"Paimon, you little rascal! My meat isn't tasty at all. Paimon's a god-tier dish cooked by MasterChef. If they're going to eat someone, let them eat you instead!"
"Waaah! Paimon is not food!"
Zephyr was dazed for a few seconds before snapping into action. One hand gripped the mouse, the other poised on the keyboard, his eyes locking onto the screen.
"A bear?"
> Demonic Bear, LV3, HP: 100 <
"This game has bears now?" Zephyr muttered, surprised.
Luckily, the two were up in a tree. The bears, wary of the flames, circled around but didn't dare approach.
It wasn't the campfire they feared but the larger bonfire Zephyr had set up as a precaution for exactly this scenario. Unexpectedly, it had proven to be a lifesaver.
Once the firewood burned out, though, they'd be in trouble.
"There's no running now. We fight."
After the day's battles, Zephyr had a decent understanding of his strength. He wasn't particularly strong, but dealing with a group of seven or eight Level 3 or 4 bears should be manageable.
The only real concern was the Level 5 leader of the pack.
But what gave him confidence was the ultimate skill he had saved up earlier. Without it, he'd probably have bolted immediately.
"Paimon, stay safe on your own. I'm going in!"
"Eh?!?"
Lumine suddenly leaped down from the tree, launching a plunging attack that struck the bears head-on.
Several of the closest bears let out howls of pain as they were knocked back.
Normal attack. Normal attack. Normal attack. Charged attack.
The bears were sizable, but not overwhelmingly large. They could be staggered and sent flying by charged attacks, which gave Zephyr some relief.
Suddenly, one of the bears tried a sneak attack!
"Watch out!" Paimon cried out.
"Paimon Headbutt!"
Leveraging centrifugal force and gravity, Paimon launched herself at the bear, knocking it backward.
By sheer misfortune, the bear stumbled into a large rock, hit its head, and collapsed unconscious on the ground.
Dazed, Paimon rubbed her head, looking at the scene in disbelief. "Did… Did Paimon do that? Is Paimon actually this strong?"
Lumine shouted, "We're in the middle of a fight! Don't make me call you out right now!"
"Hehe~"
"What's with the 'hehe'?"
"Paimon, look out!" Lumine shouted, sending another bear flying.
Paimon froze, then quickly took to the air. "Young bears have no respect for their elders, picking on a 6,000-year-old veteran like me!"
"Rawr!"
"Sorry, sorry, my bad! Traveler, beat it up, quick!"
"Wind Vortex Sword!"
A spiraling blade of wind formed in Zephyr's hand, tearing into the unfortunate bear and wiping it out entirely.
Zephyr was delighted to see how effective the small skill was and immediately used it again.
As he used it, an idea suddenly struck him.
"Paimon, toss me a torch!"
"Huh? A torch? Why?" Paimon asked, confused but didn't overthink it. She quickly flew over and picked up a torch.
The moment she tossed it over, the Wind Vortex Sword absorbed the intense fire elemental energy, transforming into a Fire Release: Rasenshuriken.
With a single attack, it wiped out three bears instantly.
> EXP +2 <
> Mora +3 <
The remaining bears were visibly frightened.
At this moment, however, the leader bear stepped forward, letting out an angry roar before charging directly at them!
"I've been waiting for you!"
Just as it lunged, Zephyr activated the interaction function.
With a sliding slash, he slipped underneath the leader bear, delivering a devastating upward strike that eviscerated it.
The bear let out a miserable howl as its health plummeted. Only a sliver of HP remained—just enough that it would likely die from bleeding out if left alone.
Seeing their leader in such a dire state, the rest of the bears lost their nerve.
But Zephyr wasn't about to let a group of free experience points slip away.
"Ultimate: Gust Surge!"
"Haah!" Lumine unleashed a tornado-like wind elemental magic from her skirt. The ferocious attack swept up all the bears, with damage numbers flashing rapidly on the screen.
"Paimon, throw the torch!"
"Roger that!"
Paimon quickly grabbed another torch and tossed it into the whirlwind. The terrifying windstorm transformed into a fiery tornado, instantly incinerating the entire bear group.
Battle complete.
A golden glow enveloped Lumine—she had leveled up to Level 2.
Zephyr sighed in relief. "Leveling up is so tough in this game."
> Enemy casualties: Total annihilation. <
> Our side's casualties: Approximately 30 HP lost. <
Paimon cheered, "Wow, Traveler! You're getting stronger and stronger! You took out an entire bear pack almost unharmed. That's incredible!"
Lumine added with admiration, "So this is the power of the elements. It's amazing! With this strength, I'm sure I'll be able to rescue my sister!"
Zephyr corrected her, "Who said we were unharmed? We lost 30 HP! That's a lot!"
His heart ached at the thought.
"Lumine, are you okay? You lost 30 HP—does it hurt?"
Lumine felt a warm flutter in her chest and reassured him, "It's fine. It's just 30 HP, nothing serious."
Although it was only 30 HP, Zephyr still felt distressed. After all, they didn't have any healing items or a support character to recover health.
Although losing 30 HP might not seem like much, there was no way to recover it before returning to the city. This made Zephyr feel deeply distressed.
However, it seemed Lumine misunderstood his concern.
"No, I need to think of a solution," Zephyr muttered. Then, an idea suddenly struck him.
"I've got it!"
He swapped out his weapon, equipping the three-star Traveler's Handy Sword.
Why this sword? Because right now, damage wasn't the issue.
With two high-damage skills at his disposal, his damage output was sufficient.
What he needed most at the moment was healing!
But he had neither healing items nor a healer in his team.
That left him with only one option:
Three-Star Weapon: Traveler's Handy Sword
In terms of raw stats, this weapon wasn't particularly strong. Its base attack was only 40, with a sub-stat of 6.4% defense. However, its special passive ability made it ideal for his current situation.
Effect: When collecting an elemental orb or particle, restore 1% of max HP.
This was a weapon that could heal!
While 1% HP recovery might not seem like much, it had no cooldown and required no mana—though this game didn't have a mana system to begin with.
Even if each elemental orb or particle restored only 1%, by the end of an average battle, it was easy to gather around 5–10 orbs. That meant restoring 5% to 10% HP in a single fight.
Better still, Zephyr had fully refined the Traveler's Sword. At max refinement, the healing effect was doubled, restoring 2% HP per orb or particle collected.
That translated to 10% to 20% HP recovery per battle—a significant amount.
The only downside? The sword's sub-stat boosted defense, which wasn't ideal for him.
"Ah well, no big deal. Worst case, I'll build a tank Keqing someday," he joked.
Upper Line: Fearful of death, wielding the Traveler's Sword
Lower Line: Healing through attrition
Horizontal Line: The Tanker's Path
Interestingly, Lumine also had a passive ability called Breeze of Revival. It allowed her to recover 2% HP per second for 5 seconds after defeating an enemy using her Wind Vortex Sword. This effect could only trigger once every 5 seconds.
"Between the Traveler's Sword and her passive ability, healing might not be such a problem after all," Zephyr concluded.
...