Fight in the cave

It was then Leon realised he probably did come off a bit intimidating. Maybe it would be better to speak in a kinder tone, at least to a little girl.

Awkwardly scratching his head, Leon asked again but this time in a much gentler tone.

"Umm...Please Lucy"

Perhaps Lucy could sense the change in the tone of Leon's voice, but the nervousness on her face reduced considerably.

Slowly, Lucy stretched out her wrist with a grey crystal embedded into it.

Instantly a familiar panel shot out for display.

[Lucy Breyer]

-Race: Human

-Innate Trait: Keen Intuition

-Class: None

-Profession: none

-Title: None

- Status

Strength: 4.95

Constitution: 6.4

Agility: 4.9

Perception: 13.6

Mana: 3/5

Seeing this, Leon nodded.

Lucy had indeed awakened a hidden attribute:

Mana

If we get down into specifics, mana was not really a hidden attribute. It had just been termed that because most humans rarely awaken mana naturally, so it doesn't show up on the attribute panel.

In reality, the mana attribute is quite easy to unlock. All that is needed is for someone to gain a skill of any class and the mana attribute will awaken.

Leon knew that Lucy would awaken the mana attribute. He just didn't know how high her mana would be.

The reason was because mana was a very specific thing and could vary even between two identical twins.

Lucy had awakened a starting of 5 mana points, which was quite average for a human.

Next, Leon reached into his pockets and retrieved something.

<<Lesser mana Potion (common)>>

A consumable item that restores for a total of 15 mana points upon total consumption.

Leon reached out and handed it to Lucy.

"As you can see from the description, this is a mana potion and can be used to restore the mana you use once you've cast a spell

When you see that your man is running low, you can take it. But only take it in sips. The potion is enough to refill your man three times over, so don't waste it." explained Leon

But before the potion touched Lucy's hand, Leon pulled back and asked with a smile,

"How about we make a deal from here?"

As Lucy heard this, she just looked at Leon with a confused gaze.

"Let me explain," said Leon

"I'll give you the mana potion so you can cast more heals. But from here on out, you can only heal who I say. In addition, I'll be getting myself healed for free."

Hearing some shady dealings going on, Lucas quickly stepped in .

"You really have no shame! You're trying to scam a little girl!"

Unfortunately for Lucas, Leon wasn't in the mood to play his little game and sneered as he pushed him to the side

"Can you let me finish speaking?" Said Leon in annoyance

"In return for your efforts, I'll let you have an increased proportion of my rewards for providing the heals?"

As Lucy heard this, she went into thought.

Although Lucy was young and she didn't speak much, this didn't mean she was dumb.

She was at least as smart as if not smarter than Lucas when it came to matters other than combat.

Besides, ever since coming to <Haven>, when it came to making deals, Lucy could practically be called the queen.

She was simply uncontested and all because of one simple fact.

<Keen intuition>

Because of this innate trait, Lucy would always have an inclination on the best choice for her to make.

She couldn't quite explain it.

It was like an invisible hand that always pushed her in the right direction.

Lucy only hesitated for a moment before she nodded her head.

"I- I agree to your deal," said Lucy softly

Getting his confirmation, Leon handed out his potion towards Lucy.

But before he could reach out, a concerned voice interrupted.

"Lucy are you sure? You know this guy's a suspicious looking person. For all we know, this could be a scam."

Hearing this, Leon's face twitched in annoyance.

'This kid! Didn't he know he was still here!'

If it wasn't for the fact he was a little boy, Leon could have slapped him where he stood!

But even with Leon's unpleasant look, Lucas carried on explaining his worries to his sister until his sister spoke out.

"No Lucas, you don't understand. My intuition I telling me to trust this deal."

As soon as Lucas heard this, he froze.

Lucas stared into Lucy's unusually firm blue eyes and sighed.

It was Lucy's intuition that had led the pair so far and it hadn't failed them yet.

It wouldn't hurt to trust it once again.

"Okay Lucy, I'll trust you once again."

As Lucy heard this, a bright smile appeared on her face.

"Thank you brother! You're the best!"

As Lucy spoke, she jumped up to give her brother a hug.

Instantly, the cold glare on Lucas's face faded into a silly grin.

But this only lasted for a second before his cold expression flickered back on.

They were now in a place where they could lose their lives at any moment.

He had the responsibility of protecting his sister to the very end!

As these thoughts were racing through Lucas's mind, Leon had begun to look around, making sure that everyone was prepared.

It was then that he noticed a major problem:

Jessica.

It was okay that she had a bow, but her only close range weapon was a dagger.

Using a bow at such a close range required an immense amount of skill. Leon couldn't be sure she had that skill.

He wasn't here to play games, liabilities couldn't be taken with him.

Walking towards her, Leon spoke

"Jessica, I believe you aren't foolish. Using a bow in such close quarters requires an immense amount of skill-"

"Well, it's a good thing that it's me then," replied Jessica confidently

"You don't have to worry about me using this thing," said Jessica as she tapped her trusty bow.

"I've taken my university to the archery nationals. This may be a problem for others, but for me, this is simply light work!"

Hearing such confidence, Leon stared at her for a second but even under Leon's gaze, Jessica didn't falter and only returned a confident smirk.

Eventually Leon could do nothing other than turn around but as he did, so he spoke

"This is your choice meaning the consequences are all on you. Don't expect anyone to protect you on the at any point during the journey"

After saying this, Leon called the rest of the group and started leading them further inside.

As The group walked on they remained in complete silence as they traded upon the path only illuminated by the faint glowing moss on the walls and roof.

All that could be heard was their shallow footsteps and the occasional whistle of wind.

Suddenly Leon stopped.

'Tch! I really need to up my perception! How did they get so close to us without me noticing!' Thought Leon in frustration.

Quickly turning to the others, Leon alerted them

"They're here. Prepare to fight and remember, avoid their bites at all cost!"

"Screech! Screech! "

Before anyone could question Leon's words, the sound of scuttling could be heard all around them , accompanied by the sounds of disturbing screeches as spiders similar to the ones they saw in the forest started surrounding them. But different from before, their skin was a light purplish colour with a green star pattern on their body.

Not wanting to let the creatures swarm up, Leon stepped forward to engage them.

His spear shot out with pinpoint precision, piercing straight through the two spiders that leapt at him.

But unlike before with his usual fighting styles, Leon didn't dive straight into the heart of the monsters and instead slowly began to whittle them down from the edge. The reason for this was simple, his usual blow for blow fighting style would be foolish to use against foes with potent poison.

The fighting style was made to exchange minor wounds for killing blows.

But if it only needed a small amount of toxin to completely kill him, then the premise of taking small wounds being a worthy exchange needed to be completely scrapped.

But even with his uncharacteristically cautious fighting style, compared to the others, it still seemed like Leon was as fearless and valiant as ever.

For the others, this was their first fight where their life could be lost at any time.

Their concentration was at an all-time high as they tracked each opponent one at a time, slowly wearing them down.

The only person who could be said not to be worried about being poisoned would be Lucy.

As the healer of the group, everyone had agreed that she didn't need to fight and it would be better for everyone if she remained on the sidelines.

At first you'd expect her role to come with the least amount of stress, but surprisingly, it would be her role who was stressed out the most.

Not being able to contribute in any positive way meant she was just watching on, making her feel like an incredible amount of dead weight.

So she could only watch on nervously in the centre of the circle formed by everyone as everyone else fought with their lives in the line!

But Lucy's relative calmness didn't last long before she felt a firm hand clasping her shirt, dragging her into the sky.

"Ahh!"

A high-pitched squeal sounded across the battlefield causing Lucas to suddenly break away from his opponent and look back in panic

"Lucy!"

But soon Lucas's panic reduced as he saw the person who took his sister was none other than Leon.

And just as Leon pulled Lucy away from her original location, three poisonous spiders fell from the cave roof onto her previous spot.

Leon didn't hesitate and shot out his spear, smashing first the two spiders and for the third spider he simply sent out a fierce stomp, crushing it into paste!

He then turned to Lucy and spoke.

"Stick with me now. It's too dangerous to stay by yourself."

Still stunned by the recent development, Lucy could just nod absent-mindedly as she clutched onto her little teddy bear just a little bit tighter.

Protecting Lucy behind him, Leon turned towards the crowd of swarming spiders approaching him and scowled.

"It's really going to be a long dungeon."

…..

Many Minutes later the battlefield had quietened down and the numerous battered corpses of spiders could be seen crowding one's view.

Leon looked around to check on the others and, although none of them were injured, they were clearly exhausted.

They had been fighting with the utmost concentration to avoid any potentially lethal spider bites.

As Leon was approaching, He saw Jessica draw her bow and point it directly at him. Before Leon realised an arrow was let loose and shot directly towards him!

"Screech!"

Looking back, Leon turned to see the pierced carcass of a poisonous spider.

Turning back around, Leon looked to see Jessica looking at him with a smug smile.

"What did I tell you? I can protect myself with a bow. I even have enough time to protect others."

But instead of receiving any praise, all she got from Leon was a cold response

"I could have handled that by myself."

"Hey! Would it kill you to say thank you-"

Before Jessica could continue, she saw Leon throw his spear directly at her face!

"Bang!"

The spear just narrowly missed her skewering an attacking spider onto the cave wall!

"Like I said, I can handle myself, but I doubt you could have handled that."

After saying his words, Leon walked by to retrieve his spear, leaving Jessica to glare into his back.

Afterwards, everyone began to do one of the most important things in <Haven>, retrieve their attribute crystals.