Before explaining, Drakys summoned a robust sound ward, completely blocking off their conversation from Sherron, who was still somewhere in the mansion.

"Normally," Drakys began, straightening. "None of this would ever come to light if I could help it. If you weren't on the path you're currently traversing, I wouldn't have told you either."

Lev nodded once, not letting his mind wander before hearing him out.

"Around six hundred years ago, when we were still cleaning up the remnants of the first great hordes, I had to flee a fourth threshold monster into the grand forest. Having just evolved past Master, the overconfidence was getting to my head and landed me in that hopeless situation.

"Long story short, I remained on the run for nearly four months before all the monsters chasing me finally either lost me or gave up. All I had to do was to return but…" he chuckled. "Well, when I left the grand forest, the sun was hours away from being shrouded by dark gray skies."

Seeing that Lev wasn't laughing along, or even remotely smiling, Drakys took a deep breath and continued. "Turns out, the original monster who had made me flee into the forest was still sniffing around. Left with no choice but to confront it before the storm hit and guaranteed my death, I fired my strongest ranged attacks in hopes of scaring it off or something.

"A good thing too, because something took notice. I won't risk anything by mentioning names or descriptions, but it was a being representing something that didn't seem possible before. A fifth-threshold creature that was clearly not a monster."

… Like that Dreadhawk, a small part of Lev's mind wandered, whereas most of him was stunned as if struck by a lightning bolt. Fourth-threshold monsters were already considered calamities that needed the strongest of humans to just fend off, let alone kill reliably. But if there were monsters exponentially stronger than even those…

"… What happened next?" Lev asked and gulped. Drakys seemed to have lost all of his usual, rigid yet boisterous energy as he answered.

"I have no idea," he replied with a disbelieving short laugh. "Only flashes remain in my memory. The monster was torn to shreds in seconds, and I got scanned up and down. Despite my darkening state of mind, the being clearly scanned my physique and liked what it saw. A single one of its massive feathers was brought close to my face before it used the Arcane Supremacy enhancement with like ten different mana types. None of it made sense back then, and even now, I can't hope to use it because my class doesn't specialize in mastering multiple elements. Yours however, will."

Neither spoke for a while after that as the sound ward vanished. Lev's mind was overwhelmed by both the mental imagery and the scope of the rune's potential. It was a body enhancement so strong that even a fifth-threshold being used it. No amount of words could express its potential as well as that single fact did, and that terrified him. He couldn't understand why Drakys had given it to him so early.

On the other side of that same coin, now that he knew about it from the very start, planning around the rune's eventual activation was the priority. There were countless hurdles in that thorny direction, predominantly expanding his knowledge and mastery of mana to unparalleled heights, but it gave him a clear goal. One that was bound to be immensely rewarding, regardless of what lengths he had to go through.

"You're really not making this easy for me," Lev broke the silence and sighed. "The rune aside, now I have to live while knowing that fifth-threshold monsters are apparently very much real."

His eyes narrowed as something tried to surface in his mind. The sensation passed in an instant, leaving him confused. Lev shrugged at the odd occurrence and turned to the quiet Exalted.

"How did you survive the storm?"

"Hmm? Oh, that was pretty simple. Digging for a few kilometers and staying there solved that particular problem."

He tossed Lev an enchanted crystal after replying. Lev caught it in his right hand and looked it over, finding the enchantments thoroughly cloaked.

"What is this?"

"The crystals with the longest range of communication," he replied. "It only has two functions. One tells you what direction an alert came from, and the other specifies what direction the alert wants you to go. They serve as an alarm for all hunters in possession of those crystals and only send the simple message to the five closest ones."

"So, it's basically a summoning crystal," Lev snorted.

"You're not wrong," Drakys agreed with a small smile. "I want you to keep one on your person at all times. Since your barriers are permanent now, focus on enhancing your personal bubble as much as you can. I left a few speedy formations to make traveling easier for you, so use them to reach the locations around you quickly. With your strength, most crises can be averted."

Lev nodded seriously, better understanding the scope of the responsibility that came with the crystal. "I'll work on the bubble today."

Drakys nodded back and made for the door. "Sherron and I will be leaving for the mission tomorrow, so you better talk to her before that."

****

Lev didn't dare casually saunter into the expansive backyard, where Sherron was sitting at the edge of the swimming pool with her feet submerged, no longer wearing her armor. Her back was to the door, perhaps waiting for him to come and apologize so she could turn around.

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Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he entered through the door and waited. She didn't acknowledge his presence, likely wanting him to squirm a bit for the earlier transgression.

I see how it is, Lev grinned to himself and tiptoed closer. Once he was standing above the lightning Exalted, who still didn't look at him, he turned around before sitting down on the polished floor around the pool. Their backs were less than a meter away from each other as he leaned back and centered his thoughts.

"Was it really so surprising?" Lev said, the smile audible in his voice. "Or did you seriously not expect me to offer the core after mentioning you've never had Superior Equipment?"

She didn't reply, but the room became slightly gloomier, reflecting her emotions.

Lev feigned a sigh. "So easy to lose your temper, tsk. I almost feel insulted. Do you think the core will be the last one of its quality I will get my hands on, or that I was going to stop looking for even better treasures?"

"I would rather you not die for them," Sherron finally answered. "Do you know how infuriating that was? I almost brought your corpse back to the city."

"I know, of course," Lev replied in quiet voice. "The cold, half-dead body happened to be mine. But think about it. If you took the core instead of me-"

"Not interested."

"But-"

"Don't push it," she borderline hissed. "I know what you're trying to do. My patience has its limits, even when dealing with you."

"Alright, alright. I had to give it a genuine try, at least."

"No you didn't," she exhaled deeply, pushing out her anger with it. "You earned it almost at the cost of your life. There's no way I would ever take something like that from you."

Having said their piece, silence reigned in the backyard as both of them fell into thought.

"Still," Sherron began. "Thank you for the offer. I know how attached you were to that glaive. It would take a lot of courage for someone else to do the same, even as a joke. Seriously, how can you just hold it out for me? Even I've never owned something so priceless."

You don't know how much I care about you, Lev didn't reply out loud, knowing their perspectives were worlds apart. All three of you don't. The core is nothing compared to the lengths I'm willing to go through to keep you guys happy and alive.

"It really wasn't that hard," he muttered before shaking himself out of the forlorn state of mind. "So, are you still mad at me?"

"I wasn't angry to begin with."

Lev very wisely didn't comment on that. Women worked in mysterious ways if that was her not being pissed.

"That's good, then. I demand a hug for that overreaction."

She finally turned to him. Lev looked over his shoulder with a toothy grin, greatly enjoying her bemused expression.

"Really?" she asked flatly.

"Yep. It will be me getting angry this time if you deny me those."

****

Ten minutes and a meaningful hug later, they were flying in Lev's bubble and making their way to the Dreadwoods.

"Ah, here they are," Lev exclaimed after finding the formations Drakys had mentioned. "Rapid acceleration and Driving formations. Who the hell names these?"

Sherron just rolled her eyes. "Focus on what matters."

"The names matter too," Lev distractedly replied, taking in the runes involved. "Damn, both of them are even more complex than my enhancement."

"Because they use kinetic energy," she explained. "Those runes become a staple in higher forms of enchantments."

Kinetic energy? Lev blinked. Isn't that just a concept and not an actual, tangible type of energy?

"I see," he nodded anyway. "Well, I'm gonna start practicing these for now. Can you point me towards any first-threshold monsters?"

Two barrier boards formed in front of him as Lev started carving while following Sherron's direction. He kept the bubble's speed slow, engrossed in the entirely new runes that were slowly absorbed by his general skill.

Ten minutes later, the first group of treants came into sight, a perfect foe to test Galeshot. The revolver appeared in his hands, still looking unfinished but the enchantments were ready.

"Keep an eye out," he reminded Sherron, just in case, before stepping out of the bubble. Four of the monsters immediately noticed him, roots and branching flailing to reach him as they glided forward.

Whew, now let's see what this bad boy can do, Lev mused and grabbed the grip under Galeshot's barrel with his left hand. Aiming with his right, a small puff of mana brought the enchantments to life.

Pure mana streamed out of the slotted core before the formations carved inside took control, shaping air into a bullet and priming it to be fired. Lev gave it the single required second before activating the second and third enchantments responsible for shooting the bullet and accelerating the bullet, respectively.

The projectile tore out of the barrel with a loud shockwave, producing a lot of recoil that Lev handled effortlessly. In less than a blink, it landed on one of the treant's trunks, blowing off a portion of it in splinters and sap.

Another bullet followed soon after, widening the hole even further and putting down the monster for good.

[

You have slain [Treant - Level 201]

]

A combination of fireballs and lightning bolts put down the rest, both originating from his palms. The test was a success, but he was starting to realize just how horrible his aim was. Each time, he had aimed for the monster's face, only to hit its left extremity.

"Something wrong?" Sherron asked once he returned to the bubble hovering a few dozen meters behind.

"No," Lev tried not to look into her eyes. "Just need to practice aiming."

"Uh-huh," she nodded in understanding, though not without shooting him a grin.

Outside the bubble, four shields took shape. The closest one was present at a distant of twenty meters, and the furthest one was at the edge of his manipulation range. Lev couldn't measure the exact distance, and neither did he care enough to do so, but his range was hovering somewhere above two hundred meters.

Taking aim, he fired the first shot at the nearest shield. It landed with a loud bang, putting a hole through the enchanted construct. All the while, a second revolver slowly took shape midair beside him.

When it came to the second shield, things became a little embarrassing. Ten shots were fired, and a grand total of zero actually landed on the center of the shield. All of them clinked either close to it or at the edges.

Lev wasn't deterred. He had hundreds of the cores in his ring in case the current one's durability bottomed out. Cores usually disintegrated whenever that happened. The revolver in his hands was working smoothly so far despite the constant usage, but he knew the power source wouldn't last more than a few hundred shots.

Nearly twenty minutes later, he could hit the shield's middle with reliable accuracy. Even if it was just fifty meters away, improvements felt satisfying all the same.

Bless this super brain of mine, Lev grinned to himself and aimed for one final shot. All it took to improve so much was half an hour of nonstop practice.

The fired bullet landed perfectly in the center, but something else stopped him in his tracks. Lev took a few seconds to confirm the feeling with a dropped jaw before his lips twisted into a wide smile.

"You look happy," Sherron raised a brow. "What is it now?"

"I think I might have found a way to evolve Arcane Archery after all this time."

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