The moment Leo started reading, he lost track of time.
At noon, Aifel sent a knight to invite Leo to lunch.
However, Leo declined.
When Leo came here, he had brought some jerky with him.
He had gotten the meat from the Lizardman servants at Esmond Lodge.
Having once been a warrior, Leo Danville had often slept rough and lived off the land, so he was quite skilled at making this sort of jerky.
Not long after Leo picked up a piece of jerky, Hughes came over and sat beside him.
Hughes held a long loaf of bread in his hand.
After sitting down, Hughes took a bite of the bread. It looked rather stale, and he had to exert some effort to bite through it.
After swallowing the bread, Hughes asked, "Danville, you're from the Esmond Gathering, right?"
Leo glanced at the badge on Hughes's chest and said, "That's right."
Hughes said, "I'm from the Almon Gathering."
Leo nodded.
For new students like them, their Gathering affiliation was displayed on their badges.
Leo had known Hughes was from the Almon Gathering the first time he saw him.
However, Leo did not care about that.
Wizard Tesla and the teaching assistant from the Almon Gathering did have a conflict, but that had nothing to do with Leo.
Hughes said, "In our Almon Gathering, aside from one Wizard Seedling with Level 5 spiritual aptitude, I feel that everyone else is inferior to you."
"You flatter me." Leo smiled.
Hughes held the flat loaf in his hand, took another bite, and stuffed his cheeks full.
"Danville, do you know there will be an exchange meeting between our Gatherings this month? When the time comes, our Almon Gathering and your Esmond Gathering will be attending the same exchange meeting."
"I know."
Leo nodded. In fact, it was not just the Almon Gathering.
The Uriel Gathering Lane belonged to would also be participating in this exchange meeting.
Hughes said, "At the exchange meeting, you'd better watch out for that Wizard Seedling in our Gathering with Level 5 spiritual aptitude. Our teaching assistant told him to specifically target your Esmond Gathering during the exchange meeting."
Leo frowned at first, then said, "You're from the Almon Gathering too, aren't you? Why are you telling me about your teaching assistant's plan?"
"First, I don't like either our teaching assistant or him. Second, I think highly of you. You're a Wizard Seedling personally taught by Wizard Nova. He must think very highly of you, so I'm making an investment in you."
"Then you might be disappointed." Leo shrugged. "Maybe they'll target me so badly at the Gathering that I won't get good results."
"It's fine. It's only an insignificant piece of information anyway." Hughes smiled. "Even if they succeed, I lose nothing. If you stop them from succeeding, I'll be even happier."
After hearing Hughes's warning about being targeted, Leo simply treated it as if nothing had happened.
What was the point of playing targeting games at an exchange meeting? How childish.
After finishing the jerky, Leo continued reading.
Who knew how much time passed.
The ship sailed into a sea region filled with liquid that glowed red.
Leo slowly closed his book, and a gentle prompt sounded in his mind.
"Low-quality catalog Basic Magitech Studies discovered. Catalog it?"
"Cataloged."
Leo's gaze fell upon the pale-red seawater beside him. Knowing that they were close to their destination, he found Nova and said, "Wizard Nova, I'm going to begin the hunt. I'll return the book to you. Otherwise, it might be damaged during the operation later."
Leo's cherishing of books made Nova's gaze toward him increasingly appreciative.
Nova took the book. Without any visible movement, the book in his hand vanished.
Nova said, "Danville, the Stonefish you are going to hunt are near the Crimson Sea."
"The Crimson Sea is the most dangerous area of this ocean."
"There are many sea monsters within it that can even kill Wizards."
"Although this place is close to the Crimson Sea and truly terrifying sea monsters will not appear, dealing with them will still not be easy for you."
After thinking for a moment, Nova added, "The Stonefish you are hunting possess the ancient bloodline of the Stone Sea Dragon. Their Bloodline Ability allows them to grow stone scales with formidable defenses. Even Mental Radiation finds it difficult to directly break through their outer defenses."
"Fula, Kamon, and I are merely accompanying you. We will not help you."
"If the ship sinks, we will use spells to leave."
"Everything depends on yourselves."
Leo nodded and walked toward the bow.
Aifel and more than twenty knights were already waiting there.
John was not among them.
Knights were divided into two ranks: Ordinary Knights and Grand Knights.
Although knights could not contend with Wizards, within the knightly order—
Grand Knights held a status equivalent to Wizards who had condensed a Spiritual Seed.
Ordinary Knights corresponded to Wizard Seedlings like Leo.
On the entire ship, only Aifel and Kairila were Grand Knights.
The two of them stood at the front, watching a huge Stonefish swimming actively in the sea.
This Stonefish was exactly the same as the one Leo had previously seen on the Wizard's white paper.
Its enormous body was over ten meters long.
It swam through the sea.
What surfaced above the water were layers upon layers of stone scales.
Aifel said, "Wizard Danville, you've arrived."
Leo nodded slightly. Recalling Nova's introduction to the Crimson Sea, he took out a cube.
Leo twisted the cube.
An eyeball was released into the air.
The eyeball had a beast's vertical pupil.
Faint blood vessels showed around its edges.
This was the magitech item Leo had bought earlier, the Eyeball Cube.
Leo activated his spiritual energy and positioned four eyeballs around the ship.
The sight of those eyeballs made the knights' skin crawl.
One knight said, "The things Wizards use are still as creepy as ever."
"I heard some veteran knights say that we knights used to be materials on Wizards' experiment tables."
"Given how insane Wizards are, it wouldn't be strange if we really were materials on their experiment tables."
The knights muttered among themselves, their words filled with awe toward Wizards.
Aifel and Kairila were used to seeing Wizards, so they did not feel much about it.
Aifel said, "Wizard Danville, this is the Eyeball Cube, right?"
"That's right. I'll place four eyeballs around us. That way, if other sea monsters or any other disturbances appear, I'll be able to notice them in time."
Seeing Leo be so cautious, Aifel smiled as well. "Thank you, Wizard Danville, for taking this matter so seriously."
The sea monster hunting operation began very quickly.
Leo was quite curious about how Aifel and the others intended to hunt this Stonefish.
He saw the knights tie thick ropes around themselves.
The ropes were fastened to the ship's railings.
Then, the knights discarded their armor and jumped into the sea.
The moment they landed in the water, brilliant silver-white light erupted around them.
This was the knights' Knight Breathing Technique.
After using the Knight Breathing Technique, the knights could actually walk upon the water as if they were on solid ground.
"This is..." Leo was somewhat surprised.
A knight beside him saw his surprise and said with a trace of pride, "Wizard Danville, this is our knights' Knight Breathing Technique. Although it is not as versatile as the abilities of you Wizards, after using it, we can strengthen ourselves and our weapons, and we can even walk freely across liquids like this."
Leo could hear the pride in the knight's voice.
Being able to surpass Wizards in some respect was probably something these knights found deeply worthy of pride.
Before you continue