Chapter 68: Natural Treasure - 1 Chapter 68: Natural Treasure - 1 At this moment, several oblivious instructors—those who had no idea about Leo’s situation—stormed straight toward the spatial mage responsible for the teleportations. It was clearly stated in the rules: no candidate was to be spawned directly near a high-level beast, to avoid losing promising talents before they even began. "W-wait! Hear me out first!" The 5-star spatial mage, normally superior in rank to the 4-star instructors, was in full panic mode. Rank meant nothing when a mob of furious colleagues circled you. This wasn’t a life-threatening situation—if it were, he could simply teleport away—but a social death? That was far worse. One wrong move here and every instructor in Thalor City would blacklist him for years. They confronted him because, as the one in charge of teleportation, he was required to know the exact location of every high-level beast in the region. His job was to avoid accidents... yet an accident had just occurred. "L-look! That was a soilworm! They’re infamous for their insanely fast tunneling speed. One must’ve wandered off from its pack and moved outside the designated zone. That’s what happened! I swear it’s not my fault—I promise over my friend Harold’s head!" he cried, grabbing the shoulder of the man beside him, supposedly Harold. Brant silently mused. Poor friend. Might die soon. Just then, Instructor Ravel stepped forward from behind the group. "Mistakes happen, my friends. Let’s not get worked up over it," Ravel said smoothly. "And it’s not like the candidate died, right? He actually killed it. This just proved he has the strength—and we may have identified a prospective genius." He covered for the spatial mage with practiced nonchalance. After all, he was the one who had secretly instructed the spatial mage to send Leo to a high-level monster in the first place. The mage shot him a look filled with pure gratitude. Ravel had paid him a hefty sum earlier—and now was even saving him from getting skinned verbally. The truth was, the instructors weren’t truly furious. It was plain jealousy over the fact that he was above them.Spatial mages were treasured by the royal family, pampered endlessly, allowed to cultivate in safe environments—so they often turned out timid. That timid nature made them easy targets. Even though the spatial mage outranked many of them, he still folded instantly under pressure, apologizing left and right. Seeing Ravel defend him, some instructors scoffed but eventually backed off. They were just about to disperse when the scoreboard flickered. KEo311 – 5000 → 10000 A ripple of disbelief spread across the clearing. Before they could even process it, the numbers shifted again. KEo311 – 10000 → 11000 "...11000... Two Peak 2-star beasts and one High 2-star beast," one instructor muttered, doing the math aloud. As if on cue, the compartment assigned to the candidate flared again. Through the shimmering portal, two more mutilated corpses dropped in, the bodies so large that they overflowed the compartment boundaries, spilling into the neighbouring ones. The retreating instructors froze.Slowly, every head turned back toward the spatial mage—their expressions a mix of suspicion, awe, and barely contained accusation. This time, even Ravel quietly stepped away from him. All the while, Ravel lamented the mage’s luck. Even he hadn’t expected the kid to actually kill a Peak 2-star beast—not only one, but two—followed by a High 2-star. And now the entire city square was staring at the man who "accidentally" teleported a candidate straight into a death zone. Because it was clear now—the Soilworm group that arrived completely mutilated belonged to one single pack. Even Brant was stunned. "This kid... is his soul-related talent really that powerful at 6-stars?" Brant muttered under his breath, eyes narrowing. "Even though our research on the soul is practically stagnant, it shouldn’t be this abnormal... Even that prince with an 8-star soul talent is completely useless because he can’t figure out how to use it. Did this kid actually figure it out? That old fossil might just barge in and rip out the spatial mage’s skull if he finds out he tried to kill him." Humans had made no noticeable advancements in soul research, making soul-related talents nearly useless despite their rank. Because of this, very few cared about Leo even after learning he had a 6-star soul talent. His relevance dropped further the moment it was revealed he had a girl beside him—Lily—with the Spirit Caller talent, one of the most powerful known. The Elf Queen herself possessed a 9-star Spirit Caller talent, which made Lily a treasured resource for humankind, since spirit-related talents were almost exclusively found among elves. There was only one Spirit Caller among humans, but she possessed merely a 3-star version of the talent. Yet even at 3 stars, she was unmatched among her peers. Through her, they learned she could share 50% of her contracted spirit beast’s strength—allowing them to imagine the terrifying power the Elf Queen wielded with her handful of spirits. --- —Somewhere in the forest surrounding Thalor City— "Ugggg! Where the hell are the beasts?! Why can’t I find any?!" Lily groaned, thoroughly frustrated. Right now, she was blazing through the forest at tremendous speed atop her spirit beast. Wind whipped against her face as the translucent creature beneath her galloped effortlessly, its bluish mane rippling like a stream of ethereal fire. Every few moments, it leapt over smaller trees, a soft wind burst forming under its feet to boost its jump. Standing at around 1.7 meters tall and 3 meters long, Lunaria was perfectly sized to carry Lily, who clung lightly to her neck to steady herself. "Lunariaaaa... is it impossible for you to sniff out those smelly beasts?" Lily complained loudly, leaning forward. Lunaria shook her head so hard her mane shimmered in ripples of light. "Arghhh... and your level is too low to sense more than 40 meters..." Now transformed into a spirit beast, Lunaria had lost her physical traits, including her sense of smell. In return, she gained spiritual traits—letting her sense mana signatures instead. But her current range was short. "Hmmm... I’ve been riding Lunaria for like 30 minutes, and the mana consumption for maintaining hasn’t gone up much. Is it because my mana regeneration is high now? Did consuming the Elasian Bloom help negate the drain?" Lily muttered to herself. "Since my base mana is higher, I can regenerate fast enough to maintain her form... but I’d still start draining mana if I summoned a Treant. Ugh, well, first I need to find something to kill in order to summon him!" She let herself collapse forward onto Lunaria’s soft, cool, translucent fur. The texture felt like a silky breeze that still held shape. She buried her face in the mane and sniffed. Nothing. "Unnn... I miss his scent..." she whispered, her voice turning small as she recalled the intoxicating smell of Leo. Then suddenly—she jerked upright. A tug.Something in her spirit link twitched. "He... why do I feel he’s very happy?" she muttered. Then her eyes widened. "HUH?! He’s happy?!" Her whole expression twisted in indignation. "I’m out here missing him so much, and he’s enjoying himself? Bastard!! If I catch you again, I’m not letting you go!" she shrieked, her voice echoing wildly through the forest. Her angry cries faded into the quiet trees, but no one was around to hear her grievances. --- Leo was casually lying atop Shyra’s broad, warm frame—half sprawled across her fur—while eating a bun he pulled from his spiritual space, as she smoothly traversed the forest in search of a formidable beast. They couldn’t even encounter low-level beasts; it just so happened that Shyra was a High 2-star Beast, and on top of that, carried a noble bloodline. She stood among the top predators of this forest, and naturally, the moment other beasts sensed her presence, they fled or buried themselves deep underground in fear. At once, Leo sat upright, a sharp shiver racing down his spine. "What the hell... why does she suddenly feel angry at me? What did I do?" he muttered to no one, trying to feel through their soul connection. He only felt rage, frustration and annoyance from her. It wasn’t known why, but the soul connection between him and Lily had begun progressing at a tremendous, almost frightening speed. They had recently discovered that they could perceive each other’s emotions. Because of this, whenever they made out—feeling each other’s infatuation so vividly—it only intensified their bond further. Their affection had grown so strong that both had become entirely immune to the charming effects of others. The fact that they could feel each other’s emotions even across distance greatly relieved them; they could instantly tell if one of them was in danger and rush to the other’s aid. Leo even felt that, if their connection deepened just a bit more, he might be able to directly summon her into his spiritual space and be together anytime. It should be the same for Lily, too—she simply needed to form her own spiritual space first. While Leo was drenched in cold sweat, a brilliant golden pillar of light suddenly erupted on the horizon, stabbing straight into the sky before fading in an instant.