Chapter 14: Soul Crystal!
Leo, cloaked in stealth, crept toward the maddened orc that was swinging its cleaver blindly. But getting close wasn't easy. Each swipe of the orc's weapon carved through the air with lethal force.
Shyra, hidden nearby, could only watch — her mana already drained from using her stealth skill continuously.
"Tch…" Leo clicked his tongue, crouching low behind the brush. "This isn't working."
Then an idea struck him. He turned to Shyra. "Make some noise — anything!"
Shyra gave a sharp nod and began hissing loudly.
The orc's head snapped toward the sound. With a roar, it charged and swung its cleaver toward Shyra's direction.
That was Leo's cue.
He appeared behind the creature like a phantom, knife gleaming under the dim light. Gripping the handle tightly, he drove the blade upward into the base of the orc's skull — the thinner part of the bone.
But the beast didn't fall. 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 followed, then silence.
The system chime echoed in his mind.
---
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level 3 – 86/169 (Next level requires 30% more XP than previous)
+8 Unallocated Stat Points
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"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 extracted the orc's core and found a faintly glowing crystal beside it.
"Great!" he grinned.
Then his eyes fell on the boar the orc had been dragging.
"I guess that means it's mine now, hehe," he said, grinning ear to ear.
He crouched down, 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, no mana crystal.
But as he pulled his hand out, his fingers brushed against something solid. He frowned, dug deeper, and yanked it free.
It was a crystal — glowing green instead of red.
"Soul Crystal!!" Leo gasped, eyes widening. He'd overheard others talk about them before, rare treasure found 1 in a 100 beast. "And it's from a High 1-star beast…"
Without hesitation, 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 said, jaw dropping. "No wonder these things are so damn expensive!"
He wasn't exaggerating. Even a low-tier Soul Crystal, the one like Leo just now digested could fetch over a silver. High-grade ones — gold-level value at least.
Beside him, Shyra was staring at the boar's core with a glint in her eyes, drool threatening to escape.
Leo noticed and smiled softly. "Here you go. Without you, this would've been impossible."
He tossed the core toward her, and she devoured it greedily.
Almost instantly, he sensed the change.
Shyra (Low 1★) → Shyra (Mid 1★)
Her muscles rippled as fresh power coursed through her. The ambient mana rushed toward her body, and she even grew slightly larger.
Stats Updated!
Vit – 1.2 → 2.5
Str – 2.3 → 3.1
Agi – 3.2 → 3.8
Sta – 0.3/2.2 → 1.0/2.9
Int – 3.6 → 4.0
Mana – 215/288 → 247/320
Unallocated Stat Points: 8
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"She reached a higher minor realm! And the feedback is amazing!" Leo said, lifting Shyra joyfully into his arms and spinning around.
Chain Bond: 82% → 85%
Shyra purred, nuzzling his neck — clearly enjoying the moment too.
"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 higher than boar meat. But I want both…"
A new idea struck him.
Scanning the area, he spotted exactly what he needed — a thick slab of tree bark.
"Perfect." He tore it off carefully. It looked like a sledge — only without wheels. "Good! This works."
He heaved both corpses onto it, stacking the orc atop the boar, then grabbed one end and started dragging. With a Strength stat above three, the task felt easy.
By the time he reached the city gates, the guards were staring. One of them stepped forward, blocking his path.
"You killed them?" the guard asked, 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 the good news with? Most new Beast Masters celebrate for a month before they go on their first hunt…"
It was true. Normally, new Beast Masters spent their first month celebrating ansld training their beasts with their families on the Empire's stipend of five silvers — a token of honor for their awakening.
But Leo? He'd gone hunting the same day.
He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Guess I was just… excited to try new things."
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 good talent to hunt those things, the guard thought bitterly.
Most guards were Common-ranked Beast Masters — or ordinary men who'd earned their posts through connections. None would dare venture outside the city walls to face beasts.
Watching Leo disappear into the streets, a flicker of envy crossed his eyes.
Leo kept walking in certain direction, along the way attracting various gazes, both awe and that of greed.
Most common folks don't get to see beast on regular basis, so a hunted orc and boar was a interesting sight. Some people even looked at it with greed, maybe for the meat of the corpse itself. But none dared to act as anyone who could hunt these things and easily deal with them. So they maintained their distance.
After a while Leo finally reached the place he was looking for.