On the Ark.

That doesn't make sense. If reality were a novel, he, the time traveler, would definitely be the protagonist. How could the protagonist's aura be overshadowed by someone else?

Lin Ye pondered the question carefully. This was an old habit of his; he liked to think about random things while walking.

Skadi glanced at him and asked, "Who taught you swordsmanship?"

"Huh?" Lin Ye was still lost in his own thoughts and didn't hear him clearly at first. "What did you say?"

Skadi repeated it again.

"Oh, swordsmanship? It was taught by Yato."

Speaking of this, Lin Ye felt a pang of guilt, because upon reflection, he realized he hadn't practiced his swordsmanship for quite some time. The last time he practiced with Yato was over two months ago, before he even went to Kjerag. After returning from Kjerag, he barely rested on the island for a few days before going to find Skadi. In these past two months, he hadn't even managed a few days of solo training, let alone seen Yato. He had been incredibly lazy. Before Yato left, he had promised to train diligently every day, but who knew it would turn out like this? It seems that once you slack off, you're doomed.

Lin Ye sighed, thinking that he had to go find Night Blade tonight no matter what.

...No, I've been traveling all day, I should get some rest and start again tomorrow.

Wait, why am I getting lazy again!

Skadi had no idea what Lin Ye was thinking, and simply asked, "Nightblade?"

"Don't you know Yato?" Lin Ye thought for a moment and felt that Skadi was unlikely to know him, so he explained, "She's a very skilled oni with swordsmanship. I learned my swordsmanship from her."

"Do you practice every day?" Skadi asked again.

...You really know how to rub salt in the wound.

Lin Ye coughed twice and said shamelessly, "I used to practice every day, but I've been quite busy lately, as you know, so I haven't been practicing as frequently, maybe once every two or three days."

Skadi nodded. "I see."

"what happened?"

“I don’t think your current swordsmanship suits you,” Skadi said bluntly. “It could also be because you haven’t mastered it enough.”

Lin Ye blushed. Even with his thick skin, he couldn't bring himself to say that Yato's swordsmanship was bad, so he said, "It's because I'm not skilled enough."

“But it’s really not suitable for you,” Skadi said. “I’ve heard about the swordsmanship of the Oni race, and it doesn’t suit your physique.”

Lin Ye thought to himself that his original human physique was incomparable to the monsters of Terra, so what swordsmanship would suit him? He was about to say this when he suddenly wondered if Skadi had brought up the topic because she wanted to teach him her swordsmanship. So he swallowed back the words he was about to say and asked Skadi instead.

"Is your swordsmanship suitable for me?"

"mine?"

"Hmm," Lin Ye said with a smile, "If your swordsmanship suits me, then you can teach me."

When he said those words, Lin Ye was quite impressed with his own intelligence. He had managed to grasp Skadi's meaning so quickly. Now who would dare say he had low emotional intelligence? But what he didn't expect was that Skadi's reaction was quite different from what he had imagined.

Skadi pondered for a moment, then shook her head: "My swordsmanship is not suitable for you."

"why?"

Skadi said lightly, "Because you're too weak."

Lin Ye: "..."

“You can’t even wield my sword,” Skadi said. “Then it’s even less likely that you can use my clan’s swordsmanship.”

"Who said it's impossible to swing?" Lin Ye retorted, somewhat unconvinced. "If I grit my teeth, I can still manage."

"How can you unleash the full power of a sword when you have to grit your teeth just to swing it?" Skadi asked.

Lin Ye was speechless, but there was nothing he could do about it. He had touched Skadi's sword before, and its weight was indeed beyond the reach of ordinary people. After all, Skadi was known as the "hunter who could stir up the tides," and she had personally cut that giant monster in two right in front of Lin Ye. If a swordsman of that level could use a sword so casually, then there would be nothing special about it.

"Then what should I learn?"

“I don’t know either,” Skadi said, “but I can keep an eye out for you.”

"pay attention to?"

“Bounty hunters always have more information than the average person,” Skadi said calmly. “They can always find something suitable for you, but before that, you should master the Leaping Strike more thoroughly.”

"Leaping Wave Strike?" Lin Ye thought for a moment and said, "I think I'm pretty proficient at it already."

“Really?” Skadi asked. “Then how long can you keep Leaping Wave going?”

"A few minutes," Lin Ye said. "Under normal circumstances, a few minutes shouldn't be a problem."

"A few minutes?"

"Ah."

“Too short,” Skadi shook her head. “You can’t make it this short.”

Lin Ye: "..."

Was it just his imagination? Skadi's statement seemed a bit strange.

After thinking it over carefully, Lin Ye said, "Could you please not say it's short?"

Skadi frowned. "Why?"

"It feels a bit strange."

“Okay, your focus is always on things I can’t understand.” Skadi nodded. “Although I don’t know why, let’s put it another way: Lin Ye, you can’t be so fast…”

“…You should just say it’s short.” Lin Ye was speechless.

Skadi slowly raised her hand and then delivered a "hand chop" to Lin Ye's head. Although Skadi clearly held back her strength, Lin Ye still felt some pain.

“I’m talking to you about something serious,” Skadi said earnestly. “You need to listen carefully.”

"Ok."

Lin Ye felt somewhat helpless. He had a feeling that Skadi had become inexplicably domineering since they found her. He hadn't noticed it before. Was it just his imagination?

“A wave-jumping strike that can only last a few minutes is too impractical in real combat,” Skadi said. “This technique shouldn’t be limited to this. Your ancestors were able to make this technique last for more than an hour.”

“You said yourself that those were my ancestors, but that was so many years ago. My ancestors lived in the sea, and I’ve been on land for ages,” Lin Ye said helplessly. “There’s no comparison at all. From a biological point of view, my ancestors and I aren’t even the same species, are we?”

Skadi glanced at Lin Ye: "But you did inherit the Leap Strike skill from your ancestors, so you can't let it become a useless skill."

...A useless skill? Doubling one's combat power within minutes—is that just a useless skill in Skadi's eyes? For Lin Ye, this is already an asset that allows him to fight against those experts. However, considering Skadi's own combat strength, Lin Ye decided it was better not to complain.

"Then how should I practice? Should I extend the time?" Lin Ye asked.

"I need to see how well you've mastered it," Skadi said calmly. "Come find me when you've rested."

"Alright." Lin Ye nodded, then asked with some confusion, "But why did you suddenly want to help me improve Leap Strike? When you taught me this skill before, didn't you say it would be enough for my needs?"

“Because you’re too restless,” Skadi said. “If you continue like this, you’ll encounter even more danger.”

"How am I restless? Don't talk nonsense."

Skadi said softly, "To make contact with me is the greatest form of restlessness."

Lin Ye was stunned, not expecting Skadi to say that.

While Lin Ye was in a daze, Skadi didn't pause and continued, "I've warned you many times that for your safety, it's best to stay away from me. But you never seem to listen to me properly. Since that's the case, I'll just have to make you stronger. I don't want you to get hurt because you're too close to me; that would make me very uncomfortable. Unless you're willing to stay away from me, then there's no need for all this trouble. After all, whatever comes from the deep sea, whether it's power or people, is always accompanied by boundless darkness."

Lin Ye fell silent, pondering Skadi's long string of words. Then, he slowly smiled, turned to look at Skadi, and said, "It seems I really need to learn how to use the Wave Leap properly. Maybe one day I'll be able to tear apart deep-sea monsters like you."

Skadi glanced at Lin Ye, seemingly lost in thought, then shook her head and said lightly, "Since you've made up your mind, come find me tonight."

After saying that, she quickened her pace and walked ahead of Lin Ye, then gradually disappeared into the afterglow of the evening.

……

……

Author's note: Some readers previously commented that the pacing was too fast and the protagonist didn't have enough time to level up. So, the next volume will be a bit lighter, a daily leveling-up volume. Hope you all enjoy it.

Chapter 351 Beware of Vampires

"I get the feeling that you've become an overseas dispatched operator now."

Lin Ye's appointment with Skadi was in the evening, so he decided to go back to his dorm early to rest. Ansel, unusually, didn't work overtime today and returned to his dorm on time. When he saw Lin Ye in the dorm, he was stunned for a moment before saying what he had just said.

“It feels like you’ve spent more than half your time on the island since you started working here,” Ansel said, sitting in a chair and rubbing his shoulders. “I think I can apply to change roommates.”

Lin Ye, who was packing his luggage, looked up at Ansel with some confusion: "Why do you say that?"

"Because according to the rules, dispatched operators usually share a dormitory with other dispatched operators. And newly recruited operators working on the island work together with other newly recruited operators," Ansel explained. "This is more convenient, since the biological clocks of dispatched operators and newly recruited operators are basically different, which can easily affect each other."

Lin Ye thought about it and realized it seemed to be true. His return to the island today was relatively normal; usually, he returned late at night, by which time Ansel was already asleep. He didn't want to disturb Ansel, so he could only squeeze onto the sofa in the office. Squeezing onto the sofa was, of course, not as comfortable as sleeping in a bed.

Thinking back carefully, it seems that sharing a dormitory with Ansel was just a temporary decision by Shining. There was no point in assigning dormitories before officially joining the company, and no one brought it up afterward. But back then, no one would have imagined that Lin Ye would become an overseas dispatched operator.

"Um, don't you want to share a dorm room with me?" Although a little reluctant, Lin Ye decided to respect Ansel's opinion. "In that case, I'll talk to Kal'tsit about it. I can be transferred to another dorm, or I can just move to the fourth floor. There are plenty of empty rooms in the office building."

“…Why do you sound so pitiful?” Ansel tilted his head. “I didn’t say I wanted to change dorms, did I? I just mentioned it casually, although your occasional late-night returns do have some impact on me…”

"If I get back late, I'll just sleep in the office."

“Hmm…no need. I’m not that easily woken up. Next time you come back late, just go back to the dorm.” Ansel said, “Although I’ve been talking about you, I’m really not an easy roommate to get along with. My previous roommates often said they had trouble sleeping when living with me, and I don’t know why, so I can only prescribe them more sleeping pills…”

Lin Ye: "..."

“And it’s good that you can fall asleep without sleeping pills.” Ansel nodded. “Then let’s stay here like this.”

Lin Ye thought to himself that Ansel's previous roommates were really kind enough not to tell anyone about his teeth-grinding habit. But once you got used to the sound of Ansel grinding his teeth, you'd find that he was a great roommate. You could get medicine directly from him when you had a cold, and you could go to him for medical advice for any minor discomfort... cough cough, it's not like you're using Ansel as a tool.

However, the main issue is that, apart from Ansel, the male operators on Rhodes Island are either giants like Cliffheart and Ace, with chest muscles bigger than an average person's head, or Rangers like 12F, whose race is completely indistinguishable. In comparison, Ansel is practically the best, after all, he's good-looking enough, it's just a pity he's a man.

Ah... why are you thinking about such strange things again?

Lin Ye shook his head repeatedly, trying to shake off those inexplicable thoughts from his mind.

"So how many days are you going to stay on the island this time?" Ansel had no idea what Lin Ye was thinking. "Like last time, you'll only stay for a few days?"

"No, Kal'tsit said I can take a good rest for a while."

"Is that so?" Ansel looked somewhat disappointed.

"What's wrong?" Lin Ye keenly noticed Ansel's change in mood.

Ansel shook his head: "It's nothing. I was just thinking that if you were going to leave the island, I'd ask you to bring me something. If you're not going, I'll just find someone else."

"What is it? Medicine?"

Ansel mumbled, "More or less."

Seeing that Ansel was unwilling to elaborate, Lin Ye didn't press the matter further, but instead asked another question: "Has the medical department stopped requiring overtime work lately?"

“Hmm.” Ansel nodded. “I don’t know why, Ursus unilaterally canceled all cooperation with us. The number of drug orders has decreased by a third, and the workload has also decreased by a third, so we don’t have to work overtime.”