Chapter 43: Manure

"Will Miss Sera be alright?" Lily asked softly.

"Yes. Thankfully, the Elysian Bloom petal managed to heal her," Leo said, wiping the sweat trickling down his forehead.

I feel exhausted,

he thought, glancing toward the room where James was still cradling Sera.

He’d sprinted at full speed, fought multiple enemies, and used his healing abilities all in quick succession.

I need to work on my stamina... it’s my lowest attribute now.

A few minutes later, James emerged from the room, relief visible on his face. He was deeply grateful—Leo had used yet another petal of the Elysian Bloom to save Sera. But there were more pressing matters at hand.

"I’m sorry," Leo said, breaking the silence. "I didn’t realize he was Zerek before my punch landed. It killed him instantly."

James shook his head. "No need to apologize. You did the right thing. But now we have to clean up. It’ll be troublesome if the authorities learn Zerek’s dead. Even if I’ve inherited his title, it’s not official yet."

Leo’s expression remained flat. "How about I use them as manure?"

"...What?" James blinked at him, unsure if he’d heard correctly. Even Lily looked confused.

"I mean," Leo clarified, "I can make them disappear into my Spiritual Space. I haven’t mastered it enough to store living beings yet—but they’re dead."

"Oh. Then do that," James said, nodding. "Someone will notice Zerek’s disappearance sooner or later, but I’ll handle it."

Leo didn’t waste any time. One by one, he absorbed the corpses into his Spiritual Space. With the others’ help, they scrubbed the floors clean and erased every trace of blood. When everything was spotless, Leo turned his focus to something else—the Mistprowler Tiger’s core.

Ding!

Peak 2-star Beast core has been turned into essence.

Suitable recipient detected: Shyra.

Proceed?

Leo said yes.

Then Leo felt the essence go to Shyra, and he received another notification.

Ding!

Shyra has received the skill [Mist Shroud]

- This skill covers a set area in thick mist, which reduces the enemy’s perception and makes their movement sluggish. While also enhancing the abilities of the skill owner and his allies.

"Great! This will drastically increase Shyra’s assassination skills," Leo said with a smile.

Just then, Shyra evolved

Peak 1-star -> Low 2-star

Bloodline purity: 5% -> 20%

[When Bloodline purity reaches 100%, the beast’s bloodline ascends to the next rank]

Status updated!

Vitality: 45.9 -> 50.9

Strength: 43.1 -> 48.1

Agility: 50.1 -> 55.1

Stamina: 38.9 -> 43.9

Intelligence: 61.2 -> 66.2

Mana: 5508 -> 5958

With this, Leo’s Vitality, Agility and Intelligence stats were in the 3-star rank.

It has to be noted that strength was proportional to soul rank. For instance, Zerek had an uncommon rank soul, whose rank value is 2. So even though he was a high 2-star Beast Master—which has the potential of stats ranging 30 - 40—his stats were in the range of the original full potential of 1-star + 20% of the potential of high 2-star, that is 10 + 6-8 = 16 - 18. Though this was the case only because Zerek neglected his training, since his soul allowed him to naturally gain strength in the range of 16 - 18, with training, he might have actually reached in 30s. This was the reason that James was advancing and not him.

[20% because his soul rank is 2 = 20%]

[For Rare soul(3), it will be 30% and so on.]

[Advancing to the next rank allows the beast master to unlock the complete potential of the previous rank, regardless of soul rank]

James and Leo left to get their ranks re-evaluated, while Lily stayed behind to keep watch over Sera. Just in case of any unforeseen trouble, Leo stationed Shyra at the entrance.

When he brought her out, though, his eyes widened.

Shyra now stood nearly a meter taller—almost three meters in height. Her Noble lineage was starting to show through clearly. Leo couldn’t help but compare her to James’s bear, which had been the same size in the ranks High 2-Star. Shyra was already there at Low 2-Star.

The evaluation started with Leo.

When he brought out Niri, people were shocked.

"T–thats a Dryad!" A nearby man exclaimed. "Even at the lowest, their bloodline is Super."

Another whispered, his tone dripping with envy, "He could just sit around healing people and make a fortune..."

Having a healing-type beast, that too a dryad, meant now Leo did not need to worry if he got injured, or he might never get injured since he could earn money by sitting. But Leo didn’t need all that. If they knew Leo could even access the beast traits after forming the blood bond, they would have puked blood out of sheer jealousy.

Normally, people only get the benefit of 50% mana cost reduction in skill usage after forming Blood Bond, but Leo’s system allowed him to share even the traits of the beast.

Even James raised his brow when he saw the dryad up close.

So I guessed right... he really did tame a newborn Dryad.

He folded his arms thoughtfully.

From what I know, they only appear in rare cases and are guarded by powerful guardians. In our case, the guardians must’ve been those Cedar Treants.

James smirked when he thought he had the opportunity, but what he received in return was far more valuable than a beast.

Where else was Leo thinking something else.

Sit around and heal? Who the fuck does that kind of charity?

He scoffed inwardly

. Niri heals only those close to me. No one else.

As if on cue, he sensed an intent of approval from Niri and Shyra. They clearly didn’t like the idea of helping strangers either.

Leo received his rank of Knight Commander(High 2-star) along with the 30 silver. But when the clerk checked Leo’s medallion, his mouth was left agape.

"S-sir, you—did you awaken in this month’s awakening ceremony?" He asked for confirmation.

Leo turned with a plain expression and simply said. "Yes, is there a problem?"

"Huh? N-no, I just wanted to know..." With that, he again went on with his work, eyes spinning.

The Hell?! How come someone becomes a Knight Commander in their very first month? What’s his soul rank? Should I ask? N-no, I shouldn’t, what if he takes offense?

The clerk glanced up and saw Leo playing with Niri, the Dryad circling him playfully like a wisp of light.

Now it was James’ turn.