Curiosity

Linsey, with Wala Wala by his side, climbed up the ship's outer wall and onto the deck.

Then he turned to the girl behind him and said, "Wala Wala, aren't you from the Seven Seas Alliance?"

"How can someone who lives in an Ocean World not know how to swim?"

Wala Wala said very seriously, "Do you know what the leading cause of death is in the world of the Seven Seas Alliance every year? It's drowning!"

The girl explained confidently:

"Those who are good swimmers drown—so my strategy is simply not to learn to swim and not to touch the water."

"Wouldn't that eliminate the problem at its root?"

"..."

Linsey was speechless:

"Aren't you being a little too cautious?"

"And you were the one who pulled me to sit on the ship's railing. Didn't you ever think we'd capsize and fall over?"

"That's the confidence of an awakened one, isn't it?" Wala Wala playfully stuck out her tongue on Linsey's back. "The Night's Flowing Light, the gentle caress of the wind, the warm breeze of twilight gently blowing!"

Warm light streamed over the two of them.

Their clothes, soaked by the seawater, were immediately dried by the warm breeze, but the remaining salt grains were very unpleasant.

Linsey climbed back onto the deck by clinging to the outer wall of the ship.

After the two landed, they found that everyone had gathered around them, their eyes fixed on them.

Under the cover of night, amidst the shimmering light of the sea.

The belated cheers erupted.

Some praised Linsey's act of saving lives, while others complimented his violin performance.

"Well done, young man!"

"Hero saves the damsel in distress!"

"Sir, could you play another piece? Your performance just now was absolutely fantastic!"

"..."

Faced with these enthusiastic cheers, interspersed with a few words of unfamiliar language that were hard to understand.

Linsey could only respond with a smile:

"Excuse me, everyone, we'd like to take a moment to excuse ourselves."

"We don't feel very comfortable coming out of the sea, so we need to take care of our clothes."

"..."

The people on deck expressed their regret, but did not try to keep them.

After declining everyone's enthusiastic invitations, Linsey returned to the cabin with Wala Wala.

On the way, he finally had time to check the details of the newly unlocked skills.

The first line of the Sheet Music on this Data Panel is the piece that Wala Wala and Linsey just performed.

Fifth Night's Love Serenade:

A melody that encourages love, with a passionate tune.

Effect: Restores the listener's mental state; the effect is greatly enhanced if the listener is in a romantic relationship.

"..."

"If I have time, I'll record all the pieces of music I know, one by one."

Linsey this as she and Wala Wala arrived at the cabin door.

He could change his clothes from his baggage, but Wala Wala couldn't, so the two of them went to the girl's cabin.

Unlike the two-person cabins like Linsey and Ala Song.

Wala Wala lives in a single cabin.

The girl opened her bag, rummaged through her clothes, and patted off the salt.

Linsey found several easels next to the neatly made bed. Although the paintings on them were not yet finished, they were already showing a beach at sunset, and the lines were beginning to reveal the artist's excellent compositional skills.

Painting, playing instruments, singing...

The artistic skills that Wala Wala possessed were almost beyond the realm of common sense.

"Wala Wala, your painting..."

Linsey turned around to strike up a conversation, but then saw the girl taking off her white dress, which startled him so much that he quickly turned back around.

Linsey walked towards the door:

"I said, there are still people in this room!"

Wala Wala asked jokingly, "Didn't you see it quite clearly underwater just now?"

"..."

Linsey fell silent.

He was only focused on saving people at the time and didn't remember these details.

Only after being reminded by the girl did he realize what he had actually seen in the underwater scene.

"The situation was urgent at that time!"

"Besides, how can you see clearly underwater?"

Behind Linsey, the Wala Wala sound grew closer:

"The cabin isn't as bright as a bright-tailed fish's tail."

"This is a rare opportunity, why don't you turn around and take a good look?"

Linsey in surprise and prepared to rush out the door.

Then the girl burst into laughter. "Haha! Don't rush to run away, I've already changed my clothes!"

Wala Wala patted Linsey's back hard.

He turned his head, and sure enough, the girl had cleaned herself up and changed her clothes.

This is an oversized knit sweater, mainly in the green of leaves and the yellow of trees, with patterns in the shape of leaf veins.

It looks both casual and exudes a wild, jungle vibe.

"I bought this when I went to the Green Pine Forest to collect inspiration."

"How is it? Isn't it beautiful?"

Wala Wala tugged at the hem of her dress and twirled lightly in place, like a butterfly spreading its wings. "Aside from the indigenous-style grass skirt, this is my favorite outfit!"

"..."

Linsey thought back to her previous Wala Wala- like attire.

He chose not to comment.

After showing off her clothes, Wala Wala jumped directly onto the bed and sat cross-legged.

"Linsey, aren't you going to change your clothes?"

Linsey pointed to herself. "You're just going to stare at me like that and expect me to change my clothes?"

The girl blushed slightly, but quickly regained her composure. "I can tell whether a person is good or bad!"

"And I'm also thinking—would you like to be a model? Let me paint a picture of you!"

Linsey wasn't pretentious.

Since Wala Wala didn't mind, he simply changed his clothes.

Before he could respond to the invitation regarding the modeling opportunity.

The girl sitting opposite him recognized his attire first. "Your clothes are a bit like what explorers like to wear?"

"And look at the details of your clothing—it's the kind of attire you'd expect for someone used to being out in the wild. If I'm not mistaken, you must have come from somewhere very far away, right?"

Linsey nodded slightly:

"Your observation skills are quite keen."

Wala Wala's expression was one of pride:

"Exceptional observational skills are a major characteristic of artists!"

Linsey continued answering questions:

"You guessed right, I came from the Courtyard in the Forest World."

"Courtyard in the Forest?" Wala Wala thought for a moment, she had no recollection of the term. "Is it a place I've never heard of before?"

Recalling her experience on Cato Island, Linsey replied with relief, "For a large world like the Seven Seas Alliance, the Courtyard in the Forest is indeed a backwater, so it's normal that people don't know about it."

"Let's put it another way. More than a hundred years ago, the World Border was opened up by Expedition Team. The Courtyard in the Forest is located there."

Wala Wala suddenly realized:

"The World Border! I already know that."

"However, I heard that the place is blocked by a Dragon Beast, and the road is impassable recently, so not many people go there to collect folk songs."

After a brief moment of reflection, Wala Wala returned her attention to Linsey.

She leaned closer and asked with a curious expression:

"Linsey, you've come all this way, you must have a lot of stories to tell, right?"

Linsey replied dismissively, "There's no story. It was just a rather long and somewhat boring trip."

"I can smell it!" The girl immediately saw through Linsey's Wala Wala attitude. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her face close to his, even able to smell each other's warm breath. "Your words have a hint of insincerity."

"Just as I guessed, you must have had a lot of interesting adventures!"