When they went to the forest, Leo put Daphne in the same spot where they had practiced earlier. The remnants of the chalk circles were still there but faded away because of the weather.
He went to the tree and redrew the circles with the chalk. He looked at Daphne.
"Okay, I am going to practice while you practice your bow. Okay?" He said.
She nodded. She was standing a little further away than she had the first day. She was making progress, but she was still close enough to the tree that she could only be considered a close-range fighter.
He walked slowly toward the Outer Forest while she was focused on shooting arrows. She was so engrossed in practice that she didn't even notice that he went in the wrong direction than he normally did.
He quickly started running toward the forest. He wanted to finish this as quickly as possible. He needed the Beast Cores to supplement his practice and the money from the extra cores to buy Aura Gathering Pills.
He found his first target. It was a Firetail Fox. It was just an Early-Stage 1st Circle Magical Beast. At his current power, Leo was a Middle-Stage 1st Star Mage. He could easily kill the Firetail Fox.
He shot a few magical bullets at it, but the fox dodged the first few. However, the fox got hit before it could try to run away. The number of bullets that he fired was very hard to dodge. It consumed a decent chunk of his magic power, but it was very effective.
He went forward and took out the Beast Core from the fox. He quickly went to look for his next target. He was planning on taking it slowly. He would only get 2 Beast Cores every day and sell one. Since they would have to come every day to practice, this would accumulate.
At this point, he could use an entire 1st Circle Beast Core in a single day for practice, so this would just barely supplement his training.
He quickly found another target in the distance. It was a Thunderhoof Deer. It was a Middle-Stage 1st Circle Magical Beast, but it was slower and couldn't dodge his bullets. It was also a lot more powerful and if he got caught in its attacks, he would be in a lot of danger. So he approached it carefully.
He got noticed very quickly. Unlike the Firetail Fox, the deer charge toward him. Every time its hoofs contacted the ground, there was a thundering sound and sparks emerged. Leo pointed his hand at the deer and started pummeling it with Magic Bullets.
The bullets took away all of his magic power and he barely had any left. He was exhausted at this point. However, the deer couldn't take it and he succeeded in killing it. All he had to do was take the core and go back as quickly as possible. It had only been 45 minutes since he had left Daphne.
Normally, he would have to look for an actual Beast that he could kill. It used to be a pseudo Magical Beast for so long. Now, there were no pseudo Magical Beasts at all. He couldn't even find a normal animal even in the outskirts. The Magical Beasts completely pushed them out of the forest.
Previously he would spend close to an hour killing just one Magical Beast. Now he was able to get two Beast Cores in 45 minutes. Not only was he growing stronger, but the ease of finding Magical Beasts in the Outer Forest was also getting higher.
He quickly took the Beast Core and ran toward the Outskirts. It wasn't only about whether or not she noticed he was gone, it was also about how safe it was leaving her near the forest by herself.
When he got back, she was perfectly fine and still practicing. She hadn't even noticed that he was gone. He smiled. This meant he could do this every day without a problem. He put the satchel that had the Beast Cores in front of him and took one out. He put it in his pocket and started training.
Even though it wasn't in his hands, it was still close enough to his body that he could absorb the magic in it. He did it because he didn't want Daphne to think anything about it when she saw a Beast Core in his hands.
The sun started dipping so it was time to leave. He called out to her.
"Daphne! Time to leave!"
She quickly picked her arrows up and they went back to the city.
"Are we going again tomorrow?" She asked.
He nodded. She went to her room in joy. Meanwhile, he went to his room to get changed. He put on the cloak and left the house. He was going to the Thousand Treasure Tower.
He went there and got the Beast Core appraised. It was worth 9000 Starcoins. He was letting go of the Beast Core of the Firetail Fox since it was weaker. He got the money deposited in his account.
He looked around the Tower and found the pill that Clarice and Evelyn were talking about. He saw its effects and smiled. It would be a great item to buy for him and Daphne. He checked its price and quickly left.
He went back to his house and went back to practicing in the white room in his mind for the rest of the night. He was in a rush to get to his 2nd Star so he didn't spare any second for anything other than training.
The next 10 days passed in the exact same manner.
A/N: I would greatly appreciate comments about the story at any point. I would also appreciate reviews.
