After the sudden appearance of the monsters and beasts, the existence of the human race was threatened; however, a few otherworld beings called themselves ‘Gods’ appeared.

Not only killed the monsters and beasts, but they also established cities with their powers that prevented the monsters and beasts from entering the city.

As humans were happy to be alive under the protection of the ‘Gods’, the gods announced their departure, making the humans disappointed; however, they didn’t have the power to stop those otherworldly beings from leaving their world.

Even though they were protected inside the cities, the thought of monsters and beasts lurking outside the city walls made them shiver.

Maybe the otherworldly beings liked humans or took pity or saw something in the humans, or for whatever reason, they decided to give a parting gift to the humans.

The gift was a building called the ‘Hall of gods’ that helped humans awaken the talents hidden deep in the human bodies. Moreover, it is not limited to a single city; instead, each city has its own ‘Hall of gods’, making it convenient for humans.

And it is the new beginning where humans started pursuing the ‘Hero’s path’ with their awakened talents.

Soon, they classified the ‘Hero’s path’ into eleven ranks, starting from rank 0 to 10.

A newly awakened human is considered a rank 0 hero or a ‘Rookie hero’.

From rank 1 to rank 9, the heroes are classified into three classes depending on the level of their talents.

They are Apprentice heroes, Elite heroes, and Advanced heroes with three ranks in each class._-.

As for rank 10 heroes, they were called Supreme heroes, and they were at the pinnacle of the hero’s path…at least that’s what most of humanity assumed as no one surpassed that rank.

…..

“Advanced hero? How did he become an advanced hero at such a young age?”

When Julia saw how Leo killed a rank 6 mutated beast in a single strike, she directly concluded that Leo was an advanced hero while asking herself how he became so powerful at such a young age.

She was a rank 4 healing type hero and belonged to the category of Elite heroes. At her age, becoming an elite hero was already an achievement, and she was proud of herself for that.

After seeing Leo, who became an Advanced hero in his early twenties, the little bit of pride in Julia disappeared without a trace.

‘Even though I didn’t know all the advanced heroes in Phirie city, I can tell he is definitely not from Phirie city.’

In Phirie city, only a few humans became advanced heroes before thirty, and each one of them was famous. Nevertheless, they became advanced heroes when they were about to reach 30, whereas Leo looked to be in his early twenties.

So, Julia was sure that Leo was not from Phirie city.

“What are you waiting for? Collect all the sapphire beads on the ground.”

As Julia was figuring out the origins of Leo, his cold voice resounded in the caverns, waking Julia up from her thoughts.

“Yes, sir.”

Julia stopped spacing out and hurriedly nodded her head, and started picking the sapphire beads on the ground.

‘Puchi’

As for Leo, he walked toward the severed head of the rank 6 mutated serpent, pierced his sword ‘Arcane silver’ in the center, and retrieved a blue coloured crystal.

“A beast core? Looks like he is a seasoned beast hunter.”

While picking the sapphire beads, Julia observed Leo’s actions and how quickly he found and retrieved the beast core in the mutated beast’s body; she guessed Leo’s profession.

Each city has a special unit called ‘Beast hunting heroes’ or ‘Beast hunters’ who clear the monsters and beasts around the city and ensure the safety of the citizens,

Other than ensuring the safety of the citizens, these beast hunting heroes need to bring the corpses of the beasts and the monsters back to the city, and at the same time, they need to search for natural treasures and resources outside the city.

The beast cores are the crystals where the mutated beasts store their energy to ascend to the next rank.

“Sir, I collected all the sapphire beads.”

Soon, Julia picked up all the beads and walked toward Leo while looking at the enormous headless corpse of the Serpent.

“Sir, why don’t you retrieve the valuable parts from the corpse?”

Earlier, she heard that Leo needed credits (aka money), and selling the valuable parts of the rank 6 serpent would fetch a reasonable price.

Since the corpse was too big to carry around, Julia suggested Leo harvest the valuable parts of the corpse.

“I am too lazy to do that.”

Leo shook his head as he replied with his usual cold look.

“Too lazy?”

Julia was taken aback and thought, ‘No wonder, an advanced hero and elite hero live in two completely different worlds.’

In her eyes, if she found a rank 6 mutated beast corpse, she would retrieve all valuable parts even if she had to tire herself to death.

“Then…how about I help you in retrieving the valuable parts to show my gratitude for saving me?”

Even though it would be difficult for her, Julia decided to help Leo.

‘This girl…’

Leo shook his head at Julia’s words.

It would be tough for a rank 4 hero to collect the valuable parts from a rank 6 mutated beast without an attacking type talent.

“Don’t bother about it.”

Leo looked at Julia and said, “As for repaying your gratitude, sell those sapphire beads at a good price.”

“Don’t worry, sir. My sister owns a jewellery store that buys beautiful stones like these.”

With a confident smile on her face, Julia replied to Leo.

“Your sister?”

Leo raised his brows when he heard Julia’s words.

“Yes. Even though we are not related by blood, she has helped me a lot in the past and is still continuing to help me.”

While speaking of her sister, Julia could not help but reveal a beautiful smile.

‘Looks like there is still humanity left in this cruel world.’

Even though his face still had a stern look, Leo was grateful to the person who was helping her.

“Sir, what about the corpse? Are you really going to leave it here?”

After speaking about her sister, Julia’s eyes again fell on the beast’s corpse and asked Leo about it.

“Who said I am going to leave it?”

As soon as he finished his words, Leo placed his hands on the beast’s corpse, which disappeared into thin air, making Julia shocked once again.