“Hey, Lilith, do you have any Tier 6 magic circle for me to learn?” He asked her after seeing the new quest in the Quest Shop. If he could learn a Tier 6 now, he would only need to collect 500 more Magic Points before acquiring 5,000 Magic Points!
“Huh? You want to learn Tier 6 magic spells already? I’m sorry, but that’s not possible,” she said.
“It’s not like I plan on using it. I just need to learn it to complete a quest,” he explained.
“That’s not why I don’t want to teach you. You see, there’s a limit to the tier of magic spells you can learn, meaning that you cannot learn above a certain tier of magic spells until you have certain experience with the lower tiers.”
“For example, most people won’t be able to learn Tier 4 magic spells until their Tier 3 magic spells reach a certain Mastery Rank, and this varies from person to person. Talented people will require less experience to learn higher tier magics while those without talent will need to learn more than one magic spell and reach a certain Mastery Rank with all of them before they can learn a higher tier magic spell.”
“Even with your talent, the chances of you learning Tier 6 magic spells at your current state is very slim to none, but we can still try.”
After hearing Lilith’s explanation, Leo said, “I still want to try. How will I know if I cannot learn it?”
“You won’t be able to memorize the magic spell no matter how long you try. Your mind will not be able to handle the magic spell until it has enough experience.”
“Alright, I understand.”
Lilith proceeded to create a Tier 6 magic circle to show Leo, who would stare at it intensively.
However, even after staring at the magic circle for an hour, Leo couldn’t memorize the magic circle, almost as though there was something preventing him from doing so, and he even got a headache from trying.
“Don’t force yourself. If you start feeling headaches or nauseous, you should immediately stop. If you try to force yourself to learn the magic circle, it could cause permanent damage to your mind.” Lilith warned him when she noticed his annoyed expression that suggested he was being bothered by something.
“What?! Really?!”
Leo immediately closed his eyes and stopped looking at the magic circle after hearing her words.
“Damn it, it felt like I was so close to memorizing it, but something was preventing me from taking that last step,” he sighed.
“It’s already amazing enough that you’re able to memorize Tier 5 magic spells when you barely have any experience with magic.”
“I guess I can’t just rush this. Oh well. Anyways, I have enough Magic Points to unlock a new magic affinity. Should I do it?”
Lilith raised her eyebrows and asked with a dumbfounded face, “You can acquire more magic affinities through the Magic System?”
“I sure can. That’s how I got my Wind Magic Affinity as well. The only downside is that it’s all randomized, so I don’t get to pick what magic affinity I get.”
“Unbelievable…”
After a moment of silence, Lilith spoke, “If that’s the case, you should acquire as many magic affinities as you can. Not only will it increase your overall strength, but it will also increase the amount of magic spells that you can use, which will come in handy during situations where you are only allowed to use specific magic spells.”
“Alright, I will unlock a new magic affinity then.”
<Confirm purchase ‘Awaken Random Affinity’ for 300 Magic Points>
<You have purchased ‘Awaken Random Affinity’ from the Magic Shop>
<You have awakened a new Magic Affinity!>
Ding!
<You have awakened Fire Magic Affinity!>
[Fire Magic Affinity: E]
‘Oh? I just unlocked Fire Magic Affinity and it’s already Rank E? Is that random as well?’ He wondered to himself afterward.
“What magic affinity did you unlock?” Lilith asked him with an excited look on her face.
“Fire Magic Affinity, and it’s even Rank E.”
“Wow! That’s amazing! Now your Black Flame will become even more powerful!” She exclaimed.
“Black Flame, huh? Now that I think about it, I haven’t used that spell at all because I didn’t want Miss Camille questioning me about how I had acquired it. I should be able to use it without worrying about such details now.”
“By the way, what kind of spell is it? Do I throw a fireball or something?” He then asked.
“You can spew it out like a flamethrower, or you can throw it like a fireball. It depends on what you want.” Lilith said.
“Really? I can adjust the way I use magic?”
“Only for certain magic spells. Black Bullet, for example, cannot be modified. The same goes for Void Step and Feather Step. As for Dark Barrier, you can adjust the size of the barrier and even make it wrap around your body like a protective suit.”
“That’s good to know…” He mumbled.
Sometime later, Leo decided to increase the rank of his Wind Magic Affinity to E since it only cost 20 Magic Points.
<You have purchased ‘Improve Magic Affinity(Wind)’ for 20 Magic Points>
<Wind Magic Affinity Rank F → Rank E>
After increasing his Wind Magic Affinity to Rank E, the price increased to 500 Magic Points to increase it again to Rank D.
Leo and his group would not encounter any more monsters for the remainder of the night. During the second day of their travel, Leo would play cards with the other Adventurers to kill time.
The morning went by without any troubles, but once it got dark outside, the monsters became more active.
“Monsters! Get ready for battle! There are a bunch of Blood-Eyed Hyena’s up ahead!” Jeff shouted when he saw the monsters blocking their path in the distance.
Blood-Eyed Hyenas are classified as E-Rank monsters, and just as their name sounds, they’re large hyenas with sharp red eyes and blood around their eyes, making it seem as though they were crying blood.
This was Leo’s first time encountering this kind of monster, but he didn’t hesitate to face them.
‘Let’s try out Black Flame for once!’ Leo thought to himself as the monsters approached them.
Once they were close enough, Leo released a powerful wave of black flames from his palms, instantly engulfing all of the monsters before him.
However, the monsters did not instantly die and instead started crying in pain as they instinctively dropped on the ground and rolled around.
Unfortunately for these Blood-Eyed Hyenas, Leo’s flames could not be extinguished no matter how much they rolled around in the dirt, and it continued to burn their bodies until only their mana cores were left.
Leo swallowed nervously after seeing the effect of Black Flame.
‘This is definitely much better when it comes to attacking a group of monsters! Why didn’t I use this earlier?!’ He cried inwardly.
As for the others, even though they were shocked by the prowess of Leo’s new magic spell, they still went to fight the remaining monsters, as they did not want Leo to do everything for them.
They returned to the vehicle once they killed all of the monsters and collected the mana cores.
“Leon! Was that Black Flame just now?! I can also use that spell, but it’s nowhere near as powerful as yours! Compared to your flamethrower Black Flames, mine is like a small fire from a lighter! And I have an E-Rank Fire Magic Affinity!” Dean exclaimed a moment later.
“How can you compare yourself to a genius like Leon, right?” Trista winked at him in a seductive manner.
“Leon, do you actually have two different magic affinities?” Jeff suddenly asked.
“No, I don’t. Black Flame is also considered Dark Magic, hence why I can use it,” he shook his head.
“Even if that is the case, it’s too powerful… Did you max out the Mastery Rank?” Dean asked him.
“Yes, I did.” Leo nodded.
If they knew his actual Mastery Rank was F, who knows how they would react.
“My god… I cannot imagine how long that took you when it took me three years to reach Mastery Rank C.”
‘It took him three years to reach Mastery Rank C for a Tier 1 magic spell?! Isn’t that a little too slow!?’ Leo cried inwardly after hearing Dean’s words.
After all, it only took him a month to reach Mastery Rank C for Black Bullet, and he was practicing other magic spells during that time.
It was at this moment that Leo realized his own abnormal progression compared to the average person.
Sometime later, they had to stop again after being blocked by more monsters.
Of course, Leo only had to use a single Black Flame to wipe out the majority of them since most low-rank monsters usually travel in groups.
They continued this routine for several more times until they were only a couple hours away from Fairwood City.
During this time, Leo finished the quest that required him to kill 100 monsters again, even progressing halfway through the third one.
<You have completed a Quest>
[+100 Magic Points]
“According to the GPS, we’re only two hours away from Fairwood City! Once we arrive and I finish unloading the cargo, I will treat you guys to some good food.” Tami suddenly said to them as they got closer to their destination.
“Thank you, Mister Tami!” Leo and the others were excited, as they had eaten nothing but MREs for the past three days.
A little over two hours later, they arrived at their destination right as the sun began setting.