Since Things Have Come to This, Let's Eat First

That was a first.

Even explaining it with Lan Qingyou’s 'Heart's Image theory'—where the Phantom Mist Vampire race was constructed based on Blue Star’s vampire legends—she had never heard of vampires possessing such an ability.

“Wouldn't that make you a Dementor?”

The Sun joked with a grin.

“Nonsense. A vampire’s main diet is blood, okay? Our skills are mostly centered around that. Souls are just an extra. Besides, I’ve heard that only a very small number of the vampires in the Kalim Supreme Council have awakened this skill.”

“In terms of novel or mythological settings, only Count-level vampires can usually have such a skill,” the High Priestess explained, defending her race's reputation.

She didn't want her race to be stigmatized.

“So, does that mean a vampire’s strength tier is fixed from the moment of awakening?”

As a Great Teacher who loved researching magic and mana, the Magician was quite interested in this topic.

“I don’t know. We’ll have to wait until there are more vampires or until individual levels are higher to find out.”

The High Priestess shrugged.

The group then spent some time discussing the battle they had just fought.

They had all been lone wolves before, but now that they were working as a team, it was natural to discuss their cooperation.

Ideally, this discussion should have happened after fighting a wave or two of monsters upon entering the dungeon.

However, Gu Xiaobei’s unique mob pulling technique had left everyone speechless, and they had missed that opportunity.

“Regardless, everyone probably approached this dungeon with a gamer's mindset, right?”

“But the reality is, whether we admit it or not, we are currently in a world of magic. These dungeons are real places.”

“In a game, the environment might just be fake data, zeroes and ones, but here it is real.”

“I might have been in a hurry earlier, but I don’t see it as being impatient. We call it being efficient.”

“Consider how big this dungeon is. If we fought our way through one by one, it would take at least a day. We just saved ourselves over ten hours.”

When the topic of Gu Xiaobei’s earlier actions came up, she turned the tables and gave everyone a lesson.

She was right.

Most of them had indeed entered with a gamer's mindset.

Or rather, they held onto the very game-like concept of 'leveling up.'

Even though Gu Xiaobei was also here to level up, perhaps because she acted more like a gamer than anyone else, she was better at distinguishing between a game and reality.

“I stand corrected.”

“That certainly opened up a new direction for clearing dungeons.”

“Praise the Emperor!”

“Praise the Emperor!”

“Since things have come to this, let's eat first,” Gu Xiaobei said, feeling a bit embarrassed by the praise as she raised her hands to quiet them down.

They definitely needed to eat.

The half-hour buff from breakfast had long since expired, and after over three hours of combat, they were both exhausted and starving.

And they hadn't even technically entered 'inside' the dungeon yet.

God only knew how many monsters were waiting for them further in.

While the fire had taken out about three or four thousand, Lan Qingyou had previously estimated there were 'several thousand.'

Nine thousand is still 'several thousand.'

Moreover, Li Huai had mentioned that the massive fire had probably only scorched about a third of the area.

Therefore, it was best to rest and recover quickly.

“By the way, Gu Xiaobei, come over to my place after the dungeon is finished.”

Lan Qingyou made this casual remark while eating, causing the others, who were focused on their food, to look at her.

Their eyes were filled with 'I get it' looks.

Gu Xiaobei became a bit fidgety and bashful.

“This... Boss Lan, isn't that a bit inappropriate? Do you have a cat at home? The kind that does backflips?”

“Damn it!”

Lan Qingyou couldn't help but curse, realizing these guys had the wrong idea. She shot everyone a glare.

“What are you all thinking? I want to borrow her racial talent for a favor.”

After witnessing Gu Xiaobei’s ability to make plants grow wildly, Lan Qingyou had already thought of asking for her help.

“Hahahaha!”

Hearing Lan Qingyou’s explanation, everyone burst into laughter. For a moment, the pier was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

“Ah! Oh! A favor. That’s no problem. What kind of help do you need?”

Gu Xiaobei’s face flushed red.

“I harvested some branches when we fought the ancient tree. Although I’ve planted them, they’re growing too slowly. I need your ability to help accelerate their growth.”

“Holy crap! Does that mean we’ll have an endless supply of sap!?”

Lan Qingyou’s words immediately excited everyone.

Although they had all obtained sap and gained extra skills, who would complain about having more?

Especially those who planned to train subordinates later.

This stuff would be an excellent reward.

Even if it wasn't used as a reward for subordinates, it was perfect for trading with others for materials or items.

However, Lan Qingyou’s next sentence shattered their dreams.

“Unfortunately, those branches aren't from the ancient tree. They’re from a guardian-type monster called a War Treant.”

“What? Oh.”

“Got our hopes up for nothing.”

The group was utterly disappointed.

“But Boss Lan, while a Tree Elf’s talent can make plants grow rapidly, it can only be used on the same plant once, and the growth is limited. In the words of the Empress, it can probably jump-start about three months of growth time at once.”

Three months... that seemed like enough.

Lan Qingyou wasn't too disappointed, knowing such a skill had to have limitations.

After all, if this skill could be used indefinitely, its rating would definitely be S++.

“Then how did the Emperor and the others farm? I remember they harvested after only a month.”

Since they were on the subject of [Empress] Jiang Lan, Lan Qingyou asked out of curiosity.

If the other party had a method, she wouldn't mind digging up the War Treant and letting Jiang Lan and her group raise it for a while.

“That’s thanks to the land. The place where the Emperor is located is called the Cursed Corridor. It’s a place cursed by time. Anyone who goes there will age rapidly. The Emperor is simply using that trait to farm.”

The Magician took over the explanation.

As part of the 'first batch' to join the Tarot Villa, he was well aware of the situation on Jiang Lan’s side.

“Hiss—”

Hearing that the natural conditions in Jiang Lan’s area were so harsh, everyone couldn't help but gasp.

“Is she okay?” Gu Xiaobei asked worriedly.

That was currently her only source of food; nothing could happen to her.

“She’s fine. At least within the shelter and the protection range, they’re safe. It’s also for this reason that the people in their district basically never leave their homes. Consequently, their death toll is probably the lowest among all districts.”