Gazing into the distance, a series of mountains stretched out in an endless chain, covered in green grass and full of vitality, which was almost visible to the naked eye. There were no grotesque rocks, only smooth cliffs that looked as if they had been carved by a knife or axe.

The valleys between the mountains formed natural canyons that were not steep but rather wide. In the distance, the echoing sound of a clear spring splashing onto rocks could be heard from the direction of the mountain breeze, pleasing to the ears.

On both sides of the road, two figures of different sizes stood facing each other in a sparse grove of trees.

One was petite and adorable, while the other was stunningly beautiful and out of this world.

"No! Even Master Mu Zhou can't!"

Talisa clutched the wine gourd, half her size, tightly in her arms.

"At least, let me help carry this for Master Mu Zhou! I... I just want to help Master Mu Zhou!"

Her pair of blue eyes stared defiantly at Mu Zhou.

Mu Zhou bent down, smiling, and quickly stretched out his hand to grab the neck of the gourd, pulling it upward!

【You weak loli, stop acting wild in front of this grandpa!】

"Mum!?"

"………………"

Speechless, Mu Zhou looked at Talisa, who was now off her feet, hanging from the wine gourd. He shrugged, put her back on the ground, and secretly added a small spell to the gourd that would lighten it over time.

【Surprisingly stubborn in some ways.】

He shook his head, smiling, as Talisa showed a victorious expression and happily carried the wine gourd on her back.

It had been several days since they left the small village.

The food they had brought along had long since been consumed, so they had been gathering wild fruits and hunting wild animals along the way. Although he did not know which strange creatures from this unfamiliar world could or couldn't be eaten,

Talisa seemed to have that knowledge, appearing to be common sense in this world.

So, Mu Zhou's job became remarkably simple: find the prey, knock it out, and bring it to Talisa to see whether she nodded or shook her head in approval.

Once, he brought back a 20-meter-tall creature, covered in grey scales like a wild boar, that frightened Talisa into fainting. When she came to, she huddled in a corner and shook her head vigorously...

In fact, he could already use the energy in his body, which was originally used to maintain the operation of the world.

Let's call it the "Energy of Everything" in a more adolescent way. This energy in his body is self-sufficient and inexhaustible, making it extremely convenient.

The skills that had already been unlocked and required energy could now be used as well. For him at this time, flying and the like became too simple.

However, he preferred the feeling of traveling on foot since there wasn't any specific destination or urgent tasks to be done. He enjoyed his current state.

No, there was one urgent matter.

He still couldn't speak the language of this world.

Although he had tried to learn from Talisa, the language here seemed to be alien and couldn't be understood using the linguistic habits from his world. Moreover, Talisa couldn't write...

Mu Zhou once looked at Talisa with contempt, thinking, "Illiterate!" in his heart.

Talisa, with her pure and sensitive heart, sensed this and stared back even more contemptuously...

Thus, they now had a vague destination: head towards where more people were!

He needed to find someone to teach him the language from scratch, or find a book with detailed instructions on writing and pronouncing it.

As for seeking help from the people in Talisa's village...

Looking at their devout believer-like expressions, he felt too embarrassed to ask.

In Mu Zhou's perception, the direction they were heading had a large concentration of people.

He glanced at Talisa, who was walking ahead with a light and cheerful step, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily curled upward. Although he had decisively taken her away from the village, he couldn't help but feel apprehensive.

Especially in the past few days, her occasional bouts of uneasiness only made him worry more.From her almost transparent, completely unguarded heart toward him, he could feel that Talisa didn't have much attachment to the village. In this aspect, she was somewhat similar to him, and he believed that taking her away was not wrong - on the contrary, it was probably what she had been hoping for. Despite feeling all of these emotions, he still felt uneasy, which was a manifestation of his concern for the things that mattered to him.

Mu Zhou admitted that he had a reverse scale (a metaphorical weak spot). Speaking of which, did he just adopt a little sister? Wait, if he were to take his age in his former world into account, he could also treat her as a daughter, right? It wouldn't be too far-fetched for a man in his thirties to have a ten-year-old daughter. A daughter... Back in his original world, he didn't have a family of his own, in part because he enjoyed his carefree life and also because no girl had managed to touch his heartstrings, so he had remained single for more than thirty years. Now, the sudden thought of having a daughter seemed somewhat sacred to him...

"Lord Mu Zhou, over here~~ I can already see the water!" Talisa called out to him from ahead, so he waved and quickened his pace towards her. They had decided to take a break and eat something at the water source after already hearing the sound of running water from far away. Upon arriving, they discovered that it was a small lake formed by spring water, with crystal-clear water devoid of any fish, which reflected the shimmering light.

Mu Zhou handed a bundle to Talisa, which contained various edible fungi and wild vegetables they had gathered along the way, as well as some hunted game that had been prepared and a small pot. Talisa skillfully went about her business; at first, he had thought about going over to help, but seeing her happily working, he decided against it. He walked over to the lake, surveyed it, and realized that the water was shallow, reaching only up to his abdomen. He found a spot that was shielded by bushes, took off his cloak, hung it on a tree branch, and slowly waded into the water.

His body wouldn't easily accumulate dirt or grime, nor would it excrete any waste, so it remained clean. However, due to his previous lifestyle, he still occasionally felt the need to wash his body. His smooth purple-black hair sank into the water and floated away with the current. He stared at his well-proportioned body and his blurred reflection in the water. Mu Zhou's mouth twitched violently.

Although he had some forebodings in this regard, it was only in the past few days, when he saw the blurred yet astonishing face in the water, that he sank deep into thought. "Is the situation... more severe than I thought?" Mu Zhou didn't mind his feminine, even womanly appearance, as he couldn't complain about his own body anymore, and after all, this was the result of uncontrollable forces. However, there was one thing that bothered him greatly.

Had Talisa misunderstood as well? Did she think that he was female too? This bothered him greatly. It wasn't that he had any ulterior motives towards Talisa… after all, in his view, Talisa was just a young girl in her teens. He simply didn't want her to think he was deceiving her. Over the past few days, this had left him feeling conflicted, unable to speak up, unable to communicate normally, and unable to explain.

What could he do now? Was he supposed to lift his cloak and show her his private parts? Yet, being lost in his thoughts and having no defense against Talisa, he hadn't noticed that she had appeared on the shore and had been watching him for quite some time already.

"Um… Lord Mu Zhou? It's time for dinner," came a slightly trembling voice. Mu Zhou felt as though he had been struck by lightning.

He stiffly raised his head, and what he saw was a face full of disbelief and eyes that couldn't help but dart towards his submerged lower half. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to peek, it's just... I didn't expect Lord Mu Zhou to be..."

"No! Talisa! Let me explain...!" His voice suddenly choked.

Mu Zhou's outstretched hand froze in midair, clenched into a fist, trembled slightly, and then violently slammed onto the water's surface! The splash that erupted from the impact turned into a violent downpour in the small valley.Long hair covered his eyes, making it impossible to see his expression.

It was uncomfortable as if there was a thorn stuck in his heart.

He didn't know what was wrong with him, why he was so angry.

At that moment, a pair of delicate arms wrapped around Mu Zhou's body.

A face wet with tears pressed against his chest.

"…I'm sorry…"

【Why is she… apologizing…?】

"I…I'll leave on my own…but… let me enjoy your warmth for the last time, just for a moment… just once…"

【！！！！】

【What did she say…?！！！】

【Why… is it like this?！！】

That intermittent voice, full of despair and endless longing, almost broke Mu Zhou's heart, as if he was about to lose something important.

Mu Zhou quickly hugged her fragile body.

【No…】

"Mu Zhou… Sir?"

Noticing something, Talisa looked up, staring into his eyes, filled with sadness and a bit of madness.

【Absolutely not！！！！！！I won't allow it！！！！！！！！！】

His hands held her tightly, as if trying to merge Talisa into his own body.

Talisa's eyes slowly widened, the blue pupils gradually starting to shine.

Not caring about her nearly suffocated body, she carefully asked,

"Mu Zhou, haven't you… grown tired of me…?"

Hearing this, Mu Zhou froze and then began to shake his head violently.

【How could I?！】

Talisa's eyes were now filled with light, like a galaxy.

"Then why… these few days… the hesitation when you looked at me?"

Mu Zhou suddenly felt embarrassed, pausing for a while before slowly lowering his head and gesturing her to look under the water.

Talisa was actually very intelligent but had entered a misunderstanding. After his reminder, she understood the reason almost instantly.

And Mu Zhou was not a fool either, realizing that Talisa had been influenced by his actions and developed a misunderstanding.

"So that's why… I don't mind it…"

Saying this, she blushed slightly and turned her head, murmuring in a nearly inaudible voice,

"On the contrary… it's better for a man…"

Both their clothes were soaked, clinging to their bodies as they embraced each other tightly. The splashing water wet their hair, creating a scene that initially seemed disheveled, but somehow, warmth enveloped them.

Mu Zhou smiled bitterly, leaning his lips close to her shiny ear and whispered, "How could I ever tire of you?"

And he silently decided to speed up his journey and learn the language of this new world as quickly as possible.