Love from the Male Protagonist’s Harem

Chapter 16-Before and After the Upgrade

Translated by Snowfall77

[Ding! Material Inspection In Process!  Inspection Complete!  The Five Materials Are Correct.  Puppet Synthetization Is Proceeding.]

[Synthetization Is Completed!]

[Congratulations To The Host For Acquiring The New Skill Of Puppet Synthesis!]

Tilting her head, a green gleam flashed through Xia Ge’s deep violet eyes.  Next a panel appeared before her sight with a written description of her newly acquired skill.

[Puppet Synthesis-Basic Compounding.]

[How To Use: After Materials Are Collected, Silently Mouth Skill Name.]

[Proficiency: 0/1]

Xia Ge: “……”

Despite her acting like a dead salted fish, sometimes even Xia Ge had to admit that the system made life easier.

Putting the materials into a small pile, Xia Ge inwardly mouthed: {puppet synthesis}.

The materials on the table started changing before her very eyes!

A glittering, translucent ball of light slowly formed, gradually covering all the gathered materials.  Then, bit by bit, it floated up until it hung midair.

[Ding! Puppet Synthesis·Basic Compounding Proficiency 1/1]

[Ding! Congratulations To The Host For Refining A F-Class Liuli Puppet!]

Immediately after the system declaring the F-class Liuli puppet finished, the ball of light burst, and a palm-sized transparent puppet dropped onto the table with a soft ‘pow.’

Xia Ge’s eyes brightened a little, but her momentary happiness vanished the second she heard an urgent knock on her door!

Outside the door,  Ye Ze called in a highly anxious voice: “Xia Wuyin!”

Pupils abruptly shrinking, Xia Ge readily swept the new puppet off the table and into her sleeve: “Ye Ze?”

[Ding!  F-Class Puppet Successfully Refined—Congratulations To The Host For Upgrading!]

[Puppet Apprentice→Puppet Master]

[Title Of Marionette Acquired.]

“I heard the village was attacked by demon puppets, are you alright?  Open the door!”  Ye Ze still sounded deeply worried.  “Why do you keep living in this hovel?  Is that sickle in your roof from the puppets?  Aren’t you afraid at all that it’s going to collapse on you in the middle of the night?”

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“It’s fine, it won’t collapse,” Xia Ge kept her tone nonchalant, “Nothing happened.  Jianfeng’s people came right away, so stop fussing.  Why did you come down all the way down here this late?”

“I just finished my evening lesson.”  Slightly reassured that his friend was fine, Ye Ze’s voice lost its urgency, “It’s not midnight yet……Xia Wuyin, open the door.  You shouldn’t stay here tonight.”

Xia Ge looked sideways into her bronze mirror next to the window.  By the dim candlelight, in the yellow-orange blur of the glass, a young man showed, black hair messily tied back with an emerald ribbon, and enchanting deep violet eyes set above delicate cheekbones.

It was still in effect.

She absolutely could not let anyone else see her eyes until {soul capture} was gone.

“I’m not opening it.”  Xia Ge spoke lazily, softly poking a few holes in the paper of her window to let some shining moonbeams in.  Then she walked back to her bed, taking out the dagger that was under the pillow.  “That sickle is valuable, so I have to stay here tonight.  I don’t want to wake up in the morning to find someone stole it away.”

Ye Ze: “……”

Restraining himself, Ye Ze made an offer: “Why don’t you stay in my place tonight and I’ll go back up the mountain.”

“No, that won’t work.  No one would be watching if you fell asleep.”  A corner of Xia Ge’s mouth quirked up, as she decided to deliberately tease Ye Ze: “When people from Lingxi come, I’ll tell them I was in my hut the whole time.  And, as a result of this sickle falling from the sky onto my roof, they’ll give me a large compensation for my emotional distress.”

Ye Ze’s face darkened: “If your roof caves in on you tonight, the sect will certainly pay for funeral costs.”

Quickly cutting through the bed sheet with her dagger, Xia Ge took the strip of cloth and wound it around her violet eyes, lackadaisically saying: “Ah, Brother Ye is right, Brother Ye is so intelligent.  When that time comes, let the funeral expenses be allocated to Brother Ye.  Many thanks to Brother Ye for his kindness and good-treatment of the past five years.”

Ye Ze: “……”

He didn’t want to accept the funeral cost for this bastard one bit!!

Blindfolded and seeing only pitch-black, Xia Ge listened to her own voice: “Just go back up the mountain.  It makes me tired, watching you always coming and going.  Sure, there was a puppet-attack, but your little brother didn’t lose even a hair on his head.  So stop worrying.”

Moonlight flowed down from the night sky like limpid water.

Pursing his lips, Ye Ze leaned silently against the shabby wood door.  He raised his head to gaze at the bright moon, staying quiet.

Xia Ge was wondering the reason for Ye Ze lurking there speechless on the other side of her door, when finally Ye Ze’s low voice sounded again: “I heard about something……Today, there was an outer disciple with a green headband, who knows what peak he belonged to, but he bit off more than he could chew and tried to save someone.  They said he almost died underneath a demon puppet’s sickle.”

An eyebrow slightly raising, Xia Ge thought to herself: “My, news travels fast.”

“Xia Wuyin, I know it was you.”

Ye Ze’s voice came faintly through the door: “As soon as I heard, I knew it was you.”

Xia Ge feigned astonishment: “Brother Ye, I never knew I was such a righteous and brave person in your eyes!”

……who else in Lingxi Sect wears a green ribbon except you, bastard?!

A vein throbbed in Ye Ze’s temple, but he tried to endure: “Do you know what I find most bothersome about you?”

Xia Ge’s tone turned even more incredulous: “Brother Ye, do I annoy you?”

Thump!  Ye Ze kicked the front door: “Xia Wuyin, can you stop being so self-righteous for one minute?!!”

The dilapidated door mercilessly fell open.  Perhaps it was because his qi was unstable or maybe because he’d run down the mountain in great haste, but the young man still dressed in Danfeng’s white clothes was panting a little and his face flushed red.

Under the wide sleeves of her hemp garments, Xia clutched the puppet in one hand, cold sweat dripping from her palms.

琉璃[liú li]

glaze; azure stone; coloured glaze