Half a month later.
Leon emerged from his meditative state and slowly opened his eyes.
【Sacred Light Meditation Lv2 (274/300) → Sacred Light Meditation Lv2 (277/300)】
“Sacred Light Meditation is close to leveling up too...”
He exhaled slowly and ceased his deep meditation, though brilliant Sacred Light particles still lingered around his body.
This was the transition from active Sacred Light Meditation to the passive state linked with his Walking Meditation technique.
Leon focused inward, sensing the Sea of Mental Power within his mind.
At this moment, the liquid mental power, resembling seawater, completely filled the Sea of Mental Power. He had reached the bottleneck of the Silver rank.
He was just one step away. Once he broke through the barrier of his Sea of Mental Power, he would advance to the Gold rank!
“Half a month of bitter cultivation wasn't in vain!”
Though fatigue was written all over Leon's face, his spirit remained high.
Over the past half month, he had spent almost all his time practicing Sacred Light Meditation in front of the Gramophone Golem, actively grinding experience points for the technique.
Through the dual cultivation of Sacred Light Meditation and the Walking Meditation technique, the power within his Sea of Mental Power had risen steadily to its current level.
Seeing this, as Doncic put it:
“Master Leon, please stop meditating. I'm terrified!”
From Doncic's perspective, during this past half month, Leon had done nothing but meditate. Aside from basic physiological needs and a single trip back to Stormveil City to retrieve the 【Divine Art Scripture】, he had dedicated every single second to his training.
Meditating for twenty-two hours a day and going without sleep for nearly half a month—anyone would be terrified watching that!
Let alone twenty-two hours of meditation, if Doncic himself had to spend twelve hours a day practicing rogue techniques, he felt he would drop dead of exhaustion on the spot!
Yet for Leon, seeing the experience points on his panel steadily tick upward and feeling his mental power grow after each session kept him constantly motivated.
After all, when one's efforts were visualized and rewarded with immediate feedback every single time, procrastination was impossible. Only a profound sense of satisfaction remained!
Aside from pushing his mental power to the peak of the Silver rank, Leon had also mastered four more Divine Arts during this half month.
All four of these Divine Arts were buffing spells, acquired by absorbing the insights contained within the 【Divine Art Scripture】.
Among them, the one he had the highest mastery of was 【Close-Range Enhancement】, which had reached Lv1 (69/100).
The one with the lowest mastery was 【Golden Body Lv1 (34/100)】.
This was likely because the priest who created the 【Divine Art Scripture】 only had a mastery of 【Golden Body】 equivalent to a mere 34 experience points on Leon's panel.
Still, considering he didn't have to grind the experience from scratch, Leon was more than satisfied with a free 34 points.
During this half month, the situation in Ommisiah had also undergone significant changes.
Half a month ago, following several decrees from the Sage King, General Sophia and Minister of Magic Blaise were deployed to the front lines of the war, accompanied by the Holy See's Saint Geles Choir.
At the same time, a mysterious blood gu outbreak occurred within the Nightmare Empire, contaminating countless stored blood reserves and rendering many blood-powered magic items useless.
Swept forward by these developments, the empire's forces advanced like a hot knife through butter, pushing the front line forward by nearly four hundred kilometers. They were now on the verge of reaching the 【Storm City】, one of the seven great capitals of the Nightmare Empire.
Meanwhile, at the southern end of the empire, numerous events of varying scales unfolded across the Dusk Sea.
First, while exploring a set of ruins, two of the remaining Four Kings of the Dusk Sea were slain by Burns V.
Of the remaining two, the Frozen King, for reasons unknown, led her forces into the Abyss to crusade against monsters.
As for the Shadow King, although he managed to escape from Burns V, he was gravely injured.
With the Frozen King away in the Abyss and no external forces to interfere, the Shadow King's subordinates staged a rebellion in an attempt to usurp him, though their plans ultimately fell through due to a leak.
However, rumors spread that because the Shadow King was forced to exert himself to quell the rebellion, his injuries had significantly worsened.
The second major event was the resurgence of the Burns Court in the Dusk Sea. Its undead army had already seized hundreds of islands, swallowing up more than half of the Dusk Sea in just half a month.
A few days ago, Leon received word that even the Endless Bay had seen sightings of undead squads—highly likely to be the vanguard of the Burns undead army.
Clearly, the Burns Court did not care in the slightest about the boundary Leon had drawn with merman blood.
To the Burns Court, Leon's achievement of leading a crusade to slay the peak Gold-rank transcendent Mad Shark King was far from impressive.
Leon made no response to this.
After all, as a mere Silver priest, there was truly nothing he could do!
Even if he made some grand verbal statement, his weak cultivation meant the undead of the Burns Court would never take him seriously anyway!
His level of existence was simply too low; his very presence was not yet worthy of the Burns Court's concern!
Thus, upon hearing of the vanguard's movements, Leon decided to bide his time.
As the saying goes, “Let the wind and snow weigh me down for a year or two; I shall only smile, for the wind is light and the snow is soft as cotton!”
And also, “In my early years, I already knew the hardships of the world, yet I still allow the wild swan to soar among the clouds!”
Once the three-year mark arrived and Leon advanced to the Gold rank, he would definitely teach these undead how to behave!
Aside from these two major events, the rest were minor occurrences.
For instance, a certain island was attacked by invisible monsters, leaving not a single corpse behind...
Or an adventurer who crossed paths with a giant deep-sea shrimp species known as the 【Lord of Shrimp】, only to be snipped in half by its claws, signaling the return of deep-sea behemoths to the ocean surface...
Or the Nightmare Empire making significant moves along its coastline, suspected of discovering traces of a cult called the Black and White Hand...
In short, the winds of change blew fiercely over the past half month. Whether on the continent of Ommisiah or across the Dusk Sea, peace was nowhere to be found, and various factions were beginning to stir.
Just as the Sage King had warned before Leon's departure, the entire Dusk Sea had become a chaotic mess.
Under these circumstances, even though Aaron had wanted to linger in Eldenborg to play for a few more days, Lord Aleph-One had successfully persuaded him to set off.
Before leaving, he had made a special trip to Jellyfish Town to challenge Leon to a game of 《Hearthstone Spire Slay》. Unfortunately, he was still one step behind and ended up losing yet another game to Leon.
“Master, an assassin from the Three Sword Guild has accepted the commission.”
Just as Leon was relaxing after his long and grueling meditation, Ratahn approached him and said:
“The one who took the job is a Gold-rank bloodline warrior who has mastered a technique known as the Sword of Thunder...”
Ever since he was targeted by assassins from the Three Sword Guild, Leon had sent someone in disguise to post a commission in the guild as well.
Now, after more than half a month, someone had finally taken the bait to deliver themselves to his doorstep.
“Another opportunity to farm experience points...”
Leon nodded slightly, instructing Ratahn to keep a close eye on the Three Sword Guild's movements and to bolster their defenses.
Afterward, he returned to the outskirts of Jellyfish Town, instructed Alicia to guard him, and closed his eyes once more.
“Gold rank, break!”
Rate on N.U.
