[It would look like you thought more about this than I expected,] Luxia said, sounding quite satisfied with Leo’s answers.

“Not really, considering my situation and my ‘deep knowledge’, it’s not difficult to guess some of the options I have,” Leo said, chuckling lightly, “Instead, it would have been weird if I was completely clueless.” 

As an earthling, he has many seniors who walked the path of reincarnation before him. Each of those had plenty of exciting adventures, threaded a great variety of paths, made many mistakes, and reached incredible heights. The life of each of those seniors was a treasure trove of knowledge and he was able to study plenty of materials depicting the life of those seniors. 

Simply put, he read plenty of novels and watched plenty of anime about reincarnation and co while he was still on Earth. Thus, now that he was on the other side too, it would be all too easy for him to use the experience of those ‘predecessors’ to have a general idea of what he could do to thrive in those foreign lands.

“Anyway, what matters is focusing on what I need and planning things so that everything can be as smooth as possible. I mean, it isn’t just about choosing a path and blindly following it like some inflexible fool,” he said calmly.

[I get it. But there should be a way of doing things that is more to your liking, right?]

“The lone wolf path seems more suitable for someone in my circumstances,” he said after a short pondering, “Though, the idea of building a force of my own seems more interesting and exciting.” He added.

[Oh, why would you think the loner path is more suitable?]

“Because I have a system,” he said as if it was a matter-of-fact.

[This is unexpected. What is the link between having a system and being a lone wolf?] Luxia asked curiously. She was unable to understand why Leo would make such a connection between those two things. 

“You se...” Leo started and was about to explain his reasoning when he noticed that Sheila woke up.

“Ugh, what happened? Where am I?” a confused Sheila asked as she woke up. Her enchanting voice sounded weak, and confusion was written all over her pretty face.

‘Oh, she finally woke up,’ Leo mumbled as he stopped talking with Luxia and turned to look at the purple-scaled lamia who woke up and was trying to regain her bearing. 

“I knew it, I shouldn’t have trusted that bitch,” Sheila cursed as, after a few seconds, she successfully gathered her thoughts and remembered what happened, “Fortunately, she did nothing to me,” she sounded relieved as she noticed that beside knocking her out, Celia did nothing to harm her.

“Why did she attack me then? And where is she?” she mumbled as she calmed down and her beautiful amber eyes warily scanned the room they were in and looked at its other occupants.

“That girl is here too,” she said as she looked at the black-haired beauty peacefully sleeping beside her. “How carefree. If I am not wrong, she should be one of the adventurers Leo and Celia fought. Wonder why they spared her,” she asked as she stared at Leila for a few seconds before turning away and continuing to scan the room. 

“Ah!” Sheila let out a startled cry as she noticed the little cat silently staring at her. Her body subconsciously shuddered as her eyes peered into its pitch-black eyes. For a short moment, it felt like she wasn’t looking at a mere house cat but at a huge and terrifying monster.

‘That cat is weird. Why didn’t I notice it until now? Also, why do I feel like I know it?’ she thought as she hurriedly stopped looking into the cat’s eyes, ‘Could it be Leo?’ She randomly thought. She couldn’t think of any other beasts that could give her such a feeling. It would be too weird if there was. 

Besides, her instincts were telling her that it was indeed him and as a seer’s daughter, she knew that her instincts were more often right than wrong. Still, this time, she couldn’t help but doubt herself for the first time. After all, Leo was a huge and terrifying monster while this cat looked nothing like that.

“Leo?” she asked, perplexed. Anyways, it cost her nothing to try. 

“Oh, you could actually recognize me?” Leo, who had said nothing until now, asked curiously.

 ‘Could it be that this ability is a sham?’ He pondered, a little disappointed. Not only was he unable to use his full power after reverting to his earlier form but now it would seem that he would have to give up on his plans of having multiple personas. 

Despite never seeing this form of his, Sheila was still able to guess his identity after a single glance. Either it was that his ability was shit or Sheila was another sensory freak. 

‘It would be better if it was the latter,’ he thought.

“Seriously, is it really you? How could you? Your presence, your power… everything feels completely different. As if you were someone else,” Sheila said, a shocked expression replacing her perplexed one. Even though she had full confidence in her instincts, it was still a bit hard for her to believe that it was Leo. 

‘What is he exactly?’ she couldn’t help but ask herself. 

“Oh, were you just trying your luck then?” Leo asked, a little surprised by her reaction.

“Sort of,” Sheila said, “My instincts are rather good. Even though you looked completely different and somehow weaker, I could still feel the great amount of power you have. I just thought it had to be you,” she explained.

“Wow, you really are impressive then,” Leo said, genuinely impressed by the efficiency of Sheila’s instincts.

‘There is no lack of talented people in this world,’ he thought as he was once again reminded that even though he had the system, there was no lack of people who would still be able to contend against him. it was nothing strange considering that there were probably trillions of humans populating this world.   

“Hehe, not really,” she nodded with a slightly embarrassed expression. 

“Can I know how you did it?” she then asked.

“Oh, curious, are we?” Leo replied with a chuckle.

“Yes,” Sheila nodded eagerly, “It is the first time I’ve seen such a thing. I heard about shapeshifters. But, even if you were a shifter, you shouldn’t have been able to alter your body shape so much, let alone change your aura to the point where it is unrecognizable….” she started and went on a rant on her own while looking at Leo with glittering eyes and an expression filled with unmasked desire. 

Not the kind of desire you would expect from a girl like her, it was more like the one you would expect from a mad scientist. That unmasked thirst for knowledge and sometimes power.

It would seem that the questions surrounding Leo triggered a hidden side of her. At that moment, it looked like she wanted nothing but to cut him open and unravel all of them. 

As he saw Sheila’s thirsty and slightly crazy gaze, Leo felt a chill run down his spine. He at once understood that things could get dire if he let her continue like this, “Cough, cough. Calm down, alright? I can’t answer you as I don’t know how it works. It is an innate ability.”

“Sorry, I got too excited.” Embarrassed, Sheila blushed lightly and hastened to apologize to Leo.

Amused by the girl's unexpected bashfulness, Leo smiled lightly and reassured her, “Don’t worry, I don’t mind it. I guess I would be curious too if I were in your place. It is just that your passion was a little overwhelming.” 

“Curiosity killed the cat though,” Sheila said with a smile.

“Hehe, I am a tough cat,” Leo said, rolling his eyes at her bad attempt at a joke. 

“Anyways, enough talk about me. How are you feeling?” Leo asked.

“Uh!” Sheila muttered, momentarily unable to understand what Leo meant. 

“Oh, that! I guess I am alright,” she said as she subconsciously rubbed her nape.

“It is good that you weren’t hurt too much. I have a little favor to ask you then,” Leo said.

“What kind of favor?” Sheila said, a little curious about the kind of favor Leo could want from her. 

“I hope you won’t hold what happened against Celia,” Leo asked, trying to mediate the situation.

“Are you going to side with her?” Sheila asked with a frown.

“I am not taking anyone's side. You just need to know that she never meant to harm you. Some things happened in the heat of the moment, and I am sure she regrets what she did,” he explained.

“I already knew that, if she really wanted to hurt me, I wouldn’t be in one piece right now. Even if you didn’t say anything, I didn’t plan to hold a grudge against her for that,” Sheila said with a smile.

‘Eh, look like I was worrying too much,’ he thought.

“Thank you then. If there is nothing else, I am going to rest a bit,” Leo said.

“Well, there is something I wanted to ask. You still owe me a favor, right?” Sheila asked with a shrewd smile on her face.

“Yes,” Leo suddenly had a bad feeling, ‘I hope she won’t ask anything outrageous,’ he thought.

“Good. Then, I hope you will really think about what I asked you earlier,” she said with a serious expression.

“Are you sure that is what you want?” Leo asked, surprised by Sheila's dedication to her own.

“Yes, I know that in your eyes we may be too weak. But I promise we can be useful,” Sheila said confidently.

“Alright, I will think about it.”

“Thank you, and don’t worry even if you don’t agree, I will still forgive Celia,” she said, “Anyways, I am going to beat her up once I get stronger,” she added cheekily.

“That’s not what I call not holding a grudge,” Leo retorted with a bitter smile.

“Hehe, we won’t become enemies over this, but I am still going to beat her up. Where is she?” 

“She should be in the kitchen, the second door on your left.”

“Thank you, rest well,” she said and speeded off toward the kitchen.