Another day passed similarly and the day when Leo was supposed to meet with Clarice arrived. He decided that he wouldn't bring Daphne with him yet, but he would tell them about her and see if they were okay with her joining him.
He still hadn't decided whether or not she was ready to join him since she had just started using a bow and arrow. He still hadn't seen her make an impact on even a normal animal, much less a 2nd Circle Magical Beast.
He got ready and went to the hall. Daphne was waiting there, thinking they would go out to the forest again.
"We are going to go later, not now. I will be back in around 2 hours. Okay?" He said to her.
She was confused. "Why? What are you doing?" She asked.
Leo explained to her his plan to hunt a 2nd Circle Magical Beast. She heard this and immediately started questioning him.
"Why do you want to hunt a 2nd Circle Magical Beast? That has to be the dumbest idea I have heard in my life. You are just a 1st Circle Aura Knight, right?" She asked.
"Stop pressing me this much. You aren't even part of the plan. I have my needs for the Beast Core. That's it. Now, I have to go or I will be late," he said. He avoided all of the questions she asked because he didn't have the answers to them.
He left the house quickly by giving that excuse and walked to the inn he goes to normally. He was planning on being a little early to check in with the owner.
When he got there, he saw that there were small amounts of damage around the inn but everyone who was entering the inn was ignoring it. The sign board for the inn was missing half of its board and one of the lamps was broken.
He entered the inn and saw the normal casual environment he usually did and decided that the damage was just a few drunk adventurers going overboard. He walked up to the front to talk to the owner.
Before he even got there, he saw Lily. She saw him and walked toward him.
"Hi, Leo! How are you?" She asked him.
"I'm doing good, Lily. How are you? And do you know where your dad is?" He asked her.
"Why do you want to meet my dad? He's in the back though. I can call him for you." She said.
She went to the back and came back with the owner. She went back to her job of serving people drinks. Leo looked at the owner and started talking with him.
"So, Mr-"
"Just call me Miller," the owner cut him off. Your money helped me a lot. I was able to get my wife back and now business is a little better so I am able to get by. Thank you so much."
Leo smiled awkwardly. "It's nothing. I was going to check with you about what happened, but since you said everything is fine, what is the damage outside?"
Miller's smile turned into a frown.
"That? That is because the Blacktooth Gang was here. They came in and a lot of them got very drunk. They were angry because one of their squad leaders got killed," he said.
"Squad Leaders?" Leo asked.
"Yes. They only have 6 Squad Leaders, and one of them was killed a few days ago. The entire Blacktooth Gang became a little edgy because they don't know who killed them. But rumors are around that it's a mage. Obviously, it's just a rumor. What would a mage be doing in the slums of Solhaven?" Miller said.
"Also, did you have anything to eat yet? Anything you have here is on the house," Miller added.
Leo was still processing the information. The reason the rumor spread out must be because someone drunk from the Blacktooth Gang spilled it. That means that they figured out it was a mage. He looked at Miller.
"Oh, okay," He said. He wasn't paying a lot of attention because he was deep in thought. As he was walking to get a table, he heard a voice calling him.
"Leo!"
He looked up and saw Clarice and Evelyn near the entrance. He waved at them. He walked to an empty table while they were walking toward him and sat down.
"Hello, Clarice. Evelyn." He greeted them.
"Hello. Did we keep you waiting?" Clarice asked.
"No, I had some work here beforehand," he said. "Do you guys want to order anything?"
They both shook their heads.
"We already ate. We came just to talk about the hunt. We want to do it." Clarice said.
Leo became serious. "Are you sure? This is going to be incredibly dangerous and I want the Beast Core." He said.
Clarice nodded. "I was a Late-Stage 1st Circle Aura Knight until recently. I passed a minor bottleneck and I am now a Peak-Stage 1st Circle Aura Knight. To go to the next level, I have to take an elixir."
Leo was curious. "Elixir?"
"Yes," she said. "The Thousand Treasure Tower sells an Aura Gathering Pill for 50000 Star coins. One of them would just help with practice, but if I take two of them consecutively, I can definitely gather enough aura to form my second circle. Right now, I only have 80000 Star coins saved up. I need this hunt to hit that number quicker." She said.
Leo was confused. He had easily made 150000 Star coins over 3 months. Why was she struggling to save 80000 Star coins? After all, she had been an adventurer for so many years.
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A/N: I would greatly appreciate comments about the story at any point. I would also appreciate reviews.
If you like the story, then please consider voting with power stones.
:) Thanks. Have a great day.
"Wait. Why do you not know this? Did you break through to become a 1st Circle Aura Knight without even using an Aura Gathering Pill?" Evelyn asked him.
Leo was confused by the question. Since Daphne had reached the 1st Circle without needing anything, he thought that was the norm. He nodded.
"Wow, you are incredibly talented. I thought that you were able to become an Aura Knight because you were rich and could afford so many resources. Who would have thought that you are this talented?" Clarice said.
Evelyn clarified. "Both of us had to use Aura Gathering Pills to reach the stage we are at now. It took us a long time to reach our stages because we had to buy them at every point. With 4 people in our team, after each hunt, we only get 40000 Star coins together. And we only go to the forest once a month."
Everything started to make sense to him.
"It was probably just luck. But I have a suggestion. How about I buy the rights for the Beast Core now?" He said. He was trying to divert the topic but also had a really good idea.
"What do you mean?" Clarice asked.
"We still have 3 weeks before we are trying to go to the forest. That means if you breakthrough in the next 3 weeks, we have a higher chance of killing the Magical Beast, right? So all I have to do is give you 20000 Star coins and you can purchase the two pills that you need and try to break through." Leo said.
Clarice thought about it for a second.
"You barely know us. Why would you risk that money like that?" She asked.
He shrugged. "You guys look trustworthy enough. So what do you say?"
They looked at each other and nodded.
"I think we can do it. Do you want a written note? Like a loan agreement?" She asked.
Leo shook his head. He took his pouch out and took out two crumpled notes. Both of them were from the Squad Leader he had killed, but they didn't need to know that.
"Here you go," he handed the notes to them. "I don't need a note. Just the Beast Core. Everything else is yours. Even the materials."
Clarice took the money and quickly put it into her pouch. Leo decided that it was time to talk to them about Daphne.
"I also have a friend who might join us on the hunt. She is very new to the forest and hasn't done anything like it before. She just became an Aura Knight and started learning how to use a bow. If she becomes good enough, do you think she should join us?" He asked.
They both nodded.
"Yes. Ranged Support is always good. Obviously, if she missed her arrows so badly that they hit us instead, then we won't recommend it. But without Lucas' arrows, the Magical Beast isn't as constricted. Another archer is welcome," Evelyn said.
Leo nodded. "Perfect. She isn't ready yet, but hopefully, she will be by that time. Is there anything else we need to cover?" He asked.
Clarice shook her head. "No, I think that's it. All we need to do now is just meet up a few days before we are planning on going out to the forest and get everything we need for that then. Sounds good?"
He nodded. "Yes, perfect. Can you put a date on it? It is a while from now, after all." He asked.
"Sure. How about, 20th December?" She asked.
"Yes, that works. I'll see you then." He shook their hands and waited for them to leave. Once they left, he also got up to leave.
Lily saw that he was leaving and stopped him.
"Wait, you didn't have any food." She said.
"It's okay. I'll get some food sometime later. You have fun." He said. He stood up and walked out. In his mind, he was making plans.
If an Aura Training Pill did make it easier to train in Aura, it would be better for him to just buy one for him and Daphne. He would finally test whether he could actually train in Aura or not with that. But to do that, he would have to go back to the forest consistently.
Now that Daphne was also an Aura Knight, it was harder to justify going to the forest alone. After all, she would need supervision to go to the forest to train. Now that the forest had a lot of Magical Beasts, it was more dangerous.
But with Daphne present, he wouldn't be able to use his magic. He could try to cover it up but it would take a lot of effort to do that and it would make it a lot more difficult for him to kill Magical Beasts like that. He would also have to explain what he was doing with the Beast Cores as well.
He decided that he would try to sneak out, leaving her in the outskirts and quickly killing a beast or two before coming back that afternoon to see if he could do it consistently. If she got good enough at using her bow, she could give enough help that he wouldn't have to use his magic that much.
He reached the house earlier than he had expected. It was still around 12:30, and he had left only an hour ago. He went into the house and saw Daphne walking around, waiting for him. She saw him come in and jumped in excitement.
"Can we go now?" She asked.
Leo nodded. "You are too enthusiastic for this." He said.
"I love the bow. I picked the right weapon for me." She said. "Who are you to deny my happiness? You are some weirdo who thinks it's a good idea to go after a dangerous Magical Beast for no reason." She retorted.
"If you knew the shit I pull every day..." he muttered under his breath.
"What was that?" She asked.
"Nothing. Let's go."
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A/N: I would greatly appreciate comments about the story at any point. I would also appreciate reviews.
If you like the story, then please consider voting with power stones.
:) Thanks. Have a great day.
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