantly entered combat mode.
Since she had decided to become Master Lu Sheng’s maid, it was her duty as a maid to protect her master and carry out his orders.
Now was the time for her to prove herself.
When Lu Sheng and He Wanying discovered the Sand-Soaring Snake, the Sand-Soaring Snake also discovered them, locked onto them, and treated them as prey.
“Sand-Soaring Snake, a sand-snake genus, is gregarious, adept at burrowing under sand, and extremely fast!”
He Wanying spoke rapidly, and her knowledge reservoir as an ace student instantly activated.
“They use dunes as cover, circle behind their prey to launch lethal ambushes, and the best time to kill is precisely the moment it launches an attack!”
She crouched slightly, slowly closed her eyes, and gathered her breath, as if merging with the sea of sand.
“Rustle rustle rustle…”
A faint friction sound moved swiftly under the sand, and a small bulge circled behind He Wanying at amazing speed.
Seeing that He Wanying still showed no reaction, the bulging heap of sand suddenly paused, and then a foul gust rushed toward the back of her neck.
Whoosh…
He Wanying abruptly opened her eyes, turned, and closed her five fingers around empty air.
Three slender Ice Swords composed of pure ice crystals formed out of thin air above her palm, crystalline and translucent, exuding a chill that could freeze anything; they tore through the air and fell toward the dark silhouette in midair.
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!
Three muffled sounds of blades entering flesh rang almost simultaneously, and the Ice Swords pierced precisely through the Sand-Soaring Snake that had just burst out of the sand; then several more Ice Swords stabbed down with chilling whooshes.
“Hiss… !” Accompanied by a piercing hiss, blood mixed with ice shards splattered on the sand; the Sand-Soaring Snake writhed violently a few times and soon fell silent.
『Killed Sand-Soaring Snake, Experience +10!』
『Obtained material: Sand Snake Tail (D)*1!』
『Obtained material: Venomous Snake Fang (D)*2!』
It was not until the kill notification sounded in her ear that He Wanying stopped; she panted slightly and looked at her hands, and the shock of killing a monster for the first time made her fingertips tremble.
Conjuring Ice Swords from thin air was a basic attack of the SSS-rank class Eternal Winter Swordmaster; it could be used for both ranged and melee combat and was quite powerful, able to form up to three Ice Swords at once, with each strike dealing 3× strength damage, making it astonishingly potent.
“Grandpa, Grandma, I did it; I can kill these monsters!”
He Wanying murmured softly, and a complicated glimmer passed through her eyes.
But the next moment, her gaze was firmly drawn to the notification before her.
“10 experience? D-rank materials? That can’t be right!”
The knowledge from the books surfaced clearly in her mind.
As a Level 1 monster, a Sand-Soaring Snake should grant only 10 experience for a solo kill; in a two-person party they should split it and each receive 5 points, and the drops should have been E-rank materials!
How could it drop two kinds of D-rank materials?!
“How could this be… ?”
He Wanying instinctively looked toward Lu Sheng, her eyes full of shock and inquiry.
In her mind replayed the scene from last night when, with Lu Sheng’s help, she inexplicably awakened an SS-rank class and Lu Sheng then helped elevate that SS-rank class into an SSS-rank class.
Seeing the improved reward quality before her made her instinctively believe that all of this was Lu Sheng’s doing.
“That’s right.”
Lu Sheng met her gaze and curled his mouth into a knowing smile.
“One of my abilities is to increase the quality of rewards.”
Increase reward quality?! He Wanying’s pupils constricted sharply; this was practically a conceptual-level divine skill!
In some respects, this ability had more strategic value than her SSS-rank class skills.
Her master’s power once again revised her understanding.
“All right, stop staring; you’ll have plenty of opportunities to experience my strength in the future.”
Seeing that He Wanying was still dazed, Lu Sheng reached out and habitually ruffled her smooth hair and said, “Our goal is first place! Carry on!”
Exactly!
He Wanying snapped back to her senses and looked at Lu Sheng as if at an all-powerful god.
Mysterious and powerful!
Just then…
“Rustle rustle… rustle rustle…”
Lu Sheng and He Wanying instinctively looked toward the source of the sound.
Three Sand-Soaring Snakes hid in the sand and were sliding toward Lu Sheng and He Wanying with hissing attacks.
Eerie rubbing sounds came from all directions, and the sand beneath their feet began to writhe unnaturally!
He Wanying’s face grew serious, and the book knowledge surfaced in her mind: “Oh no! Sand-Soaring Snakes are gregarious; the smallest pack numbers more than 10!”
Lu Sheng’s gaze passed over her tense profile, and he silently praised her.
No wonder she was both literary and martial; her knowledge reserve was far beyond that of ordinary people.
There were tens of thousands of Secret Realms on Blue Star, and the monsters in each Secret Realm varied greatly.
A Secret Realm like Poison Fog Desert, which class holders would rarely visit even once in a lifetime, was seldom deliberately memorized, but He Wanying remembered it so clearly, which demonstrated her diligent study and the breadth of her learning.
However, there was a limitation.
He Wanying could only gain knowledge from books, and she could not know anything that the books did not introduce.
But he could.
『Data Eye activated!』
『Shared teammate vision!』
He Wanying’s eyes suddenly lit up, and a semi-transparent information panel popped up.
『Captain Lu Sheng requests to share vision, do you accept?』
He Wanying paused slightly and chose to accept without hesitation.
The next second, her vision underwent a drastic change.
The world that had been nothing but yellow sand was now clearly marked with the outlines of three creatures moving rapidly under the sand, and a detailed information box hovered above each outline.
『Sand-Soaring Snake, LV1, strength 6, intelligence 1, Agility 8, constitution 13, skills: Sand Concealment, Venom Fang, Entangle』
『Weak point: the pattern at the third segment beneath the snake’s head!』
『Attack prompt: Aim at the ground 3 meters ahead; after 7 seconds it will attack, 100% chance to hit the weak point!』
The same info box appeared simultaneously on the other two Sand-Soaring Snake heads, and the weak point positions and attack timing were all clearly marked.
This…this was simply a cheating-level combat support!
A storm of shock rose in He Wanying’s heart; Master could directly see monster information and even precisely predict attack trajectories?!
She had no hesitation; with the previous experience of killing a Sand-Soaring Snake, He Wanying instinctively prepared herself for battle.
Seven!
He Wanying counted silently in her head, her gaze sharp as an eagle.
Six!
Her slender fingers curled in the air again as a frenzy of icy aura gathered.
Five!
Three ice crystal longswords, even more powerful than before, rapidly condensed in front of her, their tips pointing directly at the indicated spots.
Three! Two! One!
Go!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh… !
Three ice-blue streaks precisely pierced into the rolling yellow sand!
“Hisssss… !” Agonized shrieks followed continuously!
A strange glint flashed through He Wanying’s mind; she had indeed hit them!
She did not stop; her jade-like fingers tapped rapidly and more Ice Swords fell like a sudden gale and rain, and the sand beneath was instantly stained red with ice shards and blood.
Soon, the kill notification sounded in her ear again.
『Killed Sand-Soaring Snake, Experience +30!』
『Obtained material: Sand Snake Tail (D)*3!』
『Obtained material: Venomous Snake Fang (D)*6!』
『Obtained equipment: Sand Snake Leather Boots (D)*1!』
Experience doubled! Material quality improved! They even dropped equipment!
He Wanying looked at the rich loot notifications before her, and even her normally indifferent breath quickened.