Looking at the pile of antiques in the treasure chest, Lara shook her head regretfully from the side. "What a pity. We can't take this whole chest with us; we can only take one or two small items."
Hearing this, Xia Yu rolled his eyes inwardly. Is this why you only take one in the game?
That wouldn't do. His principle was to leave nothing behind—plucking feathers from a passing goose and skinning any beast that crossed his path. In the past, he had no choice but to give up, but now, he wanted to take the entire chest away.
These were all auction items for the auction he would hold after returning; he couldn't possibly leave them for those who came after.
"Why not try some versatile magic?" Xia Yu suddenly spoke up.
"Huh?"
Hearing this, Lara looked at Xia Yu in astonishment, pointing at the treasure chest on the ground with some disbelief.
"You mean magic can take this treasure chest away? This... can magic really do something like that?"
"Hmm... why wouldn't it be able to?" Xia Yu said with an air of confidence.
Of course, with the current magical strength of The Xia Yus, they indeed couldn't open up a personal storage space, but... they had the Red Envelope.
This was an infinite-range storage space available anytime, anywhere. Since there were no restrictions anyway, naturally, they would use it however it was most convenient.
That guy from nier: automata had completely treated the Red Envelope as a personal backpack; as long as something caught his eye, he would put it directly into the Red Envelope via the backpack function.
Now, their group's Red Envelope contained everything: a mechanical army, electronic products, various ores, strengthening potions, all kinds of weapons, mana, telekinesis, copied knowledge and memories, and so on. If it weren't for the fact that The Xia Yus liked to categorize and organize, the group's Red Envelope would have been a mess long ago.
Now he was going to treat the group Red Envelope as a personal backpack too. Hmm, he'd just create a 'treasure' category specifically for storing the ancient treasures he found.
Under Lara's amazed gaze, Xia Yu clapped his hands on the ground, pretentiously using mana to construct a pure white magic circle. It looked incredibly complex, filled with unknown magical script, but in reality, it served no purpose at all.
It was pure special-effects magic, meant to make others think you were powerful, but in fact, it was just a brief Flash spell.
In the next moment, the magic circle suddenly emitted a blinding light, causing Lara to instinctively close her eyes for a second. When her vision returned, the treasure chest in front of her had vanished.
Seeing this scene, the way Lara looked at Xia Yu carried a hint of admiration. It's human instinct to admire the strong, not to mention that this kind of mystery only served as a bonus.
Feeling Lara's gaze, the corners of Xia Yu's mouth quirked up into a 'Dragon King' smile as he said, "You want to learn? I'll teach you."
Hearing this, Lara's heart stirred. She had actually wanted to ask if she could learn magic for a long time, but after all, this was Xia Yu's own inheritance. Even if they were boyfriend and girlfriend, they weren't married yet.
Therefore, Lara had always ignored the fact that Xia Yu knew magic, and she hadn't mentioned the topic of magic once during their journey.
But now Xia Yu had brought it up himself. Although Lara was very tempted, she still asked, "Are there any restrictions on this? For example, it can't be passed to outsiders, or ordinary people aren't allowed to know, etc."
"That's how it's written in Harry Potter—the wizarding world can't let Muggles know. If a Muggle finds out about the existence of magic, their memory has to be wiped with Obliviate."
Hearing this, Xia Yu reached out and patted Lara's head, saying, "What's going on in that little head of yours? Harry Potter is just a novel. You're actually taking the contents of a fantasy novel seriously? Or do you think you're a Muggle?"
Lara's ears turned red from being teased. She really wanted to retort that magic was also a fantasy, yet he could use it!
However, feeling the warmth of Xia Yu's palm, she only gave a soft huff and shook her head to brush his hand off.
"Hmph, what's wrong with being a Muggle? Weren't you a Muggle before too? And your magic—can I really learn it?"
"Of course no..." Xia Yu drew out the sound. After seeing Lara's stunned expression, he then continued in a sing-song voice, "...t that it's impossible."
Initially, Lara thought she couldn't learn, but after hearing the rest of Xia Yu's words, she immediately realized—he was teasing her!
Lara glared at Xia Yu in frustration, but seeing Xia Yu's grinning, mischievous expression, she deflated again.
"Why did I fall for such a person with such bad taste? You were clearly quite serious before."
"Who knows," Xia Yu shrugged. "Maybe the magic inheritance awakened the... bad taste in my heart."
After correcting himself just in time, Xia Yu quietly breathed a sigh of relief. He almost slipped and said it awakened the 'female' in his heart. Yujiro, you're so powerful; I've even transmigrated and I still remember your deeds.
"This... after I learn magic, I won't awaken some terrible bad taste too, will I?"
After hearing Xia Yu's explanation, Lara was a little scared. She didn't want to awaken any strange hobbies.
"Inheritance and learning are different. This is something you cultivate yourself bit by bit; you definitely won't be affected."
Xia Yu waved his hand, then suddenly leaned in close to Lara and said seriously, "However, if you want to learn magic, you first need to possess mana. Mana can grow through cultivation, but the prerequisite for cultivating mana is to possess mana first. Only by possessing mana can you cultivate mana."
"But where would I get mana?"
Lara was a bit dumbfounded. What kind of strange restriction was this? It was like the chicken and the egg—you need a chicken to have an egg, but you also need an egg to hatch a chicken. It's a circular logic!
Hearing Lara's question, Xia Yu leaned into Lara's ear with a mischievous smile and whispered, "I can transfer mana to you, but the method is a bit troublesome. I just don't know if you're willing."
After saying that, Xia Yu gave a 'you know what I mean' smile, causing Lara's pretty face to gradually redden. She gave Xia Yu a shy glance and hesitated.
"It... it's not impossible. We're already dating, anyway."
"Oh... what are you thinking?" Xia Yu suddenly gave an exaggerated, teasing 'oh'. "Mana transfer only requires physical contact. What did you think we had to do?"
After speaking, Xia Yu even looked Lara up and down with a marveling gaze, as if to say, 'I didn't expect you to be that kind of person.'
Lara was stunned at first, but quickly realized—Xia Yu was teasing her again!
Shame and anger quickly flooded the girl's face, and Xia Yu, carrying his mischievous laughter, ran down the roof of the temple.
The two of them followed the path they came from, one fleeing and one chasing. Soon, they left the temple tomb and returned to the interior of the deserted island.
Although it was still night on the island, the cold moonlight ensured the surroundings weren't dark.
With Xia Yu intentionally leading the way, the two crossed a rotting wooden arch bridge toward the island's interior. After chasing for a long time, Lara was already exhausted, leaning on her knees and gasping for breath.
"What's wrong? Not chasing anymore?"
Seeing that Lara wasn't chasing, Xia Yu turned back and stood in front of her.
"Hmph! I'm done chasing!"
Lara glared fiercely at Xia Yu. She was such a fool; she clearly knew he was teasing her, yet she fell for it every time.
"Alright, alright, don't be mad. I'll take you to vent some steam!"
As he spoke, Xia Yu stepped forward to help Lara up and walked toward a place ahead where there were faint flickers of fire.
If he wasn't mistaken, that was the Solarii camp. It was also time for Lara to see some blood; only then would she become a true warrior.