Leon had to wait for almost half a day before the S-Rank gate finally reacted again, its surface rippling with energy as two familiar figures stepped out from inside.

And the moment Celeste noticed him standing near one of the walls of the divine temple, her entire face brightened before she rushed forward without hesitation and jumped directly into his arms.

"Heyo~" Celeste laughed while wrapping her arms around his neck, "It’s been two whole days!"

"You guys took your sweet time," Leon smiled while steadying her, "Was the assessment actually difficult or something?"

"It wasn’t exactly difficult," Emilia sighed as she walked over to them while adjusting her cloak, "It was just annoying because the assessment required us to gather materials dropped from specific monsters in order to create the [Flowers of Darkness], and one of the items barely dropped at all, so we ended up wasting hours searching for it."

"If you were there, it would’ve probably taken you like ten minutes at most," Celeste pouted before her expression suddenly turned smug, "But anyway... I actually have a surprise for you~"

Leon immediately narrowed his eyes the moment he saw that expression, "You unlocked another ember."

"...Seriously?" Celeste blinked, looking offended that he guessed it so quickly, "I didn’t even say anything yet. Hmph!"

Celeste crossed her arms dramatically before grinning again.

"Fine, yes, I unlocked a new ember after absorbing the [Flower of Darkness]!"

The moment she said that, Leon’s thoughts immediately started moving.

’I knew it,’ he thought while looking at her carefully, ’The embers are definitely tied to special conditions and specific objects. That means if we want to unlock more of them in the future, we’re going to have to search for things connected to their elements.’

"It was actually kind of terrifying," Emilia added while rubbing her forehead as if remembering the scene, "The moment Celeste absorbed the flower, the entire thing started glowing before it dissolved directly into her body, and then black flames exploded around her so suddenly that even the ground cracked apart. I got hit by some of the fire too, though thankfully it didn’t do much because my constitution is high enough."

"That was my special reward for clearing the assessment," Celeste explained proudly before sending a panel toward Leon.

Leon opened it immediately.

[Every "Ember" you acquire will possess different abilities and characteristics, though one thing remains absolute: whenever a new ember awakens inside of you, all of your attributes will permanently double.]

"Holy shit."

Even Leon couldn’t help reacting when he read that. The implications of this reward were honestly ridiculous.

It wasn’t simply the fact each ember gave Celeste new abilities, but the fact her attributes would permanently double every single time she unlocked another one made the growth potential of her talent completely absurd.

The further she advanced, the more terrifying she would become.

"My [Combat Power] reached around 1.3 million now," Celeste laughed confidently while placing her hands on her hips, "I’m probably stronger than you at this point~"

"...You’re not even remotely close," Leon answered immediately with a grin, "Triple that number first, then maybe you can start talking."

"What?"

Celeste froze before immediately opening Leon’s status panel through the friend permissions.

And the moment she saw the numbers...

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

Even Emilia completely lost her composure after seeing it.

"...How is that even possible?" she asked while staring at Leon as if he were some kind of monster, "And here I thought I was about to reveal something impressive."

Leon raised an eyebrow, "You also got something good?"

Emilia nodded before opening one of her own panels.

"My reward allowed me to evolve one of my titles, so I chose [Magic Saint], and it became this."

[Spirit Saint: Multiplies your current Spirit attribute by 10 constantly, greatly increasing the power of all spells.]

"Wow."

Even Leon genuinely meant it this time.

That title evolution alone was insane for a mage like Emilia.

No wonder her aura felt much stronger than before.

"My [Combat Power] reached around 1.6 million," Emilia explained calmly, though there was still obvious satisfaction in her voice, "At this point, most monsters below level eighty would probably die from a single spell."

"See?" Celeste immediately pointed at Emilia. "She’s stronger than me now too!"

"Only temporarily," Emilia smiled faintly. "The moment you unlock another ember, you’ll probably surpass me again."

Overall, all three of them had grown incomparably stronger than before entering their assessments, though even among them, Leon’s growth was simply abnormal to the point it almost felt unfair.

"I guess that’s what happens when someone clears a God-Rank assessment," Celeste shrugged dramatically while looking at him, "Completely broken rewards."

"Weren’t I already broken before?" Leon smirked.

"You were balanced before."

"No, I definitely wasn’t."

Even Emilia sighed in agreement.

Still, after the joking died down slightly, Emilia’s expression became more serious.

"With this much strength though... won’t the [Higher Domains] become easy now?" she asked, "I mean, with your combat power especially, I can’t imagine many things actually threatening you anymore."

"No," Leon shook his head immediately, his expression becoming calmer, "Don’t start thinking like that. We’re stronger than before, yes, but the [Higher Domains] are still dangerous, especially once we get deeper into them. I won’t deny that most things around our level can’t really touch us anymore, but there are still many monsters, players and entities capable of killing us."

Leon especially knew this from experience.

People often became arrogant after sudden jumps in power, and that arrogance usually got them killed.

In the higher levels, the difference between each level became more ridiculous than most people could imagine.

A level 90 monster might possess around five million combat power, while a level 91 could suddenly jump to six million depending on its skills.

And that was exactly why so many players got stuck at certain levels for months.

The higher you climbed, the more absurd everything became.

But before the conversation could continue, Celeste suddenly remembered something else.

"Oh right!" she exclaimed before sending another panel toward Leon. "I forgot to show you the actual ember itself."

Leon opened it immediately.

[Darkness Embers: Flames of darkness shall surround your body and consume all enemies that approach, burning away the very light of their souls.]