Although they wanted to search for the second resource point, they encountered an old acquaintance, “Fish-Slaying Dragon,” on the way. They decided to have a friendly exchange on the spot.

Although there was no sea, the “Fish-Slaying Dragon” was not to be underestimated on land. It was not in its juvenile or adolescent stage, but rather a large creature that was very close to reaching maturity. Its body was over twenty meters long, and more than half of its scales had transformed into a dark red color.

When all of its scales turned dark red, it would evolve into the “Rampage-Slaying Dragon” at the peak of its maturity, capable of rivaling top-tier Artificers. However, it was currently only at the halfway point of reaching full maturity, still lacking a bit to complete the evolution.

Why go into such detail about this “Fish-Slaying Dragon”? Because it was very lucrative.

After a fierce battle, this lucky “Fish-Slaying Dragon” dropped a pile of spoils. The three of them, who were prepared, all acted at the same time and captured all the fleeing Artisans.

First, it dropped the two-winged “Slaying Sword” Artisan and the two-winged “Sword Mark” Artisan. Sonia wanted to follow the traditional path of the Swordsman, and she needed to upgrade all three Artisans of slashing, stabbing, and cutting to build a solid foundation in swordsmanship. Therefore, “Slaying Sword” was taken by Asho, as he didn’t care about the foundation. As for “Sword Mark,” it was compatible with most Swordsmanship Artisans. Sonia didn’t lack the added output from “Sword Mark,” but currently, only Asho, who used “Heart Sword” for long-range attacks, could try to combine “Heart Sword” with “Sword Mark” to form a stable and efficient means of output.

In addition to the Swordsmanship Artisans, the “Fish-Slaying Dragon” also dropped the two-winged “Water Erosion” Artisan. This Artisan was taken by Diya, as her “Waterline” was originally an attack method based on Water Artisans and manifested in the form of the Claw Fist faction. “Water Erosion” could be perfectly integrated into her combat system, and it might even form a new miracle when combined.

Apart from these Artisans, the other Artisans dropped by the “Fish-Slaying Dragon” were not worth mentioning and were all received by Asho’s Artisan processor.

However, in addition to the Artisans, the “Fish-Slaying Dragon” also dropped a Swordsmanship Orb!

There was no doubt that Sonia accepted the Orb with a smile. Although she initially declined and asked Asho if he wanted it, she held onto the Orb and Asho couldn’t be bothered to expose her.

One “Fish-Slaying Dragon” brought benefits to all three of them.

The “Fish-Slaying Dragon” that was close to reaching maturity didn’t grow up eating seaweed. With thick blood and high defense, it was a fierce fighter. Unfortunately, Asho and Sonia had killed nearly two dozen “Fish-Slaying Dragons” in the Knowledge Sea, so they knew exactly what to expect from the creature. They could tell when it was about to defecate or urinate just by lifting its tail, and they knew it was about to let out a piercing roar just by raising its head. Their previous strategies could be applied perfectly. Even if there were any mistakes, the three of them could cooperate to make up for them. The “Fish-Slaying Dragon” didn’t have a chance to go berserk and was frustrated until the very last second.

Although they successfully killed this half-step mature creature, the battle lasted for half an hour, and Asho and the others had exhausted their Artificing and Soul Energy, making it impossible for them to continue exploring the Virtual Realm.

Artificing was equivalent to the mana bar, and resting in the Virtual Realm would restore it once depleted. Soul Energy was equivalent to the health bar and stamina bar, and it would be depleted by injuries and activities. It couldn’t be replenished in the Virtual Realm, and once it was depleted, they had to leave the Virtual Realm, or else their souls would be damaged.

After organizing their gains in the running car, Asho said, “Everyone did a great job tonight. Let’s continue to work hard tomorrow night. Tonight’s performance will be the benchmark for tomorrow night. Let’s strive to improve a little bit every day! So, we will—”

“Wait,” Sonia suddenly said, “I have something to tell you.”

“Sure, go ahead,” Asho said readily.

Diya stood up tactfully and said, “I’ll go to the side to familiarize myself with the new Artisans. Let me know when you’re done talking.”

After the witch’s figure was swallowed by the reverse-flowing golden rain, Sonia looked at Asho. She had a lot to say, but in the end, it all turned into one word: “Hmph!”

“Are you still angry now?” Asho was a bit puzzled. “Didn’t you just accept the witch into the team?”

“I’m not… not just… forget it,” Sonia said gloomily, waving her hand. She suddenly asked, “Can you hear my thoughts in the Virtual Realm?”

Asho was a bit puzzled but still answered, “Of course not.”

Not only in the Virtual Realm, but at any time.

Wait, did the game have a function to listen to the thoughts of the agents? So, the Sword Girl thought that she could hear her thoughts?

Come to think of it, in this type of collection and cultivation mobile game, there would indeed be similar mechanisms. The specific form was that when players clicked on the character drawing of the agent, the agent would say a few lines. The higher the trust level of the agent, the more heart-wrenching the lines would be.

However, Asho had thoroughly studied the game system when he was bored in the Broken Lake Prison and hadn’t found any other functional modules… Damn, could it have been lost early on and never repaired?

“Ah…” Sonia sighed softly as she sat next to the back seat, looking at the golden rain outside.

It was the first time Asho had seen the Sword Girl in distress. In his impression, the Sword Girl had always been a character who advanced vigorously. Even if she encountered setbacks, she would only ignite a spirit of resistance and victory. She was like a proud flower, with a strong spirit that wanted to be fragrant and showy, and no one could control her.

But now, she was like a dark flower growing in a corner of the courtyard, quietly self-pitying, yet with a kind of bewitching charm.

However…

“Your face really doesn’t match the contemplative look,” Asho said, poking her forehead and laughing. “Are you facing some trouble? Tell me, it’ll make me happy.”

“It should be that it doesn’t match the troubled look!” Sonia protected her forehead and said irritably, “How are you doing now?”

Why did the topic turn to me? Asho blinked. “Thanks to you, I’m still doing okay.””Be more specific,” Sonia said with an annoyed glance, “Have you left the Blood Moon Kingdom? Is your current residence safe? Do you encounter any dangers on a regular basis? Are there any pressing difficulties? Although I might not be able to help, at least I could offer some advice.”

In fact, Sonia had wanted to ask these questions earlier, but her attention was diverted by the witch joining the team upon entering the Virtual Realm, and then the Observer brought a sports car to explore the realm. With the witch constantly by her side, she never found the opportunity to have a private chat with the Observer.

As the team was about to disband and the connection to the Virtual Realm was going to be severed, Sonia had no choice but to take the initiative to ask for a private conversation with the Observer. Actually, she didn’t need to ask; after all, the Observer’s ability to enter the Virtual Realm indicated that he was safe in reality and even had a stable place to live. After all, a homeless person sleeping under a bridge wouldn’t dare to explore the Virtual Realm.

But she wanted to ask.

Asho looked at her thoughtfully and suddenly chuckled. Sonia felt panicked by his laughter and pouted, “What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing, I’m just happy that you care about me.”

“I, I just—”

“Don’t explain, let me just cherish this moment of being moved,” Asho said with a smile. “While I was on the run, I was also wondering how you were doing. I felt sure you were missing me too, and now it’s proven that our sacred bond truly connects us.”

Sonia was slightly taken aback, “You were thinking of me while you were fleeing?”

“Yes,” Asho nodded, “It’s a pity that the deeper our bond, the less we can meet in reality. From now on, we can only meet in the Virtual Realm.”

If the witch hadn’t told Asho about this rule, he might still be secretly complaining about Sword Girl not coming to visit him. Aside from the perfectly functioning pay-to-win mechanism, this game system had too many bizarre flaws everywhere else.

“So that’s how it is…” Sonia nodded thoughtfully.

No wonder the Observer hadn’t come to see her in her bedroom for so long. It turned out that only when our bond was weak at the beginning could he appear before me. As our relationship grew closer, he could no longer enter my private space, nor could he hear my innermost thoughts… Thinking about it, this restriction seemed to be quite considerate of my feelings.

However, I no longer care much about him entering my private space…

And, I’ve also learned how to hide my innermost thoughts…

This restriction, it really came at the… most inconvenient time.