After leaving the team, the adventurer ladies regretted it deeply

Lin Da nodded silently; this item was indeed what he needed.

A high-powered, burst-damage, area-of-effect trump card!

Although he had Kafni, the behemoth of destruction, at his side, Kafni's Divine Power could only be used once, and who knows how long it would take to recharge.

During the recharging period, Kafni would become a useless invalid.

The cost was a bit high.

The Large Explosion Stone could serve as Lin Da's regular trump card, without any negative effects.

He quietly clicked on the system inventory and materialized the Large Explosion Stone into the palm of his hand.

It was a dice-sized, red cube-shaped crystal.

Touching it, he could feel the terrifying temperature contained within; all Lin Da had to do was channel Magic Power into it and throw it to cause a powerful explosion.

"Good stuff."

Lin Da carefully placed it into a special pouch on his belt, secured the button, and prevented accidental activation.

Then, he opened the Skill Tree page.

He had reached level 8 and had 6 unused Skill Points.

He left 2 Skill Points just in case.

It was like playing League of Legends where you don't add a point at level 2, waiting to see which skill would be needed before adding it.

There were 4 Skill Points available for use.

Lin Da's gaze turned to the Poison Technique Series Skill Tree.

The second layer of skills had been unlocked at level 5: [Spiky Thorn Armor] and [Poison Resistance].

Lin Da clicked to view them.

[Spiky Thorn Armor: Covers the body with spike-like Magic Power, increasing physical defense by 30% and reflecting 10% of damage.]

[Poison Resistance: Reduces damage received from Poison Series by 30%.]

Both were very practical skills.

The former reminded Lin Da of Thorn Armor in League of Legends, where tanky characters could wear Thorn Armor, stand still, and reflect the enemy carry's damage back to them.

A Healing Hero was a tank-type character, suitable for this 'Thorn Armor' skill.

The second skill, [Poison Resistance], was also extremely useful. A 30% damage reduction was significant, and he estimated it could reach 50% when fully upgraded.

Lin Da spent two Skill Points to learn the skills.

[System Notification: You have acquired new skills 'Spiky Thorn Armor' and 'Poison Resistance'!]

With the remaining two available Skill Points, Lin Da invested them in the Recovery Series Skill Tree.

The first layer's two skills were: [Intermediate Healing Spell] and [Self-Healing].

Lin Da learned [Self-Healing].

The skill description was: [Envelop oneself with Magic Power, recovering a 'small' amount of Hit Points every three seconds for thirty seconds.]

Regenerating health paired with Thorn Armor was a perfect match.

He looked upward, reaching the second layer of the Recovery Series Skill Tree.

There was only one skill: [Mass Minor Healing Spell].

The Recovery Series Skill Tree seemed geared towards the later stages, lacking any strong skills in the early game, Lin Da thought.

He didn't need the Mass Minor Healing Spell for now and could add it when necessary. He invested the one remaining available Skill Point into the offensive skill [Venom Magic Sphere].

After adding points, the icon for the Venom Magic Sphere deepened in color.

The description also changed accordingly.

[Skill: Venom Magic Sphere]

[Current Proficiency: lv2 Proficiency]

[Effect: Fires a Venom Magic Sphere straight ahead, with medium travel speed, causing high damage to the target, inflicting damage once per second, lasting '6' seconds, and can be stacked up to '1' layer]

The duration increased from 5 seconds to 6 seconds, and the stackable layers went from 0 to 1.

Lin Da nodded with satisfaction. The Venom Magic Sphere had reached a 2nd level proficiency, a qualitative improvement.

He had just thrown out two Venom Magic Spheres and was able to hang back and wait for the Magical Creatures to bleed out and die.

Leaving two skill points in reserve, Lin Da closed the system interface.

He saw Kafni looking delighted.

"What good thing happened?"

Kafni proudly puffed out her ample chest, "Me, a level 8 thief, has mastered a powerful attack skill."

"What?"

"Poison Explosion Dagger, attacks poisoned enemies and deals double damage. There's also Dagger Scatter, throwing out three daggers to inflict area damage!"

Kafni laughed, "This deity has the ability to take down Magical Creatures on her own now."

"At last, I don't have to carry dead weight anymore," Lin Da sighed.

"Dead weight? All the Demon Cores were dug out by me, you know!" Kafni, irritated, rolled up her sleeves ready to scuffle with Lin Da.

At that moment, the bathroom door swung open,

Sparing Kafni, who was overestimating her strength.

The two of them put away their teasing demeanor and watched the Beastmen girl warily.

No one could be certain about what she was thinking at the moment.

After seeing the ability of Witch Purification, was she planning to become friends with them or continue to be an enemy?

Lin Da looked over and saw Lulu, with beads of water on her short hair after bathing, and steam rising from her supple skin.

He caught a whiff of a faint scent that drifted over

The girl chewed on a Slime chewing gum, hands in her pockets, tail drooping at a spot slightly higher than her ankles, calmly walking to the other side of the table and pulling up a chair to sit down.

"Why did you save me?"

Lulu scrutinized them with questioning eyes and asked straightforwardly.

Kafni stood by as if facing a formidable enemy, fine threads of golden light emerging in her eyes, ready to use Divine Power at any moment.

Lin Da put his hand on Kafni's shoulder and shook his head.

"But..."

Kafni wasn't reassured.

However, unable to withstand Lin Da's firm attitude, she reluctantly retracted her Divine Power.

"If things go south, I'm not responsible," Kafni stepped back to a safer distance, ready to step in if something happened.

But Lin Da's move was not reckless.

In the game, Lulu's personal profile described her as a Beastmen girl who valued loyalty and friendship; she wouldn't have stood up against nobility to protect her friend and ended up as a slave otherwise.

He had saved her life, and with Kafni, the powerhouse, by his side, both sentimentally and logically, Lulu wouldn't lay a hand on him.

Of course, understanding this and achieving it were two different things.

Lin Da's composure caused Lulu some surprise and also earned Lin Da a system prompt:

[Witch Lulu's trust level +3, current trust level: 33, Courtesy Greeting]

Lin Da casually replied, "No particular reason, just felt like it, so I happened to save you."

Lulu shook her head, gazing into his eyes, "I don't believe you."

If it were himself, he wouldn't believe it either.

Lin Da thought to himself, revealing the power of Witch Purification just to save a 'stranger' Witch... If he were Lulu, he would suspect the other party was either lusting after his body or had an ulterior motive.

Anyway, there had to be a reason; it wasn't likely for someone to be so benevolent as to 'just happen to save you'.

But Lin Da couldn't possibly tell Lulu that it was to make up for what had happened to her in his past life's game,

And that saving her would grant him a trust level bonus from the system...

So, he chose not to answer and instead took the initiative to ask, "So, what have you decided to do? Thank me or, to keep your tracks hidden, take the two of us out?"

Lulu had long lost the idea of fighting and killing. The hands hidden in her pockets never turned into beast claws.

...

(ps: Whimper whimper whimper, asking for recommendation votes and for followers)