No matter the situation, Leon was certain that his master wouldn’t set him up for failure. 

So even though he didn’t know exactly where his master had obtained this dragon-written *Gate of Nine Infernos*, it didn’t stop Leon from practicing it.

He still hadn’t figured out how to fix his inability to condense magic, so learning a powerful new martial art became a necessity.

Besides, there was another crucial reason for Leon to train in the *Gate of Nine Infernos*. It wasn’t just about enhancing his martial prowess—it was like acquiring a piece of “legendary equipment.” This new technique significantly boosted General Leon’s performance in his... "marital exchanges."

And this “legendary equipment” came with nine passive upgrades. With only the first layer unlocked, it was already enough to make Rosvisser nervously whisper, “Next time, for sure.”

If he were to unlock all nine layers, Leon could only imagine what kind of outcome that would produce. Or rather, he didn’t even dare to imagine it.

At the very least, from this perspective, his master wasn’t setting him up at all—quite the opposite. He had given his apprentice a major advantage.

Knowing that his student was living in enemy territory, struggling to thrive, the master had essentially gifted Leon a “cheat code,” turning him into the champion of the current “game version.”

It was truly ingenious.

After unlocking the first gate, Leon wasted no time diving deeper into the study of the *Gate of Nine Infernos*.

“The first gate remains open permanently, but the subsequent eight gates must be manually activated during battle by the practitioner.”

“Each gate represents a leap in strength, but it also places a greater burden on the body.”

“Furthermore, each new power unlocked can be channeled into different martial techniques.”

“For example, the technique associated with the first gate is called *Body Tempering*, a passive ability that purges all impurities from the practitioner’s body, making it as pure as a newborn.”

Leon analyzed the text slowly and carefully.

“So, according to this book, as people age, their bodies accumulate more and more impurities. That’s why it’s necessary to open the first gate to cleanse those impurities.”

“That would mean that the younger someone is, the easier it would be for them to master this martial art. And dragon cubs can start learning magic as early as seven or eight years old... This really is a technique designed for dragons.”

“Daddy.”

“Hmm... huh?! When did you get here, Little Light?”

Leon had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn’t notice Aurora sitting beside him.

She sat there obediently, her little pink tail swaying behind her, looking up at him with a serious expression.

Leon glanced at his daughter, noticing the beads of sweat on her tiny nose and her slightly labored breathing.

He looked back at the temple’s back door.

Although Aurora could now walk, she still couldn’t walk too far. From the temple to the training ground, it had been quite a journey for the little one.

“I just got here~ I saw Daddy talking to himself and looking really serious, so I didn’t want to disturb you.”

So, baby girl, you overheard what Daddy was saying just now, right?

Leon quickly ran through the things he had just been saying, making sure he hadn’t said anything that would reveal his human identity.

He picked Aurora up and placed her in his lap. “Why aren’t you playing with Moon?”

“Moon is still sleeping.”

Oh, right, it was 7 a.m.—Moon’s usual sleeping time.

When Noa was home, Moon would get up early because she wanted to spend every minute she could playing with her big sister, who rarely had time off.

Moon was such a sister-obsessed child that she would even sacrifice her own sleep just to play with Noa.

But since Aurora was still too young to join in on most games, Moon clearly found it more worthwhile to sleep.

“Daddy, what book are you reading?”

Aurora leaned comfortably in her father’s lap, her gaze landing on *The Gate of Nine Infernos* lying on his leg.

She reached out her tiny hand, gesturing for Leon to give her the book.

Leon handed it over, supporting the back of the book with his palm while Aurora, with her little hands, struggled to open the pages.

“Little Light, do you want Daddy to teach you how to read? It’s about time you started learning.”

“No need, Daddy. I can already recognize most of the words in this book.”

Aurora pointed to a line in the text and slowly read it aloud: “The seventh gate is called ‘Enlightenment,’ and the corresponding technique is *Twilight’s Protection.* Did I read it correctly, Daddy?”

The little pink-haired dragon girl looked up with a face full of pride, eagerly awaiting her father’s praise.

Leon was stunned by his daughter’s ability to read. He and Rosvisser had never taught her. When had she learned?

Proudly, Leon pinched her chubby cheeks, showering her with compliments. “That’s right! You got it all correct. Little Light is amazing.”

“Yay~” Aurora’s tail swayed joyfully behind her.

“Who taught you to read? Was it Moon?”

Aurora blinked her big, beautiful eyes and replied, “Sort of...”

“Sort of?”

“Yeah, when Moon practices reading, I sit nearby and watch. And after watching for a while... I learned.”

Hearing this, even the well-versed General Leon couldn’t help but gasp in surprise.

He had three daughters with the Silver Dragon Queen.

The eldest, Noa, was a genius among geniuses, who excelled in everything she touched, mastering any subject with ease.

The second, Moon, had a laid-back approach, learning what she needed and then relaxing. You couldn’t say she was lazy—she mastered what she had to before taking it easy.

But compared to Noa’s diligence and Moon’s balance of effort, the youngest, Aurora, had developed her own unique method of learning.

She mastered reading by “stealth learning.”

No wonder she had been able to speak just a few weeks after being born but had chosen to keep quiet for two months just to observe her parents bantering.

Even her learning method was extraordinary.

The sound of flipping pages pulled Leon from his thoughts.

He looked down to see Aurora rapidly turning through the pages of the ancient text, spending only seven or eight seconds on each page.

There was no way she could absorb all the content at that speed, right?

Even if she could recognize the words, she couldn’t possibly understand their meaning.

In other words, she was just skimming for fun.

Leon didn’t mind. If the child wanted to look, he’d let her.

“Daddy.”

After a while, Aurora suddenly spoke.

“Hm?”

“Here you go.”

She closed the book and handed it back to Leon.

Leon smiled and patted her on the head. “Was the book boring?”

Children usually liked fairy tales or fables.

When Moon was a little over a year old, she used to pester Leon to read her little stories for young dragons. So why wouldn’t four-month-old Aurora feel the same?

But to his surprise, Aurora shook her head. “The book was quite interesting. It’s a fascinating martial art. It’s just that... it doesn’t mean much to me right now. I just wanted a general idea of what it was about.”

Aurora leaned contentedly against her father’s warm chest, gazing up at the blue sky.

“To me, knowledge that exceeds my current capabilities isn’t entirely useless. It’s important to have a basic understanding of it now so that it’ll be easier to learn later.”

“This is a method I thought of when I was bored. There are probably a lot of flaws in it, but I’ll refine it through practice until it becomes a method that suits me perfectly.”

“Daddy, do you think Little Light’s approach is right?”

At an age where even walking left her out of breath, she was already discussing learning strategies with such insight.

Even Noa, at first, had followed Leon’s guidance step by step, picking up good study habits from him.

But Aurora had learned on her own, not only recognizing so many words through “stealth learning” but also planning her long-term development.

*Little one, are you sure you’ve only been alive for four months?*

*Or are you secretly a reincarnated genius who kept your memories from a past life?*

Leon squeezed her chubby cheeks again. “Little Light, don’t you think it’s a bit early to be thinking about these things?”

Aurora shook her head. “What’s early, and what’s late, Daddy?”

She raised her small hand to the sky, her short fingers spread apart, sunlight filtering through the gaps and illuminating her innocent face.

Her pink eyes sparkled like gemstones, reflecting the soft light.

“I don’t have Noa’s talent, and I don’t think I’ll be someone who works hard like her. But as long as I can think, I’ll keep thinking.”

Hearing this, Leon realized that he could no longer treat his youngest daughter like an ordinary child.

She wasn’t a typical dragon girl.

Though the joke about her being a reincarnated genius was just that—a joke—Aurora’s maturity far exceeded that of her peers.

She might not have Noa’s raw talent, but she had her own strengths—active, independent thinking.

Leon couldn’t help but marvel at how strong these hybrid dragon girls were, each with their own unique abilities.

Maybe... he should talk to Rosvisser about having a couple more? See if they could get an even more overpowered child?

*Ah, humans really do have an innate obsession with “pulling for the rarest cards.”*

Shaking

 his head to clear the random thoughts, Leon looked at Aurora.

“No need to rush to plan your future, Aurora. You’ve got plenty of time.”

“Time... isn’t about how much I have, but how I use it.”

Leon raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “As impressive as you are, there’s no way you came up with that on your own, right?”

Aurora tilted her head up, flashing a cute smile at her father. “I read it in a book. I thought it sounded super cool!”