Chapter 9: Lost in the Sound of "Teacher"
Facing Lyall's questioning gaze, Emilia's eyes, glistening with tears, shifted uneasily.
"Don't come find me again."
Lyall patted her on the shoulder. "Just for your own good. If you don't want to get into conflict with Shia, you two still have a long road ahead."
"Lyall, you..."
"I'm leaving."
Lyall adjusted his hat.
With his departure, Emilia's pupils slowly contracted.
Your dream?
Just relying on brewing?
What a joke.
...
"Teacher! Teacher! Wait for me!"
Lilith rushed up, her lake-blue eyes gazing longingly at Lyall, whose face was hidden beneath his hat.
"Are you also trying to extract value from me?"
"Huh?"
Lilith tilted her head. "If I meet someone powerful, and want to make them my teacher... is that considered exploitation? I can serve tea and water, anything!"
Lyall glanced at her ears, which weren't turning red.
The hostility on his face softened.
"You've written 'give me everything' all over your face."
Lyall thought for a moment. "I know a little about the elves, so I'm not too comfortable with you. I heard you like to study and experiment with... naughty things?"
Lilith: "Hah?! That's just a rumor!"
"But your ears turned red suddenly."
"I'm not lying!"
"Then why are you embarrassed when I mention it?"
Lilith quickly responded, "I'm totally against gambling and drugs!"
"And yellow?"
Lilith seriously raised her hand. "I, Huang Mou, am totally against gambling and drugs."
Lyall pursed his lips.
"Teacher, I'm really capable!"
Lilith got anxious. "Look, look! Every elf carries a unique fragrance from flowers and plants, which is perfect for warming up the bed before sleep. It smells amazing, super useful!"
"There's this thing?"
"Yes! And it helps with sleep! You'll sleep straight through the night, no waking up in the middle!"
"Wow, what is this, 'Sleepy Red Tea'?"
Lilith shyly pinched her ears. "I can only do so much... After all, you're a full-level life skill genius…"
Lyall looked at her for a moment.
"Kneel down and pay respects to your teacher."
Lilith's face slowly changed. "Right here?"
"Right here."
On the street, as a noble elf, kneeling in front of her teacher...
Ah...
Lilith's face showed an intoxicated smile: "Should I kiss your hand, teacher? Or maybe your shoe..."
Lyall's face turned black as he looked at her excited expression.
This is definitely not a problem with XP, right?
"Forget it…"
Lyall pulled out a key from his pocket. "I need an assistant. If you want to come along, you can, but don't touch anything."
Lilith felt a bit disappointed... oh no, she was actually a little happy.
Looks like, after seeing Lilith's charm, the teacher was starting to acknowledge her!
I'm the most charming elf in the whole tribe!
And the most seductive one!
Lyall took her through a few streets, finally stopping by a stone house. Oddly, this house didn't even have windows.
"This is a prison...?"
Lilith started to speak again.
Lyall interrupted her with a casual, "It's a lab."
As they entered, Lilith coughed lightly.
The smell was far from pleasant.
The table was covered with tiny glass tubes.
There were piles of cardboard boxes on the floor.
On the nearby wall hung papers full of strange symbols.
"Teacher... Is this some kind of evil god sacrificial site...?"
"Hmm, just go play for a bit."
Lyall casually replied, rummaging through the boxes for something.
I think it was here...
Lilith picked up a small ball from the table. It was bulging, as if something was inside.
She casually tossed it around, and it was actually quite fun.
"Be careful, if that little thing hits something—"
"What?"
The ball flew through the air in an arc.
Lyall said, "It'll blow us up beyond recognition."
Lilith froze, holding the ball tightly. Her face went pale.
"Something that dangerous, why keep it out in the open?!"
Lyall dug through the boxes and finally pulled out a low-temperature stove, a distillation container he had made himself.
In this world, the things in his mind were surprisingly usable.
Like alchemy—once he grasped the general concept, it turned out to be fundamentally just chemistry, the exchange process.
But he still couldn't reach the scholar path.
Because in high-level academies in Iofer, the materials from the textbooks never leaked out.
That's why he still didn't know the underlying logic behind scholar skills.
Lyall had gotten to level 44 of Moonlight Bloom purely with his own wits.
With the mind of a mere mortal.
He had almost crossed halfway up the divine stairway.
This method of skipping class and exploiting bugs, though despised by most, surely deserves a modicum of respect, right?
In the following days, Lyle went to the Oak Tavern.
He asked Wilson for two barrels of fruit wine that had already been brewed, and he could start right away.
Most of the alcohol nowadays wasn't great.
Fruit wines, watered-down spirits, etc., had low alcohol content, were both sour and sweet, and tasted a bit disgusting.
Lyle had actually been fiddling with brewing for some time.
By mixing alcohol essence and using aging techniques, he had managed to produce a few batches of decent wines, like mulberry and grape wines. To this day, only the ladies from the Moonlight Bloom had tasted them.
"Teacher! Teacher! Cake!"
Lilith, the young elf, ran in excitedly from outside.
To be honest, Lyle had almost started to lose himself amidst the constant calls of "Teacher."
This elf girl was incredibly enthusiastic, running back and forth to help out, really thinking of herself as an apprentice.
Occasionally, she would make some very basic, laughable mistakes and look up at him pitifully.
Would the teacher think I'm stupid and spank me?
But Lyle felt she was intentionally fishing for attention, so he didn't hit her.
Lilith sat on the floor, pouting her bottom, and propped up her face with both hands, curiously watching the low-temperature furnace burning inside.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed from the warmth.
Lyle sat nearby, eating a piece of cake.
The ingredients were rich, but it definitely wasn't delicious.
"Is it good? I had to run several streets just to buy this cake!"
Lyle chuckled.
He broke off half a piece and handed it to Lilith, "Want to know the secret to life skills?"
Lilith nodded as she chewed the cake, "Mm-hmm."
"I've told you before, the key to breaking through level six isn't in the skills themselves."
Lyle thought for a moment, "For example, when it comes to baking cakes, the key is to start from the fundamental logic of the process, improve and innovate, not just increase your baking skills and improve the appearance of the cake."
"What do you mean by 'fundamental logic'?"
Lilith blinked her eyes.
I think this cake is really tasty though?
"Where do you think people who are good at making cakes differ from you?"
Lilith hesitated for a moment, "The taste of the cake, hmm... maybe the amount of firewood and the timing? Different cakes need different things."
"That's experience, and it's also why others are at a higher level than you."
Lyle smiled, "But my approach is to create a furnace that can stably control temperature and time, and improve the yeast powder. You probably don't understand what I'm saying."
"The intuitive result is that the person who makes this cake has much better skills than me, but the one who has reached level six is me."
Lyle clapped his hands, "Think about it yourself."
Lilith stared blankly for a moment.
She turned to look at the low-temperature furnace.
Her mind buzzed.
The thought process of a scientist, the conceptual breakthrough.
The young elf's face showed a faint confusion, but it seemed like she was starting to understand something.
Teacher... is adapting the tools to fit the environment?