Chapter 158: A Small Gift

Regarding psychic warnings, there is an expert within Li En's team.

Perhaps many have forgotten that Miss Shaliman is actually a Diviner of the Psionic school, the legendary Seer.

Her specialty is using psychic abilities to foresee harm and hostility about to befall herself and those close to her, and to evade it. It shares the same operational mode as Divination mages, but is far more sensitive in perceiving crises.

Especially regarding crises involving oneself, her sensitivity can reach several times that of a Divination mage.

And after Li En vanished into the base, her warning activated. That meant Li En was in extreme mortal danger, and also meant she had subconsciously regarded him as very important.

"Something is off. It feels like a crisis, yet not quite."

Sometimes, this kind of precognition is useless; you know there is a crisis or a pit, but cannot avoid it, which only makes one feel helpless and anxious.

And with the sudden shift in the battle, the giant deer's sudden madness, the crisis she sensed in Li En suddenly vanished. But the next moment, she felt another kind of crisis!

It seemed this time it was directed at her, and it was more urgent, more unsettling.

"What is this? My heart is beating faster and faster, my heart is panicking. This is a huge crisis, but why do I not feel a threat to my life? Is someone targeting me?"

Miss Shaliman was somewhat bewildered; she looked left and right but could not see any shadow of where the crisis might be.

Now they are at a certain distance from where the two beasts clashed, and the squad is hiding very steadily; there should be nothing wrong.

"Hiss hiss hiss... Hiss hiss! (Idiot, super idiot! Someone is stealing our base!)"

But obviously, Miss Shaliman's main body, shielded by the psychic suggestion, could not hear these.

"What's wrong?"

The suddenly响起 familiar voice made everyone jump.

They turned sharply and saw the smiling Purple Miss Zi Qiangwei, along with Li En, whose face was full of exhaustion, whom she was supporting.

"It's me, Little Miss Zi Qiangwei! I brought Li En back!!" Saying this, Purple Miss Zi Qiangwei even waved her small fist.

Seeing Li En finally return safely, Miss Shaliman immediately felt relieved.

But for some reason, seeing the two standing very close, she subconsciously felt uneasy. The other Miss Shaliman was even more direct.

"Hiss hiss hiss (Get away from him, why are you so close! Auntie! You are too much.)"

Purple Miss Zi Qiangwei, wearing a grievance expression, responded directly to her.

"Hiss hiss hiss hiss hiss hiss! (Too much, way too much! We fought to the death, and you are still so harsh on me. Li En is in bad shape; I am just supporting him!)"

High-frequency Parseltongue, carrying psychic riddles, conveyed a vast amount of information.

"Hiss hiss hiss (Then, why are your clothes all wet)!" This Miss Shaliman was not easy to deal with.

"Hiss hiss hiss hiss hiss (We rolled around in the pool, okay? Don't rush. We were just fighting the Brain in a saltwater pool; water battles will naturally get you wet. Smell it, there's still the scent of saltwater.)"

No matter what "Miss Shaliman" asked, Purple Miss Zi Qiangwei answered lightly.

The psychic lie detection that used to work quite well was meaningless against her.

While the two relatives over there were still making a fuss, Li En yawned and fell asleep again.

He had just absorbed the Black Dragon's dragon soul and was still digesting it. This was not a safe environment; looking from this cliff, one could still see the increasingly brutal monster death match.

The Black Dragon's corpse had been stored away by Purple Miss Zi Qiangwei. Li En's spatial bag was already full. It should allow Kuk to refine it into quite high-quality evolution materials.

In fact, at present, let alone fully digesting this material, even just the catalyzed dragon soul, Li En would probably need a long sleep to digest.

But this perhaps also signifies a qualitative leap.

Li En was somewhat expectant, but he had to stay alert and observe the battlefield in the distance.

Purple Miss Zi Qiangwei said they just needed to wait for the harvest, but Li En still needed to keep an eye on things.

"I can't see other Dark Elves, but they should be watching from the shadows too."

With the beasts retreating, the crisis on the Morosdilk side should also be resolved.

This does not mean the war is over; the besiegers should not have retreated yet. The Mind Flayers and slaves so far away probably did not die, but they should have been freed from the Brain's control (the slaves under the city walls should still be under Mind Flayer control).

So even if they are still attacking, their battle will is not great.

Those besieging armies were lucky not to be pushed back; naturally, they can no longer restrict Morosdilk.

And the Dark Elf high command must have already observed the situation here; the Goddess Sisters should also be waiting in the shadows.

Everyone is expecting the giant beast to fall and preparing to seize the greatest fruits of victory, including the other two Beast Princes who are still on the fence.

"Miss Shaliman." Li En did not speak, but a sudden voice rang in the girl's heart.

"Psychic ability?!" Miss Shaliman was very surprised; she had not discovered that Li En actually had this potential.

"Mm, it awakened during the battle with the Brain just now. You should know that psychic ability awakening, in many cases, happens during battles with powerful psychic monsters."

What Li En wanted to ask was about the psychic career path.

He had asked Purple Miss Zi Qiangwei, but the other party fully recommended the Snake Magical Girl to him. Li En confirmed its strength but truly could not bear its side effects (when they first met, Purple Miss Zi Qiangwei made a dark joke about a gender-bending magical girl).

"You want me to guide your path?"

"Just ensure the spark does not go out."

A profession is the path by which ordinary people, through training and learning, reach the level of the gifted and the professional.

Psychic abilities, in a sense, are a highly externalized, high-intensity, high-empathy realization of mental power. It is more like a seed of fire; how to develop and utilize it depends on the transcendent themselves.

If left unattended, it will naturally grow weaker and weaker, or even extinguish directly.

Perhaps a different analogy is more suitable: it is like an "engine that burns brighter and brighter"; the outer car shell and main body are the "profession," and its functions need the car body's functions to be realized.

And the car body suitable for each person is different. Li En needs the guidance of Miss Shaliman, a professional; picking any psychic profession to make do is fine, as long as it prevents the psychic spark from extinguishing.

"Psion... you are not suitable."

The Psion is the most common psychic profession; its core is simulating the spellcasting characteristics of mages, and even Mind Flayers can be regarded as Psions.

Psions are even divided into schools like mages; many mid-to-high-level psychic abilities have similar mage versions.

But how to put it, their effects have always been quite subtle.

"Except for time-based abilities, the Psion's spellcasting strength is too low; it cannot compare to mages or sorcerers of the same tier."

High-level circles are passable, but low-level psychic abilities are truly hard to comment on.

Those ring abilities that "produce sound," "emit a slight warmth," "send a text message," and "provide light" made one suspect they were all tricks.

Even if Li En took a part-time job, he would likely remain at a low tier for a long time, and low-tier psychic abilities would be of almost no help to Li En.

Useful time-based psychic abilities require not only talent but also at least the sixth ring or higher.

Miss Shaliman thought seriously, yet for a moment could not produce an answer, while her original grievances and unease had already vanished without a trace.

She seriously considered whether to ask her own teacher.

"Sssss (So easily fooled!)"

But the other Miss Shaliman was not so easily fooled.

"A small gift, to thank you for your previous care." And Li En casually pulled out a bag of crystals.

Miss Shaliman felt it in her hand; it was somewhat heavy. She opened the bag and immediately revealed a joyful smile.

This was not simply because she had received the gift, but because the item was indeed rare and precious.

These were psionic crystals, usable for storing psionic energy and assisting spellcasting; they were important necessities in many psionic rituals, yet quite rare on the Prime Material Plane, with some even claiming that only mind flayers had mastered the production technique.

"If the entire base hadn't collapsed, I could have salvaged even more." The entire base was supported by the mind flayer brain's psychic abilities; its death directly caused the collapse and locked most mechanisms and passages.

But even so, Li En still salvaged quite a lot this time.

"This is very good, quite good. Before, I only had a small piece of truly fine quality; it must have been from a high-tier mind flayer, right." Truly worthy of a wealthy woman, able to even purchase such otherworldly materials.

Li En himself did not need these things; his psionic power couldn't even float a small stone, but for Miss Shaliman, they were quite useful.

Purple Thorn, on the other hand, did not need them; she had better "beast-type materials."

And this was not even the most valuable trophy of this expedition.

"We obtained some mind flayer brain cores; they should be enough to brew several doses of medicine."

Immediately, Miss Shaliman almost screamed, but quickly covered her mouth.

The mind flayer brain was one of the extremely rare materials capable of permanently increasing "mental power," "psionic energy," and even "intelligence"; no spellcaster or psychic could refuse it.

"I will provide an equivalent." Such a gift had already surpassed a mere present, and Miss Shaliman responded with seriousness.

Meanwhile, Purple Thorn, watching Li En and Miss Shaliman chat with increasing pleasure, revealed a subtly pleased smile that was completely unreadable.

"Awooo!" And at this moment, the death match between the beasts seemed to have reached its conclusion.

(End of this chapter)