Chapter 3: Passing By.

Shu Yue, what are you thinking about?

Anna saw Shu Yue standing frozen in place and asked.

Shu Yue withdrew her hand and looked up at Anna.

“Nothing. Just some trivial little things.”

“Oh, then hurry up and refine the other two as well!”

Anna’s expression was filled with excitement. Encountering such good fortune was no different from picking up hundreds of gold coins on the roadside.

No, that wasn’t right. How could it be just a few hundred gold coins?

Thousands or even tens of thousands couldn’t compare to this!

Shu Yue’s gaze fell on the remaining corpses. There were two horse carcasses and three human bodies in total. Besides the young man, there was also a maid and a coachman dressed as a guard.

She repeated the process, using the Quenching Star Art to refine the two other corpses and extracting two technique essences, which she gave to Anna and Mundo. Using the Quenching Star Art three times in a row had drained Shu Yue’s spirituality to the bottom.

Fine beads of sweat appeared on her fair face, and waves of swelling pain throbbed in her head. This was the sign of overexerting her spirituality and mental fatigue.

Shu Yue wiped away the sweat and thought to herself,

‘My spirituality is still too weak. It’s not much different from when I was an apprentice. It doesn’t affect daily combat, but it severely limits my use of the Quenching Star Art.’

The Quenching Star Art consumed five times more spirituality than ordinary alchemical spells. Because it was far too special, without such restrictions it would truly be overpowered. Three uses were already Shu Yue’s current limit.

In this world, casting spells not only consumed mana but also a certain amount of one’s own spirituality. Spirituality was the term for spiritual energy. However, low-tier spells consumed very little, so it was rarely taken seriously. Only the alchemist profession had certain requirements for spirituality.

Anna absorbed the technique essence Shu Yue gave her and even gave up some of her original spells for it. It was worth it, because the maid’s technique turned out to be the Firefly-rank Wind Whisper Art!

The Wind Whisper Art was considered top-tier even among Firefly-rank techniques.

To equip a mere maid with such a high-grade technique showed just how extravagant nobles could be. Even though that young master was only an illegitimate son, he already had such a servant to attend and protect him closely.

Mundo’s luck was not as good. What he received was a combat technique, but it suited his own fighting style perfectly.

Anna felt her new power and estimated that she now probably possessed peak first-tier combat strength. As long as her total mana increased a bit more and she continued to master this Firefly-rank technique, she might even break through to second-tier and become a powerful adventurer in the outer regions.

But how could being an adventurer compare to becoming a noble’s maid?

Thinking this, she turned her gaze toward Shu Yue, who looked exhausted and was sitting with her eyes closed to recover her spirituality.

Anna did not disturb her. She let Shu Yue rest quietly to restore her spirituality while directing Mundo to clean up the scene thoroughly. They must not let anyone discover that this carriage and its passengers had died here!

Afterward, Anna took the looted valuables and exchanged them for a new carriage and coins. She also bought some expensive clothing in the nearest town. After some careful dressing up, they already looked the part.

The next day, inside a quiet cave deep in the forest.

A beautiful figure sat cross-legged on a large rock. The glow of magic power continuously flowed around her body. After a night of circulation, her aura had stabilized. She slowly opened her clear blue eyes and looked toward the cave entrance.

Yousitiya’s thoughts were not here. Instead, she was thinking about a plump, round, long silver-scaled tail.

It swayed and swayed, making one feel dizzy.

Yousitiya suddenly snapped out of her daze. Her willow-leaf eyebrows lowered slightly, and her gentle expression turned cold and stern.

She stood up from the rock. Because of the movement, a short, pointed ear was revealed among her golden hair. It was different from a human ear—elf-like and pointed, but not as long as a true elf’s.

It was very strange…

Because Yousitiya was actually a half-elf.

She let out a soft sigh and walked out of the cave, heading toward the nearest Pioneer Camp.

As for the enemy, Yousitiya was not worried. She knew the other party’s personality well. Since he failed to catch her immediately, he would cut off his tail to survive and flee far away from this area.

‘Who exactly is she?’

Even on the road, she still couldn’t stop thinking about it.

In Yousitiya’s memories from her previous life, there was no trace of Shu Yue. This was the first time she had seen her in this life.

“Sigh, I didn’t even get to ask her name…”

She sighed again.

Upon entering the Pioneer Camp, Yousitiya put on a long robe with a hood and veil to conceal her appearance and avoid unnecessary trouble. She skillfully found the local information broker.

She stacked ten gold coins neatly and placed them on the table.

“Help me find someone. Silver hair, golden pupils, an extremely beautiful young girl, height about…”

“No problem.”

The boss’s eyes flashed with surprise when he saw the ten gold coins. He clearly hadn’t expected to earn so much just for finding a woman. He became even more respectful toward the mysterious girl sitting across from him.

But why would one woman be looking for another woman?

Was the main wife looking for the mistress?

Or were they in that kind of relationship…

He wouldn’t ask about the specifics. Probing a client’s true intentions was a major taboo for information brokers.

After finishing her business, Yousitiya stood up and left. She did not plan to leave this outer region for the time being. With her current tasks completed, she now had plenty of free time. Staying here would allow her to consolidate her realm and, more importantly, see if she could find that Silver Dragon Princess.

Not long after, Yousitiya arrived in front of a house, accompanied by a hunched old man with a flattering smile. Though thin and frail, he gave off a capable and shrewd aura that could not be underestimated.

“Miss, this house has just been vacated. The previous tenants moved out. Feel free to use anything inside.”

Yousitiya asked out of curiosity,

“Why did they move away?”

“It seems they returned to their hometown. Rest assured, miss, they were all normal adventurers. They never did any dirty business in this house. I would never rent to that kind of people.” The old landlord promised earnestly, though whether it was true or not remained uncertain.

“Mm…”

Yousitiya did not press further. As long as the house was clean, it was fine. She would stay here temporarily and needed a proper place to live. Wandering in the forest like a wild person every day was uncomfortable.

…

Three days later, a carriage traveled steadily along the main road, driven by a sturdy, simple-looking man.

Shu Yue lifted a corner of the curtain and looked toward the city walls in the distance.

That was Grey Pine City.

Inside the carriage were only her and Anna. Both had used disguise techniques to alter their appearances.

Anna had transformed from a battle-hardened female adventurer into a fair and pretty maid. Her disguise technique was quite powerful. In the past, she had relied on this skill to hit and run, creating multiple identities. No one had ever seen through her. The current face was modeled after the maid’s, though Shu Yue could clearly tell Anna had deliberately smoothed out some flaws.