Beauties Are Directionally Challenged

As a beauty—and an exceptional beauty at that—it was perfectly natural to be flattered and praised by others. Even if the beauty herself did not care, once enough time passed, she would still grow used to it subconsciously. At the very least, she would feel displeased when others fawned over her, yet also displeased when others ignored her.

Christiana truly could not understand Diya's attitude. Why had he merely glanced twice at her face and chest before moving his gaze away, showing not the slightest sign of looking back? And that gaze had been extraordinarily clear, aside from that initial flash of astonishment.

Could it be that her charm had suddenly stopped working? Or was there some other reason? Right, that boy looked like he was still only in his teens. It was only natural that he did not understand her charm. Christiana could only comfort herself that way, but a sense of imbalance lingered in her heart all the same.

But what could that amount to? She was not some love-struck fool, nor was she self-important. She merely felt a little strange after receiving a gaze unlike the others.

As she thought, Christiana unknowingly walked deeper and deeper into the narrow lanes. Compared with the commercial street, this place seemed much dimmer.

Diya still felt somewhat shaken. It was not only because of the beauty he had brushed past. He could be certain that this beauty was absolutely not a resident of Carlos City, because in fifteen years, he had never seen her before. She had probably only arrived in Carlos during this recent period.

Even those photoshopped pictures from Earth in his previous life were not as beautiful as she was, but that was not what truly shocked Diya. After all, Diya was not some fool infatuated with beauty, the sort who would be unable to walk the moment he saw a pretty woman. What startled him was the badge hanging on that beauty's chest.

It had a white background, and on it were three very particular—mm, very interesting—patterns. They carried a hint of abstract art, but Diya understood that it was the mark of a spirit-level summoner, and furthermore, the mark of an elemental spirit summoner.

Elemental spirit summoners were absolutely a rare profession among summoners. The elemental spirits they summoned ranked among the foremost of all summoners' summons, whether in elemental control or elemental attack power. Compared with mages, they were no less impressive. Moreover, summoner magic in the hands of an elemental spirit summoner could unleash a level of might that Magic Beast summoners could not reach. This was the advantage of elemental spirit summoners. Their traits were equally obvious: they possessed not the slightest physical attack ability, their physical defense was pitifully poor, and the summoner's own bodily strength was lacking as well, no different from that of an ordinary person.

For such a powerful figure to come to Carlos, this fringe water city, truly exceeded Diya's expectations. At the very least, in the fifteen years he had lived in Carlos City, aside from the academy's instructors, he had only ever seen one spirit-level two-handed swordsman—the time he sold the snake gall. And this beauty, beautiful enough to bring ruin to a country and disaster to its people, was the second.

A beauty was one thing. A spirit-level elemental spirit summoner was one thing. But a top-quality beauty who was also a spirit-level elemental spirit summoner—that was enormous news. Diya estimated that by tomorrow, the whole of Carlos City would be lively.

Shaking his head, Diya cast those thoughts aside. In any case, these things had nothing to do with him. As long as he handled his own affairs well, that was enough.

Walking briskly along the street, Diya moved even faster than the average pedestrian, yet there was not the slightest sense of strain. Even so, this behavior did not make others recognize him. After all, the difference was far too great.

Morina. Diya stopped. Before him stood a shop with its doors wide open. Diya strolled inside. A woman was behind the counter, while several people to one side were flipping through leather and the like.

"Welcome, customer. Please have a look at what you need. We have all kinds of leather here, all of excellent quality," the woman said with a beaming smile.

"I'm selling snakeskin," Diya replied with a faint smile.

"Snakeskin? Customer, we don't accept ordinary snakeskin," the woman said after hearing Diya's words, though no impatience showed on her face.

"Name a price." Diya took the Crimson Blood Python skin from his cloth bundle and placed it on the counter in front of the woman. The woman's eyes widened, and she abruptly picked up the snakeskin with both hands, examining it carefully while crying out in surprise, "This is the outer skin of an adult Crimson Blood Python!"

The woman's cry of surprise drew the attention of those customers. One by one, they walked over to look. Seeing the complete Crimson Blood Python skin, they were even more astonished, because there was only one tiny hole torn in it.

In this world, those without enough strength did not dare provoke a highly venomous fierce beast like the Crimson Blood Python, while those with enough strength would not care about the Crimson Blood Python's weak points. As for those whose strength was about the same, there was even less need to mention it. Either a sword strike would always damage the snakeskin, or a blast of magic would likewise damage it. Something as intact as Diya's was extremely rare.

"A complete outer skin from an adult Crimson Blood Python can be used to make the inner lining of clothes, as well as gloves and so on. Warm in winter and cool in summer—it's something nobles like best," Diya said with a smile. "A snakeskin this large is enough to make several pairs of gloves. If you sell them to nobles, boss, you'll be able to earn quite a few gold coins. So you'd better offer a fair price."

"You're quite knowledgeable, customer. What you said is correct, but to make it into gloves and the like, we still need to process it and so on. This is delicate work. The slightest carelessness will ruin it. How about this—thirty silver coins," the woman said.

"One price. Fifty silver coins," Diya replied evenly.

After looking at Diya for a while and realizing he had no intention of giving way at all, the woman sighed. "Fine. Fifty silver coins it is. I'll take a bit of a loss. Wait a moment."

Diya said nothing, but he smiled coldly in his heart. Fifty silver coins was the market price. In terms of true practicality, the outer skin of a Crimson Blood Python was inferior to the snake gall, but nobles were all creatures who loved to compare and show off. On top of that, the Crimson Blood Python's outer skin was quite beautiful and also possessed the property of being warm in winter and cool in summer. If processed into gloves, not only would they be thin and fine, but they would also feel light as nothing when worn, protect the hands, and look very good as well. It was precisely this kind of gorgeous thing that nobles chased after.

Diya even felt that selling it for fifty silver coins was too little. If only he knew how to make gloves himself.

When Diya walked out of the leather shop, it was already nine o'clock deep into the night. With fifty silver coins tucked away, although it was his first time coming into contact with such a sum of money, Diya's heart was extremely calm. If this had been before, he would have been wildly happy already. But Diya knew that from now on, silver coins would no longer be a dream. He needed to set his sights farther. Still, he wondered whether Uncle Fu would faint when he saw these silver coins.

Returning along the road he had come by, he entered the narrow lanes and headed in the direction of home. Suddenly, not far to the side, there seemed to be a flash of white. Diya turned his head and looked. His sharp gaze clearly saw a white figure walking into the distance, occasionally circling around a corner, as if she did not know which direction to take.

From that figure, Diya could be certain that it was the beauty who had startled him. He could not help strolling over. He was in a good mood today, after all, so he would always do something unexpected. Otherwise, if this were any ordinary time, Diya would have been too lazy to care whether she lived or died.

Diya's footsteps gave Christiana a fright. Just now, she had been thinking, and as she walked, she had no idea where she had ended up. In the civilian district, there were many narrow lanes, weaving through one another. If one had never walked them before, it was very easy to get confused. Not only was this Christiana's first time coming to Carlos, but more importantly, she had one particular trait: she was prone to getting lost in unfamiliar places. Even in familiar places, if things were a little complicated, she would likewise lose her way. It was as if Christiana had some kind of barrier when it came to roads. Once she had walked past something, she would very easily forget it. Of course, in places without any obstacles, that would not happen.

If she had not been thinking just now, she would not have run to a place like this, causing her to have no idea how to get back now. The troublesome part was that the surrounding houses had all put out their lights. Civilians went to bed early and rose early, and Christiana was too embarrassed to disturb anyone, so she could only pace around where she was, anxious and helpless.

"What are you looking for?" Diya asked calmly.

"I... I... got lost," Christiana said, her voice growing quieter as she spoke, her face turning red. Fortunately, the light here was dim, so Diya could not see it.

"Lost? This is your first time in Carlos. This isn't a place you should have come to," Diya said, then realized that he seemed to have spoken a bit too much. "Where are you going?"

"I... I need to return to the academy. Carlos Academy. I'm an instructor at Carlos Academy. I only arrived here today," Christiana said. Her voice was still so soft and gentle that anyone who heard it would feel incomparably soothed.

"Come on. I'll take you there." Diya shook his head slightly, but did not ask anything else and simply said that.

"All right. Thank you." Christiana revealed a smile like a child's, while Diya had already turned around and was walking forward. Christiana hurriedly followed, walking quickly behind Diya.

"Um... um, could I hold on to the corner of your clothes?" Christiana asked softly. Diya turned his head in surprise and glanced at her. Christiana's face reddened. "I'm afraid if I can't keep up, I'll get lost again."

Diya was speechless. She truly was a top-quality piece. She got lost easily, yet still dared to run around everywhere. He really did not know what girls these days were thinking. Still, Diya extended his left hand, letting Christiana hold on to the sleeve of his left robe, and led her toward the commercial street as though he were bringing along an ignorant little sister.

They then headed in the direction of the academy. Along the way, until they reached the entrance of Carlos Academy, Diya did not take the initiative to speak, and Christiana did not know what to say either. Thus they remained silent all the way to the academy gates, then walked into the academy under the gate guard's utterly astonished gaze.