The sparring session could not continue indefinitely, unlike the cycle of casting and replenishing magic while sitting still.

Leon landed on the ground, exhaling a long breath. As he wiped the sweat running down his chin with his sleeve, Velix, who had polymorphed, approached him.

“Don’t you have any defensive magic?”

“I do.”

Leon could summon Arpina’s earth elemental familiar, Black Sphere, to form a shield made of compressed stones.

“It’s just that it can’t block your breath attack.”

Even when stacking nine layers of magic, the limitations of basic spells couldn’t be overcome. Because of this, Leon couldn’t afford to take off his Guardian Robe, and only three defensive magic circles remained.

“What’s the point if I can’t even breathe without burning everything down?”

“…You’re really strong.”

“Ha! I’m nothing compared to your lady.”

Velix, who seemed in a good mood, wagged his tail playfully before speaking again.

“But where do you disappear to all the time?”

“….”

“Don’t ask.”

Kito, who had been watching the sparring session, approached.

“Why not?”

“It’s my master’s secret. It’s none of your concern.”

“You always say such harsh things, sister.”

Leon still wasn’t used to seeing the three snake heads of Velix each making a sad expression.

“I’ll be back shortly.”

Since Kito had skillfully kept his secret, Leon disappeared into the orb without hesitation.

He sat cross-legged in the space within the orb, where the air was thick with magic. His depleted mana began to replenish, like waves sweeping over the shore.

‘Defensive magic….’

Currently, Leon’s defensive spells couldn’t withstand the breath attack. His only option was to dodge with speed.

‘Am I thinking too simply?’

Leon could manifest up to nine spells at once, but he had been using this ability to increase the number of a single spell up to nine, as it was immediately useful in combat situations.

‘I could apply this by simultaneously manifesting spells of various elements.’

For example, weakening an enemy with poison-resistant wind and fire magic, and then blocking with a stone shield. This was possible with Arpina’s basic magic. He had realized the harmony of these elements at the five-star level.

However, there were limits to weakening and blocking with basic magic. Using higher-level magic was burdensome as it required calculating multiple spell structures at once. While not impossible, there was a risk of making mistakes in the heat of battle. Chanting different spells simultaneously was also challenging.

‘Either I develop a multi-element magic system to handle various elements within a single framework or create my own system through ‘harmony.’’

Leon chose the latter. He had already decided not to rely on the hope that a multi-element magic system would somehow appear.

Realizing the nature of the wall blocking his progress, Leon stopped sparring with Velix.

He immediately opened the "Doctrine of Harmony," which Arpina had given him before they parted ways. The Doctrine of Harmony was a B-ranked magic. It was useful up to the high level of mystic magic, but a bit lacking to reach B+.

The Doctrine of Harmony was an advanced magic based on Arpina’s four-element basic magic, so it skipped over the basics.

From the first star, it dealt with summoning advanced familiars that were the evolved forms of the four-element basic familiars.

The blue slime familiar Leon could summon transformed into a water elemental fish, and the tiny bird that could fit in the palm of his hand became a firebird large enough to cover Leon’s body.

This wasn’t much different from when he trained with Arpina’s basic magic. Within a week, Leon mastered the first star of the Doctrine of Harmony.

The second star dealt with magic that created new familiars of elements he hadn’t controlled before, such as electricity and wood. It also explored the advanced concept of ‘harmony,’ where six familiars could be summoned and controlled as one entity. This was the insight Leon sought to gain.

Even though the familiars were controlled as one, to cast magic with all six familiars at once required six threads of willpower. In this sense, the Doctrine of Harmony was a magic that only the talented could learn. This also meant that Arpina, who created this, must have been at least a six-element user.

By the third star, the Doctrine of Harmony dealt with secret techniques, such as the "Sixfold Strike," where the six-element familiars cast their respective elemental magic in unison, delivering a series of devastating attacks to the enemy.

At its peak, one could use the grand magic "Sixfold Heavenly Light," which Arpina had used to kill Rodrick.

Leon, who had not yet completed the Mystic Lightning secret magic, wasn’t ready to handle that stage.

Over the course of a month, Leon focused on mastering the second star of the Doctrine of Harmony.

“Come out, all of you.”

As mana surged, six familiars rose around Leon. Indeed, as a B-ranked magic, the mana consumption was significant.

A water-elemental azure dragon.
A fire-elemental bird.
A wind-elemental cloud.
An earth-elemental tortoise.
A lightning-elemental wolf.
A wood-elemental butterfly.

For the water element, the example in the grimoire was a fish, but since Arpina’s summoning magic was more of a materialization of 'will,' the appearance reflected Leon’s individuality. The firebird, too, resembled a hawk rather than Arpina’s bird.

‘My familiars definitely have a more Eastern aesthetic….’

Though the concept of "Eastern" might not exist in this world.

‘I need to gain a deep understanding of harmony while controlling them as one.’

This process would take quite a while. But with this foundation, Leon planned to attempt to unify all the elemental magic he currently possessed into one.

Ten Thousand Leaves, Mystic Lightning, Gale, various C+ ranked elemental magics.

It would likely require at least the mystic level to attempt this.

And perhaps one day, he might even combine all the SSS-ranked magics into a single spell….

‘That’s a bit far-fetched.’

It was a thought that seemed overly ambitious, even arrogant, at his current level.

Leon emerged from the orb and approached Velix.

“Can we spar again?”

“…What, you’re still here? You really are….”

“Ahem.”

“Never mind. Fine, let’s go.”

Velix glanced at Kito, who was lying nearby, before rising to his feet.

Outside the lair, Velix immediately dispelled his polymorph.

“-----!”

Leon was now familiar with Velix’s fierce aura. One of Velix’s heads quickly unleashed a breath attack.

“Blow and burn.”

The cloud floating beneath Leon and the firebird beside him spoke simultaneously.

As soon as a powerful wind blew, the flames from the firebird’s mouth merged with it.

The fiery wind clashed with the breath attack.

As a mystic-level magic, its power was considerably stronger. The element was also well-suited to countering the poison mixed into the breath, weakening its effect.

However, it was still insufficient to fully withstand the breath.

“Converge.”

Seven layers of stone shields overlapped in quick succession.

The breath attack melted them away one by one as it struck.

“Charge.”

The cloud beneath Leon moved. While it didn’t accelerate as rapidly as the Golden Wings, it was fast enough to allow him to escape while blocking the attack.

‘Did I manage to pull it off without using an artifact?’

The breath attack grazed past Leon.

“How many spells did you cast just to block one breath?”

“At least I blocked it.”

“That’s true. Although I went easy on you.”

It was a valid point. Velix had only used one of his heads to unleash the breath, and even that was a weakened version.

“I’ll commend you for finding a solution quickly, but if you get too cocky with just that…”

“Fall.”

Leon immediately dropped nine bolts of lightning onto Velix.

Crackling-

It didn’t cause significant damage. Other than making one of Velix’s heads bow as if it were nodding.

“…You didn’t even let me finish talking.”

“The sparring isn’t over yet.”

“….”

Suddenly, Velix lashed out with his tail. Leon dodged it without hesitation, using acceleration. It was a movement he could manage because he anticipated it.

“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t use artifacts?”

“I said I wouldn’t use them against your breath.”

“….”

All three of Velix’s heads opened their mouths.

“Wait.”

Velix, who seemed about to unleash another breath attack, closed his mouths. Kito had stepped between them.

“Are you really that good at fighting?”

“Huh? Sister, what are you suddenly talking about?”

“Follow me to my lair.”

“Why?”

“I’m going to show you who’s really getting too full of themselves.”

After that, Leon sparred with Velix several more times.

Without using artifacts, he desperately dodged the breath attacks and counterattacked. But the power of his counterattacks was minimal at best.

The next step was to increase the strength of those counterattacks.

“That little bastard… he only looks for what he needs….”

“What bastard?”

“Nothing. But sister, aren’t you favoring him too much?”

Leon continued his training, breaking through each wall he encountered during the sparring sessions.

Five months passed.

“Strike.”

Rumble-

In an instant, the sky darkened as black clouds quickly gathered into a vortex.

Then, lightning began to strike madly within an area large enough to fit five people.

It was as if the sky had split open, with bright flashes of lightning tearing through the air.

Crackling-

After the lightning ceased, residual currents crackled on the ground, emitting a blue light. The sound and light gradually weakened and faded away.

He had completed the beginner-level secret magic. It had taken much longer than the originally planned three months of training, but Leon could confidently say that he had built a much stronger foundation.

‘There’s still so much to learn….’

Now, the next task ahead was to reach the intermediate level of secret magic.