Mysterious Plant Witch

Mysterious Plant Witch

"What kind of trash team name is that?"

Ji Xinghuo's expression froze. It sounded like something a middle school dropout with childish fantasies filling his head would come up with.

Chi Zhonglin rubbed his nose awkwardly.

Ji Xinghuo looked at him, instinctively assuming this guy had named it. Chi Zhonglin hurriedly explained, "Don't look at me. It wasn't my idea."

"Then whose was it?"

"Mine." Ren Mian's voice came from upstairs, once again displaying her willfulness. "You got a problem with it?"

"Uh... no."

Ji Xinghuo had already guessed it, but hearing her admit it still felt unbelievable.

The mature, intellectual impression Ren Mian had just established in his mind suddenly wavered. Beneath that elegant, otherworldly appearance, did she perhaps have a childlike heart that had never grown up? "Xinghuo-jun, please come with me," Jiangnan Caiyi said.

"When Cai Yi talks to me, don't use honorifics. It feels strange. Just call me by my name," Ji Xinghuo said softly.

"Alright, Xinghuo-jun."

Jiangnan Caiyi, who was walking ahead, turned back and gave him a sweet smile.

Ji Xinghuo was helpless.

None of the three teammates in this team seemed quite normal.

Jiangnan Caiyi opened a guest room on the first floor.

It was called a guest room, but it was spacious, fully furnished, and had its own bathroom. Beyond the balcony was the garden, with a small path leading straight into its depths for morning walks. At the other end of the garden were the Training Room and shooting range.

"My sister and I live on the second floor."

"Zhonglin-jun is next door. If Xinghuo-jun needs anything, you can come find me anytime." Jiangnan Caiyi briefly introduced the villa's layout. "I cook five meals every day. Xinghuo-jun, remember to come eat on time. If you have any preferences, you can tell me now."

Ji Xinghuo nodded. "Thanks. I can eat anything."

"Then I won't disturb Xinghuo-jun's rest." Jiangnan Caiyi bowed and withdrew.

Ji Xinghuo took a lap around the room. The conditions here were far better than the inn's. Aside from the inconvenience of having no electrical appliances, everything else was better than his apartment in Chang'an.

He sat on the edge of the bed and could not resist activating Electromagnetic Induction.

In an instant, the entire villa was reflected in his mind. What he saw was merely the distribution of magnetic fields rather than visual images, so it did not count as invading anyone's privacy.

Ren Mian was in the bathroom of the master bedroom on the second floor. She was taking a shower...

"Ahem."

Ji Xinghuo quickly withdrew his Magnetic Field Induction.

Although the magnetic field distribution was abstract to his senses and did not reveal the actual scene, the shape of the fields still made the curves of a human body clearly distinguishable.

"Slender branches, abundant fruit! The real deal! Hidden depths!"

Several phrases popped into Ji Xinghuo's mind in succession. Lewd thoughts rose up, and he hastily forced his attention elsewhere.

Jiangnan Caiyi was busy in the kitchen, preparing a late-night snack for Ren Mian, while Chi Zhonglin next door had already collapsed onto his bed and was snoring away.

Night had already fallen outside, and everything was pitch-black.

Ji Xinghuo lay on the soft bed and soon drifted into sleep as well.

The next day.

By the time Golden Radiance's light spilled over Olympia City, Ji Xinghuo had already completed a training cycle.

Warm Moon's night lasted thirteen hours. He did not need to sleep that long at all, waking after eight hours. Not wanting to disturb anyone, he practiced Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands in his room without making the slightest sound.

When he entered the dining room, he saw Jiangnan Caiyi wearing an apron and cooking breakfast.

"Good morning, Xinghuo-jun." She turned to greet Ji Xinghuo. "Breakfast will be ready soon. Please wait a moment."

"Good morning."

Ji Xinghuo knew she had gotten up over an hour ago.

This young and beautiful Fusang woman possessed a quality rarely seen nowadays: she was diligent, hardworking, and devoted to the household. If not for the two swords always hanging at her waist, no one would doubt for a moment that she was a housewife.

When breakfast was served, Ren Mian came downstairs as well.

She was neatly dressed, having changed into a combat dress different from yesterday's, though its style remained elegant and antique. She wore no makeup, yet it did not diminish her beauty in the slightest. Her skin was smooth and delicate, without a single blemish or dull patch, so tender it seemed water could be squeezed from it.

Skin like congealed cream, a face like peach blossoms! Ji Xinghuo stole two close looks and could not help praising her inwardly.

If Ren Mian's image appeared online, she would become globally famous the moment she was exposed. Countless film and television companies would wave astronomical contracts, begging her to enter the industry.

The men falling at her feet could circle the equator once! "Focus on your breakfast." Ren Mian suddenly shot Ji Xinghuo a glare, yet it was utterly charming. "Looking at me won't fill your stomach."

Ji Xinghuo had more or less figured out her personality and smiled. "A feast for the eyes..."

"You're young, but you've got quite some nerve." Ren Mian sounded helpless.

"If I felt nothing, I wouldn't be a man." Ji Xinghuo said honestly. He did not believe any man could sit at the same table as Ren Mian and resist looking at her. Then he suddenly asked, "Ren-jie, how old are you?"

"What are you asking that for?"

"Nothing, I'm just curious." Ji Xinghuo smiled. "As a team member, I can't possibly not even know the captain's age, right?"

"That's a decent excuse." Ren Mian paused before replying, "I'm twenty-six."

"Only four years older than me?"

Ji Xinghuo was startled. At twenty-six, she was already a Super Esper. Even on a global scale, she was an unparalleled genius, one of the tiny handful at the absolute pinnacle of human talent and potential.

Any Aberrant who advanced to Super Esper before thirty had a chance of becoming a Celestial King! He said with undisguised envy, "Ren-jie became a Super Esper so young. Advancing to Legendary Esper, or even Celestial King, probably won't be difficult for you in the future."

Jiangnan Caiyi's expression beside him became somewhat strange.

"Who told you I'm a Super Esper?" Ren Mian laughed.

Ji Xinghuo was puzzled. "Aren't you?"

"I'm only an Advanced Esper," Ren Mian explained. "Though I'm indeed not far from advancing to Super Esper. Probably within the next year or two."

Ji Xinghuo's eyes instantly widened, as though he had seen a ghost.

That was not right! From the first time he had met Ren Mian yesterday, his Magnetic Field Induction had been extremely clear. Her magnetic field intensity had not only reached the level of a Super Esper, but was stronger than every Super Esper he had ever encountered. It nearly spanned a Rank gap, yet it still fell short of Legendary.

And now she said she was only an Advanced Esper?

Ji Xinghuo instinctively assumed she was concealing her strength. If not, could there be something wrong with his Magnetic Field Induction? Did high magnetic field intensity not necessarily mean a higher Rank of strength?

Jiangnan Caiyi said softly, "My sister advanced to Advanced Esper three years ago. That was already very fast. Why is Xinghuo-jun so surprised?"

Ren Mian also looked at him in confusion.

"It's nothing. So I misunderstood." Ji Xinghuo shook his head. "When Ren-jie tested me last night, you were so powerful that I thought you were a Super Esper."

Jiangnan Caiyi's face was full of pride. "You weren't wrong to think that. My sister is stronger than Super Espers."

Ji Xinghuo nodded. That was indeed true.

"I still don't know what Ren-jie's class is."

Ren Mian replied, "Plant Witch."

"Then I guessed right." Ji Xinghuo smiled. Ren Mian had a peach blossom between her brows, carried the fragrance of flowers, and the villa garden contained all kinds of flourishing rare plants. All of it pointed to her Class Template being Plant Witch.

The first impression Plant Witches gave people was healing.

In reality, healing was far from all they could do. It was only their most basic ability.

The essence of a Plant Witch was a wizard who used plants as spellcasting mediums.

By controlling plants and utilizing the seeds, fruits, roots, stems, and leaves of countless Star Realm plants, they could produce all kinds of unexpected effects.

Close combat, empowering teammates, physical attacks, energy bursts; defense, control, poison, tracking, medicine-making, beast taming, cultivation, and more...

There was almost nothing a Plant Witch could not handle! The comprehensiveness of a Plant Witch's abilities far surpassed that of other Class Templates.

The diversity and complexity of Star Realm plants gave Plant Witches almost limitless potential. Of course, the prerequisite was collecting enough plant samples.

"What about you, Cai Yi?" Ji Xinghuo asked again.

He had never been able to figure out Jiangnan Caiyi's Class Template. It was difficult to judge from the surface, and Magnetic Field Induction could only reveal the range and intensity of a magnetic field. For now, he could not infer a class from its details.

Moreover, Jiangnan Caiyi's magnetic field was strange—extremely dim and weak, flickering erratically.

Jiangnan Caiyi said quietly, "I'm a Demon Refiner and an Evil Spirit."

"Huh?"

Ji Xinghuo was utterly shocked. The chopsticks in his hand nearly fell. "The advanced class, Demon Lord?"

Once a Class Template took shape, an Aberrant could choose to fuse additional abilities to strengthen their existing class, or cultivate a second Class Template alongside it.

Not every two Class Templates could be combined. Some could, while others could not.

But some dual classes were perfectly compatible and could unleash even greater power.

Those were advanced classes! Demon Refiner was already an extremely rare and powerful class. It had very few advancement paths, only two or three in total. One of them was combining it with Evil Spirit to become a Demon Lord!

Moreover, the prerequisite for an advanced class was at least Legendary Esper!

"No." Jiangnan Caiyi shook her head gently. "I'm only an Advanced Esper. I haven't advanced. I fused part of the abilities of both Demon Refiner and Evil Spirit, but neither is complete."

"You can do that?" This was the first time Ji Xinghuo had heard of it.

The reason Class Templates existed was to form combat strength as quickly as possible. Every ability forming a template was indispensable. Fusing abilities from another class beforehand, even abilities from a future advancement path, would greatly delay the growth of one's strength. It could easily result in failing at both and losing more than one gained.

Ren Mian interjected, "As long as you figure out the right method and succeed in fusing them, advancing early won't cause any problems."

Jiangnan Caiyi nodded. "My sister taught me all of this."

"I see."

Ji Xinghuo looked enlightened, but inwardly he was deeply shaken. A method for advancing early was absolutely top-secret information, something ordinary people could never access.

Just who was Ren-jie? At that moment, Chi Zhonglin walked into the dining room with a yawn. He grabbed a steamed bun and stuffed it into his mouth, swallowing it in two bites before downing an entire glass of juice.

"Morning, everyone."

He greeted them and continued eating.

Ji Xinghuo had already finished eating and chatted with the two beauties. During the conversation, he learned that Chi Zhonglin was also an Advanced Esper, but he was surprisingly not a martial artist. He was an Unclassed Esper.

Chi Zhonglin smiled smugly.

Ji Xinghuo barely reacted. An Unclassed Esper was not that rare.

Chi Zhonglin was extremely powerful, among the very best of Unclassed Espers, but he had not found his own evolutionary path either. Ren Mian had guided him as well.

Ren Mian was the absolute core of this team.

The Five Stars, Ten Realms, I Alone Reign Team had been founded five years ago. Ren Mian had invited eighteen-year-old Jiangnan Caiyi to join that year.

Three years ago, Chi Zhonglin, who had just graduated at twenty-two, became the third member.

Both possessed peerless talent. Under Ren Mian's guidance, their strength had improved by leaps and bounds, and they advanced to Advanced Esper like they were riding a rocket.

And now, Ji Xinghuo was the third member Ren Mian had found!

He found Ren Mian increasingly impossible to see through. Layer upon layer of mysterious veils seemed to shroud her, making him want to uncover the truth.

Fortunately, everything Ren Mian had shown so far had been beneficial to him.

Ji Xinghuo sighed inwardly.

For some reason, he suddenly felt a little pessimistic. He hoped that when the secrets were eventually uncovered, it would not end badly.

"Alright."

Ren Mian clapped her hands. "Come with me to the training ground. We'll assess Xinghuo's strength. Everyone needs to familiarize themselves with their teammates' abilities so we can coordinate better in battle."

At this point, she glanced at Ji Xinghuo.

"And while we're at it, I'll plan out how Xinghuo can improve his strength quickly."