Chapter 54: Challenge

As soon as they climbed the hill, Alea took out the spices before handing Theo the knife.

Theo, on the other hand, prepared the meat according to Alea's instruction.

These two were cooperating with each other in order to create their lunch.

"So, I will explain why Level 50 is Normal Rank while Level 51 is Elite Rank. It is indeed related to status points, but they vary in number depending on someone's potential and blessing."

"Potential and blessing, huh." Theo narrowed his eyes.

"The majority comes from a blessing though. Since the potential will only vary five to ten points, or in other words, one or two levels which are not much big of a deal."

"Oh?"

"Do you have a blessing?"

"Yes. But not as cool as you." Theo shrugged. Rather than playing the fool and being read by Alea again, Theo instinctively answered her without telling the full story. This way, she shouldn't doubt him that much and didn't think of his blessing highly.

"Either way, you will get at least ten bonus points if you have no blessing and potential. The maximum number that has been recorded is fifty points or ten levels' worth."

"Hmm…" Theo narrowed his eyes and contemplated, feeling a bit dissatisfied.

"Haha. Don't worry. It won't be that much in the beginning, but there are still Champion, Hero, Supreme, Mythical Ranks. Last but not least, the realm in the legend, God Rank. At that time, the bonus will add up and make you far stronger, you see."

"I see. That's understandable."

"Also, I think you will receive a special skill from your blessing. Depending on their rank, you will get more and more later."

"Do we need to experience a trial or something?" asked Theo, remembering what he learned from the Internet.

"It depends on your blessing. Some make a trial, some give it directly, some tell you to do something. Basically, if you look up on the Internet, most of them are true as it's based on their experience."

"Thank you." Theo nodded.

"It's fine. Anyway, let's eat."

Theo agreed and finished his lunch. After that, he climbed the highest tree together with Alea to observe the entire prairie.

On the north, there were another group of buffalos that might become their first target. However, Alea's focus remained on a pack of horses not far from it.

"How about we hunt those monsters instead? If I am not wrong, it's called Horned Fighting Horse. They are a bit more interesting because the information states they have a skill called Haste. It basically increases your speed for a period of time. There are two versions, F Rank and E Rank. If we are lucky, we might be able to get that skill for you. What do you think?"

"I understand. Thank you for doing this." Theo agreed without hesitation. "By the way, are we going to clean it up first?"

"Hmm? What?"

Theo pointed at their tools on the ground.

"It's fine. We are not going far away from this place, so yeah, no one will steal them. And I think we will have dinner here, considering I don't really like the food in the camp."

"Won't it be too dark…"

"Ah, right. You don't have night vision. Actually, I have glasses here with me equipped with night vision. I will lend it to you, so you will lead the way while I'm spreading my Awareness to prevent any monsters from sneaking on us. Although I can't see their movement with my current level of Awareness, I should be able to sense their presence."

"Okay."

"Good. Let's go."

Seeing Alea jump off the tree, he followed suit and went straight to the horses.

He observed these five horses that seemed to have unity like the buffalos earlier. It had brown-colored skin, but there was a strange feeling in this skin. It was as if the difference between looking at wood and metal. This one was the latter.

"Your spear should be sharp enough to kill one of them easily. However, it depends on your strength."

"I know. I will be watching your movement and match it." Theo nodded.

"Alright then." Alea sped up, charging at the horses. They didn't have good teamwork like the buffalos, but two of the horses suddenly increased their speed as if responding to Alea.

Alea smiled and slashed her sword horizontally.

However, the horn on top of the left horse's head struck the sword.

"…" Alea narrowed her eyes when the horse managed to stop her. Seeing that the other one was about to hit her, she smirked and took another step with her right foot as the foundation. Turning her body to the right, she bent her knees and positioned her sword on the back.

She then swung it upward, continuing until she sliced the right horse's head. With this, she managed to kill one horse while avoiding the other one.

'It's mine,' thought Theo, who observed her movement, as he smiled and thrust his spear. "Pierce."

However, like Theo, Alea also kept track of his movement and smiled while continuing her swing, cutting through the ground before splitting Theo's target into half from below.

"Ha?" Theo opened his mouth in surprise when he saw Alea actually kill the monster he was about to stab. "Isn't that mine?"

Alea, on the contrary, only looked at him with a teasing smirk.

That smile of her made him shudder as if he noticed what she was doing. "Is she testing me right now?"

It was weird to see someone like her become so understanding about the arrangement.

Like how he tested how serious she was to form a group with him. She also tried to test him to see whether Theo had the skill or not to participate in Grand Gaia.

She felt happy that Theo could understand her intention and said while jumping forward.

"The battles we are going to face in the future will surely be far more dangerous than this. You need to increase your ability to the point you can keep up with me. I can give you the skills or equipment that you need if it's necessary for us to win, but the problem is…" She turned her head around and made the same smirk, saying. "I won't be carrying you through the competition. So, can you keep up with me?"

This became a direct challenge from Alea to Theo as well as her personal training to stimulate Theo's potential. After all, no matter how she worded it, Theo wasn't good enough to handle the second or third year, so she needed to do this to close that gap.

Albeit, her action was misunderstood by Theo, who suddenly remembered what his master said about Alea. His expression turned serious as he gazed at her back coldly. Taking a deep breath, he jumped forward with his spear. "Fine by me."