"Just how many do you need...?"
Lyss, standing beside Dale, also shook her head—small, tired, but firm. Even if her master wanted many girls in his team, seducing an Elder of the academy was outrageous. Ridiculous, even.
Still... they were treated well at the academy, and Elder Zeira hadn’t mistreated them in any way. So Lyss didn’t think badly of her... just a bit all they knew, behind that youthful face could be an old hag pretending to be young. That thought eased her embarrassment a little.
Dale scratched the back of his head, exhaling slowly. Relief loosened the tightness in his shoulders. Leo’s expression—and that slight drop in tension—told him enough: he wasn’t in danger anymore.
Then Leo spoke.
"By the way... which city are you from?"
"Hm? Me?" Dale pointed at himself, confused. "I’m from an inner city. Gardenhold"
"Oh, great," Leo said. "Then you should know about the phenomenon from a few hours ago. And this pulsing white core?" He lifted the Earthpulse Heartstone slightly. "I’ll take this as compensation for your earlier behavior. But that doesn’t mean what I did just now counts toward that," he added, his dark eyes narrowing—sharp and piercing.
Dale swallowed. "O-of course! Whatever you ask, I’ll answer to the best of my abilities. And for saving our lives..."
He gestured toward Rys, now sleeping peacefully, her complexion no longer pale thanks to the child-like creature healing her.
"And for pulling her out of danger... I owe you two." He subtly emphasized the number, hoping to place Leo in a good mood. Befriending a future powerhouse was simply common sense.
Leo nodded, satisfied enough, and began questioning him. Since Dale was from an inner city—and a noble—his information pool was valuable.
So Leo asked:
– about the golden light,
– about the treasure he was holding,
– and about why the Emperor was conducting such a wide-scale selection where death rates were essentially guaranteed.
Dale answered what he golden light? He explained in detail—theories, rumours, known city pulsing core? He could only confirm it was a treasure; something Leo already the Emperor’s selection... even he paused at that.
Why would the Emperor hold a trial where death was practically expected?
There was something eerie about that. And it was only when Leo pointed it out did Dale thought it was weird. Especially when every manpower with a talent is a valuable resource.
Leo didn’t gain anything revolutionary—but the clarity about the golden light stuck with him.
At minimum, a Purple-rank treasure...?
He glanced at the Heartstone in his hand again.
This one is only Blue rank...
Then he remembered the treasure already in his possession:
[Elasian Aetherbloom] – Low Red Quality
And its product:
Elasian Bloom – Orange Rank
A realization formed.
Another Growth-type treasure?
This Heartstone could simply be the product, not the main treasure.
If its product alone was an Intermediate Blue-tier power core...
Then the mother treasure was something he had to claim before anyone else.
Especially since he needed to boost his physical stats as much as possible before he started power levelling.
His fingers closed around the pulsing core, the thrum syncing faintly with his heartbeat.
A must-claim treasure. Plans started to form in his head as he glanced towards the fallen rock golem.
Since it was fighting, there should be more of these elsewhere in the forest, fighting others—making them unable to reach the core location.
He still has a chance.