After Xiao Hei returned, Ning Li caught a strong scent of Black Death Energy from it.
In a place like the front lines, being tainted by Black Death Energy was normal, but besides that, she also caught hints of Darkness, Decay, and other different auras.
Ning Li said, “Xiao Hei, where did you just go?”
Bawanghua’s Flower Crown looked left, then right, the entire flower twisting awkwardly this way and that, but it just didn’t dare look at her.
“Where’s the Universal Coin?”
Earlier, when Xiao Hei was muttering to itself, it had mentioned Universal Coin, even saying it struck it rich.
Overlord Flower eagerly pulled out a wrinkled Universal Coin, holding it up and presenting it to Ning Li.
It was a 500 denomination, enough for the four of them to scrimp and save for half a month.
Ning Li took the Universal Coin from it and tucked it into her pocket, not pressing further about where it had gone.
Where it had gone wasn’t important, as long as it didn’t cause trouble.
Not far away, Yuan Zi had already started Spirit Sea grooming.
Her little pink rose floated in midair, giving off a soft glow.Â
This pale light illuminated a small area, brightening the quiet night, as well as her pale face and the cold sweat beading on her forehead.
Ning Li didn’t disturb her. Grooming the Spirit Sea was never an easy task.
She began her own work.
The Sentinel before her had his eyes tightly shut, his face twisted in pain.
Ning Li let her spiritual power cross over the Sentinel’s mental barrier and enter his Spirit Landscape.
After the Sentinel was injured, Ning Li could no longer see what his original Spirit Landscape was like.
Now, inside his Spirit Landscape, it was all ruins.
Crows, land dried up from losing all moisture, completely withered plants, a vanished sun/moon—all these made up the present Spirit Landscape.
Everywhere was dead silent, with only faint fireflies emitting spots of weak light.
By the dim glow, Ning Li noticed that the space before her was cut into pieces, some scenes even flipped upside down.
It was as if she was looking at an abstract painting, the patterns bizarre and fantastical, the space distorted, giving a sense of spatial displacement and absurdity.
Suddenly, a word floated up in Ning Li’s mind—
Puzzling.
That’s right, repairing the Sentinel’s Spirit Sea was just like playing Puzzling.
Puzzling meant the pieces were all scrambled, and each piece needed to be put back in its proper place.
It was the same here.
The Sentinel’s Spirit Landscape had been cut into blocks, some reversed left to right, some flipped up and down, all the spaces misplaced, which was why Ning Li would see the shape of land in midair and see stars on the ground.
The process of repairing the Spirit Landscape was the process of putting the puzzle pieces back in place.
Understanding this wasn’t hard, but actually doing it was.
At least, when Ning Li tried to use her spiritual power to swap the dirt in the sky with the starlight on the ground, she failed.
Her first real attempt ended in failure.
Ning Li quickly tried a second time, then a third time…
After several attempts, she finally succeeded.
Ning Li also found the knack for swapping space fragments.
Once she grasped the technique, repairing the Spirit Landscape became easy.
But it was of no use.
Once again, the unusual nature of Ning Li’s Spirit Entity became apparent.
The already parched land, dried up from lack of water, became even more withered.
If there had been a hint of life left before, now the land looked like it had completely lost all fertility.
It had turned to sand.
This piece of land had become utterly desertified.
When Ning Li reached her hand into the land, all she felt was a handful of coarse, cutting sand and dust.
It was the feeling of utter ruin.
Of course, the one ruined wouldn’t be her, but the Sentinel undergoing treatment.
She decisively withdrew from the Sentinel’s Spirit Landscape.
Sure enough, the Sentinel’s condition hadn’t improved, and was even worse than before.
A small patch of land in his Spirit Landscape had lost all vitality—how could it get better?
Ning Li murmured an apology, but the Sentinel was in such agony that he couldn’t respond.
[Necromancer]—a symbol of death and destruction.
Whether it was desserts, bouquets, or a Sentinel’s Spirit Landscape, once marked by a Necromancer, none could escape destruction.
Healing?
Sorry, that’s not within a Necromancer’s abilities.
Ning Li calmly walked over to the supervising teacher and simply stated that she was unable to handle the task of healing the Sentinel.
The teacher was so busy her feet barely touched the ground.
Hearing this, she managed to spare a moment to ask, “In what way are you unable?”
Unable in every way.
Could she say that if the Sentinel stayed in her care any longer, he might not be far from death?
Of course not.
So Ning Li only vaguely replied that she hadn’t learned her theory well and didn’t know how to guide Spirit Sea recovery.
The teacher sighed.
She knew about this special student from the Flower Arranging Class.
Her Flower Arranging Class grades were poor, Cooking Class grades poor, Tea Ceremony Class grades still poor, and now even guiding a Sentinel’s Spirit Landscape was a failure.
Such a thoroughly unqualified student was truly rare.
Usually, this kind of thing only happened with Guides whose Spirit Entities were defective.
But Ning Li clearly wasn’t one of those.
The teacher had seen her Spirit Entity—
A lively and energetic Overlord Flower who loved to eat little cakes and was always full of spirit.
“In your case, you might end up being transferred to the Logistics Class.”
The supervising teacher gently reminded her.
Ning Li was surprised.
She’d thought she would be expelled or held back, but hadn’t expected it would just be a transfer to the Logistics Class.
She could completely accept this outcome.
If she kept treating Sentinels, they’d only meet their end at her hands.
Because Ning Li couldn’t help Sentinels recover their Spirit Sea, she was temporarily assigned to the Logistics Team.
The Logistics Team was responsible for assigning injured Sentinels to Guides, observing the Guides’ condition, providing them with water, sugar, spirit recovery agents, and handling various trivial tasks.
The Logistics Team was short-handed and overworked—everyone was running around like crazy.
But Ning Li unexpectedly enjoyed this job.
While helping out everywhere, she would observe the Spirit Entities of the Guides and Sentinels.
The Sentinel she had just tried to heal had a Spirit Entity that was a snow-white hamster.
The little hamster was sprawled tiredly in the Sentinel’s arms, not moving at all, and even its usually smooth and shiny fur looked dull and gray.
Pitiful and cute.
A Sentinel’s state affected the state of their Spirit Entity.
When a Sentinel was wounded and exhausted, their Spirit Entity also grew listless and couldn’t perk up.
That Sentinel had already been taken over by another Guide.
After confirming that the fellow’s condition was improving, Ning Li felt relieved.
Although the Sentinel’s condition was getting better, the patch of withered land probably couldn’t be restored.
Ning Li memorized the Sentinel’s face, deciding to make it up to him if she ever had the chance.
After joining the Logistics Team, Ning Li saw all sorts of Spirit Entities—marine creatures, fluffy animals, flowers, herbaceous plants…
The mysterious world of Guides and Sentinels revealed a corner to her, showing her a flourishing, vibrant side.
She couldn’t find a second Spirit Entity as unique as Xiao Hei.
Unique meant risky, and also meant trouble.
It also meant she needed to keep an even lower profile.
Keeping a low profile wasn’t hard for Ning Li.
But while she wanted to keep a low profile, others wouldn’t let her.
When an Abnormal Species appeared at the rescue site, and it charged straight toward her, Ning Li instead felt a sense of dust settling.
The second shoe had dropped—the backup plan of those searching for the bead had finally arrived.