Another day passed similarly and the day when Leo was supposed to meet with Clarice arrived. He decided that he wouldn’t bring Daphne with him yet, but he would tell them about her and see if they were okay with her joining him.

He still hadn’t decided whether or not she was ready to join him since she had just started using a bow and arrow. He still hadn’t seen her make an impact on even a normal animal, much less a 2nd Circle Magical Beast.

He got ready and went to the hall. Daphne was waiting there, thinking they would go out to the forest again.

“We are going to go later, not now. I will be back in around 2 hours. Okay?” He said to her.

She was confused. “Why? What are you doing?” She asked.

Leo explained to her his plan to hunt a 2nd Circle Magical Beast. She heard this and immediately started questioning him.

“Why do you want to hunt a 2nd Circle Magical Beast? That has to be the dumbest idea I have heard in my life. You are just a 1st Circle Aura Knight, right?” She asked.

“Stop pressing me this much. You aren’t even part of the plan. I have my needs for the Beast Core. That’s it. Now, I have to go or I will be late,” he said. He avoided all of the questions she asked because he didn’t have the answers to them.

He left the house quickly by giving that excuse and walked to the inn he goes to normally. He was planning on being a little early to check in with the owner.

When he got there, he saw that there were small amounts of damage around the inn but everyone who was entering the inn was ignoring it. The sign board for the inn was missing half of its board and one of the lamps was broken.

He entered the inn and saw the normal casual environment he usually did and decided that the damage was just a few drunk adventurers going overboard. He walked up to the front to talk to the owner.

Before he even got there, he saw Lily. She saw him and walked toward him.

“Hi, Leo! How are you?” She asked him.

“I’m doing good, Lily. How are you? And do you know where your dad is?” He asked her.

“Why do you want to meet my dad? He’s in the back though. I can call him for you.” She said.

She went to the back and came back with the owner. She went back to her job of serving people drinks. Leo looked at the owner and started talking with him.

“So, Mr-“

“Just call me Miller,” the owner cut him off. Your money helped me a lot. I was able to get my wife back and now business is a little better so I am able to get by. Thank you so much.”

Leo smiled awkwardly. “It’s nothing. I was going to check with you about what happened, but since you said everything is fine, what is the damage outside?”

Miller’s smile turned into a frown.

“That? That is because the Blacktooth Gang was here. They came in and a lot of them got very drunk. They were angry because one of their squad leaders got killed,” he said.

“Squad Leaders?” Leo asked.

“Yes. They only have 6 Squad Leaders, and one of them was killed a few days ago. The entire Blacktooth Gang became a little edgy because they don’t know who killed them. But rumors are around that it’s a mage. Obviously, it’s just a rumor. What would a mage be doing in the slums of Solhaven?” Miller said.

“Also, did you have anything to eat yet? Anything you have here is on the house,” Miller added.

Leo was still processing the information. The reason the rumor spread out must be because someone drunk from the Blacktooth Gang spilled it. That means that they figured out it was a mage. He looked at Miller.

“Leo!”

He looked up and saw Clarice and Evelyn near the entrance. He waved at them. He walked to an empty table while they were walking toward him and sat down.

“Hello, Clarice. Evelyn.” He greeted them.

“Hello. Did we keep you waiting?” Clarice asked.

“No, I had some work here beforehand,” he said. “Do you guys want to order anything?”

They both shook their heads.

“We already ate. We came just to talk about the hunt. We want to do it.” Clarice said.

Leo became serious. “Are you sure? This is going to be incredibly dangerous and I want the Beast Core.” He said.

Clarice nodded. “I was a Late-Stage 1st Circle Aura Knight until recently. I passed a minor bottleneck and I am now a Peak-Stage 1st Circle Aura Knight. To go to the next level, I have to take an elixir.”

Leo was curious. “Elixir?”

“Yes,” she said. “The Thousand Treasure Tower sells an Aura Gathering Pill for 50000 Star coins. One of them would just help with practice, but if I take two of them consecutively, I can definitely gather enough aura to form my second circle. Right now, I only have 80000 Star coins saved up. I need this hunt to hit that number quicker.” She said.

Leo was confused. He had easily made 150000 Star coins over 3 months. Why was she struggling to save 80000 Star coins? After all, she had been an adventurer for so many years.

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A/N: I would greatly appreciate comments about the story at any point. I would also appreciate reviews.

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