Leo had also discovered something unexpected about [Critical Strike]: the skill wasn't powered purely by mana; it was directly tied to his physical stats, more specifically, strength and stamina both. Unlike [Violet Hellbrand], which manifested poisonous flames entirely through mana conversion, [Critical Strike] actually pushed his muscles beyond their natural limits. The moment he deactivated it, he felt the soreness creep in; it was like mana had seeped into his fibres to forcibly empower them and left behind the aftermath of overexertion.

He'd never noticed it before because every time he used [Critical Strike], it was in the middle of combat. And immediately after battle, he always cast [Nature's Heal] to mend scratches or micro-tears, wiping away even the muscle soreness. But the one time he drained his mana pool completely, he couldn't use the spell—and the tiny tears in his muscles made themselves painfully obvious. Even his passive regeneration couldn't keep up with a nearly empty mana pool.

He realised the soreness came from minute muscle tears and lactic acid buildup—the same phenomenon that slowed neural responses in his past world. Magical or not, the body's fundamental biology refused to be bypassed.

But this drawback only existed when he overloaded the skill to force 600% output into two limbs. Without overloading, he could distribute 150% across all four limbs simultaneously, adding to 600%—and this time, he found he could do so smoothly. Not like the 600% variant, where using two limbs at max felt like trying to write two different essays with both hands at once. The 150% distribution was more like running a sprint—his body flowed naturally.

Realistically, he could wield pseudo 4-star strength for nearly two minutes with mana consumption of 200 units per second. Strength, that is—not agility, not stamina. In fact, it drained his stamina even faster.

During his monotonous wandering through the forest, the Elasian Aetherbloom finally bore fruit. And not just one but three Elasian Blooms. The system even told him to consume two petals at once, needing only a week or two before he could attempt more. And since it was the soul that was being tempered, the instant consuming was not a viable option. So he would gain more Elasian blooms before he consumed the previous ones. This however made him happy as he could help Lily while not hindering his growth.

Naturally, he did just that. To balance the spike in vitality, he consumed Heartstones as well. But now, instead of vitality lagging behind, agility was trailing the others.

He had completely forgotten about another factor—the increase in his Soul Rank. It struck him as a pleasant surprise. His Mythical Soul absorbed the bloom as well; the secondary soul only ranked up once, and the excess was used to expand his spiritual space, giving him more mental capacity to create islands and construct things within them.

Level 23: 10340 / 24772

Stats:

Vitality: 120.1 → 138.7  [220.1 → 238.7]

Strength: 121.4 → 135.2  [221.4 → 235.2]

Agility: 108.7 → 115.7  [208.7 → 215.7]

Stamina: 119.3 → 134.9  [219.3 → 234.9]

Intelligence: 163.7 → 191.4 [263.7 → 291.4]

Mana: 14,733 → 17,226 [23,733 → 26,226]

Soul Rank:

*Mythical*

Uncommon ---> Rare

Intelligence: 191.4 [291.4]

Mana = Intelligence × Soul Rank Value (3+7) × 10(Previously, the value was 2+7)

Mana: 17,226 → 19,140 [26,226 → 29,140]

He might have been extremely happy seeing his stats, but then his eyes went to the level section, which dimmed his joy, making him sigh.

"I think I might not be able to level up again before the trial ends..."

---

Twenty days into the trial—

Swoosh!

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Swoosh!

Shyra darted through the forest at the fastest speed the terrain allowed, her claws ripping through roots and loose soil as she charged toward the storm roiling ahead.

As usual, Leo rode lazily on her back—until everything changed. The sky dimmed unnaturally. Heavy, bruised-looking storm clouds twisted together, converging at a single distant point. Then came the lightning—long, jagged bolts that didn't shine gold or white but black, each strike accompanied by a violent crack that made the forest tremble.

The closer they moved, the more chaotic it became. The storm didn't ebb or pulse; the lightning was constant, like something or someone was being struck repeatedly without pause. Every once in a while, every once in a while a thick bolt would came crashing down with resounding boom.

"Shyra, quick!" Leo leaned forward, eyes gleaming with long-starved excitement. "We finally found something interesting after ages! And from the looks of it, you might even get dinner tonight."

At the word dinner, Shyra perked up instantly. With renewed determination, she barreled through thin trees as if they were tall weeds, snapping trunks under her weight. Over the past twenty days, they had long since devoured the meagre stock of pseudo 3-star and peak 2-star beast meat. Shyra's stomach had been complaining for days, demanding more than just beast cores.

Even though Leo could keep her strength stable by feeding her cores, hunger was an entirely different battle. A hungry Shyra became moody—and when moody, she had a habit of shaking her entire body under the pretence of "dusting herself," violently enough to send Leo flying out of sleep with a groggy curse and ruined nap.

When he confronted her, she'd just flick her tail dismissively and snort, "Why ride if it's troubling?"

If not for their rising Bloodbond and the clarity of her intentions becoming sharper day by day, Leo might've feared she was genuinely pulling away. But now that their bond had climbed close to 50%, he knew better. Soon enough, she'd be able to converse with him the way Niri did.

Beast Bond:

Shyra: 48% (Bloodbond)

Niri: 53% (Bloodbond)

"Looks like after fifty per cent, the bond rise slows down," he muttered, eyeing Niri's percentage. She practically saw him as her parent, and it still rose at snail's pace.

They finally reached the origin of the storm. Shyra skidded to a halt, claws digging into the dirt as she activated her stealth.

Leo's eyes widened

In front of them lay bodies—scattered, charred, lifeless.

Wolves.

And not just any wolves.

He recognised them instantly.

"It's the wolf pack!" he whispered, stunned, as recognition dawned on him.

---

A/N: Lily's Stats have been corrected.

After she consumed the soul crystals that Leo provided before the trial, her stats are as follows:

Vitality: 50.1

Strength: 37.3

Agility: 38.4

Stamina: 38.9

Intelligence: 109.2 -> 129.6 [Spirit boost(1:1)] (Previous wrong = 81.2 --> 101.6)

Mana: 4368 -> 5184

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