BANG! BANG! BANG!

Leonel's enigmatic steps sent him fluttering across the training room. Three puppets wearing wooden armor pressed him from all sides, conjuring spells of all kinds to bombard him.

Leonel's eyes remained closed, his Internal Sight remaining concentrated on this small region.

Thoughts of how Lamorak had toyed with him played in his head again and again. The memories were so vivid that he could almost feel the same pain coursing through his body once more.

Leonel was suddenly cornered by all three puppets. It seemed for a moment that he would be pincered from all sides.

An arrow of earth, fire and water assaulted him from different directions, aiming to take his life.

The puppets of this room were all entirely made of Spiritual Wood. As a result, their ability to cast spells was even beyond that of their human counterparts. This made up for their stiff actions with overwhelming power.

That said, to humans, more Spiritual Wood wasn't necessarily better. After all, if one's wand was too large, it would be like trying to use a sledgehammer to staple two sheets of paper together. And even that wasn't necessarily a good analogy considering in this case, the mages might not even have enough strength to 'lift' the sledgehammer.

However, these puppets were different. Their Spiritual Pressure was provided by crystals. In that case, they were much less limited in this regard.

Just when it seemed Leonel would be struck, he arched his head forward, narrowly dodging the arrow of earth. His hips twisted, ducking past the arrow of fire.

The two arrows swept by his body, crashing into the opposing puppets and sending them flying.

The final arrow of water took advantage of the situation, zipping through the air and appearing between Leonel's brows in a flash.

Leonel's eyes suddenly snapped open, an overwhelming Spirit Pressure sweeping forth that seemed to freeze the arrow in air for a split moment.

'[Deconstruct].'

A sweep of wind swirled around Leonel. In that moment, a Magic Art appeared before him in the path of the arrow.

The water arrow regained its momentum, crashing into the Art before it without pause.

However, the collision one would have expected never occurred. The water arrow seemed to pass through without issue. But it was at that moment that something astonishing happened.

The arrow began to lose its structure. Starting at the tip — the first point to enter Leonel's Art — it collapsed, becoming no different from normal droplets of water. In fact, Leonel felt a refreshing spray shower his face at that moment, causing him to smile.

Leonel crossed the remaining distance between him and the water mage puppet, sending a punch out to its chest.

PENG!

The form of Leonel's boxing had still been steadily increasing. All his power shot up from his pivot foot, through his hips, and into his fists, crumpling the wooden armor of the puppet.

The lights of the room dimmed, signaling that all the puppets had been taken down.

'Still not enough…' Leonel muttered.

He had been able to force two of the puppets into a corner without lifting a finger, but still failed to do so with a third.

'I might need to go to the Knight Academy and read the books within their library to understand what this General Star really is. Walking around blindly on my own will take too long. I have a feeling that even the primitive woman I learned this ability from only faintly touched on the topic.'

Leonel felt that it was about time he chose a new spear. He knew he had completely mastered the technique of the primitive woman. He had just been a bit distracted by Magic Arts in recent weeks.

For example, [Deconstruct]. It was an auxiliary type spell of the Three Star Official Art level. But, Leonel felt that this rating was inaccurate, because it could technically work on any Magic Art.

Of course, others knew this as well. The trouble was that this Art had many moving parts and changing forms. It was necessary to analyze the spell coming toward you and make the appropriate changes to its form. So, for most mages, it was only useful against mages of lesser skill than themselves, making it only about as good as a typical parlor trick.

'It's too bad this arena doesn't have Magus level puppets. I wonder if [Deconstruct] would work on higher level spells…'

As Leonel was lost in his thoughts, he walked out from the training room, his body dripping in sweat.

"Leonel!"

Leonel looked up in surprise, pleasantly surprised to find Lionus waiting for him. He smiled in greeting.

"Lionus."

"I hear you already became a One Star Official Mage? Don't you think this speed is a bit too fast?"

Leonel laughed. In truth, he probably reached the standard of Three Star Magus already, at least in terms of the Magic Arts he knew and his ability to cast them. As for the Crystallization of his Spirit Pressure, he was lagging behind in his aspect, making his Arts less potent than they should be.

However, progressing beyond the One Star Official Mage rank required more than just knowledge and ability, it was also necessary to gain certain merits. In addition, even if he could rush up to the Three Star Magus rank immediately, Leonel felt it was inappropriate to do so.

For one, his standing as a traitor might still be being looked into by others. Though his status as a Holy Son was enough to blind the common people and maybe some of the more religious upper echelon, there were of course those who wouldn't take this too seriously.

Of course, Leonel still wanted to reach the Three Star Official Mage standard. This was the only way for him to finish reading all the information in the library.

Though he found it a bit odd he could look through all their techniques, but not read all their knowledge, Leonel felt it made sense in the end. Often times, it was impossible to learn Magic Arts without the proper knowledge foundation. And, even if you had the knowledge, breaking through the barrier protecting them was another matter entirely.

Leonel was probably the only freak in their history that could completely ignore these barriers with impunity.

Leonel and Lionus chatted for a while about miscellaneous things before Leonel finally asked the question. holds text © rights.

"Did you come here to ask something of me?" He inquired.

"Ah, yes. I completely forgot. The Church has been asking about your status for a while. Before those old fogies go too crazy, it's best you go take a look. I'll take you."

"Oh?" Leonel's brows arched up. "Is there anything I need to do?"

Lionus came to a realization. It was true that Leonel might not be aware of these things.

"The four major powers of our Kingdom center around the Royal family, the two Academies, and The Church. Holy Sons have a special status within the Church as their protectors. The Church has warriors they call Paladins, but the truth is that the only true Paladin of this Kingdom is my father."

A hint of unrestrained pride glowed in Lionus' eyes. Leonel could tell that Lionus wasn't a haughty individual. The fact he had shown this kind of face just showed how much he loved and admired his dad.

Leonel smiled lightly. His old man would probably kill to see him have such an expression, then he would laugh him to oblivion.

'Tch, in your dreams, old man.'

Lionus shook his head, realizing that his actions had been a bit inappropriate. But, Leonel didn't seem to mind so he continued with a smile.

"This is good timing, honestly." Lionus finally said after a moment. "You need to gain some merits whether it's for The Church or for your next Ascension and I have a mission I happen to be looking for help with. Are you interested?"

Leonel's eyes shone. "Sure."

With that, Lionus led Leonel toward The Church.