Who Says I’m Not a Legitimate Adventurer?

Chapter 57: Touch Causes Physical Changes in the Other Party

For some reason, ever since she had left Violet Academy and set foot on this land, she seemed to have awakened a strange ability.

She seemed able to perceive the fluctuations of other individuals’ souls through some peculiar method.

At their very first meeting, she had clearly sensed the disdain and pickiness emanating from her senior’s soul, as if every part of it was screaming the words “so troublesome.”

It had made her feel restrained and anxious along the way, even on the verge of tears.

But just a moment ago—

Her senior’s soul had changed.

That feeling… was like warm sunlight falling upon her in a winter afternoon.

Gentle, mellow, bringing an inexplicable sense of comfort and security.

It felt as though he was already prepared—whether she stumbled or retreated, he would steadily support her and lead her forward.

This warmth that came from the level of the soul dispelled the fear in Cecilia’s heart, along with her earlier worries, and gave rise to a surge of courage.I must get an excellent evaluation.

Cecilia took a deep breath and slowly extended the hand that had been gripping her strap.

That hand was still trembling slightly, yet it firmly grasped Lance’s large hand covered in a rough glove.

Lance clasped back and gave a slight pull.

With her eyes closed, like she was heading into some battlefield, the girl stepped into the mud pit.

“Plop.”

There was no sinking sensation like she had imagined. Beneath her feet was solid ground—aside from a bit of stickiness, there was nothing unbearable.

“Isn’t it simple?”

Lance’s voice sounded beside her ear.

Cecilia opened her eyes, looked down at her boots covered in black mud, then at Lance smiling in front of her.

Holding his hand tightly, she nodded with force.

“Mm!”

She nodded vigorously again, lifting her head to give Lance a bright smile.

Those ruby-like eyes seemed to say:

Senior, I did it.

The blue text on the retina flickered.

【Through touch, you have fully perceived the bodily characteristics of the Demi-Human Race · Half-Elf. Half-Elf Research Progress +2】

Lance expressionlessly glanced at the notification and directly ignored this system panel that seemed filled with inappropriate nonsense.

“You did very well.”

Lance did not immediately withdraw his hand after crossing the mire. Instead, he led her quickly toward the roots of those massive ancient trees.

Only after confirming the ground beneath their feet was solid did he release her hand and crouch down.

“Open your gathering bag and take out the small wooden shovel inside.”

Lance took out his tools from his waist pouch and spoke calmly.

“I’ll demonstrate a few times, until you understand.”

Cecilia hurriedly followed his instructions, crouching beside him like an obedient student, her eyes fixed on his movements without blinking.

“The mycelium of Moonlight Moss is very fragile, and it draws nutrients by attaching itself to humus.”

The wooden shovel in Lance’s hand precisely cut into the soil. He moved slowly, lifting the glowing moss together with a layer of black soil beneath it.

“When harvesting, you must do it like this—use the wooden shovel to bring up the humus below as well. Otherwise, the moment it leaves the soil, it will rapidly lose viability.”

As he demonstrated, Lance casually used the shovel to push aside a similar-looking plant nearby.

“Also, look here. This one with greenish dark spots on its roots is Acid White Mold. It looks very similar to Moonlight Moss, but it’s mildly toxic—it can cause redness and itching on the skin.”

“This is not Moonlight Moss. You must distinguish them carefully.”

“Mm!”

Cecilia nodded earnestly, committing all of this knowledge to memory.

As Lance placed the Moonlight Moss into the gathering bag, the number on the system panel flickered.

“Moonlight Moss (1/20)”

Lance glanced at the progress, then stood up and stepped aside, letting Cecilia try.

“You try.”

This was not just teaching—it was also an important test for him.

He needed to confirm whether, under this special party mode, a teammate’s gathering actions would also count toward his commission progress.

If so, then in the future, these tedious gathering tasks could be entirely delegated to teammates, and the efficiency would be astonishingly high.

Cecilia took a deep breath and gripped the small wooden shovel tightly.

She tried to recall the steps Lance had just taught her, carefully inserting the shovel into the soil.

However, her Agility was clearly weaker than Lance’s, and her control over strength was far less refined.

“Crack.”

A faint brittle sound.

Because the angle of her shovel was slightly off, a large portion of the mycelium was cut through, and the originally faintly glowing moss instantly dimmed.

She failed.

Cecilia grew so nervous that she stammered as she began to apologize, “S-sorry! I wasn’t careful. Please give me another chance!”

She only dared to sneak a small glance at her senior, afraid of seeing disappointment on his face.

But Lance simply watched quietly. Seeing how frightened she was, he realized just how much psychological pressure he must have put on this girl earlier.

He even began to feel a bit guilty.

He comforted her, “Failure is normal. When I first did it, my hands were less steady than yours.”

Within her soul perception, it was still that same warm feeling, allowing Cecilia to calm down.

Whenever she failed, she would always blame herself.

In the education of the Rosenthal Family—

Success was good, failure was shame.

In this world, many things had already been strictly divided into good and bad, right and wrong.

The boundaries were clear, and blurring them was considered a mistake that would lead to bad consequences—just like her own bloodline, which had brought trouble to many people.

It had brought trouble to her father and her family. Even this internship was, in part, because of her bloodline bringing trouble to her professor and her aunt.

Because of this, as she grew older, she became increasingly afraid of making mistakes, and increasingly lived within the expectations of others…

“Senior, this time I’ll definitely try harder.”

She bit her lip, chose another target, and tried again.

This time, her movements were much slower, almost grinding away the soil bit by bit.

Under her extremely careful handling, she finally managed to extract a complete piece of Moonlight Moss successfully.

Lance immediately looked at the system panel.

“Moonlight Moss (2/20)”

Seeing the number change, a satisfied smile finally appeared on Lance’s lips.

As expected—it worked!

However, how exactly the system determined teammates still needed further testing.

After the system’s previous biased treatment toward Demi-Human Races, he felt that its judgment regarding teammates was probably not that simple either.

That smile, in Cecilia’s eyes, became a tremendous affirmation of her efforts.

The tension on the girl’s face instantly melted away, her heart filled with encouraged joy.

Since the test was successful, there was no need to waste time.

“Not bad. Keep this pace.”

As he spoke, Lance also crouched down and joined in the gathering.

Otherwise, at her slower-than-embroidery pace, they’d probably still be here by nightfall before collecting all twenty.

Lance operated at full speed—several times faster than Cecilia.

Often, while Cecilia was still struggling with a patch of soil, Lance had already smoothly finished three or four.

By the time Cecilia finally managed to collect her fifth piece, Lance had already gathered all the remaining ones.

“Open your bag.”

Lance held a large pile of Moonlight Moss with humus attached and gestured to Cecilia.

These clumps of damp, soil-laden moss stacked together were quite heavy.

When Lance stuffed them all into Cecilia’s gathering bag, the sudden weight caused her body to sink sharply downward.

“Ah!”

Cecilia cried out, staggering a couple of steps, nearly falling into the mud.

Just as she managed to steady herself, she suddenly felt a cold, sticky sensation on her wrist.

A few drops of black sludge from the wooden shovel in her hand had slid down, landing precisely on the exposed skin between her glove and sleeve.

That slimy, disgusting touch instantly made goosebumps rise all over her body, freezing her in place.

Before she could even react to take out a handkerchief—

A large hand suddenly reached over.

At some point, Lance had already removed one glove. In his hand was a piece of rough grass paper soaked with drinking water.

Without the slightest hesitation, he directly held Cecilia’s arm and wiped the sludge clean.

His movements were smooth and swift, so fast that the girl didn’t even have time to react.

He knew that desensitizing and adapting to the environment had to be done gradually—handling sudden situations like this for her was better.

However, at that very moment, that familiar notification appeared once again.

【Through touch, you caused a physical change in the Demi-Human Race · Half-Elf. Half-Elf Research Progress +2】