?The human girl and two elves stared at Kyle in shock. They had been fighting the frogs for hours, but Kyle had effortlessly defeated so many in just a minute. They gasped and looked at him with awe.
Sinon opened one of his eyes as he felt the temperature dropping with each passing second. He glanced at Kyle and clicked his tongue.
"Show off."
Kyle's ears twitched when he heard Sinon's remarks. He dusted his shirt softly and raised a brow with an expression that seemed to say, 'So what?'
Sinon laughed but was too tired to continue talking. He decided to rest on a branch for a while.
With a hum, Kyle looked at the ice, which transformed into bright particles and floated in the air, further astonishing the trio.
As the ice vanished, two round orbs dropped to the ground.
-'Oh... skill cores.'
Bia's voice was flat because being with Kyle had made her a bit numb to these types of things.
Kyle examined the cores. One was larger, almost the size of his palm, while the other was relatively small.
At first, he ignored them, thinking about the frogs' ugly appearance. But suddenly, an old memory flashed in his mind.
In that memory, he and Nine found a small core after defeating a tiny goblin. At that moment, his thoughts were, It's a Goblin core, what skill can such a small goblin, not even (F)-Rank, possess?
That's why he tossed the core to Nine, only to later discover that the small goblin core actually had a very useful skill.
That's why Kyle immediately changed his mind and grabbed the cores.
Sinon, who was just about to jump towards the cores, thinking that Kyle didn't need them, stopped in his tracks. He sighed with regret and leaned back against the tree branch.
'I need to increase my speed.'
Bia was surprised. She gazed at the two cores in Kyle's hand as he peeked inside.
Kyle's face lit up, and he threw the bigger core at Sinon, who caught it with surprise.
"Why are you giving me the bigger one? I thought the bigger the core, the stronger the skill. Or is my knowledge wrong?"
A doubtful expression appeared on Sinon's face as he stared at Kyle. The trio sitting on the trees sighed because they knew they would get nothing.
Kyle let out a chuckle and waved his hand.
"It's because the small one is useful to me, the other one is not."
With an 'Oh', Sinon spread his wings and approached Kyle.
"Is it a unique skill?"
He waited with anticipation. Low-rank skills weren't useful when fighting high-rank monsters, so he was sure Kyle had found a unique low-rank skill, like breathing underwater or having clear vision underwater. But Kyle's next words left him speechless.
"It's an (F)-Rank water skill called 'Aqua ball'."
Sinon's expression was screaming, If it's just a normal water skill, why the hell are you smirking? Yet, he composed his expression and gave a pat on Kyle's shoulder.
"Indeed, it's a... very good skill."
Kyle's eyes sparkled as he nodded in response.
"Of course. It is! I have been searching for a water-type skill for ages!"
Sinon gazed at him with a blank expression, thinking that maybe low-rank water-type skills were really strong. However, he then thought about his skills. He had five low-rank water-type skills, but they were never useful in actual combat.
'Wait, maybe I used them incorrectly?'
He was doubting his skills, unaware that for Kyle, the water-
type skill was only useful for a quick bath or cleaning his hands.
Suddenly, Haylee's voice echoed inside Kyle's head, and he hurriedly said goodbye to Sinon. Unfortunately, before the winged demi-human could properly reply, he vanished.
Sinon gazed at the space in front of him with a blank expression. He retracted his hand that was ready to flick one last pat on Kyle's shoulder as a goodbye.
'Next time, for now, I think I should go practice my water-type skills.'
Bia cursed under her breath. Her wings fluttered as she dived in the direction where she sensed Kyle's presence.
On the other hand, Kyle stopped in front of the winged boar, who stared at him with an ugly expression. The boar's white fur was covered in dirt, mud, and all sorts of filth.
Kyle's body was floating as he circled Haylee with an innocent expression.
"What happened?"
Haylee felt like crying. He just got beaten up by Ris because he stopped the latter, who was hell-bent on breaking one of Kyle's legs.
'He's not even thankful! I should have just let Ris smack him once or twice!'
Haylee glared at Kyle but almost coughed out blood when he saw a faint, barely visible smile at the corner of his lips.
The boar's eyes narrowed dangerously as he raised his paw to wipe that smile off, but before he could, Bia appeared and asked him the same question.
-'What happened to you?'
The boar's eyelid twitched because, just like Kyle, the corner of Bia's eyes trickled upward with mirth.
He retracted his paw, unwilling to speak further with the infuriating duo.
"Just tell me what you want to ask. I have more things to do."
'Or more specifically, I have to go check on the lizard that I tossed inside a pit.'
Kyle's expression hardened when he heard the boar's words. The previous mischievousness evaporated from his eyes. His feet touched the ground, and he grabbed his chest.
Haylee was surprised when the human stared at him with a deadly serious expression.
"Can you... sense something dangerous inside my body?"
"Huh?"
Haylee blinked, but when the meaning behind Kyle's words dawned on him, he knitted his brows.
"Something dangerous?"
Kyle nodded and waited for his answer, but after a few seconds, Haylee gazed at him with a speechless expression.
"First, remove the presence concealing artifact you're wearing. I can't sense anything because of it."
Kyle's eyes narrowed.
'Bia, are you sure he can help? He can't even go past the artifact...'
Bia rolled her eyes.
-'Just remove the artifact. It's not a big deal.'
'Jeez, alright.'
