The Black Necromancer

After Leon and the others made their way back into the Green Gate, they quickly handled their accommodations before going ahead to get something to eat. Elena tagged along, feeling a bit more reassured when she was around people who did not stare at her with lecherous grins.

"Sir Leon-"

"Just Leon, please." Leon sighed as he corrected Curtis for the umpteenth time.

"Leon...?" Elena muttered in surprise.

"Hmm?" Leon turned to her with a brow raised in question.

"Oh, it's n-nothing." Elena quickly shook her head as the image of the black skeleton she had met some time earlier flashed through her mind. She lowered her head as she remembered how she had so easily betrayed his trust by running off. But from her perspective, she had done what was necessary. If she had not run off, then maybe he would have killed her, or threatened her to take him to her village and put everyone in danger.

"Are you not eating?" Leon asked, and Elena raised her head up. He was gesturing to her untouched plate of mashed potatoes.

"Oh, yes." Elena started, picking up her spoon. She poured a healthy amount of gravy over the mound of mashed potatoes, before shoveling a spoonful into her open mouth. "Hmmm~" She immediately hummed in pleasure when her taste buds recognized the warm and tasty food.

"Ah, so Sir- Um, Leon," Curtis spoke up again, stumbling over his words before clearing his throat and carrying on, "Have you registered in the Mercenary Association yet?" The blond boy asked.

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Leon's hand froze halfway to his mouth. "...The Mercenary Association?" His eyes were wide open as he processed the words.

"From your expression, then I guess not. It's not a necessity, but it make many things much easier. The Mercenary Association opens up a whole new community to you, and you can get discounts at much better prices when buying from the merchants that are directly related to the association." Curtis explained, pausing to take another spoonful of his food.

"Hmm, that sounds interesting. It also reminds me; you haven't paid me your protection fee yet." Leon eyed Curtis when he recalled the promise of payment for saving them earlier.

"Ah, no worries, I won't forget. I do not forget favors." He smiled and waved at Leon.

Elena listened to this conversation quietly while eating her meal.

Some time later, when they were all done, the group finally went up to their rooms. Curtis had paid for Leon's room, and before going their separate ways, he handed Leon the long awaited payment.

"This is not much, but I hope it is enough to thank you for saving the lives of my friends and I." Curtis gave a small bow as he handed over the coins to Leon, speaking in a low tone of voice.

"Oh, no worries. I did not even expect to make a penny today, so this is a pretty nice gift." Leon smiled back at Curtis before bidding farewell and stepping into his room with Nedra behind him. He played with the two silver coins as he stared at them. Silver coins, quite valuable. Leon had picked up that much from seeing how money was spent so far.

The meal that they had eaten had cost three bronze coins each, while accommodation for the night had cost five bronze coins. A hundred bronze coins was equivalent to one silver coin, which meant that he was now two hundred bronze coins rich.

Tucking away the coins, Leon turned to the next important thing he had to look over. The brown satchel that he had carried with him ever since he left Michael's Temple laid silently on the bed, as if waiting for him to come and browse through its contents. He picked it up and flipped the latch, pulling out one of the leather bound books in it.

The cover boldly spelled out the words 'Basic Theory on Mana Manipulation'.

"Mana Manipulation... I wonder if this will give me a skill." He wondered out loud as he flipped open the book and began reading. The book was mostly theory, with a few drawings of some magic formations and the mana circuits that mana followed through various forms, be it human, monster, or beast.

Just as Leon turned over a page with a magic formation drawn on it, a notification popped up in front of him.

[+1 Intelligence]

With wide eyes, and a slack jaw, he stared at the pop-up in front of him.

"What's wrong?" Nedra noticed his expression, and felt his surprise through their bond.

"It's just... I... I, uh, I got a stat point from reading?" Leon was too confused to properly arrange his thoughts.

"What? You did?!" Even Nedra was surprised. Whenever she glanced over her former master's books, or read with him, she had never gotten any stat points from it.

Seeing that even Nedra was clueless, Leon could only sigh and shake his head. Perhaps this was also the work of Michael, that meddling God. He would surely get all the answers if he was able to do well enough in Divinity's Bout. Or maybe, there was a way to get strong enough to stand on equal footing with a God...

Shaking away those irrelevant thoughts, Leon turned back to the book in his hand. This was in no way a bad thing. It was basically free stat points that he could earn just from reading books. If he read through all six books, then how many stat points could he get? Twenty? Thirty?

With much greater enthusiasm than before, Leon began reading the contents of the book again. Before, it had been like a chore that he needed to finish up so that he would have a better understanding of things, but now, it was almost like a necessity as he flipped over the pages, his eyes hungrily running over the words. Every few pages, another notification would pop up, informing him about an increase in his intelligence stat.