After breaking through Level 10, a sorcerer's lifespan would increase to two hundred years. Judging by the age of a middle-aged man, the Village Chief should have been around sixty-five.
No wonder he did not want to accept her, an adventurer. This should have been a family village.
It seemed that the "people above" had given instructions regarding the arrangements for "adventurers." Any adventurer the village was unwilling to accept had to be given another relatively safe place to go.
Otherwise, the Village Chief could have simply driven her out and left her to fend for herself.
A moment later, a knock sounded from outside the door.
Yun Xi got up and opened the door. It was the familiar middle-aged man.
"Adventurer, the spirit flame suddenly went out just now. To ensure everyone's safety, the Village Chief has announced that everyone in the village must stay together tonight."
Yun Xi was a little surprised. She had not expected them to still be thinking of her.
"Okay."
She followed the middle-aged man directly to the bonfire. In that instant, all kinds of eyes turned toward her.
Yun Xi calmly examined them in return.
Although she had already anticipated it, she still had not expected the entire village to have only seven people.
Apart from the Village Chief and the middle-aged man, there were also a middle-aged woman, three teenagers, and a little girl.
Sure enough, this was a family, just as she had thought.
The middle-aged woman was holding a little girl of about five or six years old and looking at Yun Xi with friendly eyes. She should have been the middle-aged man's wife.
The three teenagers and the little girl should all have been their children, while the Village Chief was the children's grandfather.
Among them, the oldest youth's face was flushed, and a trace of irritation showed in his eyes. He should have been Hada, the one the middle-aged man had just harshly reprimanded.
The other two boys were twins. They were somewhat curious about Yun Xi, an outsider, but did not dare say much in front of their elders.
Overall, this family did not seem to harbor any malice toward her.
"Little girl, you're the newly arrived adventurer, right? Come, sit here." The middle-aged woman beckoned to Yun Xi and patted the spot beside her.
At that, Yun Xi returned a polite smile.
To be honest, as an "adventurer" who had suddenly "descended" into this family village, she felt as though she had barged into someone else's home without permission.
Now that everyone had gathered here, the situation was truly a little awkward.
"Shh—" Suddenly, the Village Chief pressed down on his hand, signaling everyone to be quiet.
Everyone immediately held their breath. The innocent little girl had her mouth covered by the middle-aged woman to prevent her from making any noise.
It was not only the Village Chief—Yun Xi had also heard the rustling sound.
At a visible speed, the bonfire before them rapidly dwindled.
The two twin boys hurriedly added more wood, while the middle-aged man and the youth named Hada quickly rose to their feet. Together with the Village Chief, they stood at the outermost edge of the group, taking up protective positions and shielding the others within.
At the same time, Yun Xi also prepared for battle. She mobilized the spiritual energy within her body and quickly began outlining the Sorcery Patterns for Water Arrow Technique.
[Basic Water Arrow LV1: Consumes 10–100 points of spiritual energy. Condenses one small water arrow, capable of dealing a maximum of 39–129 (Spirit * Skill Level + Spiritual Energy Consumed) points of water-element sorcery damage to strange creatures.]
She did not know what level the enemy was. Considering that her total spiritual energy was only 290 points, Yun Xi chose to consume just 20 points of spiritual energy, preparing a small water arrow capable of dealing approximately 49 points of damage.
The Village Chief naturally noticed the fluctuations of spiritual energy around Yun Xi, but the situation was urgent, and he had no time to be surprised.
"The enemy is here!" he said in a deep voice, raising his hand and firing a fireball toward the not-too-distant area.
Yun Xi was standing behind and to the right of the Village Chief. She followed the fireball's direction and saw a densely packed mass of rats gathered there.
Some were as large as basketballs, while others were fist-sized. Without exception, every rat's eyes gleamed with bloodlust. They were Rat Fiends.
Just as the Fireball Technique was about to land, they rapidly scattered. However, several rats failed to dodge in time and were struck directly, producing a burst of massive damage.
Fire dealt double additional damage to strange creatures. The several medium-sized rats hit by the fireball had around 200 health, yet they were still killed in one strike by the Village Chief's Fireball Technique.
The Village Chief really was powerful. As expected of a sorcerer above Level 10.
That attack had consumed at least a hundred points of spiritual energy.
As a Beginner Sorcerer below Level 10, Yun Xi's total spiritual energy was (Spirit * 10). Even with a Spirit Attribute of 29, her total spiritual energy amounted to only a few hundred points.
As a Intermediate Sorcerer above Level 10, the Village Chief's total spiritual energy was (Spirit * 100). Even if his Spirit was only a dozen or so points, his total spiritual energy could still reach over a thousand.
If the Village Chief had invested all his Freedom Attribute Points into Spirit, his total spiritual energy might already have exceeded two thousand points. He and Yun Xi were fundamentally different in this regard.
Yun Xi could also choose to consume over a hundred points of spiritual energy to deal more than 100 points of damage, but her current total spiritual energy was only 290 points. With attacks like that, she could launch at most three.
Although she had the "money" ability, absorbing spiritual energy from crystals also took time.
On a battlefield, circumstances could change in an instant. In a life-or-death struggle, there was often no time to replenish spiritual energy on the spot unless one could stall for time or possessed perfect defensive methods. That was also why Yun Xi had chosen to learn Light Control Technique and Counter Attack Technique.
Following closely after the Village Chief, Yun Xi's small water arrow also shot forward at high speed. She chose a fist-sized rat as her target. It had only 40 health.
A Water Arrow Technique with 49 points of attack was enough to kill it instantly.
Yun Xi's move drew envious looks from the twin boys.
Their initial Spirit Attributes were too low. To this day, they still had not successfully changed class into sorcerers.
Even though they had already reached Level 2 and had invested all four Freedom Attribute Points into Spirit, they had only 7 points of Spirit. Despite studying Basic Fireball for two years, they still had not mastered it.
By contrast, their elder brother Hada and their little sister both had very high initial Spirit Attributes.
Hada had already become an official Beginner Sorcerer. At that moment, his expression was almost identical to the Village Chief's. He continuously condensed fireballs in his hands and fired them at the swarm of rats.
The middle-aged man was a pure martial artist. He held a cleaver and glared fiercely at the swarm of rats.
At the instant she killed the small rat, a notification sounded in Yun Xi's ear.
[Ding! Congratulations, player. +1 Freedom Attribute Point.]
The Jade of Slaughter had taken effect.
As long as she killed a Malicious Strange Creature, she was guaranteed to gain a random number of Freedom Attribute Points or Freedom Skill Points.
If its seal were removed, she would only need to satisfy the condition of killing any living creature.
One had to know that ants also counted as "any living creature."
It was hard to imagine that the Ancient God Race, which possessed such a conceptual Divine Artifact, had actually been wiped out...
Yun Xi's thoughts returned to the present, and she began continuously harvesting the lives of the small rats.
[Ding! Congratulations, player. +1 Freedom Attribute Point.] [Ding! Congratulations, player. +1 Freedom Attribute Point.] [Ding! Congratulations, player. +1 Freedom Skill Point.]
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