Lisa looked at Xuefeng's shining, golden eyes and suddenly felt as if something got stuck her in throat.
"I…" Lisa tried to speak but nothing came out.
Xuefeng expression changed when he saw her hesitating and muttered sadly, "So you don't want to go… I understa—"
"No!" She finally coughed up a word, quickly shaking her head. "It's not that. I really want to go with you. I don't want to be left alone for three years... It's just… that I…"
This time she didn't have any problems speaking. She was just embarrassed, her rosy face changing to a darker shade of red.
Xuefeng seemed to caught up on that and questioned, rubbing on her arms to cheer her up, "What is it? You know you can tell us anything."
Lisa gazed at him anxiously and finally closed her eyes, expressing herself clearly, "I don't know how to fight…"
She didn't open her eyes as she dove into his arms, confessing, "I have never fought, neither I faced a beast… I spend my life studying pills so I know I will be useless for you guys… I don't want to ruin your expedition or drag you down…"
"At least she is sensible. Don't worry, three years is not that—" Drakos commented, causing her heart to hurt and her hug to tighten.
Smack!
Before he finished speaking, she heard the sound of a slap and Yiren's scolding voice as she bashed at Drakos, "Little Blue! Do you want a beating?!"
"Au! What do I do?! I'm innocent!" Drakos argued right away but Yiren didn't have it, smacking him once again. "Apologize now!"
Xuefeng seemed to be upset as well as she could feel his heartbeat speed up. He embraced her tightly, pressing her cheek against his chest as if he tried to protect her. Lisa immediately forgot what just happened as she spaced out in his arms, enjoying his hug.
"I'm sorry…" Drakos apologized with his voice shivering.
Lisa opened her eyes, curious of the scene and saw Yiren's eyes shine brightly, glaring at the blue dragon.
"Yiren, can you take Drakos for a little walk?" Xuefeng asked seriously, sounding a bit irritated.
"Nooo! I already apologized!" Drakos shook his little head and started running, getting away from Yiren but she ran after him.
"Little Blue! Come with big sister!" Yiren commanded yet Drakos didn't listen, running away from her across the room. "No! I will be good now! I promise!"
Yiren stopped chasing and called out his name more sternly. "Little Blue."
He finally stopped running and slowly dragged his feet to her, his head down. It seemed like Yiren could actually control the dragon which made Lisa admire her new best friend even more. The two left to the balcony and Xuefeng returned his focus back onto her.
"Don't listen to him. You will not drag us down, don't worry," Xuefeng assured her, lifting her chin so that she would look at him.
She didn't know why but those words made her even sadder as she knew the truth. "I know I will… You don't have to cheer me up…" Lisa muttered with a deep sigh. "All I know is making pills…"
Out of nowhere, Tianshi came up to them and confessed while patting her shoulder, "Lisa, I also don't know how to battle well."
Huh?
Lisa got surprised, thinking all of them were perfect. "How come?" she asked curiously.
"Everyone in our group is skilled in different things." Tianshi explained simply and started recounting as she pointed a finger at each of them.
"Xiao Wen, Shan and Wuying are our front line fighters. They enjoy melee battles with their weapon but they are also skilled with their elements. They are our main attacking power."
"Yi is a sword master so she battles mainly with her sword, making it four of us who focus on attacking."
"Me and Yiren are not really experienced in fighting but we are great supporters. We stay at the back line, assisting everyone else but we can also attack from range if there is a need."
Caressing Xuefeng's cheek, she added, "Nuwa and Xuefeng are flexible as they can act on both lines. Everyone found their own place. You just need to find yours."
"Hmm…" Her words made Lisa think a little, trying to figure where would match.
She liked Yiren and Tianshi the most so she pleaded, "Can I join you two as support…?"
Tianshi smiled at her softly and nodded, "With pleasure. That would make the three of us."
Feeling like she needed to add something of value, she added eagerly, "I know many antidote Pills so if anyone gets poisoned, I can heal them."
"See? It wasn't that hard," Tianshi hyped.
"I can also create harmless pills that can boost your strength. Most of them lose properties after some time so they can only be consumed few hours after creation. I can make them on the spot," Lisa added, showing a smile herself.
"Yes, that would be amazing," Tianshi agreed, making Lisa even happier. She wasn't useless after all.
"I can also make explosive and poisonous pills that will blow up any beast!" Lisa called out excitedly. "I can do all of it!"
This time Tianshi didn't say anything and only smiled knowingly as if saying, 'I said you can do it.'
Lisa let go of Xuefeng and hugged Tianshi instead, saying genuinely, "Thank you Tianshi. You a great."
She helped her understand what she can bring to the group which helped her regain back her confidence. "Xuefeng, I want to go with you guys. I will be useful," Lisa announced happily, causing him to cheer up as well.
"Perfect. This means no one will be left behind," Xuefeng concluded, turning to the rest. "You know what are we going to do whole day to celebrate it?"
"What?" The girls asked excitedly.
"We will train, obviously." Xuefeng replied with a grin, causing them to sigh.
Before anyone complained, he questioned, "What do you think we would do? We will leave in two days. Did you all finish your training and master all elements?"
"…"
Based on their faces, Lisa could see they didn't finish it.