Yue sat cross-legged on the makeshift bed, her hands exploring every new curve with a fascination bordering on obsession.
She pressed her palms against her chest experimentally, muttering something about "finally having them" under her breath.
Shin, meanwhile, wasn't paying attention to her little celebration.
His focus was turned inward, toward the faint, almost imperceptible current of energy trickling from Yue into him
The flow was sluggish, the signal weak… but it was there.
He closed his eyes, trying to guide the current and bend it to his will.
For a moment, it responded—only to slip away like water through his fingers.
"Tch. Stubborn," he muttered, his brow furrowing.
Opening his eyes, he glanced at Yue.
"Yue, today's floor exploration is postponed. You need to get used to that new body of yours first."
"Mmm~" Yue, busy with her self-inspection, barely looked up, letting out a distracted hum of agreement.
Shin, on the other hand, intended to spend the day wrestling with this elusive energy.
The deeper they descended into the Orcus Great Labyrinth, the stronger the monsters became. So far, it has been manageable, but only because of Yue's overwhelming magic.
If he let her handle everything, his own growth would stagnate.
Besides, he preferred hunting for his own ingredients rather than leaving it all to her; he certainly didn't want another "charred monster" incident.
Two days later…
Shin, carrying a large backpack of crafted tools and weapons, walked out of their cave hideout followed by a sulking Yue.
The two walked side by side.
Yue, no longer in her petite form, was "forced" to walk instead of her usual habit of sitting or lying on top of Shin's bag.
"Shin, you're so stingy~" Yue murmured, casting a pleading gaze at him, aiming for his conscience.
It was her primary strategy to get him to carry her, but Shin remained unaffected.
"Yue, your pleading won't work. Carrying you in your current size is a pain—ahem—will affect my walking speed," Shin said indifferently, nearly letting his true feelings slip.
Did Shin just call me heavy and a pain in the ass to carry?! Yue thought, her sulk deepening.
Shin, meanwhile, continued walking, undisturbed by the golden, teenage-looking vampire princess's antics.
He focused instead on mapping the current floor with the "old book."
An hour of exploration passed without incident—aside from Yue's attempt to climb onto the large backpack, which earned her a bonk from Shin's wooden sword.
"Hmm… that's strange. Are there no monsters on this floor?"
Shin pondered.
On most floors he had visited, a monster would appear or approach him within less than an hour of scouting.
While he was weighing the reasons for this peculiarity, his instincts suddenly flared.
He identified four hostile creatures approaching fast from the left.
He plans to face those himself but this time he let this sulking girl on his side at least have an outlet of her frustration and boredom.
"Yue, on your left," Shin commanded.
Receiving the command, Yue's expression instantly shifted from a pout to vigorous eagerness.
Finally, something to vent on! she thought, thrilled to have a target for her frustrations.
Feel my bottled-up frustration about Shin not carrying me!
She effortlessly cast lightning magic in the enemies' direction.
Unlike last time, when her uncontrolled magic had reduced a poor, T-Rex-like monster to a mass of black charcoal, she controlled the output this time so that some edible flesh would remain.
The four approaching hostiles saw a flash of lightning before their vision went entirely black.
The monsters were instantly killed by the spell, leaving the previously sulking vampire princess with a thoroughly refreshed face.
After confirming the targets are dead.
Shin approached the dead hostiles if they were still intact and not turned into a mass of charcoal.
Upon reaching the carcasses, Shin was impressed that the hostiles are still intact and turn out to be monsters with a raptor like appearance from a certain dinosaur park disaster movie.
"Hou~, the flesh is still intact and not a single of it is charred, nice control Yue!~"
Shin praised Yue in an impressed tone followed by a thumbs up in her direction.
"Mmmnn~!"
Yue nodded in acknowledgement on Shin's praise washing her previous frustrations improving her mood and gleefully skipped to his side checking the carcasses together.
Shin let Yue help by making her hold the "old book".
Shin then pricked the monster's flesh and dropped its blood to the old book for information gathering and learned that this type of monster moves around in packs.
Yue on the other hand is still amazed by Shin's book information gathering about monsters with just a drop of their blood.
It also pleased her since she had something new to read in the book later on when she was bored.
After processing the monster carcasses in a bunch of meat ingredients and crafting materials.
Shin covered them in large leaves from nearby plants and monster pelt before burying them.
He plans to retrieve them later for tonight's dinner and crafting.
After that the two proceed to continue their exploration on the current floor.