Ron took a deep breath, and under the watchful gaze of his teacher, his new and improved rank 3 acolyte spiritual energy began to enter the lock that had forbid him from opening the little box before this.

Inside the lock, Ron could sense a foreign energy resting inside. Upon sensing his spiritual force coming, the foreign energy roared to life, immediately charging at his own.

Ron was a bit startled but didn't hesitate in his response. His energy began to boil, powered up by his inner flame. No sound was produced from the collision of the two collided, and yet, Ron's ears began to ring from the crash.

However, while Ron was stunned for a moment, the foreign energy didn't fare as well. It was almost instantaneously destroyed by his own, with an ease that surprised Ron.

Ron shook his head, getting rid of the strange dizziness he'd gotten from the affair. Then, he grinned when he saw that the box had unlocked itself.

Still, he forced himself to wait, taking a couple of minutes to recover. He hadn't suffered any injuries, but the act of boiling his own spiritual force had been quite taxing. After all, if what he suspected was correct, then the energy would have been impossible for him to destroy if not for utilizing his inner flame.

In short, it was a test, and he'd passed it with flying colors. Feeling calmer after thinking everything over, Ron cautiously opened the box at long last.

Within the box, a flickering flame stayed still, as if frozen in time. Tilting his head slightly in confusion, Ron attempted to poke the flame, only for his hand to freeze.

"Use your spiritual energy. Never directly touch the unknown, especially as a weak acolyte." Loki reminded Ron from the side before releasing his hand. Embarrassed at his mistake, Ron ducked his head in shame before doing as he was told.

His spiritual force, invisible to the eye and still miles away from becoming corporeal, reached out to the flame. Immediately, the flame reacted as it's previously frozen state disappeared, and it began to once more move.

Fascinated, Ron stared at the little flame that didn't seem to consume oxygen nor fuel. It didn't make much sense, but Ron had long since understood that relying on his understanding of the world from his previous life would only lead to confusion. Hence, he wasn't all that surprised by the strangeness of it.

After all, when even he could cast weird and strange magic, the act itself began to lose its mysteriousness, instead turning more into something more tangible and understandable rather than mysterious.

While Ron was thinking all of this, he was also observing the flame. Finally, as if sensing him, the flame 'turned' towards him. Ron had no idea how he could even tell which direction the flame could face, or if it even could face a direction, but somehow, he just knew.

The flame slowly floated upwards and out of the box before approaching Ron. Loki tensed slightly from where he leisurely sat, but after a moment, he relaxed once more, continuing to silently observe the strange interaction between flame and princess.

Ron allowed the flickering flame to reach up to his head. Then, the flame expanded, engulfing Ron within it. However, instead of feeling pain, or even surprise, Ron could only feel a slight tingling as his mind blanked out.

Loki didn't act, curiously observing the unfolding events. The flame covered the entirety of Ron's childish body, causing Loki to feel a shred of concern, but he could see that his student wasn't harmed, so he refrained from acting.

Half an hour later, the fire finally died out, releasing Ron from its spell. With a groan, Ron fell forward, landing directly on his face as he clutched his temples. Considering the strength of his body, such a fall wouldn't be able to hurt her.

However, the killed headache definitely could and did hurt like hell. "Ugh... Fuck me this hurts..." Ron groaned pitifully, not even caring about what he said. Loki gave him an odd look, crouching down next to his student.

"Feel better?" He asked after a couple of minutes of patiently waiting. "Y-yeah... It was... strange." Ron muttered back, feeling weaker than he'd ever felt in a long, long time. Loki just smiled at his poor conditions before helping his student up and directing her to a chair, where he allowed her to sit.

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"So? What's up?" Loki asked, curious. Ron looked thoughtful for a moment before answering.

"I... I don't know how to explain it. I think I was brought into an illusion. I saw a huge sun with 10 smaller but still gigantic fireballs orbiting around it. I also got a lot of information about the technique..." Ron explained, still feeling a lingering fear from that terrifying illusion.

He'd felt a though he'd been standing inside that gigantic sun, and yet, he hadn't felt anything from the terrifying heat it gave off. And, judging from the information inside the technique... That giant sun was it's ultimate goal.

"Interesting... Well, good for you. Work hard to become an official magus as soon as possible. When you do, I'll allow you to go visit your family." Loki casually explained, causing his student to perk up happily.

"Really?" Ron asked, feeling excited. Although he'd never 'actually' met his supposed father... He nonetheless had 9 years' worth of memories of him showering love upon the old Alice. 

"Yes. I will have to personally accompany you, though. While I believe in your future strength, you are still lacking as of right now." Loki mercilessly said. Ron took it in stride, knowing that his teacher wasn't wrong. Besides, his pride didn't rest on his strength, but rather, his learning abilities.

"Thank you," Ron said, truly feeling grateful. He'd been wondering when he could again see the father who'd gifted half the life of the body he now resided in. While he knew that it'd likely take a long time to become an official magus, it at least gave him hope.

"Haha... Don't worry about it. Now, don't you feel like it's time for a celebration? After all, I think you just broke the known world record for the fastest time to become a rank 3 acolyte!" His teacher laughed as he got up and headed out of the lab. "Follow me. I'll treat you to something nice, my cute little genius."

 "Y-yes!" Ron quickly followed after him, falling in step right behind him. The teacher-student duo walked over to the restaurant area, and with Loki's prestige, they easily got into the most luxurious part.

"This is... Thank you, teacher." Ron said, awed by the sight of so many dishes of superb quality being put on their table. Loki chuckled slightly as he carelessly grabbed one of them and got to eating, with Ron doing the same a second after.

Although Ron's meals couldn't be called poor, all of them being those that the upper-class of this world would consume, they couldn't hold a candle to what his teacher could afford. He had to consciously prevent himself from moaning out loud, as the taste of the food in front of him was simply that good.

Ron could even feel his spiritual energy be stimulated from the food, and although it wasn't major, it was still beneficial. He could guess that for official magi and above, it would have no real effect.

An hour later, Ron felt more bloated than he'd ever been in both lives. The food he'd just eaten contained a lot of energy, being from rather powerful creatures and plants, thus, despite his stomach as both a Grand Knight and rank 3 acolyte that allowed him to eat far more than normal, he still felt absolutely stuffed to the brim.

"Thank you, Teacher. It was really good." Ron thanked his teacher, who didn't look anything but impeccable as always despite having easily eaten ten times the amount of food Ron had. 

"No worries, princess. I can tell you've been wanting to tell me something for a while now, so go ahead." Loki casually said, surprising Ron.

Then, that surprise turned to embarrassment as he remembered that his teacher had probably lived for multiple centuries. To his experienced teacher, Ron probably looked like an open book.

"Well... I've been thinking for a while about learning some sort of craft in order to get some magical crystals, but I wasn't sure which of my choices would be better. I was wondering if Teacher could help me out?" He asked, the full-force of his untrained puppy-eyes being directed at his aloof master.

"You wish for some crystals? Why? Is there something you wish? I could simply give you a bunch." Loki tilted his head, but despite saying that, Ron had known the man long enough to understand that he was quite happy with what Ron was saying and that he was waiting for Ron to deny his request.

And Ron did just that. "Thank you, Teacher. However, that's not my goal. I do not wish to burden you any more than I already have, and besides, my goal isn't truly to get magic crystals. I simply wish to find myself something that I can use to make money in the future when I actually need it." He explained, trying to find any sort of reaction from his teacher.

There was none, or at least none that weren't intentionally shown as Loki revealed a small grin. "I'm listening. What are the choices you've come up with so far?"

"Well, I was thinking about either potioneering, artifact-crafting, or blacksmithing. Technically speaking, artifacts are the most profitable of ventures, but they need a lot of time and care in each one, and they need a lot of time to learn, so I'm not really sure I want to do that..." Ron honestly told his teacher.

The man held his chin in thought before replying. "In my opinion... Potioneering would suit you the best. You're quite good with chemicals and ingredients when you help me out in my experiments, and while it's a very difficult craft, for someone like you, it shouldn't be hard to make your first potion within the first month or less."

Ron nodded, falling deep in thought.