You are all my wings!

Everyone has a bottleneck in attributes due to their profession, but it's hard to reach the limit. Now, as long as you eat the right things and eat a lot, and combine that with practical training in dungeons, you can get closer to the limit.

It's clear that Lairis's decision to join the exploration team was made with the right and reliable character, and with her powerful and abundant light magic. With her assistance, even without doing any quests, one can accelerate their progress.

Besides, in addition to completing tasks with her, you can also gain her talent boost once you reach a certain level of favorability with her, which is quite nice.

"What are you laughing at? You look weird." Iris stared at Leon again, almost instinctively.

"No, I just realized how right it was to learn the skill of disassembly in the first place."

"That's true. Eating this meat fresh from the scene is the best in terms of both flavor and the effect of restoring magic and stamina."

Iris nodded, expressing her high approval of Leon's disintegration skills.

In fact, she discovered just how much fresh monster meat she had missed when she explored the dungeon with her mother, Hamra.

The more I think about it, the more heartbroken I become.

Through this comparison, Iris clearly realized that if she took the monsters she had defeated out of the dungeon and handed them over to the guild to be dismantled in a queue, and then brought them back to cook, the effects of mana and stamina recovery would drop by at least half, or even by 70% or 80%.

It is clear that many adventurers are unconsciously overlooking a way to quickly improve their skills.

Iris couldn't help but think: Could it be that he really wasn't lying to me, and that he was really just doing it for a teammate?

After all, he has so many skills and is indeed versatile enough. It's just that he has relatively few strong offensive methods. If he needs teammates, he definitely needs to pair up with them.

Chapter Thirty-Two: Elemental Traps

After eating and drinking her fill, Iris's mindset changed, and she began to doubt whether she needed to test Leon any further.

Thanks to the white unicorn's intermediate magic, their journey thereafter went smoothly.

It took half an hour to navigate around the main area of ​​the Water Ruins and arrive at the side opposite the entrance on the 25th floor.

There are also many broken ancient castles here, but compared to the central castle which has been ruined by the underground waterfall over the years, the broken castles in the side areas are better preserved.

According to the information currently available, the 25th floor has 12 branch paths, resembling a clock, radiating outwards from the central waterfall of the Water Relic City.

Lyon was heading to the side road located at the 12 o'clock position of the entrance on the 25th floor.

This side road area is known as the Elemental Trap.

The existence of the elemental magic ring has continuously attracted magical creatures skilled in magic to build their nests here, making the area full of various magical remnants, like a prison full of traps, hence the name.

Of course, the name of the Elemental Cage will not become known to adventurers until the second part, which will then attract powerful adventurers to compete for this elemental magic ring.

Currently, this side road area is only a relatively dangerous place for the vast majority of adventurers.

This is the perfect time to strike.

Standing before the entrance, the two paused briefly and each activated their detection magic.

Iris's light-based detection magic can detect all changes in light and shadow within, while Leon's wind-based detection magic can detect the physical conditions of where the wind flows.

Combining the two allows for a rapid understanding of the internal situation.

We didn't do this in previous operations.

But this time, being far from the main road where they had good intelligence, both of them were more cautious and nervous.

Especially for Iris, who sensed the abundant magic of the four elements ahead, she had a clearer feeling about the possibility that her father's death point was ahead.

It's not surprising that when pure-blooded elves, being long-lived species, die, their burial sites gradually evolve into places rich in elemental magic.

Especially her father, who is a sixth-tier near-legendary.

"No monsters were found wandering in the passage."

"I don't have any either."

"It seems we'll have to go deeper into the area. Let's go, Iris."

Do you know exactly where what you're looking for is?

"I have a general idea, but we still need to search. According to my prior investigation, there are no fewer than three types of powerful monsters here, which may be at the third rank or they may only be at the second rank. Of course, in addition to the monsters, the dangerous terrain caused by the remnants of multiple spells also needs our attention."

Lyon gave a casual reply.

"Just keep it in mind."

Iris took a deep breath, concealing the slight tension on her face.

The two stepped into the passageway.

The moment I took my first step, an overwhelming surge of elemental magic washed over me.

The elements are very balanced, and the four elements of earth, water, wind, and fire are integrated very harmoniously.

Leon took a breath and immediately felt much more energetic, like the exhilarating feeling of washing away the smell of his previous job when he changed jobs.

As expected of the location of the Elemental Magic Ring, the balanced nature of the four elements has created a paradise on earth.

Of course, if a paradise on earth were to become an underground city, it would be overrun by monsters and turn into a highly dangerous monster's lair.

"Iris, don't stray too far from me, stay close. If anything happens, I can immediately pull you away, and you can also activate your light defense shield right away."

"it is good."

Iris blushed slightly and moved closer to Lyon.

Elemental magic light defense is the most effective basic defensive magic.

Moreover, due to the properties of the light element, the shield is transparent and will not obstruct the caster's vision, making it an excellent defensive spell on the battlefield.

For example, earth, water, and fire-based defensive magic provides a strong sense of cover and can interfere with spellcasting and combat to some extent.

After walking cautiously for two kilometers, I finally emerged from the side road and came to a dark Gothic-style castle.

Below us is an open space resembling a gate plaza, and in front of us is a small castle formed by three interconnected pointed-roof buildings.

The walls were broken and pitted in various places, and their color was dark.

The walls were covered with all kinds of thick vines.

Looking up, a purple ball-shaped flower, at least twenty meters in diameter, with its delicate petals like shark teeth, swayed in the wind atop the flagpole at the very top of the castle.

It seemed that they had noticed Leon and Iris getting close.

The purple ball of flowers drooped slightly, and its thick, club-like stamens suddenly opened a dozen pairs of eyes, looking at Leon and his companion on the ground, who resembled tiny ants.

"It's a fourth-tier man-eating flower! How can a fourth-tier monster be raised on the 25th floor?"

Iris could not hide her astonishment.

The man-eating plant is just an ordinary monster, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it's a weak monster that sits at the same table as a slime.

But no matter how weak a monster is, the situation changes drastically once its rank is high.

Moreover, this is only a fourth-tier spell, a fourth-tier spell that can be activated with low energy consumption by utilizing the tier's enhancement!

Moreover, the man-eating flower definitely didn't just reach the fourth rank.

It has been at least a decade since it reached the fourth rank. Judging from its size and the magic power emanating from it, it is probably quite close to a fifth-rank demon!

Suddenly, the carnivorous plant launched an attack.

A dozen or so vines suddenly sprang up from all parts of the castle, shooting towards us with a sharp whistling sound.

The speed was so fast that even the two people with an agility of over 40 were caught off guard and couldn't react in time.

At the crucial moment, Leon, who had been on high alert, pulled Iris aside.

Third-tier combat skill, Shadow Step, activated!

Magic -2, Stamina -2.

call out!!!!

The next moment, Leon hastily pulled Iris into a princess carry position and activated Shadow Step again.

In the instant he vanished, several other vines struck the ground where Leon had left, shattering the floor tiles and raising a cloud of dust.

Swish!Swish!Swish!

Within ten seconds, Leon maintained his embrace of Iris and executed three Shadow Steps.

Each time, the vines found Lyon precisely and shot towards him at lightning speed.

Its reaction speed and attack speed are completely unlike those of plant-based monsters.

During this time, Iris recovered and activated her light defense shield several times.

But each time, it was directly shattered by the vines.

She simply stopped activating the defensive spell and let Leon use Shadow Step to retreat the way he came, conserving as much magic power as possible.

During the retreat, the area covered by the vines was terrifying.

It was able to catch up by covering a distance of 100 meters in an instant.

This forced Leon to use Shadow Step four more times before he finally escaped the vine-covered castle area and reached the outer perimeter.

Huff, huff.

Leon put Iris down and slowly caught his breath.

Then he quickly pulled out the white unicorn and Minotaur jerky and started chewing.

He used Shadow Step seven times in a short minute, instantly depleting half of his newly recovered magic power and stamina, which put considerable strain on his body.

Even the last time I used Shadow Step, I consumed an extra point of stamina.

It is evident that if combat techniques are used continuously, causing muscle strain, once the limit is exceeded, the previously stable energy expenditure will also increase.

"Sorry, I just held everyone back."

Iris supported Leon with concern, her eyes filled with guilt and self-reproach.

"It's okay. That's the point of having teammates. In that situation, it's appropriate to run away first."

"If it weren't for you, I would have been seriously injured by that move just now."

She lowered her head, feeling utterly inadequate as a teammate, and constantly suspecting that Leon was lying to her and had ulterior motives.

“You can’t think like that. Without you, I wouldn’t be so close to my goal. Besides, this is the place I wanted to be.”

Leon reached out and patted Iris's little head, smiling:

"Silly child, we just suffered from a lack of intelligence. I still need you to fight back. Don't let your overthinking affect your combat performance. Besides, I don't want you to blame yourself, I want you to be a reliable teammate."

Do I need reliable teammates?

Iris blushed. He really knew how to comfort people. She had indeed performed poorly just now and would need to be better at responding next time.

However, when he touched her head, she didn't feel particularly resistant.

Was it because he saved him at a crucial moment?

[Character Iris's affection level increased by 2%, current affection level 74]

Ugh, I'm cursed, I always think about all sorts of weird things.

That's what she thought.

Chapter Thirty-Three: Lyon's Proposal

Lyon did have a counter-attack strategy.

But in reality, he still needs to think it over.

Is there a level four, highly skilled carnivorous plant here?

He had never heard of this in his previous life's gaming experience.

However, this side story was only released in the timeline of the second part, which is seven years later.

It's not surprising that these Tier 4 carnivorous plants were wiped out by some passing adventurers before the second side quest was unlocked.

"Iris, besides Light Piercing Cone and flight magic, what other intermediate-level spells do you have?"

"And one more, the Radiance of Light."