Morning training wrapped up around seven.
Leon had breakfast ready and waiting: the usual spread of bread, fried eggs, and cherry tomatoes for the main course, alongside milk, coffee, assorted jams, and a few light side dishes. Something for everyone.
He'd also prepared thick-cut bacon on the side, fully expecting the two elves to turn their noses up at it.
They didn't even blink.
"Uh... elves eat meat?"
Leon paused mid-cut, knife and fork hovering over his plate.
Jeanne had just finished assembling a sandwich. She looked up, equally curious. "In all the storybooks, elves are supposed to be children of nature..."
Aura spared them a cool glance but said nothing, continuing to eat with impeccable table manners, small bites taken at a measured pace.
Laurier scrunched her nose. "Storybooks are full of it. Those idiot bards... the sheer number of misconceptions people have about elves is staggering! We're not picky eaters. We just happen to prefer fruits and vegetables. Doesn't mean we can't eat meat."
Leon blinked. An image surfaced unbidden: Luvis Lilix, his elf friend who'd just hit Level 2 and was riding high on his recent fame. Wait. Every time we hung out at the tavern, that guy was tearing into steaks and knocking back ale by the tankard. How did I miss that?
After Laurier's explanation, Jeanne's view of elves shifted noticeably.
"Sorry about that. The legends are just so widespread... people have had this fixed image of elves for so long, it's practically baked in."
Leon took a quiet note of his own: Don't slap assumptions on things you don't actually understand.
...
Time slipped by. After the meal, a thin drizzle began to fall outside.
The three women settled by the living room windows without being asked, studying in comfortable silence until the afternoon training block.
Across from the two elves, Jeanne pored over her notes: a tailored development plan she and Leon had put together for Laurier and Aura, built around each of their Magic and Skills to push them toward specialization.
Take Laurier. Her Skill and Magic combination made her role obvious: a nimble, Dexterity-focused magic swordswoman. Best suited as a midfielder or flanker, picking off stragglers, backing up the vanguard, and shielding the rear guard.
Aura was the textbook backline artillery mage. Fire support, team buffs, sustained bombardment, and the clutch finishing blow when it mattered most. Classic rear-guard doctrine.
Working from those core strengths, Jeanne and Leon had drafted a comprehensive training regimen covering stamina, combat technique, battlefield awareness, and tactical vision. A full-spectrum upgrade.
Of course, specialist work deserved a specialist's hand.
Leon freely admitted he was bad at instruction. That responsibility fell squarely on Jeanne. He geared up and headed straight for the Dungeon.
Two objectives. First: field-test Fireball in live combat and bank the Excelia. Second: grind his Basic Abilities harder, because Jeanne's stats were climbing at a pace that frankly terrified him.
If he'd been talentless, having someone like Jeanne to carry him would've been the perfect excuse to coast. Kick back. Let the powerhouse handle it.
But he could keep up. He had every tool he needed to match her pace.
And when you've got a cheat system and you're still not pushing yourself? That's just wasting the cheat.
"I'm heading out. No slacking while I'm gone. Especially you, Laurier!"
"Hmph!"
...
...
The Dungeon. Upper Floors. Floor 5.
Fully armed, draped in his hooded cloak and mantle, face masked with only his eyes visible, Leon strode with staff in hand into a familiar little side chamber off the beaten path.
This had been his favorite grinding spot: spawn rates were manageable, two mobs at a time with an absolute ceiling of three. It was tailor-made for his steady, methodical approach.
He'd come back to Floor 5 specifically to test Fireball's damage output against live monsters. This room was the first place that came to mind.
"WRAGAGAGAGA!"
He'd barely arrived before his old friends rolled out the welcome wagon.
"Goblins again. The regulars never disappoint."
He lifted his chin slightly. Beneath the hood's shadow, his gaze sharpened. Behind the mask, the corner of his mouth curled upward.
He moved.
Knees bent, weight sinking low, body turning sideways as one arm rose and the staff thrust forward. The stance radiated coiled power. Vast Mind surged outward, refined into Magic. His eyes and the crystal atop his staff blazed with cold blue light simultaneously.
A tongue of flame materialized at the staff's tip, swelling, spinning, compressing at blistering speed. In the span of a heartbeat, a roaring sphere of fire the size of a washbasin solidified at the head of the staff.
"Fireball!"
Leon barked the spell name. His body shuddered with the release.
The blazing orange sphere warped the air in its path. In an instant, it detonated between the two Goblins.
"Holy shit!"
The blast hammered through the chamber. Searing light erupted upward, and the floor itself seemed to tremble.
The shockwave washed over him. Leon threw an arm across his face, eyes narrowed to slits, locked on the point of impact.
Seconds later, the dust thinned. The carnage revealed itself.
Both Goblins were beyond dead. Charred fragments scattered in every direction, not a single intact piece among them.
Where the Fireball had struck the floor directly, a shallow crater had been gouged into the stone, already knitting itself closed at a visible pace.
"That... that power!"
Leon sucked in a sharp breath.
Violence. Pure, distilled violence.
"What the hell! This isn't even in the same league as Scorch! I didn't land a direct hit, and just the shockwave and heat alone vaporized them?"
He clicked his tongue. "Overkill. No... way past overkill."
The first live test had blown past every expectation.
He stared at the staff in his hand, the pieces falling into place.
The staff's amplification is significant, but that's not the whole story. The real factor is that the staff magnifies my Magic stat. After my Basic Abilities climbed, my Magic is on a completely different level than before. Stack the multiplier from Demon Lord's Tome on top of Scholar's Heart's refinement bonus, and with Fireball's base coefficients... an explosion like that was inevitable.
If Scorch's power coefficient sat several tiers below even a speed-cast spell, then Fireball's coefficient was roughly on par with Magic that required a short Chant.
And he'd just cast it as an instant. Instant casting inherently shaved off some of the spell's full potential. Even with that penalty, the result was this devastating.
Better yet, he could drop the instant cast and switch to a charged release for even more damage.
After all... the Grimoire contained Fireball's full Chant.
Having traced the logic from start to finish, Leon's grin widened, edging toward feral.
Wonder what happens to something that takes a direct hit from this? With this kind of firepower... even a tank-build monster known for its defense would come out looking like it went through a meat grinder.
Satisfied and itching for more, he turned without hesitation and headed deeper.
Floor 5's monsters were no longer worthy sparring partners.
To truly push Fireball to its limit, the only candidate he could think of was the rare infant dragon that spawned on the final floor of the Upper Floors.
But knowing himself, cautious as ever, there was no way he'd solo that fight.
Plenty of chances ahead. No need to rush.