Leon started practicing the techniques he had just learned, determined to reach a higher level of mastery so he could use them effectively against the monster.
The Frost Fang Technique required precise mana channeling through specific ridian pathways, creating that deadly icy projection around his blade. He practiced the motions hundreds of tis, then thousands, refining the energy flow until the pale frosty tooth appeared more vivid, faster, sharper, more lethal with each attempt.
SHING! CRACK! WHOOOOSH!
The Arcane Shackle was trickier—it required ntal concentration alongside mana manipulation, creating invisible bindings that could lock down a target’s mana flow. He practiced on rocks first, then on the ambient energy itself, learning to feel for the right mont to snap the technique into place.
Ti started to pass.
From ti to ti, Leon would teleport to check up on the monster and see what it was doing. Each visit followed the sa pattern initially—the mont he arrived, the creature would attempt a sneak attack, lunging at him with that terrifying speed.
But it failed every single ti.
FWOOSH!
Leon would simply teleport it back to its starting position before its claws could even get close. The monster’s frustration was palpable, its roars echoing across the grassy field with increasing rage.
RRRRAAAHHH!
As more ti passed, however, the monster stopped attacking altogether. Whenever Leon made his routine check-ups, he would find it sitting on the ground in ditation, absorbing the abundant mana of the dinsion.
Smart. It’s given up on catching and is focusing on getting stronger instead.
Over the period of ti, Leon could feel the creature slowly growing more powerful. The mana density around it increased with each visit. Its regenerated arm had fully reford, and its overall aura felt denser, more dangerous.
But he had no choice except to focus on his own training to face it soon.
I can’t leave this place before sohow defeating this beast. If I let it out, it’ll be dangerous for my people living inside.
That thought alone was enough to drive him back to his training with renewed determination.
----
In the outside world, forty-five minutes had passed since Leon and the monster had vanished into the dinsional realm.
In the sa destruction-filled land—craters stretching for kiloters, forests flattened, the earth itself scarred and broken—several people had gathered. n and won in well-equipped, high-quality armor and weapons, each radiating their own distinct aura of power.
They were investigating the area.
So looked dissatisfied with their findings, expressions dark as they examined the aftermath of the catastrophic battle. Others appeared relieved, perhaps grateful that whatever had caused this devastation seed to be gone.
"No bodies," one investigator muttered, kicking at a pile of ash that might have once been part of the colossal giant. "Whatever happened here, both combatants vanished."
"The spatial residue is off the charts," another said, holding up a crystalline device that pulsed with faint light. "Soone was using extrely advanced space manipulation. Multiple black holes, dinsional tears..."
"World-class level combat," a third concluded grimly. "And we have no idea who was involved or where they went."
The investigation continued, but answers remained elusive.
----
Seraphine and Loriel sat inside a restaurant in Conan City—one of the few establishnts that had sohow survived those destructive earthquakes. The building’s walls showed cracks, and so of the windows had shattered, but the structure remained standing.
Both their expressions were serious. They had just returned to the city only a minute ago after searching the devastated area outside in the thornwood forest.
Loriel spoke first, her expression deeply worried.
"Seraphine, we didn’t find Leon in the place we guessed he might be. He was nowhere to be seen anywhere in that destruction." Her voice trembled slightly. "What should we do? What if sothing happened to him...?"
Seraphine heard her question but didn’t answer imdiately. Her own mind was filled with the sa terrible uncertainty.
Where are you, Leon? What happened out there?
The only reason she wasn’t freaking out as much as Loriel was because she had absolute trust in her beloved. She knew Leon would keep himself safe even if he ca across sothing life-threatening.
With his strength and that broken cosmic system of his, wherever he is right now, he’s safe. He has to be.
She answered Loriel with confidence, her voice steady despite her inner turmoil.
"Don’t worry. Wherever he is, he’s safe. Trust ."
Loriel was surprised by her calm deanor. She knew that the most worried person inside should be Seraphine—because of their strong bond and relationship, the purple-haired woman had the most to lose if sothing had happened to Leon.
Yet she was still so calm. So composed.
If Seraphine can believe in him this much, then I should, too.
Loriel stopped freaking out, not wanting to make Seraphine worry more inside by displaying her own panic. Instead, she suggested sothing constructive.
"Then... how about we go on a mission to increase our adventurer rank? When Leon cos back, we can surprise him with how much stronger we’ve beco!"
Hearing her words, Seraphine’s athyst eyes shone brightly. She liked the idea very much—it gave them sothing productive to focus on instead of waiting helplessly.
"Yes. Let’s do that."
Right after, both won stood and left for the Adventurer’s Guild to pick out their next mission. The guild building was one of the few structures that had survived the earthquakes relatively intact, its reinforced construction proving its worth.
Wait for us, Leon. We’ll be stronger when you return.
----
Back inside the dinsional realm, Leon’s strength was increasing at a trendous rate.
A full year had passed inside the ti-accelerated space.
His two new powerful techniques—Frost Fang and Arcane Shackle—had both reached Master level in mastery through relentless practice and refinent. Thousands upon thousands of repetitions, each one pushing his understanding deeper, his execution sharper.
His new skill, Elental Surge, had reached level sixty-five through constant use during training. The duration had increased dramatically—from the initial sixty seconds all the way to six full minutes of boosted elental affinity.
Six minutes of rank eight affinity. That’s... incredible.
He felt significantly stronger now. But one of the main reasons he’d received such a brutal beatdown from the monster before wasn’t just the creature’s overwhelming power.
It was that weird debuff he’d gotten at the ti of his race change.
The system hadn’t even warned him about a one-month adjustnt period where his body would be adapting to its new form, his affinity temporarily suppressed to one level. During that previous fight outside, he’d been operating at a severe disadvantage—using rank six affinity when he should have had access to much more.
But now the debuff had expired. He’d spent so much ti here in his physical body that the adjustnt period had long since passed.
At the previous fight, I was handicapped without even realizing how much. But now...
With Elental Surge active, all of his elental affinities would reach rank eight for six minutes. The skill still had a cooldown—now reduced to just one day from its initial three days—but that window of power was more than enough for a decisive battle.
He couldn’t describe in words how powerful he felt with rank eight affinity control. The elents responded to his will with such precision, such overwhelming force, that it almost felt like cheating.
I’m so much stronger than when I fought the monster outside. It’s not even comparable.
And now he was ready.
Ready for the battle that would determine whether he could end this threat or not. But he knew this fight wouldn’t be the sa as before—the monster had also been growing stronger during this year. He wasn’t the only one who’d been training.
It’s been absorbing mana this whole ti. Getting faster. More powerful. Healing its wounds fully.
The creature would be at its peak condition, just as he was at his.
This will be the real fight. Winner takes all.
Leon took a deep breath, centering himself. He checked his temporary equipnt, his techniques, and his mana reserves. Everything was ready.
With a single thought, he teleported from his training spot to the grassy field where the monster waited.
FWOOSH!
He materialized in the familiar location, the endless green stretching around him under that ambient skyless glow.
And there it was.
The monster sat in the exact sa ditation pose he’d seen during his last check-up, but sothing was different now. Its obsidian body seed denser, more refined. The green flas in its eye sockets burned with greater intensity than ever before.
As Leon appeared, those burning eyes opened fully and locked onto him with predatory focus.
The ancient consciousness within the creature recognized the change imdiately. The human felt different—stronger, more dangerous. This wasn’t the sa wounded prey it had beaten down a year ago.
This was sothing else entirely.
Both combatants stared at each other across the distance, neither moving, neither speaking.
The final battle was about to begin.
The windless grass around them flattened under the sheer pressure of their presence—two forces of destruction poised like coiled storms. Sowhere in the silent stillness, fate held its breath.
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