After casting the Curse of the Black Night, the consumption of magic power was accelerating. The curse required a continuous injection of magic to increase its effectiveness, and as the curse's level rose, it demanded even more power. It took at least five minutes for the physical pain to reach its peak, but Leon, using the Genesis Radiance alongside the curse, couldn’t afford to wait that long.

The blood mage, clutching one arm, snarled, baring its teeth after dodging the wooden sword.

‘Is this thing even human?’

While its appearance resembled a human, it acted more like a beast driven by primal instincts.

Leon swiftly retrieved his wooden sword and increased its number to ten. He then summoned his golden wings and put them on.

At that moment, blood-red spears formed around the blood mage and flew toward Leon. But that wasn’t its only attack. Behind Leon, a crackling sound erupted, and a blood-red lightning bolt streaked toward his back.

The blood mage had used the spears to divert attention while casting another spell.

However, Leon had already foreseen this. As he dodged swiftly, the blood mage’s face contorted with frustration.

Leon, expecting the blood mage to charge, realized instead that it continued casting spells from a distance. He became convinced that the mage feared the wooden sword.

Leon sent one of the ten wooden swords flying toward the blood mage.

He already knew the path the blood mage would take to dodge, having seen it in his mind.

Leon fired the next sword ahead of the mage's evasion.

“…!”

The blood mage barely avoided the wooden sword with its unnatural physical abilities, but that kind of luck couldn’t last forever.

Eventually, one of the wooden swords grazed the blood mage’s shoulder, leaving a small wound. From that wound, magic power began to seep out.

The blood mage, who had been clutching its arm, now grabbed its shoulder, but couldn’t stop the magic from leaking out.

Leon had never experienced anything like this since the wooden sword absorbed the two fragments. He initially thought the mage feared magic restrictions, but now it seemed that wasn’t the case.

‘Is magic leaking from the wound?’

Moreover, the blood mage's movements grew increasingly sluggish, likely from the pain originating in its arm.

Leon quickly accelerated and reached the blood mage.

Realizing this too late, the blood mage desperately tried to flee, but Leon had already thrust the wooden sword deep into its chest.

The wooden sword pierced through its chest.

All eyes focused on Leon and the blood mage, and the battlefield fell silent for a moment.

The blood mage's core was sucked into the wooden sword, bringing the situation to an end.

[Oh? It’s food!]

Suddenly, a woman’s voice echoed in Leon’s mind.

[... Have you awakened?] [...]

There were no more words after the one cry of “food.” It seemed the consciousness within the wooden sword had returned to sleep after that brief outburst.

‘Does it need more cores to fully awaken?’

There were mountains of questions waiting for the day the sword would awaken again. Leon wanted to know its true abilities, the details of their contract, and the origin of this sword.

‘Though, I can’t just go around absorbing any mage’s core…’

It might be a long time before Leon would converse with the wooden sword again. Unless he faced more enemies like the blood mage or a black mage, there wouldn’t be another opportunity.

Leon deactivated both the Genesis Radiance and the Curse of the Black Night. If he had maintained the curse after the blood mage died, people would have completely forgotten about the mage, and even this battle wouldn’t have remained in their memory.

But there was no need for that.

Hiding his true power might be helpful, but concealing the truth about the blood mage, without fully understanding the situation, wasn’t a wise choice. There was no telling what could happen next.

Leon replenished his mana by breathing deeply and briefly reflected on the recent battle.

‘I didn’t expect to run out of magic so quickly.’

Simultaneously casting SSS-grade magic drained his energy at an alarming rate.

Another realization came about the Curse of the Black Night.

The curse wasn’t particularly effective when confronting enemies directly. While it worked on foes with regenerative abilities like the blood mage, it wasn’t as efficient against others.

A more effective method would be to secretly cast the curse on an object that carried the enemy’s scent. The enemy would suffer in agony, not knowing the cause, and eventually, they would even be forgotten by the world.

In a way, that was even more terrifying.

With the blood mage defeated, the situation gradually improved. The griffon pack was no longer a serious threat to the mages. Although time had allowed their enemies and the blood mage to encircle them, Leon’s golems had blocked the enemy's advance, and Leon had dealt with the blood mage.

Eventually, the griffon pack was entirely subdued.

Leon was holding the blood mage’s corpse with basic telekinesis. He couldn’t carry the body into the gem in this state.

The stench hit his nose. It was odd for a freshly killed body to smell this bad.

As Leon pondered over the blood mage, Chris, the shaggy-haired mage, approached him.

“Th-Thank you.”

Chris, embarrassed for having been thrown aside by the blood mage and rendered useless, couldn’t even look Leon in the eye.

“We should return to Astellia as quickly as possible. I’m not sure how long the golems will last.”

“I understand.”

There was no guarantee that the blood mage was acting alone.

The mages followed Chris and swiftly flew toward Astellia.

On the second night, they encountered another group of mages sent as reinforcements. They had flown to the Valley of Souls after discovering the teleportation magic circle was broken.

Chris gave a detailed report of what had happened in the Valley of Souls, then parted ways with them and returned to Astellia.

The reinforcement team, which included mystical-grade mages, proceeded to the Valley of Souls to investigate the situation.

 

Before submitting the blood mage’s corpse, Leon brought it into the gem to examine it further.

Despite wrinkling his nose at the foul stench, he rummaged through the corpse’s clothes, hoping to find something. However, to Leon’s disappointment, there was nothing.

“Hm…”

Leon let out a frustrated sigh.

In truth, Leon was intrigued by blood magic. Just as there were useful aspects of black magic, such as shadow assimilation, there might be something in blood magic that Leon could find useful. The regeneration and physical abilities alone were appealing, as long as they didn’t require sacrificing a mage's core like black magic.

It was disappointing that nothing could be gleaned from the body.

The blood mage’s corpse was submitted to Astellia.

“Well done, Leon.”

Those were Arpina’s words when they met after returning to Astellia.

There was a hint of guilt in her expression. She seemed to feel responsible for getting Leon involved in something so dangerous. It wasn’t until Leon reassured her repeatedly that she finally relaxed.

“It seems there were several blood mages hiding in the Valley of Souls.”

“Some people speculated it might be the work of other mage towers, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“It’s too soon to say. The culprit who damaged the teleportation magic circle hasn’t been caught yet. There could be a follower of blood magic hidden within a faction.”

With the mention of blood magic, Leon seized the opportunity to ask a question that had been on his mind.

“I’m hearing about blood magic for the first time.”

“Well… think of blood magic as the predecessor of black magic.”

“A predecessor?”

“There have been blood magic followers since ancient times. Blood magic defies the laws of nature. Even those without a talent for elemental magic can use it and rise to higher levels. But the consequences are just as severe. Blood magic draws power by offering one’s lifespan as a sacrifice.”

The explanation made it sound eerily similar to black magic.

“The one who created blood magic was an ancient mage.”

“A mage?”

“Yes, you’ve heard that magic is the shard of a god, right? Blood mages believed that this particular mage was a god and that he’s still alive. They even attempted extreme actions, like including blood magic among the eight natural elements, but they were eventually wiped out by other mages. Many of the forbidden magics black mages use today are actually modifications and developments of the old blood magic.”

“Then how did blood mages suddenly reappear after disappearing long ago?”

“We’re still investigating, but I’ll let you know when we have the full story. They’ve already captured several blood mages who were hiding deeper in the Valley of Souls.”

“Please keep me informed.”

Noticing Leon’s unexpected interest, Arpina tilted her head for a moment but then nodded and changed the subject to lighten the mood.

“I heard you held off the beast horde with your golems and defeated the blood mage?”

She spoke with pride in her voice.

“You’ve gained quite a bit of praise among the personal disciples.”

Most of the personal disciples were responsible for guarding the Valley of Souls. It was an assignment that was neither too easy for weaker mages nor too challenging for stronger ones.

“That’s because my life was in danger.”

“You could have escaped on your own, though.”

Arpina grinned playfully.

“This news will likely reach Glirios’ ears. He’s probably going to reward you, so you should think about what you want. Since you returned without major losses, the commendation ceremony should happen soon.”

 

As Arpina predicted, Leon was summoned by the Tower Master not long after.

Leon had no intention of attending the gathering of personal disciples. However, since the Tower Master decided to hold Leon’s commendation during the event, he had no choice but to attend.

The commendation was to be brief, given the relatively small damage and the ongoing issues in the Valley of Souls.

In the middle of the banquet hall, Glirios smiled warmly at Leon. Surrounding them were several elders, high-ranking mages, and their personal disciples.

“Leon, brave mage, thanks to your unyielding courage, our precious disciples returned safely from danger. For vanquishing numerous beasts and protecting the future, I bestow upon you the Staff of the Lake.”

The surrounding mages applauded.

Glirios gestured as he handed over the staff and continued.

“And… I heard your golems played a significant role in defeating the beasts. I understand there were hundreds of them?”

“…That’s correct.”

“I assume you created them with your own resources. That must have required quite a few mana stones.”

“…”

Leon, intending to answer humbly, couldn’t deny the truth. Seeing Leon hesitate, Glirios let out a hearty laugh.

“From now on, our faction will provide you with the materials you need to create golems.”

“All of them?”

The amount of mana stones Leon needed was astronomical. The mana stones used to create the 500 golems alone could have bought several high-tier essences.

“I hear you’ve been helping Chief with his research… It’s a blessing to have such a talented individual in our faction. There’s no reason not to support you.”

It seemed Glirios was well aware of Leon’s recent activities. Whether he had always taken an interest or only investigated after this incident was unclear.

Leon gripped the Staff of the Lake in his hand.

The 2-meter-long staff was made of silver wood, with a transparent, blue droplet-shaped crystal embedded at the top.

This B-grade artifact not only amplified magic but also had a unique ability to purify mental contamination.

It also allowed the user to teleport across bodies of water, much like shadow assimilation but with water instead of shadows.

Of course, like all artifacts, this ability had limitations in terms of usage and cooldown.

“This reward comes from me as the Tower Master. Is there anything else you’d like to ask of me?”

“Ask something else?”

“Yes, you’ve done well, so feel free to speak.”

Leon had intended to decline, but something came to mind, and he opened his mouth.

“I understand that there’s an upcoming personal disciple duel.”

“That’s right.”

“I would like to abstain from this one.”

The personal disciple duels were a traditional event held among the mages, similar to the competitions at Wydia. It was meant to test and exchange skills among mages. However, unlike Wydia, there were hundreds of personal disciples here. The duel wouldn’t be over in a single day.

Glirios was momentarily stunned that Leon’s only request was to abstain from the duel.

“Why?”

“Honestly, I had a small epiphany in the Valley of Souls. I want to fully focus on my training and raise my level during this time.”

It was true that Leon’s progress had been delayed due to learning multiple spells simultaneously. It was time for him to concentrate on advancing to the advanced special magic level.

“Is that really all you want to ask?”

“Yes.”

“…To be honest, I was looking forward to sparring with you like last time.”

With a sigh, Glirios reluctantly nodded and continued.

“…A request is a request, so I’ll grant it. And if you ever want my guidance again, feel free to come by.”

Glirios turned away, still seeming somewhat regretful.