The next morning, Leonis Habsburg woke up with a slight pain in his right shoulder.
Apparently, yesterday’s training with Rhea still refused to let him go, even after the fight had ended.
He got out of bed and did a few stretches. His Ten-Star Core was completely stable, and Mana moved through his energy pathways without the slightest resistance.
However, there was one problem. His body was still weak.
Having a Ten-Star Core did not mean having powerful muscles or strong bones. Even if his Mana storage capacity was much higher than that of an ordinary Awakened, his body still had its own limits.
And such weakness could be deadly when facing the Fallen.
Leonis looked at his Status Panel.
[Level: 1]
[Strength: 22]
[Agility: 26]
[Vitality: 20]
[Mana: 18]
[Spirit: 32]
Despite all his recent progress, his physical stats were still nothing impressive.
Of course, he had no intention of wasting today complaining about things he still had time to change.
He put on his training clothes and left his room.
The morning training with Evangeline was not much different from the previous day.
His Master still insisted that before thinking about defeating an enemy, Leonis had to learn how to survive against it.
For that reason, most of the training focused on [Mana Control] and the proper use of [Lost Moon].
Evangeline changed the conditions of the training field each time.
Sometimes, Mana projectiles came from the front, while other times, the attack started from behind. During some rounds, the woman even changed the direction of her attack at the very last moment, making sure Leonis could not escape simply by memorizing the patterns.
[Immortal Insight Soul] allowed him to analyze his mistakes at an incredible speed.
But knowing his mistakes did not always mean his body was capable of correcting them immediately.
By the end of the training, his shoulders felt heavy with exhaustion.
After checking his final movement, Evangeline put her black sword back into its sheath.
"Not bad, little disciple. At least today, I didn’t have to pick you up off the ground every five minutes," the woman said with a satisfied smile.
Leonis let out a breath.
"Master, I think praising people is another skill you haven’t fully mastered yet."
"If you want, we can continue training so I’ll have more chances to praise you."
"No, Master. This much praise is more than enough for today."
She laughed.
He also smiled, but immediately turned his attention back to the training sword.
There was not much time left before the monthly exam, and despite all his jokes, he had no intention of wasting that time.
That evening, Rhea was waiting for him at the eastern training area.
Unlike their previous fight, this time, before they started, the girl checked Leonis’s footwork and shoulder position. She also asked him several times to perform the Habsburg Swordsmanship movements without using Mana.
Rhea knew his old habits better than anyone else.
Whenever Leonis put too much weight on his front foot while changing direction, the girl noticed it immediately and corrected his movement.
After nearly an hour of fighting, they both sat down beside the training field.
As usual, Rhea handed him a bottle of water. Leonis took a few sips and then looked at the girl.
"Rhea, do you have time to train with me tomorrow, too?"
The girl paused for a moment.
"Why? Isn’t your beloved Master enough for you?"
He gave a faint smile.
"My Master is excellent at teaching skills. But you know better than anyone else how I used to fight and what bad habits I had. I need your help to correct them."
She said nothing, but her fingers, which were wrapped around the bottle, relaxed slightly.
Leonis continued.
"Besides, I also enjoy training with you. I don’t want to spend all my time in the mansion."
The girl turned her head away.
"W-Well, if you insist that much, maybe I can find some free time."
"Then, thank you."
"Just don’t think I’m going to be nice to you every day. If you don’t take training seriously, I’ll really beat you up."
Leonis glanced at the small bruise on his forearm.
"As far as I remember, you’re already doing that."
"That’s different!"
Leonis laughed. Rhea turned her slightly red face away, but the corners of her lips were still raised a little.
At that moment, a window appeared in front of Leonis’s eyes.
[Rhea Valcrest’s Affection toward the Host has increased]
[69 -> 72]
[The threshold of 70 has been passed]
[The target’s Second Destiny has been revealed]
Leonis’s expression became slightly more serious for a moment. This was exactly what he had expected.
With a brief moment of concentration, he opened the new window.
[Purple Destiny — Demonic Body Tempering]
[Within the next few days, Rhea Valcrest will receive a rare Body Tempering Elixir from her family’s reserves.]
[Effect: Strengthens muscles, makes bones stronger, and increases the body’s ability to withstand physical stress.]
Leonis looked at the girl beside him for a moment.
An elixir obtained from the reserves of an aristocratic Demon family was probably quite valuable even under normal circumstances.
More importantly, it was exactly what he needed right now. His Core had been purified, and his soul gave him an incredible ability to understand things, but his body still could not make full use of their potential.
"Copy it," he ordered in his mind.
[Destiny successfully copied]
[Demonic Body Tempering Elixir]
[10,000-fold amplification has begun]
[Amplification successfully completed.]
[Primordial Titan Body Tempering Elixir]
[Rank: S]
[The reward has been transferred to the Host’s storage space.]
Leonis’s smile grew wider, but before closing the panel, another question came to his mind.
’System, why was Rhea’s Destiny purple? How does the Destiny ranking system work?’
[Destinies are divided into six ranks based on the value and importance of the future opportunities they provide.]
[From the lowest rank to the highest rank:]
[White]
[Green]
[Blue]
[Purple]
[Gold]
[Red]
[Notice: A Destiny’s rank shows the value of the original opportunity and does not necessarily match the rank of the reward after amplification.]
Leonis slowly nodded.
This information was very valuable. In the future, he would not need to look only for powerful people.
Even an ordinary person with a relatively valuable Destiny could provide him with an opportunity that might become something unimaginable after amplification.
This alone made the true value of the System even greater than he had first imagined.
After talking with Rhea for a while and waiting until it grew dark, they said goodbye to each other and returned to their own residences.
On the second day, Leonis was sitting in his private room before sunrise.
A small bottle was placed in front of him. The liquid inside had a dark golden color, and strands of red light moved through it.
He checked the reward’s description one last time.
[Primordial Titan Body Tempering Elixir]
[Rank: S]
[Main Effect: Purifies the body’s foundation, strengthens tissues and bones, and increases the body’s ability to transfer and withstand physical force.]
[Physical Foundation Increase: 4444%]
[Side Effect: Strength, Agility, and Vitality each increase by 100 points.]
[Warning: The tempering process will cause severe pain.]
Leonis kept his eyes on the last two lines.
An increase of 100 points in each physical stat was an enormous improvement at his current level.
"System, why did you list this increase as a side effect?"
[The main purpose of the elixir is to rebuild and improve the Host’s physical foundation.]
[The increase in physical stats is considered a side effect of this process.]
He slowly turned the bottle between his fingers. So, the most important part of this reward was not even those 300 stat points.
The physical foundation.
It was what determined how much force the body could withstand, transfer, and use properly.
"Good."
He opened the bottle and drank its contents in one go. For a few seconds, nothing happened.
Then, his muscles began to contract violently.
He gritted his teeth, feeling as if enormous weights were pressing against his bones from the inside. The pain started in his legs, spread to his spine, and then covered his entire body.
The veins in his neck bulged, and cold sweat ran down his forehead. But this time, unlike when his Core had been restored, the energy was not gathering in the center of his body.
The elixir was directly changing his physical structure. His muscles were becoming denser, his bones were becoming stronger, and the pathways that carried force throughout his body were gradually becoming more coordinated.
Leonis closed his eyes.
[Immortal Insight Soul] activated, making the flow of Mana clearer in his mind.
Instead of blindly fighting against the pain, he adjusted the flow of energy so that the pressure would be distributed across different parts of his body.
For a while, even breathing was difficult, but Evangeline had repeated one thing many times during her lessons.
Control.
Instead of tightening all his muscles, Leonis guided the pressure through the pathways that the elixir was tempering.
Time passed.
When the process finally ended, his clothes were completely soaked with sweat. He sat there for a few more minutes and calmed his breathing.
Then, a window appeared in front of his eyes.
[Body Tempering successfully completed]