Absolute Beast Dominion

Chapter 477: Compensations

A/N: The missed Chapter

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Chapter 477: Compensations

"Who?!" Dale suddenly backed away a few steps when Aaron spoke Leo’s name.

But when he saw the person Aaron was addressing, he sighed in relief.

"Thought he was him," he muttered before steadying himself as Aaron introduced them.

"Leo, meet Dale. He is my friend whom I met after my father allowed us to interact and share valuable insights since we use similar elements." Aaron then turned towards Dale.

"Dale, meet Leo. He is a fellow student in my academy and is very strong."

Dale extended his hand for a handshake, which Leo accepted, slightly amused that Dale couldn’t recognize him.

"Hello, nice to meet you. I am Dale, and I am also the 7th-ranked student in Valencrest Royal Academy," Dale introduced himself with a friendly smile.

"Oh... I guess you didn’t lie about your name after all, unlike a certain fellow you think told you," Leo said.

"Huh?" Dale looked confused.

"Looks like the 3 Heartstones that I gave you did wonders. You look a lot stronger than the last time I met you. I bet you could take on that golem on your own now, the one that nearly left you at death’s door."

Dale’s friendly smile froze solid.

"S-s-sir Leo, it’s you?" Dale stuttered, trying to pull his hand away from the handshake, but Leo held it firmly in place.

How the fuck can somebody change so much?! Dale cried in his mind.

And he also grew taller! He shrieked internally. Previously, they were almost the same height; now Leo stood taller and was looking down at him.

"Yes, it’s me. Why are you perspiring so much? Were you caught cheating or something?"

"N-nothing, it’s just the aftermath of training with Aaron," Dale said, forcing his smile back onto his face.

"Is that so?"

"Hm? You both know each other?" Aaron asked.

Leo looked towards him, still not letting go of Dale’s hand.

"I am the generous man who was donating natural treasures to him, and guess what?"

"O-oh... what?" Aaron asked, slightly flustered because Leo’s mood didn’t look exactly healthy.

"Apparently, on top of being generous, I was even looted." Leo looked towards Dale.

"No? Dale? Say it yourself."

"I-I don’t know what..."

"7 Gold... no, wait, it was actually less. So, less than 7 gold coins for something like a Peak blue-tier natural treasure that could power a 10-meter-tall golem. If I wasn’t looted, then what was it?"

Aaron’s expression flattened as he turned towards Dale.

"You did what?"

Leo finally let go of Dale’s hand while Dale immediately raised both of his hands in surrender.

"I am really sorry about that! I thought the treasure’s potency had been drastically reduced after that white shield shattered, and I also didn’t know the exact rank of the Heartstones. I was simply unaware, and I had also given almost all of the money I possessed at that time." Dale hastily fiddled with his fingers before pulling out one of the many thin spatial rings he wore.

"Please take this. It has nearly 500 Gold coins inside. It covers the full price of those Peak blue-tier Heartstones, as well as extra compensation for your previous loss and a friendly token of apology." Dale offered the ring with a slight bow.

Leo raised a brow in interest.

It wasn’t that the Heartstones’ potency had not been reduced; it had been reduced because the energy had already been used to power the golem. But it seemed Dale had mistaken the white energy shield for the Heartstones’ ability. In reality, it was the work of the tree behemoth and some sort of skill that gave the golems a second lifeline. It also acted as an alert for the tree itself, after which it directly took control of the golems.

So, in actuality, each Peak blue-tier Heartstone with reduced energy would only sell for around 25 to 100 Gold coins, a major reduction from the 150 Gold coin value, since it was still a highly unprocessed material for direct consumption.

Meaning, Dale was effectively paying around 300 gold coins as compensation.

Obviously, Leo wasn’t going to refuse those 500 gold coins. That was a 1.25 million AC profit.

He took the spatial ring. The ring itself was worth around 20,000 AC with 2 cubic meters of space. Another profit.

Leo casually swiped the spatial ring into his spiritual space.

"Eh?" Aaron’s and Dale’s eyes immediately narrowed at that action.

"You... you have a Spiritu—" Before Dale could finish his sentence, Aaron clamped a hand over his mouth.

Aaron then turned towards Leo.

"Let’s go somewhere private," he said, glancing around at the curious gazes they were attracting from nearby students.

Both Dale and Aaron unsummoned their fighting beasts before the three of them headed towards a good restaurant to refresh themselves and talk.

It was there that Aaron finally asked the question lingering in his mind.

"You already formed your spiritual space?" he asked, his eyes wide with surprise.

"I did... but how did you figure it out?" Leo asked. He had been curious about how they could tell he had formed his spiritual space when he had done nothing to reveal it. He even wore several decoy spatial rings on his fingers so people wouldn’t suspect anything.

Wait...

Leo suddenly recalled a page he had read in the library and immediately understood his blunder.

Seeing his expression, Aaron realized Leo had figured it out as well.

Apparently, one spatial object couldn’t be stored inside another. More specifically, this restriction applied when the spatial object in question already contained items inside it.

But since Leo had made the spatial ring disappear directly from his hand, there were only two possibilities.

Either he had played some sort of trick, which he clearly wouldn’t.

Or he possessed a spiritual space capable of storing spatial objects that already contained items inside them.

After the confusion was sorted out, the three of them began chatting casually.

However, Aaron noticed that Dale looked borderline afraid of Leo, even going as far as calling him ’sir’.

Even if Leo was monstrously strong and at a particularly high level, he was still a fellow student from the same term. Not to mention, both Leo and Lily had already allowed them to address them by name, so Aaron couldn’t help but grow curious.

And so, he finally asked.

"Dale, relax a bit. Even if Leo is a monster in terms of strength, he isn’t going to eat you."