Did It Just Pop?
The next day, Leon met the supervisor at his quarters halfway up Herb Mountain. Contrary to his expectation of a strict, meticulous man, the person who greeted him was a kind-faced middle-aged gentleman.
‘I don’t trust this.’ For some reason, Forn’s face flashed through Leon’s mind.
“You’re saying you know how to make an F-grade elixir?”
The man who introduced himself as Walter faced Leon with a faint, gentle smile.
“I learned it from Forn, sir.”
“Hmm… That man knew about elixirs?”
“I remember him coming here several times to gather herbs.”
“Now that you mention it… I suppose he did.”
How can the person in charge not know that? Leon didn’t let his thoughts show, but Walter seemed to sense something. He let out a soft, warm chuckle. It was the kind of laugh that felt a little dim-witted.
“I mainly oversee sectors two and three, so I’m not too familiar with the rest.”
“I see.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re believable.”
Walter slid a blank sheet of paper across the desk toward Leon.
“Write down the herbs needed for an F-grade elixir and how to manage them. Honestly, the first sector you’ll be in charge of doesn’t require any deep knowledge about elixirs. Just do what I tell you and you’ll be fine.”
Leon didn’t pick up the quill. He simply listened quietly, sensing that Walter had more to say.
“But a bright kid like you shows real promise.”
“What kind of…”
Instead of answering, Walter simply smiled again, small and knowing. Leon took the hint and didn’t press further. He picked up the quill and began writing down everything he knew about the herbs.
It was all information he had absorbed from the elixir recipes he’d received as rewards.
When he finally handed over the densely filled sheet, Walter’s smile grew even warmer.
“Do you think you can work hard?”
“Should I take that to mean you’ll give me bigger responsibilities if I prove myself?”
“Exactly.”
And so, Leon officially began working on Herb Mountain.
Leon’s duties managing Herb Mountain could be divided into three main tasks.
The first was patrolling the mountain at regular intervals. Since the herbs were cultivated naturally across the vast slopes, he simply walked around, pulled any weeds he spotted, and spread fertilizer when it was time.
The second task was replacing mana stones. To ensure mana flowed throughout the entire mountain for the sake of the elixir herbs, artificially crafted mana stones had been placed in designated areas. These needed to be swapped out periodically.
The third, naturally, was harvesting the herbs. Walter personally showed him how to dig up the roots intact on the very first day, walking the mountain together. The careful, practiced way Walter harvested the plants carried the unmistakable scent of a seasoned herbalist.
Leon paid close attention, thinking the technique would prove incredibly useful later on.
“You learn fast for someone so young.”
For some reason, Walter seemed to have taken a liking to Leon. But after that first day, it became rare to see the man’s face. Aside from teaching him the harvesting technique, Walter simply tossed him a single book on herbalism and vanished.
He mostly managed the other sectors, which were quite far from the first sector Leon was responsible for.
The first sector mostly contained low-grade herbs. While it had every ingredient needed for an F-grade elixir, one was missing for E-grade. Out of the five herbs required for an E-grade elixir, only four grew in the first sector. The last one seemed to be in the second sector.
Still, it was true that most of what he needed could be found right here.
It was at this point that Leon fell into deep thought.
‘Should I just take the herbs grown on the mountain?’
That was impossible. Setting morality aside, the exact quantity of harvested herbs was strictly monitored. If he stole them thoughtlessly, he would be caught in no time.
Once he grew confident in his harvesting skills, the dilemma only deepened. Then, a brilliant idea suddenly crossed his mind.
‘What if I take the discarded herbs?’
Herbs that couldn’t be used for elixirs were thrown away. The reasons varied. Sometimes the quality was poorer than expected. Sometimes the roots were damaged during harvesting. Other times, because they grew naturally on the mountain, their properties would change.
These flawed herbs were usually gathered during harvest season and burned, or handed over if another mage requested them for research.
‘They probably wouldn’t notice if I took a few.’
After all, herbs grown for elixirs became useless the moment they could no longer fulfill that purpose. The real question was whether these defective plants could grow properly if transplanted.
‘I’ll just have to trust the Chrono Orb.’
From then on, Leon began secretly pulling out the discarded herbs one by one and transplanting them inside the orb.
The size of the herb field Leon had created inside the orb was gradually expanding. At first, he had made a small plot right next to his training spot. But as the first transplanted herbs began to take root and spread, he had to clear out a much larger area.
Cutting down trees, pulling out the stumps, and leveling the ground was no easy task. So Leon ordered Kito to do it.
It had already been over a month since Kito entered the orb. For her, who only existed inside it, that meant five years had passed.
She still couldn’t fly, but she had grown strong enough to stand and move around.
“If you have nothing to do, clear out some trees.”
“Don’t want to… It’s so nice here… I’m going to sleep…”
“Want to go outside?”
“Sorry. I’ll do it…”
Of course, because of their contract, he couldn’t actually let her out freely. But Kito read Leon’s mood and reluctantly agreed. She seemed to have grown quite fond of this place.
Whenever Leon came in to train, all he ever saw was her sprawled out, fast asleep.
With logging left to Kito, Leon began a large-scale expansion of the herb field. And just as he had hoped, the herbs quickly shed their sickly state and began growing vigorously. Leon watched them with a satisfied smile.
He even assigned specific zones for each type of herb. Root herbs were planted with wide spacing so they could absorb plenty of soil nutrients, while leafy herbs were planted as densely as possible. Moss varieties were grown in a completely separate area beneath the shade of trees.
He had only transplanted six types of herbs so far, so the expanded field still looked rather empty. But thinking about the future, he decided it was better to divide the zones properly from the beginning, even if it was a bit of a hassle.
‘At least I don’t have to worry about water supply. That’s convenient.’
The weather inside the orb was bright and clear all year round. He had initially worried that this constant climate would cause many setbacks, but it turned out to be an unfounded concern. The herbs grew vigorously even without water.
‘Is mana the most important factor since these are herbs for elixirs?’
Leon was slowly learning more about both the space inside the orb and the nature of the herbs themselves.
The reason he invested so much time into creating this environment was, of course, training. Nothing was more important than training.
His battle with Forn had driven that truth home even more painfully.
You never know when someone might stab you in the back!
What he needed was even greater power.
After the fight with the old man, Leon had changed his quest reward to an affinity constitution. While the artifact he received as a reward had been incredibly useful in battle, the core truth was that his own power was what truly mattered.
Even a one-time-use artifact had required him to throw dozens of them just to affect an opponent who was only one class higher.
Raising his realm and honing his fundamental strength was the only way to handle danger with more composure.
Originally, he would have chosen a magic book as a reward to get a taste of new spells, or picked an elixir to lay the foundation for breaking through to the third class.
However, the need for magic books had decreased significantly after receiving Arpina’s tome, and since he had already gathered all the herbs needed for an F-grade elixir, there was no rush.
‘This time, I’m going all-in on the Six-Element Affinity. Let’s bang my head against it until it works.’
An affinity that encompassed fire, water, wind, earth, wood, and lightning. It wasn’t the rare light or darkness affinity, but it was the next best thing. It was also the same talent that Rowen possessed.
While balancing herb management duties with relentless training, another three months passed.
Sitting cross-legged in his private room, a hollow sigh escaped Leon’s lips.
“It’s about time one should have appeared by now.”
Counting from when he first started doing quests, he had received nearly three hundred rewards. This was because he made sure to complete at least one quest every single day by training for a full ten hours.
Yet during all that time, he hadn’t seen a single S-grade reward. Not even an A-grade or B-grade.
“They said the probability increased.”
No matter how money-hungry a gacha game was, after this many pulls, something good should have shown up at least once.
“Sigh.”
Thinking that he didn’t even know who he was complaining to, Leon summoned the Growth Helper.
— General Quest
▶ Basic Magic Training (Completed)
He had completed today’s quest. Since training in reality was finished, he planned to check the reward and immediately enter the orb to continue training.
There were still 221 hours left that he could use the orb. He had kept all 200 hours from his second-class breakthrough reward untouched.
He had considered that he might need to hide inside the orb during an emergency to avoid danger, like during the battle with Forn. He had also planned to save them for when he reached the latter half of the second class so he could focus them all on breaking through to the third class.
Without much expectation, Leon pressed ‘Complete.’
The reward gacha spins as always.
The wheel spun at its usual speed before gradually slowing down. Soon, the reward details appeared.
You have obtained All-Element Affinity (Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Wood, Lightning, Light, Darkness). (Apply / Cancel)
“Huh…? Huh?”
Leon rubbed his eyes with his hands and looked again. He hadn’t seen it wrong.
Something intensely powerful slammed into the back of his head like a hammer.
“It… It popped!!!”