Leo left the inn to go to the forest. It was convenient that he was planning on going anyway. His plan was to get ahold of a few 1st Circle Beast Cores for practice every week and quickly make his 2nd Star.
On his way to the forest, he saw a gathering near the gate. There were many adventurers there scouting people for their parties.
"We just need a ranged 1st Circle Aura Knight! We will offer 5000 Star coins for the day."
"Looking for a tank!"
He knew that he was an anomaly. He was the only person who ventured into the forest alone. Everyone else entered the forest in parties of 5 or 6 people. That was to ensure that they wouldn't die if one person messed up.
He couldn't join any of these parties yet because it would be limiting him. Even though he could fake being an Aura Knight with a body-strengthening spell, he would have to split the loot with the entire party.
As a mage, he knew he could kill the magical beasts by himself. So he didn't bother entering a party for the time. He knew, however, that he might need to enter a party to hunt a 2nd Circle Magical Beast.
He went into the forest like usual and looked for Magical Beasts. He was so used to this at this point that it was like a habit to him.
However, for the first time, his routine was disturbed. He heard a scream from a distance. It was the scream of a woman. He immediately ran toward the scream.
As he got closer, he heard noises of battle. He peered through the trees and saw a party of three battling a bear. It was a Black-Eyed Bear that was a Peak-Stage 1st Circle Magical Beast.
When he observed closer, he saw that there was a fourth member of the party. She was lying on the side, wounded. Her leg was twisted and she could barely stand. She had a sword by her side.
He saw that the rest of the people were carrying shields and bows, but none of them were carrying a sword. None of them were able to deal any damage to the bear, and their only damage dealer was wounded.
"Are you okay now, Clarice?" One of the archers asked the woman. He was missing a few of his shots, but he seemed more concerned about the lady. With him being distracted and the firepower on the bear decreasing, the bear was able to knock out the person in the shield away from it.
The bear roared and activated its magic. Its eyes darkened and became completely black. He saw a huge drill made of sand form behind the bear. The drill flew toward the person with the shield.
Leo saw this as an opportunity since the bear was focused on attacking the party. He took out his dagger. He quickly cast a body-strengthening spell and ran toward the bear. He jumped up and landed on the bear's back.
He first cast a magic bullet into the skull of the bear. The bullet penetrated into the bear's skull and killed it immediately. Before it fell down, he plunged his dagger into the skull of the dead animal.
The bear fell to the ground. He looked up to see the state of the people there. The person who the drill was about to hit was on the ground. Leo had killed the bear just in time so the drill dissolved back into sand.
The female injured from the start was trying to get up. The male who had ignored the battle was trying to help her, but she was ignoring his help. The other archer, a female, was the only one who was walking toward him.
"Thank you so much for helping us. I don't know what we would do if you weren't here." She thanked him. "I am Evelyn. You are...?"
"Leo," he said. "It's okay. Anyone would have done the same thing."
After his attempts to help Clarice were ignored, the man also walked toward Leo. His attitude wasn't as friendly as Clarice's.
"Don't think too much about it. If we didn't do that much damage, he wouldn't be able to kill it. He only dealt the final blow. Look at him. He's a kid." He said.
Evelyn defended Leo. "Shut up Lucas! If you had done your job properly, then Tobias wouldn't have gotten pushed back by the bear. You put us in this state."
She turned to Leo. "I apologize for him. He can be an asshole. But he is right. You look incredibly young."
Leo smiled sheepishly. "I'm 13," he said.
By this time, the person who had been wounded at the start had limped toward the rest of the group. Even Tobias, the tank, had recovered. All of them had surrounded Leo.
He noticed that both Evelyn and Clarice looked the same. Clarice introduced herself.
"Hello, I am Clarice. I am the leader of this party. I thank you for saving us." She said.
"I am Tobias. I owe you for that, boy!" The big man who was the tank said.
"It's not that big of a deal. If all of you are okay with it though, can I buy the Beast Core from you? I can give you a decent price for it." He said. He was hoping for a discount since he helped in defeating the bear.
Before Lucas could say anything, Clarice interrupted him.
"Yes. The Beast Core is yours. You don't have to pay anything. Take it as a token of appreciation." She said.
Lucas immediately rebutted. "No! How can we give this person the core? That is worth 25000 Star coins! It's our entire day's work!"
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