Time: 3:10 PM. Location: Five kilometers outside Zone X of the Third Base.
Chu Tian walked on his way back to the base, passing through a sparsely populated town. At this moment, some voices reached his ears from a distance.
His keen warrior senses allowed him to clearly hear the conversation carried by the wind.
"Hey! Look, there's a lone girl!"
"Oh, she's tall... and she's a redhead. And look at that figure from behind; it seems pretty good. Her backside is quite perky."
"What if she's flat-chested? A perky behind doesn't necessarily mean a well-endowed front."
"..."
"Let's go take a look."
Listening to this conversation, Chu Tian's face took on a strange expression as he quietly approached. In his memory, there was also a red-haired girl, one who had been quite friendly and had provided him with valuable information.
"Hey, girl, don't run!"
"Yeah, don't run! Hang out with us for a while!"
"You scumbags... get away from me!"
"Oh, this girl is quite feisty, hehehe, I like it!"
Intermittent angry shouts echoed from the street ahead. Chu Tian instantly confirmed that the girl being harassed was the same red-haired girl who had helped him.
"Oh, damn, this girl is actually an Awakened, with a Fire talent..." a slender man with a scarred face licked his lips.
"Interesting, we thought she was just an ordinary person, but she's actually quite rare," a youth who seemed unremarkable commented, his gaze not hiding his intense interest in the red-haired girl.
"Be careful not to screw up," the leader, the burly scarred man, said as he stepped forward. "I'll lead the way, and you guys make sure not to let her escape."
"Understood, understood."
[Detected Talent: Fire, Enhanced Physical Qualities, Crafted Bow, Crafted Sword. Copy?]
Chu Tian suddenly wanted to know their talents. As soon as this thought crossed his mind, the system's voice came willingly.
Chu Tian was taken aback, realizing that the system could be activated proactively. He smiled and chose to copy the talents.
After all, there was no limit to the number of talents he could copy. He could copy as many as he wanted.
[Copy Successful.] The system's notification came immediately after selecting the copy option.
Then he saw the burly leader pounce on the red-haired girl, while the other two produced weapons out of thin air. One wielded a longsword, and the other held a longbow with a glittering arrow nocked.
So that's how the talents of Crafted Bow and Crafted Sword are used... Chu Tian crouched behind cover and quietly observed the ongoing battle.
"Fire!" The red-haired girl shouted loudly, and a swirling ring of crimson flames surrounded her, protecting her.
The burly man leaped to the side with great agility, using the wall for leverage. He dug his ten fingers deep into the cement wall, his body arched in an extreme position, like a cheetah ready to launch an attack at any moment.
At this moment, a swish, an arrow flew towards the red-haired girl.
Most of the red-haired girl's attention was focused on the burly man, so she could only create the most basic flame defense against the incoming arrow.
A small flame barrier formed in the arrow's path, but its defensive capability was too weak. The arrow only suffered a slight loss of speed before continuing towards the girl.
As the flame barrier shattered, the red-haired girl, connected to it, was momentarily distracted.
Immediately, she summoned another flame barrier with a dramatic change in her expression. However, at the same time, the burly man, who had been preparing to attack, also launched his assault.
"I told you not to aim for her chest, what if you damage it? That experience would be downgraded by several notches!" The sword-wielding young man, known for his quick wit, commented as he nudged the guy beside him.
The burly man's hands curled into claws, and judging from his previous ability to penetrate the cement wall, a direct hit on the red-haired girl would probably result in a gruesome injury.
Seeing this, the red-haired girl clenched her teeth and retracted her unfinished flame barrier just in time. Before the burly man could make contact with her, she created a sudden wall of flames in front of her. The scorching heat instantly incinerated the arrow, successfully repelling the approaching burly man.
However, the exertion clearly took a toll on the red-haired girl, and her face turned pale. It seemed that this move had drained a significant amount of her energy.
"Come on!" The red-haired girl shouted, her voice filled with determination. "I can't kill all of you, but taking down one of you is more than enough!"
The three men exchanged glances, and the girl's words seemed to make them hesitate.
"This girl has a point. What if she self-destructs and blows big brother to pieces?" the sword-wielding youth said, shaking his head.
"Fine, let me handle it. It'll be a satisfying experience while it lasts," the archer behind them pulled out an arrow from who-knows-where and nocked it on his bowstring.
"Ugh..." the burly man, known as big brother, clicked his tongue and turned his head away.
The red-haired girl was left dumbfounded by their conversation. What had she just heard, those devilish remarks?
However, that wasn't important. What mattered was that behind those three men, a familiar face was making hand signals.
The meaning of those signals was clear: Keep big brother and the unarmed youth occupied?
The red-haired girl lowered her head calmly. "You want to provide long-range fire support? Do I look like an easy target to you?"
With her body coiled like a spring, the girl suddenly burst forward.
The sword-wielding youth shouted, "Defend!"
The burly man turned around, positioning himself in front of the unarmed youth. The sword-wielding youth summoned his sword once more and charged towards the girl.
"Suppressing fire!" The sword-wielding youth shouted, expecting a rain of arrows to come down. However, what he heard was an unexpected thud of something heavy falling.
Chu Tian had been preparing for this moment for a while. His Ice Path talent silently approached the archer. At the precise moment when he was about to launch his attack, Chu Tian's Steel talent instantly froze the archer's hands, rendering them immobile. Chu Tian then climbed onto the burly man's back, freezing his spine completely stiff with his Ice talent.
Afterward, Chu Tian swayed and leaped towards the bewildered archer. With the addition of his Steel talent, his fists mercilessly struck the frozen hands of the archer, shattering them.
He dealt with one... no, two. Chu Tian turned back to find the sword-wielding youth lying motionless on the ground.
Cracking sounds could be heard as Chu Tian was alerted. He immediately focused on the burly man, who was agile and formidable. Chu Tian didn't dare to underestimate him.