Leon arrived inside the dimensional realm, the familiar sensation of his created space washing over him like coming home.

WHUMMM!

He could immediately feel in the distance his clone still practicing the darkness element exactly as he’d desired—their shared will guiding both bodies toward the same mastery goal.

The training continues even while I’m occupied elsewhere.

The first thing Leon did was take a meditative position on the soft grass, settling cross-legged with perfect posture. He reached into his inventory and withdrew the mana cores he’d been saving—his rewards from the brutal monster wave battles.

SHIMMER!

The cores materialized before him in neat rows. There was one precious archon-ranked core—massive and pulsing with concentrated power—along with several sage-ranked cores. He counted quickly. More than thirty sage-ranked cores. Not bad at all. He decided to start methodically, beginning with the sage-rank cores and saving the archon-ranked prize for last.

WHUMMM!

Leon placed his palms on the first sage core and began the absorption process. Energy flowed into him in rushing waves—pure, condensed mana being converted and integrated into his cultivation base. From the system, messages appeared on transparent golden screens from time to time as he finished absorbing each core.

[You have absorbed a Sage-Rank Monster Core]

[Level Up!]

[You are now Level 41]

He continued steadily, core after core, watching his Level tick upward with each successful absorption. The euphoric sensation never diminished—each time felt as potent as the first. After completing all the sage-rank cores—more than thirty in total—Leon checked his progress and felt truly satisfied with the result. My Level increased by four. More than I’d initially imagined it would. That was solid growth considering how much energy was required at his current cultivation stage.

Lastly, at the end of his absorption session, Leon turned his attention to the archon-ranked core. He held the massive sphere carefully—it was nearly the size of a basketball, glowing with brilliant internal light that pulsed like a heartbeat.

THRUM... THRUM... THRUM...

The feeling of energy being absorbed by his core made him demonstrably stronger, his mind becoming clearer and more focused with each passing moment. It’s addicting. Truly addictive. It took him noticeably longer to absorb the archon-ranked core compared to the sage-ranked ones. The sheer density of power contained within required careful processing to avoid any cultivation damage.

WHUMMM!

The core began to glow brighter as its energy transferred into him. He received multiple level-up messages during the entire absorption process, and to his absolute surprise, he leveled up five times from that single core alone.

[Level Up!] [You are now Level 42]

[Level Up!] [You are now Level 43]

[Level Up!] [You are now Level 44]

[Level Up!] [You are now Level 45]

[Level Up!] [You are now Level 46]

Five levels. From one core. Compared to the more than thirty sage-ranked cores he’d absorbed—which only increased his Level by four total—this was extraordinary. And that was while taking into consideration that these five levels were from progressively higher thresholds, each requiring exponentially more energy than the previous. Archon-ranked cores are really incredible. This one contained substantially more energy than the previous semi-archon-ranked core Archon Vyrra had given me.

Leon couldn’t wait to get his hands on more. He sincerely hoped more archon-ranked monsters would emerge from the rift during the next battle, giving him additional hunting opportunities. The stronger the prey, the greater the reward. I need to face tougher opponents.

Now Leon called out mentally to his system interface, wanting to check his updated statistics properly. Even without looking at the numbers, he could physically feel the substantial increase coursing through his body. He was considerably stronger than before—while it might not be as dramatic a growth percentage as earlier cultivation breakthroughs, this was still far from negligible. I can feel it clearly. At least a twenty percent overall increase in capabilities, or probably more, only real testing would show actual growth...

The proof of his advancement appeared before his eyes in crystalline clarity:

[Name: Prim Leo’el Divaneth]

[Level: 46]

[Class: Elemental Paragon (SSS)]

[Age: 19 (Soul Age: 35)]

[Race: Divinordial]

[Titles: Hope Breaker (Common), Anomaly (Divine), Myth Breaker (Mythical)]

[Cultivation: Ascendant Rank]

[Affinity: All (Rank 7)]

[Strength: ★⯨]

[Agility: ★⯨]

[Stamina: ★⯨]

[Mana: 10,820]

[Intelligence: 2,635]

Since I entered the Ascendant rank, each Level increases mana by four hundred points and intelligence by eighty. The scaling is perfect.

The amount of mana he currently held was truly astronomical—over ten thousand points of pure magical energy at his disposal. And as always, intelligence made his control over that mana faster, clearer, and expanded the limit of how much complex manipulation he could handle simultaneously.

Also notable was the half-star increase across all his physical statistics—Strength, Agility, and Stamina had all improved measurably.

The growth is more impressive than I imagined it would be. I’m approaching true power now.

Leon couldn’t wait to train more extensively and test the absolute limits of his mana capabilities, his physical Strength, and all his combined abilities working in concert.

However, he would hold off on that intensive testing for now. There were other priorities.

First, I need to absorb these skill stones. Then I’ll visit Seraphine. We need to talk about some important things.

Leon took out all the skill stones he’d carefully selected and kept specifically for his personal use. They appeared in a small pile before him—glowing crystalline formations containing compressed knowledge and power. There are ten or so here. All high-quality abilities that complement my fighting style.

One by one, he broke each skill stone methodically.

CRACK!

The first crystal shattered in his hand. It contained information that entered his mind in the form of pure energy—knowledge uploading directly into his consciousness. His body adjusted internally, restructuring itself according to the skill’s requirements. New neural pathways formed. Muscle memory established itself instantly. Mana circulation patterns rewrote themselves to accommodate the new ability.

CRACK!

The second stone broke. More information flooded his consciousness. The integration process was becoming smoother with each one. He continued through all ten stones systematically. Each time, the knowledge transferred seamlessly, his body adapting to the new techniques without resistance.

CRACK!

The ninth crystal released a torrent of silver light tinged with a deep, ominous red and black. It wasn’t just knowledge—it was a vision. A volcanic battlefield opened in Leon’s mind. He saw a figure—cloaked in shadows, wreathed in crimson darkish flame—raise a hand and command a spiraling pillar of fire to obey his will.

Hellflame Control.

The fire burned black at the edges. It didn’t just incinerate—it devoured mana, consumed intent, and corrupted lesser flames in its wake.

As the vision faded, Leon’s spine tingled. His lungs felt seared for a moment. His veins ran hot, his core restructuring subtly to withstand the sheer thermal pressure.

A new circulation path had formed. This wasn’t ordinary fire—it was a predator among flames.

God, what was that!

This was the first time, while learning a skill, something like this happened to him.

Normal skill vision appears as a shoulder similar to his practicing the skill when learning; however, this was too real and different. Who was that cloaked figure...

What skill did I just learned...

He doesn’t even know that if this was a good thing or bad but for now Leon had to visit Seraphine, or else he would love to investigate this new skill he had obtained from that three-faced Archon-ranked monster.

Before leaving one thing was sure in his mind, this skill was not any ordinary skill for such a vision to appear, as this was not the first time he had learned a legendary skill; nothing like this happened before.

Then, without any delay, Leon directly teleported using his inherent control over the Time Dimension.

FWOOSH!

He appeared in the sky directly above where Seraphine was training in the dimensional world below.

Seraphine immediately detected his presence through her enhanced senses. A brilliant, wide smile spread across her beautiful face as she looked up at him—radiant happiness shining from her expression.

She’d been missing him intensely. He’d been paying regular visits to her for quite some time, and those encounters had been thrilling; she loved every moment of it in between the repetitive training inside the accelerated time dimension, which meant they’d spent subjective weeks together recently. Her "training" sessions were never boring when he was involved.

But this time, he hadn’t appeared for what felt like a long stretch to her, which meant he’d been occupied outside the dimensional space.

A beautiful mixture of light and lightning elements worked together seamlessly as Seraphine activated her flight technique. Her body lifted gracefully from the ground, ascending toward him through the open air.

Leon was impressed watching her fly—this was his first time seeing her demonstrate such aerial mobility.

Well, considering her new strength level, it’s obvious she can accomplish things like this now.

Her growth has been remarkable. He didn’t bother using teleportation to close the distance. Instead, he simply floated downward to meet her midway, allowing them to come together naturally in the sky above the dimensional landscape. They embraced immediately—arms wrapping around each other with comfortable familiarity and deep affection.

Seraphine’s voice came out soft but filled with emotion. "I missed you, Leon."

Leon felt exactly the same way, his arms tightening around her waist as he pulled her closer against him. "I missed you, too, Seraphine. It’s good to see you again, my love."