In the heat of battle, Lin Feng had no time to pay attention to the grotesque state of his enemies.
Right now, he was racking his brain for a method to deal more smoothly with the two Wooden Shield Hilichurls closing in on him.
"Lata movo! (Water!)"
—He didn't get the chance to think for long.
At the Water Hilichurl Shaman's chant, the two shield-bearers surged forward from both sides, their massive shields raised, forming a deadly pincer.
Their hulking, minotaur-like builds rippled with muscle. The violent momentum whipped past Lin Feng's face, stirring his hair.
Lin Feng had been planning to dodge—
But suddenly, a new idea flickered through his mind.
Instead of evading, he exhaled softly and remained perfectly still.
"Domuunta! (All together!)"
Bathed in the Shaman's healing rain, the two Berserkers seized their opening and charged, accelerating toward Lin Feng with thunderous steps.
"!"
Beside them, Tighnari's ears shot upright.
He drew his bow taut, preparing to intervene—
But after a heartbeat, he slowly relaxed his fingers.
He was curious.
What exactly was Lin Feng planning?
Just then—right as the Hilichurls were about to swing their shields into Lin Feng's face—Lin Feng raised his hand sharply.
A towering platform of interwoven wood burst out of the ground, lifting him three meters into the air.
At the same instant, dozens of sharp, spear-like wooden spikes erupted from the soil beneath.
The charging Hilichurls, unable to halt their massive momentum, crashed straight into the forest of spikes.
Their wooden shields—normally their greatest defense—barely bought them a fraction of a second.
From atop the elevated platform, Lin Feng enjoyed his clear vantage point.
He casually flicked his hand, sending vines streaking outward.
The hidden Shaman, startled and peering from behind a tree, was instantly bound and yanked into a heap.
Lin Feng looked down at the two Wooden Shield Hilichurls impaled like grotesque sieves and felt a strange, deeply satisfying sense of long-awaited catharsis.
"Whew…"
Letting out a breath, he dispelled the wooden spikes and hopped off the platform.
—And his boots landed in something unpleasantly wet.
Squelch.
The sticky texture beneath him, combined with the heavy coppery stink in the air, hit him like a wave.
In the heat of fighting, he hadn't had the attention to spare—
But now, looking directly at the blood-mashed remains, a surge of nausea rose in his throat.
In his past life, he'd never even killed a chicken.
Without years of horror-game conditioning, there was no way he'd still be standing.
"Clap, clap, clap—"
Tighnari emerged from his hiding spot and applauded.
"Beautifully done!"
"How do you feel? If you're nauseous, smell this."
He took out a small transparent vial and tossed it over.
"Thanks—that's exactly what I needed."
Lin Feng caught it, pulled the stopper, and the crisp burst of mint immediately calmed his stomach.
"Haah… I always thought those stories exaggerating the urge to vomit after killing someone were just dramatized. Turns out the real thing is far worse."
He handed the vial back, half laughing, half shaken.
"You handled it extremely well.
You cleared an entire camp alone, and even after killing so many creatures for the first time, your reaction is quite controlled."
"I'm starting to wonder what exactly you experienced during your wandering years."
Tighnari packed away the mint balm and nodded in genuine praise.
"It's nothing. Maybe I've just… seen similar things more than most."
Feeling much steadier, Lin Feng brushed off the question casually.
"Alright, onto the next camp.
There were a lot of things you could optimize from that fight. I'm actually pretty excited to see how you'll perform against the next batch."
Seeing Lin Feng's eyes sparkling with dangerous enthusiasm, Tighnari could only sigh helplessly.
"Fine, fine. Let's go.
Honestly, at this rate, I'll run out of things to teach you.
Your talent in combat is frighteningly good… I only wish you'd consider the viewer experience a bit more when you fight."
Lin Feng looked around at the field—half mulch, half gore—and felt his face redden slightly.
"Wait—let me clean up the scene first."
He stopped Tighnari and closed his eyes, calling to the Dendro elements.
The ground-level vines that had erupted earlier began slithering across the soil.
Under Lin Feng's control, they pushed fragmented body parts into the loosened earth, burying them neatly.
Within moments, aside from a few bloodstains, the clearing looked almost… peaceful.
"Alright. If we leave it like this, any forest ranger who comes to forage here will be terrified."
He tugged Tighnari, who was still staring in mild shock, and the two went off to the next camp.
"Turns out that first camp was the only medium-sized one…"
Walking back after clearing several tiny camps, Lin Feng looked resigned.
"That's because I've been clearing them regularly," Tighnari explained.
"And Hilichurls aren't as numerous as most people imagine."
"Setting aside Ley Line projections, the actual population has been shrinking for years.
It seems their species… has stopped reproducing entirely. Someday, they may disappear from the world."
His voice lowered slightly.
"By the way, that defensive trick you came up with—raising yourself on a wooden platform—was clever. How'd you think of it?"
"I saw it in the Rainforest Monster Encyclopedia.
Sometimes Hilichurl Shamans create pillars to avoid ground attacks, so I tried copying them."
Lin Feng answered with a straight face.
—Not like he could admit he learned it from being annoyed in the game.
"Many have tried similar concepts before," Tighnari said.
"But unlike monsters, humans can't easily create stable elemental structures.
Outside of certain Geo users, it's nearly impossible to maintain."
At this point, Lin Feng's "specialness" no longer surprised him.
"In fact," Lin Feng chuckled, "the one who really opened my eyes today was you."
"How you make plants release hallucinogenic spores, or poison… could you teach me that sometime?"
Tighnari nodded without hesitation.
"Of course. But the principles are complex. You'll need a strong understanding of toxic plant anatomy. We'll go through it bit by bit later."
Chatting along the trail, they returned to Gandharva Ville.
Over a pot of Tighnari's mushroom stew, thinking about the grateful looks from the forest rangers they passed earlier, Lin Feng felt… content.
That evening, after finishing his daily lessons, he set aside the now thoroughly-mastered Teyvat Literacy Primer.
Two traits were waiting for enhancement:
Sturdy Physique 3, Dexterity 2
As always, he instructed Little White to keep watch for him, opened the system, and selected to enhance the first.
Just like every time, exhaustion washed over him, and Lin Feng fell into child-like sleep.
"Eh? Failed again…?"
—Once again, Nahida failed to enter Lin Feng's dream.
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