"Remy, keep an eye on things here for me. Once Mage Mason finishes his meal, remind him to compensate the shop for these damages..." Leon yawned as he gave instructions, exhaustion written all over him. The night's workload nearly rivaled what most alchemists did in a month. Without a few days' sleep, there was no way he'd recover.
Unfortunately, the idea of a nap had barely formed before someone ruined it.
Leon was just about to turn and leave when another commotion erupted outside the Gilded Rose. A young mage pushed open the door and stepped inside.
This young mage looked to be not yet thirty, but the silver trim on his robe cuffs made his status as a Grand Mage unmistakable. As soon as he entered, many onlookers recognized him—there was only one Grand Mage this young in all of Seaview City: Ryan, Monty's eldest son.
Rumor had it that Ryan showed extraordinary magical talent from a young age. Monty had originally planned to send him to Auckland Magic Academy, but when Ryan was fifteen, a prominent figure from the capital personally visited Monty and, not long after, took Ryan away.
Ryan was gone for more than a decade. Only recently did he return to Seaview City as a Grand Mage, causing a stir throughout the city. A Grand Mage under thirty—what did that mean? A genius so rare that one might not appear in a hundred years, and odds were he'd soon walk the path of an Archmage. At that point, he'd be on par with the Triumvirate of Sage's Spire...
Especially after Ryan and his father visited Sage's Spire, and news spread that Salomon—one of the Triumvirate—personally saw them off. Ryan's reputation in Seaview City became even more dazzling.
Salomon was nearly a legend. Over the years, countless people had visited Sage's Spire, but how many had been personally escorted out by Salomon? You could probably count them on one hand...
Nowadays in Seaview City, Ryan's name was even more renowned than his father's, Monty, president of Twinmoon Trading Company. Young magic apprentices and newly advanced mages alike idolized Ryan. Even the upper echelons of the city's major factions treated him with utmost respect. And when they learned Ryan was still unmarried and unattached, those with daughters began dropping hints to Monty.
No wonder—a Grand Mage under thirty was simply too dazzling. Even a fool could see that, barring disaster, Ryan's future was bright. Sooner or later, he'd stand shoulder to shoulder with the Triumvirate, maybe even surpass them and stand alone atop Seaview City.
Now, this young Grand Mage—whose name echoed throughout Seaview City—stood at the entrance of the Gilded Rose. He wore a plain black robe, with nothing striking about him except for the silver trim on his cuffs. Even when he saw Mason with a mouthful of broken glass, he showed no anger at all, as if Mason weren't his own brother but just some stranger.
"Take him home."
With just those words from Ryan, the thugs Mason had brought felt as if they'd been granted amnesty. They hurried to help Mason out of the shop.
This time, Leon didn't intervene. He simply stood there, watching the young Grand Mage with curiosity.
"The losses Mason caused will be covered by Twinmoon Trading Company. Just name your price, and I'll have someone deliver it to you tomorrow." Ryan glanced at Leon as he entered, not asking for details or who was at fault—he simply made arrangements.
As for what others thought, Ryan honestly didn't care.
Why would a Grand Mage like Ryan care what a mere mage thought?
"As for you, you just cast a Bloodthorn Spell. Sever it yourself."
Ryan's words made everyone's faces change.
Spell Severance means a mage transfers a spell to an item at the cost of complete and permanent forgetting. The item could be an Enchanted Scroll, Enchanted Gear, or a Magic Gemstone—anything capable of bearing magical power. Afterward, the item gains potent magical abilities, sometimes even fully inheriting the spell. In Northend's history, several powerful Magic Relics were created this way.
But the process of Spell Severance is agonizing for a mage. It's like forcibly ripping the spell out of the mage's soul.
For a mage, this kind of soul-deep torment is far worse than magical backlash.
Historically, those who performed Spell Severance were usually at the end of their lives, using sheer willpower and endurance to leave their most treasured spells to disciples or descendants.
From the Third Dynasty until now—over a thousand years—fewer than ten mages have done this.
Now, with a single casual sentence, Ryan was expecting Leon to sever a spell.
"Ryan, that's too much!" Perry, face flushed, stepped forward and shielded Leon behind him.
Ryan stood there as if he hadn't seen Perry at all, his eyes still fixed on Leon. "This is Mason's fault, but the Monty family's honor cannot be challenged. Matthew Merlin, you should know—if I do it myself, it'll hurt even more."
"Grand Mage Ryan, you've said a lot, but there's one thing I still don't quite understand..." Leon gently pushed Perry aside, then approached Ryan with a smile.
"What is it?" Ryan's brow furrowed slightly; he didn't like this young mage's attitude.
Leon stood before Ryan, looked him up and down, and finally asked, "Did you just wake up?"
"Hm?" At first, Ryan didn't get it. Then, a surge of uncontrollable anger welled up inside him. A mere mage dared to mock him?
"You brought this on yourself!"
Ryan tightened his grip on his staff, and a wave of powerful magic rippled through the air. Suddenly, a vivid crimson spread across the hall—countless blood-red vines crawled up from the floor, their growth so fierce it looked as if rivers of blood were flooding the room.
The same Bloodthorn Spell, but in Ryan's hands and Leon's, appeared utterly different. It wasn't that Leon's spellcasting was lacking—it's just that the gap between mage and Grand Mage was too vast. Once a Grand Mage breaks free of the Mana Vortex's constraints, their power ascends to another realm. It's a world ordinary mages can't even imagine.
Such an immense gap was almost impossible to bridge. No matter how great your magical ability or spellcasting technique, in the face of such disparity, it all seemed laughable.
In an instant, the hall was swallowed by a sea of vines. Everyone was trapped in this terrifying crimson, and with a single gesture from Ryan, the whole place could be drenched in blood.
To a Grand Mage, even a mage was hardly worth mentioning—let alone anyone else...
For a moment, screams and pleas for help echoed through the hall; even the usually unflappable Perry showed a hint of fear.
Only Leon, standing before Ryan, still wore a smile...
The blood-red vines surged forward, their shadows looming. Leon's slight, frail figure seemed especially vulnerable in the midst of it all, but his smile never faded. He made just one move—he flicked his finger, and a tiny spark flew from his fingertip...
Amid the overwhelming sea of crimson vines, that tiny spark was like a pebble tossed into the ocean, wavering as it fell to the ground, looking as though it might go out at any moment.
But then came a sudden "boom"...
The instant the spark touched the floor, a blaze erupted skyward, as though someone had poured oil onto it. That tiny spark became a raging inferno, racing along the blood-red vines. In moments, the vast swathes of Abyssal Bloodvines were reduced to ashes beneath the flames...
It all happened so fast, no one could even react.
The employees of the Gilded Rose still wore expressions of terror. Ryan, who had cast the Bloodthorn Spell, was still frozen in his spellcasting stance.