When Leo awoke again, he immediately opened the system panel. The challenge timer showed that he slept for around two hours, which was surprising to him since he usually never felt as good when he slept for anything less than three or four hours. Now it looked like two hours of sleep were more than enough. Or maybe it was the effect of the Sanctuary.

He got up from the stone bed and stretched. His body was feeling refreshed and energized, so much so that he could swear it was almost ready to run a marathon.

"As expected of a Sanctuary, I guess?" He said, stretching his arms above his head.

"Wait, what about food?" After all, it was impossible for him to last so long without sustenance. Leo thought it was the magic of this place, but now that he thought about it, did he even feel hungry? Not at all.

He couldn't explain this phenomenon so he brushed it off. "Well, I have more important things to worry about right now, I have to finish the tasks I set for myself. But first..."

He opened his skill panel. He had gotten himself a new skill after maxing out [Trailblazer] yesterday, but his mana exercises left him too exhausted to worry about checking it. Now he finally had some time.

"Lesser Aura Release!" Leo shouted. Immediately, a yellowish glow surrounded him. It wasn't bright enough to compete with the miniature star that hung under the ceiling, but it did fill the area around him with its warm aura. The moment the glow appeared, Leo felt invigorated as if he just received a huge boost of energy. The sensation of boundless vitality spreading through his body made him grin from ear to ear. He didn't dare to test how much exactly he was capable of achieving, but the power radiating from him was greater than anything he'd ever felt before.

"Holy shit, this fe-" Leo didn't even have time to complete his sentence before the rush of energy faded away and the glow dissipated. He almost felt like falling flat on his face but he managed to catch himself by placing his hand on the wall. "Whew. That was crazy."

He took a couple of minutes to stabilize his breathing before he checked the active skill panel.

[-][Lesser Aura Release Lv.1](0%)

Unranked Active Skill

Max level 5.

Release your accumulated energy to envelop your body, strengthening and protecting it.

Strengthens the body and grants resistance against certain forms of damage.

Increases your physical stats by ten while the skill is active.

Grants slight incoming damage reduction.

Cost: 100 Stamina per second.

Leo smiled brightly. It wasn't much of a surprise considering what he expected, but seeing it in real-time and experiencing it was truly incredible.

"This is amazing, but..." Leo frowned slightly, "It's a shame that I will not be able to use it as much as I'd like. The cost of releasing an aura is insane." He shook his head in disappointment. Even though the increase in physical stats was huge, 100 Stamina per second would only allow him one and a half seconds of use with his current stamina pool. So, as long as he was not perfectly rested, it would be nearly useless in a fight.

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"I guess this will be more of a panic button or something." He shrugged. "In any case, it will give me a lot more survivability as long as I manage to use it properly."

Leo quickly checked the quest panel to see whether the quests were updated. However, it was just the same as it was previously. "No new update. It seems that the skills given by feats don't count. The Old Keeper did say that I need to learn an active skill on my own." Leo spoke, a slight note of frustration in his voice. There was nothing he could do about it.

Leo leaned his head back and released a long sigh. The air filled with tension and nervousness again as he realized that the most difficult task was yet to come.

"Alright. No more procrastinating." He said firmly before standing up from the floor only to be greeted by the now familiar pain shooting through his body. "Ugh, goddamnit." He muttered through gritted teeth as he held onto his chest. "How did I not notice it before?"

The pain lingered for a moment before gradually subsiding. "Shit, this is gonna suck. No one said that it would be so damn painful." He sighed dejectedly. "Guess I better get used to it then..." He winced slightly, wiping beads of sweat from his brow as he struggled to lift his weary body from the ground.

"Is it the aftermath of my failed attempt at magic, or do all skills affect my body like this? If yes, then I'm so screwed, it's not even funny. My first mana exercise resulted in me lying down immobilized. How am I going to survive through this?" He clenched his fists tightly.

"Is my body too weak? Then what kind of stats does a level one mage have? Or maybe it's because I'm using mana wrongly somehow, which is why I am suffering such extreme consequences for failing to cast a spell!" Leo exclaimed. "Should I even continue with this path then? Will I end up dying a horrible death as I try to master it?"

The silence inside the chamber was deafening as his mind raced with thoughts about what could've possibly gone wrong. There were three main possibilities.

The first one, his body might simply be unable to withstand the strain of practicing magic, which would mean that the average level one mage has physical stats surpassing twenty, at least the VIG and END ones. This means that all his gains to this moment are simply a joke.

The second one is that his body is simply unaccustomed to the stress of using mana or skills and it will pass with time just as you do with physical training, at some point, the exercise you do will stop giving you soreness, indicating that you've trained to a level where this kind of exertion is simply a normal activity for your body.

The third one, Leo might be doing something completely wrong when trying to access and manipulate mana, which could lead him to harming his body permanently. The last thing he wanted was to burn his internals just because of his own ignorance.

Leo could only hope for the second option to be the cause. It meant that with time he'd be able to safely use skills without crippling side effects. But the possibility of option three being the truth meant that he needed to proceed extra carefully. If he made mistakes, Leo would suffer irreversible consequences. And that meant he would die horribly if he misstepped.

This made him extremely anxious.

The Keeper told him that the way to obtain magic was to follow the feeling that was invoked when interacting with the Stele. Unfortunately, he couldn't give any more tips due to breaking the rules. Leo did follow his advice and even managed to circulate the mana in his body. However, when he tried to concentrate it and release it through his hands, he failed spectacularly, ending up lying on the ground barely able to move.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe my mistake was being too hasty. Maybe I should just focus on leveling up [Mana Circulation] first and observing the results. I need to understand the implications of the changes I experience through my body. For now, I should start slowly by practicing using the skill and seeing how much I can do. The pain won't kill me as long as I stay patient." He determined, trying to reassure himself. "It's worth a shot." He concluded.

"I also should spend some time training my body, in case the first option is true." Leo added.

Having decided what to do next, Leo headed towards the exit. With the sanctuary being so vast, there was enough space for him to run, and when it became too boring to run, he sat by the pool circulating his mana, when he got too bored doing that as well, he started doing pushups.

When his muscles started aching again, he drank some water and washed his face before returning to his exercises. In this way, the entire passed by. Leo kept training diligently, putting aside the issue of learning a new skill for the time being.

After several days spent in solitude, he could tell that his endurance was improving steadily. He started by being able to do almost two hundred standard pushups, which surprised him at first, but by day three he was doing almost four hundred raised leg pushups. Of course, leveling up his passive skills gave him additional stats, but it also felt like his body had adapted to his increased physical capabilities.

During this time, Leo also managed to improve his mana circulation skill a lot. Now instead of simply directing it like a wave flowing through his flesh, he could create a slightly smaller, more concentrated stream that traveled quicker than before. While there was still no kind of drastic change, a new notification made him feel that his hard work was bearing fruit.