CHAPTER 42: CHAPTER 39: RIDICULOUS

"Andrew... you..."

The young father widened his eyes and looked at Andrew. Then he looked down and saw the apprentice flame warrior whose hand was severed by Andrew and whose head was stomped into pieces. Suddenly, he felt nauseous, and the food he ate in the evening began to churn and rise!

"Seed of the Water Spirit."

Andrew had just confirmed his next strategy in his mind. He raised his hand, pointed lightly at the center of the young father’s forehead, and simultaneously activated the secret technique of the "Long-range Water Needle," sending his voice into the young father’s ear in a single line: "Go back to your wife and child."

Gently pushing the young father back to his wife and child’s side.

The Seed of the Water Spirit used the young father as a springboard, transferring into the bodies of the young mother and her child.

The emotions of the family of three suddenly settled down.

However, their feelings were different from the strong sense of comfort Ivan experienced when treated with Andrew’s "Water Spirit Technique."

Now, the "Seed of the Water Spirit" was infused with the power of the "Invisible Enchantment," achieving the true meaning of "silently nurturing."

It clearly had a significant calming effect, yet those being calmed could hardly even feel that they were being soothed.

Everything happened naturally.

The other residents of the camp were still immersed in the shock of witnessing Andrew cleanly eliminating an apprentice flame warrior.

Andrew took a deep breath, raised his voice, and shouted, "Everyone else, too, get back in the tents! No matter what happens, don’t come out!"

"Ah... okay... alright!"

Only then did everyone realize that with a magic apprentice killed, wouldn’t the other apprentices outside the camp go berserk next?

Unconsciously, fear surged again!

What they didn’t know was this: As Andrew spoke, he lightly tapped his fingertip, and an invisible water magic shot into the air above the camp and silently exploded.

This cluster of water magic contained countless "Seeds of the Water Spirit" which drifted down quietly, soothing the fear and anxiety in everyone’s hearts.

Very quickly, the residents returned to their respective tents, though they couldn’t resist peeking out from the doors and windows.

It wasn’t that the fear completely disappeared, but at least it was bearable.

However, due to the concealing effects of the "Invisible Enchantment," no one knew this change was actually caused by Andrew.

Andrew turned around again to face the magic apprentices outside the camp and the rows of dazzling, even glaring, magic torches, speaking one word at a time, "Anyone who dares to cross the line, dies! I repeat, any issue with me, come at me, leave others out of it!"

This time, Andrew didn’t say "help me out" to any of the camp residents.

After the incident with Aunt Sofia, Andrew had realized: Before truly proving oneself worthy of trust through actions, any request for help from others can be seen as moral coercion.

"So now, what is truly important is to execute and carry out to the end the strategy I just thought of!"

Andrew’s left index finger moved slightly.

He converted a large amount of "Fire Extinguishing Value," earned from killing an apprentice flame warrior and soothing everyone’s inherent fear of flames, completely into the fingertips of his left index finger!

"Fire Extinguishing Value" was like his "experience value" in extinguishing fires in this Flame Realm.

The Fingertip Series Magic gave him the "allocation rights" over the Fire Extinguishing Value—

The newly acquired Fire Extinguishing Value could be integrated with the "Tear of the Water God" on his chest, storing it and charging towards unlocking the next magic skill.

Another choice, the option Andrew was currently executing, was: controlling the newly gained Fire Extinguishing Value, not integrating it with the Tear of the Water God, but focusing it on the fingertips, directly transforming it into "instant combat power!"

"Not just this batch of ’Fire Extinguishing Value’..."

Andrew had already decided in his mind: "Next, all the Fire Extinguishing Value gained from taking down these magic apprentices, I will not use to unlock new abilities, but infinitely strengthen a single ’Long-range Water Needle,’ to deal with Hubert! This is the specific implementation of the tactic!"

The scene suddenly quieted down.

It seemed the only sound was Andrew’s resounding words of "those who cross the boundary die," echoing in the night wind.

The residents of the camp peeked out their heads from the tents, looking at the rows of magic torches outside the camp and the apprentices holding the torches, who seemed to be stunned, and a thought arose in their minds: Could it be that these bad guys were really intimidated by Andrew’s aura?

Until—

With a hissing sound, someone laughed.

"..." Andrew’s eyes narrowed slightly.

It was a female magic apprentice with a lovely face, about twenty years old, who couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Her skin was slightly dark, but in this dry Flame Realm where female skin generally wasn’t particularly good, she was considered quite fine.

The night wind blew against her, pressing the clean and neat magic apprentice robe tightly against her body, outlining a very enchanting silhouette.

The female apprentice, covering her mouth and laughing, shook like flowers swaying in the wind. Initially, she was quite reserved, covering her mouth while laughing, only showing her crescent-shaped eyes, but gradually she couldn’t hold back the laughter, and eventually, she was clutching her stomach, almost kneeling down from laughing.

"Oh dear, I’m dying from laughter... Andrew... Andrew, you are... hahaha, hahahahaha!!"

This laughter, filled with mockery and disdain, spread like a virus among the magic apprentices.

Pfft...

Haha...

Hee hee...

Everyone couldn’t help but laugh out loud!

Andrew faced the tide of laughter without moving, softly asking:

"Is there... something that you find so amusing?"

His gaze was directed towards the female apprentice who had initially laughed.

If memory served correctly, she was called Lisa, a top figure among the intermediate apprentices.

This body’s previous owner seemed to have expressed feelings to her, receiving no response in return...

Lisa gradually stopped laughing, not because she had laughed enough, but because her stomach hurt from laughing too much and needed a break.

She tilted her head, watching Andrew with interest, as if observing a creature not of her kind.

Wiping away the tears from laughter at the corners of her eyes, Lisa said, "Andrew, do you think, having taken down Grace..." pointing at the dead apprentice flame warrior stomped under Andrew’s feet, "...you can just be impressive in front of us?"

"But the orders we received are actually: assemble, surround this temporary camp, and await the arrival of Teacher Hubert. Grace, that reckless brute, didn’t follow orders and acted rashly, he deserved to die! By killing him, you acted as our hand of punishment."

"And the key point is... what’s really laughable—"

She couldn’t help but laugh again, "Earlier, you said if there were issues to come at you, don’t hurt the innocent? Saying if there are issues to come at you, leave others out of it? Hahaha, I truly... don’t even know what to say!"

"You remember confessing to me, and I didn’t even bother to respond or reject you, you remember, right?"

"Now it seems, I did nothing wrong at all."

"You haven’t changed at all, still harboring some bizarre ’commoner mindset’!"

"Even if you’re the lowest of the low in our group, but..."

Lisa’s tone grew chilly and indifferent, looking at Andrew with eyes that made one’s heart freeze, "...you shouldn’t degenerate, treating those beings behind you as ’people,’ Andrew."

Upon hearing this, Andrew’s body trembled violently.

On the other side, Lisa shook her head and finally said, "Andrew, tell me yourself, isn’t it quite laughable?"