Leo didn't go to the forest immediately.
He had no money for proper equipment — no armor, no provisions, nothing. But he could use the remaining time to make sure he'd perfected the body-strengthening spell.
For the rest of the day, he cast the spell again and again, pushing his limits until Daphne came back from her own work. Once she returned, he stopped and forced himself to rest. During the night, instead of practicing, he chose sleep.
He would need every drop of energy tomorrow.
---
The next morning, he left along with Daphne.
Unlike before, his satchel wasn't all torn up. He'd gotten a new one — because he needed to carry the herbs carefully. The satchel had three separate compartments, one for each herb he oped to find. It was ambitious. Maybe too ambitious. But he needed to do it.
The only other thing he carried was his knife.
The knife was the only purchase he'd ever made with his savings that wasn't food. He'd bought it a year ago, and this would be the first time he'd use it properly.
Daphne split up from Leo at the edge of the market district to look for work. He went straight to Trevor's stall. He wanted to confirm — face to face — that Trevor would actually give him the money.
Trevor saw him coming from halfway down the street. He smiled.
"You're leaving today?" he asked. The satchel hanging on Leo's shoulder was a dead giveaway.
Leo nodded. "Yes. I wanted to make sure our deal was still on."
Trevor brought out his hand.
"Let's shake on it. I won't go back on my word."
Leo gripped his hand and shook it firmly. Then he turned around and set out for the forest.
Behind him, Trevor shouted a piece of advice.
"Aim for their eyes! They go down if you can reach their brains!"
Leo raised a hand in acknowledgment without looking back. He appreciated the advice.
He hoped he wouldn't need it.
---
He walked toward Valkyr's Forest at a steady pace. While walking, he focused on steadying his breath, calming his nerves one step at a time.
This would be the biggest job he had ever done in his life.
And the most dangerous.
So he was naturally, incredibly nervous about it. His heart hammered against his ribs with every step that brought the tree line closer.
"Obviously, nothing could go wrong," he muttered to himself.
He chuckled darkly at his own jinx.
---
He reached the outskirts of the forest and decided he should use the body-strengthening spell immediately.
While practicing the previous day, he'd discovered that his body could only sustain the spell for two hours. After that, he would need a full hour to recover before he could cast it again. His body simply didn't have enough mana capacity to hold it any longer — not yet.
He closed his eyes. Drew in a breath. Released the spell.
Power surged through his muscles like warm fire spreading through cold wood. His limbs felt lighter, his senses sharper, his grip on the knife handle suddenly iron-tight.
With this new strength flowing through him, his confidence swelled.
He stepped into the forest.
---
For the first thirty minutes, he was just walking — moving deeper, pushing further than he ever had before. His enhanced body carried him at a pace slightly faster than usual, and the trees grew thicker and taller around him with every passing minute.
But something felt wrong.
He hadn't encountered a single animal. Not one. He hadn't even seen a normal hare or heard a bird call. The forest was eerily silent, as if every living thing in the area had fled — or was hiding.
Then he saw why.
In front of him, nestled among a patch of green grass, was a magical herb.
It was an orange-colored plant with wide, flame-like leaves. Tiny embers dripped from the edges of those leaves, falling in slow motion like sparks from a blacksmith's forge. The herb was a similar height to the Glimmer root, but it was far brighter — it practically glowed in the dim forest light. The embers didn't seem to burn the grass beneath it, which gave him some hope it wouldn't burn straight through his satchel.
His pulse quickened.
He immediately drew his knife.
The reason wasn't the herb itself. It was what the herb implied. He knew — from Trevor's descriptions and from simple logic — that a valuable herb like this would have a beast that had claimed it as its own territory. That had to be the only reason no other animal could be seen anywhere in the area.
Everything had been scared off.
His senses sharpened as adrenaline kicked in, flooding his veins like ice water. Every sound in the forest became louder. Every shadow became a potential threat.
He scanned the surroundings methodically.
The only animal powerful enough to claim an entire area like this would be either a natural predator at the top of the food chain — or a magical beast. But magical beasts only cared about herbs in the Inner Valkyr's Forest, where the plants were far more potent.
He was currently in the Outer Forest.
The previous time he'd ventured in, he'd barely entered the outskirts — hardly considered part of the real forest at all. The only reason he'd even encountered that wolf was probably that it had been exploring the edges and chanced on his scent.
But this was the Outer Forest. Dangerous animals were far more common here. Only Apprentice Aura Knights and above were strong enough to explore this area safely.
And Leo was a malnourished thirteen-year-old with a dull knife and a borrowed spell.
He swallowed hard.
---
He looked around, and found his opponent. It was sleeping in the shade of a thick-trunked tree, positioned so the herb remained in its direct line of sight. Even at rest, the beast radiated danger.
A tiger.
Its orange-and-black striped body rose and fell with deep, steady breaths. Muscles rippled beneath its fur even in sleep. It was massive — easily large enough to kill him in a single swipe.
It probably hadn't eaten the herb yet because it was waiting for it to mature even more. The longer magical herbs grew, the more potent their effects became. The tiger was patient.
Animals that consumed magical herbs had a chance to evolve into true Magical Beasts. Their bloodline played a part in the transformation, but magical herbs made the chance significantly higher. If this tiger ate that herb at full maturity, it might become something far worse than what it already was.
Leo stared at the sleeping predator and felt his mouth go dry.
But he also knew — with absolute certainty — that his best shot was a sneak attack.
Right now. Before it woke up.
He didn't approach the herb directly. He refused to walk toward it while facing the tiger head-on. If it woke up while he was out in the open, he'd be dead meat. Literally.
Instead, he circled wide, moving around the herb from the side. He wanted to come at the tiger from an angle it wouldn't expect. And if the surprise attack failed — if the knife didn't finish the job — he'd at least maintain the high ground and have a path to retreat.
He crept forward, gripping the knife so tightly his knuckles turned white.
Closer.
Slower.
Each step was deliberate. He placed his feet with excruciating care, rolling from heel to toe, minimizing every sound. A snapped twig would end him. A shuffled leaf could wake the beast.
Ten feet.
Eight feet.
Six feet.
At six feet, he knew he couldn't move another inch without alerting the tiger. The distance was too close. His next motion would create noise no matter what.
This was it.
He took one deep breath. Held it. Let the adrenaline settle into his muscles instead of scattering his thoughts.
One second of perfect stillness.
Then he launched himself forward.
His enhanced legs drove him off the ground with explosive force. He closed the gap in a single bound, bringing the knife down toward the tiger's skull with every ounce of strength his spell-reinforced body could generate.
The blade wasn't sharpened properly. It was old, chipped, and dull.
But with the body-strengthening spell driving his arm, it didn't matter.
The knife punched through bone.
It sank deep into the tiger's skull with a sickening crunch. Leo felt the impact shudder up through his wrist, into his elbow, all the way to his shoulder.
A soft, pitiful whimper escaped the tiger's throat.
Its massive body twitched once.
Then it went still.
---
Leo stumbled back, chest heaving. His breathing was ragged and loud in the sudden silence of the forest. The adrenaline in his body had peaked so hard that his hands were trembling, the knife almost slipping from his blood-slicked grip.
He stood up straight. Forced himself to look at what he'd done.
The tiger lay on its side, motionless. Blood pooled slowly beneath its massive head. Its eyes were half-open, already glazing over. Dead.
He'd killed it.
He — a scrawny, underfed boy from the slums — had just killed a tiger.
Leo turned his gaze from the limp body to the glowing herb behind him. The orange leaves still dripped their slow, beautiful embers into the grass.
His mouth curved into a smile.
"One down."