Who Says I’m Not a Legitimate Adventurer?

There was no casting delay from any incantation—mana erupted instantly.

A fan-shaped burst of dazzling light exploded like a flashbang detonating on the riverbank, directly engulfing the tightly packed group of Stone-Shell River Crabs head-on.

Stone-Shell River Crabs relied heavily on the vision of their eyestalks. This sudden burst of intense light was nothing short of a devastating blow to them.

“Zhi!!”

A chorus of shrill and chaotic screeches erupted across the riverbank.

Blinded, the crabs instantly fell into panic and frenzy.

They began spinning wildly in place, their massive pincers flailing without order, even launching indiscriminate attacks in self-defense.

“Crack! Crack!”

Sharp pincers clamped down onto the legs and carapaces of their own kind. The entire crab swarm descended into chaos, restraining one another, and their previously airtight offensive instantly collapsed.

A perfect opportunity!A sharp glint flashed in Lance’s eyes.

He slammed forward with a fierce shield bash, breaking through the final line of defense. Then, his figure shot forward like lightning, charging straight into the enemy formation amid the chaos.

In his vision, the Stone-Shell River Crabs that had exposed their underbellies in panic each bore glaring red light spots that were almost blinding.

His shortsword turned into a streak of harvesting light.

“Puchi!”

Green blood mixed with shattered shell fragments splattered everywhere.

With the 200% critical damage bonus provided by Weakness Insight, combined with the terrifying strength amplification brought by the Breathing Technique—

Even a light slash from Lance’s shortsword could inflict fatal piercing damage.

This killing efficiency had increased severalfold compared to yesterday.

What followed turned into a one-sided slaughter.

With Cecilia occasionally casting Ray of Frost, Lance charged through the battlefield like a tiger among sheep, methodically picking off the Stone-Shell River Crabs that were still trampling over one another.

The intense combat pushed the rate of Aether Energy combustion within his body to its peak.

Lance became like a tireless machine. The high-intensity Aether burn drove his body temperature to a terrifying level.

His entire body was shrouded in rising white steam, giving him an almost surreal appearance.

Only when the last Stone-Shell River Crab was pierced through its eyestalk by the shortsword and collapsed twitching—

Did the entire riverbank finally fall silent.

Looking around, broken limbs and shattered shells of Stone-Shell River Crabs littered the ground, and green blood had nearly stained every pebble.

A sweep mission that would normally take over an hour of slow grinding had been completely cleared in just twenty minutes.

“Hu…”

Lance slowly stopped circulating the Breathing Technique.

As the white steam on his body gradually dissipated in the wind, he let out a long breath, calming his still violently pounding heart.

He turned around and looked up at the massive rock above.

Cecilia stood there, her chest rising and falling sharply. It was clear that the intense spellcasting coordination just now had also drained her significantly.

Yet there was no fatigue on the girl’s face. Instead, her ruby-like eyes sparkled with excitement.

Today’s battle had perfectly brought the tactical plan she stayed up all night devising into reality. That immense sense of achievement—from theory to execution—left her in an exhilarated state.

Lance said nothing.

He simply raised his right hand, still wearing a bloodstained gauntlet, and gave the girl above another thumbs-up.

Seeing the gesture,

Cecilia froze for a moment, then responded with a radiant smile.

Lance withdrew his gaze and glanced at the sky.

The sun had not yet fully set—there was still plenty of time.

He had never expected that with his combat power fully unleashed, combined with Cecilia’s powerful support, their monster-clearing efficiency could reach such a terrifying level.

“At this rate…”

Lance calculated inwardly.

“We can at least participate in one more sweep mission.”

It seemed he had underestimated his recent rate of progress—as well as the chemical reaction brought by teamwork.

Taking advantage of the break, Lance summoned the system panel.

A series of pleasing numbers popped up.

【Dragon-Hunting Breathing Technique LV2 (Mastered), Proficiency +45, 91/600】

This had gained the most proficiency among all skills. Actual combat truly was the only standard for testing breathing techniques.

【Castro Swordsmanship LV4 (Proficient), Proficiency +35, 61/400】

【Azure Dragon Ultimate Style LV2 (Mastered), Proficiency +28, 138/450】

Although he had still instinctively relied mainly on swordsmanship just now, the addition of Hand-to-Hand Combat Technique had indeed made his combat system more well-rounded.

Lance’s gaze fell on a special progress bar.

【Biological Codex: Monster · Stone-Shell River Crab】

【Current Research Progress: LV2 (31/50)】

Less than 20 points remained before completing Level 2 research. Once completed, it would unlock the map-marking function for this species.

That would be a true full-map cheat.

But more importantly—LV3.

Once Level 3 research was completed, he would be able to extract this species’ talents.

At this slaughtering speed, if he slightly increased the number of sweep missions, it would likely take less than three to four days before he could perform his first extraction.

Looking at the fragments of shells on the ground, Lance’s thoughts suddenly drifted.

His gaze unconsciously shifted toward Cecilia, who was carefully climbing down from the rock.

If monster talents could be extracted…

Then what about Half-Elves, as a demi-human race?

In this world, intelligent races not only possessed their race’s general talents but often also had significant individual talent differences.

Could those personal, unique talents also be extracted by the system?

Thinking of the rather improper “Pleasure Voice” the system had given him upon completing LV1, Lance looked at the pile of monster corpses before him and felt it was better to just kill more monsters.

If he really raised the research level of Half-Elves too high and ended up getting some outrageous trait like the legendary “catnip constitution”—

Then his life would truly be over.

From then on, whenever he approached a demi-human settlement, he’d probably be driven away as a dangerous individual by the guards before even entering.

He just wanted to quietly be a proper adventurer—why was it so difficult?

Lance silently shed two lines of tears in his heart.

Not wanting to dwell on these troubling thoughts, the two began methodically collecting materials from the Stone-Shell River Crabs scattered across the ground.

With prior experience, and buoyed by the joy of their overwhelming victory, even the tedious dissection work became light and brisk.

By the time all the corpses were processed, all three commission tasks had been fully completed.

Lance glanced at the system panel.

In total, he had gained 170 points of Skill Experience and 60 points of knowledge experience.

And this was only the harvest of a single day.

Looking at the significantly increased experience bars, the slight resentment he had felt toward the system immediately vanished, replaced by a deep sense of fulfillment.