Chapter 466: Punishment

4 March 501 AA

"It actually becomes this easy?" Leo said in surprise as he tried forming a new attack with the water element while the Hydra was spirit-integrated into his body. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

He was currently undergoing 2 days of training under Katherine to learn how to handle the Spirit Hydra and the abilities acquired after integrating with a spirit.

Mana: 667,700 | 300,000

That was what his mana looked like after spirit integrating with the Hydra; he had an extra 300,000 units to work with.

These were some of the benefits of the [Spirit Integration] technique. Extra mana to work with, free elemental control over the spirit beast’s elements, and a few other advantages like—

RRROOOAAARRRR!

Suddenly, 3 small heads emerged from Leo’s back—not attached to his body, but rather to the spirit layer covering him. He directed them toward a stone wall ahead, and they simultaneously fired beams of their respective elements, instantly obliterating the wall.

The water appeared as an almost transparent fluid with a faint blue tint, the earth manifested as yellowish sand, and the poison carried a greenish-purple hue.

He could use the spirit beast’s physical appearance as his own unique weapon. But there was one flaw: the spirit armour possessed almost no sturdiness. It was like a thin layer of cloth through which attacks phased before striking the actual body.

Yes, Lily could imitate Lunaria’s sharp claws on her hands and slash through targets with them using wind energy to coat the form, but if she tried blocking an attack using those same claws, it would fail. Rather than the claws blocking the attack, Lily’s actual hands would take the impact. It would be a different matter if she channelled wind or another element through the claws to reinforce them.

And this was the flaw--Miho’s talent--[Spirit Reinforcement] fixed.

In exchange for not being able to let her contracted spirit beast roam and act freely like Lily’s, Miho could utilise nearly all of the beast’s capabilities to enhance herself. It was as if, even in spirit form, the spirits retained the physical sturdiness and strength they had possessed in their original bodies, unlike ordinary spirits, whose physical aspects became heavily diminished.

While Leo was experimenting with new abilities, Lily, who was happily enjoying the sweets Leo had brought for her, suddenly noticed something.

"He grew more...?" she muttered before hopping over to confirm her suspicion.

And just as she guessed, Leo had become taller once again—an entire inch taller compared to her own height.

"Wait..." Lily suddenly recalled the previous instance and checked her own height as well.

And as she suspected, she herself had grown by 1 inch too, which meant Leo had grown another 2 inches!

Now Lily stood at 5’8", while Leo stood at 6’8".

Not only that, but Leo’s facial features had improved even further. Just looking at him was enough to make Lily start salivating slightly. Still, she controlled herself because Katherine was somewhere nearby, teaching Miho something new.

Leo noticed her gaze, and since he had never been shy about such things, he simply walked over and pulled her into a deep kiss. Lily didn’t resist and, like a starved being, practically started to devour his mouth. She almost forgot Katherine could sense their activities. Her hands started to approach his member, but Leo stopped her before things escalated further, and the 2 parted.

At that exact moment, Katherine walked over.

Both of them greeted her.

"Since your long-awaited meetup is over, I suppose you should return to your business? Lily still has a lot to learn before the compulsory mission," she said, her tone clearly suggesting she knew exactly what had just happened.

"Of course, Professor. Once again, thank you for bearing with me these past 2 days and tutoring Lily all this time," Leo said gratefully as the Leviastrom Eagle descended beside him the very next moment.

"Professor, this...?" Leo asked cautiously.

"Your ride. You seemed pretty bored the last time, so I thought this should make up for it," Katherine replied with a sly smile.

At the same time, Leo received a telepathic message from her.

’If you keep distracting Lily while she’s undergoing important training, prepare for worse punishment.’

It wasn’t that Katherine opposed their closeness. The problem was that whatever Leo had initiated just now would linger in Lily’s mind for hours, maybe even an entire day, since it had been left unfinished. That distraction would interfere with her training.

Leo scratched the back of his head as he watched the eagle lower one of its wings, allowing him to climb onto its back.

I am screwed...

And the reason he was screwed was because—

"AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! SLOW DOWN!!!" Leo screamed at the top of his lungs, only for the cutting wind to flood into his mouth and throat.

If the previous owl ride had been a calm and cosy 3-hour journey, then the Eagle seemed hell-bent on finishing the trip within 3 minutes.

But the issue wasn’t the speed itself. Leo had travelled far faster with Brant during the fishing trip.

The real problem was that there was no barrier.

Leo desperately clutched the massive feathers on the beast’s back. And the wretched creature had even hardened those feathers like steel. The tighter he gripped them, the more they tore into his palms. The sharp feathers pierced through both of his defensive traits and made his hands bleed, yet he couldn’t loosen his grip even slightly because he would immediately be flung into the sky, several kilometres above the ground.

And he even suspected the beast would happily let him fall to his death since he technically wouldn’t die permanently and would simply be sent back to the temple.

But that didn’t change the fact that it would hurt like hell.

They travelled at nearly Mach 9 or 10 without any protective barrier around Leo; it was outright torture. It wasn’t as though the Eagle couldn’t fly faster—it was simply limiting itself to the maximum speed Leo’s current physical capabilities could barely endure.

When Leo was finally dumped back into the territory, he lay sprawled on the ground for a long time, groaning weakly.

Several elves hurried over anxiously to check on him, but Leo waved them away, insisting he was fine.

In reality, things would have been much worse if Katherine had known Leo possessed far more strength than she had sensed, along with 2 additional defensive traits.

At that point, he would probably have been foaming at the mouth and only moments away from being sent straight to the temple.