The situation from the previous fight slowly subsided. The group recollected themselves while the others who weren't hurt went to guard their surroundings, afraid that monsters might just pop up like the Errata Beast.
There was a bit of a situation, however.
The librarians surrounded Caelix, trying to calm her down. Her ability, which the librarians called Lawfire, was going out of control.
When the Errata Beast used its ability, the librarians saw Caelix 'snapping' and used Lawfire to eradicate the beast instantly.
"It's our first time seeing it as well."
One of the librarians who was talking with Leonhart added.
'It's your first time seeing it, but you guys knew what her ability is called. Isn't that something?' Leonhart thought inwardly as he raised a brow while looking at the librarians.
But first things first, they needed to put Caelix back to normal. If she broke down now, the journey of clearing out the middle part of the library is going to be halted.
'What happened there exactly?'
Leonhart was almost sure he was about to die there and was expecting to return on time, only for Caelix to pull a sure kill move that caught the beast by her hands and killed it.
Still, her reactions are what made Leonhart question her capabilities.
'She cried when she struck the beast on her hands as if regretting it. Is she always like this? How come she's grieving over a beast's death?'
Leonhart had many questions inside his head regarding the situation with Caelix, but kept it only to himself for a while.
He had to do a review of what happened in the earlier fight.
Leonhart did nothing at all to help.
Due to how powerless he has been when confronting an enemy, the only thing he relied on was his ability to slip back in time and do a quick defensive formation that only works since Caelix was there to do the job of killing.
If not for it, he would've probably died there when the Errata Beast caught him with its tail.
It was only one guardian. Even though the fight might've happened so fast, everyone at that time knew the fight that transpired was so high-level that some turned into an audience due to how intense it was.
Even Aldi, the best fighter from Leonhart's group, didn't do anything.
'I have to do something about myself as well. For that, I have to adjust my thinking and think creatively from this moment on.'
Since they were still resting, Leonhart decided to do a self-reflection.
Leonhart looked at the holographic screen.
There, he saw that the items he was wearing, such as the [Borrower's Loop] and [Galefoot Moccasins] and the weapon [Dull Knife], are right below his status window, which is categorized as Loadout.
That's not something he has his focus on. Instead, it was one of its abilities that he recently discovered it called Time Exchange.
'My mother assumed that this ability is a time slipping towards the past where one had to exchange part of memory equivalent to the time where one would return in time.'
However, that was previously the deduction until the description of the ability came into view.
[A shard of long-lost time. A power that obeys equivalent exchange. A year demands a year, a breath demands a breath. Only owned time may be offered. Only time may be received.]
'An exchange…'
Leonhart thought about his ability once he discovered it was time exchange, but it was only this moment that he had to focus on as part of his reflection.
The ability to slip back in time after death is probably just one of its uses and does not entirely rely on it.
It would've been called on a different name with a different description by the system if his ability only comes from it.
'But how do I do it? It's not like I have someone to teach me. Also, it's just recently that I decided to use this ability openly. It was only this time that I thought about it, knowing every ability that can be used here will be a great help.'
There was no use of dwelling about it. Thus, Leonhart began practicing his ability.
'In exchange for one second, give me the ability called Lawfire.'
Leonhart wasn't expecting anything at the exchange, knowing a trade like that would be unfair and busted.
Just as he suspected, Leonhart didn't receive the Lawfire ability that Caelix had. However, what seemed to be a reply appeared on his front.
[The exchange is unable to come through. The equivalent time is insufficient.]
[5 years' worth of memory is needed]
Leonhart's eyes opened widely.
He had already expected that the exchange would not come through.
Yet he didn't expect that it was because something unreal as that shouldn't be impossible.
He decided to try using bartering at Aldi's Inferno's Veil.
[The exchange is unable to come through. The equivalent time is insufficient.]
[2 years' worth of memory is needed.]
'Impossible…'
It was too good to be true.
Leonhart could get abilities by only exchanging them with the needed equivalent memory. However, he is still not very convinced.
That's why he thought again about Time Exchange's capability and tried experimenting it once again.
'In exchange for one second of my memory, give me a low level fireball ability, something that can't even hurt a tiny bug.'
The exchange pulled through as no warnings came from the system that the needed memory was insufficient.
Leonhart continued looking at his status window, and a creepy smile formed on his lips.
Both Time Exchange and Record were still there, but another ability was added below.
'I knew something was wrong where I can 'receive' an ability from the time exchange. No wonder something doesn't add right.'
[Lowest Level Fireball(Temporary)
Description: Created by Leonhart Porter. The lowest and most harmless fireball developed. Shoots out fireballs for one second.]
With that information laid out on his front, Leonhart managed to pull off another breakthrough, with limitless possibilities running through his head.