Chapter 15: Resolving A Situation

It was a desperate fight against the Advanced-tier beast, one that could have easily had him cease to exist from that day onward, but with something he picked up from one of his top near-death experiences, he was just able to escape.

What Erian just pulled off was something only someone like him with two mana lines could pull off.

However, instant power boosts like that always came with massive drawbacks and this one was no exception.

The process of merging one of his mana lines with the other and allowing the mana line to absorb the level from the added mana line regardless of the difference in abilities was a very tedious and mana-draining process that always left Erian quite exhausted.

He was fortunate enough to be able to finish the beast off before the fusion process ended.

"That was close." He muttered.

His breathing was heavy, abnormally fast and unstable as he crashed down to the ground.

Staring up at the sky, he could see that he didn't have much time left as the sun was slowly disappearing from the sky and the forest getting slightly darker by the passing second.

"Seven intermediate-tier beast cores, and I haven't even obtained one." He sighed. "I spent all the time I had on that beast and now the sun is almost gone."

'Wait a second, one advanced tier beast core definitely has more value than seven intermediate ones, right?' He thought, a smile finding its way to his face. 'But the requirement specifies to obtain seven intermediate tier beast cores and nothing else.'

He pondered it for a while, and in the end,, he decided to go with what he had.

"I'll just have to take the gamble." He muttered as his gaze shifted to Lunaire who was still kneeling and unconscious.

The expression on his face turned sour at that moment as he let out a sigh.

"Just like she's also here to fulfill a secondary requirement and I don't know if she's fulfilled." He sighed.

In the end, he could only say one thing to her, "Sorry."

________ _________

About fifteen minutes had passed since Erian took down the scorching tiger.

The sun was completely gone from the sky now, but he was yet to leave the forest as he was watching over Lunaire, who was lying now with her back against the tree bark.

Fortunately for Erian, it didn't look like she was planning to stay unconscious for long.

With a little groan, she opened her eyes to find Erian sitting a little distance away from her, tossing pebbles into the distance.

"Ughhhh." She groaned as she tried to pull herself up, but not being able to muster enough strength in her legs she found herself crashing down.

She felt a stinging pain in her head at that moment and reached for her forehead; it was probably the aftermath of what the tiger did to her.

"Don't force yourself to get up," Erian said before getting up on his feet.

Walking up to her, he reached into the tiny bag around his waist and pulled out a bottle of water.

"Here, have some water." He offered it to her as he squatted down in front of her.

She wasn't too quick to accept the water and stared at him for quite a while like she was expecting him to say something first.

However, Erian didn't say anything so she proceeded to slowly accept the water for the moment.

She was quite thirsty as could be seen by the way she was pouring down the contents of the bottle down her throat.

"So, how are you feeling?" He inquired.

"Not too bad." She shook her head.

She was feeling sore all over for some reason, and the headache was still there, but she didn't feel like telling him any of that.

"That's good." Erian nodded. "Mental attacks can be quite scary, but luckily, you weren't physically injured."

Lunaire's response to that was a very subtle nod.

"Some food might help you recover faster and I happen to have something with me." He said reaching inside his bag.

She shook her head and was about to reject his offer when he pulled out a park of cream bun and shoved it into her hand.

"Here, it can help you recover your energy faster."

Swallowing her words, Lunaire found herself staring at the pack of cream bun, a hint of curiosity in her eyes now.

She turned to his tiny bag afterwards before finally turning to him.

"Did this really come out from there?" She asked.

Given how straightened out the pack looked and how the cream bun didn't even look squeezed in the slightest, it really didn't look like something that came out of a bag that tiny.

'It's not, but it's fun making people think it is.' Erian said inwardly with a subtle smile of mischief on his face.

"Yes." He nodded.

"Huh?"

She still found it hard to believe and carefully scanned the cream bun pack before finally deciding to open it.

'Why do I feel like there's more to it than what he said?' She thought as she took a bite of the cream bun. 'It's good.'

Watching her take a second bite from the cream bun not long after the first one, Erian couldn't help but smile.

However, there was something that they had to quickly settle before leaving the forest.

"Now, let's talk about that," Erian said, switching to a serious tone as he pointed to her right.

Following the direction, it didn't take her long to find the advanced-tier scorching tiger, which was lying lifeless on the ground.

A gasp escaped from her mouth at that moment as she forcefully swallowed what she had in her mouth.

The beast was the first thing that came to her mind the moment she woke up but with Erian bombarding her with refreshments, she seemed to have forgotten about it for a moment.

"Did you do that?"

That was the only plausible conclusion she could come to given the fact that there was no one else close by. But even if it was the only plausible conclusion, she found it hard to believe, especially given the fact that he was someone at level nine with a support-type ability.

"Yes." Erian nodded.

"How?" She asked with her eyes widened.

With her help, she believed that they could have taken it down, but she just couldn't see him taking down an advanced-tier beast of that level of ferocity on his own.

"Uhhhh, I can't really tell you about that, sorry." He shook his head. "Anyway, the point is, I've already extracted this." He added, his gaze shifting to her wrist device.

There was a little moment of silence at that moment as all the questions that were written all over her face slowly settled into a calm expression.

"Oh, I see." She uttered, her voice returning to her usual cold and indifferent tone.

'You just wanted to tell me that the crystal core belongs to you now and I don't have a say in it.'

Her eyes looked cold and indifferent as before but there was a hint of hostility in them now.

She wasn't exactly wrong about what Erian had in mind though.

He wasn't one to cheat innocent people in situations like this and he never seriously thought about cheating.

However, if the advanced tier crystal core meant that only one of them could get into the Academy then he had to make sure he was that one no matter what.

That was what he thought, but it wasn't exactly everything.

He was about to say something to her when he sensed something heading toward them at full speed.

The next moment, a flying kick was sent right at him, the person's leg covered with a strong surge of wind.

However, Erian was able to catch the leg before it could hit him and by applying a bit of force, he was able to break the wind, forcing his attacker back.

Reacting quickly as his attacker fell back, he grabbed Lunaire's white staff, and after infusing it with a bit of mana, he swung at the attacker.