She Can Only See Your Figure

The night mountain wind carried a sense of desolation.

And a chill.

It rustled through the sea of trees, pressing the grass low.

It had been a long time since Xu Xi had experienced something like this. When he lived in Allenson City, except for the first year when he was forced into the slums, he had spent his days in a warm courtyard.

Even during the harshest winters, the steam heating provided ample warmth.

Fortunately.

Though the courtyard had been destroyed and Allenson City had fallen, Xu Xi could still use fire magic. With the activation of the Level 3 spell "Warmth of Fire," a faint red barrier enveloped the campsite.

The cold was banished, the strong wind was blocked, and warmth returned to the world once more.

"Master, here you go."

The calm voice flowed like a steady river.

Its rhythm was tranquil, smooth, and stable, with no fluctuations, yet it carried a unique beauty.

There was only one person Xu Xi knew who had such a voice.

"Thank you for your hard work, Krisha."

Xu Xi took the hot soup from the girl's hands.

The steaming soup, with oil floating on its surface, was filled with ingredients. The generous amount of meat alone filled the small bowl to the brim.

The aroma was slightly pungent.

It seemed that, considering the cold night,

some warming herbs had been added.

Without the courtyard's lanterns, the light was inevitably dim. Xu Xi turned the bowl in his hands, adjusting the angle several times before he could see the soup clearly by the light of the campfire. He noticed that some crushed fireleaf grass had been sprinkled on the surface.

This was a spicy plant, beloved by the people of the magical world.

"Gulp—" He took a small sip. The hot soup first flowed over his tongue, then slowly slid down his throat, straight into his stomach.

Xu Xi could clearly feel his body warming up instantly.

The fireleaf grass was remarkably effective.

"You've done very well, Krisha. Your cooking skills have improved greatly," Xu Xi said with a smile, praising the young witch beside him who was waiting for his evaluation.

Krisha's culinary talent hadn't been great initially, and there had even been an embarrassing incident of a kitchen explosion.

But she had taken the criticism to heart.

After four years of relentless effort,

her cooking had finally reached a commendable level. Of course, Xu Xi's stomach had also developed a decent resistance to toxins, which was an unexpected bonus.

"Yes, thank you for your praise."

Krisha stood quietly. In the dim night, her gray-silver hair appeared even more mysterious, shimmering with a silky smoothness under the light of the campfire.

The clothes that had been burned through by the flames earlier had long been replaced with her old black-and-white apprentice robes.

Due to the robes' loose fit,

they still fit the now-grown witch perfectly.

After receiving the compliment, Krisha, as if she had finally completed some task, scooped herself a bowl of soup and sat down beside Xu Xi, eating quietly.

She used a spoon and fork.

To this day, chopsticks remained Krisha's lifelong nemesis, as she still couldn't use them properly.

The scene was somewhat comical, and it always made Xu Xi chuckle.

"I feel like you're thinking something rather unkind."

The witch's intuition was surprisingly sharp.

"That must be Krisha's imagination."

Xu Xi responded calmly.

Was it?

The girl tilted her head in confusion.

Perhaps it was. After all, there was no reason for her master to lie to her. With that thought, she buried her head in her bowl again, taking small bites of the cooked meat.

Her teeth chewed through the chunks of meat, her tongue swirling the hot soup.

The quiet dinner for two began.

Tonight felt more desolate and lonely than ever before, with the completely open-air environment lacking both the warm comfort of steam heating and the bright glow of glass lanterns.

But.

Xu Xi didn't dislike this atmosphere.

"Hoo—" He pressed his lips to the rim of the bowl, gently blowing on the freshly made soup to cool it before taking small sips.

The warmth exploded within him, flowing through his limbs.

It brought a bit of warmth to the bleak night.

"Such an experience is quite rare."

Xu Xi thought to himself that it might be hard to find such a scene anywhere else in the magical world.

A young great mage in his twenties, accompanied by a 16-year-old witch, squatting on a remote mountain, eating meat soup without a care for appearances.

No matter how you looked at it,

the image was a bit absurd.

"Crackle... crackle..."

Sparks burst, dry branches burned.

By the campfire, the shadows of the two figures, one tall and one short, stretched long, blending evenly into the darkness, merging with the shadows of the grass, trees, and flowers, becoming indistinguishable.

The dinner was over quickly. Neither of them was particularly hungry, but they had prepared the meal to maintain their strength and warmth.

Krisha stood up and actively used water and wind magic to clean the pot, bowls, and utensils.

This method was not only efficient but also convenient.

She had done this many times before.

She was quite skilled.

The strong wind swept the water, easily scraping off the grease from the surfaces of the utensils, and all the girl had to pay was a bit of magical energy.

This was why Xu Xi didn't object to Krisha taking on many household chores. It wasn't that he deliberately made her work hard, but with magic, everything became much simpler.

"Krisha, come here for a moment."

The night wind grew even more howling.

The whistling in their ears was incessant.

Xu Xi glanced in the direction of Allenson City, where the flames still burned fiercely. The unquenchable firelight was particularly striking in the night, and dark magical shadows wreaked havoc.

But overall, everything was normal, with nothing out of the ordinary.

Thus.

Xu Xi called the girl to his side.

He wanted to examine Krisha's eyes. The half-gold, half-dark pupils were quite different from their usual pale gold, which was undoubtedly a problem.

In fact, Xu Xi had noticed something was off when he first reunited with Krisha.

But the situation had been urgent at the time, leaving no opportunity to investigate.

Now, he finally had the chance to look into it.

"Krisha, sit across from me. Let me take a look at your eyes."

"Understood, Master."

The girl was obedient, calmly sitting directly across from Xu Xi. In the light of the campfire, Xu Xi could clearly see her delicate features and the slight movement of her nostrils as she breathed.

The witch seemed eager to help Xu Xi.

So she tried her best to open her eyes wide.

However, paired with her expressionless face, it looked a bit silly.

"I'll handle it, Krisha," Xu Xi said, and the girl obediently stopped her unnecessary effort, sitting quietly.

Then.

Xu Xi's left hand used light magic to cast a Level 0 illumination spell.

At a brightness that wouldn't harm the eyes.

He slowly leaned closer to Krisha.

His right hand extended, thumb and forefinger gently pulling open the girl's tender eyelids, revealing the fragile eyeballs within.

In the past, the witch's eyes had been a pale gold, radiant and beautiful. But now, Xu Xi saw not only gold but also a deep, dark black.

It occupied the center of her irises abruptly.

The gold and black parts were starkly different, as if two completely unrelated things had been forcibly stitched together.

But there was one thing they shared.

Both clearly reflected Xu Xi's figure.

Just as before, unchanged.