Beatrice didn’t move from her location, chiefly because Lev wasted no time in descending to greet her. The bubble landed a bit of a distance away from the fort itself, out of the way of the people coming out and going into it.
All of the concealments were deactivated to reveal a door, through which Beatrice stepped inside after a few seconds.
Lev slowed his Perception, taking in every detail. She walked confidently, marching up to him without hesitation. Her steps were assured, and given how well she controlled her aura, she also hadn’t been idle for the past few years.
Above all, though, as her armor vanished into a ring, Lev was grateful that his face didn’t burn. He vividly remembered how they had separated, and the girl’s lips had remained in his mind for a long time.
His Perception returned to normal as she hugged him gently, which he reciprocated, then yelped when her fingers dug into his side.
“You forgot about me, didn’t you?” she asked with a fake pout.
Lev cleared his throat. “I was in meditation for a month and a half, and then Sherron took me to Whitefall. Sorry, there was no time to do anything else except say goodbye.”
“A month and a half?” she echoed, her previous expression forgotten. “Is that why I didn’t see you anywhere? Given your track record, I wholly expected at least a few rumors about a Master barrier mage.”
“Yep,” Lev smiled, waving her to a comfortable and cushioned seat. She sat down without missing a beat. “I actually wanted to explore more of Timberhold, especially the low mana density region next to it. There were probably several alchemical… things growing there.”
“Resources,” she added for him. “And yeah. Forget about that, though. Are you alright?”
“Huh?”
“Windkeep, Lev. Everyone knows about the incident. It was the only topic of gossip for a while everywhere. So, I’ll ask again, are you alright?”
Lev didn’t answer immediately, just staring. Then he exhaled through his nose and leaned back. “Yeah, I’m doing much better now. I have already talked to several people about this, and I’m making an effort not to isolate myself now. How come everyone asks me this question?”
“Because you don’t realize just how scary that event was. There were two monsters, right? One was a massive centipede, and the other is not public knowledge. Whoever has talked about that wave, they spoke of it as if the world were ending. The centipede was so incredibly strong, and yet, it got impaled on a huge stone structure as if it were a threshold lower.”
“Well… I wasn’t expecting that much to leak,” Lev muttered. “I suppose it makes sense. There were too many people to sweep it all under the rug.”
“Yeah. So imagine my surprise when I also heard your name often. You have a habit of leaving an impression. A team of Adepts was complaining about how you left them a lot of half-dead monsters, but they were too injured for good essence gains. Imagine.”
Lev just shook his head. That was certainly a complaint he never expected to hear. It made sense, though.
“The cannons I used back then were wholly focused on speed and penetration, and an explosive payload after that. Only a few monsters survived impact, and those that did were pretty much dead anyway.”
“Stop deflecting.”
He ran a hand through his hair that didn’t grow more than he wanted it to. “What do you want me to say? It’s highly classified information, and not something I want to share lightly. Other than me, I think only Isabella here knows about the… events.”
“Then just say that,” she looked at him oddly. “Or do you think I’ll force information out of you?”
“Nah, I just cave in too easily.”
“Noted.”
“Don’t note that,” he laughed in surprise. “What the hell?”
“Just messing with you,” she smirked. “So? Why did you need to leave in a rush? And did you leave immediately after you dumped a priceless material and core on my plate?”
“… Yes. Oh, right. I have a team now.”
“What!?”
Giving her a flat look, Lev then snorted before launching into an explanation. Beatrice was an attentive listener, though it took her a moment to get over her surprise. What was so alien about him joining a team, anyway?
“And she’s an aura mage with dual buffs?” Beatrice asked to confirm.
“Yep.”
“That’s ridiculous. If you’re not mistaken, then she has really strong buffs for both warriors and mages, and can also evolve general skills to complement them. That’s… I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Yeah, Orianna and Sherron were similarly surprised, and they’ve been alive for centuries. I guess they didn’t just choose that team for me for no reason.”
“The other two also sound nice and strong,” Beatrice continued. “Jack seems the most of the normal of the bunch, but I somehow doubt he’s anything but exceptional. And Amelia, well, she will probably be the one competing with you the most.”
Lev just nodded, his attention grabbed by something else. As the bubble ascended, returning to its original high position, he looked towards the wave’s direction with squinted eyes. Beatrice’s shoulders involuntarily hunched, no doubt feeling the oppressive influence of so many monsters.
“Something’s coming,” he mumbled, eyes trained on the ground. Beatrice wordlessly cast her buffs on him.
For a moment, Lev expected a ridiculous regeneration buff like Trailblazer’s skill. That predictably wasn’t the case, and despite Beatrice having evolved to the Master rank, the increase in regeneration was slightly lower than before.
She frowned. “Your Wisdom is far too high.”
“That matters?”
“Of course it does,” Beatrice clicked her tongue. “A soul can only be forced to generate so much mana. After a certain point, tears will start to appear in it, though thankfully, skills have built in safety nets for that. “
Lev idly filed away the new information, also noting just how many skills the Exalted must have used to allow Lev’s soul to generate so much mana. Little wonder he was also the undisputed strongest aura mage, even before he evolved to Exalted.
His reply was cut off before it began when a shape suddenly appeared in his senses. It was brief, and though it wasn’t particularly strong, its direction was disastrous.
Barrier walls formed in its trajectory. Several were smashed to bits, further corroded by shadow mana. The sheer amount of walls eventually overwhelmed whatever skill the monster was using, after which it activated several more.
It was well within Lev’s manipulation range, however. He formed and enchanted several invisible shields near the wolf’s target. When less than two dozen meters remained between the monster and the alarmed Adept scout right outside the fort’s walls, an orb materialized below the wolf.
The small infusion of shadow mana was further empowered by the second rank of Trapping, which turned it completely unnoticeable to the monster. Even its familiarity with the shadow mana didn’t help.
In a split second, the orb was filled with lightning. A barrel formed atop it, aimed at the fragile underside of the monster. Blue flashed, and the wolf flopped to the ground, paralyzed. A mundane lance to the head finished the job.
[
You have slain a [Shadewolf - Level 333]
]
Lev didn’t let his attention linger on the corpse. Instead, he sent small pulses of pure mana out of his bubble, hoping to catch any other monsters in the vicinity.
His caution turned out to be unwarranted. Minutes passed without incident, and only then did he relax and take out his communication tablet.
“Is something the matter, Hunter Lev?” came Strategist Wayne’s voice.
Knowing they were in a meeting, Lev got straight to the point. “There was a Shadewolf right outside the walls. How did it get here undetected? It almost took down another scout.”
No answer came for a few seconds before Wayne spoke. “We’ve lost contact with a scout team sent to the East. Please keep an eye on that direction while I confirm what happened.”
“I will,” Lev replied. “The monster was also abnormal. I almost didn’t notice it.”
“I see.”
He had added the last part because it was the likely explanation. Shadewolves were not a monster race that he had encountered before, but if the scouts were Adepts, then they had likely fallen to the monster he had just killed.
“Alright,” he breathed out, leaning back in his seat. “That seemed to be quite literally a lonewolf.”
“Which is pretty odd if you think about it,” Beatrice mused. “How does a single wolf get past all the wards and almost kill a scout? Not to mention that anyone who is stationed at the fort is bound to be competent.”
“Let me fetch the answer.”
The bubble descended, and a few ropes moved out, their tips sharpened to the extreme. Two of them turned the corpse over, and another two dug inside and grabbed the core.
Bringing it close, Lev formed a barrier bowl next to him and filled it with water before taking it out of the bubble and dumping the core inside.
[
Shadewolf Core
Possesses Decent Mana Conductivity and Mana Capacity.
Shows minor properties of Shadows.
]
“I see,” Beatrice nodded slowly. “A heightened connection to shadows, or something along those lines. The rest can be explained by just how strong that mana type is.”
“Mhm,” Lev bobbed his head. “Look.”
On a barrier plate, he carved a Shroud of Darkness rune before powering it with a bit of converted shadow mana. Beatrice’s eyebrows rose when she realized he had access to the vaunted type, then even more when the plate vanished completely.
The concealment was so potent that Lev suspected the plate would vanish from his mind if his attention was snatched by something else. It would still be connected to him through his element, but it would take a bit of searching to discover the connection again.
“What the fuck?” she breathed out.
Lev snickered, earning a short glare. “Shadow mana in a nutshell.”
Then the fuel ran out, and the plate reappeared where it was.
“I couldn’t even feel any disruption in the air,” she shook her head. “How does it just cease to exist to that degree?”
“That’s a property of shadow mana.”
“Meaning?”
“I don’t know,” Lev shrugged. “It just interacts with the environment to improve the concealments.”
The conversation turned towards more mundane things after that. Lev asked how the new job had treated her, and as it stood, Beatrice had earned herself a reputation for being kind… and beautiful.
“Don’t laugh at me,” she huffed and crossed her arms. “It’s not my fault that my buffs also come with a rejuvenation effect now. Everyone stares at me like I’m some sort of angel.”
A chill crept down Lev’s spine. He paused, and the sensation vanished as soon as it had come.
What the hell just happened?
Confused, he looked around, finding nothing amiss. Not wanting to keep her hanging, he pushed the odd occurrence out of his mind and agreed that she was indeed beautiful. It only made sense for people to be entranced.
That was somehow not what she wanted to hear, though he also didn’t miss the note of satisfaction.
“So, what are you doing alone out here?” she eventually broached the topic. “Your friends are all inside.”
“I’m here as a safety measure, which has already paid off. As for my friends, they are in a meeting, after which my next role will be decided.”
“You don’t have a say in it?”
“I do, but I don’t want to contest anything right now. You will also most likely be assigned to me, and until more forces arrive and things become more stable, I’m fine being stationary.”
She tried to be subtle about it, except Lev didn’t miss the calculating glance. Sure, he was usually itching to go on an adventure, and yet, his presence had already saved a life. Throwing himself into danger could wait.
Far below, the Adept scout he had saved also turned towards the bubble for a moment and bowed her head. Lev sent a pulse of mana tinged with acknowledgement, after which she returned to the fort with slightly wobbly steps.
“Look at you,” Beatrice said. Lev turned to her and saw one of the most genuine smiles he had ever seen on her face.
“I took your words to heart,” he rolled his eyes. “Granted, I could’ve done more, but at least I’ve stopped avoiding interactions now. Many people here know about me, and I also trained the workers who came here with me originally. Which reminds me, I also need to create another batch of disks.”
“Disks?”
Instead of answering, Lev created a disk in a few seconds. It was enchanted and then tossed into a small tub, which he got up and half-filled with sap. More than enough for his purposes.
Less than a minute later, it was ready to be enchanted further. Sharpness and durability runes were further expanded to be concentrated around the edges, and he also added an infusion rune for any lightning or wind mana users.
[
Razor Disk - Rare
]
All the usual enchantments were also listed in the description. While the names might make them seem rather ordinary, his element and the Epic Crafter title brought the most out of each rune, and the resulting formations were quite a bit stronger than if they were to be put on a metal disk.
“Neat,” Beatrice commented, copying the word she had seen Lev use.