Who Says I’m Not a Legitimate Adventurer?

“Hm?”

Lance raised an eyebrow.

Why wasn’t it Weakness Insight this time?

He had originally assumed that, following the system’s usual pattern, reaching Level 2 research would mark out the combat weaknesses of the Half-Elf race—like “three inches below the ribs” or “the back of the neck as a vital point.”

But instead, what popped out was 【Voice of Pleasure】?

Why did that sound so strange? It didn’t resemble a proper combat skill at all.

However, this wasn’t the time to carefully study the system description.

Lance could feel that the girl lying against his shoulder had already recovered somewhat and was now pressing against his chest, trying to straighten herself.

He loosened his grip from her wrist and stepped back half a step, creating some distance between them.

“You alright?”Lance casually asked, looking at the still-shaken girl in front of him.

Cecilia lowered her head, her whole body trembling slightly.

She tightly gripped her left wrist—the one that had just been held—with her right hand and shook her head desperately.

Following her movement, Lance noticed a clear red mark around that section of her wrist.

Crap.

In the urgency just now, he must have used too much force. Combined with the explosive nature of the Azure Dragon Ultimate Flow, had he hurt her?

“Sorry.”

Lance’s tone carried a hint of apology.

“The situation was urgent—I might have gripped too hard.”

“N… no…”

Cecilia’s voice was as soft as a mosquito’s buzz; if one didn’t listen carefully, it would be drowned out by the wind.

Seeing how she looked like she wanted to bury her head into her chest, Lance assumed she was simply frightened from nearly falling into the mud pit.

“Then stay here for a bit and calm down.”

He didn’t urge her to continue.

Turning around, he pretended to take off his water flask to drink, but in reality, he was checking the system panel.

And the moment Lance turned around—

Cecilia finally dared to lift her head. The small face hidden beneath her hood was now so red it looked like it might drip blood.

She slowly released her right hand.

On her left wrist, the patch of skin Lance had touched was once again flushing into a large area of crimson, just like yesterday.

That tingling sensation crawled upward along her nerve endings.

Too strange!

This was really too strange!

It wasn’t just her wrist burning.

What terrified her even more was what had just happened…

When her senior’s slightly apologetic, low voice entered her ears—

It felt as if her entire brain had been electrocuted.

The pointed ears hidden within her silver hair were trembling uncontrollably, and had even shifted from their original milky white to an alluring cherry red.

It felt like a feather gently brushing against her eardrums, tickling all the way into her heart.

At that moment, her legs had nearly gone weak, and she had almost fallen again.

What should she do?!

Auntie, where are you?!

Did she have some kind of terminal illness?

Cecilia covered her ears in despair, feeling as though she might collapse beside this muddy pit before even beginning her proper adventurer life.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Lance—who was pretending to drink water—finally focused on the description of the newly obtained trait.

The next second—

“Pfft!!!”

A mouthful of water he had just taken in sprayed out violently, turning into a mist.

Lance’s eyes widened like copper bells as he stared fixedly at that line of text.

【Voice of Pleasure (Research Trait): Through in-depth study, you have discovered that the elongated ear structure of Half-Elves possesses extraordinary sensitivity to specific soundwave frequencies. Your voice has been modified—your voice will permanently carry a “Pleasure” effect toward Half-Elves. Your speech can penetrate their eardrums, triggering a comfortable resonance in the inner-ear nerves, producing mild hallucinatory and relaxing effects.】

What the hell!

Lance cursed internally, nearly crushing the water flask in his hand.

You indecent system!

I thought when you gave me Weakness Insight earlier, you were turning over a new leaf and going down a hardcore combat route!

Turns out you were waiting for me here?

Isn’t your species discrimination a bit too obvious?!

When researching Demi-Human girls, this is what you give—some weird ASMR-like effect?

The difference in treatment between monsters and Demi-Humans is way too blatant!

Was this trying to force him down some bizarre path?

To cover up the awkwardness and strangeness from that moment—

The two tacitly chose to remain silent for the rest of the time.

This silence instead brought about an unexpected side effect.

Their efficiency skyrocketed.

Without idle chatter or teaching, the two moved swiftly through the muddy ground. In less than an hour, they had already collected all the Moonlight Moss required for today’s quota.

Only after they left that dark and damp woodland and sunlight once again fell upon them—

Because Cecilia’s Strength attribute was simply too low, the fully packed collection bag was now hanging on Lance’s back.

He walked ahead with the heavy load, but his mind was still occupied with that absurd newly unlocked trait.

But thinking about it carefully, there was still a full month left in the internship.

He couldn’t possibly spend the remaining days pretending to be mute or communicating in sign language just to avoid stimulating this young lady’s ears.

If this issue wasn’t resolved, future tactical coordination would be impossible.

Lance took a deep breath.

Since he couldn’t avoid it, he might as well be straightforward and come up with a reasonable explanation to smooth things over.

After all, in this world full of wonders, blaming everything on a talent was the safest approach.

With that thought, Lance stopped walking, turned around with determination.

“Cecilia…”

His voice wasn’t loud, but to the girl behind him, it felt like a faint electric current.

“Y-Yes!”

Cecilia trembled all over. The pointed ears hidden in her silver hair twitched instantly as she responded in a flustered, blushing panic.

Seeing her like a startled bird, Lance felt even more guilt.

This system really harmed people.

“Um… Cecilia, about what just happened, I must sincerely apologize.”

Lance cleared his throat, then switched to a somewhat dejected expression.

“Actually, I was born with a rather strange passive talent.”

“It cannot be turned off. When I face certain races, it causes… some undesirable physical reactions in them.”

He wasn’t making this up.

In this world, with its vast population and long history, the awakened talents of humans came in all varieties.

Throughout history, countless bizarre talents had appeared—some even recorded as cautionary examples in 《Anecdotes of Professionals》.

For instance, over a hundred years ago, there was a famous legendary adventurer.

He awakened a race-affinity talent. At first, he only knew that he had a special attraction toward feline Demi-Humans, and even thought it was a talent suited for diplomacy.