Chapter 32: Wilderness Training Course
“The Guild can give you 33,000 dollars for these mana cores. Are you okay with this amount?” The worker there asked him.
“I am.” Leo nodded without any hesitation.
“Would you like the money in cash or credit?” The worker then asked.
“Can you put it into this card?” Leo showed his academy bank card.
“Certainly.”
The worker took his mana cores and card.
A few moments later, he returned the card back to Leo.
“Thank you for your business.” The worker bowed with a smile.
“Thank you too.”
After putting away his card, Leo followed Miss Camille back to her car.
When they returned to the academy, before Leo could even approach the academy gates, he could see a beautiful young lady with a familiar face floating in the sky, and she appeared to be searching for something or someone.
‘This ghost…’ Leo shook his head after seeing Lilith at the front gates.
Once Lilith noticed Leo, she immediately started waving and shouting at him, “Leo! You’re alive! I’m really glad! I thought you had died! Where did you go?! Do you have any idea how worried I have been?! You should’ve told me before disappearing for two whole days!”
‘She sounds like someone’s overprotective mother when her son returns home an hour late because of traffic…’ Leo couldn’t help but smile after seeing Lilith’s reaction.
After signing back in the academy, Leo said his goodbyes to Miss Camille before making his way back to the dorm.
“Thank you, Miss Camille, for everything so far. I wouldn’t have made it this far without you, and I hope to continue relying on you in the future.”
“I’m only doing this for the overtime pay.” Miss Camille calmly said in a nonchalant manner.
Leo smiled at her words because he knew that she wasn’t telling the truth.
After all, there was no way her overtime pay at the academy could beat what she could be earning as an S-Rank Adventurer.
After returning to his room, Leo looked at Lilith, who had a frustrated look on her face, but it actually made her look cuter.
“So? What do you have to say for yourself?” She suddenly said to him.
“What are you, my mother? Why do I have to tell you whenever I have to go somewhere?” He sighed out loud.
“I was worried, okay?! Do you have any idea how horrible it feels when you think that your first and potentially last friend in hundreds of years could be dead?!” She shouted at him.
“H-Hundreds of years? How old are you, exactly?” Leo asked her in a dazed voice.
“Never ask a lady about her age!” Lilith immediately refused.
“Sorry, all right? I also didn’t know I would be staying outside the city until Miss Camille told me.” He apologized to her.
“So where did you two disappear for two whole days? A healthy young man and a single mature woman disappearing for two days… It can only mean one thing!” Lilith exclaimed.
“Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not it, okay?” Leo immediately refuted.
And he continued, “We went outside the city walls to train. That’s what we did.”
“W-What? You went into the Wilderness?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me about it! Quickly!” She urged him in an excited voice.
“Let me go get some food first. I’m freaking starving.”
Leo made his way to the cafeteria and ate until his stomach was bloated.
Once he returned to his room, he recalled his experience in the Wilderness for Lilith.
“I see… Sounds like you had a lot of fun.” Lilith said at the end.
“You think I had fun?! It was a freaking terrifying and nerve-racking experience! I was almost killed today! And I even witnessed humans being killed for the first time in my life!”
“But you’re fine, aren’t you? So what’s the big deal? And you should’ve known that humans are no different than animals. They will attack each other if given even the slightest chance.” Lilith sneered.
“Is it just me or does it sound like you don’t like humans?” Leo asked her.
“You’re right, I don’t like humans. Their arrogance knows no bounds, and they are also unreasonable when it comes to vampires. However, that doesn’t mean I hate humans. I only dislike the majority of them. And if you’re wondering how I feel about you, I can’t hate you even if I want to, so you don’t have to worry.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m just joking! Of course, I like you! You’re my one and only friend in this endless universe!”
Leo narrowed his eyes at her with a suspicious look.
“Seriously! I really like you! If I had a physical body, I would even let you hold my hands! That’s how much I like you!”
Leo shook his head, “Whatever, I’m going to sleep now. We can talk tomorrow when I have the energy to deal with your nonsense.”
And sure enough, he fell asleep almost immediately after closing his eyes.
That night, he dreamed of Miss Camille killing the three Adventurers repeatedly.
Their bodies being skewered by a golden spear appeared in his dream again and again.
“Ah!” Leo woke up screaming.
“Are you okay?”
“Ahhh!” He screamed again when he was spooked by Lilith, whose face was centimeters away from his own.
Lilith gave him some distance and continued, “You’ve been mumbling to yourself all night, and you’re sweating like crazy. Did you have a nightmare?”
“Something like that, I suppose…” He said after calming down a little.
After taking a quick shower, Leo rushed to his classroom because he was very close to being late.
Meanwhile, Miss Camille was called by the Headmaster.
“How is Leo’s recovery? Any luck with his amnesia?” The Headmistress asked.
“Headmistress, Leo’s—”
“Just call me Eve when we’re alone, Camille.” The Headmistress suddenly interrupted.
And she continued, “We’re both S-Rank Adventurers— there’s no need to be formal with each other.”
Miss Camille nodded, “Then Eve— Leo’s strength is recovering at a good pace, but his memories are still gone.”
“I see… Do you think he’ll regain his strength before the tournament that’s only half a year away?”
“It’s hard to tell, but I have confidence in him.”
“I understand. I’ll continue to leave him in your care, Camille. I trust that you will not disappoint me or this academy. If you need anything, the academy will assist in any way possible. If the academy cannot help you, I will try to do something.” Eve said.
“Thank you, Eve.”
After leaving Eve’s room, Miss Camille returned to the infirmary and started her day job as a nurse.
At the end of the school day, Professor Jasmine said to her class, “We will begin our Wilderness Training Course next month. Make sure you’re prepared by then!”
“What?” Leo mumbled in a dazed voice.
When Jasmine saw his expression, she smiled and said, “Oh, right. I should explain this to you since you have amnesia.”
“The Wilderness Training Course is a month-long exercise where all students are required to enter the Wilderness to train. The Wilderness is a desolate land where monsters roam, and it is located outside the city.”
“It’s actually more of an examination than training because your performance will be graded, and based on the results, you could even be rewarded with an artifact among other valuable stuff.”
“Oh, that’s pretty neat.” Leo couldn’t help but feel a little excited about this training course.
After class ended, Leo went to the infirmary to see if Miss Camille was still there.
She was.
“Miss Camille, what are our plans for today? Are we going to the Wilderness again? Or do we stay here and train in the Training Center?” He asked her.
“We’ll return to the Wilderness this weekend. Just train at the Training Center for now,” she said.
“I understand.”
“You can go ahead and start training by yourself. I’ll be there in an hour. I have something to pick up for you.”
“All right.” Leo did not ask her about this item because he wanted to be surprised by her.
He went ahead to the Training Center and started practicing the Formless Sword Dance.
An hour later, Miss Camille entered the room.
“Where’s the item?” Leo asked her when he couldn’t see anything in her hands.
“Here.”
Miss Camille reached into her spatial storage and pulled out an entire mannequin from within, but this mannequin had four arms, and the body appeared to be made out of metal.
After placing the mannequin on the floor, Miss Camille retrieved four wooden swords and had the mannequin wield them all at once.
“This is an advanced training puppet. It currently has the fighting capability of a E-Rank Adventurer, but it can be increased to that of a C-Rank Adventurer. The purpose of this training puppet is to increase your reaction speed and your experience fighting multiple people at once.”
“I have to basically fight against four people at once? This isn’t very fair…”
“Life isn’t fair, especially life out in the Wilderness. Forget about four— you can be ambushed by even a hundred people at once out there.”
Leo swallowed nervously after imagining what she had just said.
“If you understand, get to work already. And in case you forgot, your match with Kayn is less than a week away.” She reminded him about his upcoming fight with Kayn.
“I get it.” Leo said as he readied his sword.
The following moment, Miss Camille activated the training puppet.
Once activated, the training puppet immediately rushed at Leo and began his training.