Snowball Fight

Mo Lini looked around the room's furnishings with curiosity.

On the massive long table against the wall sat an array of glass bottles and earthen jars.

On the other side, the bookshelves right next to the long table were densely packed with forbidden grimoires.

But it felt like... there was nothing particularly interesting to look at.

After all, with Mo Lini's current reserve of magical knowledge, she wasn't yet capable of understanding them.

"Aina, what is that thing?"

Liyana had discovered a giant cauldron in the corner.

It was just like the cauldrons from fairy tales that witches used to brew mysterious bubbling purple concoctions... Perhaps even larger in size, this cauldron was practically a small bathtub.

"That's a cauldron," Xia Lun replied as a matter of course.

"Of course I know that! Do you think I'm an idiot?" Liyana forcefully slapped Xia Lun on the back. "But what is such a huge cauldron used to boil? It can't possibly be for cooking meals, right?"

"Maybe it's for cooking meals for Mida," Mo Lini guessed. In her view, since Mida's true form was so huge, she definitely had a big appetite.

But in reality, ordinary food could hardly satisfy Mida anymore. She only ate sausages because they tasted good, not because they provided much satiety... Mida's true source of energy was the ice crystals provided by Aina.

Those ice crystals were products of another world of ice and snow.

"It should be for refining material potions," Luo Lun joined the conversation. "Materials obtained from large magical beasts are not easy to process."

"None of those," Aina shook her head. "That is used to boil Xia Lun."

"Eh?"

Everyone present froze for a moment, including Xia Lun.

"Hah..." Xia Lun also pointed at his own nose with a weird expression.

"That is used to boil Xia Lun," Aina repeated her previous words. "You light a fire underneath, and then put Xia Lun's corpse inside along with various materials to boil..."

"Uh... stop, stop, stop. No need to go into such detail, we get it." Xia Lun hurriedly interrupted Aina.

He also tactfully refrained from asking why he was being stewed in a giant cauldron.

Xia Lun's corpse... Luo Lun felt like she had just heard something incredibly alarming, but she didn't dare to ask.

Luo Lun looked at Mo Lini beside her.

Mo Lini had an innocent face, looking as if she knew absolutely nothing.

Luo Lun then looked at Liyana.

"Hahaha! Xia Lun! You got turned into stew by Aina! I wonder if she added salt..." Liyana laughed heartlessly.

Well, it seemed that if she wanted to survive long-term in this party, she couldn't afford to act too normal.

Luo Lun found a flat surface and lay down, turning into a sleeping corpse.

Playing the ostrich... sometimes, if you thought about it carefully, it was a move of great wisdom in certain situations.

An ostrich definitely wouldn't be easily corrupted by an evil god, right?

Previously, Luo Lun had felt that Liyana and Mo Lini were a bit foolish in some aspects... Now looking back, that might have been an evolutionary trait developed to adapt to those two...

If she stayed in this party for a long time, what would she turn into in the future?

"Luo Lun, get up for a second."

Just as Luo Lun's imagination was running wild, Mo Lini poked her arm. "Aina gave us an animal skin blanket. Spread it out first... isn't it too hard to sleep like that?"

"Oh... oh."

Luo Lun wasn't particularly fussy, but everyone else in the party was very particular, so naturally, she couldn't appear out of place.

After joining the party, Luo Lun found herself becoming somewhat subservient and agreeable.

After all, no one could act arrogant in front of those two.

"You seem very happy, Mo Lini." Luo Lun noticed the joy between Mo Lini's brows.

Mo Lini nodded excitedly. "We're going to have a snowball fight later!"

"Is that so? That sounds like a lot of fun."

"Does Miss Luo Lun want to come along?"

Luo Lun blanked for a moment; she had never received such an invitation before.

Her parents were both very capable adventurers. Since childhood, she had practically no time for leisure. Ever since she was old enough to understand, she had been continuously tempering her physique and honing her combat skills.

Although her childhood had been arduous, Luo Lun was still very grateful to her parents... The strength she possessed now was not something she could have achieved through talent alone.

"I've wanted to try it for a long time... After all, it rarely snows over in the Yalan Empire, and even when it does, it never piles up this thick." Little Lan on Mo Lini's head was also wobbling slightly.

"Then I'll come and experience it too." Luo Lun couldn't bring herself to refuse the adorable Mo Lini's invitation.

"However, Mo Lini, you need to be a bit careful when you go out to play." Liyana had wandered over at some point.

"Aina has already prepared warm clothing for me, I'm not afraid!" Mo Lini looked confident.

"I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about Little Lan." Liyana poked the slime on Mo Lini's head, and Little Lan extended a tentacle to gesture back at Liyana.

"A slime's body is mostly water, right? So out in the freezing snow, won't it freeze solid?" Liyana asked.

Mo Lini stiffened slightly, petrified on the spot.

"That... that seems possible!" Mo Lini said, her large eyes widening as she covered her mouth.

Little Lan stopped making its bubbling noises on Mo Lini's head, freezing motionless.

After all, slimes were inherently icy cold and lacked body temperature.

"What... what should we do?" Mo Lini genuinely started to worry whether Little Lan would be able to return to normal after being frozen into an ice cube.

"You have to keep it indoors all the time and keep it warm... Wrap it up in a blanket first! Wipe it nice and clean."

"Oh, oh!"

"Then boil a pot of hot water for it! Let's just use that giant cauldron!"

"Okay, okay!"

"Finally, toss Little Lan in and add some seasoning!"

Mo Lini: ...

She finally realized that Liyana was just messing with her.

Hearing that Liyana wanted to boil and eat it, Little Lan bounced straight onto Liyana's head and began dissolving her hair.

"Ah! You bastard! What are you doing?! Mo Lini, hurry up and control this guy!"

Liyana rolled around on the floor in a panic, fighting fiercely with Little Lan.

They had already started playing ahead of time.

"Go on and play, the slime won't freeze," Aina said casually, noticing the commotion. "Take Mida with you too."

The girls ran outside, noisy and boisterous.

"Aren't you going to play?" Xia Lun patted Aina's shoulder. "I'll go with you."

"Look how old we are, have you no shame?" Aina chided playfully. "Don't you think it's childish?"

"We're eighteen," Xia Lun replied as a matter of course. "What's there to be embarrassed about? Being carefree like Liyana is pretty nice."