After that quiet night came to an end—a night in which the walls both Leo and Eliaria had built around their hearts finally crumbled away—an indescribable sense of relief settled over them both. It was as though a burden that had weighed upon their souls for far too long had finally been lifted, allowing them to breathe freely once again.
Their conversation had been far more than a simple exchange of words.
It had marked the end of hesitation.
The end of unspoken emotions.
And the beginning of an unspoken understanding between them.
When dawn arrived, everything seemed to return to its usual rhythm.
Yet something had undeniably changed.
For Leo, that night had become a turning point.
There was no longer room for distraction.
Only a single month remained before his departure from the Forest of the Elves, and every passing day had become too precious to waste.
From that moment onward, he devoted himself entirely to training.
His world narrowed to nothing but magic, meditation, and relentless self-improvement.
Day after day, he secluded himself within his hidden sanctuary, pushing both his body and his mana beyond their limits, as though the outside world had ceased to exist.
Every hour spent resting felt like time stolen from his own growth.
Every spell he refined...
Every circuit of mana he strengthened...
Brought him one step closer to the future that awaited him beyond the forest.
---
Meanwhile, the Kingdom of the Elves was undergoing one of the most turbulent periods in its recent history.
Following the downfall of the secret opposition faction and the complete exposure of its conspiracy, news spread across the Great Forest with astonishing speed.
One corrupt minister after another was arrested.
Some were charged with treason.
Others were stripped of their noble titles after evidence revealed their involvement with the hidden faction.
Rumors raced through elven society like wildfire consuming a dry forest.
Within only a few days, every village, marketplace, noble estate, and military encampment echoed with the same conversations.
No one could believe it.
The very individuals who had once stood as pillars supporting the kingdom...
Had revealed themselves to be the termites slowly devouring its foundations from within.
The revelation struck the kingdom like thunder beneath a clear sky.
---
Time flowed onward.
Ten days passed in the blink of an eye.
After nearly ten consecutive days of relentless cultivation, Leo gradually realized that his progress had exceeded even his own expectations.
He could clearly sense it.
He had already stepped onto the threshold of the Fifth Circle's peak—a level he had originally estimated would require at least an entire month of uninterrupted training to attain.
He slowly opened his eyes after another meditation session, quietly observing the flow of mana circulating through every corner of his body.
A faint smile appeared across his lips.
"This body..."
"Its potential surpasses anything I imagined."
His astonishing progress wasn't solely the result of experience accumulated over countless lifetimes.
The body of Leo Dainhart itself possessed extraordinary natural talent—far greater than he had initially assumed.
It was a vessel overflowing with untapped potential.
As his magical power continued to grow, another pleasant surprise revealed itself.
His tolerance toward the Eye of Destiny had improved significantly.
Where he had once been able to maintain it for only a brief period, he could now sustain its activation for nearly eight full minutes before his body reached its limit.
For most mages...
Such progress would have bordered on the miraculous.
---
One evening, as crimson sunlight filtered through the endless canopy of ancient trees, Leo finally decided to leave his secluded training ground.
This time...
He wasn't merely going hunting.
His objective was far more valuable.
Through previous experiments, he had discovered something remarkable.
Absorbing magical energy directly from defeated magical beasts through the Eye of Destiny accelerated his mana growth far beyond what ordinary cultivation techniques could achieve.
The difference was enormous.
If conventional training resembled filling a lake one drop at a time...
Then absorbing mana from magical creatures was like opening a floodgate.
At the same time, another hope lingered quietly in the back of his mind.
Perhaps...
If fortune smiled upon him once again...
He might encounter another rare magical beast like the Jighar.
After all, it had been that extraordinary creature which had granted him the invaluable Multiple Cloning ability.
The possibility was slim.
But not impossible.
Unfortunately...
Reality proved far less generous.
Even within the Great Forest of the Elves, creatures possessing unique bloodline abilities were extraordinarily rare.
Hours passed.
Yet Leo found nothing beyond ordinary magical beasts.
Eventually, he let out a quiet sigh.
"It seems..."
"I've become rather greedy."
---
As he continued wandering deeper into the forest, he eventually encountered a small pack of common magical beasts.
They hadn't noticed him.
Leo silently approached until every one of them fell within the range of his vision.
Then...
His crimson eye slowly opened.
The Eye of Destiny activated.
At almost the same instant, a Fourth-Circle magic formation unfolded beneath the beasts.
An overwhelming surge of icy mana erupted.
A colossal spear of crystal ice burst violently from the earth with explosive speed.
It pierced through every beast in a single devastating strike.
None of them even had the chance to scream.
Death claimed them instantly.
Moments later, Leo felt a faint stream of mana flow into his own body.
Exactly as expected.
A slight increase...
Small, yet undeniably real.
But before satisfaction could settle in...
Something changed.
Without warning...
His vision blurred.
The entire world seemed to distort before his eyes, as though reality itself had begun to melt into indistinct shapes.
His balance faltered.
Then...
A strange warmth trickled down his cheeks.
He instinctively reached toward his face.
When he looked at his fingertips...
They were stained crimson.
Blood.
His eyes were weeping blood.
At that very moment, his consciousness began slipping away.
His body suddenly felt impossibly heavy.
The boundary separating reality from illusion blurred beyond recognition.
His legs trembled beneath him.
He staggered several steps before collapsing against the trunk of an enormous ancient tree.
Breathing became difficult.
Every muscle in his body screamed in protest.
His strength abandoned him little by little.
Time passed.
He wasn't sure how long.
Eventually...
His awareness slowly returned.
Even after opening his eyes, however, the dizziness refused to disappear.
Still...
He forced himself to think.
"What happened?"
The answer arrived almost immediately.
There was no mystery.
Every symptom had begun the instant he activated the Eye of Destiny.
The bloody tears...
The overwhelming exhaustion...
The collapsing consciousness...
All of it pointed toward a single conclusion.
Closing his eyes, Leo released a slow breath.
"So..."
"I'm still far too weak to wield this eye freely."
"Until I become stronger..."
"I should reserve it for only the most desperate situations."
A bitter smile appeared on his face.
"I was fortunate."
"Had I encountered a truly powerful magical beast while I was in that condition..."
"Leaving this forest alive would've been impossible."
Silence followed.
Then he quietly murmured,
"As expected..."
"Every overwhelming power demands an equally overwhelming price."
From that day onward, Leo reached a firm decision.
He would no longer use the Eye of Destiny merely to accelerate his mana growth.
Only opponents possessing extraordinarily dense magical energy would ever justify risking such a terrifying backlash again.
---
Afterward, Leo returned to his hidden sanctuary.
Exhaustion consumed every inch of his body.
For the first time in many days, he abandoned his usual training routine altogether.
Instead...
He simply lay down.
The moment his head touched the ground, sleep claimed him almost instantly.
---
The following morning...
Leo slowly opened his eyes.
Still slightly groggy, he blinked several times before realizing someone was sitting quietly nearby.
He turned his head.
"Eliaria?"
A hint of surprise crossed his face.
"What are you doing here?"
Eliaria smiled warmly.
"I followed your footprints."
She glanced around the secluded clearing before continuing with a gentle laugh.
"I thought I'd come visit you from time to time."
Leo remained silent for a moment.
Then he sighed inwardly.
"My mistake."
"I forgot to erase my tracks before coming here."
Still...
The thought didn't trouble him for long.
"It's fine."
"I intended to leave this training ground to her once I departed anyway."
"Besides..."
"Having one trustworthy person know about this place shouldn't become a problem."
---
And so...
The days drifted by with remarkable speed.
Leo immersed himself in endless training, relentlessly refining both his magic and his control.
Meanwhile, Eliaria continued visiting him whenever her duties allowed, bringing with her a quiet warmth that gradually became part of his otherwise solitary routine.
Neither of them ever spoke about it.
Yet those peaceful visits slowly became something they both looked forward to.
Time flowed onward without either of them truly noticing.
One day faded into the next.
Until...
At last...
The twenty-fifth day of the month quietly arrived.