Diluc had watched Noelle's performance carefully.
Both of them were Vision holders.
Although their elements were different, they both used claymores.
After a moment, Diluc gave his evaluation.
"This girl…"
"She's very strong."
Noelle smiled shyly.
"Hehe…"
"That's enough."
Diluc continued calmly.
"You don't need to deliberately pursue complicated sword techniques."
"Use your natural strength and emphasize the heavy nature of Geo."
"That's your advantage. Don't abandon it."
Noelle blinked.
"Huh?"
"I don't need sword techniques?"
"But the Knights of Favonius…"
Diluc frowned slightly and glanced toward Jiang Chen.
"You're bringing her along, yet no one has taught her this?"
Jiang Chen shrugged.
"We just started, didn't we?"
"...Tsk."
Diluc clicked his tongue and stopped speaking.
He didn't want to waste more words.
After all, Jiang Chen also used a claymore.
And he even controlled two elements, one of which was Geo.
Even if Diluc didn't say anything, Jiang Chen would eventually teach Noelle anyway.
Jiang Chen explained instead.
"What Diluc means is that Geo's nature is defense and direct impact."
"For claymore users, defense itself becomes offense."
"You already have great strength."
"So focus on building defense and fighting with wide, powerful swings."
"As for fancy sword techniques…"
Jiang Chen smirked.
"When you used Sweeping Time just now…"
"You got dragged by the weight of the sword, didn't you?"
Noelle blushed.
"Yes…"
Her strength was immense.
But the giant claymore shifted her center of gravity every time she swung.
Just holding onto the weapon without losing balance was already difficult.
"Exactly."
"Being able to control the sword is already impressive."
"Only when a sword feels like an extension of your arm can techniques truly matter."
Jiang Chen added casually:
"Jean tends to encourage young Knights too much."
"She pumps them full of motivational speeches and makes them train blindly."
"Maybe she should reflect a bit."
The group suddenly fell silent.
Diluc actually thought Jiang Chen had a point.
Barbara couldn't decide whose side to support, so she pretended not to hear.
Lumine already knew Jean tended to lose arguments against Jiang Chen anyway.
Only Noelle reacted honestly.
Jean had always been her idol.
Her face flushed red.
"But Sweeping Time requires me to accumulate a lot of Geo energy…"
"I can only use it occasionally."
"So I still need sword practice most of the time."
Jiang Chen waved his hand.
"When your strength improves, I'll give you a set of artifacts that increase Geo energy absorption."
"Then you can keep using Sweeping Time continuously."
His tone sounded ridiculously casual.
Like artifact sets were nothing.
"No, no—!"
"That's far too valuable."
Noelle shook her head quickly.
Artifacts weren't pastries.
She couldn't bake ten of them as repayment.
At that moment Diluc spoke again.
"Really?"
"Then can you find an artifact set that increases Pyro damage?"
"I'd pay a large price for it."
Jiang Chen waved the topic away.
"We'll talk about that later."
Right now he didn't actually possess high-quality artifact sets anyway.
There was no need to discuss it yet.
"Come quickly!"
Paimon shouted.
She had pulled out a broken chest from the ruins.
The reason she had gone quiet earlier—
Was because she was looting.
Hilichurl camps often collected nearby items they considered valuable.
For example, the captured Pyro Slime.
Hilichurls liked throwing them as explosive weapons.
So they trapped them in water basins.
Paimon began tossing items out of the chest.
"Silver ore… broken bow… broken sword…"
She threw away anything she considered worthless.
Then suddenly her eyes lit up.
"Mora!"
Hundreds of shiny coins lay at the bottom of the chest.
Paimon's eyes sparkled.
She instantly stuffed the chest into her storage space.
"I'll keep this safe for everyone!"
Diluc looked at her like he'd encountered an idiot.
"...Tsk."
"Hey! Do you have a problem with that?"
Paimon wasn't afraid.
The Mora was already in her bag.
"I've seen fools before."
"But never one this foolish."
Diluc bent down and picked up two faintly glowing plants that Paimon had thrown aside.
He tossed them to Jiang Chen.
"These two Small Lamp Grass are worth several times more than that chest of Mora."
"What?!"
Paimon gasped and rushed over.
But Jiang Chen had already stored them.
Smiling, he said:
"Next time you return to Mondstadt, you should buy a book about local specialties."
Paimon stomped in the air angrily.
She hurriedly shoved the silver ore, broken weapons, and even random weeds back into her bag.
She was afraid of missing anything valuable again.
From now on she decided—
She would collect everything and identify it later in Mondstadt.
Jiang Chen pointed to another spot in the rubble.
"Go get that scroll for me."
"If we find something valuable later, I'll share the profit with you."
Paimon retrieved it and looked confused.
"A scroll?"
It was a magical scroll dropped by the samachurl.
Diluc's flames had burned away most of its power.
But the symbols and diagrams on it were still useful.
Jiang Chen stored it.
As for the broken hilichurl masks—
He didn't bother picking them up.
Adventurers sold piles of those things in the market.
"Alright."
"Let's go."
"Tonight we'll reach the merchant campsite inside Whispering Woods and rest there."
------
If you like the story please do vote and add it to your library
For Early Access of Chapters check patreon.com/killua_001