"So, he shouted at this moment."
"Clink!" Who would have thought that as soon as those words were spoken, a terribly piercing sound would ring out. It turned out to be a rustling commotion as a bunch of elves charged in from outside.
Thirty-two human-shaped bowling pins attack!
Not appearing sooner, not appearing later. They had to show up right now?
Lu Muyan wondered.
Yet at that exact moment, he heard Yuni say, "Your Highness, you go first."
Naturally, his heart leaped into his throat. Lu Muyan deeply felt that he was about to be abandoned. After all, he was some distance away from Yuni and the others.
"No." Ambrose refused.
Giving Yuni an extremely disapproving look, he said, "If we leave, we leave together. I'll go over first and fish the bead out."
Only then did Lu Muyan set his mind at ease.
Unfortunately, this rescue operation specifically targeted at him was not going smoothly.
It was easy to throw the bead, but how difficult was it to pick it up! Especially since Ambrose had thrown him right into the middle of the lake.
And so, watching Ambrose jump down from the lake shore, swim for quite a while, and still fail to reach him, Lu Muyan grew anxious.
"Oh my, does he have to be so slow! Host, just wait, I'm coming!"
And Zero, at that very moment, came running toward the lakeside with a pattering sound.
With that, he transformed his outfit and leaped in with a splash.
It was a swimsuit styled after a merfolk. Two pink little seashells sat atop his chest, and the lower half was a one-piece fish tail.
At first, Lu Muyan was slightly struck dumb—just jumping into the water, did he have to choose such a bizarrely aesthetic outfit?
Yet he soon discovered that Zero's outfit came with a built-in speed bonus. Having entered the water later than Ambrose, he actually swam much faster than him. Before long, he reached Lu Muyan's side.
"Host, I'm better than him, right?"
With an expression begging for praise, Zero scooped Lu Muyan up into his hands.
"Mhm."
Lu Muyan was just about to speak when he heard Ambrose, who was following closely behind, suddenly shout at the top of his lungs, "Watch your back!"
At that moment, with a whoosh, a silver arrow flew straight toward Zero's spine.
"It's that elf from the entrance." Catching Lu Muyan, Ambrose said in a deep voice. As he spoke, he pointed at the elf who had drawn a bow and arrow.
"Mhm."
Lu Muyan instantly turned solemn.
So while Zero patted his chest, relieved that it had been a false alarm, Lu Muyan controlled the water currents, turning them into ropes to bind the assailant's hands and feet.
"Pretty impressive."
Seeing the opponent's weapon drop to the ground, leaving him completely unable to resist, Ambrose praised Lu Muyan.
Yet Lu Muyan did not lower his guard.
"Help! Someone's trying to break out of prison!"
Because following that shout from the bound elf, he noticed something. Every single tree in the prison was emitting a blinding green light at the very same moment.
"I have a bad feeling about this."
Lu Muyan said. No sooner had the words left his mouth than he discovered he truly possessed a talent for jinxing things. The very next second, more elves indeed came pouring in one after another from the entrance.
"One, two, three... Oh my god, there are so many!" Zero counted the number from the side, growing more and more alarmed the higher he counted.
"Can you tie them all up?" Ambrose was practical, asking directly if Lu Muyan could handle it.
"I suppose so," Lu Muyan stammered, feeling flustered inside. After all, his experience wasn't very extensive, and he couldn't guarantee success.
Fortunately, it worked. The elves who entered later were all bound one by one, and Lu Muyan heard Zero let out an obvious sigh of relief.
"It's not over."
Ambrose, however, was frowning deeply.
It turned out he had discovered that while Lu Muyan's water-current binding worked well on a single elf, it didn't work on a whole group.
Sure enough, with Lu Muyan unable to attend to everything at once, one of them had broken free and escaped, hadn't they?
"Looks like I need to rethink my approach." Seeing the blue-skinned elf blocked by Yuni at the entrance, Lu Muyan said.
Not a single idea regarding a new attack method existed in his mind.
What should he do?
Yet at that exact moment, Lu Muyan suddenly heard Zero gasp in surprise as the elf who had been wrestling with Yuni tumbled to the ground.
Huh, he fell?
Lu Muyan stared at that elf, and for no apparent reason, an idea suddenly popped into his head.
Ice.
So, rubbing his body against Ambrose's palm, he suddenly asked, "Do you know how to ice skate?"
Ambrose didn't understand the reason, but nodded: "I do."
"What about Yuni?"
"Of course."
"Then there's no problem." Lu Muyan suddenly grew confident.
Naturally, Ambrose was curious: "What are you going to do?"
Then he found that while he was speaking, Lu Muyan had already frozen the surrounding lake water entirely solid!
"This is..." Ambrose looked at the ice surface in shock.
Then he heard Lu Muyan say, "Doesn't it look like a large skating rink?"
"It does..."
Not only did it look like one, but even the "students" were ready!
You see, Lu Muyan had specifically controlled the range, so he and Zero, who were still in the water, remained unaffected.
The elves who had just entered were miserable, however. Caught completely off guard, they tumbled about in dizzying succession.
Ambrose thought to himself.
Then he heard Lu Muyan speak up suddenly once more: "Alright, let me ask you another question. Do you know how to play bowling?"
"What is that?"
"A ball sport."
"Similar to?"
"Pins are lined up in a row, and they fall down wherever the bowling ball reaches. The more you knock down, the higher the score."
"Never played it."
Ambrose shook his head honestly.
Then Zero chimed in: "Elf-style bowling? Wow, wow, how fun! I want to play! I'll change clothes in a moment!"
Lu Muyan refused: "No, stop messing around and melt into my body as points of light."
Only then did Ambrose, who had originally been clueless, understand.
Were they planning to use the elves as balls? For a moment, his heart surged with excitement, and he grew eager to try.
Except: "We don't have a tool."
He said. Then he saw right before his eyes that the arrow that had terrified them earlier appeared once again.
"Use that."
It turned out that when Lu Muyan had frozen the ice lake just now, he had conveniently modified the arrow along the way.
The arrow was now covered in a thick layer of square-shaped ice, making it exceptionally suited to act as a skating tool.
Everything was ready. Ambrose was brimming with spirit.
And so: "Let's go!" With these words, the elves' "unlucky hour" was officially declared to have begun.
Thirty-three Escaping the Elf Race Prison
"Ambrose, to the left!"
"Got it."
"Host, host, I want to push that elf over there, make Albu go that way!"
"Zero, stop making a fuss, Albu, to the right, he's escaping, hurry."
"Understood."
……
The elves had never imagined there would come a time when they would be as fragile as infants, manipulated and pushed around at will.
Ambrose's posture was versatile, as agile as the wind. Guided by Lu Muyan, he was like a tiger that had grown wings.
Treading on the "sponsor-funded" arrow, mere passage beside them produced terrifying consequences.
"Ahhh, no, I don't want to go to the right!"
The elf with long, curly seaweed-like hair wore a look of terror, yet he was utterly helpless.
He could only watch in despair as he bumped "bang" into his companion, sending the other stumbling as well.
As they fell, the two elves rolled together into a tangled mass, spinning along like a snowball.
Every bump added to the momentum. Just like that, one after another, a third, fourth, fifth... companions were dragged in, and one by one, they all met with misfortune.
"So fun! Hahahaha, hahaha!" Zero laughed uncontrollably at the sight.
Ambrose curved the corners of his lips and said, "There's more."
It turned out that initially, he had simply followed Lu Muyan's instructions in a conventional manner, sliding up to an elf and pushing him over.
Later, having thoroughly grasped the true essence of the sport of "bowling," he had self-taught himself to develop even more fun out of this game.
Such as knocking down the first elf and having him roll toward the rest—a snowball-like split-pin method of play.
After doing it once or twice, it was fun, but after playing too many times, he found the operation too simple and utterly lacking in challenge.
And so at this moment, looking at the dizzy and disoriented elves on the ice surface, Ambrose suddenly felt like trying to hit what Lu Muyan called a "strike."
That would definitely be interesting. Ambrose thought to himself, growing eager to try.
With the principle of sharing with those close to him, he opened his palm and brought Lu Muyan, who rested in his hand, close to his lips.
The words slipped out: "Playing all by yourself is too boring. If you could turn into a human like your Zero, that would be great. Then we could play together. The cooperation with you just now was really enjoyable. I think it would also be a lot of fun if the two of us played a match, competing to see who could knock down more elves in one go."
"Ahhh! Why leave me out? I, I want to play too!" Zero felt it looked quite fun, so he abandoned all principles, jumping up and down on Lu Muyan while his pentagram flashed on and off.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Lu Muyan interrupted him: "No. Zero, stop making trouble, Yuni has been waiting for us at the entrance for ages."
Naturally, Ambrose felt let down.
A pivot, a tap of the foot.
He halted his sliding motion.
He raised the hand holding Lu Muyan close to his lips: "Caring about Yuni so much? I thought you'd think my technique was pretty good and want to watch a bit longer."
"It is indeed good." Lu Muyan praised him quite sincerely.
Then he analyzed matter-of-factly: "But we don't have much time. Who knows if more elves will come in from outside? We were supposed to be leaving the elf prison in the first place."
Thinking about it this way, it seemed to make sense.
Ambrose's pretty purple eyes flickered.
Though he felt a bit regretful, he still agreed: "Alright, you're right."
"You guys, wait, no, you can't!"
He heard the elves lying on the ground behind them shouting.
Even with bruised and swollen faces, they were unwilling to let Ambrose leave. Tsk, one could say they were extremely dedicated to their duties.
Ambrose, however, had no time to deal with them.
The ice surface Lu Muyan had created was super effective. Waiting in place for a moment, they discovered that no matter how hard those elves struggled after falling, they couldn't get back up at all.
Having made up his mind, he nudged Lu Muyan, and with a clear conscience and a swaggering stride, he walked out of the elf prison together with Yuni, who had been waiting anxiously at the door for nearly ten minutes.
"Huffle, huffle!"
Perhaps Yuni really had been waiting anxiously just now; as soon as they stepped out of the prison gates, Ambrose found himself led into a hurried dash right behind Yuni.
Yet perhaps because it had been a very long time since Ambrose had engaged in such strenuous exercise, Lu Muyan, clutched in his palm, felt the beads of sweat oozing from Ambrose's palm.
Absorb them. This was an instinct.
Only afterward did he feel a twinge of regret. But right at that moment, as the other changed his gripping posture, Lu Muyan discovered he could see the surrounding scenery.
They had arrived at a corridor.
There were no elf pursuers behind them now, so Lu Muyan could quietly take a good look at his surroundings.
Taking this look, he realized something. True to being praised by Zero as an elf race passionate about art, even a mere passageway was designed with such magnificent and exquisite detail.
They walked upon solid, smooth marble. Around them, not only did the ceiling conceal intricate and gorgeous dark-gold patterns and motifs, but the walls were also lined with all sorts of sculptures and portraits.
"It's really pretty here."
Lu Muyan heard only Zero's sincere exclamation.
"Mhm."
Lu Muyan nodded, his gaze fixed on the windows.
At regular intervals, a transparent floor-to-ceiling window could be seen.
Their presence in this corridor was practically the most inconspicuous thing, yet to their traveling party, they were so precious and rare.
For no other reason than that this was probably the only means they could find so far to leave.
Yet unexpectedly... looking outward, what met the eye was a continuous expanse of pristine white clouds. Just looking at it made his legs turn to jelly.
Lu Muyan: ……
It seemed not long ago, he had been mocking that someone for jumping down from such a height... was it weird?
Now, would someone please tell him what other method existed besides jumping to get this done? Lu Muyan grew conflicted.
Author's Note on Going Premium
Going premium, going premium!
Even Lan Miao has a day when her book goes premium; the world is truly fantastical.
As an author whose work is entering the VIP tier for the first time, my primary feeling is, of course, happiness! However, I also know that some little angels will be leaving. The rest is mostly sorrow.
……Yeah, really.
Believe it or not, every single day, every recommendation, every comment, every snarky remark is the driving force behind my updates. Your encouragement and support, and your companionship all along the way—I have always seen them in my eyes and kept them in my heart.
Writing is actually a very difficult task, especially for me.
Sometimes when I hear the kids in the group bragging again, "I wrote 3000+ words today," oh, the envy... I hope I can also become a kid who writes 3000 words a day in the future (eagerly daydreaming about the future).
Sometimes I'm rather dull, and my replies to everyone's comments are all fixed templates. "Okay," "Thanks," "Mwah," the language looks rather cold, which has resulted in people not liking to comment as much nowadays.
Here I solemnly explain, it really, really is a misunderstanding!
Actually, whenever I get a comment, I generally turn around and go brag to the kids in the group. Especially tips! When I saw that tip last time, I jumped up and down in my room, spun around three times, and immediately went back to writing.
Sigh, writing 1500 more words at a speed of 300 words an hour... I really am working hard, you know!
Hahaha, I've strayed far off topic.
Let's talk about the work itself.
"Every Time My Form-Shifting Frenzied Hubby Flirts with Me" is my debut work. As a work themed around leveling up through writing, with transformation as its feature and cuteness point, combining non-human, Western fantasy, and other elements, its subject matter is actually very, very niche!
Especially since the protagonist's first transmigration turned him into nothing good other than a drop of water (sigh), he was teased about it so many times back then, laughter.
Yet I still wrote it because I liked it.
I remember before starting the story, a good friend asked me why I wanted to use Western fantasy as the background. She expressed that if it were modern or historical, the collection count would probably be slightly higher.
This is what I told her. I like elves, I like merfolk, I like treants, I like magic, and I like all sorts of dreamy and fantastical things that only appear in fairy tales.
So I had to write it! I absolutely had to write it~
Then the result... well. Were you a bit disappointed?
(Refusing to admit I wrote too poorly, cross this sentence out!)
Hahaha, anyway, the last time I chatted with Liuli about tackling trending themes (Liuli writes brotherhood themes, and her writing is super awesome!), I genuinely hesitated for real.
Although later... later lying in bed, tossing and turning, I decided forget it. But I did develop a tiny bit of greed for data-related things.
If the collection count could be a bit higher, that would be great.
If the revenue could also be a bit higher, that would be great.
Five cents per thousand words really means nothing to many people. Perhaps twenty yuan is just the price of a cup of milk tea for you, dear. But to me, it can truly let my story go very, very far.
Heart sending.
Ah, I've blabbed so many words without realizing it! Random chatting should stop here anyway. In any case, thank you to every little angel willing to accompany me all the way. And I hope we'll all still be together until the story ends!
Mwah mwah!
Thirty-four Aggressive Spectating and Counter-Flirting
Yet he was jolted back to reality by Zero.
"Ahhh, Host, you need to make a decision quickly! Anyway, you're not the one jumping, what are you afraid of! If you hesitate any longer, we really won't be able to escape!"
It turned out that at this moment, those lingering elves had appeared once again.
Led by the twin elves, this time they not only brought the troublesome Duwa, but even brought the Elf King along as well.
Lu Muyan: ！！！
He instantly felt things were going badly. So at this moment, where was there any time left for him to hesitate?
Radiating cold air, he set to work freezing the closest cloud by the window. Then he had Ambrose jump up onto it.
"Alright."
Ambrose was extremely cooperative, nodding without the slightest hesitation as he climbed up the window.
"Stop right there!" How could the crowd of elves let them escape so easily right before their eyes?
Especially the Elf King. Frowning deeply, he teleported instantly to the window: "Get back to your cell."
He used vines.
Slender vines popped out from all over the window frame. At first glance, they looked startlingly like tentacles. Pervading everywhere, they looked extremely difficult to deal with.
"Hey, Ambrose, watch out!" Seeing that Ambrose was about to be bound, Lu Muyan grew extremely anxious.
He saw that Yuni, who had already stepped onto the cloud, had come back.
"Your Highness!"
Crying out loudly, he ripped the vines apart.
Allowing them to crawl up his arms, he gazed at the Elf King with an indescribable wariness in his eyes.
"Don't even think about using that trick you pulled on me on our Highness." Tensing every muscle in his body, he practically spat the words out through clenched teeth.
Although he wasn't a roundworm in Yuni's stomach, Lu Muyan could guarantee that the original intent of those words was extremely innocent.
"This... Even though His Majesty and you... afterwards threw you into the dungeon, His Majesty really doesn't toy with people's feelings!"
Yet for some reason, one of the twin elves, recalling the scene they had witnessed in the bedroom, misunderstood.
What was going on? Their king... oh god!
And so the misled elves all stopped in their tracks. Alternating their gazes between the Elf King and Yuni, they collectively wore expressions of utter disbelief.
"Aiyi, in front of His Majesty, you dare to talk nonsense like that?" Naturally refusing to believe it, Duwa glared over with a dark expression.
Aiyi puffed out his cheeks in defiance: "I did no such thing! What I saw... right, Your Majesty?"
Nod. If he just nodded, the misunderstanding would be cleared up! All the elves were thinking this.
Yet they discovered that, as usual, the Elf King remained coldly silent.