Three days later.
Now that they knew the route well, the two returned to the surface smoothly. At the Adventurers' Guild, they exchanged most of their haul. They kept only a small number of powerful-monster parts and the Sighing Faerie; everything else was traded in. After some bargaining and haggling, they received a total of 267 gold coins.
Then, outside the guild, Leon took out 32 gold coins he had already separated.
He packed them in a pouch and handed it to Iris.
Iris accepted it in confusion. When she opened it, the golden shine made her pupils light up.
She quickly understood Leon's intent.
"Wait… does this mean I not only paid off my debt, I even made a profit?"
She looked refreshed and radiant, a smile blooming on her pale pink cheeks.
"Exactly. That's the power of us working together," Leon said, continuing to "paint the dream." "Other teams can only pick off ordinary monsters they can handle, and they have to run from strong ones. We can harvest them. Next time we'll earn more and more!"
"Then I'm looking forward to the next run!"
Iris's eyes sparkled.
"There were still items we could've split," Leon continued, "but since the White Unicorn horn is useful to me, and you already got your father's relics, we'll offset those two major shares against each other. What do you think?"
Without question, the unicorn horn was the single highest-value yield. Even ignoring ice deceleration, it could sell for over 300 gold.
But the relics of a sixth-tier powerhouse—though badly damaged—were still extremely valuable, roughly comparable to the horn.
As for the sealed archive case, it was his original target and the reason for this entire expedition, so there was no need to "split" it.
"I… I'm fine with that," Iris said. "I can't use ice magic anyway. And I'm really grateful you let me keep all those relics."
"Good. Next, go home and rest for a while. Make up for the sleep we missed," Leon said. "If the sealed archive case gets opened, or if there's news about your mother's whereabouts, I'll send my familiar to notify you. Pay attention."
Now Leon needed to prepare for his own advancement.
After he advanced, he'd invite Iris to shop for new gear. After all, he'd ridden the heroine's luck and made a big haul.
…
Second floor of the townhouse at 312 Colt Street, South Ward, Royal Capital.
Click.
Leon pushed the door open with a pack that had gotten much smaller.
"Leon, Leon—you're finally back! I missed you so much, darling!"
The moment he stepped in, Bisce pounced, hugging Leon and trying to shower him with kisses. Leon slapped her into the corner with one hand; her limbs flailed wildly like a turtle on its back.
Bisce was a third-tier wandering spirit, but because of the familiar contract, Leon could suppress her easily.
"Waaah! So harsh the moment we meet—can't you even let me kiss you once?"
"At least fix that sleazy expression first."
"How could it be sleazy? Back when I was alive, who knows how many priests and knights secretly flirted at me! I focused on cultivation, holy and pure, and ignored them all!"
"You did say back when you were alive. The difference between life and death is pretty huge."
"Sigh… I worked so hard for you and still get rejected. Men really are like that. Before they get a woman's body, they'll sweet-talk and be infinitely gentle. Once the novelty fades, the old vows, the heartbeat moments, the beautiful life—fake, fake, all fake!"
Leon couldn't help laughing.
"What nonsense. You literally just lost a bet and were forced to sell yourself to me."
"Tch. I can't even say it?"
"Do you know," Leon said, "some things become real if you say them too much?"
"Wow, I'm not thinking that."
"You'd better not."
After closing the door, Leon took out the sealed archive case.
"Bisce—look at this Astalia Church secret script. Can you open it?"
Bisce floated over, pressing her face close as she examined it.
"Maybe I can… maybe I can't."
"That's a useless answer. Explain the difficulty plainly."
"The difficulty is… I recognize every individual character, but when they're combined, I can't tell how you're supposed to unlock it."
Leon had contracted Bisce for this very reason—he'd been sure she could open it.
He hadn't expected this lustful ghost to drop the ball at the critical moment. Looks like he needed to motivate her.
"Didn't you say you were focused on cultivation in life? You were fifth-tier—your cipher knowledge is this bad?"
"...As much as I hate to admit it, yes."
"Then I'll have to admit I miscalculated."
"Miscalculated what?"
"Miscalculated that a former fifth-tier like you would be this useless. Maybe I should've chosen a more capable familiar."
"Hmph! I'm angry!"
"If you open it," Leon said, "you can be as angry as you want. I'll even help you buy magic tools that increase soul power."
"Really?"
"Hurry up. Stop talking. If you don't know how to open it, test combinations one by one until you do."
"Got it!"
Bisce began circling the case, bustling with new energy.
She poured in mana and tried different unlock patterns.
Magic light flashed again and again.
Meanwhile Leon started clearing clutter and letters in the house and prepared items and a magic array for his advancement ritual.
The archive case cipher worked like a combination lock: the possible combinations were limited. Even if Bisce was sloppy, she shouldn't be unable to open it.
Most of the letters were work mail from the Court Mage Corps. Since Leon was on leave, he decided to ignore them for now and read them after advancing.
"Hm? Private letters from the Holy Maiden?"
He opened the mailbox and a pile of letters spilled out.
On closer look, there was a whole stack signed "Brellita."
Leon remembered: the Holy Maiden had tried to recruit him as an adviser and gave him a one-week decision deadline.
He'd meant to reply later, but once he entered the dungeon, two weeks had passed.
"Greetings, Lord Leon Bellron. I am Brellita von Hestia, Third Holy Maiden of the Church of Astalia. Regarding what we discussed, the one-week period is already half over. Have you decided?"
First letter.
"Lord Leon Bellron. Four days have passed. Though I have other candidates, I appreciate your talent too much to consider them lightly. If you have a clear answer, I will visit immediately."
Second letter.
"Six days. Why have you still not replied, Lord Leon?"
Third.
"So you went to explore a dungeon. Fine. We'll speak when you return."
Fourth. Did she go to the mage corps to ask about him?
Terrifying woman—like a stalker.
"Lord Leon…"
Leon couldn't even be bothered to read the rest. Ten letters total—each one a mix of urging and greetings, elegant handwriting, and occasional little flashes of temper.
He hadn't expected a Holy Maiden to be willing to "lower herself" like this—one deadly reminder letter per day.
If she lived in Leon's previous world, she'd be the type to call you ten times in an hour.
And the wording… oddly intimate, as if she didn't even treat Leon like an outsider.
Normally, someone in her position would be extremely careful with the phrasing and content of official correspondence.
So was she in trouble?
Or did she have some kind of hidden kink?
Whatever. Her quests still had plenty of time. Leon decided to focus on his own affairs first.
He tossed the letters aside and began setting up the advancement/class-change ritual array.
The auxiliary materials weren't cheap—14 gold.
"Not cheap" was relative.
That amount could fund an ordinary person for a good chunk of their life.
Anything involving the extraordinary inflated in price instantly.
He still hadn't budgeted the money needed to upgrade gear for the next expedition. He planned to meet the guild's magical craftsman, and if the craftsmanship was good, he'd commission upgrades to save money and reserve funds for more critical things.
The ritual's core material was, of course, the Elemental Magic Ring inside the archive case.
Its innate elemental-balance property was useful even in late-story timelines.
Advancement knowledge for common classes was easy to find.
But ritual knowledge for rare classes was secret-level information, only available inside specific factions.
Fortunately, Leon had his previous-life experience. The early-tier ritual knowledge wasn't too complex, and he remembered it.
At fifth and sixth tier, rituals became highly complex; he hadn't memorized them while playing, so he would need to borrow knowledge from major factions later.
Because the setup was simple, he finished the array in a little over an hour.
A standard hexagram formation, with magic items placed at each point to activate elemental effects.
Two empty slots in the center—one for the person advancing, one for the Elemental Magic Ring.
Along the grid lines of the array, he wrote mysterious script using Minotaur blood.
Since Minotaurs had all-element resistance, their blood was ideal ink for such runes.
"Bisce—how's the unlock progress?"
"I've tested dozens of arrangements. Probably another half of them and I'll hit the right one."
While waiting, Leon took out the Ice-Slow Horn and began meditating, trying to resonate with the spell imagery of ice deceleration and grasp its essence.
The cool, faintly rough texture made the meditation feel unusually easy—unusually comfortable.
It was like he dove deep into his own mind.
The fatigue from days of constant activity and little sleep eased all at once.
Without realizing, he entered a deep meditation state.
His breathing grew faint, nearly imperceptible.
This was rare.
A meditation realm mages dreamed of.
Even Leon—already skilled in constructing spell imagery—had never entered deep meditation during practice before.
Sustained deep meditation naturally improved your understanding, recognition, control, and overall mastery of spell imagery, with few bottlenecks.
Conversely, once you reached a certain mastery of spell imagery, it also became easier to enter deep meditation.
The two fed each other.
Five years of imagery accumulation, plus two weeks in the dungeon—battles, crises, pressure, magical application, mana control in techniques, and finally the relaxation of being home, combined with the stimulation of the Ice-Slow Horn—brought Leon to this strange meditative state without him noticing.
…
Two hours later.
"Huff… finally opened."
Bisce looked utterly drained as she stared at the archive case slowly opening.
Inside lay the Elemental Magic Ring—and a document.
"And what's Leon doing?"
Only now did she notice the magic array in the living room.
"Deep meditation? Looks like this kid got a lot out of the dungeon run… ugh, comparing myself to him is depressing—oh wait, I'm already a ghost."
Bisce was jealous as hell.
In life she'd been a priestess, a casting-type class with divine blessings—solid as caster classes went. She also had her own insights into magic.
"Oh right—Leon hasn't even asked about Hamla yet. I wonder what reward I can squeeze out of him. It has to be ten times better than the cemetery package! Otherwise I'm going to lick his face until he calls me 'mom'!"
Bisce daydreamed—she had already found Hamla's trail.
"Hm, this document…"
She took out the Church of Astalia's confidential file.
"Bisce. Don't read it. The consequences are serious."
Bisce turned and saw Leon had already emerged from meditation. In the darkness, his golden pupils seemed to emit a mysterious gleam.
"So handsome—ah, no. When did you come out of deep meditation?"
"Before you opened the archive case."
"That can't be right. I just saw you in that state."
"You'll understand once you can enter deep meditation yourself… ah, sorry. I forgot—you're a wandering spirit. You can't meditate anymore."
"I'm mad!"