On Yize’s side.
Under the influence of the Blood Moon, Bart braced himself against the increasingly dense storm of low-level magic and closed in step by step.
Yize’s brow furrowed tighter as his brain whirled, searching for a way to break the deadlock.
‘A direct confrontation definitely won’t work. My physical strength is my final trump card; I absolutely cannot reveal it.’
‘Should I keep whittling him down? The efficiency is too low. By the time I scratch him to death, my teammates will probably be long gone.’
Various thoughts flashed through his mind, only to be rejected one by one. The risk of exposure and the uncontrollable consequences kept him from reaching a decision.
In his agitation, his gaze involuntarily drifted toward Li En on the other side of the battlefield. What he saw only added to his confusion.
At this moment, Li En was using basic magic with practiced ease, weaving through the low-level vampires with an expression that remained calm and indifferent.
Furthermore, he was constantly lingering around Sarah and Swan.
‘It’s already come to this, so why is the protagonist still holding back?’ Yize complained inwardly.
‘Isn’t this how the scripts always go? The protagonist is supposed to explode with power at the moment of crisis and save the world from fire and brimstone!’
‘Could it be… he’s really waiting until the official heroine, Sarah, faces a fatal threat or is pushed to the edge of a cliff before he’s willing to undo his seal?’
But soon, Yize noticed something even more off.
‘Wait… I understand him hovering around Sarah, since she’s the official heroine. But why is he also loitering around Swan?’
Yize’s gaze flickered back and forth between Li En and Swan’s somewhat delicate and soft profile. An absurd thought popped into his head.
‘I’ve read every game guide and review, and they never mentioned that Li En, the protagonist of Era, had a harem route for gender-bent characters!’
This was wrong—twelve parts out of ten wrong!
‘Or could it be… the key to resolving this crisis in the Betty Territory isn’t the protagonist, Li En, at all?’
Yize’s train of thought began to wander. ‘Is it that Imperial Sword Saint, Laura, who is currently on her way?’
He recalled certain game settings. In the early stages of a plot, when facing an invincible enemy, the player’s task often wasn’t to defeat the opponent but to find a way to survive until reinforcements arrived.
‘Could it be… our current mission is just to hold out for help?’
Just as Yize was distracted by analyzing this strange “plot progression,” Bart felt he was being subjected to an unprecedented insult!
This damn human bug actually had the leisure to look around while fighting him?
“Die! You damned bug! You really don’t take me seriously at all!”
Bart’s enraged roar almost drowned out the clamor of the battlefield.
The blood energy around him surged again, and the speed at which he tore through magic increased once more, further shortening the distance between him and Yize!
Yize was pulled back to reality by the roar. Looking at the approaching, hideous face of Bart, he sighed helplessly. “Don’t be so impatient. Why is everyone so hot-headed?”
“Anger only clouds your brain and affects your judgment.”
As he spoke, he shifted his focus, and his primary offensive magic instantly switched.
The originally blazing torrent of [Fireball] stopped abruptly, replaced by countless shooting streams of [Water Gun Technique]!
While the power was equally underwhelming, the dense streams of water drenching Bart’s head and face did provide a bit of “physical cooling.”
Incidentally, they also washed away and dimmed the blood energy he had just gathered.
“See? I’m cooling you down. No need to thank me,” Yize said with a straight face.
Bart was speechless. He wiped the water from his face, feeling the negligible impact and the cold sensation. The killing intent in his heart almost solidified.
“Previously, that red-haired brat just made me want to kill him… Now, I’ve changed my mind. I want to crush you into meat paste even more!”
Right at that moment, Luke ran to Yize’s side like a whirlwind, just in time to hear Bart’s murderous declaration.
He looked at the enraged Bart, then at the “indifferent” Yize. He blinked, his face showing a complex expression of lingering fear and touched emotion.
“As expected of Senior Yize! To help me draw his fire, you didn’t hesitate to provoke him like this! This friendship is something I, your junior, will keep in my heart!”
Yize glanced at Luke speechlessly; this silly kid’s thought process was always so bizarre.
He said irritably, “If you really feel bad about it, how about you take over? I think it would be more appropriate for me to support other areas where the pressure is greater.”
Luke shrunk his neck in fear and shook his head frantically. “No, no, no! Senior, don’t joke around! With my meager skills, I probably wouldn’t last three seconds! It’s safer if you stay here and hold him off!”
Yize replied, “Then if you aren’t helping over there, what are you doing here? Get back and provide support!”
Only then did Luke remember his purpose. He slapped his thigh and said anxiously, “Senior! I came here for something urgent! A huge emergency!”
He took a breath and explained quickly, “Over on Senior Sister Emma’s side, all the recovery magic potions she was carrying have been used up! Her mana is exhausted, and she can hardly hold on!”
“Without her healing and buffs on the front line, the casualty rate is increasing!”
Hearing this, Yize’s brow twitched slightly. Emma’s support was indeed crucial. He subconsciously began rummaging through his Storage Ring.
However, there were far too many things in his ring—an endless mountain of miscellaneous materials, magic tools, and potions of various effects. It was hard to find what he needed quickly.
“Ugh, it’s too messy…” Yize muttered. Then, with a sudden resolve, he simply dumped everything out of the Storage Ring with a whoosh!
In an instant, it was as if Yize had opened a small grocery store.
A mountain of various rare and common materials shimmered with faint light, and dozens of oddly shaped magic tools engraved with complex mana patterns were scattered across the ground.
Most numerous of all were the densely packed glass bottles filled with liquids of every color—the massive amount of magic potions Yize had made during his usual practice and research.
Luke’s eyes and mouth instantly widened. “My… My God! Senior Yize! How… how do you have so much stock?!”
He pointed at the pile of obviously extraordinary magic tools, his voice changing pitch. “Didn’t you say before… that the most powerful magic tool you had was the Desert Eagle you gave me?”
“These… these look like they might be even more powerful!”
Yize’s expression remained unchanged.
While quickly sweeping the magic tools and materials back into the ring, he explained in an incredibly serious, even stern tone, “These? These are all failures, rejects! They look okay, but in reality, they have a ton of problems and aren’t practical at all!”
His movements were so fast they almost left afterimages.
He didn’t give Luke a chance to examine them closely, stuffing the materials and tools back into the Storage Ring in a few quick motions.
Only the large pile of dazzling magic potions with somewhat blurry labels remained on the ground.
Watching Yize’s lightning-fast cleanup, Luke scratched his head suspiciously. “Senior… why did you pack them away so fast?”
“Even if they’re rejects, the situation is so critical right now. We could use them in an emergency, couldn’t we?”
“And… why do I feel like you’re acting a bit… guilty?”
Yize immediately pulled a stern face, putting on the dignified air of a senior, and said righteously, “Luke! When has your senior ever lied to you?”
“Whenever there’s something truly good, didn’t I think of you first and give it to you?”
He pointed at the potions on the ground and said with heartfelt sincerity, “Those magic tool rejects have extremely unstable internal structures and complex usage methods. I’m afraid that if you mishandle them, not only will they not help, but they might even hurt you! Your senior is doing this for your safety!”
Looking at Yize’s “sincere” eyes, Luke thought about how his senior had indeed treated him well in the past.
The suspicion in his heart instantly vanished, replaced by full trust and gratitude.
“So that’s how it is! Senior, I’ve wronged you!”
Having appeased Luke, Yize finally turned his attention back to the pile of potions.
He rummaged through them for a while before finally, with some “uncertainty,” picking out a few bottles that looked normal in color and texture, with labels that seemed to mention mana recovery.
“Uh… it should be these few bottles. It’s been too long, and I don’t quite remember…” Yize handed five or six bottles to Luke.
Luke took the potions, weighed them in his hand, and the smile that had just appeared on his face froze again. “Senior… why are there only a few bottles?”
“Senior Sister Emma used up several dozen high-level recovery potions she prepared herself! These few bottles of yours… I’m afraid they won’t be enough.”
Yize waved his hand, offering a plausible excuse. “I don’t usually need this stuff. Why would I make so many and take up space?”
He certainly didn’t lack mana. He didn’t even know which year or month he had made these spare mana recovery potions.
Furthermore, he had somewhat forgotten what additional effects he had added to them at the time.
Luke pointed to the large pile of potions still on the ground. “Then what about all the ones you still have there?”
A flicker of embarrassment flashed across Yize’s face, and he gave a hollow laugh.
“Those? Those are also failures, experimental in nature, with a lot of unknown side effects. They absolutely cannot be drunk! Something big will happen if you drink them!”
Looking at the at least one hundred bottles of various colored potions on the ground, Luke muttered softly, “If they’re useless… why did you make so many…”
He had no other choice now and could only treat a dead horse as if it were alive. He sighed and said, “Sigh, a few bottles it is then. It’s better than nothing…”
With that, he tightly gripped the “life-saving” potions, turned around, and prepared to run back to Emma.
Looking at his hurrying back, Yize seemed to suddenly remember something very important and loudly called out a reminder:
“Luke! Remember! One bottle! At most, give Emma one bottle! Don’t let her drink more than that!”
“And! The most important point! Whatever you do, don’t tell Emma that I gave you these potions! Just say you brought them yourself! Do you hear me?!”
At this moment, Luke’s mind was full of the image of Emma collapsing from mana exhaustion.
The wind whistled past his ears, and as Yize’s instructions floated over, he subconsciously shouted back, “Okay! I got it! Don’t worry, Senior!”
However, his brain didn’t actually process Yize’s words carefully. He only vaguely caught the key phrase, “don’t tell Emma.”
By the time he ran back to Emma, panting for breath, and saw her pale face and how she could barely stand, he hurriedly handed over the potions.
Looking at the few bottles in Luke’s hand, the small flicker of hope that had just lit up in Emma’s eyes dimmed again. She asked weakly, “Luke… where did these potions… come from?”
Remembering Yize’s instruction not to tell Emma, Luke made up a random excuse.
“Oh, these? These are spare potions I brought from home. I left them with Senior Yize for safekeeping earlier, and I just went to get them back.”
Emma looked at the only bottles available and sighed, her tone regretful.
“Luke, it was good of you to think of bringing spare magic potions… it’s just that there are so few of them. It’s a drop in the bucket. If only you could be as cautious as Junior Yize and prepare more…”
Hearing this, Luke’s face was instantly written over with embarrassment.
He hadn’t thought of bringing his own potions at all! In his mind, with two pharmacy masters like Senior Yize and Senior Sister Emma around, bringing his own potions would have been redundant!
“However, you’ve already done very well. Thank you, Luke.”
Just then, a wave of dizziness hit her. Emma’s body swayed, and she nearly slumped over.
Luke was shocked and, without thinking further, hurriedly uncorked a bottle and began carefully pouring it into Emma’s mouth.
One bottle… two bottles… Seeing a hint of color return to Emma’s pale face, Luke felt a surge of joy. Thinking the effect was good, he poured in a third bottle.
“That’s enough… Luke…” Emma felt the withered mana inside her begin to slowly recover and quickly stopped him.
“The rest… take them to Senior Sister Sarah and Junior Swan… The pressure on their side is also great; their mana consumption must be significant as well.”
“Okay! I’ll go right now!”
Seeing that Emma seemed to be improving, Luke immediately stood up and, holding the remaining two or three bottles, ran toward Sarah and Swan.
Not long after Luke left, Emma, who was silently guiding the newly generated mana and preparing to cast a large-scale support spell, suddenly froze.
She carefully sensed the flow of mana and the changes in her body. Her delicate brow gradually furrowed, and a look of uncertainty and alarm appeared on her face.
“Wait… this magic potion… something seems a bit off!”
She felt that her mana was indeed recovering, but the speed… seemed eerily fast.
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