The Regular Exchange Festival (1)
Right after reaching 3rd Class, Leon spent the next four months receiving his rewards and truly felt the increased probability with his own body. Out of ten rewards, roughly three to four would be E-rank, and one would be D-rank. After he stabilized his production of F-rank elixirs, Leon began fixing his rewards exclusively on spellbooks.
He had started reaching for spellbooks because he needed to secure high-level magic for when he eventually became a Secret Magic class mage. Reaching the Secret Magic stage normally required a mage with a triple-element affinity to train diligently for over twenty years. But Leon felt it would already be too late if he started preparing only after he got there. At his current pace, he would reach Secret Magic within one or two years, yet he had no high-level spells ready to use.
The only one he possessed was Sword that Scatters Moonlight, which he had obtained from the forbidden archive, and even that was incomplete. This situation had arisen because even Leon himself couldn’t have predicted how quickly his stage would rise. Moreover, since he possessed All-Element Affinity, he needed to learn magic for every single element. He might be lucky enough to obtain a multi-element spell created by a high-ranking mage, but the odds of that were obviously extremely low.
What he realized after drawing his first spellbook was that, just like when drawing affinities, if the needed item didn’t appear, it was completely useless. In the last thirty spellbook rewards, only two D-rank spellbooks had appeared. D-rank represented the highest magic an Apprentice could learn, but both overlapped with Arpina’s foundational spells. That meant there was no need to learn them.
For Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth attribute magic, Arpina’s foundational spells were more than enough at the Apprentice stage. Among all the rewards he had received so far, the useful ones were as follows.
The ‘One-time Emergency Designated Teleport Scroll (B-)’ that he had drawn while stabilizing his stage after reaching 3rd Class and briefly gathering artifacts. It was the highest grade among everything that had appeared so far, and Leon liked it immensely because it could get him out of dangerous situations. As long as he remembered a specific location in detail, he could instantly move there. The only downside was that it could only transport him alone.
Other relatively high-grade items included the ‘One-time Underwater Prison Scroll (D-)’ and the ‘Immobile Stealth Cloak (D+)’ artifact. The Immobile Stealth Cloak was a short black cloak that could be worn hidden beneath a robe. When infused with mana, it would assimilate with the surroundings for one hour, concealing both appearance and presence. However, once activated, the user could not move at all. Any movement would cancel the stealth effect. It also could not be used again for a full day after each activation.
From elixirs, he had obtained Concentrated Essence (D+). He was storing it carefully with the intention of consuming it after raising his mana quality to D-rank separately. He had also set aside twenty E-rank essences and five D-rank essences to consume after reaching 4th Class.
Dozens of F-rank and E-rank rewards had piled up. Even taking into account the elixirs he consumed regularly and the spellbooks that might as well have been thrown on the ground if he didn’t like them, the rewards were steadily accumulating. Especially the one-time scrolls—since he hadn’t been in any battles, they simply kept piling up without being consumed.
‘The subspace pouch is going to be full soon.’
Of course, he had already stored the spellbooks inside the Chrono Orb. If things continued like this, the amount of unused rewards piling up inside the orb’s space would soon become a mountain.
‘Hoping for new functions to appear by raising my stage… that would be too shameless, wouldn’t it?’
He needed to think about how to handle the useless rewards. ‘I could transfer them to someone else, but…’
If Leon were a mage with numerous disciples, that would be an excellent solution. But at his current level, that was still a distant prospect.
Leon began training in earnest to raise his stage. The accumulated time inside the orb so far was 640 hours. That meant roughly twenty-seven days of training time available only inside the orb. Leon trained for twenty hours inside the orb, came out to the real world to eat and get the minimum amount of sleep, then went back in. He repeated this cycle.
Before even a full week had passed in reality, Leon reached Apprentice 4th Class.
▶ Your reward probability has increased due to stage advancement.
▶ 400 hours of Chrono Orb time has been granted.
▶ Please select your additional stage advancement reward.
▶ Artifact (C+ rank Mobile Stealth Cloak) / Spellbook (C+ rank Lightning Magic ‘Raidra-style Glory of Lightning’)
No other functions had been added. Leon’s gaze immediately went to the additional rewards. What caught his eye first was Glory of Lightning. A C+ rank meant it was a high-grade spell even among those usable up to the Secret Magic stage, and it even carried a unique spell name. For Leon, who still lacked high-level magic, this spellbook was exactly what he needed.
The Mobile Stealth Cloak was clearly the superior version of the Immobile Stealth Cloak just from the name. It would be incredibly useful in dangerous situations, but Leon chose the spellbook. He urgently needed a Secret Magic class spellbook right now.
A spellbook with a purple cover fell into his palm.
‘Now that I think about it… the name feels familiar.’
Raidra? The name rang a bell. Leon searched his memory. It wasn’t difficult. Other than the training room, he hadn’t really gone anywhere. Soon, he remembered exactly where he had heard the name.
‘Isn’t that the name of the Tower Master of Widia?’
It was a name he had heard in passing. No matter how much Leon had confined himself to the training room, there was no way he wouldn’t have heard the name of the city’s greatest authority.
‘I heard he stays in seclusion to raise his stage.’
A person who had abandoned even the management of the city he governed in order to reach the upper levels of Insight, devoting himself entirely to training. Still, simply reaching the Insight stage was proof of his guaranteed talent. There was no way such a mage would have only dealt with lightning magic.
‘Maybe it’s a spell he created when his stage was still low?’
Having thought that far, Leon placed the spellbook into the simple storage box he had made inside the orb. After confirming that he had received an ordinary E-rank reward by completing a regular quest, he resumed his training posture.
He spent a week stabilizing his new stage, mastered the 4-star Arpina foundational magic, and finally stepped out of the training room. Now Leon could summon all four elemental summons—Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth. Until he learned how to harmonize them after reaching 5-star, summoning all four at once would consume an enormous amount of mana. But for Leon, who consumed elixirs like they were meals, it was perfectly manageable.
When he came down to the first floor, Leon spotted Peter frantically running around near the entrance.
‘That guy always looks busy.’
Peter pushed up his slipping glasses, looked around, and upon spotting Leon, came running straight toward him.
“Perfect timing! Urgent news!”
“...What is it?”
“They’re holding the regular exchange festival between magic schools in Tripenia this time!”
“The regular exchange festival?”
“Ah, this must be your first time hearing about it. It’s the day when various schools gather in one place and settle their rankings through sparring. The academy’s representative students or the personal disciples of professors fight each other. We’re going too!”
The moment Leon heard those words, he frowned before hurriedly smoothing out his expression. Having to watch other people’s sparring matches when he was so busy training was hardly something to say with such joy. Besides, he only had nine months left of the time he could devote solely to training.
“Doesn’t it get your blood pumping to see magic battles right before your eyes?”
Could someone really say that after having a black spear and iron chains rush toward their skull? Leon grumbled inwardly for a moment before giving up.
“Do we have to participate no matter what?”
“Of course! Wouldn’t it be strange not to go? I heard it’s practically a festival for the students. For us, it’s a rare opportunity.”
Was there anyone who didn’t welcome a festival? Wondering if there might be a way to get out of it, Leon asked the question that came to mind. Peter shook his head.
“Probably not. Though the higher-ups might not like it. They say the results of the regular exchange festival affect the school’s interests.”
“What kind of interests?”
“I’m not sure. I only heard it in passing… haha.”
Leon’s face visibly darkened.
Before departing for Tripenia, Leon decided to make every possible preparation. Knowing that power inflation ran rampant in this world, heading to a new location was no different from walking straight into danger. He had no idea when or where a powerful figure might appear.
Since they were leaving the very next day, he wouldn’t have time to learn Glory of Lightning. But there were still plenty of other ways for Leon to prepare for danger. He packed scrolls and artifacts into his subspace that could respond to threats immediately. Nearly thirty one-time scrolls were dumped into the subspace pouch in one big pile.
For artifacts, he placed only the D+ rank Guardian Golem Summoning Flute and the Deadwood Staff into the subspace. The Shield Token, Immobile Stealth Cloak, and low-grade mana enhancement ring, he kept on his person so he could use them at any moment.
After analyzing the Shield Token with appraisal magic, he learned it was an E-rank artifact. When the activation word was spoken, it instantly created a shield barrier to protect the user’s body. Despite being E-rank, it could block even stronger spells than expected, but the number of uses was limited and the cooldown after each use was long. It probably had a + grade attached to it, though appraisal magic couldn’t detect that. In its current state, it looked like it could be used two or three more times.
‘This should be enough to handle a beginner Secret Magic mage.’
On the day they departed for Tripenia, Leon gathered with the regular disciples and Robert, who was leading them, in front of the massive boarding platform next to the central magic tower. On the platform sat a single enormous sailing ship, resting on the ground. It was an aerial ship—one that could float through the sky, known as a sky vessel.
In front of it, a large crowd had gathered, seemingly consisting of nearly every mage of note in the city. Distinguishing the groups was fairly easy. Just as Leon wore the uniform of a regular disciple, academy students wore similar robes with different-colored patterns. The colors indicated their year. Those wearing various other outfits were established mages.
Soon, the large crowd began boarding the sky vessel. The ship was massive enough to accommodate all of them. Leon and the other regular disciples boarded last, at the very end of the line.
“Wow… I wonder if we could ever become academy students too.”
Aaron’s dazed murmur came from beside him. Several academy students glanced at Aaron, who was looking around with his mouth open, and snickered.
“Are they coming with us too?”
“Probably just here to observe.”
“If you could become a Secret Magic mage just by watching, I’d already be one.”
“Hehe, they can probably hear you.”
Leon paid them no mind and scanned the sky vessel like Aaron had. But not for the same reason. The academy only accepted students once they turned twenty and became adults. If someone had talent and became a personal disciple from a young age, receiving systematic training, they might already be at Secret Magic. But otherwise, they would likely be at a similar stage to Leon.
The systematic magic taught there wouldn’t differ greatly from Arpina’s magic if the student hadn’t reached Secret Magic, so Leon had no reason to be interested. Instead, he searched for a spot on the ship where people would pay the least attention to him.
‘There isn’t one…’
No matter how secluded the corner, there was no space on the deck that could completely escape people’s line of sight.
‘Judging by how they treat regular disciples, they’ll probably cram us all into one sleeping area too.’
It looked like he would have to give up on training for the duration of the voyage. Leon’s lips poked out in a pout.
The sky vessel swam through the sky without rest for five days. Other than briefly running into Lia and Rowen to exchange greetings, Leon stayed shut inside his room, doing nothing but breath training. It wasn’t a quest-related training session, but it was the only type of training Leon could do while pretending to be an ordinary person without drawing attention.
‘Once I reach upper Secret Magic, I won’t have to worry about being watched anymore.’
It was a stage where even if the change in his attributes was revealed, no one would dare touch him recklessly. If there were a way to change from a single-element affinity to All-Element Affinity, the mages who had hit a wall would probably do anything to get it. For true safety, he would need to reach the Mystery stage, but considering the rewards that would accumulate by then, he figured he could protect himself once he reached Secret Magic.
Thinking of that moment, Leon calmly regulated his breathing.
One more day passed, and the ship came to a stop. They had arrived in Tripenia.
Tripenia was a massive magic city that gave off a similar atmosphere to Widia. True to the name of festival that Peter had mentioned, the city was packed with people everywhere.
“You have free time until tomorrow’s exchange festival, but with so many mages gathered, don’t do anything that might threaten your safety. Especially you lot. You understand, right?”
Robert emphasized this repeatedly in front of their lodging. It made sense. If they ran around acting wildly just because it was a festival, they might disappear without a trace at the hands of a high-ranking mage. Security would be stricter than usual, but it was better to be cautious.
Having gained free time, Leon walked wherever his feet took him and eventually arrived at the central market.
“Does anyone need a bundle of barrier scrolls? I can trade for other scrolls or artifacts!”
“This isn’t an opportunity that comes every day! A chain artifact that automatically restrains the opponent’s body for only eighty mana stones!”
The sight of numerous mages mixing together and trading goods caught Leon’s interest. He considered what he could offer for trade.
‘Elixirs? Scrolls? Herbs?’
He didn’t have mana stones, but he had plenty of items he could barter with.
‘Should I take this chance to dispose of all my low-grade items and stock up on mana stones?’
Having made up his mind, Leon slipped into a secluded alley, carefully checked his surroundings, changed into a different robe from inside the orb, and stepped back out. After all, if he wanted to sell a large quantity of goods, he couldn’t do so while maintaining his identity as a regular disciple of Widia.