Seraphine could only show her shock visibly. She had just taken her seat after the last revelation, so she didnât even bother standing up to act all surprised once again after the cores.
How much more does he have to give me?
Leon had also produced one of the Phoenix Feather Amulets and made her connect to it through her blood. A small drop from her finger pressed against the artifactâs surface, and the binding formed instantlyâa warm pulse of energy acknowledging her.
Her reactions were adorably cute when he explained what the amulet could actually do.
"It... it revives me if I die? Once?"
Her eyes went wide as saucers, mouth hanging open.
Leon nodded with an amused smile. She clutched the precious artifact to her chest like it was the most valuable thing in existenceâwhich, in a sense, it absolutely was.
Lastly, he also gave her the lightning elemental skill stones, which he had carefully kept for her, along with several other spare skill stones he hadnât personally used. Rather than keeping them stored indefinitely in his inventory, he chose to give them directly to her.
"If you like, you can give these to anyone you find deserving of them. Thatâs your choice to make. I trust youâll make good decisions about distribution."
But Leon didnât stop there.
He had also painstakingly written down every single technique he possessedâall the ones heâd now reached Transcendent rank mastery in through his brutal training regimen.
Elemental Surge. Arcane Shackles. Sky Breaker Draw. Blazing Ascension... Everything heâd learned and mastered, he transcribed meticulously.
He didnât hold back at all.
However, he wrote the instructions and techniques only up to the Grandmaster rank level, deliberately stopping there. Heâd felt instinctively that for someone to truly reach Transcendent mastery, it required oneâs own personal interpretation and insightâa unique understanding that would take each practitioner there individually.
My specific methods and insights wonât be directly viable for others at that final threshold. They need to find their own path.
He didnât create just one copy of each skill manual, either. He made tens of duplicate copies for each technique, using his refined elemental control to inscribe them on specially prepared paper.
Stack after stack of valuable training manuals materialized on the table.
"Just like with the skill stonesâshare these with whoever you find worthy. I trust your judgment completely on this."
Seraphineâs face was absolutely precious as she processed the magnitude of what he was entrusting to her. She nodded like a valiant commander receiving orders from her general, her expression serious and determined despite the adorable earnestness in her eyes.
"I wonât disappoint you. I promise."
Then, lastly, before departing, Leon asked her a specific question:
"Seraphine, do you still have those potions leftâthe Vials of Second Breath that I gave you when you were merging with the Stormlight Seed?"
Seraphine replied immediately, though her tone carried confusion:
"Yes, my love. I still have a couple of vials remaining safely stored. Why do you ask about them right now, all of a sudden? Iâm not currently in any danger."
Leon heard her question and replied calmly, his expression becoming more serious:
"Itâs nothing immediately urgent. Just keep them extremely close to youâespecially when youâre absorbing those monster cores I gave you. You might have to face tribulation lightning as you advance through the cultivation ranks, similar to what I experienced."
"Tribulations?"
This was genuinely the first time Seraphine had heard about anything like this phenomenon. Her brow furrowed with concern and curiosity.
For this, Leon had to provide her with a detailed explanation about what heâd personally experienced during his advancement to Ascendant rank. He didnât exaggerate or dramatizeâjust gave her the straightforward facts.
He told her about the increasingly brutal lightning strikes, the system offering options to stop progression between stages, the physical damage, and constant healing required.
Lastly, he voiced his honest uncertainty:
"Iâm not completely sure youâll experience tribulation at all. It might be specifically because of my higher Divinordial race that I encountered them. Normal advancement might not trigger the same response."
He squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"Even so, you shouldnât worry excessively, but definitely be prepared. You have everything you need to face tribulations successfully if they do comeâthe regeneration ring, the phoenix feather, the potions, your own healing capabilities."
After this explanation concluded, Leon stood up from his seat and leaned forward across the table. He gave her a deep, lingering kissânot involving tongue this time, but still thoroughly tasting her sweet, soft lips.
Her immediate attempt to intensify and devour his mouth told him everything clearly: despite how thoroughly exhausted she currently was from their morning stretching session in the bath, she still desperately wanted to go at it again.
He could see it in her eyesâcraving, even in exhaustion. That beautiful, insatiable hunger.
The thought made him smile against her lips.
Leon finally pulled back, catching his breath.
"Take care of yourself. Train hard. Iâll visit again soon."
With just a focused thought, he teleported her several hundred kilometers awayâdepositing her safely next to the town settlement theyâd built, far enough that she could experience her breakthrough and potential tribulation in complete peace without endangering the population.
The space shimmered, and she vanished.
After seeing her safely deposited near the town, Leon exhaled. The warmth of their time together still lingeredâbut his mind was already shifting to the next task.
Now alone, Leon immediately got fully naked, removing every article of clothing.
This is precisely why I sent her back first. If I did this in front of her, sheâd definitely become horny again and want another round.
Then Leon activated his cloning skill deliberately.
Just like before, the uncomfortable splitting sensation occurred. Another version of himself with the same unified consciousness formed successfully, standing naked across from him.
However, this time Leon didnât create the dimensional portal or leave his body behind. Instead, he simply destroyed the clone with a mental command.
The duplicate melted into nothingness, dissolving harmlessly.
Good. Just testing the mechanism.
He wasnât leaving the dimensional realm right nowâhe still had substantial time remaining before he needed to return to the Pyrrhan world for the next loot.
His main current focus was maximizing the level of his cloning skill itself through repeated use and practice.
Despite all the incredible growth and advancement heâd achieved, not even one and a half hours had actually passed in the outside world. It was all due to the powerful combination of the Tome of Eternal Practice and the dimensional realmâs extreme time dilation that such progress was even remotely possible.
The cooldown period for the tome had expired again, so Leon decided to use it once more. At the end of the day, this was a skillânot a physical capability enhancementâso it should theoretically work for training inside the mental simulation space.
Last time it didnât work because I had my clone active outside the entire duration. Letâs try differently.
In this attempt, two hours passed in the dimensional realm. But for Leon, existing inside that endless white empty mental space, he trained only the singular Hydraâs Division skill again and again and again.
Creating clones. Dismissing them. Recreating. Refining the process. Understanding the energy flow and mental pathways more deeply with each iteration.
It was not any ordinary skillâit was Legendary rank, after all. Otherwise, it would have reached maximum level 100 halfway through those ten thousand subjective practice hours.
However, in the end, he succeeded in reaching level 79.
Examining the capabilities of his dramatically improved skill through the systemâs golden transparent interface, a wide smile spread across Leonâs face.
Great progress.
[Hydraâs Division â Level 79]
[Effects: Create a perfect clone of the user with 70% of their actual strength.]
Seventy percent of my total strength. Thatâs absolutely wild.
Even excluding his Holy energyâbecause the skill fundamentally lacked the capability to replicate his unique divine mana heartâthis was essentially a cheat code for combat.
I now have countless maxed-out level 100 skills available to the clone. So many different Auras at high mastery. High-level elemental control across multiple elements. My base physical strength is astronomical, and my body is capable of accessing twenty-five percent of my sealed divine power even without Holy transformation.
With the combination of his new Epic-rank Blazing Ascension at level 100, Raijinâs Descent, Elemental Surge, and everything else heâd masteredâ
If this clone somehow reached full 100% strength parity at maximum skill level, it might genuinely equal the power level I fought the hydra boss with. Or probably even exceed it.
Only actual combat would tell for certain, but the implications were staggering.
And my strength in the Holy transformation form? I genuinely canât even imagine the upper limit anymore.
He wasnât sure if he was currently as strong as Archon Vyrra or if heâd potentially already surpassed her. Only a direct comparison would reveal that truth eventually.