Approaching Richard, Leon decided to question his own strength later and looked at the two corpses before him.

"Hm. You did a good job, Richard."

He said, patting the bespectacled guy’s shoulder. Although he was curious to know whether the glasses were for his eyesight or merely a fashion choice, he didn’t bother asking.

It was too irrelevant, after all.

Still, he was impressed by the young man’s performance. Although this mutated rat couldn’t compare with the mutated wolf he had faced with Selene back in Manhattan, it was still a strong beast.

’Although he might not be able to replicate that strategy against other beasts, it was still an effective one.’

Curious, he asked. "Are you Level 25 now?"

After all, killing an enemy ten levels stronger would definitely be rewarded greatly.

Sheepishly, Richard scratched the back of his head and answered, "Uh, no. I shared the bonus with these two."

He pointed at the two tamed beasts and continued.

"Although Little West didn’t level up, it’s surely closer to becoming a Tier One beast. As for Little East, it’s already Level 24 just like me."

Leon was surprised by the situation, but then nodded in understanding.

Richard’s ability was beast taming, after all. It surely gave him some perks rather than simply taming beasts.

Nodding, Leon punched the skull of the rat. With a wet crack, it split open, and he easily pulled out the soul crystal from its flesh.

’Good.’

He looked around where the head of the mutated snake had splattered, immediately spotting the soul crystal covered in blood.

’Two Soul Crystals acquired. This is really pleasing.’

A smile appeared on his face, and he prepared to reap his next rewards. Before that, however, someone had to go.

"Richard, I’ll need you to excuse me for a few minutes. I’ll call you in once I’m done."

The brown-haired guy nodded and turned to leave the warehouse with his tamed beasts. Once Leon confirmed that they were gone, he crouched by the mutated rat corpse and one of his traits activated immediately.

— Ability: Flame Skin. Extract?

Leon nodded, and his right hand turned gold. Without hesitation, he reached into the creature’s body and tugged at a red mist floating alone in it.

When he pulled it out, it naturally transformed into an ability scroll which he soon read the description.

[Ability: Tier One Flame Skin - Covers the whole body in a layer of potent flames that burns anything at the cost of 2 Mana points per second. Cannot be used while wearing any clothing]

Reading the last line of the description, Leon realized it was quite a useless ability. A powerful Tier One ability, but still useless.

’Even Ghostrider and Human Torch had it better.’

Who would go into battle completely naked, just to use this ability? Perhaps, this was why it was more suited for mutated beasts. After all, it belonged to a mutated beast before he... stole it.

’By the Star Stream... I’m a thief?!’

Chuckling to his own humor, he picked up the other two rewards that had been dropped by the Star Stream itself—not stolen from a corpse.

’Technically, it’s the same. But, welps.’

He shrugged casually, tossing everything into his storage ring.

’This ring is really comfortable!’

With excited steps, he approached the headless corpse of the enormous black snake, and his [Eyes of Discernment] trait activated.

— Ability: Cloaking. Extract?

Intrigued by the name, Leon nodded and immediately extracted the ability. He held the scroll in his hand, then read the description.

[Ability: Tier One Cloaking - Makes the user’s presence completely unnoticeable unless special attention is focused on the range of the user. Maintenance cost upon activation is 5 Mana points per minute]

’Oh? This is very useful!’

Thankfully, unlike the rat’s ability, this one he had gotten was better. At least he could use it. However, there was still a recurring problem. His soul couldn’t handle any other ability at this point.

’Meh, I’ll keep it for now.’

Throwing it into his storage ring, he looked at the only reward dropped by the Star Stream.

It was a treasure cube, and Leon had a feeling that it was going to be a good one. Still, that was for him to check later. Picking it up, he tossed it into his storage ring and was about to call Richard in.

However, he paused and called in a low voice, "Thyra?"

There was no answer for a few seconds, then he inhaled the familiar rosy scent that was characteristic to one woman.

"Yes?"

Although she answered, her voice sounded strangely distracted. Leon turned to her and realized she was looking at him with a strange expression.

"Is something wrong with my face?" He asked, feeling weird.

Had blood splashed on his face, making him look sinister?

"No, it’s... nothing. I want to ask you something," She said, her voice calm yet serious.

"Go on," He answered.

"You... how many strength points do you have?"

Hearing her question, Leon’s eyes lit up. This was exactly what had been puzzling him. It seemed Thyra was stunned by his display of strength too.

"I have 159 Strength points. But just to be sure, let me check," He paused, staring blankly for a few seconds. Then, he continued. "Yeah. Definitely 159."

Thyra sighed, a complicated expression on her face.

"Is something wrong with... my strength? Too high? Too low?" He asked, feeling uneasy by the prolonged silence.

"Let me explain something to you, Leon," She started, her eyes solemn. "For a peak Level 25 being, the standard strength points is 100. For a Level 50 being, it’s 200. For a Level 75 being, it’s 300. Do you get what I’m saying?"

Leon nodded, his expression serious.

"For every tier, the strength stat increases by 100, right?"

"Right," Thyra nodded. "Then, do you think your 159 strength points is considered normal?"

Leon couldn’t reply, because he already knew the answer. Earlier, Thyra had stressed that only ’peak’ Level 25 beings could have a hundred strength points. This meant that not every Level 25 being had up to a hundred strength points.

’I, on the other hand, am already approaching the Strength stat of a Tier Two being.’

He was not yet Tier One, yet his strength no longer was.