190: Going Back to the Wilderness

Going Back to the Wilderness

"I won't ask you to do it for free. If you train with me, I will pay you for your time." Helia then said.

"Now we're talking. How much are you paying?" Leo suddenly became more interested in her offer.

"What do you want? Money? Artifacts?"

"Mana cores," he calmly said. "The higher quality the better."

"I understand. I will pay you in mana cores." Helia nodded.

"Follow me. I will bring you to my training area." Leo said as he walked out of the cafeteria.

Sometime later, they arrived at Eve's living quarters.

"This is… Isn't this where the Headmistress lives? Even teachers are forbidden from coming here!" Helia exclaimed when she realized where Leo was taking her.

"Yes, and I currently live and train here." Leo calmly said.

"..." Helia was speechless.

Just how much is the Headmistress spoiling him?

Though, she didn't blame Eve for spoiling Leo, especially considering his talents. If she were in Eve's shoes, she would also be spoiling him.

Once they entered the training room behind Eve's house, Leo said, "This place is much more durable than the Training Center, so we can go all out and not have to worry about destroying this place."

Helia nodded, and she asked, "How do you normally train?"

"Nothing much. I just use magic spells until I run out of mana."

Leo casually said, greatly underplaying his own training.

As for Helia, she was unaware of Leo's immense mana regeneration, which allowed him to train tens if not hundreds of times faster than ordinary people.

"You want to spar right? I'm ready whenever you are."

"Okay."

The two of them started training with each other shortly after.

Several hours later, Eve showed up to the training room after her work was done, and to her absolute surprise, Leo wasn't alone, and it wasn't Camille that was with him.

Instead, it was a red-haired beauty that Eve was too familiar with.

"Helia? What are you doing here?" Eve approached them after their spar had ended.

"Good evening, Headmistress. I asked Leo to train with me."

Eve turned to look at him, who spoke, "Was it not okay for me to bring her here? If we trained at the Training Center, we wouldn't be able to go all out, and the teacher there will scold me again for damaging the place."

"No, it's fine. I just wasn't expecting it," she said.

And she continued, "Since you're here, want to join our training?"

"R-Really? You'll train me too?" Helia almost couldn't believe her ears.

Eve would always refuse to train her when she asked before.

"Yes, I don't mind it. It won't make a difference, anyway."

After some preparations, Eve started training Leo and Helia together.

A few hours later.

"Haaa… haaa… haaa…"

Both Leo and Helia laid on the floor gasping for air after the training session.

"You… You train like this everyday with the Headmistress…?" Helia asked him in a weak voice that sounded as though she was on the verge of death.

Helia had been through some rough training before, but it could not be compared to Eve's intensive training, and she was already out of breath a few minutes into it.

"Pretty much, and it never gets easier…"

'No wonder why he's so powerful… If I get to train with the Headmistress for a month, who knows how much stronger I will become— No… Even with the Headmistress training, Leo's growth is still too fast. Is there something else that's assisting his growth?'

The only explanation would be the Fruit of Magic Awakening, as it was a legendary treasure that nobody but Leo has experienced before. However, Helia felt that it was too convenient.

'What if Leo had this talent even before consuming the Fruit of Magic Awakening, and the treasure only allowed him to fully spread his wings? A treasure that can give one the ability to use magic and become extremely talented… Would the gods allow such a powerful treasure to exist?'

"Thank you for the training, Headmistress." Helia said to her before leaving the place.

"And I will have your payment ready by tomorrow." She looked at Leo afterward.

"Okay. Take your time." He nodded.

"Why is she paying you?" Eve asked him after she left.

"She's paying me to train with her." He shrugged.

"Oh? Maybe I should start charging you for these training sessions." Eve suddenly said in a joking voice.

"I'm dirt broke, so I can't pay anything." He immediately said.

"You have 2 billion dollars worth of mana cores, yet you're somehow broke?" Eve raised an eyebrow. "Why do you even need that many mana cores, anyway? Do you plan on crafting a magic artifact?"

"That's a secret." He said with a smile.

"Well, if you can't pay with money, you can pay with your body." She said with a teasing smile on her face.

"..." Leo was speechless.

"By the way, I have something I want to talk to you about." He said a moment later.

"What is it?"

"Since I no longer need to attend classes, I would like to use this time to strengthen myself, and I want to go back into the Wilderness to hunt monsters."

Eve frowned and said, "Have you forgotten about your current situation? It's too dangerous to leave the academy now."

"I know, but I am not going as 'Leo'. I will be going as 'Leon', my other identity. I also need to become a B-Rank Adventurer before the A-Rank monster nest raid."

"Monster nest raid? I have never heard about this. What are you trying to do?" Eve asked.

Leo proceeded to tell her about the raid that Khrome had told him about.

"Trust me, I will become stronger much faster if I hunt monsters," Leo said.

After all, he could get Magic Points by doing so.

"In case you forgot, 'Leon' is also being hunted, and it's by an unknown party. What are you going to do about that?" Eve said.1

"I think it will be fine. 'Leon' hasn't appeared for over a month now, and since I will be able to use dark magic, I will be fine even if I am attacked— as long as my enemy is not an S-Rank Adventurer." Leo said.

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