Despite her status, Luna didn’t feel offended that Albedo called her crazy, as what she was asking really was a bit crazy to any normal person.

“The Black Thunder Pool infuses Beasts with the ability to wield Black Thunder and stimulates their potential. If you can accomplish it, you can also dip your new Beast in the Pool as well.”

Albedo blinked, then blinked again, still contemplating the risks of this mission. The reward for completion was certainly tempting. 4,000 Merit would put him much closer to his goal of the Flame Dragon Heart than he normally would’ve reached.

He also would get a chance to soak Ember in the Black Thunder Pool. Giving her to wield Black Thunder would be a massive boost to his power arsenal.

However, those incredible rewards didn’t change how crazy the mission was.

A baby Leviathan. A beast capable of growing into a God-level disaster with age. Creatures so rare that only a handful existed across the known world. Barely anyone had ever been able to contract one, as they were walking natural disasters.

Capable of summoning storms, shattering armies or swallowing cities whole, even the Abyss had dodged interacting with them, leaving the known Leviathans to live by themselves.

The fact that Luna not only found one, and contracted it made Albedo all the more curious. How was this never found out in the Novel?

Leviathans were some of the most influential creatures in the world, alongside Dragons & Phoenixes, and well known for being pretty much impossible to contract.

Sure Luna wasn’t the most impactful figure in the Novel, but for this to never be known? The only reasoning Albedo could muster was that this mission failed in the original timeline.

He rubbed his temples and thought for a while.

“Why do you not just do it yourself when you’re free?” Albedo asked, and Luna sighed for a bit before finally responding.

“Because the Leviathan isn’t healthy. It’s a baby and I found her in a bad state. The vitality gained from the Black Thunder Pool is the only way to keep her alive and get her healthy, and I cannot risk what I’m working on here at the moment to go there, which means I need someone to do it for me.”

Albedo listened and thought it made sense. He nodded and thought for a little while, wondering what was so important for Luna that she couldn’t leave.

It had to be something extremely important, but nothing important had happened related to her in the Novel.

But he knew she wouldn’t say a thing, so after a short while thinking,

“…I’ll do it,” he said at last. “When do I leave?”

Luna’s smile widened ever so slightly.

“Two days. I’ll supply anything you need. Aside from Merit, you can keep anything else you find there, and you’ll have my grace.”

Albedo nodded. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to have Luna’s grace. While she wasn’t very important in the Novel, she was after all, a genius Star Ranked Tamer, from an influential Elven family.

Luna’s expression softened ever so slightly, her usual stern elegance tempered by a glint of relief.

“Since you’ll be gone for longer than most missions require, I’ll handle your leave of absence personally,” she said, placing a hand gently atop the incubator. The thin veil of runes shimmered faintly beneath her touch, reacting to her mana with a soothing hum.

“There’s no need to worry about Academy clearance. I’ll report the mission to the Board as one sanctioned under the Faculty Authority Clause. Myth-Class students are given leeway for classified assignments.”

She met Albedo’s eyes again, “Come back here in two days. At dawn. I’ll hand over the orb.”

Albedo gave a simple nod, “Understood.”

With nothing else to discuss, he turned on his heel and headed for the door, boots silent against the polished marble floors, leaving.

***

The rest of the day passed in a blur.

Classes were mostly uneventful, save for Professor Skye glaring daggers at him during her lecture on tactical formations, which Albedo responded to with calculated disinterest.

Combat theory with Professor Kayle was as brutal as usual, filled with precision drills and high-intensity magical sparring simulations that left most of the class collapsed by the end of it.

Albedo didn’t mind, At this point, he had clearly established himself a tier above the other students. Even the cocky ones like William and Zeus had realized that and spent their time focusing more on Lucian, similar to the Novel.

When his classes finally wrapped up for the day, the sun was already dipping low in the sky. A warm, golden hue painted the Academy’s towering spires as he made his way home, taking the SkyRail.

He arrived not long after, seeing the subtle presences of Killian’s guards littering the environment. He quickly entered the villa, opening the door with a soft creak.

“I’m back,” Albedo said, stepping into the entryway.

A flash of silver darted from the hallway and collided with his legs.

“Albedo!” Gwen beamed, hugging him tightly before stepping back and sniffing the air. “You smell like heatstroke and mana exhaustion. Did you fight a monster again?”

“Worse,” Albedo replied with a small smile. “Professor Skye,”

“Oh,” Gwen winced, “That is worse.”

From the nearby couch, Diona looked up from a book she was reading, an enchanted fairytale about mana beasts and ancient forests. She was curled up with a blanket, hair slightly tousled, and a steaming cup of mana-infused tea resting beside her.

“Welcome back,” she said softly, offering him a gentle smile.

Albedo nodded and walked inside. After hanging up his coat, he sat down across from them.

“I need to tell you both something.”

Gwen immediately stopped trying to sneak cookies into her dress pocket. Diona put her book aside, her expression shifting to mild concern.

“I’ll be gone for about a week. Maybe a bit longer,” Albedo said, leaning forward slightly, “It’s another mission, similar to the one I told you about, but this time it’ll take longer.”

Gwen’s brow furrowed, “Is it dangerous?”

Albedo nodded, “All missions are dangerous,”

“Well then good luck,” Gwen said, “Don’t come back till you win,”

Albedo chuckled quietly, the warmth in Gwen’s words doing more to ease his tension than anything he’d felt all day.

“Don’t come back till you win, huh?” he echoed, standing from the couch.

Gwen gave him a confident grin, arms crossed in mock authority. “That’s an order.”

Diona smiled faintly beside her, “We’ll be alright here. Killian’s people haven’t let anyone near.”

“Still,” Albedo said as he walked toward the back hallway, “If anything happens, tell the guards immediately. Don’t investigate, don’t play detective. Just signal them. You have the panic buttons as well.”

Both girls nodded in unison.

“Good.”

He stepped went upstairs, heading to the training room he had installed in his villa using the System Reward he received from contracting Ember.

The reward allowed him to redesign a room into a special training space that improved his training efficiency, so he installed it in the house, spending all of his free training time here.

The stone platform shimmered slightly with runes he’d inscribed for sparring and magical output stabilization. The moment he stepped out, a wave of heat rolled toward him, subtle and soothing.

A white-blue light shimmered beside the tree line, and Ember trotted into view.

The Solaris Equine looked radiant in the twilight. Her mane flickered like a living fire, hooves clicking softly against the reinforced stone as she approached.

The faint crackle of her celestial flames kissed the air with gentle warmth and left faint scorch marks on the ground.

Albedo reached out and ran a hand along her neck. Her skin was hot, almost too hot for normal contact, but never painful for him.

“Hey,” he said softly, “How do you feel about lightning?”

Ember snorted, the fire in her mane pulsing higher for a moment as her intelligent eyes met his. There was a flare of interest there. Curiosity.

“I thought you’d be curious,” he murmured.

He reached into his coat and pulled out a strip of mana-enriched jerky, which Ember snapped up greedily.

Albedo stepped back, cracked his knuckles, and slowly let the Havoc Sigil manifest around his hand. In a flicker of energy, the pistol-like weapon of blackened steel and glowing crimson lines appeared in his grip, humming with restrained power.

“Let’s run through Infernal Mode first,” he said, his voice low but resolute. “Then Graviton. Then we’ll spar. I need to be ready for the Mirage of Thunderstorms, and you need to be ready to face the Black Thunder Pool.”

Ember snorted again, pawing at the ground. Her flames danced higher, casting long shadows on the training floor. The excitement in her was tangible, she knew something important was coming.

Albedo stepped into stance and immediately activated Infernal Mode, the space around him distorting rapidly as bursts of crimson heat flared around his hands.

“Let’s see how far we can push before dawn.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep