Chapter 49: Heavenly Guardian Aura

While unable to provide medical aid, as espers, they could absorb external abilities to mend their bodies, acting as both energy and nourishment, which was highly effective for rapid recovery. With no other options, Yuexi resorted to this method to alleviate Li Nianlong's suffering.

Yuexi had given Li Nianlong a month's worth of her ability just last month and had only recently recovered, but for his sake, she unhesitantly extended her finger again, pouring her energy into him.

With a finger in his mouth, Li Nianlong instinctively sucked, and a surge of immense energy flowed into his body. Yue Chang, noticing Yuexi's increasingly pale face, felt a pang in her heart and steeled herself, extending her own finger and inserting it into Li Nianlong's mouth. Thus, two streams of energy, one cold and one hot, flooded Li Nianlong's system.

"Abnormal energy detected within the host's body, preliminarily identified as fire energy. System automatically initiating energy decomposition... Decomposition complete. Decomposed energy converting to experience points... Conversion complete. Experience points integrating... Integration complete. Congratulations, Host has gained 100,000 experience points."

"Abnormal energy detected within the host's body, preliminarily identified as mutated ice-water energy. System automatically initiating energy decomposition... Decomposition complete. Decomposed energy converting to experience points... Conversion complete. Experience points integrating... Integration complete. Congratulations, Host has gained 145,000 experience points."

"Experience points full. Level up! Congratulations, Host has leveled up to Level 20. Skill 'Heavenly Guardian Aura' acquired. Access level increased, obtaining Level 2 privilege - Training Grounds unlocked. Level up, level up, level up, level up. Congratulations, Host has leveled up to Level 24."

Five consecutive golden lights flashed over Li Nianlong's body, instantly dispelling all negative states. His consciousness returned to normal. Seeing the Yue sisters, each with a pale face and worried eyes, offering their fingers to him, Li Nianlong was nearly moved to tears.

245,000 experience points, a full five-level boost, was the result of each sister sacrificing two months of their abilities, especially Yue Chang, perhaps compensating for Yuexi's greater 'sacrifice' earlier, inputting an extra 45,000 experience points. Thus, each sister had now given up three months of their abilities for Li Nianlong.

Such a tremendous sacrifice, solely to alleviate his suffering, how could Li Nianlong not be deeply touched?

Noticing Li Nianlong had stopped vomiting, the Yue sisters looked relieved. "Big Brother, how are you? Can you get up?"

Li Nianlong nodded, subconsciously licking the fingers in his mouth. A jolt of electricity traveled from their fingertips to his heart, causing the girls to hurriedly withdraw their fingers, their cheeks flushed as they lowered their heads, shooting him a shy yet reproachful glance.

Li Nianlong felt awkward too and quickly got up from the ground. Seeing the vomit on the floor and on himself, the acrid smell made his brows furrow, but he didn't rush to shower or change. Instead, he turned around, his gaze icy as he stared at the two thugs with an aura of killing intent.

The two thugs were simultaneously startled: This kid... his aura is even stronger than before! Did he hold back earlier?

They guessed wrong; Li Nianlong hadn't held back. The five-level increase, along with the improvement in his attributes, had brought about the change, not to mention his new skill – Heavenly Guardian Aura.

Heavenly Guardian Aura (Initial Stage 0%): A layer of aura shields the entire body, increasing defense by 100%, effective for 1 minute, with no cooldown time, consuming 50 True Qi points per use.

To speak of it, Li Nianlong still didn't know what his defense stat was. In games he'd played before, the four basic stats were generally Strength, Constitution, Agility, and Intelligence.

Strength determined attack power, Agility decided movement and attack speed, Intelligence influenced magical attacks and maximum mana, and Constitution determined defensive capability and health points.

The Dream System gave Li Nianlong four very peculiar attributes: Strength, Speed, True Qi, and Wisdom. Strength determining attack power was logical, and Speed could be interpreted as movement and attack speed, but True Qi and Wisdom seemed redundant. In ordinary games, there was usually no True Qi, replaced by Mana, and if Wisdom was understood as Intelligence, then it was the attribute that determined how much Mana one had, making True Qi entirely out of place among the four basic stats.

Yet, the Dream System did it anyway. Fine, it did that, but why not provide a defense value? If there was no defense value, why were there defensive items in the store?

Moreover, the knee strike from the one-legged thug had incapacitated him at Level 19. Compared to strength, speed, and such, his defense seemed too weak! So, Li Nianlong's suspicion that the Dream System was defective wasn't without reason.

But what could he do about it being defective? At least it gave him a chance to grow stronger, to have hope for revenge. Even if it was defective, even if it had many drawbacks, Li Nianlong would use it without hesitation. Besides, wasn't the system now giving him a skill to increase his defense?

A 100% defense boost was a skill that became stronger the stronger he got, and this was just the initial stage with four more advancements possible. Li Nianlong could already envision a bright future.

"Stop!" Seeing Li Nianlong preparing to act, the woman at the door immediately shouted, stepping forward quickly. "It's a misunderstanding, stop fighting!"

"A misunderstanding?" Li Nianlong looked at the woman. She appeared to be in her early thirties, dressed in a stylish light gray suit, exuding maturity, elegance, and an air of authority.

Recognizing the woman, Li Nianlong was astounded. "You're Shao Meiyun!?"

This woman was likely known to every citizen of Tianfu. She was the interim head of the Liu Family after the bloody incident at the Liu residence – Shao Meiyun!

Realizing Li Nianlong knew her, Shao Meiyun smiled slightly. "Yes, it's me. And you must be Li Nianlong! It was just a misunderstanding earlier. They are responsible for protecting me. If they did anything wrong, I apologize on their behalf." With that, she bowed. "I'm sorry."

For the ruler of the Liu Family to bow and apologize to a commoner like him was a display of utmost humility.

Li Nianlong's expression eased slightly as he said, "I'm unworthy, but may I ask, Miss Shao, what brings you to my home?"

"There are some matters I wish to confirm with you in person," Shao Meiyun replied, looking around. Noticing some elderly people strolling nearby glancing their way, she whispered, "Can we discuss this inside?"

Li Nianlong knew this wasn't the place for a conversation and also wanted to clean himself up. He nodded and said, "Please come in."

With that, he led the way into the villa, followed by the Yue sisters. Only Nalan Ruyue stayed behind, handing Shao Meiyun the phone with the freshly composed message.

Shao Meiyun glanced at it: We require an explanation and compensation.

She lifted her eyes to meet Nalan Ruyue's gaze and smiled faintly before returning the phone. "I will provide a satisfactory explanation and compensation. Shall we discuss this inside?"

Nalan Ruyue nodded and walked back into the villa first.

"Miss Shao..." The one-legged thug, supported by the other, wore a remorseful look. "I didn't know he was Li Nianlong..."

"There's no need to explain," Shao Meiyun interrupted him, turning to the other thug. "You take him to the hospital immediately. We'll talk about the rest later."

"But Miss Shao's safety..."

"Hehe..." Shao Meiyun smiled lightly. "Li Nianlong is so capable. With him here, I'll be fine. Go quickly, don't delay his treatment."

"Yes." Remembering Li Nianlong's imposing presence, the thug no longer objected. He helped the injured man into the car and drove off swiftly.

When Shao Meiyun entered the villa, she neither saw Li Nianlong nor the Yue sisters. Only Nalan Ruyue sat before the sofa, clearing away the cooled tea but not replacing it with hot tea.

Shao Meiyun gave a wry smile, realizing this was a subtle reprimand. Under different circumstances, she might have stormed off, but now was not the time for anger. She approached Nalan Ruyue and asked, "Ruyue, where are Menglong and the others?"

Nalan Ruyue shot her a glance, typed a few words on her phone: Brother has gone to shower. Please sit down. I'll go check upstairs.

After showing the message to Shao Meiyun, Nalan Ruyue rose and headed upstairs, leaving Shao Meiyun alone in the spacious living room, feeling quite awkward.