Eric exhaled deeply and turned toward the two beautiful girls before him.
"Ly," he said, "lend me your shoulder for a moment."
Lyria nodded with a smile. She knew why Eric needed it.
Eric grabbed Lyria's shoulder and covered her entire body with his Mana, then 'blinked'.
Gazing at his empty hand, Eric sighed. He felt he was close but still a little far.
Riya provided her guess with a hollow and weak voice, "…I think, if you reach '50' in your Intelligence stat, then perhaps you can 'Blink' together with them."
Eric agreed and asked with a concerned tone, "Riya, how are you faring?"
Riya sighed softly and replied with a voice that almost seemed too old to speak, "I-I am fine... just need continuous rest. D-don't you dare come in here, or I will immediately pass out and never wake up…"
Eric smiled warily at Riya's threat and agreed to it silently.
This was the reason he didn't dare slow down in taking potions and pills to increase his stats. Each passing day, Riya almost sounded as if she were about to die at any moment. He didn't understand why, but he knew it had something to do with his third training stat bracket.
He had asked numerous times, even told Riya to leave the third bracket if it was too much for her to handle, but she was so vehement that she scolded him to not bother with her and just focus on his own job.
So, in the end, Eric shrugged and let her suffer.
Riya breathed a internal sigh of relief. Unlike her past beautiful look and figure, she now looked no different than a thin, bloodless mummy—even undead had more meat on them than her current form. Her skin was wrinkled to the point of resembling a 200-year-old mortal woman.
She could only lie flat, unable to open her eyes or move. Even speaking felt like tearing her throat out.
Normally, as an 'imaginary' entity or soul, Riya could offset these effects, but because she was absorbing the entire load from Eric, she was bound by these adverse effects—effects that would have otherwise afflicted Eric.
She could use the power of the Mind Space to forcefully return to her former figure, but that would make her lose control. All the new stats Eric had managed to obtain would disappear, and he too would suffer from side effects.
Eric's side effects could be mitigated with potions and rest, but she herself wouldn't recover until she rested. Her guess was that only when Eric broke through to Rank 2 would she regain her strength through his development—but by then, it would be too late to retry.
Until Eric either broke through in his training stats or reached late-stage Rank 1, she was determined to hold on and not give up. She felt she must do at least this much since she couldn't physically intervene to help any of them.
Livy stepped forward and asked excitedly, "Next is me, right?"
Eric and Lyria stared at Livy strangely.
"What is there to see? Both of our stats are the same. There won't be any difference," Lyria said dismissively, waving her hand off.
Livy snorted. "How would you know? I'm lighter than you, hippo! Maybe Brother Eric's 'magic' will work better on me than on you, hippopotamus!"
Lyria's temper immediately flared. She slammed her foot heavily on the ground and roared, "What did you say, you lavender alligator!?"
Livy was indeed a few pounds lighter, making Lyria even more furious.
It was the same as calling her fat!
Livy also grew furious and was about to continue the trash talk when Eric diffused the tension with an evil smirk.
"Easy, girls. Liv, don't worry—I'll check you too."
Why should Eric refuse to take advantage of two gorgeous girls?
Spreading Mana over their bodies was the same as touching them intimately. Though he refused to go too far with any girl, that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy these hot girls throwing themselves at him.
After all, he was straight!
He was also internally speechless. When he covered Lyria and Livy completely with his Mana, they could vividly sense his 'touch' all over them—in fact, they would feel it more intensely than he did.
Just how perverted were these girls getting with him?!
Leaving that aside, the more he practiced covering their bodies with Mana, the faster he became. One day, if he needed to blink rapidly with them, he'd do it smoothly and instantly—assuming he ever managed to blink with them in the first place.
Just as Eric was about to grab Livy and take advantage of her, they suddenly heard a loud thud some meters away, behind a large tree. It sounded as if something—or someone—had dropped from a high branch to the ground.
Currently, Eric, Lyria, and Livy stood on a tiny hill with few trees around, so they were fairly relaxed. They hadn't expected anyone to be hiding in this barren area in broad daylight.
They snapped their heads toward the sound, hoping it was a Mana Beast.
But to their disbelief, they saw a human child.
"Wait, wait, please wait..."
A short human boy with black hair peeked out from behind the tree.
Eric, Lyria, and Livy tilted their heads, unable to understand the boy's words, but they were excited—this was their first encounter with another human in a month of travel.
They observed him: barely ten years old, face dirty with scratches, barefoot, clothes tattered and stitched from rags and hides. He looked malnourished and dirty as if he hadn't bathed in weeks.
Riya promptly sent Eric a language called 'Avis,' and he immediately understood what the boy had just said.
It seemed this 'Avis' was a very ancient language. People around this extreme southern region of the world used to speak it long ago, but even the most isolated villages no longer use this language today, as 'Celestia' covers far more vocabulary and meanings than the ancient 'Avis' language.
Riya voiced her thoughts on the strange situation: "I think it's because you've strayed far from the main route and stumbled upon an ancient, isolated village that doesn't have much connection with the modern world."
Eric nodded inwardly. He, Lyria, and Livy weren't heading straight north. They weren't worried about getting lost—they had a compass. Since they could traverse almost any terrain with ease, they took their time exploring 'dangerous'-looking places. The only danger was the terrain itself; there wasn't even a single Rank 1 mosquito in those areas!
While Lyria and Livy remained baffled by the boy's words, Eric knelt to meet him at eye level and asked with a saccharine smile, "Boy, what's your name? Are you from a nearby village?"
Lyria and Livy were dumbfounded as Eric suddenly spoke in a completely unfamiliar language—fluently, no less.
The boy shuffled closer, laughing sheepishly. "My name is Orion. I'm from Whisperwood Village. I'm sorry—I don't remember when I fell asleep on that tree branch. I only woke up moments ago. I didn't mean to surprise you, Big Brother and Sisters, but then I slipped and fell..." He marveled at the height of the three humanoid figures before him.
Eric glanced up and noted the nearest branch was nearly four meters above. Turning back, he said approvingly, "You're a tough kid to fall from that height and walk away unharmed."
Orion chuckled awkwardly. "My sister Mila says drinking milk makes bones strong, though I haven't had a glass in ages." His expression turned depressed and disheartened.
"Hmm... Your sister might be half-right, since you survived the fall unscathed. Orion, what brings you out here? I haven't seen any villages nearby."
It was 3 PM. They'd been traveling since dawn without spotting signs of any human activity.
"My village is behind that high hill, hidden in the woods." Orion pointed, then drooped his head. "I-I don't know what happened, but the adults were arguing since morning... about my sister. I didn't like where it was going, so I ran..."
"Adults are really unreliable, aren't they?" Eric mused, prolonging the conversation.
Ever since the boy appeared, Eric had been feeling quite strange—this feeling radiated from the boy, as if he'd encountered something similar in past but couldn't pinpoint where.
With his advanced 21st-century imagination, he immediately deduced that he'd encountered a unique Mana Beast that could shapeshift into a human boy. To prove himself easy prey, he leaned forward, exposing his defenseless posture, hoping the child-monster would bare its fangs and pounce.
Yet no matter how much he played the "good guy," the boy never transformed into a cute monster. What a disappointment...
It seemed his instinct was wrong this time. The boy was human. What a tragedy!
As Eric sighed in pity, Orion hesitantly asked, "Is B-big Brother a 'Guardian of the World' like our village Elders? Y-you can do magic... I—I didn't mean to watch, but I saw you move from one place to another i-instantly!"
Eric's eyes gleamed. He nodded solemnly, "Indeed! This Big Brother is the guardian of the galaxy—ahem—the world, who vanquishes evil and protects the helpless!"
Orion's eyes shone. He dropped to his knees, forehead pressed to the ground and begged, "T-then, b-big brother, c-can you p-please save my sister? I-I only have my sister in my family. P-Please help us... Please! I-if not, then by tonight my sister will be gone forever…"
Eric stood up with a solemn face. He glanced down at the boy and said with a righteous tone, "Then there's no time to waste. Take us to those monsters—ahem, I mean to your village. I, as a guardian of the world, will definitely protect your sister!"
Orion was deeply moved by such a powerful big brother's promise and quickly thanked Eric while still prostrating, "T-thank you, t-thank you, big brother. M-my sister can definitely be saved now!"
"That's right. Now stand up and guide me to your village's adults. It will soon be evening, so let's hurry before it's too late. " Eric paused. "Also, since I am helping you, can you give me anything in return?"
Orion knew asking for something in return was normal, as their village followed the barter system, so he wasn't surprised.
After thinking for a short while, he sighed and responded in an unsure tone while standing up, "B-big brother, I have heard from my sister that our father left behind something, but I don't know what, so I will have to ask my sister."
Eric nodded. "We'll talk after rescuing your sister. Lead the way." He wasn't really interested in any wealth or treasure from such an isolated village, but he didn't want to build pointless connections between them either—that's why he'd asked for something in return.
Orion stood up and eagerly guided the trio toward Whisperwood Village.
"Brother Eric, what language was that? When did you learn it, and what were you two talking about?" Livy asked with a puzzled expression.
Lyria was equally bemused, but she felt she shouldn't ask until they were in private, so she had stayed quiet. Now hearing Livy ask, she also turned toward Eric curiously.