Ilario appeared at Queen Agnes’s treehouse, the same area when he walked through the gate to go to “The Practice World”. Five years passed in The Practice World but it was equal to 5 days passed in this world.

He could feel his magic power increasing exactly the same as the latest level he made in The Practice World. He saw gold light on his inherited mark was more shining than before.

“You came back after 5 days passed as I expected,” said Queen Agnes kindly, she smiled at him. She was waiting for him.

“I rushed myself to finish the task,” smiled Ilario politely.

“It seemed that you succeeded with the training,” said Queen Agnes kindly.

“Umm, I think that I’m still lacking and far from a word of success. Actually, I did not kill monster lord alone and I was badly injured from her attack,” said Ilario honestly. He told everything to her briefly.

“Could you please allow them to stay here with me?” Ilario asked her after he told her about Luna and Solaris.

“Of course. They are light spirits and their powers are compatible with the nature. I see that they are a great help of you after I listened to your stories. I was surprised that you came back with incredible magic power. I mean I thought that you can come back after 5 years but I didn’t expect that you could reach to this high. It’s as if you practiced in The Practice World for 10 years,” Queen Agnes said.

“May I call them here to greet you officially?” Ilario asked.

“Yes, you may” smiled Queen Agnes kindly.

“Solaris, Luna, can you come here?” mind communicated Ilario.

Luna and Solaris appeared after they got called.

“Let’s me introduce, this is Queen Agnes, the queen of elves. This is Solaris, lord of light spirits at day and this is Luna, lord of lights spirit at night,” Ilario said.

“Greet to the Queen of elves. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Both of Luna and Solaris said.

“Nice to meet you too. I believed that you will be a great help of Ilario and this world,” said Queen Agnes kindly.

“Yes, Queen Agnes” Both of Luna and Solaris said.

After we got permission from Queen Agnes, they both changed their appearances to be wolf cubs.

Ilario went back to treehouse, he wanted to change his clothes because the size was too big for his body now.

“I’m back,” Ilario said.

“Oh...Why did you wear adult clothes?” Ms. Carina asked surprisingly.

“Err…I got hard training and all my clothes were torn. So, I have to wear these adult clothes instead,” Ilario said.

“Oh my… you have trained so hard. Take some rest. I will prepare dinner for you,” said Ms. Carina kindly.

Ms. Carina could not see both of Luna and Solaris, she did not mention anything about them.

Ilario went upstairs to change his clothes.

“The others could not see you, right? Is there any requirement? Why the spirits hardly show up themselves?” Ilario asked curiously.

“Normally, the ordinarius and the magus who possessed magic power at low to medium level cannot sense our energies. The magus who possessed magic power at high level can sense our energies but they cannot see us even we are standing in front of them. Unless we show up ourselves, everyone can see us if we want to. But we mostly show up ourselves to the one we want to make contract with or the special person like Queen Agnes or the one you request us to show ourselves,” Luna said.

“I see. Ah! I forgot to tell. You two might be boring to stay here because the numbers of monsters are fewer than The Practice World but there will be more monsters in the future. I got duty from Athena Goddess to kill monster lords like Venena, and the king of monsters. He was the real deal and stronger than Venena, as far as I can tell,” Ilario said.

“We have no problem with it,” Solaris said.

“Is there any way I can increase more magic power in this kind of situation?” Ilario asked.

“I think you’d better wait for the next 2 years. I felt that you possessed too much magic power in your present body. You need to increase your physical strength for now. Try to hunt without using magic power like you did in The Practice World would be a good choice,” Luna said.

“Ah...I forgot that Queen Agnes had told me about this matter, only my power increased by cheating time in The Practice World,” Ilario said.

***

The next day, Ilario went to meet Oliver. He wanted to ask him about the next hunting schedule, he needed to increase his physical strength by hunting.

“Ilario, did you finish the training? I didn’t see you for 5 days,” Oliver asked.

“Yes, I did. I would like to know about schedule for the next hunting. Do you have a plan?” Ilario asked. In fact, he can go to hunt by himself but he thought that it would be rude to do so. He should at least tell them. They are seniors who trained him all this time.

Lyra came toward us before Oliver answered him.

“You came. I’m going to find you. Queen Agnes gave us duty to survey the area where we found Lycans last time. She said that there might be something happened at that area. We’ve never seen dark magic stones at that size in the bodies of Lycans before, and their appearances were a bit different. We rechecked their bodies and found that their hearts were sutured. It must be some kind of experiment. Prepare yourself, we will go today,” Lyra said.

“Yes,” Ilario said and left.

He went back to treehouse and prepared himself. He wore leather armors and armed with dagger knives, bow and arrows set. He was glad that he has a chance to practice himself. He was ready and went to meet Lyra and Oliver.

When he reached there, he saw the other 3 young women elves in warrior suit. They were wearing full set of leather armors and arming with swords, dagger knives, bow and arrows set. Their appearances were outstanding but not pretty as Lyra, their bodied showed that they had been passing through many fights.

“They are Bellators in our team, great with magic power and fighting skill. They will go with us to survey the area,” Lyra said.

“I’m Antlia. Nice to meet you,” said a young woman elf, long brown hair, tied up, and brown eyes.

“I’m Norma,” said a young woman elf, long yellow hair, tied up, and yellow eyes.

“I’m Sagitta. Nice to meet you,” said a young woman elf, long green hair, tied up, and green eyes.

“My name is Ilario. It’s a pleasure to meet you too,” Ilario said.

After we introduced ourselves, the 3 young women elves said nothing and glanced at him sometime. They were cold and emotionless, like the killer human androids in his imagination. They seemed to feel awkward when he was staying around.

He did see that Lyra was very friendly toward him after he met the others. Even through, she hardly expressed her emotions toward him but he has never felt the awkward feeling from her. She became a nice young elf in his eyes now.

“This set of armors would be suitable to your fighting style. These armors are lighter and matching with your speed,” Oliver said and gave him leather brigandine, leather arm bracers, and leather boots armor.

While Ilario was changing new armors, he heard the 3 young women elves whispering to Lyra. After he practiced for many years, his senses are sensitive to everything around him. He could hear their conversation clearly.

“Do we need to take the boy?” Norma whispered.

“Are you sure that he would not be our hindrance?” Sagitta whispered.

“You will see,” said Lyra calmly.

Ilario appreciated the feedback from Lyra, at least she was on his side.

“You’re not popular with the women, right?” mind communicated Solaris. He teased him.

Ilario was silent, he knew himself very well that he was not a charming man since the life in his previous life.

“We will survey as a group. I’m a leader, Antlia is a vice-leader, Norma and Sagitta are frontline, Oliver and Ilario are defender and supporter. We’re leaving now,” Lyra said.

The 6 of us run with high speed to the northeast of Magnus Forest, the last location where the hunting team got attacked from Lycans. We reached to the suspected area very quickly.

Ilario detected the area but found nothing around here while the others were inspecting more evidences in the area nearby.

“Did you two find anything suspicious?” mind communicated Ilario.

“We did not find any dark energy but we felt insecure situation somehow,” mind communicated Solaris.

“It must be something related to dark magic core that make our feeling come to this way. We felt the dark power lightly and momentarily. It seems like that one can block our detection. That mean that one is very strong and more powerful than Venena,” mind communicated Luna.

“Can you two indicate the direction?” mind communicated Ilario.

“Yes, we can. Prepare yourself and be careful,” mind communicated Luna.

“All right. I will tell the others,” mind communicated Ilario.

Ilario walked toward Lyra, he needed to know her opinion on this matter first.

“Did you find something?” Ilario asked Lyra.

“No, it’s very strange” Lyra said.

“I got information from light spirits. They detected powerful dark magic core momentarily. That one can block our detection. There’s a possibility that that one is a monster lord. The spirits knew the way to go there but it’s very dangerous. Would you like to go and inspect that area?” Ilario explained and asked.

Lyra was surprised by his words. She looked at the area where Luna and Solaris were standing.

“Did she see both of you?” mind communicated Ilario.

“No, she didn’t. She possessed magic power at high level. So, she can sense our energies,” mind communicated Luna.

“Did you make contracts with light spirits?” Lyra asked.

“Yes,” Ilario said.

“I felt their energies since I met you this morning but I thought it was my misunderstanding. I will gather the team,” Lyra said and left.

After Lyra gathered all the team members, the others look so doubtful.

“We will go to the area that might have had monster lord there. Get ready and stay at my command. I will observe the situation before I make a decision for us to attack or retreat,” said Lyra seriously. “Ilario will lead the way and detect the monsters for us.”

The 3 young women elves were surprised but they followed Ilario without a word. They knew that the situation was rather serious now.

Luna and Solaris led the way to the northeast of Magnus Forest, deeper in the dense forest. Ilario followed them and led the way for the team members. The 6 of us were running continually in the dense forest until we found the cave.

“Be careful. We momentarily detected the power of dark magic core around this area,” mind communicated Luna.

“Can you two go for checking inside?” mind communicated Ilario.

“I will check it. My power can against the darkness in the cave better,” mind communicated Luna. She went inside the cave.

“The spirits momentarily detected the power of dark magic core around this area. It might come from that cave. I detected nothing here. It seemed like they are able to block our detection. The spirits already went to check the situation inside the cave. Please wait a moment,” said Ilario seriously.

The situation was insecure and hard to decide for now. Ilario activated “Light Barrier” to cover all the team members.

“It can protect everyone from surprised attack just in case,” Ilario said after he activated “Light Barrier” for all of us.

All the team members prepared themselves and got ready for fighting. They remained silent and looked around to reassure that there was nothing suspicious.

Ilario felt uneasy about this situation, he could not explain why he felt in this way. All his instincts told him to be ready for fighting all the time.

The surrounding area was completely silent. He focused and used ‘Mind Vision’ within 5 miles radius to detect all kinds of energies again but he found nothing related to dark energy. He tried to extend the miles radius but Luna showed up before he did so.

“There are Chimeras and several kinds of experimental monsters inside the cave, some were put in the prisons, some are walking around freely. The cave is like a maze but you can detect the dark energies inside. Anyway, I did not sense the power of dark magic core,” mind communicated Luna. She appeared after she went for checking the situation inside the cave for a while.

Ilario reported all the details to Lyra.

“Let’s go inside. We must kill all the monsters inside the cave and keep all the evidences including the dead bodies of monsters,” said Lyra, she decided to attack.

“Yes,” Everyone said.

“Solaris, can you guard the entrance? I feel uneasy with the situation. We needed back up plan just in case. Tell me immediately when monster lord showed up,” mind communicated Ilario.

“Of course,” mind communicated Solaris.

The 6 of us went inside the cave. The young elves activated fire magic power on their weapons. They got ready for fight and used the fire to see the paths.

Ilario detected many dark energies after he came inside. The cave was wide, there were complicated system of paths like a maze, and 2 levels of the underground. He felt dark energies densely from the lowest level of the underground. He assumed that there were monsters gathering on the paths that connected to the underground after he detected all the energies.

He activated “Light Shield” for all the team members and led them to the way that have monsters. We needed to kill all the monsters here.

We walked through the large hole until we saw a group of X-Pantherae, the monstrous panthers, there were 6 of them in total. There was something different with the X-Pantherae here, they have serpent tails. It seemed that they got experiment.

Antlia, Norma, and Sagitta shot fire magic arrows at their vitals areas. They killed all X-Pantherae very quickly.

Ilario continued to lead the way by following Luna. We walked to other area and encountered a group of X-Tigrisek, the monstrous tigers, there were 3 of them in total. They have wings on their backs by getting experiment. Antlia, Norma, and Sagitta killed them all before they can move.

We encountered and killed low level of monsters along the way to the underground.

We walked to the first level of the underground. Ilario felt the dark energies densely. He stopped the team members.

“Wait a minute. There are 3 Basilisks on this floor. I will kill them for you, their poison is dangerous. At least, I have ability to heal and protect myself,” said Ilario reasonably. He went to kill Basilisks with Luna.

He activated “Resistance” and took a mask out of his bracelet for wearing. The Basilisks were guarding this floor. They breathed poison after they sensed the intruders. He activated “Solis Breath” and Luna used “Light Beam” to burn them all. We killed them very fast. Luna used “Light Purify” to purify the poison in the air.

“It’s all right now. Please come this way,” Ilario said.

Antlia, Norma, and Sagitta were surprised how strong of his power. They said nothing but followed him.

***