Yu Xian was clearly not the only clever person around.
Even as he pulled back to put some distance between himself and the Fool Panda, the others were frantically retreating as well.
Yet when everyone backed away at the same time, it was practically the same as no one putting any distance between them at all.
Fortunately, after releasing one Fool Bomb, the Fool Panda was visibly incapable of unleashing a second in succession. Even so, it randomly picked one "lucky" class holder and chased after them in a mad frenzy of attacks.
"Big Brother!"
Little Nora happened to rush over right then. Spotting Yu Xian relatively close to the front of the crowd, the little duck called out in pleasant surprise.
"Little Nora!"
Seeing Little Nora, Yu Xian beamed as well.
One human and one duck met in the crowd, then sprinted backward together, not stopping until they reached the safety of a tree.
"Big Brother, I wrote letters to everyone, but I don't know where Big Sister Niman and the others are," Little Nora said after giving Yu Xian a hug.
Yu Xian smiled. "Don't worry. As long as we keep leveling up, we'll see each other eventually."
"By the way, did you come to fight the enhanced beast too?" Yu Xian asked Little Nora right after.
It was a pointless question—Yu Xian had blurted it out without thinking—yet Little Nora nodded. "Yeah! I heard enhancement stones can upgrade lots of things, so I came to try my luck."
"Come on, things should have stabilized a bit by now."
"Just remember, don't get too close. The enhanced beast this time is a Fool Panda. The bomb it throws is enough to one-shot either of us, so whatever you do, don't let it lock onto you," Yu Xian said immediately.
In truth, he had already been thinking of backing out.
The Fool Panda was simply too strong; lingering near it was far too dangerous.
His goal was to grind peacefully until Level 250. Any other rewards were merely fleeting clouds to him.
Now that Little Nora was here, though, he could hardly let the duck take risks on its own. As an older brother, he had to provide escort and protection—that was an older brother's responsibility.
The man and the duck crept forward stealthily.
Because there were so many clever people around, and because the power of the Fool Panda's Fool Bomb was terrifying enough to scare off a whole crowd, the monster was currently hunting down lone stragglers among the class holders.
From a distance, Yu Xian immediately cast Chaos Curse on the Fool Panda. In the next moment, the beast swayed, afflicted with poison.
"Great chance! Little Nora, attack quickly!" Yu Xian grinned.
Little Nora blinked. "But I don't have any attack skills."
"Huh?"
Yu Xian was dumbfounded.
Little Nora then explained its class to Yu Xian.
Upon hearing it, Yu Xian fell completely silent. He was utterly speechless. Having Little Nora go in for basic attacks was unrealistic—what was it supposed to do, chuck pebbles at the Fool Panda?
"Big Brother, I have an idea!"
Suddenly, Little Nora remembered it still had one skill.
Though not an offensive skill, it had indeed been used to attack enemies once before.
Looking toward the poisoned Fool Panda, Little Nora clapped its wings together. Suddenly, the sky darkened. It had wished for a very, very, very big piece of food, and from high above, a colossal Chinese mitten crab plummeted from the sky.
The giant crab was already fully cooked, billowing with rolling steam.
*Boom!*
A second later, the mitten crab crashed heavily onto the Fool Panda. The panda stood nearly eight meters tall, yet before this super-gigantic crab, it looked like a helpless pipsqueak.
With that single crushing blow, the battle ended.
First, the Fool Panda pinned beneath the mitten crab dissolved into white light. Then, brilliant, multicolored rays surged out from the glow, scattering in every direction and landing upon every class holder who had contributed to the attack.
Yu Xian watched a fragment drop into his hand and immediately inspected its attributes.
[Skill Enhancement Stone - 1/3]
[Note: Gather the other two-thirds to synthesize a Skill Enhancement Stone.]
*Not bad.*
Satisfied, Yu Xian stowed the fragment away.
"Big Brother, look at my reward!" Little Nora exclaimed in delight.
[Class Enhancement Stone]
[Effect: Can enhance one's class, increasing Class Strength by +1. There is a chance of failure.]
[Note: If your class shatters, don't blame me.]
Yu Xian fell silent after reading it. A Lucky Gourmet was truly lucky enough.
Still, it made sense upon reflection. Little Nora had dealt the vast majority of the damage against the Fool Panda. As the MVP, receiving the greatest reward was hardly surprising.
The real puzzle was why Little Nora could still conjure food after entering the Zhen Realm.
Even Yu Xian hadn't been able to summon his contracted companions to his side.
*Oh well.*
*Ignorance is bliss sometimes.*
After meeting Zhang Buyao, he understood all too well that there were always strange, inexplicable reasons behind everything.
Just like being pulled inexplicably into the sea of flowers to practice fist techniques for who knew how many years, or how Zhang Buyao could stop the Great Annihilation that had driven even Mighty Ones to despair.
Perhaps Little Nora possessed some peculiar traits of its own that allowed it to continue using the Power of True Self inside the Zhen Realm.
"Big Brother, here, take it! I don't need to fight to level up anyway," Little Nora said, presenting the stone to Yu Xian like a prized treasure.
Yu Xian couldn't help but chuckle as he rubbed Little Nora's head, declining, "Use it yourself. Your big brother doesn't need to fight either."
As he spoke, the Giant Ghoul, which had been hiding nearby all along, stepped up behind Yu Xian like a towering bodyguard.
"My class is basically a Summoner!" Yu Xian said with a faint smile.
In the next instant, the Giant Ghoul threw a punch, sending a translucent class holder flying backward through the air.
Pressing its advantage, the Giant Ghoul leaped up and brought down a devastating heavyweight smash from above.
*Boom!*
One punch.
That squishy class holder was logged off on the spot.
Little Nora reacted with lightning speed, hurriedly stashing the enhancement stone into its inventory to avoid drawing more greedy eyes.
The city had its rules prohibiting class holders from fighting, but out in the wilderness, they were free to slaughter each other. The class holder just now had likely been an assassin—and while not necessarily trying to kill Little Nora, he had clearly intended to steal the enhancement stone.
Unfortunately, he had picked the wrong target.
Though Yu Xian's abilities had all been weakened, his nose remained extraordinarily keen. He had smelled the stench of that class holder long before the man even drew near.
Putrid to high heaven!
By then, the other class holders were gathering around, murmuring in awe at the sight of the colossal cooked crab.
Yu Xian and Little Nora kept a low profile and slipped away together, preparing to head back to Fukang City.
"Nice work, brother."
Wu Degang descended from the sky, deftly spitting out his cigarette butt as he spoke to Yu Xian.
Having stayed airborne the whole time, he had clearly witnessed Yu Xian and Little Nora's coordinated one-hit kill on the Fool Panda.
"Piece of cake! I'll buy you a drink next time!" Yu Xian bragged with a chuckle.
Wu Degang asked curiously, "And this little brother is...?"
"She's my little sister, Little Nora!" Yu Xian introduced.
Sweat immediately popped out on Wu Degang's forehead as he hastened to apologize. Who could tell the gender of a little yellow duck? Besides, with Little Nora calling Yu Xian 'Big Brother' this and 'Big Brother' that, it sounded just like a young boy's voice.
Then again, a span of over a dozen years was probably equivalent to merely a single day for Little Nora's current race. She truly was still an infant!
Chapter 441