Chapter 52: What kind of teammates did I have before?
Actually, if you count how many times Peiya successfully applied buffs, you would notice something strange.
The success rate was clearly unreasonable.
And this was after Peiya had already made a few mistakes on purpose.
If she didn’t control herself and fail a few times, she might really be taken away and studied like a test subject.
Luckily, back then in the Dawn Guild, the three teammates mostly did their own things.
They didn’t really cooperate with each other, let alone notice Peiya’s special ability.
Besides, with Anna’s personality, she would probably just complain to others, saying their support couldn’t even apply buffs correctly.
The others more or less knew how “bad” their support was, so they just thought Anna was venting.
No one looked deeper into it.
Because of this, Peiya didn’t attract much attention over the past few years.
She didn’t think this was a bad thing. On the contrary, being noticed too early by higher-ups would be more dangerous.
Peiya reached out, took the last piece of dessert, and then followed Elise to a wide, empty arena.
“This place looks really empty. There’s almost no one here.”
Peiya looked around. It seemed about the size of a small square.
Elise took out some training equipment from storage and placed it on the ground. “That’s right. This is basically our guild’s private training ground. Not many people come here, so it feels a bit deserted.”
“These are old training tools left here. See what you need to test.”
“Let me take a look.”
Peiya bent down and checked the equipment Elise brought.
There were actually quite a lot of different types.
Peiya recalled the information she found in the library and focused on choosing tools to test area attack power with a sword.
As a beast-type boss, the Ice Bear King was very good at attracting smaller monsters to serve it. This was a special kind of symbiotic relationship.
The boss provided protection and pressure, while the smaller monsters patrolled the territory for it.
Once they found intruders, they would likely attack together.
At that time, it would test the skills of swordsmen and mages who could deal area damage. Right now, there were only two of them in the team. No matter how strong Peiya was, she was still a support.
When facing many enemies, they still had to rely on Elise.
After placing the last training dummy, Peiya waved at Elise. “I’m ready here. You can start.”
Elise nodded, then drew the sword at her waist. It was a long, slender sword with dark blue patterns on the blade. As Elise held the hilt, faint frost appeared around it.
From a distance, she looked like an ice knight patrolling her territory.
Elise’s presence surprised Peiya.
This was a bit different from what she expected…
At that moment, Elise attacked the dummies. In almost the blink of an eye, all the dummies that had just been set up lost their armor.
What was even more shocking was that the inner parts inside the dummies were not damaged at all.
This was a device used to test a swordsman’s skill. If the small bottle inside the dummy broke, it meant the attack was very strong, relying on brute force.
On the other hand, if someone could remove the armor without breaking the bottle inside, it showed a very high level of control over the sword.
This didn’t mean brute force fighters were bad. It just meant the fighting styles and class choices were different, just like support classes like Peiya.
There were many types of support classes that could apply buffs.
Some used plants, some relied on moonlight, and some even spread their arms and walked while praising the sun.
The differences in abilities could lead to many different class paths.
And in Peiya’s eyes, Elise’s ability was perfect.
This made the plan she created in the library that afternoon look like a complete joke. She couldn’t help but ask herself.
What kind of teammates did I have before?
Even if those three were tied together, they probably couldn’t withstand even one of Elise’s attacks.
Peiya suddenly felt like her whole understanding of the world had been refreshed.
For a moment, she didn’t know whether to feel excited or regret the years she had wasted.
“Why? Did I scare you?” Elise put away her sword and walked over.
Seeing Peiya standing there in a daze, Elise waved her hand in front of her eyes.
“I’m fine. Actually, I’m starting to feel like I’m not good enough for you. With your strength, you could probably defeat the Ice Bear King alone, right?”
Peiya felt a bit helpless. Elise’s strength was far beyond what she had imagined.
Bad news: the team lacks people.
Good news: one person is enough.
With this level of strength, Elise could clear the dungeon even without her.
“There is a chance I could do it alone, but…”
Elise paused and looked into Peiya’s shimmering blue eyes.
“At first, I thought about holding back a little. But after thinking about it, I gave up. Do you know why?”
Peiya looked confused. “Why?”
“Because I was struggling. You looked very tired while researching this afternoon. If I overturned your conclusions, wouldn’t all your effort be wasted? But if I hid my strength, I was worried you might do something foolish and hurt yourself. I don’t want you to get hurt, so I chose not to hold back and showed you my true strength.”
Peiya suddenly widened her eyes and stepped back. The notebook in her hand fell to the ground.
Elise bent down to pick it up. Seeing the many notes inside, her expression turned slightly sad. It seemed she had guessed correctly.
Peiya had indeed done a lot of preparation. She had even worked out emergency plans, like how to escape quickly if the mine collapsed.
This kind of ability was far beyond what a normal support could do.
Peiya shook her head. “You’re overthinking it. Seeing you this strong should make me happy. And even if I knew your strength earlier, I would still do all that preparation. I don’t want you to get hurt…”
The last part of her sentence was very soft, almost like a whisper.
“What did you say just now? I didn’t hear it,” Elise said, a small playful look in her eyes.
She slowly moved closer to Peiya.
“You… does that really look like you didn’t hear it?”
Peiya couldn’t help but question her.
Elise shook her head and sat down beside her on the stone steps.
“Of course not. I just want to hear you say it again. Louder this time. Mumbling doesn’t count.”
“Huh?”
Peiya immediately felt unhappy. This was too much.
“It’s just one sentence. Is it really that important…?”
“Of course. You said it, so it matters a lot to me. Who knows, maybe you secretly say bad things about me behind my back?”
“How is that possible? I’m not that kind of person.”
Peiya quickly interrupted her wild imagination. That was completely unfair.
“Then why are you afraid to say it? If something is on your mind, just say it. Maybe I can help you think of a solution.”
Elise’s voice was soft, like a small spirit dancing among flowers without touching a single leaf.
Peiya hesitated for a long time. Thinking that Elise meant no harm, she finally lowered her head, looked at her toes, and repeated what she had said earlier.
“Actually… I also don’t want you to get hurt. That’s why I did so much preparation. There, I said it. Just pretend I was overthinking again.”
Peiya covered her ears, thinking she had completely embarrassed herself.
But Elise gently reached out and moved her fingers away from her ears.
The soft touch made one want to stay in that moment a little longer, yet also made one afraid of leaving any mark.
Elise slightly parted her lips, and her warm breath brushed softly against Peiya’s ear, carrying a sweet warmth like the early morning sun.
“It’s okay. I feel the same. And I started worrying one second earlier than you, so technically, I’m the one who lost.”
“Huh?”