Overthinking It

"Get up. I'm hungry."

"..." A tickle on his nose made Zheng Yichen shift in his sleep and turn his head to one side.

Standing before him, Lolise narrowed her eyes slightly...

"Wah!" A cold sense of danger jolted Zheng Yichen out of his dream. He sprang up as if electrocuted, slashing at empty air with his dragon claws. He scanned his surroundings warily before his gaze finally landed on Lolise.

"I'm hungry."

"Then eat. Isn't there still plenty of roast meat?" Zheng Yichen glanced at what remained on the roasting rack.

"I don't eat leftovers."

"Huh? Fine." Zheng Yichen shook his dragon head, grabbed the remaining meat off the rack, and stuffed it into his mouth. "I'll go hunt. Don't wander off—uh, do whatever you like."

Remembering just how terrifying the little girl before him was, Zheng Yichen coughed and headed out of town. He had said that without thinking only because Lolise was so small. One look at her, and anyone would think she might get kidnapped.

After leaving town, Zheng Yichen did not head straight for the forest. First, he circled the outskirts, but none of the roads showed any sign that a large number of people had left.

With so many people in town, even if they had scattered in groups, there should at least have been plenty of tracks near the exits. Yet... there were none!

"Guess that's an unsolved mystery." After searching for a while without finding anything, Zheng Yichen gave up looking for clues. Even if he found something, what could he do about it?

"Strange. There never used to be this many beasts in the forest." Carrying a wild boar, a wolf, and several rabbits, he kept glancing back at the forest as he walked.

The forest was rich in resources. He had spent ages hunting there before without causing any problems. Most of its inhabitants were small animals. There were plenty of large beasts too, but it was not as though he could encounter one just by strolling in.

This time, he had barely gone in before running into a whole bunch... Had mating season come around again?

When Zheng Yichen returned, he found Lolise absorbed in a book she had obtained from who knew where. She looked so intent on reading that he left her alone and fetched water to prepare the fresh meat himself.

By the time the first piece was nearly cooked, Lolise had somehow put down her book. Her eyes were fixed on Zheng Yichen... or rather, on the meat before his claw tips. She still looked faintly disdainful. "Is this all you know how to make?"

"What delicate work do you think I can do with these claws?" Zheng Yichen waved them in irritation, stirring up quite a gust. Only after experiencing the dexterity of human hands did he realize how clumsy these claws were at certain fine tasks. Comparison was the cruelest blow.

"I see. Then start with this." Under Zheng Yichen's astonished gaze, Lolise reached out and lightly swept a hand through the air beside her. A black rift with perfectly even edges appeared at her fingertips. She pulled out a book and tossed it to him.

He caught the book in a fluster. It was smaller than his palm. "Roasting Meat from Scratch? What the hell?"

With a vague sense of dread, Zheng Yichen opened it to the first page. Sure enough, it was a cookbook. "Are you trying to turn me into a cook?"

"If that's what you want, I agree." Lolise hopped down from the stone platform where she had been sitting and came over to him. She flicked one of his scales, and he felt that familiar needle prick again. When he turned to look, she had indeed collected another tiny cup of his blood. It was so little that the loss was negligible—about as much as sweating a bit more.

"Are you a vampire?" He finally could not help asking.

"No." Lolise set the cup aside. She offered no explanation for what she was doing. Instead, she gave him a simple demonstration: she pulled off one glove and laid her hand on the wolf's head Zheng Yichen had discarded nearby. The head rapidly withered and crumbled in her grasp. In less than a second, it vanished before his eyes.

"Holy shit!?" If Zheng Yichen had body hair, every strand would have been standing on end. Lolise had touched him with those little hands more than once. "Is that something you do on purpose?"

"It's passive."

"..."

"It doesn't work on you. That's why I'm so fond of you."

"If it did work on me, wouldn't I have turned to ash ages ago?" Zheng Yichen's mouth twitched. If it was that powerful against something already dead, what could it do to a living creature?

"Exactly." Lolise nodded.

"Wait... then what do you usually eat?" Zheng Yichen suddenly realized the problem. If her passive ability turned things she touched straight to ash, how did she eat? Ash?

"You don't need to worry about that." Lolise glanced at him. "The meat's burning."

"Oh! Almost forgot!" Zheng Yichen hurriedly turned the meat on the rack. Some parts were charred, but it still looked edible. It would be a shame to throw it away, so he would eat it himself. He put a few fresh pieces on the rack, but Lolise was quicker to spear a piece of meat. Once again, she used some unknown method to infuse it with the entire half cup of blood.

"That piece is a little burnt..."

"It doesn't matter," Lolise said without looking up. Watching her become utterly absorbed in eating, Zheng Yichen felt an inexplicable pang of... pity.

She would not tell him what she usually ate, but he could figure it out with his toes. Getting food into her stomach had to be difficult. Otherwise, she would never enjoy his shoddy roast meat this much!

After watching her finish one piece, Zheng Yichen picked up a fresh one. "Want another?"

"I've had enough." She wiped the corner of her mouth. "I'm very fond of you, so I won't treat you like a tool."

Scratching his head, Zheng Yichen tossed the meat into his mouth, chewed it briefly, and swallowed. "Let's leave that aside. What are you planning to teach me?"

"That depends on what you're capable of learning."

"You mean magical aptitude? You test which element I'm suited to, and that determines what I can learn?" Zheng Yichen sat down on the ground, instantly interested. Now that he had crossed into a world with supernatural powers, claiming he had no interest in them would be a lie!

"You're overthinking it."