Universe Infinite Canteen

"Wake up, Sir Knight... wake up, the battle is over,"

Ma Lu felt someone pushing his shoulder in a groggy state and instinctively tried to reach out and rub his eyes, but ended up punching himself in the face, accompanied by the sound of steel clashing and his head buzzing.

However, this also snapped Ma Lu out of his previous drowsiness. It took him about two seconds to remember where he was and why he had passed out.

Just three minutes ago, Ma Lu, with Yun Que, had intended to clear out a Mint Hypnotist, which was hiding in the room before him.

This creature's HP was a mere two points less than that of the Cauliflower Thinker, at a pathetic seventeen points, but its ability was extremely annoying, capable of forcibly hypnotizing all creatures within a five-meter radius.

And, whether by coincidence or not, the corner where the creature crouched was exactly five meters in a straight line from the doorway.

In other words, anyone trying to enter the room would be hypnotized by the Mint Hypnotist inside upon opening the door.

This positioning could be described as malicious.

Fortunately, Ma Lu had already discovered its presence through the Chessboard Map and had even clicked on the avatar to read the Mint Hypnotist's basic information. Read new adventures at empire

However, the problem resurfaced; Ma Lu could only command the Witch Yun Que at the moment. Without opening the door, there was no way to deal with the Mint Hypnotist inside, but once the door was opened, Yun Que would be hypnotized.

Thus, Ma Lu's final choice was... to go in himself.

In the last twenty minutes, he had already commanded Yun Que to eliminate fourteen enemies, and he had gradually formed a clear strategy on how to use Yun Que.

Yun Que had low attack power and thin armor, incapable of dealing significant damage or holding her ground, but as an archer, she had a hidden advantage—reach.

This meant that with sufficiently skillful positioning, Yun Que could exploit the opponent's damage like crazy in the early stages of combat.

Even if it was just scratching, enough scratches could be fatal.

And after activating the Chessboard Map, what Ma Lu was best at was maneuvering through the grid.

By monitoring the movement routes of the Energized Plants, he could avoid enemy clusters, hunt down lone targets, and the complicated environment of the abandoned warehouse provided many terrains that could be exploited, which greatly expanded Ma Lu's operational space.

This was also why Yun Que, with only five points of attack power and thirty-two points of HP, could continuously defeat tough enemies under his command.

On the other hand, Ma Lu was constantly thinking of ways to develop his own usefulness.

Yes, although his current situation resembled playing a strategy board game, unlike typical games of that genre, Ma Lu, as the player or rather the commander, was also on the board and considered a unit.

Even though Ma Lu, being an ordinary person without magical power, couldn't deal effective damage to the Energized Plants, he had noticed during his defense against the Flaming Chili Pepper's fire attacks that the Knight's Armor provided by the Church seemed particularly resistant.

The armor had been sprayed with flames for a full seven or eight seconds, with the temperature inside rising less than five degrees, and Ma Lu, the wearer, was completely unharmed.

Afterward, he clicked on his own blue avatar and saw the following attributes:

HP: 45/45

Armor: 87/100

Attack Power: 0

Defensive Power: 9(↓)

The row for "Attack Power" was a glaring zero, and though his HP could be considered average, his "Armor" and "Defensive Power" were quite impressive—especially the "Defensive Power," which was higher than the attacks of many "Energized Plants."

There was a downward arrow behind that stat, which Ma Lu guessed was due to the penetrating injury on his chest. If it could be repaired, his "Defensive Power" might increase even more, but that was a problem for later.

Realizing his own high defense and thick armor, Ma Lu consciously took on some of the tank's responsibilities, drawing fire at critical moments to protect the team's ranged units.

He had also taken it upon himself to trigger traps and attract monsters.

After charging in and busting open the door, Ma Lu was unsurprisingly put to sleep by hypnosis and entered a dream state.

However, by this time, Yun Que could already see the "Mint Hypnotist" inside the room. She fired a total of five shots, taking it down before it could reach the fallen Ma Lu.

With the death of the "Mint Hypnotist," Yun Que hurried forward to wake Ma Lu.

Although there was no affection system in this broken game, Ma Lu felt the girl's gaze toward him had completely changed from before they entered the warehouse, almost brimming with admiration.

Yun Que never thought she could be so powerful. At school, she had always been at the bottom of her class and doubted she could have made it to graduation without the help of "Bliss Bird" and "Hellhound."

Even after becoming an official "Witch," she wasn't highly regarded by "Sir Knight" and could clearly feel his disdain and aversion toward her.

Yet, after the "Knight" was switched out halfway through, she found herself capable of handling things on her own.

Having defeated the troublesome "Mint Hypnotist," Yun Que couldn't help but stand a little straighter.

And this "Sir Knight" was so tender, even using his body to protect her.

Yun Que had been educated from a young age that a "Witch" must fight for the "Knight" and the "Church," and must protect their "Knight," because once a "Knight" was in trouble, the "Witches" would also be executed by the "Church."

Conversely, if a "Witch" under their command died, the "Knight" would at most be held accountable, and sometimes there wasn't even a reprimand.

Thus, it was always the "Witch" protecting the "Knight," and it was rare to hear of "Knights" protecting "Witches."

But everything about this new "Sir Knight" was good, except sometimes his actions were a bit strange.

Like now, as soon as Ma Lu stood up, Yun Que saw him rush over to the corpse of the "Mint Hypnotist."

He gleefully sliced with a knife, neatly cutting off both arms and half of the body of the "Mint Hypnotist," and dropped them into the plastic bag he was holding.

While cutting, he muttered, "This was hunted by our combined efforts, I'm not going to take advantage of you, let's split it half and half."

Yun Que's head shook like a rattle, "No need, Sir Knight, I don't want it."

"Why not? Even if you don't eat it, it's still good to sell it for money back in the city."

At this, Yun Que's complexion changed dramatically, "Sir Knight, you, what did you just say, ask me to eat... eat it?"

"Yes, is there a problem?"

"All plants in the wild are poisonous and should not be consumed."

"Oh, is that so? No wonder I couldn't scan for food earlier. But these are different," Ma Lu pointed at the "Mint Hypnotist" at his feet, "this thing is definitely edible."

"No, no, no, no," Yun Que waved her hands repeatedly, "Even if it can be eaten, it absolutely shouldn't be, because these things are impure, no one would buy them." She paused, then added, "When we return to Holy Temple City later, you must never reveal any intention of wanting to consume these things in front of the Church."