Unlimited Power - The Arcane Path

Although it was initially his idea, Leon ended up skipping his training with his friends several days, all for the sake of creating magic weapons with decent effects. He managed to create a few of them, like, for example, a dagger that increased his speed by twenty points. Even though it was valuable, it wasn't on the level Leon wanted. The Seal skill was leveling up faster, but not fast enough. Besides, he didn't manage to create many items that offered useful skills.

"If only I could find a monster which could grant Regeneration and Meditation to magic items, it would be enough to Amanda and the others for the time being."

Leon was traveling the country and testing the spell in several monsters, but he was still to find the ones who would offer such useful effects. His friends already knew what Leon was doing, but they couldn't help but worry since his behavior changed so much after that weird incident. Leon wasn't the type to stop midway something he started, after all. While Leon was searching for those effects in dungeons, his friends gathered to talk about him.

"Brother is acting strange as of late..." Amanda said. "I wonder since when."

"It didn't start when he returned from Brazil?" Hector asked.

"No, it started there..." Betty said. "Our first battle had been very difficult, Leon had stayed awake for three days straight, but he still stayed awake for several more days to prepare for the battle."

"Yeah, but despite his efforts... everything had been almost for naught," Sasha added. "He managed to create an army of one hundred thousand skeletons, but the number of monsters was even higher. We tried to save as many lives as possible... in the end, hundreds died."

"I remember the face he made when he was half a second late to save a person..." Betty lowered her head. "It was a face full of despair as if he was blaming himself for the losses. It was kind of surprising since he killed hundred of soldiers to save Yuki."

"Betty..." Hector frowned.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." Betty said nervously.

"We know that, don't worry, Betty." Amanda forced a smile. "Anyway, did you guys noticed something weird aside from that when you three were there?"

"No," Betty said.

"... I noticed something." Sasha hesitated. "I was watching Leon's back when he found that tome. It was weird... in the middle of the battle, while he was trying to kill as many monsters as possible, he just looked to his side and found the tome. Until that moment, he didn't look for spoils, so that surprised me."

"Well, maybe Leon has some magic that grants the power to feel the presence of such items," Hector said.

"Even if he has, I don't at that moment he had mana to keep such spell active," Sasha said. "He exhausted, he used all his mana to save as many as he could."

"So, you are saying..." Hector said.

"I'm not saying anything," Sasha interrupted Hector. "I just noticed and thought that was weird... after that, he acted the whole time as if something was bothering him. Considering that he spent four years alone, I can understand it... but I think he is keeping some sort of secret."

"I guess it makes sense..." Betty said. "That day, when Leon took a nap on the garden, he acted weirdly again, and his face kind of reminded him of his worried expression when we were on Brazil."

"I'm sure master has a reason to do what he is doing..." Gisela said.

"Even if he has a reason, wouldn't it be better to share whatever is in his head with his family and old friends?" Lennart asked. "I understand why he would hide some things from me since we barely know each other, but that doesn't make any sense with you guys."

"... Brother is the type who overthink things." Amanda sighed. "He wasn't like that before, but even though he tries to act like before, the island changed him, and he won't probably return to be the old Leon. Let's just make sure to keep our training, if we show him that we can handle whatever he is trying to hide, he will eventually tell us what is worrying him."

While Amanda and the others were having that type of conversation, Leon was testing Seal on megalodons in the middle of the Pacific Ocean while he was flying to Japan. Those were the most powerful monsters of the seas, so he was hoping that he would obtain some nice effects. However, Leon was looking forward to testing those effects on the trolls. Since they had an amazing regeneration just like the megalodons, Leon was hoping to get the magic items he wanted from one of them.

Steel Ring V (Water)

It increases the Swim speed by 50%, Mentality + 30, Endurance + 30.

The Seal skill was leveling up fast, but the items weren't good yet. Besides, for some reason, Leon wasn't obtaining the effects he wanted.

"If it can boost swimming speed, why can't it give the regeneration effect is the level still low?"

Leon noticed that the more powerful Seal was, the more the effects would change the ring. For example, even though it was an ordinary steel ring, it became Steel Ring V (Water) thanks to the megalodon's soul. V was probably the tier of the magic item. Considering that megalodons could heal big wounds in seconds, Leon concluded that the problem was Seal's level. Those beast's skill level was probably too high, so Leon would have to keep practicing until he gains that effect.