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(1/3)

Watching Lochis did not prevent Allen from focusing his attention on the Dragon Saint’s Douqi embryo core within his abdomen. In his line of sight, wisps of smoke and dust drifted across its folded surface, revealing a small magical rune on one side.

It was a delicate, tree-shaped symbol, radiating a faint blue glow.

An instinct surged within him: if he were to activate this rune now, the intermediate healing spell would immediately take effect.

A healing spell rune... it could only affect oneself, not be cast outward. In other words, activating it would effectively grant a healing buff to the body... a pseudo-immortal physique? Could the physical limitations of the Hokushin-ryu combat style be erased?

Wait, using it consumes one’s own mana... Unfortunately, Allen didn’t know how long his current mana reserves could sustain continuous use of an intermediate healing spell. He had been careless. In fact, for now, the lesser mana-draining novice healing spell might suit him better. Moreover, mana recovery was too slow and skill cooldowns were certainly long.

He wondered if the buff from the Dragon Saint’s Douqi, which reduced mana conversion loss, could stack with the healing rune. After all, Douqi was essentially mana, so it should be possible... But the problem was that this might also consume his Dragon Saint’s Douqi. His Douqi wasn’t abundant either... Activating the healing rune would inevitably affect Douqi quality.

He decided to test it first—to see what would happen.

A pair of small hands waved before his eyes, bringing Allen back to reality.

...Now was not the time for this.

Allen looked toward Lochis.

Because while traveling yesterday, Allen had been constantly pondering what to say when first meeting Rudy and Lochis, he had naturally dreamed of them that night. Unfortunately, in the dream, he saw the two as their anime, two-dimensional versions, lacking much realism.

But now, the real Lochis stood right before him.

The sense of reality was much more pronounced.

He fixed his gaze on Lochis’s face.

In his sight, the blue-haired, cold-faced loli gradually came into focus:

Unlike the soft, cute middle schooler appearance in the anime of his previous life, the real Lochis looked very young on the surface, but her features were exquisitely developed, far from those of an undeveloped child.

Her lips were thin yet looked very soft; her narrow nose wings were delicate, seemingly casting their own shadows, the tip slightly upturned. Her half-lidded eyes matched her hair color.

The wind blew past the campfire, causing her eyes to shimmer like a deep blue lake rippling.

Within those ripples lay a blend of anxiety and worry.

“You... you... why haven’t you said anything? Could it be that you have hidden injuries and feel unwell?”

Allen blinked and shook his head, thoughts swirling.

The three-dimensional Lochis was more realistically beautiful than the two-dimensional anime version.

Pleasure to the heart and eye.

Unwell?

No—she looked very comfortable!

Lochis, sensing Allen’s gaze fixed on her, instinctively touched her face.

(2/3)

“Doesn’t seem like you’re hurt. So why are you staring at me? Is there something on my face?”

Comparing the two-dimensional and three-dimensional versions of Lochis in his mind, Allen answered casually.

“No, your face is quite nice. Well, it’s too nice—much more realistic and refined than the one I dreamed of last night, beautiful in every way...”

As his words fell, the campfire crackled softly.

The forest night grew even quieter.

Allen waited a long while but received no reply from Lochis. He blinked and suddenly realized what he had just said.

He looked at Lochis’s deep blue, lake-like, stunned eyes and froze.

In his gaze, her hand touching her face stiffened, her cold half-lidded eyes slowly widening under Allen’s scrutiny, the lake rippling within.

They stared at each other in silence.

With a sharp crack, a burning log snapped. The wind blew past them, stirring invisible dust.

[6.]

In red, bold, and underlined:

[Maintain your stance, keep up the good work, and win Rudy’s favor.]

[Rudy: Countdown: 91:54:02]

Allen’s mind went blank. To be precise, he had started zoning out when he realized he was flirting with a “stranger,” and the system’s timely nudge only deepened his daze.

So that’s what counts as “flirting?”

Indeed.

In the world of Jobless Reincarnation, there were no top-tier players; the culture was backward, with a kind of charming medieval simplicity.

Flirtatious words between men and women were more straightforward and blunt than cheesy pick-up lines but surprisingly effective.

Such overt compliments and teasing were essentially no different from flirting with a woman.

Lochis stared at Allen for a long moment before blinking in confusion, curling one side of her mouth and then glancing sideways.

The crimson eye glaring from the wild boar’s severed head burned with contempt toward Allen, as if utterly disdainful.

She took a deep breath, forced a stern expression, and looked back at Allen.

Allen carefully plucked a few strands of his hair, checking if they were yellow.

(3/3)

This somewhat exasperated expression, in Lochis’s eyes, seemed appropriate for his age.

“He’s annoyed because he didn’t get the reaction he expected from me... Up close, his face is a bit immature, probably not very old, just tall. No... maybe I’m just short T T... But his swordsmanship... very skillful.”

“A prodigy boy? Why do I keep meeting prodigies these past two years? Rudy, this kid… And they all act so young yet cunning, saying teasing things to girls... oily... smooth talkers... How could he have dreamed of me when he’s never met me before?”

“Maybe he takes me for a peer, which is why he’s trying so hard to please me.”

Lochis took off her mage hat and, adopting a teacher-like demeanor, spoke.

“If you want to flatter me, that’s not how you do it... Don’t be fooled by my not-so-tall height; actually... I could be your mother’s age... Such sweet words won’t work on me, little girl.”

Allen looked at her still-brown hair and then shifted his gaze to the little cowlick twitching atop her head.

“Flatter me? Uh... okay, Blue Mom...!”

Lochis stared in shock at Allen’s slip-up, immediately covering her mouth. Then, embarrassed and angry, she deliberately put on a gloomy face.

“I don’t grow up because I’m a demon...”

As she spoke, she held a strand of hair to the firelight. Under the orange glow of the campfire, the tips shimmered faintly with green.

She leaned close to Allen, half-lidded eyes meeting his gaze.

“See? Green-haired demon... I’m the infamous Spearud tribe. If you call me ‘mom’ to tease me as a child, I’ll get angry and eat you.”

Allen released his hand and blinked, looking closely at the blue-haired loli’s face.

Her expression was serious; her eyelashes trembled slightly in the firelight.

“Well then...”

“Eat me now.”

Lochis was momentarily stunned.

The next instant, just as the words left her mouth, Allen wrapped Douqi around his fingers and flicked the air in front of Lochis’s forehead.

The wind scattered her bangs; her blue hair fluttered, revealing a smooth forehead beneath.

With a slightly dazed expression, Lochis watched as Allen poked her forehead through the air, indicating no sign of the Spearud tribe’s distinctive red magic-sensing eye.

“Gods do not lie.”

“Demon, blue hair, small stature. You are from the Miglud tribe, not the Spearud tribe.”