For several days in a row, Angelo lived in constant fear. Even at night, he was often startled awake by nightmares, terrified that he would become the sworn enemy of every mercenary in Seaview City upon waking.
After three days of this torment, Angelo was completely worn out, his hair noticeably grayer. On the fourth day, he couldn't sit still any longer. He walked alone from Lion King Avenue to Triumph Avenue and waited outside the Gilded Rose for an entire afternoon.
It wasn't until evening that Leon finally arrived from home.
"G-Good evening, Mage Merlin." Angelo had been waiting all afternoon, already cold and hungry, but when he saw Leon, he quickly forced a smile and hurried over to greet him.
"Good evening, Captain Angelo." Leon didn't stop walking—he simply nodded in reply, acknowledging the greeting.
But Angelo hadn't come all this way just to say hello today...
So Angelo had to hurry after him, once again squeezing out a flattering, ingratiating smile. "Uh, Mage Merlin, business at the Gilded Rose sure is booming..."
"Heh."
...Originally, Angelo planned to use the topic of booming business to steer the conversation toward magical materials. As long as they talked about magical materials, Angelo could naturally propose continuing their cooperation. If it meant admitting fault, so be it—losing a bit of face was nothing compared to being driven out of Seaview City by Seth.
But Leon simply responded with a "Heh"...
That single "Heh" made Angelo's head spin...
How was he supposed to respond to that? How could he steer the conversation now?
Come on, don't mess with me...
But Leon really wasn't playing with him. He had just finalized a deal with the Silvermoon Mercenary Company, and there was a mountain of things waiting to be done. Leon had been so busy these past few days that his feet barely touched the ground—he truly had no time to toy with Angelo. After that casual "Heh," he turned and headed toward the Gilded Rose...
"Mage Merlin, please wait a moment." Angelo saw things going south and quickly chased after him.
"Is there something you need, Captain Angelo?" Only then did Leon stop, looking at Angelo with a surprised expression.
...Angelo was sweating bullets. If he could, he'd really like to ask: Do I look like I don't need anything? Why would I come all the way to the Gilded Rose and wait an entire afternoon, cold and hungry, if I had nothing to do? You think I've got nothing better to do?
But then he remembered the possible consequences, and didn't dare ask anything...
Not only did he not dare ask, he even forced himself to squeeze out another ingratiating smile and asked cautiously.
"Y-Yes, Mage Merlin. I came today to ask if the Gilded Rose still needs magical materials? Our Frostwolf Mercenary Company has completed a few missions recently, and we've got a backlog of magical materials. I was wondering if the Gilded Rose could help us move some of them?"
Truthfully, the Frostwolf Mercenary Company didn't have any magical materials piling up...
But right now, he had no choice but to say so. To smooth things over with the Gilded Rose, Angelo would have to accept whatever harsh terms were offered—even if it meant buying a batch of magical materials from the market himself...
"Helping you out isn't a problem, Captain Angelo. But lately, the Gilded Rose has been having some trouble with cash flow, so about the price... I'm afraid you'll have to bear with us a little. How about this: I'll talk to Uncle Perry later, and from now on, we'll keep buying Frostwolf's magical materials. As for the price, we'll just cut it in half as a symbolic gesture."
"C-Cut it in half?" Angelo nearly choked.
If he could, Angelo would have loved to spit in the other guy's face.
This was shameless. He'd already humbled himself, waited cold and hungry all afternoon, said every nice word he could, smiled until his face hurt—and this was the response? Cut the price in half, and call it symbolic? Damn it, what kind of symbolic gesture is that?
But after struggling for a long while, Angelo swallowed his anger. There was no way out—he was completely at the mercy of others now. After all, they were partners with the Silvermoon Mercenary Company. If he said the wrong thing, they wouldn't even need to do anything—just a word to Seth, and Angelo would be finished...
Stay calm. I have to stay calm!
Angelo took a deep breath, wiped away a secret tear, and forced a stiff smile. "Then... thank you, Mage Merlin..."
"No need to thank me." Leon replied politely, excused himself, and turned to enter the Gilded Rose.
...Angelo just stood there, stunned. That "No need to thank me" felt like the old "You're a good person"—slapping him right across the face.
Leon didn't care what Angelo thought.
Because Leon had more important things to do...
Three days had passed, and the Mana Baptism had finished reshaping his body. Now, Leon was no longer troubled by the physical flaws left behind by Matthew Merlin. In other words, he was ready to challenge the rank of Grand Mage at any moment.
That's why Leon had come to the Gilded Rose.
The alchemy lab in the Gilded Rose was something Leon had painstakingly designed. He'd set up three magical traps in the corridor, reinforced the entrance with two permanently enchanted Wizard's Eyes, and inscribed two alchemical arrays inside the door. Calling it impregnable wouldn't be an exaggeration—an ordinary mage would never get in, and even most Grand Mages would need Leon's permission to enter.
Here, he could attempt the breakthrough to Grand Mage without fear of interruption.
After entering the Gilded Rose, Leon greeted the old butler, casually mentioned Angelo's situation, then went alone into the alchemy lab.
Leon checked the traps at the door, activated the alchemical arrays inside, and as he closed the door, added another Wizard's Eye for good measure. Once everything was in place, he found a quiet spot and began the longest meditation he'd ever attempted since becoming a mage...
Leon estimated that this meditation would last more than three days. It was nothing like his usual meditations—advancing to Grand Mage meant shattering the Mana Vortex and breaking through the limits. Only after destroying the Mana Vortex could one form their own Arcane Sigil, the most important thing for any Grand Mage. In a sense, the Arcane Sigil was the Grand Mage's life mark: it possessed tremendous power and evolved as the Grand Mage grew.
So, before attempting the breakthrough to Grand Mage, one had to undergo an extremely long meditation.
During this endless meditation, the mage would purify their Mana Vortex.
Some mages might use alchemical potions for this—like the three bottles of Prism Elixir Leon once brought out, or the Rainbow Potion that Raymond had seen before. Both could be used to purify the Mana Vortex.
But Leon wouldn't do that...
Having come from the apocalypse, Leon understood better than any mage of this era: a Mana Vortex purified entirely by one's own strength would be ten times more powerful, once transformed into an Arcane Sigil, than one purified with alchemical potions.
Purifying the Mana Vortex was a painful process. The mage had to extract every impurity, bit by bit, as if pulling it from their very soul. The ordeal was agonizing...
As Leon entered his meditative state, the Mana Vortex within him began to spin slowly. Time ticked by, and his calm face gradually turned pale, sweat beads forming on his forehead...
And this was only the beginning...
One day passed, then two...
By the third day, Leon was in a state of extreme weakness. His face was ghastly pale with exhaustion, and the magical energy radiating from him felt restless, on the verge of spiraling out of control.
But his eyes were brighter than ever before.
Leon knew he was at his strongest in months. His mana reserves had reached their peak, and after purification, his Mana Vortex was nothing short of perfect. The restless magical fluctuations weren't due to a lack of control—they were because his Mana Vortex was on the brink of shattering.
Leon was standing at the threshold of becoming a Grand Mage—all he needed was a gentle push...
After checking his condition one last time, Leon took a deep breath. Mana began to flow gently within him, like a trickling stream—so pure it was almost astonishing, and at first, it was no different from ordinary meditation.
But unlike a normal meditation, the mana didn't form a cycle after entering the Mana Vortex—it simply merged silently into it.
At first, nothing seemed unusual. But as Leon urged the flow onward, the mana grew faster and more intense, until it surged like a raging river, roaring and crashing into the Mana Vortex.
When Leon advanced to mage, his formidable control had allowed him to shape a nearly flawless Mana Vortex. Otherwise, he couldn't have so easily defeated the Viper's Nest mage at level nine, nor forcibly summoned a Grand Mage-level elemental avatar in the Bone Plane.
But now, that nearly flawless Mana Vortex was being warped by the relentless flood of mana...
If this happened to an ordinary mage, they'd probably be scared half to death on the spot.
For a mage, the Mana Vortex was everything. Only with a stable vortex could one accumulate mana through meditation and channel it for spellcasting. In Northend, almost every mage's first lesson to their apprentice was how to safeguard their Mana Vortex.
Because if anything went wrong with the Mana Vortex, it meant the end of one's magical journey...