The two walked side by side, with Leo skillfully leading Irina out through the gates of the royal capital.
He didn’t take the main road, but instead turned onto a winding path that led through the woods outside the city.
The forest path twisted and turned, and the light around them gradually dimmed, with only dappled sunlight filtering through the gaps in the leaves above. All was quiet, save for their footsteps and the occasional birdsong.
Irina followed behind Leo. At first, she looked around curiously, but as they walked, she began to sense something was off.
This atmosphere… why does it feel a bit ambiguous?
Out here, just a man and a woman, all alone.
A thousand unspeakable images flashed through her mind in an instant.
Irina’s steps slowed, and her cheeks began to heat up. She tugged at Leo’s sleeve, her voice barely louder than a mosquito’s hum.
“Um… Leo…”
“Hm?” Leo turned back.
“You… you’re not thinking…” Irina’s face turned even redder, her eyes darting nervously, “thinking of… playing with me out here… some kind of wild play?”
Leo: “?”
He froze for a second, then couldn’t help but laugh.
“What on earth do you think about all day?” He reached out and flicked Irina’s forehead, half amused and half annoyed.
“Ouch!” Irina covered her forehead, retorting with righteous indignation, “Hey, we’re in another world now! Isn’t it normal to have bold ideas? All the novels write it like this!”
“Is that so?” Leo raised his brows, a mischievous grin on his lips. “Then next time, I’ll take you deep into the Black Forest, somewhere a Terror Bear could jump out at any moment, and we’ll have ourselves a wild play there, how’s that? Stimulating enough for you?”
Irina shook her head like a rattle-drum.
“No, no, no! That’s way too stimulating! I’m scared of bears, and other things too!”
She chickened out immediately.
Seeing her instantly give up, Leo’s mood brightened, and he stopped teasing her. He led her to a relatively open clearing in the woods, looked around to make sure they were alone, and began to chant an incantation.
As magical energy pulsed through the air, a magnificent Gray-Feathered Griffin appeared out of thin air. It stretched its enormous wings, sharp eyes scanning the area, letting out a deep, resonant cry.
“Want me to summon one for you too? You can ride your own.”
Irina shook her head at once. “No, no, I’ll just ride with you.”
Yeah right, what if she fell off riding alone? Hugging the villain’s thigh—wait, no, his waist—that’s what real security feels like.
Leo swung himself up onto the broad back of the griffin, then reached out his hand to Irina. Without hesitation, she took it, using his strength to leap up and sit securely behind him.
“Hold on tight.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the Gray-Feathered Griffin beat its wings with a mighty gust of wind and shot up straight into the sky.
“Ah—!”
The sudden weightlessness made Irina let out a sharp, short scream. Instinctively, she threw her arms around Leo’s waist, holding on for dear life.
The wind howled past her ears, the ground beneath shrank away rapidly, and the grand outline of the royal capital diminished in her field of vision.
Recovering from her initial nervousness, Irina began to enjoy the exhilarating speed and the steady sensation beneath her. An indescribable excitement welled up inside her.
She pressed her cheek against Leo’s broad back, feeling his warmth and heartbeat. A sense of security she’d never known before enveloped her.
Now this was the life a transmigrator ought to have!
A griffin as a mount, a big shot at her side—isn’t that way better than playing mind games with those little brats at the Academy?
Follow the villain, eat nine meals a day!
Half an hour later, the griffin began to descend.
Leo didn’t fly straight back to Blackwood Town, but instead landed on a broad meadow near the edge of the Black Forest, just at the border of the territory.
“All right, your ‘VIP Pre-Exam Crash Course’ starts now.” Leo jumped down from the griffin’s back, dusting off his hands.
Irina was still a bit reluctant to let go, but she finally released her grip on Leo and hopped down after him.
“Right here?” She glanced around. Other than grass and trees, there wasn’t even a sign of a monster.
“Yes, right here.”
Leo didn’t waste words. He lifted his hand, magic swirling in his palm.
“You chose the Mage class for your evaluation, right?”
“Mm.”
“Then let’s start with the basics.”
As he spoke, several small magic circles appeared on the ground. In the next moment, three skeleton soldiers wielding bone swords and one skeleton mage holding a bone staff shakily emerged from the circles, ghostly blue soul flames flickering in their hollow eye sockets.
“Mission objective: survive their assault and wipe them all out.” Leo crossed his arms, clearly enjoying the show. “And by the way, that skeleton mage will hit you with debuffs.”
Irina took a deep breath, her expression turning focused.
She was a Level 37 Mage, after all. Handling a few low-level skeletons shouldn’t be a problem…right?
The battle began.
The skeleton mage was the first to raise its staff, summoning a swirl of gray-black mist that shot toward Irina.
“Weakness Curse!”
Irina reacted swiftly, dodging to the side and gathering her mana.
“Take this! [Pyroblast]!”
A head-sized fireball roared through the air toward the skeleton mage.
But just as she cast her spell, a skeleton soldier silently lunged at her from the side, swinging its bone sword.
“Watch your flank!” Leo’s voice drifted over lazily.
Startled, Irina hastily broke off her spell and jumped back in a fluster, narrowly avoiding the strike.
But the [Pyroblast] she’d been concentrating on fizzled out in midair from the interruption.
“Damn it! Wasted my ult!” Irina couldn’t help cursing.
A high-level spell gone just like that, and her mana bar took a hit.
Before she could regain her footing, another gray-black mist flew her way.
“Slow!”
This time she couldn’t dodge, and her legs suddenly felt weighed down, her speed plummeting.
The three skeleton soldiers seized the opportunity, forming a pincer attack.
Irina panicked, flinging [Pyroblast] after [Pyroblast] like they cost nothing, but either missed or the skeletons just tanked them, barely flinching.
“Move! Don’t just stand there and spam!” Leo shook his head from the sidelines. “You playing artillery now?”
“That skeleton mage is casting again, can’t you see? Interrupt it!”
“Manage your mana! My dear protagonist! Why are you using Pyroblast on every little skeleton? You think mana grows on trees?”
Leo’s constant barrage of criticism hit her right where it hurt.
Irina’s face flushed red and white in turn, but she knew he was right. In the Academy’s practical combat class, the instructors only had you spar with thick-skinned wild boars; nobody taught fine control like this.
Under Leo’s sharp-tongued but precise guidance, Irina forced herself to calm down.
When the skeleton mage raised its staff again, she didn’t waste time on a high-level spell but instead cast a quick, low-tier spell.
“[Wind Blade]!”
A pale green arc sliced neatly through the skeleton mage’s wrist, breaking its spell.
Seizing the moment, she quickly opened the distance, then cast an area spell at the feet of the two lead skeleton soldiers.
“[Frost Nova]!”
A ring of ice exploded outward, freezing the ground under the skeletons and slowing them down.
“Nice, and then?” Leo’s timely voice rang out.
And then?
A glint flashed in Irina’s eyes. She raised her hand, sending a prepared [Fireball] straight at the lagging skeleton soldier’s head.
“Boom!”
The skull shattered instantly, crumbling into fragments.
Divide and conquer!
Irina immediately found her rhythm.
She started using [Wind Blade] to harass and interrupt the skeleton mage, [Frost Nova] to control the skeleton soldiers’ movements, and the mana-saving [Fireball] for targeted kills.
She seized control of the fight in an instant.
A few minutes later, the last skeleton soldier fell to a barrage of fireballs.
“Whew…” Irina propped herself up on her knees, panting heavily, sweat soaking her bangs, but her eyes shone with excitement.
Leo walked over and handed her a bottle of water.
“How do you feel?”
“Exhausted…” Irina gulped down several mouthfuls, then grinned, “But! Amazing! This is a hundred times more effective than target practice at the Academy!”
Seeing the brightness in her eyes and her flushed cheeks, Leo found it amusing.
“Five-minute break, then next round.”
“Huh? More?”
“Of course,” Leo replied, “you think a top-three ranking can be earned just by killing a few skeletons?”
With a wave of his hand, the scattered bones vanished, replaced by a huge, two-headed Hellhound drooling at the mouth.
[Double-Headed Hellhound], fast, with bleeding attacks—much more troublesome than slow skeleton soldiers.
“This round is to train your reaction speed and kiting ability.” Leo was straightforward.
Irina stared at the snarling Hellhound, swallowed hard, and gripped her staff tightly.
At first, the scene was a mess.
She couldn’t keep up with the Hellhound’s speed at all, getting pounced on several times and only barely escaping with [Blink], the beast’s claws leaving bloody scratches that made her wince.
Luckily, she also had the Priest class—healing herself wasn’t an issue, and Leo didn’t spare any sympathy.
With Leo constantly reminding and correcting her, she gradually learned to anticipate the Hellhound’s attacks, using terrain and slow spells to keep her distance.
From panic and chaos, she progressed to effortless control.
When her final [Flame Strike] landed squarely on the Hellhound’s head and turned it into black smoke, Irina nearly collapsed to the ground from exhaustion.
But her face radiated a confidence and satisfaction she’d never felt before.
“It’s getting late.” Leo glanced at the sky and summoned the Gray-Feathered Griffin once more.
He held his hand out to Irina, as natural as could be. “Let’s go, time to go home.”
Irina was stunned for a moment.
She looked up at Leo’s profile in the setting sun, feeling as if something inside her had been gently touched.
“Home,” huh…
She silently repeated the word, then broke into a wide, bright smile.
“Okay!”
She gripped Leo’s hand firmly, leaped onto the griffin’s back with his help, and just like before, pressed herself against his back, hugging him tightly.
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