One Month Ago

Arpina encountered remnants of the Black Tower in the city of Plozenta, where her fellow mage was stationed.

Although they were not members of Tenebron, they had some information about it.

Among that information was a claim that Tenebron had a hideout near Widia.

Whether or not that information was true, Arpina began gathering more details about Tenebron.

There was a reason for Arpina's caution.

It was due to the leader of Tenebron.

The members of Tenebron were already known for using insidious methods to advance their power, but their leader was particularly unsettling, having reached the level of Insight.

The leader of the Tenebron Black Tower, Akrypha.

Arpina had encountered him once.

It was when she was a child.

Not in the remote Kingdom of Basprion, where Widia was located, but in the vast Empire of Dercantia.

Dercantia was home to 20 human Transcendent-level mages, and he, along with Arpina, was one of the 20 disciples.

She recalled the 200-year-old sorcerer she had seen for the last time before leaving the empire.

He was eccentric to the extreme, but his mastery of magic was genuine.

Akrypha was his disciple.

Although Arpina had only seen him in passing, the man’s grim face left a lasting impression on her.

Despite knowing that one of Tenebron’s hideouts was near Widia, Arpina didn’t take immediate action.

She gathered information slowly and meticulously.

When she was certain, she would strike decisively. Otherwise, she risked losing the trail once more.

‘That teleportation magic is especially troublesome.’

The magic that allowed one to vanish into the shadows.

If a low-level mage used it, the flow of mana was visible, but it became much more challenging when used by a higher-level mage.

As Arpina continued to gather information from various sources, she received a report that something significant had happened in Widia.

It was reported that Berford had caused an incident, and she was needed to clean up the aftermath.

Even the report had arrived late.

The ruins exploration had already ended, and the report was merely to inform her of the situation that required her attention.

After that, Arpina halted her information-gathering and returned to Widia, bringing Ria, who had been staying in Plozenta, with her.

Arpina explained the situation to Ria.

She told her that Berford had broken the agreement and led the exploration of the ruins early, and that the mages on the same skyship had also been involved. Now, the situation had concluded, and they were returning to Widia.

From that moment on, Ria became noticeably anxious, urging them to return to Widia as quickly as possible.

And she asked.

“What happened to Leon?”

Arpina had made inquiries and discovered that Leon had been among the party caught up in the ruins and had drawn the monsters' attention before disappearing. However, she did not share this with Ria.

Ria was already too anxious, and it wasn’t yet certain whether Leon was dead or alive.

It was only natural to assume he had died, but Arpina knew that Leon had something hidden.

So, she refrained from making any assumptions.

And as soon as they returned to Widia, she learned the truth.

Leon had returned alive.

‘As expected, there’s something special about this boy…’

Though he had a strong tendency to handle things on his own, the fact that he had now gained attention meant that he needed someone to protect him.

And naturally, that should be someone who had already recognized his potential—Arpina herself.

But then, another rumor quickly spread throughout Widia.

‘He became the Tower Master’s personal disciple?’

Arpina was dumbfounded.

He became a personal disciple so quickly?

Was he that quick to assess the situation?

No, wasn’t he being too cunning?

‘Did Laidra also sense something?’

If that were the case, it was even more frustrating.

As soon as Arpina heard the news, she rushed to find Leon, even faster than Ria.

And now, here she was.

“Tower Master’s disciple?”

Leon scratched his head and responded with an apologetic expression.

“The Tower Master made the offer, and I couldn’t refuse.”

Arpina knew this.

If the Tower Master had made the offer first, Leon had no choice.

And objectively speaking, being the Tower Master’s personal disciple had more advantages.

Even so, Arpina couldn’t help but speak.

The thought of being a step too late was swirling intensely in her mind.

It was a side of her quite different from her usual calm demeanor.

“The Tower Master doesn’t have time to pay attention to personal disciples.”

“Yes... He mentioned that as well, saying there would be no support.”

“Then, is there any point in becoming his disciple?”

“For me, that’s actually...”

One of Arpina’s eyebrows twitched.

“No matter how appealing that may be, having no support means you won’t even have the chance to learn the Tower Master’s magic.”

“I’m prepared to accept that.”

Arpina stared at Leon, who showed no change in expression, and eventually forced a smile.

She didn’t want to say this, but she felt compelled.

“The magic book I gave you. The basic four-element magic.”

“...Yes.”

“It must have been useful to you, right?”

“Yes, I’m truly grateful.”

“I also have higher-level magic.”

Leon hesitated for a moment, glancing at her, then awkwardly smiled.

“...Really? Higher-level magic from that systematic approach… That’s truly impressive.”

“...”

The brief silence that followed brought Arpina back to her senses.

She casually brushed her silver hair back over her shoulder.

“Forget it. If you’re already a personal disciple, there’s nothing I can do. I’ll just wait for you to repay me.”

Arpina’s lips quivered slightly as she forced herself to keep smiling.

Leon wiped the sweat that had started to form on his brow as he watched her.

“Thank you for your patience.”

“If your repayment isn’t satisfactory, then...”

“Leon!”

Just as Arpina was muttering under her breath, Ria came running over.

She briefly glanced at Arpina, who had arrived before her, then rushed to Leon.

“What happened? And what’s with your arm...”

Seeing the teary look on Ria’s face, Leon looked even more troubled than before.

“It’s a relief I survived with just this injury.”

“If Leon got hurt this badly, it must have been really dangerous.”

Ria murmured with her head lowered.

“If only someone... had taken you... It would have been better if I had been there.”

Leon heard it all.

Was she saying it loud enough for him to hear?

Leon glanced at Arpina for a moment, then responded.

“If you had been there, it would have been even more dangerous.”

“You’re right, I’m still not strong enough, but even so...”

Ria glanced at Arpina again.

Momentarily lost in thought, Arpina noticed the look and couldn’t even muster a sarcastic laugh.

‘How did I end up being treated like this?’

Three Months Later

Three months had passed since Leon became the Tower Master’s personal disciple.

He continued to use the common disciple’s training room.

Every time he came and went, he could feel how uneasy the other common disciples were around him, but there was nothing he could do about it.

There was indeed no other support.

The only training room Leon could comfortably use was the common disciples’ training room.

They were uncomfortable because the Tower Master’s personal disciple was invading their space, and Leon felt uncomfortable because he had no choice but to use this training room.

It was a mutual discomfort.

‘But I hardly ever leave here anyway.’

All he had to do was endure the awkward situations that arose whenever he left the training room to return to his private room and encountered another common disciple.

At one point, Rowan visited him and gave him a high-grade healing potion.

With that, he was able to heal the burn on his arm.

It was during one of those days when Leon spent 20 hours training in the real world and 10 hours inside the orb to fully reach the Secret Magic level.

Shortly after he had turned 14.

• General Quest ▶ Training (Completed)
• Reward ▶ Magic Book (Change)

Leon received his reward for the day.

The rewards alternated between artifacts and magic books.

▶ You have obtained the light magic ‘Radiance of Creation (SSS)’.

“Wow...?”

Leon, who had always thought S was the highest grade, was speechless as he stared at the brilliantly glowing grade before him.

Aside from the overwhelming joy, Leon was finally certain.

There was something special about the 300th reward.

With a pounding heart, Leon picked up the yellow-covered book, feeling a moment of confusion.

The reward he received this time was definitely a magic book.

When it came to high-grade magic books, they were usually the unique magic of other high-level mages.

But this magic book had no title.

Now that he thought about it, he had always considered Transcendence to correspond with S grade.

He hadn’t even imagined there could be a grade higher than that.

‘What is this?’

There was no way the magic book could have naturally occurred...

As he began to read the book, Leon felt even more troubled.

‘I don’t understand what it’s saying...’

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand because it was a high-dimensional spell.

The structure of the spell was completely different from anything he had seen before.

‘But I’ve seen something like this before.’

Leon recalled seeing a similar spell structure.

It was recent.

Leon quickly retrieved “The Secrets of Creation (Advanced)” from the makeshift library inside the orb.

Over the past three months, Leon had lightly skimmed through both the basic and advanced volumes of “The Secrets of Creation.”

‘It’s similar.’

The spell structure was similar to the one in the advanced volume.

This was also why Leon had only lightly skimmed through “The Secrets of Creation.”

The advanced volume contained many parts where he couldn’t even understand the characters, let alone the spell structure.

Leon had vaguely understood that these characters were “rune characters.”

‘Have the letters in “Radiance of Creation” been automatically translated?’

The characters in “Radiance of Creation” weren’t rune characters, but the structure of the spell was identical to that in the advanced volume of “The Secrets of Creation,” which was written in runes.

‘Rune characters were said to be obsolete...’

Rune characters, once called the language of the gods, hadn’t been used since ancient times.

It was believed that the power of magic drawn from rune characters was limited, leading to their natural decline as the modern magic system developed.

‘I don’t know enough history to fully understand this.’

Leon had only a basic understanding of history from a few books he had read in the introductory volumes and the old magic library.

‘Could there be books on rune characters in the central library?’

Even though rune characters were no longer in use, it seemed necessary to understand them to properly use this magic.

It was also essential for dealing with the advanced volume of “The Secrets of Creation.”

‘Given how people have been treating me, I don’t think they’ll block my access to the central library.’

For the first time in a long while, Leon got up from his seat and left the training room.

As he entered the central library, people glanced at him but didn’t stop him.

After searching for a long time, Leon frowned in frustration.

‘There are no books on rune characters...?’