“Awesome!”
Helos could no longer suppress the ecstasy in her heart. She suddenly jumped up from the ground, holding her thin sword high, and let out a loud cheer.
The joy of unlocking new abilities instantly dispelled the fatigue and lingering fear brought about by the battle.
“Hey, are you all right?”
Julius walked to her side, looking at the tomboyish way she was jumping around with some concern. He reached out and felt her forehead. “You don’t have a fever, do you? Why are you acting so silly?”
“You’re the silly one!”
Helos slapped his hand away, but the smile on her face could not be hidden. She was in a great mood right now and couldn’t be bothered to argue with him.
She glanced at Julius and Gavi. Both of them were wounded.
Julius’s secret silver shield had a slight claw mark on it, and Gavi’s maid uniform had been torn in several places while the stone-skin lizard was struggling.
“All right, you two go handle the loot first.”
Helos waved her hand, giving orders like a commander. “The commission requires us to bring back its hide. Oh, right, and the Monster Core inside its body.”
Julius looked at her entitled manner, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
“And you? Are you just going to watch us work from the sidelines?”
“Of course!”
Helos raised her chin proudly. “I am the brain of the team! You two are responsible for the physical labor, and I am responsible for the thinking. The labor is clearly divided. Is there a problem?”
“Yes.”
Julius let out a helpless sigh. Resigned to his fate, he drew his dagger and walked toward the carcass of the stone-skin lizard with Gavi.
Meanwhile, Helos found a clean rock nearby and sat down. She impatiently closed her eyes, sinking her consciousness entirely into the Ultimate Alchemy system.
The crimson crest in the catalog that symbolized “valiancy” was currently burning with a raging flame, filled with power and a wild sense of beauty.
‘Come on, let me see what good stuff you’ve got!’
With an excited heart, she touched the burning crest.
In the next second, four brand-new skill icons were clearly imprinted into her consciousness—
[**Physical Enhancement**], [**Crimson Armament**], [**Bloodlust Aura**], and [**Hunter’s Mark**].
Helos checked these newly unlocked abilities one by one.
‘Physical Enhancement… hmm, it can directly strengthen my own strength, speed, and defense?’
‘The cooldown is short, and it can be stacked multiple times?’
‘Oh, there’s a limit. If I exceed it… it’ll cause damage to my own body?’
‘There are side effects, but it’s acceptable. It’s actually quite practical.’
She nodded with satisfaction. This skill perfectly compensated for her weak physical constitution, giving her at least some capital to protect herself and maneuver during combat.
If she combined this with a vigor potion, wouldn’t she be soaring?
‘The second one—Crimson Armament. Is it a weapon enchantment? It can even increase sharpness, piercing power, or heavy strike power based on the weapon type?! And it deals extra damage?!’
This skill immediately made her think of Gavi’s armor-piercing spikes.
If they were enhanced with the piercing power of [**Crimson Armament**], then the scales of that stone-skin lizard would probably pose no problem at all.
‘Next one—Bloodlust Aura. It applies Berserk to the target? Greatly increases strength and speed, and even has lifesteal?’
‘What the…? Isn’t this just a Berserker? If I put this on Julius or Gavi, then they’d—’
The more Helos looked, the more excited she became. She could almost see the image of Julius and Gavi’s combat power skyrocketing.
The existence of this skill would undoubtedly raise their explosive power to a whole new level.
‘And the last one… Hunter’s Mark.’
The young girl’s gaze swept over the final alchemy skill.
‘Weakness Analysis? The weak parts of an enemy marked with it will glow red in my eyes?’
Helos’s heart skipped a beat.
‘Doesn’t this mean I have a built-in Eagle Eye and Guaranteed Critical Hit buff?!’
She couldn’t help but marvel in her heart. With this skill, she could point out the most lethal attack points to her teammates on the ever-changing battlefield.
‘But wait a minute…’
After the initial excitement, Helos rubbed her chin and couldn’t help but complain to herself.
‘Strengthening the body, enchanting weapons, adding buffs, marking weaknesses… how exactly is any of this related to alchemy?’
‘No matter how I look at it, this seems more like a skill tree for a Berserker or a Hunter in some game?!’
The more she thought about it, the more she felt something was off, but she soon let it go.
‘Whatever, as long as it’s useful!’
Just as she was immersed in the joy of researching her new abilities, grinning like a fool, a helpless voice pulled her back to reality.
“Hey, you’re about to start drooling.”
Julius had finished processing the stone-skin lizard’s carcass at some point and was now standing in front of her.
He held a bloody bundle in his hand, along with a fist-sized Monster Core that was emitting an earthy yellow glow.
“Huh?”
Helos snapped out of her daze and instinctively wiped the corner of her mouth.
“I’m not drooling… How’d it go? Is everything handled?”
“Yeah.”
Julius nodded, showing her the loot in his hands.
“The hide and the Monster Core are both here. Are we heading back to the city now?”
Helos glanced at the setting sun and then at the rolling mountains in the distance, shaking her head.
“No, it’s almost dark. We won’t make it back in time if we leave now.”
She stood up, brushed the dust off her clothes, and a strange light sparkled in her eyes.
“Let’s find a safe place to spend the night in the wilderness.”
Soon, they found an open area in a small woods outside a nearby mountain pass. It was close to a water source and on relatively high ground, making it suitable for a temporary camp.
Gavi was responsible for keeping watch and clearing the camp, while Julius went to gather dry wood for a fire.
As for Helos, after settling down, her heart—which had just calmed down—began to stir again.
She looked at several wild rabbits foraging in the forest nearby, her eyes flashing with a look of eagerness.
“Julius!”
She ran over excitedly and patted the boy who was starting the fire.
“Let’s go hunting! It’ll be perfect for dinner!”
‘And I can try out my new abilities—’
Of course, she didn’t say the latter part out loud.
Julius had no room to refuse, and the suggestion was reasonable enough. However, the boy still muttered under his breath:
“If I had known, I would’ve just roasted the stone-skin lizard.”
“Stop complaining. How would we have carried something that big?”
“Isn’t Gavi here for that?”
Just as the two were excitedly preparing to hunt, they were unaware that shortly after they left, a shadowy figure had quietly appeared beside the carcass of the stone-skin lizard.
The shadowy figure crouched down and reached out with a pale finger, gently stroking the fatal wound that Helos had pierced with her sword. Beneath the hood, a flame of anger ignited in her eyes.
“Damn it… just which blind fool was it…”
She could clearly feel that the mental imprint she had left inside the stone-skin lizard had been completely erased.
This potential magical beast, which she had taken a fancy to and was just about to put effort into cultivating as a future combat asset, had actually been slaughtered like this?!
She stood up and closed her eyes. The scent of the three intruders still lingered in the air.
She followed the scent and gave chase.
Before long, she stopped her pace again at the edge of a small woods.
In the forest clearing in the distance, she saw the three figures chasing wild rabbits.
Among them, a petite figure wearing a mask was clumsily chasing a wild rabbit.
A faint red light would occasionally flash beneath her feet, and her speed was inconsistent, clearly showing she was attempting to use some kind of ability.
A cold killing intent flashed in the eyes of the shadowy figure.
However, just as she was about to move closer to teach these ignorant fools a lesson, her body suddenly froze.
She stopped in place, moving no closer.
Beneath the hood, those eyes that were originally filled with anger were now filled with unbelievable shock and confusion.
She stared intently at the petite masked figure in the distance, murmuring to herself in a voice so soft it was almost inaudible:
“This aura… there’s no mistake…”
Oh boy, here cone trouble.