Lev and his team didn't do anything for the next day, only chatting while relaxing in the park and trying out different foods throughout the city. He successfully converted them into chocolate milk enjoyers, the task made trivial by the large amount he had bought in Windkeep.

He and Jack eventually broached the subject of future professions, during which he retold his exploration of the Haven.

"I visited three of the academies before the tournament, and none were interesting enough for me. Apparently, people only fight monsters in groups ranging from five to ten, and none as frequently as an average hunter. Their teachings and training were pretty effective, though. No doubt, the lessons on footwork and simple physical conditioning would be pretty good for you, but I had my eyes set on self-taught mastery."

Jack hummed in agreement. "They're rare. I've only heard about how difficult they are to acquire and master, each rumor more daunting than the last."

"They're mostly true," Lev recalled the time he had gained the skill. "In the last two years, I have not gained a single level in the glaive mastery skill."

"What?" Amelia piped up. "That's absurd. It's the base skill, right?"

"It is. Things became weird when I reached the 2nd rank. The skill started encompassing my barrier armor and its enhancement, and well, things slowed down to a crawl after that. Several months of repeated usage netted me a single level, and there has been no progress ever since."

"Let's return to the academies for now," Jack interrupted. "Did you meet any of the teachers?"

"A few," Lev nodded. "The tour was quite boring and ended quickly, though some high platinum hunters were teaching there. A team of Masters had founded the academy for footwork and movement techniques. Same for the swordfighting one. Only the Shield academy is operated by one of the Earthen Warden members, which you should know about."

"Stone Foundations, yeah. My teacher asked me if I was interested, though it didn't interest me at the time. I mean, nobody better than him could've taught me there, so."

"What about you?" Lev turned to Amelia, the girl resting her head on her knees while quietly soaking in all the information.

"What about me?"

"Are you interested in the academies?" Lev explained. "We can move to the Haven and focus on leveling on Mount Tamara if any of you want to attend. I can easily get you in."

"No thanks," she immediately shot down the idea. "I'm fairly certain you can train us better, anyway."

Oh? And what makes you think that? Lev wondered but didn't voice the questions. He did have a lot of plans, especially dangerous ones, once he scouted everything thoroughly.

"And you?" he turned to Kayla, who just shook her head.

"Then it's decided. Tomorrow, we leave for Windkeep."

****

Later that night, after a brief party within the orphanage, his team retreated early. A lot was swiftly changing in their life, and in just over a month, they were going from newly minted Classers to hunters leaving for another city.

Lev, Sherron, and Orianna stayed behind in the backyard, covered by a sound ward while merrily chatting away.

"I still think you did me dirty by asking me to solo that tiger," Lev complained as a joke, curious as to why Sherron didn't let anyone else assist him.

"Blame your stupid luck," she answered with a scoff. "How was I supposed to know that it would be that strong? You dealt with the gecko easily enough, and the tiger certainly didn't feel more dangerous than the third-threshold monster."

"What was it like?" Orianna interjected before Lev could answer. "Did it show any exotic fire skills?"

"Only one I'd consider 'exotic,'" he got up into a seated position and hugged his knees. "Its fur was weird. Even Stargazer's blade kept sliding off at first. The rune I got from the monster is also called Flameforged Constitution. You should take a look."

Lev also leveled a flat stare at the fire mage after saying that, making her complaints die in her throat. A flat, round barrier took shape between the three of them, and he closed his eyes to mentally visualize the rune.

It was two-dimensional, and unbelievably complex. Most of that could be explained by the rune targeting something as important as an attribute, but even then, he couldn't make any sense of it whatsoever. Only the general impressions betrayed its purpose, which was drastically increased receptivity to fire and a similar enhanced fire resistance as a byproduct.

Safe to say, Lev had little use for the rune if it didn't work on his barriers. Putting that thought to the test, he started carving under the patient gaze of the two women, knowing how much concentration the task required.

Minutes passed in silence, the process soundless. Only when he was done did Lev open his eyes again and look at the end product. It looked acceptable, at least by his standards, and a glance was sent towards Orianna, who motioned for him to go ahead.

A small puff of pure mana formed the connection, and also revealed the fuel requirement. Surprisingly, the rune demanded pure mana instead of fire mana, and he gave it a tiny stream to first test the waters.

All of the mana was channeled through the dizzying structure, and Lev had to increase the amount when it demanded even more. Only after the entire rune was powered did the effect spread to his construct, and he could only look at Orianna to decipher the fascinating yet strange feedback.

"What is it doing?"

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

She didn't reply immediately, eyes squinting to observe the rune closely. "Not much, admittedly. It's like a weaker version of my soldiers' passive, enhancing their physique and increasing the potency of their flames. Except, this rune goes about it in a different way, and instead of enhancing the fire directly, it affects the medium channeling it and decreases resistance. There is a host of positive byproducts in your barriers from just that much, so congratulations. The rune works completely fine on your element as well."

"One of those side effects is slightly increased durability," Sherron added, raising a brow. "That is one hell of a rune for a mere second-threshold monster. Your luck is truly absurd."

"Huh," Lev lay back down on the grassy ground, staring at the two dull moons up above. "Was the tiger not pretty strong for its level?"

"I only have this rune to go by, so I'd say it definitely was," Orianna answered, looking at Sherron.

"Could've been worse," the Exalted shrugged a little. "It wasn't the strongest fire monster, but my views are not the most reliable. Do you think it was anything abnormal?"

"Not abnormal, no. I still believe that the tiger was comparable to generals, at least the weaker ones. Monarch knows I'll eventually have to tackle a troll general, and only then will be able to say for sure. Otherwise, the tiger is definitely up there in the strongest second-threshold monsters."

Then he channeled a bit of mana into his converter. Fire mana streamed out and was teleported to the enchanted construct, revealing a few immediate differences.

For one, despite Lev's massively enhanced Perception for different types of mana in his barriers, the fire mana was considerably easier to move around. It was approaching ridiculous levels of manipulation, requiring barely anything more than a single thought. Though, obviously, it was far from as good as Stargazer's conductivity.

Secondly, as he continued dumping more fire mana into the barrier, the stress on its structure rose more slowly. It was still mounting and requiring him to keep an eye on the construct to avoid it exploding in their face. Regardless, the change was much more significant than the conductivity increase.

The last similar change was something Lev couldn't decipher with his limited knowledge and experience. More likely than not, it was the slightly enhanced durability that Sherron mentioned, but it could just as easily be something the women couldn't notice. He would have to mess around with the rune more to find out.

Then, without a care in the world, he took out all the fire and pure mana from the construct before letting it fall on Orianna's lap. She just shook her head a little but still accepted the gift gratefully.

"So," Lev broke the ensuing silence. "Windkeep. Again."

"Windkeep indeed," Sherron grinned. "I'll be there for the remainder of your stay with your team. After that, it's just you, Drakys, and Isabella against the world."

"I'm assuming that's by design?"

"What is?"

Lev gave her a short glance. "Our roles, of course. Why does it only have to be me and Isabella?"

"Because no other finalist is a Master by now except you two," she idly plucked a blade of grass. "Isabella rarely relied on her team and still managed to reach the evolution in the same time as you. Granted, she also had access to bigger dungeons."

"Oh, that reminds me," Lev sat up straight. "Why are there no dungeons above the platinum rank?"

"There are," she casually shattered his delusions. "We just don't talk about them, mostly because they aren't as dangerous as the lower-ranked dungeons. Where they risk dungeon breaks if we don't delve them repeatedly, the higher dungeons only cycle instances once per week and take a long time to overflow. The monsters are also random, ranging from levels 300 to 550, depending on things we have no way of knowing. It's strange like that."

"And why was I not informed about them?

"Let me channel my inner Hakim, then," Sherron grinned. "What was the first idea going through your head upon learning of their existence?"

"… Soloing the dungeon."

"Precisely."

"Oh heck off," Lev laughed and lay back down. "If you're gonna hide them, then I'll just find them on my own."

"Please don't."

They lapsed into comfortable silence after that. He kept his head clear of any distractions, just enjoying the peace as the other two also got lost in thought. No words could've expressed how much he cherished their presence, anyway.

"Take care of the kids, Lev," Orianna said after the long pause, getting up to return to her office.

Lev simply nodded. "I promise."

****

Goodbyes took only a little time. Lev let his team properly say farewell to Orianna and the orphanage while he paid a quick visit to the hunters guild. Varun was present, ensuring his new badge was delivered to him swiftly and without any issues.

It was dark green, made out of pure mythril. A few rare doors would be opened by showing the badge, and now he would also be allowed to enter the ravine, prowl deeper into the Dreadwoods, or perhaps join the veterans in controlling the whispering caverns.

A whole lot of suicidal things, those.

Lev was going to steer clear of all those places. He had a lot of plans before, ranging from normal scouting to arranging expeditions to explore their secrets once he was strong enough. Not anymore. Life had repeatedly hammered in just how dangerous it was for him to be far away from the safety of walls, and he planned to rely on cold calculations more than luck.

Back at the orphanage, his team was already waiting at the main doors. All of the kids were watching from the windows with varying expressions, most of them happy and only slightly sad at seeing the oldest members of the house move on.

Orianna was waiting for him, and Lev wasted no time in embracing her for the last time, for who knew how long. No words were exchanged, a single meaningful glance more than enough for a full conversation.

Then, without any fanfare, they all turned around and started walking. Lev didn't speak, and neither did his team as they marched to the main gates on foot.

People stared at the Master walking through the streets, a rare sight in those parts. His team attracted just as much attention, surprisingly, Jack even more so than the girls. They walked with a confident gait, no longer afraid or too timid to match their steps with Lev. It showed the progress they had made despite only spending a bit over a month together.

At the main gates, he only had to flash his new Mythril badge for a single second. No guards remained in their path any longer, parting respectfully for the Master whose name was slowly spreading. Even if Lev never socialized with other hunters of his rank, people still talked. The name of a barrier mage was on their lips, one already a Master despite fighting in the gold bracket a few years ago.

More likely than not, the higher-ups intended to curate his image as a distant legend, and they were already doing so. He didn't mind, not seeing any reason to oppose what also benefited him and his team. The more his name spread, the less likely idiots were to mess with him, or so he hoped.

While passing through the main gates, the guards suddenly shivered, unable to locate the source of the feeling. Three bubbles full of extremely lethal projectiles, orbs, walls, shields, and other projects passed by them, completely hidden under mana concealment and invisibility enchantments powered by a large amount of mana.

Outside, the bubble scooped them up. Lev's team took their seats, all around his driver's seat. He remained standing as the bubble ascended, quickly moving past the walls, letting them see the whole great city in all its glory.

He also took a moment to observe his team's reaction in his vastly slowed Perception. Sadness, nostalgia, acceptance, and a flame of determination swirled in their eyes, betraying not even a shred of regret.

"Ready?" Lev asked with a smirk, not letting them forget that they were now in his hands.

Resolute nods answered in question, the trio not the least bit intimidated. Lev's expression eased into a smile as the bubble shot off, onwards to Windkeep, where they were going to make a name for themselves and show the world the sheer extent of what was possible when one pushed oneself to the absolute limit.

After all, Orianna had handpicked the team for him, and none of them were going to be satisfied until they were the strongest humans around.

[End of Book 3]

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