The item in Rowen's hand was a well-crafted ancient wooden staff.

"Didn't she used to use a staff with a red mana crystal embedded in it?"

Leon recognized the staff she usually carried, having seen her around the magic tower before. The ancient wooden staff looked completely out of place with the red-haired girl who had delicate features.

"..."

Neither of them spoke, and the silence between them grew. Eventually, her pupils began to waver, and she abruptly pointed her finger at Leon.

"You!"

"...?"

"What was that thing you gave me last time?"

"That candy?"

When Leon answered with what came to mind, she immediately jumped on the topic.

"It wasn't just candy. How did an ordinary person like you get something like that?"

Leon had no intention of revealing that he had received it as a quest reward.

"What are you trying to say? Do you want to thank me?"

"..."

Rowen pursed her lips and remained silent. While she hesitated, Aaron approached Leon.

"Who is this?"

"Uh... someone who won a duel against a rival in a personal disciple match?"

"Who said she was a rival?"

Rowen quickly corrected him, her lips twitching slightly as if to hide a smile.

'She's really easy to read...'

It seemed she had recovered well from the frustration she experienced last time.

Leon turned back to Rowen and asked, "So, why did you come?"

"Well, I heard you became a general disciple... Even though you don't have much talent, you're still trying hard to become a mage, right? As a senior mage, I could give you some advice or guidance..."

"So, you came to congratulate me?"

"..."

She fell silent again. It seemed she only answered what she wanted to say.

Leon tried to piece together why Rowen had come. If he interpreted her silence as agreement, it made sense.

"Thanks. I'll take it as a way of repaying me for cheering you on last time."

"Hmm... here, take this."

Rowen handed Leon the ancient wooden staff she was holding. Leon tilted his head in confusion and pointed at himself.

"You're giving this to me?"

"Yes, a mage should have a staff, right? Of course, you can't use magic properly yet, but you can train hard so that you can use this valuable staff in the future."

Leon accepted the staff with a puzzled expression. He knew that staves weren’t cheap.

"You're giving me something this expensive as a congratulatory gift?"

"Well, you might not know, but have you ever heard of the name Mardelia?"

When Leon shook his head, Rowen lifted her chin proudly.

"If you don't know, there's no need for me to explain further. Just know that I can buy staves like this as easily as having a meal."

She returned her chin to its original position and began to explain the staff to Leon.

"Even though it looks plain, it includes both magical assistance and amplification effects. Do you know the difference between a wand and a staff?"

Once again, Leon shook his head. He had been so absorbed in his training that he was ignorant of such basic knowledge. It was no wonder he had only recently learned common magic after becoming a 3rd rank apprentice mage.

"A wand mainly assists magic, while a staff primarily amplifies it. But this ancient wooden staff does both."

Rowen looked at Leon as if expecting a reaction. She seemed eager to see his response.

Leon forced a smile to his lips. He had never thought about owning a staff, but he appreciated the gesture despite the pressure it added.

"Wow, thank you so much. I never thought I'd receive such a gift."

"That's gross. Don't make that face again."

"..."

"Hmph... ahem."

She quickly corrected her expression, hiding a small laugh.

"Well, I'll be going now. Keep up the hard work."

Rowen turned and left, her intention seemingly just to deliver the gift. Leon watched her retreating figure with a mix of gratitude and confusion.

Aaron cautiously approached Leon and asked, "How do you know her? To receive such a valuable artifact..."

He trailed off, staring intently at the staff.

"She's a personal disciple of another mage."

"Oh..."

Aaron spoke in admiration, but his eyes didn't reflect any real surprise. When he met Leon's gaze, he quickly masked his expression.

"I'm jealous... Having connections with a personal disciple must mean you'll get some benefits too."

"..."

It was hard to deny, considering Leon had just received the staff right in front of him.

Leon, not interested in continuing the conversation with Aaron, was about to end it when Peter came rushing in again.

"Leon, someone else is here to see you."

The person who entered this time was Leah.

"Wow, you..."

Aaron quickly turned to look at Leon. His eyes were filled with curiosity, but Leon didn't want to delve into what it meant. This time, the genuine sentiment behind Aaron's gaze made Leon feel even more uneasy.

Leon decided to ignore Aaron's gaze and led Leah outside the building.

"Leon."

It was only when he heard Leah’s calm voice that Leon realized it had been quite a while since he last saw her. The last time was the day of her duel with Rowen.

Recalling that day, Leon’s face grew a bit awkward.

"Uh, uh... It’s been a while, right?"

He remembered how he had left the dueling ground hurriedly, unable to properly congratulate her after the match.

'No, I didn’t run away. To be precise, the other mages took Leah away.'

Seeing Leah's calm expression, Leon felt a bit relieved and asked, "What's up?"

"..."

She looked at Leon silently for a moment before finally speaking.

"I came to congratulate you on becoming a general disciple."

Leon scratched his cheek.

"You didn't have to... You already know that I’ve been learning magic."

"Yes, but... I know you must have had your reasons for pursuing it. I wanted to support you. Sorry I'm late."

Was she apologizing for coming two weeks late?

Leon subtly used detection magic to gauge Leah's level.

He sensed the power of a 2nd rank mage. She had likely been busy advancing to the 2nd rank during that time.

After a brief consideration, Leon spoke.

"You’ve reached the 2nd rank?"

"Yes."

Leon's words carried multiple meanings. By recognizing that she had reached the 2nd rank, it also hinted that Leon was at least a 2nd rank mage as well, subtly indicating that his growth from a 1st rank triple attribute mage had been abnormal.

‘She knows that I'm pretending to be an ordinary person since becoming a general disciple, so she should realize that I have a way of hiding my rank.’

Leah, who had learned quite a bit about magic by now, would have noticed something odd in Leon’s behavior from their time at the orphanage.

Yet, she hadn’t asked him anything about it so far.

Leon had no intention of revealing anything about the Space-Time Orb or the rewards he received from quests. Those were secrets he planned to keep to himself.

However, Leon decided to share a small part of his many secrets.

"You probably know but..."

Just as he was about to make a bold decision and speak, Leah interrupted him by shaking her head.

"I know you have things you’re hiding, Leon. But you always have your own reasons, and I don’t want to interfere."

"..."

Was this Leah’s way of showing consideration, letting him know he didn’t need to speak aloud?

"I’ll catch up to you, so just do whatever you want, Leon."

Leah seemed sincere, her eyes steady without a hint of doubt. Leon sighed softly and said, "Thank you. Congratulations to you, too, on reaching the 2nd rank. I’m glad I can properly congratulate you this time."

"..."

Seeing her fall silent again, Leon wondered if he had said something unnecessary and quickly added an explanation.

"Sorry about last time. There were too many mages around, and I couldn’t get close."

"I didn’t say anything, Leon."

Seeing Leah’s calm face, Leon fell silent.

Despite being the person he confided in the most, he often found it difficult to deal with Leah. If she acted more her age, like Rowen, it would be easier, but Leah was hard to read.

A child who was difficult to understand despite her young age.

"I’m happy to hear your congratulations, Leon..."

She continued speaking calmly, but then her nose wrinkled slightly. Leon looked at her curiously as she took a step closer to him. After standing silently for a moment, she asked, "Did someone visit you before I came?"

She finally noticed the staff Leon was holding.

"Rowen came by."

"...I see."

With that, Leah seemed lost in thought, and they didn’t talk much more before parting ways.

Two months passed without incident. It had been four months since Leon reached the 3rd rank.

Leon was now at the peak of the 3rd rank, on the verge of breaking through to the 4th rank. His growth rate was something even he hadn’t anticipated. The synergy of his talent, elixirs, and the orb had drastically reduced the time it took to advance.

If he had focused solely on raising his rank, he would have already reached the 4th rank by now. The reason he hadn’t was because he had spent a month focusing on something else.

That something was elixir crafting.

One side of Leon's personal room was cluttered with various herbs and a cauldron used for brewing potions. A metal plate lay on the floor to prevent scorching, with traces of wood from the orb being used as fuel.

Leon had started experimenting with elixir crafting in earnest after all the herbs needed for the F-grade elixir had grown.

As he continued, he realized it required more professional skills than he initially thought, so he spent a month fully immersed in honing his crafting technique.

After completing the daily training needed to finish quests, instead of entering the orb, Leon stayed in reality to focus on crafting elixirs.

As a result, the time in the orb accumulated for a month.

Leon didn’t feel like it was a waste of time. It was preparation for making higher-grade elixirs in the future.

If he could supply himself with elixirs, he could focus on other quest rewards during that time.

After hundreds of trials and errors over a month, he had significantly increased his success rate.

Leon filled the cauldron with water using water magic and lit a fire beneath it with fire magic.

The F-grade elixir required four ingredients. More precisely, three.

"Planitia dewgrass, tear mushroom, rainflower petals, and mist dew."

Mist dew was the dew that collected when Planitia dewgrass bloomed.

Leon started by brewing the root of the dewgrass, adding the mushroom and petals at regular intervals, and finally mixing in the mist dew to complete the elixir.

As he added the mushroom and petals, Leon activated the Brem-class elixir crafting spell.

A magic circle appeared between the fire and the cauldron.

The herbs inside the cauldron began to soften and quickly dissolved, blending into the water.

Leon maintained the spell and used basic telekinesis to retrieve the mist dew.

He waited in concentration until the magic circle signaled, then immediately dropped the dew into the now greenish herbal mixture.

The herbal liquid began to bubble and reduce.

Soon, all the liquid in the cauldron evaporated, leaving behind a single round, green essence.

The color resembled that of orc essence.

The name didn’t matter much as Leon could name it whatever he wanted. The color was determined by the crafting spell, and with only Brem-class spells available, it couldn’t be changed regardless of effort.

"The quality doesn’t change anyway."

Although the essence produced by famous merchant guilds was popular, it only had a slightly higher chance of being of higher quality and fetched a slightly different price.

Since Leon had personally tested each essence he had received as a reward, he knew there was no significant difference.

Leon swallowed the essence in his hand.

"It’s not F+ grade. It’s F grade."

The difference was something Leon, who had consumed hundreds of elixirs, could sense.

"Too bad. Maybe the timing was off?"

Swallowing his disappointment, Leon entered the orb.

After increasing his success rate over the past month, he didn’t spend more than 30 minutes a day crafting elixirs.

As he approached the late stages of the 3rd rank, the effects of F-grade elixirs had decreased exponentially.

Only F+ grade elixirs still had a slight effect.

It was time to set aside elixir crafting until all the herbs needed for E-grade elixirs were gathered and focus on training again.

After finishing his training for the day inside the orb, Leon felt that the time had finally come.

It was time to use the orb’s accumulated time to break through to the 4th rank.