Training-Addicted Mage In A Progression Fantasy-Chapter 28: Ancient Mages Lair (5)

Leon raised his eyebrows as he observed his own condition.

It had been 4 days since he endured the pain of his Core forcibly expanding, feeling as if his flesh was being torn apart.

Leon was fully conscious, but in a strange state of haziness.

He didn’t feel the sensation of his consciousness clearing and his understanding suddenly expanding, as he usually did when raising his Grade by one level.

Whether this was a Grade increase or not......

It was an ambiguous sensation, as if he was halfway there.

Leon only realized he had raised his Grade when he noticed the translucent window that appeared before his eyes.

[Progression Assistant]• Information▶ Name: Leon▶ Grade: Apprentice 5th Grade ▶ Magic Quality: D-▶ Attribute Constitution: Full-Attribute Body (Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Wood, Lightning, Light, Darkness)In the meantime, after consuming 30 Elixirs, his Magic Quality had also increased by one level, changing from E+ to D-.

It seems he didn’t even have time to feel the thrilling and pleasant sensation that comes with increasing Magic Quality.

Leon also checked the Realm Ascension reward.

[Progression Assistant]▶ Reward probability has increased due to realm ascension.▶ Provided 500 hours of Space-Time Orb use.▶ Please select an additional realm ascension reward.▶ Elixir (C+ Grade Balance Crystal) / Artifact (C+ Grade Lightning Staff)Hmm......

Until now, the grade of the additional rewards had been increasing, but this time it was a C+ grade reward, the same as before.

That’s not what’s important.

C+ grade Elixir, Balance Crystal.It was neither an Essence nor a Concentrate.Although he couldn’t grasp the exact meaning from the name alone, it was a name that caught Leon’s attention, given his unstable Core.

Did an Elixir that could stabilize Magic Power exist?

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Leon had never heard of such a thing.

And Leon felt an uneasy feeling.

Such an Elixir appearing just when he happened to need Magic Power stabilization?

Leon reflected on the additional rewards he had received so far.

Refined Concentrate, Guardian Golem, Laidra’s Glory’s Thunder.

When he desperately needed Elixirs, the Refined Concentrate appeared, and when he needed a means to protect himself, the Guardian Golem appeared.When he urgently needed a Magic Book, Glory’s Thunder appeared.

And now.When he needed Magic Power stabilization, the Balance Crystal appeared.

I’m being given what I need......

Does this reward system have an ‘intention’?

While he wasn’t sure about general Quest rewards, the rewards ‘directly’ given as additional rewards were blatant.

This is just... openly helping me.

Come to think of it......

The Full-Attribute Body appearing as the 300th reward might not have been purely due to my luck.

Until now, he thought he was lucky to have a Full-Attribute Body despite consistently receiving F-Grade rewards.

Leon chose the Balance Crystal while trying to calm his complicated thoughts.

He changed the reward for the general Quest, which is automatically completed when the Realm is broken through, to an Artifact.This was to prepare for dealing with the Golem outside.

[Progression Assistant]▶ You have acquired a one-time Explosion Scroll (D-).With the increased reward probability, a D-Grade normal reward had appeared.

Leon stared at the Balance Crystal placed on his palm.

It was a cubic crystal the size of a thumb joint.It was transparent in color, but inside, a light blue and purple seemed to swirl and mix together.

Upon examining it with Appraisal Magic, he found it was an Elixir that could repair a damaged Core and calm unstable Magic Power.

Although Leon’s condition wasn’t as severe as having a damaged Core, consuming it could calm his current unstable Magic Power state.

Leon put the crystal down without consuming it for now.

Leon’s original plan was to first raise his Realm and then secure time for the lacking enlightenment with the Magic Orb time he would receive.

A strategy known as ‘borrow now, pay later’.

Now Leon had 673 hours of Magic Orb time.It was enough time to stay inside the Magic Orb for about 28 days.

During this time, he planned to elevate his consciousness that hadn’t yet caught up with his raised Realm.

If it weren’t for the Balance Crystal......

Leon examined the remaining Essences.

14 C-Grade Essences.5 B-Grade Essences.1 A-Grade Essence.

Leon placed 8 C-Grade Essences on his palm and fell into contemplation.

The grade of the ‘Balance Crystal’ was C+.

C-Grade is effective even for the Arcane Grade.

It seemed wasteful to consume it at the Apprentice 5th Grade level.

I think I can make it to the Arcane Grade.

Leon put the 8 Essences back into his mouth.

“Ugh......”

The Essences had no taste, but for some reason, he felt nauseous.

And another 2 days of pain passed.

On Leon’s palm, who was sitting cross-legged, 3 B-Grade Essences were placed again.

“Haha......”

Leon couldn’t help but smile.

Despite his smiling face, he hesitated to so carelessly put the Essences into his mouth.

“Haha... Hah...”

With his eyes tightly shut in reluctance, Leon placed three B-Grade Essences into his dry mouth.

The Essences melted in his mouth, sublimating into Magic Power and penetrating deep into his body.

As uncontrolled Magic Power was already rampaging and making Leon’s entire body ache, that sensation wasn’t strongly felt.

And suddenly, his mind became distant.

Forcibly breaking through in a moment that needed enlightenment made his mind hazy.

In a consciousness that seemed about to break but didn’t, Leon tried to regain his senses, but it didn’t work as he wished.

Just before his consciousness was about to break, Leon instinctively swallowed the Balance Crystal.

The moment he confirmed something starting to permeate the rampaging Magic Power, Leon lost consciousness.

***

When Leon opened his eyes, he realized in his dazed state that he had risen to the Arcane Realm.

......It’s exactly the same as when I reached 5th Grade.

An ambiguous state where it’s unclear whether this is truly the Arcane Grade or not.

A state that could be described as straddling halfway.

But Leon was satisfied enough with this state.Without the Balance Crystal, he might have failed to rise in Realm, let alone straddling halfway.Then he would have had to eat all the remaining Essences.

I can’t do that anymore......

Even with a Full-Attribute Body, if he does the same when breaking through from Arcane to Mystic, the imbalance between consciousness and Core would become much worse.

It’s also difficult to obtain more Essences to do so.

On the surface of the Core, which had grown more than twice as large as when he was at 5th Grade, something like thin threads was undulating.

And among those threads, 3 were stretched out long, connecting to Leon’s head.

This was a characteristic of Arcane Grade Mages, called threads of will.

Leon realized that these 3 threads were an abnormal number.In a bad sense.

When a Mage with average talent rises to the Arcane Grade, 2-3 threads are pulled from the Core and connected to the head.

These threads enable multiple incantations.

If Leon had normally risen to the Arcane Grade with his talent, at least 9 to 10 threads should have been connected to his head.

This means he could have performed Ninefold or Tenfold Incantations.

Because he hadn’t gained proper enlightenment and risen to the Realm, Leon’s ‘will’ hadn’t yet caught up with the Arcane Realm.

[Progression Assistant]• Information▶ Name: Leon▶ Grade: Early Arcane Grade▶ Magic Quality: D-▶ Attribute Constitution: Full-Attribute Body (Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Wood, Lightning, Light, Darkness) • General Quest▶ Basic Magic Training (Completed)• Reward▶ Artifact (Changed) • Breakthrough Quest▶ Realm Ascension (Completed) • Mileage Exchange Center▶ Mileage Exchange Center has been added.[Progression Assistant]▶ Reward probability has increased due to realm ascension.▶ Provided 1000 hours of Space-Time Orb use.▶ Please select an additional realm ascension reward.▶ Magic Book (B+ Grade Tree Magic 'Amonea School Ten Thousand Leaves') / Artifact (B+ Grade Mirror of Truth)In fact, the additional rewards were somewhat different from what Leon had hoped for when consuming the B-Grade Essence.

He wanted an Artifact with powerful effects, but the Mirror of Truth...... just by its name, it didn’t seem to be an Artifact with powerful effects.

Rather, the Magic Book was the reward Leon needed more right now.

Is it not simply what I want, but what I need most right now that appears?

Leon fell into contemplation as he faced the rewards.

Certainly, upon reaching B-Grade, both rewards were attractive enough that it wasn’t easy to choose.

The Mirror of Truth seemed to be an Artifact that could detect lies or perceive hidden opponents.

On the other hand, the B+ Tree Magic was magic that could be used up to the Mystic Grade.Moreover, it was Attribute Magic that Leon currently didn’t possess.

Leon eventually chose ‘Ten Thousand Leaves’.

A book with a green cover fell onto Leon’s palm.

Before examining it, Leon looked at the Mileage Exchange Center.

[Progression Assistant]• Mileage Exchange Center▶ F(0/5)▶ E(0/5)▶ D(0/5)▶ C(0/5)▶ B(0/5)▶ A(0/5)▶ Collecting 5 rewards of the same Grade provides an opportunity to exchange for a higher Grade reward. The exchange result is determined by probability.Collecting 5......

Considering the meaning of mileage, it seemed like a system where useless rewards could be exchanged.

Leon first received the General Quest reward.

[Progression Assistant]▶ You have acquired Three-Stage Acceleration Golden Wings (C+)▶Apply ▶CancelLeon immediately noticed the change.

It wasn’t simply acquiring it, but he could choose whether to accept it or not.

If I press cancel, does it accumulate as mileage?

However, the reward was too good to press cancel.Now that the reward probability had increased, F-Grade rewards rarely appeared, but it was good that they could be exchanged for mileage if they did appear occasionally.

When Leon pressed confirm, three pairs of golden wings fell onto his palm.

They were small enough to fit in his palm, but when he infused Magic Power, they grew large enough to be attached to Leon’s back.

Upon examining with Appraisal Magic, it turned out to be an auxiliary Artifact for Levitation Magic.

It reduced the Magic Power consumption of Levitation Magic and could dramatically increase speed three times.After using it three times, acceleration couldn’t be used for a day.

The color is a bit...... not to my liking.

The golden color was too eye-catching the moment Leon attached it to his back.

But he was satisfied with the fact that it could help him avoid dangerous situations.

There was one more change.

[Progression Assistant]• General Quest▶ Training (0/10)The General Quest had changed from Basic Magic Training to just Training.

......This means even just doing Breathing Technique will progress the Quest.

Does this mean that now that it has given some direction, I should train as I please?

It was strange to think that the system had some intention, but considering everything that had happened so far, it was quite imaginable.

The surface of the Space-Time Orb had the white number 1693 written on it.

Adding the 1500 hours obtained as a Realm Ascension reward and the 20 hours reward from the two automatically completed General Quests......

Huh?

It was 10 hours more than Leon’s calculation.

I see, becoming an Arcane Mage increased the General Quest reward to 20 hours......

It seemed that as his Grade increased, the time that needed to be devoted to training increased accordingly.

Leon grasped the Orb after finishing the calculation.It had been 2 weeks since he entered this Training Room.

Now it’s time to pay back......

Leon, who entered the Orb, didn’t come out for two months.

He brought the ceramic jar containing nutritious fruits into the Orb.

For the first two weeks, he spent time stabilizing the Magic Power that had risen to Arcane Grade, and for the next month, he steadily trained the Fourth and Fifth Level Arpina Basic Magic that he couldn’t train while raising his Grade with Elixirs, spending time to fill in the lacking enlightenment.

For the last two weeks, he gradually touched on the Arcane Grade magic Laidra’s Glory’s Thunder while continuing with Arpina Basic Magic.

Glory’s Thunder wasn’t a magic that followed the usual progression from Basic Magic. Instead, it explicitly required starting from the Arcane Grade.

At the 1-star level, it only touched on Basic Magic concepts. From 2-star onwards, it delved into high-level magic. By the 3-star level, practitioners were expected to dabble in true Arcane Magic.

Arcane Magic, which could be fully utilized in the latter stages of Early Arcane Grade, boasted powerful one-shot potential. At this level, one could use spells like ‘Dawn’s Thunder.’ While not as potent as ‘Glory’s Thunder’ - a spell reserved for Advanced Arcane Grade - it was still formidable in its own right.

I’m not quite there yet......

After two months, Leon hadn’t fully transitioned into the Arcane realm.

If I leave the Lair, I’ll need to dedicate at least 3 months solely to training......

Though he hadn’t reached the stage where consciousness directly manifested as magic, the noticeably shortened incantation process was encouraging.

He had 250 hours left in the Orb.

Which he decided after some deliberation to reserve for unforeseen circumstances.

Back in reality, Leon raised his index finger.

“Thunderlight.”

A tiny orb of lightning formed above his fingertip.

When he flung it at the wall, it crackled on impact, spreading across the entire surface. Thanks to the Protective Magic Circle, the wall remained unmarred.

“Fall.”

With a downward stroke of his finger, a small thunderbolt materialized from the ceiling and descended.

“Not bad.”

These were both Second Level Glory’s Thunder spells: Thunderlight and Thunderstrike.

The 1-star magic of Glory’s Thunder included Spark, which generated small electric charges, and Lightning Bolt, which could launch those charges like arrows. These served as the foundation for the 2-star magic.

Leon didn’t bother with other Lightning attribute Basic Magic, as they weren’t essential for mastering Glory’s Thunder.

After acquiring 1-star magic in two weeks, Leon had begun to explore the 2-star spells.

The power is still lacking, but... it’s definitely a step up from Apprentice magic.

This impression was amplified by Glory’s Thunder’s inherently offensive nature.

Leon spent the next 4 days honing his Glory’s Thunder Second Level magic, alternating between 20 hours in reality and 10 hours in the Orb daily.

He also planned to acquire some Artifacts as General Quest rewards before leaving.

As he grew more comfortable with the 2-star magic, he finally rose to his feet.

Wow, this Chapter was really awkward to translate lol. Tons of new terms and seemingly random information thrown in the mix. One big change I did retroactively was fix inconsistencies on how some magic is described; 'first level', 'second level' have all been changed to '1-star'. '2-star' etc. I did my best to make it as digestible as possible, feedback is appreciated.