Chapter Twenty-One: Are You Really Serious About Backing Away?

As a skill book from ten years ago, the whole volume was simple and unadorned—no illustrations, no color plates, and certainly no endorsements or titles from elite trainers. As a result, it was quickly eliminated from the market.

“I’ve looked through it. The core of Alluring Voice lies in sound. By channeling fairy-type energy through one’s voice and releasing it, you can inflict damage upon your opponent. This skill isn’t very powerful, but its advantage is that unless the opponent possesses a soundproof trait, as long as they hear the sound, it never misses.”

Tang Yi explained as he flipped through the skill book, introducing it to Ralulu. The book was just over twenty pages and could be read quickly; afterwards, he handed it to Ralulu.

As a basic fairy-type skill, there wasn’t much to say about it.

Ralulu read it carefully, then looked up, her large red eyes blinking. “It seems pretty simple. But the key must be guiding the fairy-type energy, right?”

“You’re very clever.” Tang Yi smiled, reaching out to pat Ralulu’s short green hair. He was fond of stroking the girl’s hair—so smooth and silky, a pleasant sensation.

But today, the girl shrank back and subconsciously took two steps away.

Tang Yi stared, feigning a wounded look. “Hey, hey, are you serious with that retreat?”

“Mom’s still at home,” Ralulu replied softly, her voice delicate and gentle. She usually referred to her parents just as Tang Yi did, which was the tradition in this world.

Tang Yi’s mother was home early from work today, busy preparing dinner outside.

Realization dawned on Tang Yi, but then something felt off. What did she mean, ‘Mom’s still at home?’

It wasn’t as though he was up to anything sneaky or inappropriate!

Tang Yi shot a peculiar glance at the bashful Ralulu. The girl, in the midst of a rapid growth spurt, was maturing at an astonishing rate. Yet, he couldn’t help but feel that her thoughts were no longer as innocent as before.

He cleared his throat and sat up straight. “Alright, let’s not get sidetracked. Time is precious—let’s continue discussing Alluring Voice.”

Ralulu rolled her eyes at her trainer—clearly, it was he who had gone off topic, yet now she was the one to take the blame. So weak, pitiful, and helpless.

“Fairy-type energy is indeed important. But since you’re a fairy-type yourself, you possess such energy innately. So the difficulty isn’t in channeling energy.”

Tang Yi had been diligently reviewing his lessons lately, and for good reason. In this world, for a spirit maiden to use skills, she must first condense energy of the corresponding type.

Energy was indeed the key. For spirits using their own type, learning new skills was twice as effective with half the effort.

Conversely, trying to master skills outside one’s type was extremely troublesome. First, one had to laboriously acquire the right kind of energy, and that process alone was exhausting and not always successful.

“So what makes Alluring Voice difficult?” Ralulu followed up, knowing well that her trainer often had some odd ideas.

“It’s the mental force.”

The girl widened her eyes, objecting, “But this is a fairy-type move, not a psychic-type one!”

“Here, look at this passage.” Tang Yi wasn’t speaking without basis. He beckoned her over and opened the skill book to a marked page.

Ralulu leaned in a bit.

“Closer. Can you read the text from there?” Tang Yi complained a little. The quality of this decade-old skill book truly left much to be desired—the font was tiny and cramped.

“Oh.” Ralulu stole a discreet glance at Tang Yi from behind her bangs. Her trainer’s expression was all seriousness—clearly, he was genuinely studying the skill book.

She moved a little closer.

“Yes, the quality is poor—smells good—wait, I mean, the print is so small.” Tang Yi nearly let his thoughts slip but quickly recovered. “Let’s look at this passage. ‘Alluring Voice: By emitting a beguiling cry, inflicts mental damage upon the opponent. The attack is guaranteed to hit.’”

Such a rascal!

Ralulu nearly hid her eyes behind her fringe again.

Suppressing her embarrassment, she did her best to appear proper and asked softly, “That’s the skill description, right? Is there something wrong with it?”

Tang Yi circled the words “mental” with his pen. “This is the key. Although Alluring Voice channels fairy-type energy through sound, its essence is still an attack on the mind.”

As a psychic-type spirit maiden, Ralulu was born possessing mental energy. Moreover, since her birth she had constantly encountered new and fascinating stories, enriching her inner world. Just as that odd uncle in the park had said, Ralulu’s mental energy now surpassed that of any spirit her age.

“My training method is simple: use your mental force to guide your fairy-type energy and deliver a sonic attack directly to someone’s mind!”

“How do I do that?” Ralulu asked.

Tang Yi suddenly smiled. “Ralulu, can you sing?”

This time, was it singing?

Ralulu was hardly surprised anymore. “I haven’t quite mastered drawing yet.”

“That’s alright, there’s plenty of time ahead. I want you to explore more interests, so you won’t get bored at home.”

Ralulu nodded thoughtfully, agreeing with this sentiment. When Tang Yi was at school during the day, staying home alone was indeed dull. Most other trainers wouldn’t waste this time and would send their spirits to advanced training classes.

Seeing the approval on Ralulu’s face, Tang Yi felt somewhat relieved. He’d been worried that he was placing too much of a burden on her.

But truly, forced, rote training rarely brought a spirit maiden any real happiness.

By contrast, Ralulu knew she was quite fortunate. Whether it was novels or drawing, these pursuits were far more engaging than any training class, and over time she found real joy in them.

Still, a strange thought flitted through Tang Yi’s mind.

Novels, drawing, and now singing.

His original intention was just for Ralulu to pick up a couple of new skills, but now it seemed she was steadily becoming a thoroughly artistic young lady.

Would he even be able to steer her back in the future?

Well, as long as Ralulu truly enjoyed herself, that was all that mattered.

For now, the priority was finding a way to earn a few bonus points in the upcoming university entrance selection.

Tang Yi’s expectations weren’t high; even ten extra points would suffice. If nothing else, if he could just have Ralulu represent the school in the city-level selection, that would already count as a success. Such a record would show up in his file and help with admissions to good universities.

Ralulu’s voice was actually beautiful—crisp as silver bells. Though she had no singing skill yet, learning this move didn’t require a perfect performance; even just humming the melody would suffice.