"Take this! 'Soil Shackle'!"
As Lyria pushed her fair hands out, a glowing brownish circular transparent pattern appeared in front of her hands, and suddenly mud chains grew from the soil beneath the half-dead Ground Bear, wrapping tightly around it and holding it in place.
The chains looked like they were made of living coiling roots, but they were actually simply toughened soil.
'Soil Shackles' was a Tier 2 Ground Element Spell in Lyria's possession, and she could now use it far better than a week ago after continuous practice.
Eric gazed at the poor, adult-stage Rank 1 ground bear lying on the ground, and couldn't help but feel deep pity rise from his heart.
The poor bear looked gigantic and was supposed to be an extremely strong pure Physical-type Mana Beast, but for some reason, it was also extremely exhausted when they encountered it, completely covered in mud and soil—as if it had been hiding beneath the ground for who knows how long. After the trio took their time bullying it thoroughly, it was already on the ground without any strength left to even move, so Lyria's 'Soil Shackles' wasn't really necessary—she was just using the bear's huge body to practice.
The Ground Bear had no right to complain; it could only howl at the sky for the 'injustice' the trio had faced along the way.
Not a single Mana Beast since a month they left Whisperwood Village behind!
On multiple nights, Eric had even dreamt of his Brother Panther—that's how much he missed it!
What the hell was wrong with such a massive plain, forests, mountain ranges, gigantic caves, lakes, and so on?
No matter how much they tried to find Mana Beasts, it seemed they either chose to commit suicide in fear of encountering the trio—not even leaving their bones behind—or all of them had flown away to a different dimension. Only because this Ground Bear was too busy eating soil was it caught by the evil trio.
Not only Mana Beasts—even Mortal Beasts were scarce. But it could be that those just chose to flee as soon as they sensed any Mana Wielders or Mana Beasts in the region. Only aquatic and aerial animals seemed to still stick around.
Nonetheless, this bear's fate was now sealed, as Eric wouldn't let that thick, juicy flesh go to waste.
Although they still ate Elven cuisine almost every single day, occasionally they wouldn't mind having some meat as well. Bear paws seemed very delicious—or so Eric had heard in the past—but sadly, he wouldn't be eating this bear because every part of it could earn them good cash!
All to fulfill his long-delayed evil plans! Or so he thought—sadly, someone was blocking his path...
'Until we have enough money, we cannot spend freely on our desires.'
It was the words of their accountant—Madam Lyriana.
They could only quiver in terror and kept nodding their heads in reverence, as both Eric and Livy were too dumb to make such sensible future planning, so they decided to follow the expert's suggestions.
In any case, they were never lacking in vegetables, fruits, or even meats, so they were fine with it.
"Your Highness Eric, will you do the honor?" Lyria bowed gracefully toward Eric to finish the poor tormented bear.
Eric immediately straightened up and nodded like a Royal Noble Evil Prince should.
He raised his hand toward the bear, who had already closed its eyes in resignation. A dark semi-transparent Mana Circle started rotating in front of his hand, and a dark beam-like shot out toward the right eye of the Ground Bear.
'Shadow Dart,' a Tier 1 Dark Spell that Riya had shown Eric a long time ago.
Normally, a single Tier 1 Spell wouldn't be enough to kill an Adult Rank 1 Mana Beast, but the bear was in far too terrible a condition and no longer had the strength to defend itself. Eric had also used a considerable amount of Mana in the Spell, so without any surprise, the dark beam penetrated its closed eye, then its brain, killing it.
Same-tier spells' firepower was not always the same, and one could also increase or decrease the firepower by controlling one's own Mana output.
Having a higher Intelligence stat also helped with faster casting and increased firepower. Of course, practice and expertise were still required.
Casting a spell was like stitching a designer dress rapidly. Higher Intelligence allowed for fancier stitching and faster work. Of course, the person had to know proper 'stitching'—otherwise, no matter how fast one worked, the result would be clothes even beggars refused to wear.
Similarly, a Tier 1 'dress stitching' had its limits. Just because one had a PhD in stitching didn't mean one could turn a Tier 1 dress into Tier 3 or 5. In short, a Tier 1 Spell couldn't become extremely powerful just because the caster wasted too much Mana on it.
Spell casting was also far more complicated. It required a proper balance between Mana output and stitching. If not done properly, in the worst case, the Spell might blow up in one's face or hand.
Of course, to those who were experts in these complications and stitching, all of this was child's play—they could even do it with their eyes closed.
It was even mentioned in Spell Books that when one mastered a Spell to its peak, they could cast it without even needing to open a Mana Circle.
Leaving spells aside, they had now obtained two mostly intact Rank 1 Mana Beast corpses.
"...Let's take a short break here. Brother Eric, how long until Everwood Village?" Livy asked while pulling out a comfortable couch from her ring.
Eric, too, pulled out a long couch from his pocket watch and reclined on it with one foot raised on the other end.
With one arm behind his head, he gazed at the clear afternoon sky and yawned, "Hm... Around three more days, perhaps."
Livy nodded, while Lyria found a nice spot between them and also pulled out a couch similar to Livy's, sitting on it like a queen—elegantly and noble-like.
Eric threw his pocket watch to Livy, "Liv, when you feel like it, put the bear inside."
Livy agreed with a smile and started playing with the watch, capturing photos of the Ground Bear, Eric, Lyria, herself, and their surroundings. After that, she checked the old ones she and Lyria had taken along the way since leaving the Heart-Shaped Island.
Lyria pondered for a moment and inquired, "Brother Eric, how long till you reach your 'peak'?"
Eric flinched ever so slightly but kept his movement controlled so the two experts near him wouldn't notice.
After a small pause, he answered, "I've already reached 49 in all; I'll finish it in two more days." Then he closed his eyes.
Lyria nodded and spoke no more to let Eric rest.
Eric was pumped up, excited, and slightly bewildered internally.
Since reaching '45' in his stats, he'd suddenly had a strong premonition that he would soon die. It was a strange but vivid feeling—he didn't know why or how, but he sensed it had something to do with passing this training Breakthrough.
He'd originally wanted to hide this feeling from Riya, but sadly, she could still take the extra effort to read his thoughts, so he was swiftly caught.
Soon, there was a house quarrel within his mind. After taking a long time to appease the tired and hardworking housewife—Riya—and only after bringing out his final trump card, which could save his life in a crisis, did he manage to calm her down.
Otherwise, she nearly let all her hard work drain, and Eric wasn't willing to back down. Since he could travel this path, how could he give up just because it was life-threatening?
He remembered a long time ago, when he was a late teenager in his past life, he and his friend climbed a random tall hill in the countryside they visited. They thought it was the highest peak, but after reaching the top, they realized what all mountain climbers eventually learn—there is always a taller mountain!
And yes, behind that hill was another one, connected to the one they just climbed—and the next hill was not only taller but far more dangerous-looking.
Eric was thrilled to climb the next one too, but his friend didn't allow him, forcing him with 'logic':
'It's already evening—let's return or everyone will worry...'
Bloody heaven!
That was one of his greatest regrets in his past life—he had to back off from something he was excited to do, and it was no longer possible the next day since they were on a tour with other plans.
In the end, Eric never got the chance to climb that hill. He felt like a dangerous tiger forced to lower its head and live in a cage with humility—because it was the damned 21st century! Too much protection! People couldn't even easily adventure and die by accident!
So Eric absolutely refused to back off—no matter what—even if he truly ended up dead in his current endeavor.
The only thing that made him hesitate was Riya, as she would die too...
"Cough, my sister Elara will also follow us..." Riya's tired but somehow happy voice sounded within him. She was using Mind Space to speak instead of her own voice.
'Ah, that's right!' He'd completely forgotten the unique sickness of that cute, blushing, delicious-looking long-eared Elf.
Thinking of Elara, Eric couldn't help but smile with his eyes closed.
Recalling the few days they spent together—especially their joint operation on the bloody massacre against the Dark Elves tribe—that entire event would definitely be very memorable for both of them for life.
He wondered what Elara was doing now—was Lysandra bullying her enough?
As Eric smiled quite happily, both Lyria and Livy—who glanced at him every once in a while—felt strange.
Livy couldn't help but ask excitedly, "Brother Eric, are you thinking about me?"
Lyria immediately corrected Livy harshly, "It was definitely me!"
"Humph! It was definitely me! Who's cute, pretty, and definitely not a brown bull like you!"
"W-what did you say?! Y-you, you Lavender Python!" Lyria stood up enraged.
She was lean and very pretty. The only thing she might lack compared to Livy was long hair, but with her new hairstyle, she looked no less appealing—even Eric had complimented her more than once! How dare she!
Riya also took the chance to snicker with her dead-tired voice, "Ah... Both my cute sisters... They're so innocent—they have no idea their lover was dreaming of another girl altogether... So pure, so innocent..."
Eric knew a bomb was about to explode, so he quickly stood up and started walking away, addressing both girls behind him, "Rest time is over—let's go. We should try reaching the next landmark before evening."
Lyria and Livy glared at each other and snorted. They swiftly took away what they needed and dashed behind Eric.