The girl seemed to recognize that Leon was an ordinary person based on his clothing.

Leon, sensing that this situation might become tiresome, sighed inwardly and spoke.

"Hello, I’m Leon, and I work at the old magic library."

Despite his polite tone, her expression didn’t soften.

"And who are you, making a commotion here? If you’re not looking to get yourself killed, an ordinary person wouldn’t dare make noise in a place where magicians are."

The commotion started when she arrived, but Leon decided against explaining further as her expression made it clear she viewed him with disdain.

He knew that most magicians were steeped in magical superiority.

"Enough."

Her rant stopped when Leah’s cold voice cut through the air.

"If you don’t disappear from my sight right now, prepare yourself for our next duel."

The red-haired girl hesitated for a moment before crossing her arms and scoffing.

"Do you think I’ll be scared just because you say so? You got lucky last time, and now you’re acting all high and mighty?"

"Let’s go," Leon said, grabbing Leah’s arm and turning away.

He felt there was no point in continuing the interaction.

The girl didn’t follow them.

He could hear her muttering something about arrogance and insignificance, but Leon tuned it out.

Once they had put some distance between themselves and the girl, Leon asked.

"Who is she?"

"Her name’s Rowan. She’s got six elemental affinities and was getting a lot of attention before I arrived. She always comes to me saying things like she won’t lose to me and that she acknowledges me as a rival."

Six elemental affinities were indeed an extraordinary talent. Having all the elements except light and darkness meant she was exceptionally gifted.

Leon could now understand why she acted that way.

Before Leah arrived, she was probably the center of attention, and now, everyone who once admired her had shifted their focus to Leah, likely breeding a sense of inferiority in her.

Not that it justified her behavior.

The spatial pocket Leah had given Leon turned out to be incredibly useful.

Now, instead of constantly worrying about hiding his magic books and the Space-Time Orb in places where no one could find them, he could simply store them in the spatial pocket, which brought him great peace of mind.

After getting used to running errands for Arpina, Leon found the work to be fairly easy.

His job involved borrowing books and returning them, leaving him with plenty of free time.

During that time, Leon would sit in front of Arpina’s research room, reading magic books and practicing small-scale magic manifestation.

Since her research room occupied an entire floor, there were no people passing by. And since Arpina had already discovered his secret, there was no need to hide it.

Overall, these were good days, and Leon was able to make progress on his quests.

The only thing that occasionally troubled Leon was running into Rowan whenever he went to the magic tower.

Even today, for the fifth time since the first day, he encountered her.

Unfortunately, it was his last day at work, and running into her in the morning was an ominous start.

"An ordinary person like you, assisting Arpina’s research…."

"Then why don’t you apply for the position?" Leon replied indifferently.

Her face turned red with anger at his response.

"Do you think we’re friends just because we’ve run into each other a few times?"

Leon calmly watched as she fumed.

He had already figured out that despite her harsh words, she never caused any real trouble in the tower.

"Don’t follow me. It’s annoying."

"Who’s following who!"

Leon waved her off and headed up to the floor where Arpina’s research room was located.

Rowan’s parting words of "Just you wait!" barely registered with Leon as he climbed the stairs.

Upon reaching the research room, Leon noticed that the books from yesterday hadn’t been thrown out, meaning Arpina hadn’t finished reading them yet.

Leon sat down and pulled out a magic book from his spatial pocket.

The spell he was currently practicing was ‘Mana Concealment Magic.’

After what happened with Arpina, Leon had spent all his savings to borrow a magic book from the old magic library that taught a spell to conceal his level of power.

It was easy to see why this magic book had ended up in the old library.

First, the spell’s concealment effect was useless for a 1st Rank magician.

It only worked for 2nd Rank magicians, and even then, it merely disguised them as 1st Rank, not as an ordinary person.

Moreover, because the concealment spell needed to be memorized constantly, it would take up valuable memory space for magicians like apprentices who relied heavily on memorization.

Unless one was in a unique situation like Leon, there was no need to learn this spell.

Leon would have preferred a better method, but this was the only solution available to him at the moment.

He considered it preparation for when he reached 2nd Rank, where hiding his level would be crucial. For now, as long as no one took a special interest in him, like Arpina had, he had little to worry about at 1st Rank.

As Leon focused on reading the book, he suddenly felt someone’s presence and looked up.

Arpina was standing in front of her research room, staring at him.

"Oh, do you need something?" Leon asked.

"No, I was just going to tell you that you can return the books and go home now."

She crossed her arms and tapped her cheek with her finger before speaking again.

"Do you really think you’ll get anywhere by just reading magic books on your own like that?"

She muttered to herself, then continued.

"With a tri-elemental affinity, you’ve got some talent, haven’t you? Why aren’t you considering getting proper training?"

"…I don’t want to reveal myself yet."

"You’re a funny one. I’ve already caught you, haven’t I?"

Leon immediately stood up and bowed.

"Please keep it a secret."

"…Do you think bowing so suddenly like that makes me believe you’re serious?"

Leon straightened up and spoke earnestly.

"I’m serious about wanting you to keep it a secret. If you do, you’ll have a powerful ally in the future."

Her previously amused expression turned sharp.

"You’d better take back those words. Don’t drag Leah into this for your own gain."

Leon’s expression turned blank as he failed to understand her words at first.

Then it dawned on him that she had misunderstood his comment about a "powerful ally" as a reference to Leah.

"No… I meant that I would be the powerful ally."

There was a moment of silence before Arpina burst into laughter.

"Pfft!"

She laughed for quite a while without stopping.

Was it really that funny?

Leon’s expression turned sour.

"You, my powerful ally? Heh… Haha!"

"Hey, I—"

"What? Go on."

"Never mind."

She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

"That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all year."

"I guess you think I’m boasting."

"Do you even know what kind of magician I am?"

Leon’s words hadn’t been intended to flatter her.

They were based on his confidence in becoming powerful in the future.

So, it didn’t matter to him what kind of magician she was.

Leon shook his head calmly and replied.

"Someday, you’ll need my help."

"…Is that so?"

She seemed to ponder for a moment before chuckling again and speaking.

"Alright, this is amusing. Come inside."

She invited Leon into her research room.

She approached a bookshelf packed with books and snapped her fingers, causing one book to float out.

The book hovered in the air and drifted toward Leon.

"Take it. It’s for you."

Leon quickly caught the falling book and examined its cover.

"Arpina’s Basic Four Elemental Magic."

"To be precise, it’s for you, who might be useful later."

Listening to her slightly amused voice, Leon gripped the book tightly.

Despite her casual demeanor, he could tell this magic book was precious.

"You know this doesn’t mean I’m taking you on as a disciple, right?"

"I understand. But thank you."

"I don’t know who your master is, but if you’re stuck reading trash magic books on your own, it’s probably someone unimpressive. They might be pretty offended."

Her smirk suggested she was mocking whoever Leon’s master might be.

But it didn’t matter to Leon, who had no master.

After finishing his work, Leon didn’t head straight to the dormitory but instead went to the merit point exchange center.

Arpina had given him an additional 50 merit points as a reward for his efforts.

He wondered if it was appropriate for her to be so generous with merit points based on her mood, but that wasn’t his concern.

Now he had a total of 120 merit points.

Enough to secure a private room with 20 points to spare.

He applied for a private room at the exchange center and then returned to the dormitory.

"Humming~"

In truth, Leon did have a purpose when he hinted at being a potential ally to Arpina.

He hadn’t expected to receive one of her personal magic books; he had just wanted to ask her a few questions.

Although he had easily memorized the basic magic for water, wind, and earth, he was struggling with how to harmonize these three elements in practice.

He hadn’t expected things to turn out this way.

Back at the dormitory, Leon immediately opened the book Arpina had given him.

"Arpina’s Basic Four Elemental Magic."

Even though the magic didn’t have a formal name, the fact that it carried the "Arpina" designation indicated it was a unique spell she had personally developed.

According to what Leah had told him, Arpina was a Mystical-Level magician.

In the hierarchy of magicians, which ranged from Apprentice, Arcane, Mystical, Insightful, to Transcendent, she was an advanced magician nearing the peak of the Mystical level.

The four-element magic she had created encompassed fire, water, wind, and earth.

Since it covered all four elements, it included basic magic for each of them.

While Leon didn’t possess the fire element, the rest matched his affinities perfectly.

This book provided him with the solution he had been searching for on how to harmonize different elements.

Arpina’s magic—no, the distinctive feature of the Widia school of magic—was "harmony."

It made sense that a unique magic developed by a high-level magician from the Widia school would focus on harmony.

Leon spent the entire day engrossed in the book.

A week later, after securing his private room, Leon began serious training.

And so, six months passed.