The Next Day

Leon met with the supervisor on the mountainside where the herbs were cultivated. Contrary to Leon’s expectation of encountering a strict person, the supervisor turned out to be a kind-faced middle-aged man.

“I don't trust this,” Leon thought, as the image of Porun’s face briefly flashed in his mind.

“You claim to know how to make F-rank elixirs?” asked the man, who introduced himself as Walter, with a gentle smile.

“Yes, I learned it from Porun,” Leon replied confidently.

“Hm… Did he really know about elixirs?” Walter pondered, scratching his head. “I do recall him coming here to gather herbs a few times.”

Leon, trying to hide his doubts, noticed that Walter chuckled softly, as if sensing Leon’s uncertainty.

“I mostly manage Zones 2 and 3, so I’m not too familiar with the details here,” Walter explained.

“I see,” Leon responded, keeping his thoughts to himself.

“Well, it's good that I can trust you,” Walter said as he handed Leon a blank piece of paper across the desk.

“Write down the herbs and methods required to make an F-rank elixir. Although, truth be told, in Zone 1 where you'll be working, extensive knowledge of elixirs isn’t really necessary. Just follow my instructions, and you’ll be fine.”

Leon didn’t immediately pick up the quill. Instead, he waited, sensing that Walter had more to say.

“But a smart kid like you shows potential,” Walter added with a knowing smile.

“What kind of...?” Leon began, but Walter just chuckled again.

Without pressing further, Leon picked up the quill and began writing down his knowledge of herbs. Everything he wrote was based on the elixir recipes he had obtained as rewards.

When Leon handed over the paper, Walter’s smile widened.

“Do you think you can handle this job?” Walter asked.

“Should I take that to mean you’ll entrust me with more significant responsibilities if I do well?” Leon replied, catching on quickly.

“Exactly,” Walter confirmed.

And so, Leon began his work on the herb mountain.

Leon’s duties on the herb mountain fell into three main categories.

First, he had to patrol the mountain regularly. Since the herbs were cultivated naturally on the vast mountain, his patrol involved pulling out any weeds he spotted and spreading fertilizer when needed.

Second, he was responsible for replacing the mana stones. To ensure that mana flowed throughout the mountain and nourished the herbs used for elixirs, artificially created mana stones were placed in specific areas and needed periodic replacement.

Third, and most obviously, he had to harvest the herbs. On his first day, Walter personally took Leon around the mountain to teach him how to properly extract the herbs, ensuring the roots remained intact.

Walter’s skilled and careful harvesting methods clearly showed his expertise, and Leon made sure to learn as much as he could, recognizing that this knowledge would be invaluable in the future.

“You’re quick to learn for someone so young,” Walter remarked.

For some reason, Walter seemed to have taken a liking to Leon, but after that first day, Leon rarely saw him. Besides teaching Leon how to harvest herbs, Walter had left him with a book on herbology and then disappeared, focusing on other zones far from Leon's area of responsibility.

Zone 1, where Leon worked, mostly contained low-grade herbs. While all the herbs needed for F-rank elixirs were available, one herb necessary for E-rank elixirs was missing. It appeared to be located in Zone 2.

Even so, Leon had access to most of the herbs he needed.

At this point, Leon faced a dilemma.

“Should I just take the herbs from the mountain?”

That didn’t seem right. Aside from the moral implications, the quantity of harvested herbs was closely monitored. Stealing herbs would quickly get him caught. As he grew more confident in his harvesting skills, this dilemma weighed more heavily on his mind.

Then, a brilliant idea struck him.

“What if I took the herbs that were going to be discarded?”

Herbs that couldn’t be used for elixirs were usually thrown away. There were various reasons for this: the quality might not meet expectations, the roots might have been damaged during extraction, or the natural growth conditions on the mountain might have altered their properties.

These herbs were usually gathered during harvest time, either burned or handed over to other magicians for research if requested.

“If I take a few of those, who would notice?”

It made sense—herbs grown for elixirs but rendered useless had no other value. The only question was whether these defective herbs could grow normally if replanted.

“I’ll have to trust in the Space-Time Orb.”

Leon began quietly taking some of the discarded herbs and planting them in the orb’s space. The herb garden inside the orb was steadily growing.

At first, Leon had only a small plot next to his training area. But as the herbs began to take root and thrive, he needed to clear a much larger space.

Clearing the trees, pulling up their stumps, and leveling the ground wasn’t easy work.

So, Leon tasked Kito with the job.

By this time, Kito had spent over a month in the orb, which, for him, felt like five years. While he still couldn’t fly, he was able to move around.

“If you’ve got nothing else to do, why don’t you clear out some trees?” Leon suggested.

“No… I like it here… I’m going to sleep...” Kito muttered.

“Want to leave?” Leon asked pointedly.

“Sorry, I’ll do it…” Kito quickly agreed, aware that, due to their contract, leaving wasn’t really an option. He had grown quite fond of the place.

Every time Leon entered the orb to train, Kito could be found lazing around, asleep.

And so, Kito took care of the tree felling, and Leon began a large-scale expansion of his herb garden. To his satisfaction, the herbs quickly recovered from their defects and started growing rapidly.

Leon organized the garden by dividing it into different zones. He planted root herbs with plenty of space to absorb nutrients from the soil, while herbs used for their leaves were planted closer together. Mosses were cultivated under the shade of trees in a separate area.

Although he had only transplanted six types of herbs so far, making the expanded area seem a bit empty, Leon thought it was better to be meticulous from the beginning, considering the future.

“At least I don’t have to worry about water supply,” Leon mused.

The weather inside the orb was always bright and clear, regardless of the season. At first, Leon had worried that this might cause some issues, but it turned out to be an unfounded concern.

The herbs grew steadily without needing water.

“Mana must be the most important factor, since these are herbs for elixirs.”

Leon was slowly learning more about the space within the orb and the herbs he was cultivating.

The time Leon spent creating this environment was, of course, for the sake of his training.

Above all else, training was the most important thing.

Leon had learned this lesson painfully through his battle with Porun.

One never knew when they might be attacked!

What he needed was even greater strength.

After the battle with the old man, Leon had changed his quest reward focus to attribute constitution.

The artifact he had received as a reward had been extremely useful in the battle, but in the end, it was Leon’s own power that was most important.

After all, during the fight, he had needed to throw dozens of one-time-use artifacts to affect an opponent who was only one rank higher than him.

Increasing his rank and honing his innate power would allow him to handle dangerous situations with more confidence.

Normally, Leon would have chosen a magic book as a reward to gain new insights or an elixir to prepare for his advancement to the third rank.

However, after receiving Arpina’s magic book, he no longer felt the need for more books, and he had already gathered all the herbs needed for an F-rank elixir, so he wasn’t in a hurry.

“This time, I’ll aim for a six-attribute constitution.”

The six-attribute constitution encompassed fire, water, wind, earth, wood, and electricity.

It wasn’t as rare as the talents of light or darkness, but it was still considered exceptional—one step below those rare attributes.

It was the same talent that Rowen possessed.

Three more months passed as Leon continued to balance his herb management duties with his training.

Sitting cross-legged in his private room, Leon let out a deep sigh.

“It’s about time I got something good.”

Since he started his quest training, he had received nearly 300 rewards. He had diligently trained for at least 10 hours every day, ensuring he received at least one reward daily.

Yet in all that time, he hadn’t seen anything above a B-grade reward, let alone an S-grade.

“They said the odds were supposed to be better.”

Even in a money-hungry gacha game, you’d expect to get something good eventually.

“Ugh…”

Leon sighed, not sure who he was complaining to as he called up his Growth Assistant.

• Regular Quest ▶ Basic Magic Training (Complete)

The day’s quest was complete.

Now that his training in the real world was done, he planned to check his reward and then immediately enter the orb to continue his training.

He still had 221 hours left to use the orb, having saved the 200 hours he had received as a reward for reaching the second rank.

Leon figured he might need those hours later, either in an emergency or when he reached the late stages of the second rank and was ready to push through to the third.

Without much expectation, Leon pressed “Complete.”

▶ ———————————

As always, the reward gacha began to spin.

The wheel slowly began to stop, and the reward details appeared.

▶ You have obtained the All-Attribute Constitution (Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Wood, Electricity, Light, Darkness). (Apply / Cancel)

“Wh-What?”

Leon rubbed his eyes and looked again.

He hadn’t seen it wrong.

A powerful sensation surged through him, as if he had been struck on the back of the head.

“I got it… I GOT IT!!!”