"Velix, lead us to where my lair is."

"Yes, but what about this human…?"

"He is my master."

"What?"

All three of the giant snake heads jerked back in shock.

"Sister! How can you call a human your master…?"

"Silence."

"…."

It was odd to see such a massive creature silenced by a single word from a small woman. Of course, the situation wasn’t as simple as it seemed, but it was still a curious sight.

Leon, who had been gathering his magic, felt his energy drain away as he watched the scene unfold.

"If Sister says so, who am I to argue…."

"Are you sulking?"

"…No, I’m not."

Despite the clear signs of annoyance in Velix’s demeanor, Kito dismissed it with a smirk.

"I didn’t expect you to be the one who took over my territory. Weren’t you in the central zone?"

"Yes, when I heard you had left, I came to guard it."

The three pairs of eyes glanced at Leon before Velix’s body was enveloped in light. As the light faded, Velix shrank in size, now resembling Kito’s human form, though still retaining the shape of a small floating snake.

Velix turned and began leading the way to Kito’s lair.

After flying for a while, they arrived at a massive cave. The cave was so large that even Kito’s true form could comfortably fit, making Leon wonder.

‘Could it be that Kito's body shrank because she lost her core?’

Following Velix, Leon entered the cave. The walls were covered in tree bark and vines, making it blend in with the surrounding forest if seen from a distance.

"I couldn’t bring myself to use the space Sister once occupied, so I left it as it was."

"You mean you were too lazy to maintain it."

As they ventured deeper, archway-shaped entrances began to appear along the cave walls. Now it truly looked like the lair of a powerful monster.

Beyond the archways, everything was dark and hard to see.

"There’s nothing of importance in those rooms, just some junk."

Apparently, Kito’s core wasn’t stored there, as Velix continued leading them deeper into the cave. Eventually, they arrived at a vast open space with a single archway at the back, blocked by a transparent barrier—clearly a magical seal.

"Wait here."

Kito floated over to the barrier and placed her palm against it. The barrier shimmered before vanishing entirely.

Following Kito’s gesture, they entered. The dark corridor soon gave way to a massive underground lake. The lake was large enough to accommodate Velix in his true form with room to spare. The water shimmered with a light blue glow, radiating a mystical aura.

Without hesitation, Kito dove into the lake. Small ripples formed, and bubbles rose to the surface for a moment.

Then, from the center of the lake, a bright light burst forth. The ripples grew larger and larger until a massive form emerged from the water.

The creature that arose was a bird with gray wings, far larger than the Kito Leon had seen before—at least three times the size.

Kito spread her wings wide and took to the air.

Her majestic voice echoed through the cavern.

"It took long enough."

Kito was originally a candidate for the next queen of the Vipereen clan. Those born of the royal bloodline were endowed with immense magical power and long lifespans from birth.

The Vipereen clan’s unique magic was poison. Among them, Kito was born with a potent venom capable of dissolving even the legendary metal, orichalcum, with just a touch.

However, just as she was about to mature into an adult, Kito felt a vague sense of restlessness. The endless expectations and responsibilities that had been placed upon her since birth weighed on her like a heavy chain, suffocating her. The thought of leading and ruling her clan felt like an overwhelming burden, and she envied the freedom of those who roamed the world without such obligations.

That frustration finally erupted.

She realized that leading and ruling the clan was not in line with her true nature.

So Kito ran away. She knew it was irresponsible, but she couldn’t resist the urge.

She acted before the ailing king could pass away. Even though she knew she was the best candidate to succeed him, she still chose to flee.

For a long time, Kito traveled the world as she pleased. She mingled with humans, pretending to be one of them, and in her true form, she protected kingdoms, symbolizing the virtue of the monarch. She even established a lair in the Forest of Beasts, ruling as an unaccountable absolute ruler.

But after hundreds of years of freedom, Kito began to feel empty. The state she had been in just before reaching adulthood was something humans referred to as adolescence.

In the end, she realized that only family could provide true understanding. No matter how much she lived among various races, the fundamental loneliness never disappeared.

Humans had a term for this too—homesickness. Even her role as a half-hearted ruler in the Forest of Beasts was merely a projection of her desire for her clan.

After that, Kito became indifferent to everything. Nothing held much interest for her anymore.

She spent several more decades aimlessly in the lair she had made in the Forest of Beasts.

Then, one day, news reached her.

Her clan had somehow found out where she was.

The messenger told her that the entire Vipereen clan had been captured by dark magicians.

Without a successor to the throne, the Vipereen clan had been attacked by the dark magicians and completely subdued.

Kito felt responsible.

For the first time, she was overwhelmed with a sense of duty and guilt.

The dark magicians had learned about the royal bloodline. The Vipereen clan had not kept her a secret out of affection; rather, they resented her, and so they informed the dark magicians that the royal heir was elsewhere.

The clan member who came to inform Kito had been captured by the dark magicians and sent as a decoy to lure her out. He pleaded falsely, begging Kito to return and save the clan, claiming that everyone would survive if she did.

Kito knew it was a lie, but she still walked into the dark magicians' trap voluntarily, after hiding her core in the Forest of Beasts.

She was reduced to nothing more than a test subject, her poison extracted regularly. The dark magicians’ promise to spare her clan was a lie. The entire Vipereen clan was used for experiments until they all died.

It was a meaningless end.

Then, she met this boy.

"I vow to serve as your familiar to the best of my ability until your life’s end."

What would follow after the pact would likely be revenge.

But that revenge held no real meaning. It felt more like a duty to be fulfilled before her death, devoid of any emotion or significance.

Therefore, Kito didn’t share this with Leon. She didn’t want to burden a human, who might not even live for 200 years, with such a weight.

"Sister…."

"What? Do you want to become a familiar too?"

"No way! Why would I become a human’s familiar?"

Velix laughed as if the idea was absurd.

"It’s not so bad."

"That’s just because you’re lonely… oops."

"…."

Kito led Velix away into a corner.

Kito, still in her female form, flapped her gray wings, flying around above Leon’s head inside her lair.

Leon looked up and asked Velix, who was still in his polymorphed form. This was right after he had witnessed one of Velix’s heads melting and then instantly regenerating.

"Why is the Forest of Beasts in such turmoil right now?"

"That’s because the rulers from the central forest have fled."

Velix referred to the high-ranking monsters in the central forest as rulers.

"Why?"

"I don’t know the details since I’m confined to this zone. But when the rulers suddenly started pouring out, it naturally caused chaos among the monsters."

At that moment, Kito spoke.

"Why don’t you train here?"

Leon pondered Kito’s suggestion for a moment.

It was true that this environment was ideal for training. The magical energy was dense, and he didn’t have to worry about being watched.

With Kito’s lair nearby and nothing but trees surrounding him outside, it was like a lesser version of the space within the orb.

"The issue is food."

"I can have the creatures here gather it for you."

Velix interjected.

"It’s not like there’s no food that humans can eat around here. But can you eat something like orc meat?"

"That’s… not really…."

He hadn’t tried it, but considering it wasn’t sold even in the free city, it probably wasn’t something humans were meant to eat.

"Hmm… well, there are some fruits on the outskirts that humans can eat."

"Fruits would be fine."

Leon decided to continue his training here. He had made a promise to Arpina, but it wasn’t one bound by time. He could afford to reach a certain level before leaving.

Especially since he had been forced to flee due to Widia being invaded before he could complete his Mystic magic.

‘The Radiance of Creation… that’s still beyond my reach for now.’

Learning the runic script would require leaving the Forest of Beasts eventually, but he thought it would be better to finish what he had started before doing so.

Leon began his training by focusing on completing the Mystic Lightning spell, which he had yet to fully perfect. He continued to refine his Mystic magic while consuming elixirs as part of his quest rewards.

His routine was 20 hours of training in the real world, followed by 10 hours in the orb, a total of 30 hours of continuous training, with only 4 hours of sleep. It was a routine Leon had grown accustomed to.

However, that routine didn’t last even two days before Velix made a suggestion.

"Why don’t we spar?"

"Spar?"

"Isn’t your magic training just continuously using spells anyway? It’d be better to use them in a real fight."

It was an intriguing proposal. The quest’s objective had long since been simplified to just ‘training,’ so it didn’t matter how he trained.

After reaching the Mystic level, Leon had noticed that the quest continued to progress even when he was fighting. Whether it was the battle with the witch, the dark magicians, or the hunting with the adventurers, all of it counted towards his ‘training’ quest. However, since none of those battles lasted long, and much of the time was spent fleeing, he hadn’t yet accumulated even 10 hours of true combat experience.

‘Training in a real fight might slow down the quest progress compared to just staying in the training room, but the experience I gain will be invaluable.’

It would undoubtedly help him gain new insights.

Leon stepped outside of Kito’s lair with Velix to begin their sparring.

"Hmm… how much should I hold back?"

Velix’s abilities were straightforward. Each of his three heads could breathe out a deadly breath laced with potent poison, capable of inflicting severe damage. Additionally, Velix had incredible regenerative abilities, allowing him to quickly recover from any wounds that managed to pierce his formidable defenses.

‘A punching bag…?’

The thought briefly crossed Leon’s mind before he quickly dismissed it. Velix’s expression had become serious.

In an instant, Velix transformed back into his true form, towering over Leon.

All three heads reared up simultaneously, extending their necks as they roared.

The roar was filled with an intense pressure that froze Leon in place. Despite being prepared, he felt his body stiffen, making it difficult to summon the spells he had in mind.

Velix intentionally didn’t attack after the roar, almost as if he were taunting Leon to withstand the fear.

However, Leon had the Golden Wings' acceleration.

Using the acceleration, Leon dashed out of Velix’s range.

"But is there a way to avoid it without relying on artifacts?"

Leon asked, and Velix replied, a bit awkwardly.

"Getting used to it is one way. Honestly, that’s part of why I used it."

At that moment, winged vipers swarmed in from the forest, hissing menacingly.

"Don’t mind them, it’s just how they communicate."

Apparently, it was their way of talking. The vipers glared at Leon.

"He is Sister’s master."

At Velix’s words, the vipers immediately bowed their heads and retreated.

"So these ‘creatures’ you mentioned…."

"Yes, they’re the ones who will fetch your food."

How did it come to this, where even monsters treated him better than some magicians?

Leon was briefly confused but quickly refocused on the sparring.

Velix roared again, sending another wave of chilling pressure over Leon. This time, the effect was slightly less intense than before.

Of course, Leon knew well that even a momentary hesitation in battle could be fatal.

Leon dodged the breath attack from one of Velix’s heads using the Golden Wings' acceleration.

"Lightning Orb."

Leon launched nine orbs of electricity at Velix.

There was no need to hold back since it wouldn’t cause any real damage anyway.

As expected, Velix remained unscathed after being hit by the nine electric orbs.

"It stings a bit."

With that, Velix swung his tail.

In the blink of an eye, the tail was right in front of Leon.

Thud—

Velix’s tail slammed into the barrier created by the Guardian Robe.

Leon was sent flying, crashing into a tree.

"Ah, I guess I overdid it."

"…."

Velix muttered as if he had made a mistake, though his voice seemed to carry a hint of amusement.

‘…Did he really just say it stings?’

As Leon tried to gauge Velix’s true intentions, Kito, who had been watching the sparring, yawned and spoke nonchalantly.

"You two are really well-matched."