“How about it? Want to team up?” Li Xian didn’t pay any attention to the blonde girl standing beside him and instead looked at Karinya in front of him, asking again.
Karinya seemed a bit at a loss.
She glanced at Li Xian, then at Princess Ellie, unsure of how to respond.
“No way, Karinya-neechan is teaming up with me!”
Before Karinya could answer, Ellie shouted out first.
Li Xian frowned, his patience completely worn thin.
“Fine then, you two team up. Sorry to bother you…” With that, he grabbed Sara and turned around without looking back.
“Hey, you…” Ellie’s expression immediately changed.
She lowered her head slightly, biting her lip.
Karinya watched Li Xian’s retreating back.
Instinctively, she parted her lips as if wanting to call out to him, but when the moment came, she lost her courage and chose to remain silent.
They were never on the same path to begin with.
He was a genius, the center of attention, even favored by that person.
If she continued to get close to him, it would only bring trouble his way.
“Um, brother, about our team…” When passing by Vick and Light, Vick saw that Li Xian had no intention of stopping and finally couldn’t help but speak.
“Huh? Team up? What team?”
Li Xian turned back, a puzzled look on his face.
“…” Vick’s mouth twitched.
“No, didn’t you just agree?”
“Huh?” Li Xian was momentarily stunned, then said, “When did I agree? Who told you that my ‘fine’ means I agreed to team up with you?”
“No, this, you… I… she…”
“I just think teaming up isn’t impossible, but it looks like the people I want to team up with already have their own teams. But what does that have to do with you guys?”
With that, Li Xian shrugged helplessly and then headed into the forest with Sara, who was now trying to suppress her laughter.
Ellie immediately pulled Karinya away as well.
The scene was left with only Vick and Light, who stared at each other in confusion.
They then looked toward the forest entrance where Li Xian had gone, then back at each other… before both staring blankly ahead into the woods.
What the hell was this all about?
Meanwhile, Li Xian, accompanied by Sara, began planning how to hunt Magic Beasts as quickly as possible once they entered the forest.
The assessment lasted three days.
Three days might seem like a long time, but for Li Xian and other similarly skilled geniuses, the hardest part of the competition wasn’t killing Magic Beasts—it was finding more Magic Beasts than other teams.
And finding Magic Beasts largely came down to luck.
Li Xian had experience leading Sara through the entire Northern Wildwood before, so he understood this well.
Some teams had five members and split up to search, which was more efficient.
To win first place, one couldn’t afford to slack off.
Of course, Li Xian’s biggest hope right now was to stumble upon a high-level Magic Beast, kill it with one sword, and basically end the game.
A high-level Magic Beast was worth twenty points!
When they set the scoring, they probably never imagined anyone could kill a high-level Magic Beast, unless the very top geniuses teamed up, which was nearly impossible.
Geniuses competed fiercely with each other.
Getting them together was already a rare feat, let alone cooperating to slay a high-level Magic Beast.
So, this was basically an official cheat code.
Li Xian had every reason to suspect that this cheat was designed specifically for him.
After all, he had taken down Herbert, a fighter of the same tier, just a few days ago, so it made sense that more attention would be on him.
Those people probably wanted to see how far his limits were.
That’s why they deliberately left a few high-level Magic Beasts when clearing the area…
But it didn’t matter.
No one could guess his limits by banging their heads against the wall.
Killing a high-level Magic Beast wasn’t a big reveal and wouldn’t cause a stir anyway, especially with Sara by his side.
The only prerequisite was finding a high-level Magic Beast first…
And that wasn’t something that could be done just by wishing for it.
For now, he’d kill every Magic Beast he came across.
He also had to think about where to rest tonight.
Having spent several nights in this forest recently, Li Xian and Sara were quite experienced.
Meanwhile, after Ellie pulled Karinya away, regret grew heavier in her heart.
Looking at the dense forest around her, she couldn’t help but recall some bad memories.
Back then, on a whim and under some sort of influence, she had come to this very forest—only to be captured by the suddenly appearing Demon Race.
Now, returning to this place, with the thick trees blocking the light and making everything seem darker, her hands trembled slightly.
“Karinya-neechan, did I mess up again…?” She tightly held Karinya’s hand, her whole spirit drooping.
Karinya forced a bitter smile, unsure how to answer.
If she were really to team up with Li Xian, she would feel uneasy too.
So although she had mixed feelings about not teaming up, she also felt somewhat relieved.
But Ellie’s approach was really… sigh, hard to describe.
Karinya didn’t reply, but Ellie already knew well in her heart.
She wasn’t unaware that what she did was wrong, but… after everything that happened—Karinya-neechan almost got seen through by that guy!
Just thinking about that made it impossible to let go.
So, unconsciously, when facing that guy…
‘Ahhhhh… so annoying! Why did all this have to happen?’
Ellie frustratedly tugged at her hair, feeling increasingly agitated.
“Ellie, don’t blame yourself too much…” Karinya looked at her friend with concern, “Just find a chance to apologize later, okay?”
Saying this, she pulled Ellie into a hug, gently patting her back.
“Mm…” Ellie’s voice still held a slight sob, but as she calmed down and felt the softness in front of her, her expression changed subtly.
Still full of guilt and frustration, her head began to quietly nuzzle into the softness, hiding her increasingly entranced face beneath it.
Karinya, the one being “tofu’d,” was still worried about her friend, completely unaware that anything was amiss.
Instead, she kept comforting her.