The sweat is mine, but the numbers are all theirs.

A selfie was posted in the class group chat.

It was Jiang Yumian and her three companions, standing on a lizard carcass even larger than themselves, looking quite imposing.

"I was lucky and encountered another BOSS, which is much earlier than I planned to reach level 16 this morning."

Now is the time to return from dungeons, and many people are immediately envious.

"Five days until the exam, and I'll be level 16?"

"6666, no wonder they're the number one team in our class, awesome!"

"Luck is only part of it. Without strength, even if you encounter a BOSS, you can't kill it and it will only cause trouble."

"Goddess Yumian is so beautiful!"

"Wait, something's not right? There are only four. Where's Lu Yuan?"

Upon hearing this, before any further questions could arise, Jiang Yumian sent another message.

"His summoned beast had some problems and was on the verge of death. He insisted on asking us for money and wouldn't even let Susan buy the two-star skill book she had been wanting for a long time. We had no choice but to leave the team."

"My God, is this how you become a vampire?"

"That's not surprising, it's good that you withdrew."

"Sigh, how come I never realized he was this kind of person before? He even forced such a well-behaved girl like Susan?"

"He's a team parasite. He's become a lone wolf now. He'll definitely be looking for teammates before the assessment. Everyone needs to be careful."

Aside from a few who were genuinely indignant about Jiang Yumian, there was mostly schadenfreude and a hint of... pleasure in seeing a peer deteriorate.

Class teacher Li Qun frowned. He looked to be in his forties, with a calm face, and did not believe Jiang Yumian's words.

However, given that Lu Yuan hasn't come to school these past few days and his private messages have been ignored, it's likely that something is wrong.

After all, these were students he valued, and he couldn't help but sigh.

If you don't make a name for yourself during the golden period of early career transition, you're likely to be overlooked.

Having been a teacher for over a decade, he understands all too well the principle that if you're slow at one step, you'll be slow at every step.

……

Early in the morning, the people responsible for receiving the goods arrived at Lu Yuan's door.

After the goods were inspected, 166,000 yuan quickly arrived in his account.

Looking at the series of numbers, Lu Yuan didn't feel much emotional fluctuation and turned half of it towards Cheng Siya.

The Detection skill is alright, it's not even a one-star skill, it's only useful against monsters in dungeons, and you can buy it for a few thousand dollars. But the summoning materials and contract skills cost her all her savings from the past few years.

These are not obligations that a mother must fulfill.

Therefore, Lu Yuan would not accept it with a clear conscience.

But not long after, the money was transferred back.

Almost simultaneously, Cheng Siya's door opened, and she rushed out without even combing her hair. "Xiao Yuan, you didn't do something stupid, did you?"

Her eyes were filled with worry, showing no trace of joy.

She couldn't figure out where Lu Yuan could suddenly get so much money.

Fear consumed everything.

Helpless, Lu Yuan could only give a brief explanation of the matter, concealing the life power and attributing all the credit to the sudden increase in strength of the restored Star Candle.

This made Cheng Siya breathe a slight sigh of relief. "That's good."

"So Xingzhu is really amazing, able to kill a BOSS on its own. Last time, my colleague's child teamed up and successfully killed a BOSS, which made her whole family happy all day."

Lu Yuan nodded. "Indeed."

"No wonder I didn't wake her up when I just got up. She used to get up earlier than me. She must have been exhausted."

"What a wonderful summoned beast! You mustn't use your summoner status to do bad things to her in the future, understand?"

She had heard that it could be dangerous if the relationship between a summoned beast and its summoner was bad.

This kind of thing is most likely to happen to creatures like Star Candle that have a human form.

Although Cheng Siya still believed in her son's character, she couldn't help but mention it.

It's just... Xingzhu is too beautiful. Even she has never seen anyone so beautiful.

Faced with his mother's stern expression, Lu Yuan remained calm and composed, saying, "How could that be? You know perfectly well that Xingzhu and I are both good children."

When everything is positive, it cannot be called a bad thing.

Therefore, this cannot be considered a scam.

Cheng Siya touched her head. "That's true."

"That money..."

"Keep it for yourself." She said, yawning as she walked into the kitchen.

Because Lu Yuan cured Xingzhu himself, she didn't even need the money she borrowed and returned it directly.

She can afford her daily living expenses.

After making breakfast and eating a few bites with Lu Yuan, Cheng Siya went to work.

This, as always, made Lu Yuan sigh.

At this moment, Xingzhu also came out of Cheng Siya's room. Since the summoning, she had been sleeping with Cheng Siya.

Since our home only has two bedrooms and a living room, we can't let her sleep on the sofa.

Fortunately, my mother was happy to agree.

"Xingzhu, come here for a moment, I'll give you something good to eat."

Looking at the somewhat excited caller, Xingzhu rubbed her sleepy eyes and walked over without hesitation. "What delicious food is it?"

She was wearing a fluffy pajama set today, which Cheng Siya had changed her into last night. It had a brown bear on it, and it looked especially cute on her petite body.

Lu Yuan smiled and took out the Mind-Seeing Fruit.

One bite, and the mental fatigue vanished instantly, everything became crystal clear.

As her mental energy spreads outwards, she can even directly detect things that are out of sight!

Within a hundred meters of her, nothing can escape her notice, not even through walls!

In addition, in her current state, Xingzhu can clearly detect any malicious intent or any gaze that seems to have any ulterior motives towards her.

When she told Lu Yuan these things, her eyes darted away, or rather, she seemed unsure.

Is it because there's a gaze directed at her that's interested in her right now? Or... is it from the Summoner...?

...It must be a misperception, right?

"This should be the state of mind's eye. Now that you've entered it, let's get down to business." As he spoke, Lu Yuan began to move.

"Huh? Serious business? What serious business..." Xingzhu's voice grew softer and softer as the summoner approached. Finally confirming that his perception was correct, his face immediately turned panicked.

She cannot yet perfectly control her perception of the mind, so everything, including physical sensations, is fed back to her mind tenfold or even a hundredfold.

This won't work!

"Summoner, Summoner, wait for Star Candle to exit the Mind's Eye state..."

Lu Yuan ignored him.

How can you turn it into a talent if you quit?

Everything is for the sake of becoming stronger, even if it requires countless hours of hard work and sweat!

fighting!

……

It was already night, and the weather had clearly turned cold, but Lu Yuan was still full of energy and sweating profusely.

However, he was happy because his talent had finally stabilized, and he had directly reached the intermediate level!

[The Eye of the Void: Existing invisibly, it perceives everything and can see through illusions. Direct activation will cause immense mental trauma to the target.]

Compared to the mind's eye, it has the added ability to see through illusions and falsehoods.

Furthermore, it can cause an invisible psychological trauma, which is even more difficult to prevent!

not bad!

Lu Yuan smiled with satisfaction. Xingzhu now has three mid-level talents, but his growth potential hasn't improved much this time.

It only changed from 60 to 65.

This is normal; the amount required increases as evolution progresses, and he has already leveled up by 2 compared to before.

Neither the power of evolution nor its storage volume has changed much.

However, Star Candle has already completed one evolution and is about to move towards a higher level of evolution, resulting in a serious imbalance.

We still need to speed up the upgrade so that we can get better results in the assessment.

That way, he can go to those better dungeons.

Just as Lu Yuan was thinking this, there was a sudden noise at the door. "Huh? Did I forget my keys?"

Buhou!

Why is Mom home so early today?!

Lu Yuan couldn't wake the unconscious Xingzhu, so he could only quickly take her back to the bedroom and then rush back to the living room to deal with the traces.

"Xiaoyuan, are you home?"

Lu Yuan remained silent, but his movements became faster and faster. He then ran to Cheng Siya's room, picked up her perfume, and sprayed it all over the living room before opening the door.

"Why are you all sweaty?" Cheng Siya asked, puzzled.

"I just did a few push-ups."

"Is that so? Wait, why do I smell my perfume in the living room?"

"Not long ago, a garbage truck came downstairs, and the stench was unbearable."