Three wooden shield hilichurls were something Amber definitely could not handle alone.
Fortunately, she had two helpers with her.
"We use Baron Bunny to draw their attention, then rush them and take them out from behind in one go."
Amber whispered her plan.
"Hold on, Amber."
Jensen stopped her just as she was about to throw Baron Bunny.
"Is there a problem?"
Amber asked quietly.
"No. I mean, let Lumine try first."
Jensen said.
He had noticed how relaxed Lumine looked, how she clearly did not take the three wooden shield hilichurls seriously at all.
She had probably lumped these enemies together with the hilichurls near Mondstadt.
The problem was, the ones inside this temple were stronger, powered up by the dragon's influence. You could see it in their levels.
But it was hard to blame her. He was the only one who could actually see those numbers.
"Me?"
Lumine had already been itching to move.
The Favonius Sword appeared in her hand. She took a short running start, then leapt down from the platform, bringing the sword down in a heavy strike toward one of the hilichurls.
"Haah!"
The hilichurls panicked instantly.
In a hurry, the targeted hilichurl lifted its wooden shield over its head.
Steel struck wood with a solid thud. Lumine bounced back a few steps from the recoil, eyes widening slightly.
The Favonius Sword was clearly sharper than her old blade, and she had added the momentum of the jump on top of it. So why had the blow failed to cleave through the shield of a mere wooden shield hilichurl?
Even if it could not cut through the shield, that impact should at least have numbed its arm enough that it could not hold on, right?
"Hilichurls have different strengths too?"
In the blink of an eye, Lumine figured out the answer on her own.
She looked up toward the platform above.
It was obvious now. Jensen had stopped Amber's plan and sent her to try first precisely so she would understand this.
"The ley lines in Teyvat are constantly affecting the creatures on the surface. Those that absorb more ley line energy become stronger."
Up on the platform, Jensen spoke like he was giving a lesson. "Besides the ley lines, places like this temple of the West Wind Eagle are soaked in the dragon's power. Creatures here can absorb that too, becoming even tougher."
"Got it."
Lumine nodded.
She held the sword across her chest, watching solemnly as the three wooden shield hilichurls moved to surround her.
If it were only one, she could handle it...
"I am throwing Baron Bunny. Lumine, fall back while they are distracted."
Amber's voice rang out.
A red plush rabbit dropped from the sky and landed right in front of the hilichurls.
They immediately turned their attention to Baron Bunny, hacking away at it wildly with their clubs.
They completely ignored the foe who had already slipped behind them.
"Palm Vortex."
Lumine stretched out her hand. Anemo gathered in front of her, spinning into a field of cutting wind. The three hilichurls, totally unguarded from behind, were shredded by the elemental blades.
Up ahead, Baron Bunny exploded at just the right moment.
Anemo and Pyro intertwined and spread out in a violent burst. The shields and clubs of the hilichurls, along with their bodies, were all swallowed by the flames and reduced to ash.
Some of the scattered fire washed over Lumine as well, leaving faint scorch marks on her clothes and skin.
Jensen and Amber dropped down from the platform.
Lumine lowered her head beside him and said quietly, full of shame, "I will be more careful from now on."
If she had been alone without companions today, she would probably have paid dearly for underestimating the enemy.
"Good."
Jensen ruffled her hair, telling her not to dwell on it, then turned to Amber. "Use Baron Bunny less from now on."
"Why?"
Amber asked, baffled.
Baron Bunny was one of her biggest trump cards and had so many uses. In the past, there had been plenty of missions where Baron Bunny distracting enemies had literally saved her life.
"To train your archery."
Jensen's tone was serious. "Until your archery is properly honed, try not to rely on Baron Bunny to pull aggro while you stand still and shoot wildly."
He continued, "With charged shots, even if you cannot hit weak points every time, you should at least reach a fifty percent hit rate while moving."
"Huh?"
Amber yelped. "Charged shots, and while moving?"
As a Pyro user, charging meant condensing flame into her arrows.
That requirement was way too strict.
By the time she had finished charging, the monsters would probably be in her face. Once they rushed her, she would panic, and once she panicked, her hands would start shaking.
And he still wanted her to hit weak points...
"If you are scared, just have me accompany you on assignments. I will be watching your back, so nothing will happen to you."
Jensen said.
Sure, a lot of people in Teyvat treated Amber as nothing more than a living torch and gadget specialist.
But in the hands of a good FPS player, she was absolutely hard carry material.
Her innate talent was sniping.
Weak point hits were guaranteed crits.
Which meant Amber did not really need critical rate gear. She only needed to stack crit damage, and repeated weak point shots could even stun enemies for brief periods.
The condition was that she had to hit those weak points every time.
This was not the first time Jensen had seen Amber in battle in Teyvat. He had run into her a few times out in the wild, so he knew her long standing weaknesses well.
He had just not planned on actively training her back then.
Now that Lumine was in place and he could finally start his cultivation plan, he was naturally going to raise the bar for Amber too.
"Jensen suddenly got so strict."
Paimon muttered off to the side.
"It is for our own good."
Amber thought it sounded impossible, but if it was coming from Jensen, it meant it could be done.
She had a strange, unshakable confidence in him. The man who had driven off countless vicious bandit gangs was worth trusting, to say the least.
If anything, the fact that he was being this strict with her made her secretly very happy.
She had been acting so eager since they entered the temple precisely because she wanted to show herself in front of him.
While the three of them were talking.
From the place where the hilichurls had vanished, mysterious streams of energy rose and drifted over, one thread each entering Lumine and Amber's bodies.
"What is this...?"
Lumine clenched her fist, feeling her strength swell slightly.
"This is the dragon's power and the ley line energy I mentioned."
Jensen said, "When monsters die, that energy would normally return to the environment, but since it was you who defeated the hilichurls, it gets absorbed by you first."