novelraw Chapter 339: Eve: I Borrowed Them Once
Chapter 339: Eve: I Borrowed Them Once
After Unyielding Body upgraded, Lin Mo stopped holding back; he used Heavy-Shield Spiral, Assault Shield, everything, and together with the girls, they quickly wiped out the batch of monsters.
The loot was decent too — one or two skill upgrades — but not enough yet to gain base attribute points.
In this scorching heat, after a fight everyone was immediately drenched in sweat.
Finnie, the weakest in Constitution, hadn’t moved much and had only stood in place casting buffs for the group, but under the blazing sun she still felt dizzy and only felt better after getting back into the carriage.
If they were other adventurers, they would have to endure the heat and sweat and keep moving until they left the desert or found the extremely rare oasis.
That’s one of the reasons few people risk adventuring in desert regions.
Of course, it’s better if the party has a water mage. For example, earlier Lin Mo had used Cleansing Flow first, but in this environment Cleansing Flow still couldn’t compare to a proper bath.
When the opportunity presented itself, they took it, and it was also a good chance to take turns resting.
“Ellie and Eve, you two sweat a lot, go bathe first. Finnie…”
Lin Mo said, sending the three into Portable Space.They had to leave someone outside the carriage to watch over things, so not everyone could go in.
Lin Mo could check on the Portable Space’s status… but there was no need to peek, even though he hadn’t met Eve before.
He could always look openly later; there was no need to be sneaky now.
Ellie was easygoing and often behaved more like a boy than a girl; her bath was equally quick. In a few minutes she emerged from the bathroom, full of energy, with no interest in resting in the private space, and immediately asked Lin Mo to send her back out.
Finnie washed very carefully, taking over half an hour, and her originally frail body recovered somewhat.
To Lin Mo’s surprise, Eve also spent a long time bathing, only slightly less than Finnie. This cold, icy beauty actually had moments like a little girl.
Lin Mo didn’t refuse when Finnie asked to rest in the Portable Space a bit longer.
Eve came out quickly, then it was Flora’s turn.
This elder sister-type was always decisive; though not as rough as Ellie, she finished in about ten minutes.
Finally only Lin Mo and Sherfilia remained.
No words were needed; Lin Mo directly took Sherfilia into the Portable Space. Eileen watched with some envy but said nothing.
This was a maid’s “special privilege.” She knew she couldn’t care for Lin Mo as well as Sherfilia, so she had no standing to complain.
In Lin Mo’s room inside the Portable Space, Sherfilia opened the bathroom door and expertly adjusted the shower temperature.
She knew exactly the temperature Lin Mo preferred; not a tenth of a degree off.
Then came the delightfully welcome removal of armor, scrubbing, and back-wiping.
Halfway through wiping his back and as Lin Mo started to sweat, there came a knock on the door. Seeing the silhouette outside, Lin Mo immediately recognized Finnie.
No wonder Finnie hadn’t insisted on toughing it out earlier — she had planned this all along.
Ellie gave an amused smile and led Zhuang Chunzhao to the door, then had Sherfilia open the bathroom’s small door.
When Finnie saw the scene inside, her brain short-circuited, and without much time to think, she fell into the same stunned state as Zhuang Chunzhao.
Considering they were still on the road, the bath hadn’t taken forever, but Finnie still ended up taking the most time among them. When she came out, everyone waiting outside the carriage had awkward expressions.
Eve and Flora were especially odd about it.
Eve tried to rationalize it with what she’d read in books; Flora’s mouth twitched as she sighed at how young people today played with such flair…
Their journey continued, and the heat seemed to gradually lessen.
By evening the temperature had dropped.
Camping on the desert sand was unnecessary — the ground was dirty and monsters could strike at any time, nights were bitterly cold, so once darkness fully fell Lin Mo took the whole carriage into Portable Space; the entire team vanished from sight.
They enjoyed a comfortable dinner, then returned to their rooms to rest. Living like this during an adventure, sleeping so soundly, made Flora remember her own “glorious days” of adventuring, and she grew nostalgic.
After his bath, Lin Mo sat on the bed and meditated for a while. Time seemed about right and he wondered why she hadn’t come yet, when the door was pushed open.
“You’re late today. That’s not like you at all, Ellie…?”
At the end of his sentence, Lin Mo turned his gaze to the doorway and froze.
It wasn’t Finnie or Lena who entered, but a girl with a head of golden hair.
“Eve? Why are you here…”
Eve’s fingers gripped the hem of her clothes tightly, knuckles whitening, but she inhaled deeply and explained as calmly as she could, “I borrowed them once. I’ll return it double later.”
That sentence made her intentions immediately clear.
Lin Mo scratched his head and thought it over. There was no need to overthink it.
It was something that would happen sooner or later; they were all adults, no point in beating around the bush. Besides, he and Eve had adventured together in a Secret Realm and even once slept on the same bed — the atmosphere had been somewhat ambiguous then, so there was some emotional foundation.
After living together and chatting for the past few days, Lin Mo had also intentionally sought out Eve and Flora to talk more, so they were already quite familiar.
Eve quickly sat at the edge of the bed, head lowered. Her delicate face looked calm, but Lin Mo could feel her body tense — she was clearly nervous.
“I read a lot of books and asked Ellie and the others for advice, but… I might still do it poorly. I hope you don’t mind…”
Who could resist such trembling words from this cool, aloof girl, once the sword prodigy at the Academy?
Lin Mo certainly couldn’t.
So his reaction was very straightforward.
Yes, it was much better than Sherfilia’s level, with more variation, but slightly weaker than Finnie, and much weaker compared to Ellie.
But Lin Mo didn’t have a strict preference in this area.
Each had their own charms and advantages; he liked them all.
...
After experiencing it himself, Lin Mo became even more certain that Eve hadn’t been reading anything ordinary.
If anything, even her indecent books were particularly indecent.
So much so that she quickly demonstrated skill surpassing what Finnie had accumulated over a long time, and showed a trend of developing toward Sherfilia’s level.
Unfortunately, her rank was still low, and being a Swift Warrior meant her stats lagged slightly behind Strength-type warriors.
The next day arrived.
In the morning Sherfilia, as always, came in to tidy the room.
Eve was still asleep. Lin Mo checked the time; it was only seven a.m.
Although for adventurers heading out, this time would normally already be ready for action.
Lin Mo first went outside, brought out the carriage, resumed travel, then returned to the Portable Space to quickly wash and eat…
Today’s route would be more dangerous than yesterday.
They had entered deeper into the Tamirat Desert.
The sand here was thicker, the temperature higher, and the wind stronger.
That wind carried scalding heat; blown against your face, it felt like burning skin.
Fortunately the Oxivis Family’s carriage was well-built; the hot wind couldn’t get into the cabin.
But the horses pulling the carriage weren’t so lucky.
Though they were monster beasts, their levels weren’t that high, but in this harsh environment they struggled.
Lin Mo had no choice but to use Frost Guard to protect them from the gale and heat.
The monsters encountered along the way were similar to yesterday’s.
But in such a hostile environment it wasn’t convenient to dismount for battle.
Lin Mo resumed drawing his bow, occasionally releasing a blade of Sword Energy to clear monsters that burst out from under the sand.
Overall the journey was going smoothly…
Yet in a desert like this it was easy to get lost, so every so often Lin Mo recalibrated their direction; otherwise their route would have drifted by now.
The atmosphere inside the carriage was much more subdued than yesterday.
Everyone understood this was not the time for jokes.
Lin Mo quietly enjoyed Sherfilia’s gentle massage while remaining vigilant.
Suddenly he frowned and looked to the side, roughly two hundred meters away.
The next moment, a massive creature burst from beneath the ground: a giant lizard over five meters high and more than ten meters long!
“Flame Sand Giant Lizard.”
Flora furrowed her brow. “Mid-Level Lord-Level monster, usually level eleven to fourteen, very high fire elemental resistance.”
Judging by its size, this lizard was most likely level thirteen or fourteen, and with its elemental resistance it would be tricky for her.
Lin Mo tensed, nocked an arrow.
Mighty qi and blood surged into the arrow, making it shimmer.
The bowstring vibrated through the air and the arrow pierced precisely into the giant lizard’s skull. The massive body that had charged this way staggered a few steps, then collapsed powerless to the ground.
Piercing Air Arrow proficiency +110!
Piercing Air Arrow itself is a powerful Exceptional-Grade Ranger skill. With Lin Mo’s Transcendent-level Agility and strong qi and blood, it could one-shot a level thirteen monster, and even higher-level ones as well.
Collecting materials, however, was a hassle — he’d have to send a clone for that.
Because the Shadow Split-created clones can’t use skills, their strength had fallen behind.
Back during the Academy Grand Competition, Lin Mo had used a clone to help students and opponents; the combat power shown was completely insufficient. Now that Lin Mo’s Warrior and Assassin professions had leveled up, things were better, but the clones still weren’t truly effective combat forces for him.
After all, his strongest profession is Mage; without skills, mana is useless.
Even for physical professions, skills are crucial.
If only Shadow Split clones could use skills…
With that thought, the clone had already gathered the monster materials and returned.
The journey continued. They encountered several monsters in succession, mostly Mid-Level Lord-Level.
“The monsters today are much stronger than yesterday.”
“Indeed.”
Flora nodded. “But it’s not a big problem. As long as we don’t run into those few most troublesome ones, the rest should be manageable.”
The moment she said that, several pairs of eyes turned toward her.
Flora blinked. “Did I say something wrong?”
Not exactly.
Lin Mo twitched his mouth. But saying that out loud is just asking for trouble, isn’t it?
I’m smiling like Zhou Yu foolish, why act like Zhuge Liang?
He couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling…
They pressed deeper into the desert. Around noon they reached the deepest section of their route.
They were now quite close to the Core Area of the Tamirat Desert, but strangely they encountered high-level monsters less frequently.
Probably because these were territories of fixed monsters.
However, the strong monsters’ territories are vast, so even inside them the chance of meeting one is low.
For half an hour nothing happened; it seemed they might pass through smoothly.
“See? I told you… nothing to worry about.”
Flora spoke again.
Lin Mo rubbed his temple and looked at Eve beside him. “Eve, shut her up.”
“Why… uhm!” Eve didn’t care for the rest of it. Although Flora had been a respected mentor in the Academy and someone Eve had admired, things were different now.
They were rivals for Lin Mo’s attention.
Even if not, as soon as Lin Mo gave the order, Eve would obey without hesitation.
Flora’s mouth was covered; she glared in indignation.
She tried to struggle, but Eve’s strength was clearly greater.
Yet it was all too late… just two or three minutes after Flora was silenced, an enormous roaring sound rolled faintly from outside the carriage, growing steadily louder.
Lin Mo lifted the carriage curtain and looked toward where the sound came from, and immediately sucked in a cold breath.
In the distance, a colossal tornado that seemed to slice through heaven and earth was rapidly approaching them.
Around that tornado, space itself appeared blurred and twisted, mercilessly swallowing up everything in its path.
That wind force rivaled the spell of a Heroic Realm mage!
Flora immediately quieted, no longer struggling; Eve released her grip.
“What… do we do?”
Flora swallowed and asked, trembling with uncertainty.