Chapter 157 - Revisiting The Labyrinth

Leon looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Creating a new spell definitely means you have taken a step down the path of a true mage. May I know what level spell you used for that?"

I scratched the back of my head.

"Intermediate. I don't think I've ever gotten the spell diagrams of any advanced spells."

Leon nodded approvingly.

"That is definitely good progress, especially if you haven't touched advanced spells. What element was that spell?"

I tilted my head to the side.

"Uh... I'm not sure."

Leon raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

I rubbed my chin with my thumb and forefinger.

"Well... there's the earth and water spell within it and also this other weird diagram."

Leon raised both eyebrows.

"An amalgamation spell?"

I blinked a few times.

"What's that?"

Leon furrowed his brows.

"Spells that combine the principles of multiple elements. These are considered several times harder than other spells. Creating a new spell based on it is even harder. Most people won't practice them unless they are lower-level mages."

My eyelid twitched.

"Wait, what? Why only lower-level mages?"

Leon sighed.

"Amalgamation spells are simply too inefficient in terms of the effort you put in and the results. Surely it must've taken you a tremendous amount of time to do the things you tell me, no?"

I slowly nodded.

"Yeah..."

Leon looked down at his staff.

"There is a reason most people specialize in only one element. I have never met a true mage that specializes in multiple elements. This is simply because learning more complicated versions of a certain element is easier when one has learned previous less complicated versions."

He looked at me.

"In other words, your progress slowly speeds up over time. However, with multiple elements, you have to learn more to gain the same amount."

I rubbed my temple with the palm of my hand.

"In other words, I ended up wasting all of my time?"

Leon chuckled.

"Multiple element spells are considered one rank higher than they should be. You may have taken the wrong path, but you should be able to easily progress forward anyways."

He shrugged.

"After all, we don't have all the time in the world to learn spells."

I blinked a few times.

"Um, yeah."

...All the time in the world, huh?

Although Leon was probably right about the slow progress of learning all spells at once, I couldn't help but wonder if my situation was different. For starters, I learned all of the foundational and elementary spells of the elements I knew.

They were not powerful and shared very few similarities.

However, the fact that they were all magical in nature meant there were some parallels. With those parallels, I was able to understand the control vines spell much easier.

And from there, I created the growing spell.

At this point, that spell was quite integral to my power as it would let me consume as many black fruits as needed. Seeing that even Leon, who had gone so far, thought that this was a long path helped me put in perspective how boundless my path forward would be.

Leon shook his head.

"Ah, we got a little off topic there, haha. Your second question was why I don't believe one thousand years would be enough, right?"

I hurriedly nodded.

"Haha, I almost forgot I even asked that question."

Leon smiled.

"Good thing I remembered."

He took a deep breath.

"Regardless, my rate of growth is simply too slow to make any true difference. In the past, so long as I worked hard, I could improve my strength significantly."

Leon held out his hand as though he was holding something.

"In the past, I was only able to hold a person. However, within a week, I was able to change that to two people. In that case, my strength doubled."

My eyes widened.

"That's... fast."

Leon laughed.

"Yes, yes. Now, a week of training, instead of an increase of one person, it would be two."

I raised an eyebrow.

"So the rate increased, no?"

Leon shrugged his shoulders.

"Yes, but what is the significance of two people when I can already hold up thousands?"

The corner of my lip twitched.

"Ah... it's not that much."

Leon sighed.

"Unfortunately, training can only increase your strength by so much. Simply because it has become my routine, I continue to do it every day, but the results aren't the best."

A bitter smile formed on his face.

"For people at my stage, we depend on various forms of enlightenment to grow stronger. Generally, they can only come when one is at the peak of their element. This is another reason why choosing to learn multiple elements is a waste of time."

Leon chuckled.

"Enlightenment comes in many forms, but there is no true way to force it. If enlightenment is bestowed, then one can consider themselves lucky, else they can only hope."

I nodded while rubbing my chin with two fingers.

"I understand."

Leon cracked his neck.

"All that talk has reminded me of those boring times. Are we near our destination?"

I looked ahead and coincidentally enough, there was a large patch of ice.

"Ah, yeah we are."

Leon looked at what was in front of us.

"What is that? It is a little strange that there is no snow on this section."

I scratched the back of my head.

"It is pretty strange."

The two of us walked towards the ice, soon reaching the edge. I stopped here, prompting Leon to do the same.

"It gets a little weird when you step in, so watch out."

Leon nodded.

"Alright."

We both put our foot forward, but before we placed it down...

"Wait, stop right there, this is private property!"

Suddenly, a man with white hair, silver armor, and a silver crown appeared from within the forest.

It was Osric.

Leon raised an eyebrow.

"This is your private property? How exactly was that determined?"

Osric cleared his throat.

"I... I found this place first."

Leon blinked a few times.

"So it is not your property."

Osric looked a little exasperated.

"I have spent a tremendous amount of time discovering the secrets of this!"

I tilted my head to the side.

"Secrets? What have you found out?"

Osric's expression froze.

"...Many secrets, I just can't tell you!"

Leon let out a disappointed sigh.

"So you know nothing?"

Osric opened his mouth, but no words came out. He wanted to rebuke but couldn't think of a valid point.

Leon turned to me.

"Do you have some sort of understanding of this place?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, this is the entrance to a labyrinth."

Osric pointed at me accusingly.

"Impossible! I have already checked the ground underneath this place and it is all rock! If you state something, you must have sufficient knowledge, else you are a fool!"

Leon rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.

"It is true that I don't see any labyrinth underneath..."

He turned to me.

"So how do we enter this labyrinth?"

I laughed.

"Nothing special."

Osric furrowed his brows.

"What? How do you believe him?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"If you don't believe me, you can just stay out of the ice rink while we are in it."

Osric's eyelid twitched. He remained silent.

I smirked.

"I will take that as you don't believe me."

Osric reached out his hand.

"No, wait!"

I rolled my eyes.

"What?"

Osric coughed awkwardly.

"...Take me with you, please."

Leon laughed and looked towards me.

"I am fine with it if you are."

Seeing Osric in a fluster, I couldn't help but laugh as well.

"There isn't anything particularly valuable. It is more so a sightseeing journey. You can come if you wish."

Osric looked a little disappointed.

"...Well, I would like to see what I've been trying to access for so long."

With that, the three of us stepped into the ice rink. Immediately, walls of ice appeared to shoot up into the sky, surrounding us while a small hill with snow formed. There was a pedestal in the middle.

Skeletons crawled up out of the ground, clattering with their bones.

Osric took a step forward.

"I can take care of these fellows."

I shook my head.

"No need."

I took a few steps forward, then commanded the crystal floating above me to start rotating. The skeletons immediately collapsed into a heap of bones, no longer moving.

Both Leon and Osric looked a little surprised.

Leon raised an eyebrow.

"You are able to nullify mana?"

I nodded.

"Yeah."

Leon chuckled.

"That startled me. It has been a while since I've been in an area without mana."

Osric blinked a few times.

"That is quite the strange ability."

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Kinda."

Osric scratched the side of his head.

"Where is this labyrinth you speak of? There aren't any entrances as far as I can see."

I chuckled.

"This entire place is the entrance."

I walked up to the pedestal in the center and placed the crystal within.

Then, the pedestal cracked.