12 First Kill

Leo didn't go to the forest immediately. He didn't have any money to prepare any good equipment or anything, but he could use the time to make sure that he perfected the use of his spell. For the rest of the day, he used the spell again and again until Daphne came back. Once she came back, he stopped and got some rest. During the night, instead of practicing, he chose to get some rest because he would need a lot of energy the next day.

The next day, he left along with Daphne. Unlike before, his satchel wasn't all torn up. Instead, he got a new satchel, because he would need to carry the herbs carefully. The satchel had three different categories, one for each herb. It was very ambitious, but he needed to do it. The only other thing he had was his knife. The knife was the only purchase he had ever made with his savings that wasn't food. He had bought it a year ago, and this would be the first time he would use it properly.

Daphne split up from Leo to look for work, while he went straight to Trevor. He wanted to confirm that Trevor would give him the money.

Trevor saw him coming. He smiled.

"Are you leaving today?" He asked Leo. The satchel hanging on Leo's shoulder was a dead give away.

Leo nodded. "Yes. I wanted to make sure our deal was still on."

Trevor brought out his hand.

"Let's shake on it. I won't go back at all."

Leo shook his hand. He then turned around to set out for the forest. Behind him, Trevor shouted a piece of advice.

"Aim for their eyes. They go down if you can reach their brains."

While Leo appreciated the advice, he hoped he wouldn't need it. He walked toward Valkyr's Forest. While walking toward the forest, he steadied his breath. This would be the biggest job he had ever done in his life, and the most dangerous as well. So he was naturally incredibly nervous about it.

"Obviously, nothing could go wrong," He muttered to himself, chuckling at his jinx while he was on his way.

He reached the outskirts of the forest and decided that he should use the body-strengthening magic immediately. While practicing the previous day, he found out that his body could only hold the spell for two hours. After that, he would need an hour to recover and use the spell again. This was because his body didn't have enough

He felt the surge of power in his body. With this new strength, his confidence got bolstered and he went into the forest.

For the first thirty minutes, he was just walking into the forest. He was walking slightly faster than usual and had gotten deeper into the forest than before. So he was surprised that he hadn't encountered a single animal yet. He hadn't even seen a normal hare. What he saw made him realize why.

In front of him was a magical herb. It was an orange-colored plant that had embers dripping out of its leaves. The herb was a similar height to the Glimmer root, but it was a lot brighter. The embers didn't seem to burn the grass beneath it, so he hoped it wouldn't burn through his satchel.

He immediately took out his knife. The reason was that he knew the herb had a beast that had claimed it as its own. That could be the only reason that no other animal could be seen in the area. His senses got a lot sharper as the adrenaline in his body clicked in.

He looked around for a predator. The only animal powerful enough to claim an entire area would either be a predator or a magical beast. But magical beasts only cared about herbs that were in the Inner Valkyr's Forest. He was currently in the Outer Forest.

The previous time, he was in the outskirts, which was barely considered a part of the forest. The only reason he even encountered a wolf was probably that it was just exploring the area and chanced on his scent. But this was the Outer Forest where dangerous animals were a lot more common. Only Apprentice Aura Knights and above were strong enough to explore the area.

He quickly found his opponent. It was sleeping in the shade of a tree with the herb in its eyesight. It was a tiger. It probably hadn't eaten the herb enough because it was hoping that it would mature even more. The longer herbs grew, the more potent their effects became.

Animals that ate magical herbs had a chance to evolve into Magical Beasts. Their bloodline also played a part, but magical herbs makes the chance higher. He saw that tiger sleeping and knew that his best shot was a sneak attack.

He didn't approach the herb since didn't want to walk towards it while facing the tiger. If it woke up, he would be dead meat. Instead, he went around the herb from the side. He wanted to surprise it, but in case the surprise attack failed, he would be maintaining the high ground.

He slowly crept towards the tiger, grabbing his knife tightly. As he got closer, he moved slower. He wanted to limit the sound he made as much as possible. The minute he got 6 feet close, he knew he couldn't move without alerting the tiger.

He took a deep breath, preparing his body. After taking a second to calm himself, he leaped towards the tiger. He swung the knife into the head of the tiger with as much strength as he could muster. The knife wasn't sharpened properly, but it still dug into the skull of the tiger. He heard a soft whimper from the tiger, but the tiger couldn't fight back. It immediately died on the spot.

He was breathing heavily. The adrenaline in his body had peaked. He stood up straight and looked at his victim. After looking at its limp body, he looked back at the herb. His mouth curved into a smile.

"One down."