Selene didn’t look back as she walked away from the field house. She traced their steps back to the eastern side of the university, finding the path strangely deserted.

’He’s strong. If he doesn’t survive, then our escape wouldn’t be smooth. We definitely need him.’

Although she didn’t like Leon with his aloof and difficult attitude, she still understood his importance to the team.

Luckily, she was able to get back on the forested road without meeting a single creature.

Although she felt uneasy, she didn’t have enough time to pay special attention to her surroundings.

She jogged back through the road, moving carefully to avoid being caught up with a mutated beast.

Unfortunately, regardless of how cautious she was, something still detected her.

Selene detected its movements a second after it moved.

She turned her body and erected an ice wall beside her, just a moment before a massive claw slammed into it.

Selene’s eyes narrowed. ’A lizard?’

She took quick steps away from it and studied the creature. It was definitely a regular lizard, but now five times larger than a crocodile.

It turned its head towards her and a low growl rumbled from its throat.

’Its scales are very hard, and I doubt my attacks can have effect on it. The only weakness is...’

She looked at its underbelly which was facing downward, wondering how her attack could reach there.

Before she could think of a possible means, the beast dashed at her.

Selene immediately turned around and ran, but not before shooting two ice spears at it.

The two weapons hit its scales and shattered, barely leaving a small injury.

The mutated lizard turned to look at the part where it had been hit, then growled.

Selene paused some distance away from it, throwing more ice spears just to keep it distracted.

The beast shut its eyes and tanked all her attacks, completely unharmed.

Selene took that moment to close the distance. Spending 30 mana points to create a very durable sword, she ran to its side, lowered herself, then stabbed into its underbelly.

The mutated lizard let out a pained cry, and immediately swung its thick tail at her.

Selene pressed herself flat to the ground, feeling the wind whistle above her as the tail smashed into a tree, smashing it halfway through.

’That tail could have really killed me.’

Her heart turned colder, and she immediately created another ice sword with strong durability and sharpness.

Before the mutated lizard could realize she hadn’t been hit, she crawled closer to it and stabbed the same spot again, twisting the two ice swords before pulling them back.

Instantly, blood and intestines flowed out, and the beast cried out in pain. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Selene retreated before it could counterattack again, quickly placing herself out of danger. She was a smart girl, and knew that her speciality was in using mana for her mage-like ability.

However, she didn’t blindly assign all her free stat points into her mana stats. Since she was not a melee fighter, she had intentionally assigned some of her free stat points into her agility stat.

This would always give her a chance of escape whenever she had no hope of winning a battle.

’This thing is blocking my path, though. And passing through the forest doesn’t seem like a nice option.’

She frowned, seeing the beast already charging at her furiously.

’Should I retreat? If I run, I can surely escape from it but...’

Her blue eyes narrowed, and she stepped forward to confront the charging beast.

............

Thyra waited for hours, but it still didn’t seem like Leon was going to wake up yet. Frowning, she looked around, trying to come up with a solution.

In her storage ring, she had several potent healing potions that could bring him back to peak condition in a matter of seconds, but she didn’t dare to use it.

The Star Stream was an unfathomable entity, or perhaps it was merely a consciousness.

However, there was one thing that Thyra was sure of after all her years of living. The Star Stream didn’t allow unfairness.

Especially in the case of Higher Entities interfering with Lower Entities. If Thyra had her true body, and she helped Leon clear the whole country of threat, then she would surely die.

Or perhaps if the Star Stream was merciful, she would only have her power taken away and become an unranked entity.

This was also why she didn’t want to give Leon any of the healing potions she had, as that would count as direct support.

’Hm. This is a forest. They should have started having one of those right?’

Although the overall change each world underwent during Phase 1 was always different, there were still some similarities.

Most especially with the plants.

Now, Thyra was searching for any plant that had a specific attribute she recognized.

Soon after searching, she found one. It was an aloe vera plant—a mutated one.

The leaves were freshly green, with faint blue lights pulsing through them.

Thyra crouched before the plant and observed it well.

’This plant is actually very impressive. It’s even better than I expected.’

Her purple eyes gleamed with curiosity, and she carefully broke off a leaf.

The gel dripped onto her hand, filling her with a cool sensation.

She didn’t linger for long, though.

She immediately returned to Leon, helped him take off the upper part of his combat gear, then squeezed the gel on his injured ribs.

Only now that his direct skin was exposed did she realize how serious his injury was. His entire chest had caved in slightly, like a kid about to make an ironman armor but forgot to put the arc reactor.

’As expected. Tanking a full punch from a Tier One Evolved beast? He was asking for it.’

She sighed, then helped him apply the gel like a balm.

’Even if I can’t render much help, I can’t let you die yet, Little Leon. You’re my only hope—for now.’

The wound was healing slowly, and she guessed it would take an hour or two before it looked slightly normal.

Cutting off another aloe vera leaf, she spread the gel on him and began to help him apply it.

Slowly, his most gruesome wound was healing.