Chapter 14: Soul Crystal!
Cloaked in stealth, Leo slowly crept toward the maddened orc as it swung its cleaver blindly. But getting close wasn't easy—each swipe of the orc's weapon tore through the air with lethal force.
Shyra, hidden nearby, could only watch and was unable to help further. Her mana had already been drained from maintaining her stealth skill for a long time.
"Tch…" Leo clicked his tongue, crouching low behind the brush. "This isn't working."
Then an idea struck him.
He glanced at Shyra. "Make some noise—anything!"
Shyra gave a sharp nod and began hissing loudly.
The orc's head snapped toward the source of the sound, and with a furious roar, it charged and swung its cleaver toward her.
That was Leo's opening.
He appeared behind the creature like a phantom, knife glinting faintly under the dim light.
Gripping the handle tightly, he drove the blade upward into the base of the orc's skull—the weakest part of the bone.
But the beast didn't fall completely.
It thrashed wildly, trying to grab Leo off its back.
"HAAAAA—JUST DIE!!!" Leo roared, forcing the knife deeper with all his strength.
A sickening crunch echoed, followed by a still silence.
Then, the system chime echoed in his mind.
*****
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level 3 – 86/169 (The next level requires 30% more XP than previous)
+8 Unallocated Stat Points
*****
"Yeahhhh!! I killed it! And even leveled up twice!" Leo yelled, panting heavily as adrenaline surged through him.
But his stamina bar blinked dangerously low.
Stamina: 0.2/2.2
"Shit…" he muttered and quickly got to work.
He began extracting the orc's core. Beside it, he found a faintly glowing crystal.
"Great!" he grinned.
This gaze then shifted to the boar the orc had been dragging.
"I guess this one's mine now… hehe," he said, grinning ear to ear.
He crouched beside it, knife in hand, and began cutting into the boar's chest to extract the core.
From its size, he could tell—
A High 1★ beast.
Unfortunately, there was no mana crystal.
But as he tried to pull his hand back, his fingers brushed against something solid.
Frowning, he dug deeper and yanked it free.
It was a crystal—glowing green instead of red.
"Soul Crystal!!" Leo gasped, his eyes widening. He had overheard others talk about these before, rare treasures that could be found only once in a hundred beasts.
"And it's from a High 1-star beast…"
Without a second thought, he swallowed it whole and sat cross-legged, letting the energy surge through his body.
A few minutes later, he opened his eyes.
Intelligence: 1.2 → 3.6
Mana: 22/96 → 214/288
(Mana recovery rate = half of Intelligence stat per minute)
"This… this shot up by more than two points!" he muttered, his jaw dropping. "No wonder these things are so damn expensive…!"
He wasn't exaggerating. Even a low-tier Soul Crystal, like the one Leo had just absorbed, could sell for over a silver. High-grade ones? They were easily worth gold at least.
Beside him, Shyra stared at the boar's core, her eyes gleaming, drool nearly threatening to slip from her mouth.
Leo noticed and smiled softly. "Here you go. Without you, this wouldn't have been possible."
He tossed the core to her, and she devoured it greedily.
Almost instantly, he sensed the change.
Shyra (Low 1★) → Shyra (Mid 1★)
Her muscles rippled as fresh power surged through her body. The ambient mana rushed toward her, and she even seemed to have grown slightly larger.
*****
Stats Updated!
Vitality: 1.2 → 2.5
Strength: 2.3 → 3.1
Agility: 3.2 → 3.8
Stamina: 0.3/2.2 → 1.0/2.9
Intelligence: 3.6 → 4.0
Mana: 215/288 → 247/320
Unallocated Stat Points: 8
*****
"She reached a higher minor realm! And the feedback is incredible!" Leo exclaimed, scooping Shyra joyfully into his arms and spinning her around.
Chain Bond: 82% → 85%
Shyra purred softly, nuzzling his neck, clearly enjoying the attention and love.
"Hahahaha! This is great!" Leo laughed, his voice echoing through the forest.
Then his gaze drifted toward the fallen beasts. "Hmm… orc meat probably sells far more than boar meat. But I want both…"
A new idea struck him.
Scanning the area, he soon spotted exactly what he needed—a thick slab of tree bark.
"Perfect."
He tore it off carefully. It looked like a crude sled, just without wheels. "Good… this will work."
He then placed both the corpses onto it, stacking the orc over the boar, then grabbed one end of his makeshift sled and started dragging. With his Strength above three, he barely felt the weight slowing him down.
By the time he reached the city gates, the guards were already staring at him. One of them stepped forward, blocking his path.
"You killed those?" the guard asked, his brows raised.
Leo simply nodded and flashed his Copper badge.
The guard examined it, then gave him a long, incredulous look. "Don't you have a family to share and celebrate the good news with? Most new Beast Masters spend an entire month celebrating before going on their first hunt…"
It was true. Normally, new Beast Masters spent their first month celebrating and training their beasts with their families, supported by the Empire's stipend of five silvers—a token of honor for their awakening.
But Leo?
He had gone hunting the very same day.
Scratching the back of his neck, he smiled awkwardly. "I guess I was just… excited to try things out."
The guard sighed, half impressed, half confused. "You're a strange one," he muttered, then waved him through.
As Leo dragged his haul inside, the guard's eyes lingered on the corpses.
Damn… he must have a pretty high-level Soul and seriously good talent to hunt beasts like those, the guard thought bitterly.
Most guards were only Common-ranked Beast Masters—or ordinary men who had earned their posts through connections. None of them would dare step beyond the city walls to face real beasts.
Watching Leo disappear into the streets, a flicker of envy crossed his eyes.
Meanwhile, Leo kept walking forward in a certain direction, drawing numerous glances along the way. People stared, some in awe, others with barely hidden greed.
After all, most common folks rarely saw beasts up close. A hunted orc and boar was a rare and interesting sight. Some even eye the corpses with greed, maybe for the meat of the corpse itself.
But no one dared to act.
Anyone who was capable of hunting such things was definitely not someone they could provoke; if they did anything the person didn't like, he could easily deal with them.
So they maintained their distance.
After a while, Leo finally arrived at the place he had been looking for.