Night, Beautiful Girl, Drained Dry

After sending off the bristling young master, Shane returned to the entrance of the temple to retrieve his massive pile of scrap metal.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, he suddenly noticed that the corridors leading to the left and right seemed to have changed.

"I remember the entrance to the tomb on the right was slightly collapsed from the tremors, and the dead end on the left was intact. How did they swap places?"

Could the two paths have grown legs and switched positions on their own?

Shane muttered in confusion, but he didn't take it to heart; perhaps he had simply misremembered. Regardless, Frieren had already updated the directions for the left and right passages, so there shouldn't be any issues.

Leaving the temple, the two continued to patrol the remaining outer areas.

As they walked, they corrected the map.

Shane discovered a type of shy grass by the roadside; the moment it was touched, its leaves would immediately fold shut.

Frieren was quite interested and specifically made a note of it on the map.

Shane disagreed, arguing that a map intended for adventurers should only mark important information like resource points and danger warnings.

Frieren countered that adding some interesting information might make the journey less boring.

The two held their own opinions.

In the end, the person responsible for drawing the map had the final say.

"Wait, is that a monster!"

Shane, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped.

In the bushes not far ahead, several bird-like creatures the size of oxen were strolling leisurely.

They had bulky bodies covered in yellow and black feathers, resembling ostriches, but strangely, they lacked wings, and their two claws were disproportionately thick and sturdy, looking quite uncoordinated.

"That should be a Terror Bird."

Frieren added more notes to the map and explained to Shane, "It's a large bird commonly found in the southern mountains and forests. They run exceptionally fast, but their cries are terrifying, hence the name Terror Bird."

"Don't worry, they have a very docile temperament and never actively attack humans."

Shane breathed a sigh of relief; as long as they weren't monsters, it was fine.

He looked up at the sun, which was gradually sinking into the west, estimated the time, and suggested, "It's getting dark, and there's a water source nearby. Let's camp at the edge of the forest for the night and head back tomorrow."

The two chose a spot to set up camp.

Frieren was responsible for clearing the campsite and gathering firewood, while Shane was in charge of going to the river to catch fish for dinner.

Spring river fish are the fattest, with bellies full of roe.

Shane walked along the riverbank, observing the fish in the water. After walking quite a distance, he finally found the two largest ones.

He drew his long sword and chuckled.

The Electric Shock trait was simply a divine tool for fishing.

Crackle.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.

The two fish in the river flipped their bellies instantly, floating stiffly to the surface.

Shane scooped the fish up, scaled and gutted them on the spot, and cleaned them thoroughly. He then plucked a blade of thatch from the roadside, threaded it through the fish gills, and carried them in his hand, humming a little tune as he returned to the campsite.

Easy as pie.

Seeing that he had caught fish so quickly—and such large ones at that—Frieren immediately wore an expression of admiration.

Shane imitated the style from movies, skewering the fish onto the tips of wooden sticks and planting them beside the campfire.

Night fell.

Accompanied by the "crackling" sound of the burning flames, the aroma of grilled fish slowly drifted out.

With a gentlemanly air, Shane selected the golden-brown one that looked perfectly cooked and handed it to Frieren.

Frieren took it, sniffed the aroma, and took a large bite. Her expression immediately froze, and she spat it out at once.

Shane frowned, "Even if it's not to your taste, you shouldn't waste it."

Saying this, he picked up his own and took a bite, and his expression instantly twisted.

"Ugh—what kind of fish is this?"

Frieren began chewing on her bread with a calm face, "I don't think the problem is the fish."

Shane was perplexed.

That shouldn't be right. Isn't that how it's written in novels?

The aroma of grilled fish conquers the taste buds of the beautiful girl, and the handsome adventurer thus reaps this or that wonderful night.

Where did the problem lie?

For safety during the night, Shane cast the Goddess's Barrier to protect the entire campsite.

By now, Frieren was already lying on the blanket beside the campfire, fast asleep.

Shane sat on the other side of the campfire, pulled a small pouch of beans from his pocket, opened it, and counted out 20 beans, lining them up one by one in front of him.

This was his preparatory work before performing trait fusion.

Because stripped traits could not remain in a free-floating state for long, he would use the beans as temporary storage media.

Next, he sorted the pile of scrap metal one by one, placing those carrying [Gray Traits] in one pile, [White Traits] in another, and those of higher grades in a third.

After everything was prepared, he began to rub the traits together.

He started by stripping out a pile of useless [Gray Traits], 12 in total, and fused them directly.

Not bad; they all succeeded, resulting in 4 white ones.

He glanced over them, but they were all useless; he stored one on a bean for backup and continued to fuse the other 3.

What a pity; this fusion failed, and they all shattered.

Next, he went on to strip that pile of [White Traits]...

He repeated this process.

Specks of light in different colors flashed before him constantly, and from time to time, he would pick up a bean to use for temporary storage.

According to the experience he had accumulated, it was best to store only one trait per bean, as this made it easier to select and reorganize them, saving the energy required for repeated stripping.

Time ticked away, second by second.

Shane's mental energy was constantly being depleted.

In the end, most of the 20 beans were used up, but before he completely drained his mental strength, he finally obtained two decent blue traits.

[Mind Shield (Blue/Fine)]: Seals one's own thoughts to prevent them from being pried into or influenced by others; significantly increases resistance to mental-type magic.

[Space Expansion (Blue/Fine)]: Expands the internal volume of an object and reduces the weight of its contents without changing its external appearance; maximum space expansion is 50 times (must be a closed container).

Shane did not hesitate and immediately enchanted himself with the first trait.

Then, he pulled out his backpack and cast the second trait onto it.

In an instant, a stream of light flashed across the ordinary leather backpack. Shane reached inside and—whoa, he couldn't even touch the bottom.

He tentatively poked his head inside.

By the light of the campfire, he could see that the interior space had expanded significantly; it probably wouldn't even be a problem to fit a carriage inside.

"From now on, carrying luggage when traveling will be much more convenient."

Aside from the high-level traits he had just fused, Shane had specifically kept one gray trait. This trait was truly rare, and it might have great utility in the future.

He rolled a bean between his fingertips.

Faint gray text appeared upon it—

[Osteoporosis (Gray Trait)]: Bone strength decreases significantly, brittleness increases, and fractures occur extremely easily.