Keep attacking girls and try not to be killed by them

After all, if Zhao Ye Liuque cannot confirm that the chief hall master is dead, it will take a month to start the selection process.

"Boss Liuli, I'm going to use my Shadow Master skill on you and sneak into your shadow. Our next plan of action will depend on your cooperation."

"O-okay meow, I'll try my best meow~!"

As Jiang Ran stood up, Shiiki Ruri also stood up immediately.

This was Jiang Ran's first attempt to use the "Shadowmaker" skill on a high-level combat professional.

In order to minimize the difficulty of learning Shiiki Ruri, Jiang Ran initially used pure skills without the newly mastered term "empowerment".

As Jiang Ran activated his skill, his entire body, including his armor, turned into a misty black shadow and floated towards Shiiki Ruri's shadow.

When the black mist and the shadow came into contact, Shiiki Ruri's body trembled. She could clearly feel that something huge was about to enter her body...? !

"Eh... meow, meow...?"

Without having time to think about it, Shiiki Ruri was immediately filled with this incredible feeling. She seemed to be able to feel that the Frost Armor Knight was entering every pore of her body, but when she really wanted to reach out to feel it, she could not touch anything.

Gradually, Shiiki Ruri's senses became clearer. She could feel the warmth of the Frost Armor Knight and a new magical power flowing in her body.

——(W-how miraculous, nya...it doesn't hurt at all, nya...?)

In fact, before this actual experience, Shiiki Ruri was quite afraid.

She was worried that a strong man like the Frost Knight would enter her shadow and cause her terrible pain, but in order to ensure a successful cooperation, she had no choice but to go there despite knowing that there was a tiger there.

However, the way Lord Frost Armor Knight entered was much gentler than Shiiki Ruri had expected. The feeling Shiiki Ruri experienced at the moment was like a warm current slowly entering her body and then slowly spreading out, without even the slightest trace of roughness.

Moreover, she could clearly feel that if she didn't want to, she could close the "channel" at any time and let the Frost Armor Knight withdraw from her shadow.

This gentle warmth like the morning sun really made Shiiki Ruri feel extremely surprised, and even... a hint of mysterious happiness.

10.20 - Black-eared bunny girls

As the black mist completely merged into his own shadow, the "strange feeling" that lingered in Shiiki Ruri's body gradually disappeared.

Instead, there is a sense of fulfillment that is "filled" from the inside out.

"Lord Stan, are you...are you in?" asked Shiiki Ruri a little embarrassedly.

After asking the question, Shiiki Ruri thought the voice of the Frost Armor Knight would come from her shadow, but to her surprise, she actually heard the answer directly from her head.

(Stan: "Yeah, I'm all in. How's it going? Can you hear me?")

"Meow?! Meow?! W-What's going on?"

Shiiki Ruri looked around in panic, thinking that the Frost Armor Knight had suddenly appeared beside her.

After several confirmations, she finally realized that the Frost Armor Knight could now communicate with her directly through his consciousness.

(Shiiki Ruri: "Is that how you speak with your mind, Stan-sama?")

(Stan: "Yeah, that's right, you did a great job.")

After several attempts, the talented Shiiki Ruri quickly got the hang of it and could communicate smoothly with the Frost Armor Knight using her mind.

She highly praised the advancement of this communication method, because this type of conversation far surpassed ordinary conversation methods in terms of "concealment", "clarity" and "anti-interference ability".

After successfully passing the initial adaptation period, Lord Frost Armor Knight assigned Shiiki Ruri her first assignment, which was to live together as a latent shadow for a day.

·

"Eh? A whole day is necessary, meow? I can do it here, but I'm worried that Master Stan will be too tired."

Shiiki Ruri's words were rather euphemistic. What she was actually worried about was whether the Frost Armor Knight's magic power could last for such a long time.

According to Shiiki Ruri's experience and accumulated knowledge, continuous skills like "Shadowmaker" will definitely bring a considerable burden to the user during the activation period.

Judging from the burly appearance of the Frost Armor Knight, Shiiki Ruri felt that he should be a strength-specialized type, with a little agility at most, but in any case, he would not have too much magic power.

A knight with no magical attributes is supposed to maintain stealth for a whole day? Isn't that a bit far-fetched, Lord Frostmail Knight?

"Don't worry about me. Anyway, I hope you can completely ignore my existence. That way, when I lurk in your shadow and act together later, no one else will notice anything unusual about you."

However, Lord Frost Armor Knight didn't seem to understand Shiiki Ruri's subtext, or perhaps he had some unique secret technique. In short, he was not worried about his own magical power at all.

Since Lord Frost Armor Knight said so, Shiiki Ruri couldn't say anything more. Anyway, she would just carry out this "unique training" according to Lord Frost Armor Knight's request.

By the way, although Frost Armor Knight said "one day", when Shiiki Ruri needs to go to the toilet, take a shower, or change clothes, Frost Armor Knight will still come out of his latent state and stay away for the time being.

However, Lord Frost Armor Knight also clearly told Shiiki Ruri that since today was just training, he would take her privacy into consideration.

"When we officially start the operation, no matter what the situation, I will not leave my latent state to protect your pride... Have I made myself clear, Boss Liuli?"

"Well, yes...yes, meow."

Hearing Lord Frost Armor Knight speak so bluntly, Shiiki Ruri felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Shiiki Ruri is prepared to kill and to die, but she is not prepared to give up her innocence.

If I really encounter a special situation, can I accept being seen in an embarrassing state or naked by the Frost Armor Knight?

Shiiki Ruri can only hope that special circumstances will never happen.

·

·

In Mel Town, Jiang Ran is giving special training to Shiiki Ruri.

At the same time, in a mountain forest one or two hundred kilometers away from the town of Mel, a bunny girl with black bunny ears was picking up stones on the ground.

The rabbit girl has a delicate face, and the two pigtails tied behind her head make her look cute.

The rabbit girl grabbed a handful of small stones and threw one of them into the sky.

When the stone flew to the highest point and began to fall, the rabbit girl's ears twitched, and then she threw the second stone, which accurately hit the falling first stone.

Then, the second stone began to fall, and the third stone arrived precisely at this time, once again creating an incredible series of collisions in the air.

It was extraordinary that such a jaw-dropping technique happened twice in a row, but what was even more surprising was that the rabbit girl's play had just begun at this time.

The black-eared rabbit girl kept repeating the stone-hitting action as if she was playing a game, until all the dozen or so pebbles in her hand were used up.

During the entire process, not only did she not make a single mistake, but she was also very relaxed and didn't even look at the pebbles in the air.

For this bunny girl, just relying on her ears to "listen" was enough for this level of play.

Not long after, the rabbit girl's ears twitched again, and then she looked at the empty space beside her with an expressionless face.

A few seconds later, another rabbit girl with the same black rabbit ears came running along the treetops and branches, and landed steadily in front of the tribe.

"I'm back, Feng'er," said the agile rabbit girl.

Her ponytail swayed back and forth in the breeze.

"I heard you, Galloping Foot," responded the bunny girl playing with stones.

Even though she was interrupted, she did not make any mistakes in her game of "hitting stone with stone" and successfully hit the target continuously until the end.

In the forest, two rabbit girls stood together. Although their hairstyles and clothes were different, if you looked closely, you would find that their facial features were surprisingly similar, just like twins.

Another thing that could confuse people is that the two bunny girls always have blank expressions on their faces, as if the concept of "emotion" has disappeared from their souls.

"So, what's the situation?" asked the bunny girl known as 'Wind Ears'.

"It seems that Tetoduff is dead. Anyway, his whereabouts are unknown." The rabbit girl known as "Junzu" replied.

"Then let's go back?" Feng Er suggested.

"I agree.", Junzu nodded, then carried Fenger on his back and sped away at astonishing speed.

Apart from the indistinguishable footprints, the two black-eared rabbit girls left nothing in the forest.

10.21 - A strange yet familiar visitor

Time passed quickly and it was afternoon.

After a morning of adjustment, Shiiki Ruri has basically adapted to the state of the Frost Armor Knight lurking in her shadow.

In fact, for her, having an extra person in her shadow was not a burden, and when she encountered a problem, she could immediately discuss it with him in her mind. It was like having an extra personal military advisor at zero cost.

However, according to the Frost Knight, this is only the "first stage" of training.

Where the skill "Shadowmaker" can truly help Shiiki Ruri depends on the effect of the "Second Phase".

As for the content of the "Second Phase", Lord Frost Armor Knight did not keep it a secret. He told Shiiki Ruri very clearly during his free time in the morning that the so-called Second Phase was actually the application of "Skill Entries".

As a fourth-tier combat professional, Shiiki Ruri naturally understood what "entry" meant. For example, her first-tier skill "Mirage Shadow" had the "Muddy Sand" entry, which could slightly reduce the agility attribute of targets within the sand and dust range.

However, because activating this entry requires additional magic power, and Shiiki Ruri herself does not have a particularly abundant amount of magic power, she rarely activates this entry.

Then let's talk about Lord Frost Armor Knight's skill "Shadowmaker". According to Lord Frost Armor Knight's introduction, after applying the effect of the entry, all of Shiiki Ruri's attributes will be immediately improved. As for the extent of the improvement, it depends on how much "extra power" Shiiki Ruri can control.

Regarding the issue of controlling power, Lord Frost Armor Knight gave a simple example to explain.

He told Shiiki Ruri that if the human body is compared to a flowerpot, then the human strength is the plant in the flowerpot.

The size of the pot must be proportional to the size of the plant, otherwise the plant will grow too fast and crack the pot.

By the same token, if the Frost Armor Knight increases Shiiki Ruri's attributes too much all at once, her body may not be able to withstand it, leading to injury, or even death in the worst case.

Therefore, the Frost Knight set up the second stage of the project, the purpose of which was to allow Shiiki Ruri to adapt to the additional force, and also to test how much additional force Shiiki Ruri could withstand.

To be honest, Shiiki Ruri is looking forward to the second stage of training.

Which combat professional wouldn't want this kind of ability improvement that seems like pie in the sky?

It's a pity that Lord Frost Armor Knight is quite conservative. Even though Shiiki Ruri has performed excellently in the past half day, he has no intention of entering the second stage early.

As the beneficiary, Shiiki Ruri was too embarrassed to ask for anything, so she continued her daily life and work with the Frost Armor Knight in the shadow.

·

After the lunch break, Shiiki Ruri came to the Cat Girl Milk Tea Shop to confirm the preparations before opening in the afternoon.

The "short business hours" set by Lord Frostmail Knight are not just promotions and eye-catching during the opening period, but a long-term business strategy.

With this strategy, Shiiki Ruri was not only able to manage the two stores in Mel Town with only the original staff, but also made both the new and old stores thrive, and gradually saw hope of saying goodbye to the "fund shortage hell".

The positive atmosphere brought about by management improvement affects the hearts of every member, including Shiiki Ruri.

In the past, on the way to work in the store, Shiiki Ruri was always in a heavy mood, with her brows furrowed like the wrinkles on an old lady's face.

And now, she was as happy as a miser who was about to open the vault to count money, and she couldn't help but smile.

After the incident at the lake base, the thing that could make Shiiki Ruri happy was working at the cat girl restaurant and the cat girl milk tea shop, which was the most enjoyable thing.

——（Shiiki Ruri: “Nyahahaha~ I wonder how much sales will be today~ I’m really looking forward to it, nya~）”

——(Stan: "It's good to have a positive attitude, but don't focus too much on short-term results. Look at the long term, Boss Liuli.")

——（Shiiki Ruri: “Stan-sama is right, meow~!”）

In the joyful communication of thoughts, Shiiki Ruri arrived at the warehouse of the cat girl milk tea shop, but to her surprise, there was an unexpected "guest" who was already waiting there before her.

"Hello, Madam Boss. I'm the newly appointed manager of the Chamber of Commerce. I'm sorry to bother visiting you because I have something I want to discuss with you."

The neatly dressed, shrewd-looking old man from the Ratman tribe waved to Shiiki Ruri as he spoke.

But Shiki Ruri knew that this old man from the ratman tribe was not the manager of a chamber of commerce at all, but the head of the Que Hall of Zhaoye Liuque, Guiyu.

·

"Ah, nice to meet you. No problem. Let's sit down in the store and talk, meow?"

After a brief moment of surprise, Shiiki Ruri immediately adjusted her state and pretended to meet the old man Guiyu for the first time.

She knew in her heart that the reason why Grandpa Guiyu used a fake identity to meet her was to prevent Shiiki Ruri's identity from being exposed in Mel Town.

"Of course, it's an honor for me to have this opportunity."

Old Man Guiyu nodded gracefully, then followed Shiiki Ruri into the Cat Girl Restaurant.

·

It was afternoon, and the cat girl's restaurant was empty.

Even in such a safe conversation setting, Grandpa Guiyu did not take off his disguise and continued to communicate with Shiiki Ruri as the manager of the Chamber of Commerce.

The two of them first chatted seriously about the purchase and sale of various raw materials. After chatting for a while, the old man with strange words revealed the real purpose of his trip.

"By the way, Madam, I heard you have a partner. Everyone calls him 'Frost Knight Stan'. Are you familiar with him?"