Chapter 15 : Chapter 15
Chapter 15. My Money! The Skills Are Spamming the Screen!
After saying that, he did not linger and quickly slipped back behind the low wall.
Vivian Shadowmoon was still standing there with a dumbfounded expression.
Wu You glanced at her, patted the dust off his hands, and looked as if he had merely gone off to throw away some trash.
“Let’s go.” His tone was calm, as though nothing had happened at all.
“Ah? Oh…” Vivian Shadowmoon finally snapped out of it and hurried after him.
After walking a few steps, she could not help asking softly, “Those things you said just now… about peeping on someone bathing, poisoning a dog, and under the goddess’s statue… were they all true?”
Wu You glanced at her as though he were looking at an idiot. “What do you think?”
“…” Vivian Shadowmoon fell silent.
After a while, she asked again, “Then… my money… did you get it back?”
“It is my money.”
Wu You corrected her, patting the money pouch in his clothes, which had become slightly fuller again. A hint of satisfaction appeared on his face.
“With interest.”
Vivian Shadowmoon looked at the matter-of-fact expression on his face and suddenly felt that perhaps there had been a reason she found him frightening earlier.
Yet in her heart, for some reason, there also arose a strange little sense of reassurance.
This guy seemed to be… truly a little different.
Wu You walked ahead, but in his heart, he was communicating with the skills.
[Enhanced Upward Slash]: That was it? I did not even get to show my stuff! Let me launch him once next time so I can test the feel of it!
[Radiant Thrust]: Boring! A sneak attack is not the righteous path.
[Horizontal Slash]: Host, let me handle work like that next time! I guarantee I will use the flat of the blade. It will not injure anyone, but it will hurt enough!
[Block]: No attack requiring a block occurred. Evaluation: the plan was executed acceptably, and the withdrawal was swift.
[Quick Step]: Host, those stealth moves and bursts of acceleration just now had seventy percent of my skill in them! Not bad, not bad!
Wu You: “…Shut up. I still need to think about where we are sleeping tonight. And what we are eating tomorrow!”
His mind finally quieted down for the moment.
Only the little girl following step by step behind him and the money pouch recovered in his clothes reminded Wu You that this chaotic day was finally about to end.
As for Bob, who was still lying in some corner groaning and questioning his life?
Who cared about him?
Vivian Shadowmoon led Wu You through the maze-like depths of the alleys and into an inconspicuous sunken entrance that carried a faint musty smell.
Below it was a narrow, gloomy, freezing basement.
The air barely circulated, and broken pieces of ruined furniture were piled in the corners.
But one patch in the middle had been cleaned reasonably well.
There was some dry straw spread there along with a few torn pieces of cloth, barely enough to count as a “bed.”
Beside it stood a chipped clay jar containing a little water.
The place was even worse than Wu You had imagined.
He had previously thought that sleeping in a cave had already been miserable enough.
Vivian Shadowmoon lit a small stub of poor-quality candle that she had apparently picked up from somewhere.
Then she secretly glanced at Wu You with some nervousness, her little hands clutching the hem of her worn robe.
She had thought Wu You would be like those adults from before who occasionally “took her in” for a night, only to complain the next day and drive her away.
But Wu You merely frowned.
His gaze swept across the cold, dilapidated “room,” then landed on Vivian Shadowmoon’s little face, which was trying hard to remain “proud” but could not hide its anxiety.
He said nothing.
He only walked to the “bed” and pressed on the straw with his hand.
“It is a little damp,” he commented calmly.
Vivian Shadowmoon let out a breath of relief.
Then she immediately puffed out her little chest and used an exaggerated tone to cover up her embarrassment. “Hmph! How could a vulgar mortal possibly understand? This is the secret palace of the great mage Vivian Shadowmoon! Though it is temporarily humble, spiritual energy gathers within it, making it the perfect place to temper one’s will and comprehend the supreme path of magic!”
Wu You looked at her expressionlessly.
He walked to the corner, dragged over a few broken pieces of ruined furniture, and used them to block the worst crack letting in the wind. Then he took off his own outer robe, which was still fairly thick, and threw it onto the straw.
“Spiritual energy gathers within it?” he mocked while working. “Why does it smell more like a mix of a rat’s nest and rotting wood to me? And as for comprehending the path of magic, be careful you do not end up comprehending arthritis and rheumatism instead.”
“You! Rude!” Vivian Shadowmoon sat down angrily on the bed covered with his outer robe and hugged the broken staff in her arms. “I will not lower myself to your level! I am going to meditate!”
What she called meditating was really just curling up with her knees in her arms, trying to resist the chill of the basement.
Wu You ignored her.
He cleared a relatively clean patch of ground beside the “bed,” then sat down directly with his back against the cold stone wall.
He had no intention of sleeping on that “bed.”
It was not because he was being noble. He simply suspected that the pile of straw probably had more fleas than straw.
Silence fell over the basement.
Only the occasional faint crackling of the candle could be heard, along with indistinct sounds from outside that might have been the wind or some animal running past.
After a while, Vivian Shadowmoon asked softly, “Hey… are you… not cold?”
“I am cold,” Wu You answered honestly. “So hurry up and sleep. Once you fall asleep, you will not feel cold anymore.”
“Oh…” Vivian Shadowmoon fell silent again and wrapped herself up even tighter.
Leaning against the wall, Wu You closed his eyes, but he did not fall asleep immediately.
His mind was still replaying everything that had happened that day.
From being mocked, to picking up this troublesome little brat, to the skills competing with each other and leveling up, to just now beating someone with a sack over his head…
He suddenly thought of Vivian Shadowmoon’s earlier attempt to act calm, as well as this so-called secret palace.
“Hey, glutton,” he suddenly said.
“My name is not Glutton!” Vivian Shadowmoon protested at once.
Wu You merely responded with an “Oh,” and did not ask any more questions.
She had fallen onto the streets and was barely struggling along with that wildly unstable Half-Demon Descendant magic of hers, with its enormous side effects.
All day long, she wrapped herself in exaggerated chuuni words and behavior like a little hedgehog raising its spikes.
He suddenly remembered a line he had seen somewhere in his previous life.
Children eventually reach an age where, whatever happens, they can no longer blame their parents or blame the heavens. They have to bear it themselves.
But this one in front of him… she was still far too young.
Thin and tiny, probably only eleven or twelve years old. What could she possibly bear?
And what about himself?
The moment he transmigrated, he had been targeted by the goddess and abandoned by his family. He was not doing much better.
At least, however, he still had an unreliable system and five even more unreliable but combat-capable skill ancestors.
Fellow sufferers at the ends of the earth?
Wu You tugged at the corner of his mouth and felt that the comparison was a little too sentimental.
Just as his thoughts were beginning to drift, the messages in his mind suddenly started flooding the screen.
[Battle Report from “Enhanced Upward Slash”] Host! I launched another seventeen nocturnal bats! Experience +17! Those little things fly fast, so they are perfect for practicing my feel! The only problem is that they are not challenging at all! Is there anything stronger? I request a map change!