The distance between them became so small that he could feel the light scent of her hair. The girl placed her palm directly on the center of his chest without permission, although she first lifted his shirt.
Leonis lowered his gaze.
Rhea’s delicate and white hand was directly on his chest.
Then a very small amount of Mana entered his body from the girl’s palm.
Her energy was different from human Mana.
Now that he knew the truth, he could feel the difference more easily; her Mana was denser, warmer, and slightly heavier, but that layer hiding it had skillfully made it look like the Mana of a human Awakened.
She had her eyes closed and all her focus was on his Core.
He waited for a few seconds and then the corner of his lips rose.
"If you only wanted to touch me, you didn’t need to use my Core as an excuse," he said completely naturally.
Rhea’s eyelids opened, and for a moment, their eyes met from a very close distance.
The color of the girl’s face quickly changed.
"I’m checking your Core, pervert." Rhea clenched her teeth and this time pressed her palm a little harder against his chest.
Leonis took a short breath.
"With this pressure, the chance of it breaking again is higher."
"You deserve it."
She quickly pulled herself together and returned to a serious expression, Rhea’s Mana moved through his Core.
The girl’s frown slowly changed into surprise.
"Wait... there really isn’t a single crack left."
"I told you." Leonis shrugged.
"Three days ago, your Core was almost destroyed, the Academy’s doctors said that even if you survived, you probably wouldn’t be able to use Mana like before."
"Well, apparently I chose a good Master."
Rhea was silent for a moment, then she removed her hand from his chest.
"Chose? As far as I remember, it was Miss Evernight who chose you." She repeated in a dry tone.
Leonis smiled.
"The details aren’t important."
"They never are to you."
This time, something in her tone had changed, the sarcasm was still there, but there was a kind of relief under it.
She had really been worried about his Core.
Leonis could understand this even without seeing her Affection number.
Rhea took a few steps back and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"By the way, the first monthly exam is in ten days," she said.
He said nothing for a moment, scattered information from the body’s memories came up.
The monthly exam... the name was familiar.
But the previous Leonis had spent the past few days more focused on his stupid confession, the duel, and then dying than planning for the exam, so he did not have much information about it.
"I thought it was for all first-year students," Leonis said.
"No. Only you people." Rhea shook her head.
He gave her a questioning look, and the girl continued with a short sigh, as if she was unhappy that she had to explain something to someone who should have already known it.
"Elite students have already gone through the required evaluations. I, and the rest of the Elite Class, don’t need to take it."
"You people in the regular classes are still only considered Awakened trainees. The monthly exam is actually the first official evaluation for getting an Exorcist License."
"And if we pass?"
"From that moment, you will officially be considered Exorcists. You will be allowed to take real missions, professional training will begin, and your access to more of the Academy’s resources will be unlocked, although the first missions are supervised. No one throws a bunch of beginners in front of real Fallens on their first day."
"That’s reasonable, and if we fail?"
Rhea did not answer immediately this time, that pause was clear enough by itself.
"Expelled?" Leonis guessed.
"According to the rules, yes. Avalon doesn’t waste its resources on someone who can’t even meet the minimum standard to become an Exorcist."
Silence filled the room for a few seconds.
He thought to himself that this policy might seem harsh, but from the Academy’s point of view, it was completely understandable.
An Awakened who could not pass the minimum evaluation would not only die in a real mission, but would probably get others killed with them as well.
Rhea did not take her eyes off him.
"Of course, when it comes to you... it’s not clear."
"Because of my Master?"
"As far as I know, you’re the first student in Avalon’s history to be personally accepted by one of the senior Masters, despite not even having an acceptable Talent." The girl paused for a moment and then continued more seriously.
"The rules say that if you fail, you should be expelled. But no one knows if the Academy is willing to expel Evangeline Evernight’s personal disciple or not. They might reject your license, they might send you to another section, or the Academy Council itself might get involved."
"So no one knows." Leonis made it simpler.
"Exactly."
He simply nodded, but the thing that caught his attention the most was the Exorcist License.
Real missions, Fallens, Essence, and Core growth, from the moment his Core had reached Ten-Star Purity, his biggest problem was simple.
He had a huge container.
But his container was almost empty.
To reach the Awakened Core stage, he needed to absorb enough Essence.
And without a license, his access to the resources and missions that could give him such an opportunity would remain limited.
So the goal of the exam was completely clear to him.
Passing.
He needed that license.
Rhea looked at his calm face for a while, then moved one of her feet slightly and looked to the side.
"If..." she started, but left the sentence unfinished.
Leonis waited.
Rhea pressed her fingers against her own arm and continued in a tone that tried too hard to sound like it was not important.
"If you want, we can train together before the exam. Only because I don’t want you to get expelled because of some stupid exam. That’s all."
"I have a Master now." He answered almost without thinking.
Silence.
This silence was different from all the previous silences.
For a few moments, she did not even blink, then the expression on her face became strangely empty.
"...Okay." That was all she said, and she turned her gaze toward the window.
At that moment, a window appeared in front of Leonis’s eyes.
[Rhea Valcrest’s Hatred toward Host has increased.]
[4 → 5]
Leonis looked at the number.
Then at Rhea.
Then back at the number.
"?"
What had he said?
He had only said that he had a Master.
It was not an insult, nor was it a personal rejection, it was even completely reasonable.
But now Rhea had slightly pressed her lips together and was very clearly pretending that she no longer had any interest in continuing the conversation.
Leonis quickly put the information together.
The training offer, his answer, her facial reaction, and the increase in Hatred, and then he sighed, he did not even need the Immortal Insight Soul for this one and understood where the problem was.
"But if you have time... your help with extra training would really be useful to me."
The reaction was immediate.
Rhea’s eyes lit up, and the harsh expression on her face completely broke for a moment as a clear smile appeared on her face.
"Of course!" The answer came out so quickly that even she was surprised for a moment.
Silence.
Leonis said nothing, Rhea said nothing either, and a few seconds later, a very light color appeared on the girl’s cheeks.
She raised her hand in front of her mouth and cleared her throat.
"Ahem... ahem." She returned to her serious expression. "What I mean is that I have to check my schedule first, I might not have time. I’ll think about it."
It did not take more than two seconds.
"I thought about it, okay."
Leonis only stared at her, and at that moment the System appeared again.
[Rhea Valcrest’s Hatred toward Host has decreased.]
[5 → 2]
This time, he did not even try to completely control his expression, and his eyebrow rose slightly.
Rhea, who did not like his look, frowned.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You’re lying."
"I was just thinking about a scientific question."
"What question?" She looked at him with even more suspicion.
Leonis kept his gaze on the girl’s red and frowning face for a moment.
"How exactly does your brain work?"
One second of silence, and then the small pillow that had been left on the bed was lifted by Mana and flew directly into Leonis’s face.
"Die!" Rhea shouted with a completely red face and left the room without looking back.
Leonis lowered the pillow from his face and laughed, perhaps Demons really were complicated creatures, or perhaps it was only this girl who was like this.
Either way, he opened his own panel.
[Name: Leonis Habsburg]
[Level: 1]
[Core Stage: Seed Core (0/1000)]
[Core Purity: Ten Stars]
[Talent: Minor Reinforcement — F-Rank]
[Class: Unformed]
[Soul: Immortal Insight Soul]
[New Skill: Calamity Sense]
[Mana Control: Professional]
[Quick Step: Professional]
[Habsburg Swordsmanship: Master]
There were only a few days left until the exam.
He had a Ten-Star Core, but he was still Level 1.
His body still did not have the power of a true genius, and his Talent was still the same mocked F-Rank.
But something that had almost no future three days ago could now, for the first time, see a real path in front of itself.
A simple goal.
Pass the exam, get the Exorcist License, and then begin the real hunting of Fallens.
The corner of Leonis’s lips rose.
If the Academy expected the last Habsburg to be the same trash they had seen over the past few years, the monthly exam would probably be a good chance to correct that misunderstanding.
Of course, at that moment, he had no idea that this exam was not going to remain just a simple exam.