Hearing the rewards Leonel was given, everyone who had been looking toward him in shock suddenly went green with envy.
They had all been here when the Merlin Trial moderator had said that Leonel could stand to receive ten times the rewards should he succeed in passing this Random Event. However, seeing it displayed before them now made them feel as though their innards were being twisted with countless little blades.
So what if the reward had a multiplier to it? In order to benefit, Leonel would have had to survive, and none of them believed that he would do so.
Yet, not only had he survived, but he had only returned with barely over half a dozen people. Of the over 40 that went, so little actually returned!
King Arthur abruptly stood, his gaze turning red as he looked toward Leonel.
No matter how he swept his gaze, no matter how many times he double and triple checked… Lamorak was gone! His brother in arms for so many years, one of the 12 men he trusted his whole life to… gone!
He didn't fall during war, nor beneath a siege of demons or the hands of Modred… but he fell to the hands of a boy that didn't even have to be their enemy!
King Arthur's chest heaved, but it had a slowly, rhythmic beat to it. He looked like a beast suppressing his strength, using all of his will to temper down his rage as he stared daggers toward Leonel.
At that moment, an unconcealed kingly might exuded from his body. It was the kind that left those who were too weak stifled. Any lesser man or woman would fall to their knees. However, everyone here was an elite of the elite. Even if they felt pressured, they could forcibly withstand it.
That said… they couldn't say the same if they were the target of this pressure like Leonel was. Yet, the boy stood there and met Arthur's gaze with his own, remaining expressionless. He didn't say any words of taunting nor bravado, yet his presence alone seemed to be enough of a slap to the face.
To Leonel, this was what King Arthur deserved.
A pillar of blinding golden light descended upon Leonel from above. He couldn't bother to care for King Arthur's emotions anymore and could only focus on accepting this reward.
Much like all his other rewards, this recovery reward had a ten times multiplier as well. This singular reward was as good as receiving ten Perfect Evaluation rewards, so Leonel would take full advantage.
He circulated Merlin's meditation technique. With each rotation, he felt his Force and Soul Force become more compact and sturdy.
In the past, even when he sent his Internal Sight into his body to monitor his Nodes, he would only see faint wisps of Force. It couldn't be helped. His Force Nodes were measured in lengths of singular cells. The fact he could sense Force at all was a testament to how talented his sensory abilities were.
But now, Leonel could sense a heavy flow within his body. Though it wasn't as exaggerated as turning to liquid, what it did become was a thick fog.
Leonel realized that this thickening not only increased the amount of Force he had, but also made it easier to control. He no longer had to rely on a faint sense of where his Force was and what it was doing. It was now as bright as day to him.
In addition to helping him meditate, this reward was a great help toward healing his lingering injuries. Though [Grand Heal] was excellent, it hadn't been able to completely solve all of Leonel's troubles.
In fact, if Leonel thought about it, it actually did much more for him than he thought it would. He could only chalk it up to his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor.
This aside, this reward helped him not have to worry about hidden injuries. And, as an added surprise, Leonel realized that the injury of his body followed by the thorough healing of it actually helped the Urbe Essence within his body to fuse with him even better. He felt that he was already faintly reaching the peak of the Standard Stage and might even have another breakthrough soon.
Just the Standard Stage alone was enough for Leonel to resist Lamorak's barrage for several minutes and that was without activating his Runes. He couldn't even imagine what would happen if he broke through again. Would it even be possible for anyone within the Third Dimension to hurt him at all?
'Just a little more, just a little more…'
Leonel had no idea that others were looking toward him with a bit of fear in their eyes.
While he was completely focused on accepting his reward and compressing his Force so that he would have enough assurance to form his Tenth Node, others were looking at him like some sort of monster.
They could all tell that Leonel was in the process of compressing his Internal Strength, but that was exactly what made them shudder. To receive the reward was one thing, but to be able to accept it was an entirely different matter. Was this boy's body made of metal?!
However, Leonel didn't know about their worries, nor would he care even if he did know.
Normally, it took decades of meditation to reach Lamorak's level not only because meditation was slow, but because it took time for the body to acclimate to thicker Force. However, Leonel didn't need this acclimation time. After all… he was a scion of the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.
𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢
A violent surge of wind kicked up around Leonel as he took a deep breath and opened his eyes. For a moment, his irises seemed to shine with a bright light before dimming back down to their usual pale green.
Then, without sparing those watching him a glance, he used one of his Special Store Tickets and disappeared. Since he could hide his purchases from them… why not? It might give him a small edge for a while. After all, there was no other archer even close to his level at the moment.
When Leonel entered the Special Store, he was faced with an immediate dilemma.
He had 100 000 skill points right now, 470 000 if he converted all of his slaughter points and 570 000 if he converted all of his star points as well.
The question was whether he should buy the goddess necklace he was eyeing before or not…