"T-That little bitch! Did you guys see that?! There was a smug look on her face! She was looking down on us!" Erik exclaimed in a frustrated voice as Nina's back disappeared from their view.

"Forget about her. That Leo Although his movements weren't as nimble and quick as before, his prowess seemed to have increased since the last time we fought." Kevin said with a pondering look on his face.

"Those red chains It seemed to have completely sealed the Mountain Cyclops' movements. I have never seen anything like that before. Was that caused by an artifact, or magic?" Jennifer mumbled out loud.

"It's gotta be an artifact. In case you forgot, Leo can't use magic."

"Speaking of artifacts, why isn't he using his sword? That red sword he was using doesn't look as strong as his original one." The short student asked.

"Didn't he lose his sword when he disappeared?" Erik said.

"No, the academy had managed to recover the sword. Apparently it was found by someone, who then sold it to a merchant. When the academy found out, they purchased it back from the merchant." Jennifer said.

"Do you think the academy will keep his sword, or will they give it back to him? That sword is pretty valuable, so I wouldn't be surprised if they kept it for themselves." Erik pondered out loud.

"I doubt they would keep it for themselves and offend Leo. They have already lost him once they won't want to lose him for a second time." Kevin said.

"Hmm? He-Hey! Valery, where are you going?" John suddenly spoke, causing everyone to turn to look at him, who was looking at Valery, who was walking towards the direction that Leo and Nina had just disappeared to.

"Valery?" Jennifer suddenly followed her and asked, "Are you going to follow Leo?"

"There's something about Leo that's been bothering me," she said in a calm voice.

"Leo? What about him?"

"I don't know, that's what I want to find out."

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"Eh? You're kidding! What about the training course? We're still ranked 2 in case you forgot! We don't have the luxury for this nonsense!" Jennifer reminded her.

"..."

Valery stopped walking and gritted her teeth.

"You're right. I wasn't thinking straight just now, sorry."

"That's not new! You're always like this whenever Leo is involved!" Jennifer chuckled.

After returning to her team, Valery said to them, "Let's hurry up and get back to being first place."

"Alright!"

"Let's do this!"

"Are you okay, Valery?" John asked her a few minutes later.

"Yes, I am. Thanks for your concern."

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Wilderness, another group beside Leo's team and Valery's team was hunting A-Rank monsters.

"Sister Helia, we're still ranked 3" A brown-haired girl said to the red-haired beauty before her.

This red-haired beauty was Helia Barnett, who was also known as the Crimson Witch. Not only does she have the highest Fire Magic Affinity in the entire academy, but she's also the second strongest fire magic user in the whole city, being only behind Headmistress Eve.

"I'm sorry for being a burden, Sister Helia. If only I'm not dragging you down, we wouldn't be ranked so low" One of her teammates suddenly sighed out loud.

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"Me too. You're the strongest magic student in the academy, yet you're being bogged down by us"

In Helia's team, everyone was female, and they were all magic students, but none of them were elite students, unlike Valery's team that was stacked with the top magic students in the whole academy.

If Helia had one or two other elite students with her, their team would've been second place now with Valery's team being third.

Helia showed the girls a gentle smile and said, "Stop that nonsense. I was the one who wanted you girls in my team."

"Sister Helia!" The girls stared at her with a great sense of reverence, almost as though they were before their god.

They continued to hunt A-Rank monsters shortly after with Helia being at the front while the other five supported her from the back.

Several days later

"John! Watch out!" Valery shouted when the Vengeful Treant, a large tree monster, suddenly attacked John from behind with its sharp roots.

"What?!" John reacted a little too late because he was too focused on attacking the monster before him.

"Holy Shield!" The short student quickly created a barrier around John, protecting him from the attack.

"Hah!" John dealt the final blow to the monster the next moment.

"T-Thanks, Conan. I wasn't paying attention just now." John said to the short student afterward.

Valery narrowed her eyes at John and said, "We're taking a break."

"Huh? But we can still continue." Kevin said with a raised eyebrow.

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"I know, but John's mind is clearly elsewhere right now he's been like that for the last several fights. If we continue like this, he will surely make a grave mistake and get himself killed." Valery said.

"S-Sorry, Valery everyone" John sighed.

The other members looked at each other. Even without saying a word, they knew what was distracting John.

'It's definitely because of Leo.' Jennifer thought to herself.

'That Leo's still causing us trouble even though he's not here!' Erik snickered inwardly.

Sometime later, they set up a tent and began their rest.

"I'm sorry, Valery. I'm just"

"You don't need to say anything, nor do you need to worry about Leo. He may not be dead, but he's not 'back'. I also have no more feelings or attachments for him, so you can relax." Valery said to him with a gentle smile on her face.

John's facial expressions immediately brightened after hearing her words, "Thank you, Valery."

A few miles away from Valery's team, Leo and Nina were also resting inside a tent.

"Looks like we're still first place with 42 million points." Leo said as he laid inside his sleeping bag.

"Looks like it," she calmly said.

"..."

After a moment of silence, Nina suddenly asked, "Hey, Leo. I know this is none of my business, but are you really okay with Valery being with John? She's your girlfriend, right?"

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"Huh?" Leo sat up on his sleeping bag and turned to look at her with raised eyebrows.