Lin Xi disappeared on the fourth level of the World Tree.
According to the rules of the World Tree Secret Realm, except for the Great Mystery Continent that appears every five levels, other realms can only be entered once.
After coming out from the fourth level, Lin Da could not re-enter it; to farm monsters, he could only go to the Great Mystery Continent and other ordinary secret realms outside the World Tree.
However, there was one method that could allow him to return to the fourth level.
That was to change his profession.
After changing professions, both his level and his strategy records for the World Tree were reset to zero.
When Lin Da re-entered the World Tree, he would start from the first level, and he could replay the fourth level mystery again.
"Lin Xi now should be level 30, becoming a Star-ranked adventurer, right?"
Before disappearing, Lin Xi was already level 15, half higher than the other members of the team.
Such a speed of leveling up was like cheating.
"Sleep."
The time shown on his pocket watch had reached two in the morning, and Lin Da felt a wave of tiredness strike him. There had been too much happening today... He had left the team, then became a hero, and resolved to create his own team.
It was a single day that brought him as much fatigue as a usual month.
Lin Da closed his pocket watch and drifted off into sleep.
The next morning.
In a simple breakfast restaurant.
Lin Da and Kafni sat at the table, struggling to gnaw on the rock-hard bread in their hands.
When Kafni walked into this shop, she immediately drew fiery stares from everyone else, making Lin Da a bit uncomfortable.
Great Panda is indeed impressive.
It's a universal truth, regardless of the world!
At the small wooden table, Lin Da sipped on the milk in his bowl. He glanced sideways, only to see the early morning sun streaming through the window, casting a gentle light on the face of a blonde deity.
Kafni's eyelashes were long, and her blue eyes resembled pure gems, reflecting the sunlight, giving them a saintly beauty at first glance.
A thought crossed Lin Da's mind.
Dressing such a Kafni in humble hemp skirts seemed rather wasteful.
Lia would likely mock and scoff at her if she saw.
And since he had left the team, visiting the Snow Goose Adventure Team today as a guest, he was supposed to dress formally.
He also wanted to see how pretty a dressed-up Kafni could be, wondering if she could overshadow those young ladies.
So, he made a request to Kafni.
Thud.
The bread in Kafni's hand dropped to the floor, her face full of disbelief.
"You want me, a deity, to wear revealing clothes and play your female teammate?"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"
Kafni's neck flushed red with anger.
She already detested Lin Da, so how could she possibly pretend to be good teammates with him?
Moreover, calling it dressing up was merely making her into a roasted chicken!
Those skirts barely reaching the thighs, and off-shoulder dresses—how could she, the manly Kafni, ever wear them?!
A moment later.
In front of a second-hand clothing store.
"It's settled then, I get the bed for the next month."
Kafni had already transformed herself from a destitute street woman of Sparrow District into a vibrant and pretty woman of the Inner City District.
"This..."
Lin Da was somewhat astonished.
At this moment, Kafni wore a tight black sleeveless top, covered with a small white jacket, but her massive shoulders almost seemed to slip free from its grasp, invoking the obsessive compulsion in anyone to pull them up properly for her.
She was wearing hot pants on her lower body, her legs white and plump like jade pillars, stepping in sneakers from the Otherworld, decorated with little wing patterns.
Kafni was tall and slim, standing with one hand on her hip like a model, her earlobes adorned with sparkling crystal earrings.
She cocked her head slightly, looking at Lin Da with confusion, "What's wrong?"
"You look good," Lin Da said.
"Wha-what?"
Kafni's face turned red, unexpectedly feeling a subtle joy after Lin Da's compliment.
This discovery made her panic. Why would she be happy about a man saying she looks good? That wasn't normal!
"Don't think that just because compliments are free, I would forgive your reprehensible actions!"
Kafni tightened her white jacket, suddenly feeling too exposed and uncomfortable all over.
"No, I mean, you really do look good."
Lin Da had always had high regard for women as ambitious as pandas.
"Stop talking," Kafni muttered, her voice softer than a mosquito's.
Just then, the carriage arrived, and Lin Da called the squirmy Kafni to get inside.
"To the Inner City District."
Lin Da handed over the last of his copper coins to the coachman.
The road from the Sparrow District to the Inner City District was uneven, full of bumps that made the carriage vibrate.
On the red velvet sofa, Kafni, sitting next to Lin Da with her legs pressed together, almost fell on him several times as the carriage tilted.
Lin Da didn't mind, back when Snow Goose Adventure Team was poor, five people would squeeze into a carriage, piling up in layers.
Rubbing shoulders and legs with Kafni was nothing unusual for him.
But he didn't know what was wrong with Kafni today. Since leaving the clothing store, she'd been acting weird, none of her usual arrogance.
Lin Da saw her hands as if having nowhere to rest, one moment on her knees, the next under her butt, her head hanging low, her gaze drifting.
The carriage passed over a large pothole and jolted sharply, Kafni's arm accidentally brushed against Lin Da, and she quickly withdrew it as if electrocuted.
What the heck is wrong with her?
Lin Da was utterly baffled.
"We've reached the Inner City District."
A moment later, the carriage stopped, and Lin Da saw Kafni was still daydreaming.
"Oh... oh! Thank you," Kafni snapped out of it, hurriedly opened the door of the carriage, and stepped out almost as if escaping.
First, she moved out a dazzlingly white long leg, then Kafni slowly straightened her waist, lifted her messy golden hair with her hand, and gradually opened her cold, aloof eyes to adjust to the bright sunlight outside.
Her posture made Lin Da sense a subtle femininity.
The two of them walked one after the other on the broad, tidy street, heading toward the villa of Snow Goose Adventure Team.
Lin Da noticed something odd, it seemed he was turning quite a few heads, attracting many passersby to pause and look.
Although being a former healer of Snow Goose Adventure Team made him somewhat famous, it couldn't be to this extent, could it?
Perplexed, he looked around and suddenly realized that within Kafni's tight black top, there were a pair of bouncing big guys, like a Slime casting the skill "Taunt."
No wonder!
These were so big; any adventurer would want to tackle them, right?
"What's wrong?" Kafni frowned and asked.
"It's nothing," Lin Da replied, turning his head away.
Seeing his somewhat awkward expression, Kafni belatedly realized something.
Kafni stared straight at her own chest, her cheeks quickly heating up.
She swiftly turned her head to the side.
On the street, Lin Da looked embarrassedly to the left, Kafni bit her lip and looked to the right— even she didn't know why she did that, but her heart felt like it was pounding out of her throat!
Lin Da cleared his throat and said, "You... bear."
"What about the bear?"
"Can you make it stop moving?"
"I wish I could! But with it being so big, who do you think is to blame?"
Kafni got angry whenever she thought about it.
She viciously stepped on Lin Da's foot and rubbed it, "I agreed to your request to wear such indecent clothing, didn't I? If it were a looser dress, this would never have happened!"
Her argument made sense, and Lin Da couldn't think of a rebuttal.
He resolved to make sure that Kafni wore less revealing clothes in the future.
The two of them walked on in silence.
As they reached the Adventurer's Guild in the Inner City District, Lin Da stopped in his tracks, attracted by the notice board at the entrance.
On it was a poster that took up half of the board, with the title:
[Famous Team, Snow Goose Adventure Team's World Tree 9th Floor Attacker Release Conference, in full swing!]
[Time: New Tree Calendar July 25, Morning 9:00-11:00]
The poster featured an image of Lia with her arms crossed and a proud stance at the center, with her greatsword 'Flame Devourer' behind her.
On the left and right sides were Aiko and Klrona, followed by a clipped tall humanoid shadow. At the very edge were the elf girl Klyne and Hammer Warrior Oru.
They cropped it quite hastily.
Lin Da looked at the humanoid shadow that represented him and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"New Tree Calendar July 25, isn't that today?"
He looked up at the round clock on the top of the Adventurer's Guild, which showed it was 10 o'clock. Which meant that Lia and the others were still in this Adventurer's Guild.
Holding an attacker release conference seemed to indicate that Lia had successfully passed the 9th floor.
Lin Da frowned slightly, feeling somewhat worried.
For the current Snow Goose Adventure Team, taking a fall on the 9th floor would actually be beneficial for the team's long-term development.
Otherwise, with Lia's character, she would definitely think that it's quite simple to just rush through without strategizing, right?
Lin Da hoped that Lia would suffer a setback, but he didn't want to see her perish in the World Tree.
"Is this your old team?"
Kafni leaned in close to the poster, her face full of mockery, "The conference ends at 11, are they still inside? We're waiting anyway, let's go have a look."
Their purpose for this trip was to retrieve their belongings from the Snow Goose Adventure Team and to have Lia sign the team-leaving certificate. By all accounts, they had to wait for the conference to end.
But Lin Da wasn't keen on going inside. If Lia saw him in a public setting, there's no telling what kind of drastic actions she might take.
It was better to find Lia in private for the team-leaving certificate, so both parties could save face.
"Shall we go?" Kafni, seeing him not moving, taunted, "You're not scared of seeing your old teammates, are you?"
Lin Da hesitated for a moment.
Feeling a hint of hesitation in his heart, he shook his head and thought to himself, there would be a lot of people at the attacker release conference, so it was unlikely that Lia would spot him. Besides, even if she did notice him, so what? Since when did he become so timid?
With this thought, he said, "Let's go, let's head inside."
The two entered the Adventurer's Guild.
A refreshing coolness hit them, making the heat outside feel like a different world.
The white ceiling above sparkled with snowflake-shaped Cooling Magic Arrays, bringing an immediate boost to one's spirits with their chill.
The hall was bustling with people, all surrounding a stage at the front.
Lin Da pushed forward slightly and, with his height of one meter eighty, caught sight of the scene on the platform.
The host of the attacker release conference, Lia, was explaining the process of battling through the 9th floor.
Such conferences were important for raising a team's fame.
In this world where "all is inferior, only adventure is supreme," top adventurers are stars, idols, and all the major trading houses were eager to have them endorse their Magical Equipment.
The city hall warmly welcomed high-level adventurers; a live strategy presentation by a high-level adventure team could attract countless people to come visit, greatly promoting the city's prosperity.
In the Mystic Continent, as long as you conquered a high enough level, gold coins, fame, magical equipment... everything was within reach.
Usually, the Snow Goose Adventure Team's press conference was a duo act, with Lia acting as a mascot, just needing to put her pretty face forward, while Lin Da took care of explaining the strategy.
This time, however, Lia hosted the entire press conference.
Lin Da looked towards the redhead girl on the stage.
Lia was dressed quite formally today, in a black hip-hugging skirt and those light, thin black stockings that only mature women usually wore, and on her feet were high heels that she clearly wasn't comfortable in, making her seem like a young girl trying hard to act grown-up.
Facing the audience's gaze and a bunch of journalists with notepads ready to take notes, Lia's speech was stiff, as if reciting lines, and with her hand, she made a sword swinging gesture:
"So it's just like that, right? Energy charging, Flame Slash, I dodge the attack, then energy charging again, Flame Slash...!"
"Ten times, at most twenty times, and the Giant Carnivorous Flower is guaranteed to be taken down!"
The journalists from the press scratched their heads and stopped their pens, dumbfounded as they watched Lia's little hands flailing in the air.
Many adventurers also let out a chorus of jeers.
This way, it just wasn't working.
Beneath the stage, Lin Da sighed.
As a strategy guide, what Lia explained had no reference value whatsoever.
The adventurers who had come specially to 'attend the lecture' were dumbstruck.
It was like listening to a talk that was just talk.
Apart from wasting time, it was utterly useless!
The dissatisfaction in the hall grew louder and louder.
Lia became excessively nervous, her speech starting to stammer.
In order to avoid embarrassment, she tried her best to compensate for her lack of words, but she still couldn't articulate much.
It felt like she really wanted to be someone else's teacher, yet lacked the wisdom to be one.
Finally, it was Aiko who couldn't bear to watch and took over Lia's hosting role with a gentle and elegant demeanor.
Only after she detailed the strategy for taking down the Giant Carnivorous Flower did Aiko mitigate the audience's disgruntlement.
The strategy presentation finally ended and they reached the part Lia was good at, she immediately snatched back the control from Aiko, introducing the loot with great enthusiasm.
She was no good when it came to using her brain, her talent seemed to only emerge when showing off.
Aiko hummed with disdain in her heart.
She shouldn't have helped Lia, it would have been right to just let her be hung out to dry on stage.
But after all, he had also come.
In front of Lin Da, Aiko had to be a reasonable and empathetic excellent teammate.
Lia? She was just someone who let Lin Da realize how good of a stepping stone she was.
On a long wooden table, the head of the Giant Carnivorous Flower, Magic Melon Seeds, the weapon Tengman Whip, and various other magical items were displayed.
With every item that Lia introduced, her rather ordinary chest puffed out just a little more.
The Snow Goose Adventure Team did have its supporters, after all, the team included four beautiful girls.
When Lia heard someone in the audience praise her swordsmanship and combat ability, she lifted her head high, almost looking down on others through her nostrils.
This girl was way too arrogant, wasn't she?
Lin Da couldn't help but frown. Looking at Lia's arms and legs wrapped in bandages, it was clear that she had been injured by the Giant Carnivorous Flower.
Back when he was still in the team, the members of the Snow Goose Adventure Team had never suffered such 'serious' injuries.
And yet, Lia seemed to have learned nothing from it.
Listening to her triumphant tone, it was as if defeating the Giant Carnivorous Flower was such an incredible feat.
She couldn't possibly be unaware that the only reason she could clear the ninth level was because her Fire Series Battle Qi just happened to counter the Plant Series Giant Carnivorous Flower, could she?
To put it bluntly, it was nothing but good luck.
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