King stood in the center of the training room. Fresh dummies surrounded him. The system had replaced the wreckage from Maya’s session and reset the space to a clean proper condition. King rolled his shoulders and dismissed the Gauntlet of Ruin from his hand.

This session wasn’t about honing his skill as a combatant.

He flicked his wrist and pulled up his interface, navigating to his item list.

He located Ephelia’s Elemental Magic Scroll and tapped on it.

The Scroll materialized as a glowing panel in front of him. Its border pulsed with faint gold light, and the new Epic Grade was on full display.

King studied the contents.

The scroll divided into four sections. Fire. Water. Earth. Wind. Each section listed five spells in ascending power. Originally, the spells ranked from F - B, perfect for early to mid game navigation, but after the upgrade, the tiers had changed.

[FIRE]

E-Rank: Ember Spark

· D-Rank: Flame Bolt

· C-Rank: Scorching Burst

· B-Rank: Inferno Wave

· A-Rank: Cataclysm

[WATER]

E-Rank: Aqua Dart

· D-Rank: Torrent Strike

· C-Rank: Freezing Cascade

· B-Rank: Tidal Crush

· A-Rank: Dephts of the Abyss

[EARTH]

E-Rank: Stone Shard

· D-Rank: Boulder Toss

· C-Rank: Earthen Spire

· B-Rank: Quake Slam

· A-Rank: Wrath of the Titan

[WIND]

E-Rank: Gust Push

· D-Rank: Wind Blade

· C-Rank: Cyclone Spiral

· B-Rank: Tempest Strike

· A-Rank: Sovereign Gale

King’s gaze stopped on the A-Rank spells. Cataclysm. Depth of the Abyss. Wrath of the Titan. Sovereign Gale. Each sounded like battlefield-ending magic.

He tapped Cataclysm.

The description expanded. Area of effect. Damage scaling. Mana cost. King pressed the [LEARN] button at the bottom of the interface.

A red notification flashed across his vision.

[ERROR: INSUFFICIENT MAGE RANK]

[REQUIREMENT: B-RANK MAGE OR HIGHER]

[CURRENT RANK: D-RANK MAGE]

[SPELL LEARNING FAILED]

King exhaled through his nose and dismissed the message with a swipe.

"As expected."

The magic scroll only allowed players to learn spells one rank above their current mage rank. A D-Rank Mage could learn up to C-Rank spells. A C-Rank Mage could reach B-Rank spells. That was Ephelia’s way of making sure her knowledge was saved for the very elite.

"Guess that too didn’t change"

King scrolled back to the C-Rank spells and tapped Scorching Burst.

The description unfolded.

[SCORCHING BURST]

Rank: C

Element: Fire

MP Cost: 40

Effect: Conjures a concentrated sphere of volatile flames that detonates on impact, dealing high fire damage in a moderate radius. Enemies caught in the blast suffer burn status for 5 seconds.

King pressed [LEARN].

The system accepted the command.

And immediately, knowledge flooded King’s mind. Hand gestures. Mana flow through his internal channels. The mental visualization to summon and stabilize the spell’s core. Within seconds, the spell embedded into his skill set.

[SPELL LEARNED: SCORCHING BURST]

King kept going.

He selected one C-Rank spell from each element.

[SPELL LEARNED: FREEZING CASCADE]

[SPELL LEARNED: EARTHEN SPIRE]

[SPELL LEARNED: CYCLONE SPIRAL]

Four new spells. All C-Rank and ready to deploy.

Then he proceeded to learn the E rank spells from Fire and Wind just in case he had to save MP.

[SPELL LEARNED: EMBER SPARK]

[SPELL LEARNED: GUST PUNCH]

King dismissed the scroll interface and turned toward the training dummies.

He raised his right hand, palm forward. Without the staff, using just his own focus. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"Ember Spark."

A small ember shot from his palm. It struck the dummy’s chest and left a scorch mark the size of a coin.

King shook out his hand and reset his stance. Increasing his focus and the amount of mana he poured into it.

A thicker shot of fire launched from his palm and punched into the dummy’s torso. The impact left a smoking crater in the reinforced material.

King nodded. E ranks at max out put were functional but underwhelming. Now it was time for the real test.

He shifted his feet and pulled mana from his core.

"Scorching Burst."

His mana pool drained by forty points. A sphere of compressed fire materialized six inches from his palm, growing from fist-sized to basketball-sized in under a second. The flames twisted inward, condensing into a violently unstable mass.

King thrust his palm forward.

The sphere shot across the room and slammed into the dummy’s torso. The explosion erupted outward in a roaring wave of heat and light. When the flames dissipated, the dummy stood scorched and cracked. Blackened but not completely wrecked.

King nodded. Solid damage for a mid-tier spell.

He shifted his attention to the next target and raised his left hand.

"Freezing Cascade."

The air temperature dropped sharply. A torrent of freezing water spiraled up from the floor beneath the dummy and encased it in jagged ice layers within seconds. The construct’s limbs locked in place.

King moved to the next target without waiting for the ice to thaw.

He pressed both palms toward the floor.

"Earthen Spire."

The ground beneath a third dummy cracked open. A pillar of stone erupted upward and slammed into the target with enough force to lift it off the floor. The dummy crashed back down in a heap, its structural integrity compromised.

King turned to the final dummy in the row.

He swept his right arm in a horizontal arc.

"Cyclone Spiral."

Wind gathered around King’s forearm, swirling faster until it formed a visible vortex. He thrust his palm forward and released the cyclone. The spiraling gust slammed into the dummy, lifted it off its feet, and hurled it backward. The dummy crashed into the far wall.

King lowered his arms. His breathing remained steady. His mana pool had dropped by two hundred points across the four spells, but the results spoke for themselves. Each spell hit hard, offered tactical versatility. And most importantly, scaled with his Mind stat.

This was exactly what he needed.

He ran through the spells again. Ember Spark into Scorching Burst as a quick follow-up.

Scorching Burst into Freezing Cascade to create steam clouds for cover. Earthen Spire for area denial. Cyclone Spiral for crowd control.

The training dummies regenerated every few minutes. King repeated the rotations until the casting motions became second nature, and the mana flow felt as effortless as breathing.

Then a notification pinged across his vision.

[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT: RANKING UPDATE]

King stopped. He dismissed the half-formed Scorching Burst in his palm. The notification expanded into two leaderboards.

[POWER RANKING]

1. King – 4,300 pts

2. Cain – 3700 pts

3. Pantheon – 3,500 pts

4. Hunt_Starbuster – 3,300 pts

5. Alita80 – 2,900 pts

6. Lady_Geladria – 2,800 pts

7. Zoro – 2,500 pts

8. Tagr – 2,300 pts

9. Isaac_Craig – 1,900 pts

10. The_Table_Turner – 1,800 pts

King remained at the top. His power ranking hadn’t budged, and the difference between his and Cain’s, had increased as well. He was a bit relieved, although this didn’t always translate to battle skill, experience and victory, it was safer to know he was recognized as the stronger player by the system.

He swiped to the second board.

[POPULAR RANKING]

1.Hunt_Starbuster – 5,000 pts

2. Cain– 4,800pts

3. Alita80– 4,600 pts

4. Lady_Geladria– 4,600 pts

5. Zoro – 4,300 pts

6. Isaac_Craig – 4000 pts King – 3,900 pts

8. The_Table_Turner – 3,300 pts

9. Liz_Starbuster – 3,200 pts

10. Tagr – 1,900 pts

King stared at the number beside his name.

Seventh.

He had dropped from first to seventh in Popular Ranking.

No doubt, the Almighty’s temporal ban had resulted in her points being frozen, and so his new score was temporarily reduced.

Hunt Starbuster had surged ahead on their pre-existing fame. His activities and open recruitment into the Hunter’s Association had obviously contributed to this leap, he was quickly becoming, Mr Popular.

King closed the interface.

He reopened the chat window briefly to confirm how the players responded.

Messages scrolled past immediately.

[Did King just drop to 7th in Popular??]

[LMAOOO he fell off HARD]

[Man was rank 1 in both and now he’s not even top 5 in one]

[Hunt and Liz taking over. About time.]

[King’s done. He’s not entertaining anymore.]

[Nah, he’s still number 1 in Power. That’s what matters.]

[How long will that hold, if nobody’s watching. Fans gifts are becoming the real deal]

King closed the chat.

The drop in Popular Ranking didn’t bother him. Popularity was a fickle metric. Viewer engagement. Public perception, a public they had no idea about. He was more focused on his power scale, for the Second Woe.

Fans would always come.

He turned his attention back to the training dummies.

And resumed his training.

Again.

And again.

Honing his general fighting skills till he was satisfied.