Sylva paused mid-step. Then her eyes suddenly widened.

She hastily pulled out her phone and scrolled through the rankings, her fingers trembling slightly.

"Look!" she exclaimed, thrusting the screen forward. "The person ranked third—it's name is Lily!"

All three of them leaned in at once, their shoulders nearly bumping together, excitement flashing across their faces.

"Whoa! She really is incredible!" Aina gasped, eyes glued to the screen. Then her expression twisted. "Shit… what will she think of us, seeing how casually we treated someone of that level?"

"I-I'm sure she doesn't mind," Sylva said quickly, though her voice wavered. "She was so kind to us—she even laid out mattresses in the wild."

She hesitated, then buried her face in her hands with a groan.

"But still… after how we behaved…" Her ears burned. "So embarrassing! All because of that man!"

"If she had scolded us even a little more," Aina muttered, "I really would've cried."

"No…" Mira said, her shoulders slumping slightly. Her gaze drifted downward before hardening. "I don't want to give my body to that pitiful man willingly—but we don't have a choice."

Her eyes sharpened, the hesitation vanishing.

"Her Majesty gave us a golden opportunity to bathe in the scarce world tree sap. We don't have the means to regenerate it after our god perished. We cannot miss this." She clenched her jaw.

"And don't forget—we're lucky Miss Lily joined Aurelius Beast Academy. If she had gone to some other academy with that man, those wenches would've just spread their legs without hesitation. At least we're better than that."

Her fingers curled into a tight fist.

"Even if it means giving my body to him… in the grand scale of our lives, it doesn't matter." Her voice turned cold. "We can always kill him after we get what we want."

Aina let out a low, dark chuckle.

"Heh. I bet those bitches in other academies are crying tears of blood from jealousy."

"Yeah!" Mira laughed, excitement flashing across her face. "And after I become a high elf, I'll take them all as slaves. Hahaha."

---

"So these are the territory beacon plants we can try to find…" Leo muttered as he scrolled through the list on his phone.

He stood in front of a massive information board, its faintly glowing surface displaying general locations of territory beacon plants. Not every plant was listed—especially not the most valuable ones. The best beacons, the kind that produced denser mana concentration, enhanced soil fertility, or bore leaves that could be brewed into potions to increase mana absorption, were rarely revealed.

Owning even one such plant could dramatically boost a territory's strength—and attract powerful figures seeking to join.

Leo's eyes lingered on four names.

Earthspring Heart

Manawell Crucible

Essence Verdure

Fluxsoil Heart

"Hm… it seems whenever one of these appears, people rush to snatch it up immediately," Leo said, brows knitting together in thought.

Miho tilted her head, staring at the board. "Then why are the locations even listed here? Someone could just sell it after acquiring it themselves…"

Lily smiled faintly, pleased that Miho had taken the initiative to ask. She answered calmly.

"Simple. They weren't strong enough to deal with the beast guarding it. The academy pays credits for revealing the location of natural treasures... or something interesting worth the attention," She gestured at the board. "Think of it as freelance information gathering."

Miho nodded vigorously, understanding dawning on her face. Being weak herself, she could easily imagine doing such missions someday—though Lily would never allow that to happen.

"If you ever come across something interesting in the wild and we don't need it," Lily continued, "you can report it to Aurelius Hall. They'll pay credits based on how valuable the information is. Other students can then access it after paying a fee."

"B-but I didn't pay anything…" Miho said hesitantly.

Lily flicked Miho's forehead with a light tap.

"Silly girl. Why would we make you pay when we're here? Leo covered it—500 AC each for information regarding treasure beacons. More when rare ones appear"

"F-Five hundred!" Miho's eyes widened. "That's… I shouldn't have been brought in—No! I can pay that much!"

For Miho, 500 AC meant 20 silver coins. An unimaginable amount in her recent years

"Don't worry," Lily said with a soft giggle. "We're rich. Both Leo and I. And its life experience, from next time if you want, you can come alone, alright?"

Miho nodded.

She then turned toward Leo, her expression turning thoughtful.

"Are those four the only ones you want? Their effects are incredible, but because of that, most people wouldn't even report them. They'd try to take them for themselves."

Leo frowned slightly.

"I really want at least one of them. A single potion brewed from their leaves increases mana absorption by at least 100%. That's the minimum." His gaze sharpened. "A potion made by Manawell Crucible leaves alone can reach 200% for an hour at only a low purple rank. Can you imagine what it'll do once it advances?"

He paused, "It'll benefit us immensely—training, combat, even defensive battles. But then again, for the absorption to succeed, we need mana-dense regions, and these treasures once again come in play."

Leo recalled the numbers with a quiet grimace. Even with over 120,000 mana units, activating [Critical Strike] on three limbs at full 700% already drained nearly 2,000 mana units per second. His entire pool would be emptied in under a minute. And once he reached peak mastery—four limbs at once—the consumption would double to 4,000 units per second.

The power was overwhelming, enough to surpass a four-star level—but the cost was brutal. It consumed a lot of stamina, and without sufficient vitality(which can be considered physical integrity or constitution), even a single punch could turn his arm into a mangled mess.

Lily nodded slowly,

"This academy…" she murmured. "It feels like they don't want people forming territories. Randomly issuing bounties on any territory at any time?" She shook her head.

"That's cruel. And they promise a minimum of 5,000 AC to whoever destroys the beacon, plus a fixed 2,000 prosperity points to their affiliate territory. Wow. That alone would bombard a territory to dust from so many students attacking together for the lucrative rewards."

"Well," Leo chuckled lightly, "offering noble and royal beasts of choice is bound to create throat-cutting competition."

He glanced once more at the massive board, scanning for anything he might've missed.

"Looks like we'll have to search for them ourselves," Leo said.

"Or you could buy information from informants, too."

The casual voice came from behind.

Leo turned sharply.

A man leaned against the wall there with his hands folded, a bow and quiver slung over his back, its surface gleaming with metallic lustre. A tri-cornered hat shadowed half his face, giving him an air of quiet mystery.

"…An archer?"

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