"Hm, that sounds weird coming from an injured guy~"

Thyra chuckled and brought out the rewards he had gotten from his hunt, handing them over to him.

Leon took the yellow soul crystal first, observing it curiously. This was the second one in his collections, and he still didn’t know what it’d be useful for.

However, since Thyra had decided not to inform him yet, he would still keep it.

Putting it aside, he picked up the second reward—a scroll.

Instantly, he read the displayed information at a glance.

[Trait: Fire Resistance - You are slightly resistance to heat and flames]

Leon’s brows furrowed at the simplicity of the description, then he decided to learn it.

Soon, the scroll disintegrated to ashes in his hand, and he felt a new thing being added unto himself.

Suddenly, despite wearing the tight combat gear, he felt the heat reduce, and he no longer sweated.

’Oh? That fast?’

He was surprised, but understood that traits didn’t need to be activated by mana before they could be used. They were somewhat like passive abilities.

’I wonder if they can grow more powerf... wait.’

His eyes widened, and he fumbled through his pocket. He soon brought out the Basic Ability Upgrade Card.

He turned to Thyla, quietly awaiting an explanation.

"Hm? Oh, that. It’s just as the descriptions reads. All your abilities are currently unranked. If you use that card on one of them, it’ll become a Tier One ability which would be much more powerful."

Thyra explained while eating a dark red apple she had produced from who-knows-where.

Instantly, Leon was exhilarated. There was one ability that he had, and knew it was strong. After all, it once belonged to a powerful Demon General.

However, only his mana reserves kept limiting him, and the fact that he was still cautious about the other students in the field house.

’If I can advance the shadow ability, then...’

Thyra studied his expression and easily fell into his line of thoughts.

"Slow down, Little Leon~"

He turned his attention to her, curious about what she had to say.

"It’ll be useless if you grow your ability right now."

"Useless?" Leon frowned, genuinely confused.

Taking another bite from the apple, Thyra nodded. "At Tier One, the ability works on a different scale, and your Mana reserves definitely can’t handle it. Besides, look at your current condition. Do you think you can fight when you can’t even walk alone?"

Leon fell silent. Indeed, he was currently injured, and only his right hand could move properly.

Although he knew his whole body would eventually heal itself back since he had grown beyond human limits, it might take a week or two.

’Suspiciously, the wounds on my chest have healed a bit. I don’t know what Thyra did, but it has to be her. Or could it be Selene...? Nah, no way.’

Pushing those thoughts aside, he pondered what to do with the Basic Ability Upgrade Card. It was then that he remembered a certain timid girl.

’She got a healing ability, right? If she evolves it into Tier One, then I can ask her to use it on me until I’m fully recovered.’

Realizing that, he decided to keep the card and call her later.

"Oh~? You’ve found another use for it?" Thyra asked, propping herself against the table.

"Hm, I have."

He didn’t bother mentioning what he was going to use it for. Instead, he picked up his third reward. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

It was a treasure cube, which was fairly common nowadays.

’Wait. Nowadays? It’s just been about two weeks.’

Chucking inwardly, he crushed the cube in his hand. A rusty old ring appeared in his hand, making him wince.

’A rusty ring? Seriously?’

Leon deadpanned. However, deciding not to judge the ring by its look, he took a look at the information displayed by the Star Stream.

[Force Ring - Consumes 50 mana points to maintain an all round forcefield that blocks all physical and magical attack. Can only be used 3 times in a day]

Instantly, Leon’s opinion of the ring changed. It was such a good item.

If he had this, then he was confident of tanking that mutated gorilla’s punch at least once. Also, the fact that it could also block magical attacks like Selene’s icicles or Gwen’s Soulfire arrows, was impressive.

’Now I don’t have to worry about being backstabbed.’

Equipping the ring, he felt like he had gotten another layer of protection.

’And the last...’

His ears twitched, and he couldn’t help but turn to Thyra with a small scowl.

"Hey, can you keep down the crunching sounds? It’s... affecting me."

The woman blinked innocently, lifting herself from the table.

Her dress shifted, stretched, and tightened, readjusting to her shape and new posture.

"Oh, my bad. Want some?"

He took a look at the apple she was eating, feeling slightly tempted. However, when he remembered that she was a demon, he politely declined.

"No, thanks."

After all, who knew if that apple was the soul of a human that had died? He remembered watching such bizarre things as movies back when his mom was still alive.

Cooling his thoughts, he picked up the last cube, then crushed it.

Several metal plates fell on him, causing him to cry out especially when one hit his injured wrist.

"Oof!"

Groaning, he glanced at the things that had fallen on him, realizing they were actually pieces of metal armor.

’Eh? Armor?’

Propping himself up, he picked up the pieces one by one, examining them with care.

Surprise flickered in his eyes. "Wow... an actual armor."

From the side, Thyra hummed and nodded. "Yeah. Although this one is also unranked, you can wear it over your combat suit. It’ll be a higher layer of defense. Besides, you’ll look cool."

"Like a knight in shining armor? Yeah. Right." He replied flatly, then began arranging them on the ground.

The pieces weren’t much, with only the torso breastplate, shoulder guards, vambraces, thigh shins, leg shins, and a pair of leather gloves.

’Looks like I’m only needing to be healed. Besides, I still need to go back and get that ability from the gorilla before its too late.’