In the center of Solhaven stood a tower the same size as the Thousand Treasure Tower. This was the tower of the Magistrate. On the topmost floor was a nice office where an old man was sitting in a fancy chair. He was the magistrate of Solhaven. He wasn't doing anything, just resting in the chair. Beside him was a desk with a few stacks of documents that were piled up.
Suddenly, his eyes flew open and he got up from his chair. He looked in the direction of the commoner's district. He could feel the magic vibrations from this distance, which meant that something big happened.
He immediately thought about the possibilities. He ruled out the Beast Wave since there would be a huge commotion. It was a magical disturbance, so it couldn't be any of the commoners. It wasn't involving any Aura Knight at all based on the lack of aura.
This left two things. It was either a fight between mages, or a mage had broken through. Both of them were highly unlikely though. This was because the disturbance came from the commoner's district.
None of the mages were going to fight in the Commoner's district because they had an image to uphold. As for a breakthrough, the only way that would create those many magical ripples would be if the breakthrough was to the 3rd Circle.
This would be a huge help to him for the Beast Wave, but he knew every single person in Solhaven who was close to that breakthrough. None of them would need to break through in the commoner's district.
He decided to check it out himself. He leaped out of the window toward the disturbance. As he flew to the source, the ripple slowly started fading away. By the time he reached the edge of the commoner's district, he could no longer pinpoint where the source was from.
He tried to search the area with his senses, but he couldn't find anyone with magic in their body. This meant that he was wrong about any of his conclusions, or that the person already left without being seen by him.
As he was thinking that, Leo was in the Shadow Realm. He had sensed the magical energy from the magistrate immediately when he came near the commoner's district and instinctively fled into the shadow world. He could normally only stay there for a minute, but he hoped that the breakthrough would help him stay for longer.
He didn't even need to hope. The magistrate left immediately. He couldn't stay in the commoner's district for long. He had to go back to prepare for the Beast Wave.
Leo came out of the Shadow World and breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to deal with the Magistrate of all people. He went back to training his magic and used up the rest of the flower. It only took him 4 hours for that, when he thought he would take the entire day.
He then started a connection between the cloud and the plant and started channeling his magic into the plant. The plant greedily absorbed the magic like a sponge and he saw that a new bud was starting to form. He smiled and left his mind, letting it do its thing. He went to the training room to see what new skills he could learn.
He wasn't disappointed. There were four new pages that he could now access. He quickly checked them out.
[Soul Fire Burst]
[Hurls compressed energy, creating an explosive burst of searing heat and destructive energy. The soul fire engulfs enemies, reducing them to smoldering remnants and scorching the surroundings]
[Shadowbind Bolt]
[Conjures a bolt of dark energy that streaks through the air leaving behind a trail of wispy shadows. Upon impact, the Shadowbind Bolt releases a burst of shadowy tendrils that surge outward, ensnaring the target. These tendrils wrap around the enemy, binding them tightly and restricting their movements. The dark energy exerts a subtle pressure, draining the strength and agility of the ensnared foe.]
[Intermediate Arcane Shield]
[Forms a resilient barrier of arcane energy around the caster. It enhances natural defenses, repelling physical and magical attacks with a shimmering, pulsating aura. This shield withstands powerful strikes and offers extended protection.]
[Sound Transmission]
[Allows one to project their voice to a single person or an entire room.]
Out of all the skills, the only 'new' one was the Shadowbind bolt. The Soul Fire Burst was an improvement to the Flame Burst. The Intermediate Arcane Shield was an improvement to the Elementary Arcane Shield. And the Sound Transmission wasn't even a real skill. It was an auxiliary skill that he would be able to achieve using a trick of controlling magic.
However, he was okay with that. The skills he received were more than enough. They would be very helpful. The Soul Fire Burst would help him deal more damage and the shield would also be helpful in blocking attacks. Most importantly though, the Shadowbind bolt would help him restrict his enemies' movements. This would be a huge help to him.
He immediately started training his skills. He started off with the Soul Flame Burst because he had a lot of experience with the Flame Burst and the Flame Barrage. He quickly observed the silhouette's motion and set up the training room to practice.
By the end of the day, he reached Novice proficiency in that skill. It was a lot harder to learn it than a 2nd Circle Skill, which meant that he couldn't just spend a week mastering all of those skills. He would have to put in a few months to actually train them properly and tone the skills in battle.
He decided to stave off the rest of the skills for the next day and went out to see what Daphne was up to. He didn't even have to ask her if her breakthrough was successful because he already knew everything that was going on in the house with his improved senses. He knew that she broke through immediately when she succeeded because of it.
He still had to go talk to her since he would have to explain why he knew if he didn't. So he just went to the living room where she was sitting and talked to her. He had a smile on his face since he expected the answer.
"Did you succeed?" He asked her.
"No," she said with a gloomy voice.
"No?" He asked, surprised. He didn't expect that answer.
"Yes, I didn't succeed. What about you? Did you become any stronger?" She asked him.
He shook his head. He was still confused about why she was lying to him. He knew for a fact that she was a 2nd Circle Aura Knight, so why was she hiding it? After a second of thought, he decided to stop pursuing it since she might have her reasons. After all, he always hid that he was a mage.
"It's okay. I think we are ready enough for the Beast Wave. We just have to be prepared for any circumstance. Thank god we aren't being conscripted." He said.
She nodded. "We aren't going to be conscripted? That's good."
