"Anything wrong?"

Avi naturally noticed Liu Ye's change of expression but he quickly went back to normal.

"Oh, I was just thinking about how to spend my time today," Liu Ye replied casually as he stretched his fingers. "Let's get to work. I only have you for five hours so let's make good use of your time. I don't want you to be late for your mission so let me know when you need to go."

"Ah, don't worry, I don't think too much about it," Avi assured. "Sending me to protect some newbie is actually an overkill so I don't know what Katherine was thinking. She could use her favor for anything better yet she used it for him."

She winked at Liu Ye and teased, "It seems like you are not her favorite pupil, heh."

"It's fine…" Liu Ye replied with a shrug.

If Avi knew it was him, their session would definitely be affected so he decided to remain silent. She would find out on her own even before landing anyway.

"Can you lure some monsters here?" Liu Ye changed the subject. "I can grind my Elemental Mastery faster here and I have an unlimited source of water."

"Sure, let me kite them here," Avi nodded as she ran towards the exit. "Ice Bears are too small in number so I will bring something better."

He was paying her 2500 gold so he would for sure make the best use of her.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Avi called out after stopping in the tunnel. "You must have leveled up, right? Make sure you put some points into Luck to increase your chance of better loot. Don't be like me or else you will be forced to grind endlessly to get anything good."

After dropping her advice, she finally left. Liu Ye actually planned to raise both his Dexterity and Intelligence again but decided to listen to her advice. He actually barely got anything aside from the guaranteed loot like the Elemental Stones.

"So many abilities to choose from..." Liu Ye muttered after opening his Elemental Tree. Earlier he was worried he didn't have enough but that changed after reaching level 20.

Liu Ye had already decided on the Water Cloak since he could use two Large Water Whips at the same time but wondered about his second choice. To get Ice Fist from level 20 he needed to unlock the Ice Claws first and to get Ice Spear, he needed Ice Bullets.

After recalling the prowess of Avi's spear, the choice wasn't as hard anymore.

[Ding! You have unlocked the Water Cloak.]

[Ding! You have unlocked the Ice Bullets.]

He still had many basic abilities he had yet to unlock but Liu Ye was determined to get them all that day.

[Water Cloak]

[Description: Creates a stationary water armor with tentacle-like arms. While fully formed, the cloak will empower other unlocked abilities. In the form without the armor, the tentacle arms will act like two Large Water Whips without the passive buff.]

[Cost: 20 MP]

[Buff: +20% Elemental Power]

———

[Ice Bullets]

[Description: An ability to rapidly shoot Ice Bullets from the curtain of water.]

[Cost: 2 MP + 5 MP per second.]

[Damage: 10 + 20% Elemental Power]

Huh?

Liu Ye was pleasantly surprised by the Water Cloak buff but the Ice Bullets mana cost seemed weird. Only when the new knowledge awakened in his brain did he find out why.

Swoosh!

He spawned a water screen with a swing of his arm when sudden howls made him pause. Liu Ye just thought of testing the new Ice Bullets when Avi returned with a pack of nearly thirty wolves behind her.

[Ice Wolves - Lvl. 30]

[HP: 5000/5000]

[MP: 1000/1000]

"Watch out!" Liu Ye called out in warning and forced Avi to jump to the side as he began his assault. Ice Projectiles just couldn't compare with the fire rate of the Ice Bullets.

-28

-28

-28

Around twenty Ice Bullets shot out from the whole curtain every second and shot randomly in the wolves' direction.

Awoo!!

Wolves howled as they tried to dodge but how could they dodge the Ice Bullets while being so tightly packed. If one avoided, another was hit. All they could do was force their way to Liu Ye but he froze a platform in the pond and hovered on the surface while constantly attacking.

"Not bad, you learned how to combine the abilities," Avi praised as she watched him from the Bear King's ice cube. "Fighting against monsters is much easier since they can't fight back if you are smart enough. Don't get used to it though. When you start fighting other Benders on a daily basis, one careless move can cost your life."

Her words came true way too fast as the wolves suddenly jumped in the pond but instead of drowning, they copied Liu Ye's technique. Having thirty wolves rash at him seemed scary but Liu Ye already anticipated that.

"Have a good swim!" Liu Ye called out as two Large Water Whips formed around his arms and he began smacking all the wolves into the water.

His Mana was already so low that he only managed to freeze the surface of the pond even before knocking all the wolves. Five more wolves immediately charged at him but thankfully, he wasn't alone.

Avi landed gracefully in front of him while her body was covered by a water cloak with tens of whips sticking out. She casually reached out at the wolves and grabbed that in the air like it was nothing.

"My, my, what would you do without me?" Avi called out with a playful smile. "Will the Prince get a kiss from the Princess for saving her life?"

Liu Ye gulped down a Medium Mana Potion and shook his head. "The Prince decided he wants to get paid so it's just his duty to save me."

"Tch, you wouldn't agree even if I helped you for free," Avi snickered in response and hovered the struggling wolves in front of him. "Do you want them?"

"Of course, but let my Mana regenerate," Liu Ye muttered as he watched his Mana bar fill up. "I can't do anything with such a low Mana count. How did you get yours to 6600?"

"You can increase it by drinking special potions or simply mastering your Element," Avi informed. "You get a boost of 1000 Mana after unlocking all basic Abilities and another 1000 after unlocking all advanced Abilities. I think I spent like 100,000 gold for an additional 2250 Mana increase using potions."

"So in other words, I have to suffer from low mana for a while," Liu Ye pointed out, knowing it would take him a while to save up so much money to casually spend on potions.

He felt like he was wasting his potential while being unable to perform to the maximum of his imagination. So many pleasing combos brew in his mind yet they would only melt his Mana to 0 within seconds.

"It shouldn't take long though. I can unlock all basic abilities by tomorrow," Liu Ye added confidently and stopped wasting time as he covered his body with a Water Cloak. "I can only live up to my name and grind."

-46!

-46!

-46!

The buff provided by the Water Cloak was a blessing as he melted the first wolf in just 6 seconds. With all the Ice Bullets hitting the immobile target, it was like an execution.

[Ding! You killed the Ice Wolf. You received 7000 Experience and 10 gold.]

"You won't receive Bonus experience anymore since the wolves are only 10 levels higher than you," Avi explained as she passed him another wolf to eliminate. "You should enjoy those numbers while you can since later it won't be that easy. I've been sitting on Level 60 for a month now."

"Ha? How come?" Liu Ye questioned dumbfounded while killing another wolf. "Are there no monsters to kill at that level?"

"There are, but they are all like the King of the North. It is really hard to kill them alone," Avi replied with a shrug. "If I want to gain experience, I can only kill high leveled NPCs but that is not as easy as it sounds. I was actually preparing to search for some hidden quests but then I met you. I managed to finally get some experience after a while."

"Hidden Quests?" Liu Ye repeated curiously, causing Avi to go silent.

He noticed her hesitation and killed the last wolf in her grasp as he assured, "It's okay if you can't tell me. I am fine with whatever you are comfortable with."

"Well, you will find out in the future anyway..." Avi muttered to herself before revealing. "Hidden Quests are special quests required to trigger a unique variation of your element. Since you have Water Element, you can for example master Healing. You can only do that with a hidden quest but so far I can't find any of them. Maybe some other players will share the news on the forum."

Liu Ye couldn't help but think of Zhenzhen who was still on his mind. Could it be possible that she received a Hidden Quest and used it to beat his record?