The range is quite a bit higher than expected, Lev remarked mentally, satisfied with the performance of the dual galecannons. Not only did the air bullets easily tear through the trolls, but they also remained whole for several kilometers of flight. That was an unexpected boon.

Lowering the bubble a few meters away from the nervous silver team. He stepped out onto the ground with Beatrice in tow and thought over what he should say.

"What, exactly, are you doing alone out here?"

"Patrols, Sir," the mage answered, beads of sweat visible on her forehead. "It is our usual route and is generally safe. The last thing we were expecting was a troll horde led by a commander."

"You're regular scouts?" Beatrice asked.

"Yes, ma'am," the lightning mage nodded and waved to the scout amongst them. "Sven here is responsible for long-range observations and reports. We accompany him for safety. The troll horde somehow slipped past him today, appearing out of nowhere."

Little wonder it did, Lev brought up his notifications.

[

You have slain [Troll Warrior - Level 169]

…

You have slain [Troll Commander - Level 188]

…

You have slain [Troll Shaman - Level 185]

You have slain [Troll Shaman - Level 183]

]

"There were two shamans amongst the horde," Lev informed the scout. "Make sure to bring a swift horse next time or some one-time use tools to escape safely. Take all the cores and use the commander's if you have to."

"Thank you," the largest of the hunters bowed his hand and spoke in a deep voice. "That is very generous."

Lev nodded. "The first priority is to stay alive. Ensure that."

Having said his piece, Lev and Beatrice stepped back into their bubble and flew off, though not before making sure that there were no other monsters around.

"Well, that was anti-climactic," he breathed out and leaned back in his barrier seat, making a mental note to buy some cushioning for the barrier chairs. "Seeing them squirm was quite entertaining, though. They were years, if not decades, older than me."

"How old are you anyway?" Beatrice casually asked.

"Eighteen," he replied with his cover age.

She broke out in a coughing fit. "WHAT?"

"What?" Lev questioned back. "I know this is rude, but how old are you then if my age is so surprising?"

"I'm thirty-two," she replied after some consideration. "Very young, at least for someone in my managerial position."

"… What can I say, I'm just special."

"Never did doubt that," she answered, slowly getting over her surprise. "You somehow managed to turn an Exalted into an older sister. Takes more than just luck for that."

"Sister…" Lev tasted the word, not disliking it at all. He had never looked at Sherron in any different way either, so it fit perfectly as well. "You're not wrong, I suppose. Which direction was the caravan again?"

"… My eyes were closed, Lev," she slowly answered, staring at him in disbelief. "Don't tell me we're lost?"

"… No? I'll find them, don't worry."

****

He did find them, and rather easily too. Flying up with his stealth formations running at maximum, it only took half an hour to locate the caravan and deposit Beatrice back in her cart.

Months still remained until they reached Timberhold, which left just as much free time for Lev to utilize. It was funny because while that was a lot of time, it wasn't enough either. Because of permanent barriers, no matter what he dabbled in, there were going to be no limits to what he could create. Improvements would show up in time, effort, and resources, further increasing the range of possibilities.

Similarly, focusing on the extent of what he could do and not on what he needed to do would be counterproductive. Like the cautious and reasonable hunter he was, Lev ignored the ideas swarming his head and focused on the most impactful project.

Alec had theorized that the next step of his enhancement formation was going to focus on durability, and that was true… for the most part. There were two possibilities Drakys had left for him, and there were no free upgrades beyond that.

The first was the inclusion of incredibly intricate usage of durability runes, maximimizing mana efficiency for timed bursts. Lev was more intrigued by the second option that added more detailed imbuement of different elements. He knew from the note accompanying the formation upgrade that this line of enhancement wasn't something the Exalted used for himself, as Drakys used pure mana and kinetic energy, which meant it was something entirely new.

Still, Lev thought to himself, idly gazing at the stacks of arrows and lances in his bubble. While the latter sounds fun and all, the former will keep me alive. Durability it is. Monarch knows when the next third-threshold monster will show up.

While he mulled over the choice, his mana also cycled the kinetic energy enchantments on his bubble in small bursts. The construct darted around in fixed intervals, using minimum mana while smoothly letting him observe the effects of the formation. Not long ago, Lev had seen a significant improvement in the efficiency and power of the formations, and the experience made him want to facepalm every time.

Uneducated as he was, Lev still knew that kinetic energy was motion. The energy was found in moving things, but the fact somehow kept slipping his mind. Only when he realized that the energy wasn't making the bubble move, only empowering the construct's motion, did the whole puzzle click into place. He just needed to first manipulate it to move with his mind and then empower that movement.

Shaking himself out of that embarrassing epiphany's memory, he focused on the next step of the enhancement formation. Complexity went up the expected notch, but it wasn't that bad. It was going to cover around 30% of his armor's total surface, which easily fit the front and back of the torso.

Regardless, actually carving it on his armor would have to wait. There was still a lot of practice in store for him before that. Evolving the carving skill was now a priority after seeing the arcane supremacy rune that always served as a reminder of just how complex enchantments could get.

Five days into his practice of repeatedly forming arrows and lances, enchanting round barriers to practice the runes of his most-used formations, and zipping around in his bubble, he was getting rather bored. Thankfully, monsters were showing up more often at that point, and he had just the right number of ideas to test on them.

The suns were close to setting when he descended to the carts on the road. With a pulse of mana, he garnered Beatrice's attention without alerting anyone else.

"What is it this time?" she asked, bemused. Entering the bubble for the entrance formed for her, she warily glanced around and found nothing explosive in her immediate vicinity. "Or did you just want to talk?"

"Nope," Lev grinned. "Some testing is in order."

Her sigh marked a whirlwind of barriers and enchantments. Galecannons were good and all, but the main purpose behind their existence was to test the waters. Now he knew that his class empowered the bullets and made the endeavor worthwhile, he planned to expand the scope of the weapons.

Observing Alec and Sherron on the wall of the pit had left a deep impression on him. Not only were they his role models, but Lev could also surpass them eventually. He wanted to do it properly instead of relying on his advantages all the time.

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"Alright, so," he began explaining to an attentive Beatrice. Night was in full swing, but explosive power was the key to a girl's heart if her interest was any indication. "This cannon here doesn't do more than the handcannons. It is still more powerful because of the increased size, even if the base is the same. We need to know just how much that one factor affects things."

Said construct was more a sentry gun than anything, with its large stand and the mounted weapon. Lev had repurposed the design to let the large cannon handle the recoil without flying into the distance with the large platforms at the end of the stand's legs, though that was only the first test in another branch of experiments. Knowing how to better keep the cannon in place was also important.

"Bigger bullet, longer barrel, same power?"

"Precisely."

They were both on the ground a few hundred meters away from the resting caravan not to disturb their rest. Neither stopped keeping an eye out regardless.

Without prompting, Beatrice formed four large barriers at the maximum range of her manipulation. Standing behind the stationary cannon, Lev mentally turned its barrel to face the barriers. There was a lot of resistance as it turned, which was a good sign, as he had devised a mechanism that would make sure that the recoil wouldn't throw the barrel back to the other side, absorbing the shock beforehand. It remained to be seen if that was going to be effective or if he needed a dedicated construct to move the entire cannon instead and negate recoil entirely.

"Ready?" Lev asked Beatrice so she could brace herself for the loudness. The warning wasn't quite enough as the bullet exploded forward, reaching the barrier in a split second. Predictably, the barrier shattered upon impact. The recoil had also been dealt with reasonably well, and Lev only had to bring the barrel slightly downwards.

"Felt faster," Beatrice commented. "I think."

"No, it was the same speed. The acceleration has already hit its upper limit."

"Oh," she looked at him. "Isn't the galecannon enough, then?"

"Pretty much," he shrugged. "Still gonna prepare for that eventual huge monster encounter. Can't bring those down with normal bullets."

She pondered that for a moment. "Fair enough. How do you plan to use these cannons?"

"By mounting them on the bubble," he replied while powering up the formations for another bullet. Beatrice formed a barrier without needing to be asked. "Since its movement is dependent on my mind, I can have multiple of them following me around."

Another loud boom spread through the area, showing the same result. The barrier shattered, and another crater formed behind the broken construct as the bullet continued on.

"Having multiple of them opens up quite a few options," she mused, quite invested. "How many will you form on each?"

"Two or three sounds like a safe limit."

"And how many bubbles?"

"Three, once I can."

"So, six to nine cannons, which will also leave no hopes of dodging in case of a large salvo predicting the monster's movements."

"That was the main draw, yeah," Lev agreed while scouring his mind for any potential improvements. "Right now, these are the most basic ones I can use to test the limits of my class. If things go well, I will move on to fire and lightning."

"Why wait? They sound more fun."

"Dangerous, even for me, the user. My skills aren't quite enough to put large amounts of those two through enchantments."

Beatrice pretended to be shocked, mouth hanging slightly ajar. "There are things even you can't do? That's news to me."

"I'm just a human," Lev rolled his eyes. Then he grinned. "Just give me another two hundred levels and you won't need to ask that question again."

"Don't let your head get too big, Mister Overconfident. I'd prefer not to have it block all of humanity's sunlight."

Lev chortled, and Beatrice chuckled too.

"No promises."

****

The rest of the journey would've been challenging had Lev not been accompanying them. As it stood, he killed several commanders before they even got close to the carts, dealing with most of the enemies without problem. Some were left alive for the weaker teams accompanying the workers, so they could get some levels under his supervision.

In the meantime, Lev practiced, practiced, and practiced. He had so much mana and regeneration that it was never not enough. The limitation was the number of things he could practice, as rushing was simply not an option.

A month and a half had passed during the travel, even if it hadn't felt like that whatsoever. Lev's mind was now almost completely attuned to the lifespan of an average person on Monarch, though accepting that he was going to live for thousands of years was going to take a lot more time. If he wasn't torn apart by some monster in the meantime, that is.

The largest improvement in that time was the enhancement formation. With the added layer of manually empowering the durability of small sections of his armor, most of the free time was spent acquinting himself with the new change.

Other than that, he had four new mounted cannons on top of his bubble. The entire construct had been rinsed with high-quality infused sap in one of their rest nights, and Lev had no plans to ever dismiss it now. As for the cannons, they used standard pure mana runes that compressed air bullets before firing them.

Testing the weapons however, remained a task for the future. Beyond some basic firing, none of the monsters were strong enough to provide reliable data about their destructiveness, and neither were they fast enough to ever dodge the bullets.

In the distance, the pale gray walls of Timberhold had been visible for hours now. None of the people in the caravan were in a hurry to rush the final distance, which left Lev and Beatrice to sit together in one of the last carts and just gaze at the walls idly.

Neither was in the mood to speak as the moment of separation neared. The time they had spent together wasn't much in the grand scheme of things, but they cherished it all the same. Beatrice was the only person Lev talked to regularly beyond Sherron, and the wave of dispiritedness overtaking him matched that.

It also didn't help that the aura mage was similarly down, having left behind the only semblance of belonging back in Windkeep to move to a completely new city and join unfamiliar faces. On top of that, she was also pretty much going to part ways with Lev, who was going to be very busy as a Master hunter. Already, the alert crystal had beeped twice on the way.

"Why're you so quiet?" Lev broke the silence with an obviously stupid question. She merely turned to him for a moment, stared impassively into his eyes, then turned back to gaze at the nearing city.

"What are you going to do now?" she eventually asked. Lev didn't answer for a few minutes, taking his time to think things over.

"Look for Trailblazer and receive his guidance. Find some trolls to practice my new enhancement against, and second threshold monsters to gain some levels and test my other tools."

"Always the same with you," she shook her head, only half jokingly. "What after that? Kill more monsters, train more skills, gain more levels, rinse and repeat?"

"… I hope not, even if that sounds fairly likely. You also forgot crafting."

"Right, even more skills to train. How could that possibly slip my mind?"

Lev rolled his eyes. "When do you want to push for Master?"

"Don't worry about that anymore," she shot him down with a small sigh. "I will have plenty of opportunities to evolve in the future. Doing so quickly will only mean more work."

"But… our deal?"

"Is done," she said resolutely while looking at him to show her seriousness. "Just two levels will not take long since the hardest part is already done. You've done more than enough, Lev."

"I'm against this," he remarked with a scowl. "A few levels are nothing compared to what you've done for me."

"Give it a rest," she said, eyes exasperated. "None of it would have mattered if you hadn't saved me twice again. We were already even."

"That's not how it works," Lev muttered, but dropped the matter. She was wrong, at least in his opinion, but he didn't want to sour the moment by arguing.

Half an hour later, the carts stopped in front of the massive gates of Timberhold. Security was just as tight as everywhere else, but the reception was considerably warmer. Even the guards were laughing merrily with the new transfers, expertly soothing their nerves and making them feel welcomed.

Lev and Beatrice stood to the side, some distance away from the carts currently undergoing thorough scans and checks. His bubble hovered above them, and it descended silently before swallowing them whole through an opening formed at the last moment.

Inside, Lev cranked up the stealth formations to full. Beatrice was visibly struggling with something, trying to gather either the words or the courage. He gave her time.

With a deep breath, she turned to him and stepped closer. That was surprising enough already, but Lev barely held back a squeak when she wrapped her arms around his waist. Gazing into his eyes, Beatrice rose higher on the tip of her feet, until there was barely any distance between their faces.

Lev took it all in with wide eyes, momentarily frozen. It took a second for his brain to catch up as his expression settled into a half-sad, half-genuinely happy smile. His friend wasn't suddenly confessing her love, neither was she developing any at the last moment. It was merely a gift, something she wanted him to remember her by, if Lev so desired.

He leaned forward… and kissed her on her forehead, because there was no way in hell he was going to take advantage of her like that. Beatrice also burst out laughing at the outcome.

"You're so predictable," she said between breaths, chuckles going through her body. "The look on your face was so priceless. I knew you didn't have it in you to kiss a girl so abruptly."

Lev wisely didn't comment on how nervous she was a moment before. Both of them knew the outcome could've been wildly different.

"Not funny," he said, matching her big smile. "I didn't expect you to be so daring either. What changed?"

"Hmm," her eyes crinkled in amusement. "Maybe I felt you checking me out a few times? Who knows."

Lev coughed. "That…"

"It's fine," she giggled. "I'm just messing with you."

A loud, shrill beep cut through the conversation, rendering both of them silent. Lev brought out the alert crystal and found it facing the south, towards the grand forest.

Seeing another alert come through at such an opportune moment took the wind out of their sails. Beatrice hugged him tightly, showing the most vulnerability she had ever had.

"Don't forget about me after you become someone extremely strong and important, okay?" her timid, muffled voice resounded as she buried her face in his chest. "I'll be waiting for you to come see me whenever."

"I won't," Lev replied softly. "I promise."

She looked up, eyes betraying her deep concern. "And stop isolating yourself so much. Nothing good will come out of detachment to this degree. Promise me that you won't spend all your time training or fighting after this."

Lev opened and closed his mouth several times, caught completely flat-footed. He wasn't expecting Beatrice to recognize his fears, but it seemed she had them figured out for quite a while already. Perhaps his silence was one of the reasons she had never brought up the topic before. That he was too scared of making friends in his field, only to never see them again. All this time, he couldn't claim to have made any conscious effort on that front either, always preferring to remain in his bubble, away from those worries.

Chuckling lightly, he ruffled her hair, something he knew she absolutely detested. Grinning at the pouting Beatrice, he answered,

"You have my word."

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