"Very good. We've examined your body, and you're well suited to becoming a body refinement wizard. We'll choose a good teacher for you."
"In light of the unpleasant incident at the altar, we'll also give you an additional ten thousand wizard coins in compensation."
"You may go. Your new teacher, Wizard Gru, is waiting outside."
After Leo said he would stay at the academy, he had no say in anything. Everything had already been arranged; asking him had merely been a formality.
He was sent out without even a chance to speak.
After Leo left the secret chamber, the wizard who had remained silent spoke. "Headmaster, the situation is exactly as we expected. There were no surprises. We can report the facts to the great Purple Flame Stigmata Wizard."
The one who had been speaking to Leo all along was actually the academy's mysterious headmaster, whom almost no student in the academy had ever seen. However, Leo had never gotten a clear look at either wizard's face.
"Tell Gru not to let him die. The great Purple Flame Stigmata Wizard has singled him out for special attention."
"I've already told him."
"Good. The seed has been planted. Now we wait for the harvest."
Naturally, Leo knew nothing of what happened in the secret chamber. Even if he had known, there was nothing he could have done.
Stepping out of the chamber, he saw a burly, bare-chested man whose body was covered in mysterious tattooed patterns. His explosive muscles and imposing frame, over two meters tall, made Leo feel as though he were facing a primordial beast. The aura the burly man unconsciously gave off alone made Leo's scalp prickle.
Leo had no doubt whatsoever that this teacher assigned to him out of nowhere, Wizard Gru, could flick him to death with one finger.
There was no conversation. A simple gesture was enough for Leo to understand that he should follow.
Following behind Gru, Leo took his first careful look at his surroundings.
There were towers upon towers, red figures occasionally flashing past, wizard apprentices hurrying through the academy in pursuit of knowledge, and all kinds of unknown life-forms giving off subtle yet powerful fluctuations.
Leo estimated that the wizards he had seen alone could plow the Earth over several times.
Who knew how many wizard academies like this existed in the Wizard World?
Besides the academies, there were clan wizards, merchant guild wizards, wandering wizards, wizards stationed in other worlds...
In short, any world facing the Wizard World would feel a suffocating despair. This was a world terrifying in the extreme, one that could never be defeated.
Gru led Leo from the center of the academy to its edge before stopping. Compared with the academy's magnificent main buildings, this place was noticeably sparse and crude.
"I already know your situation. You don't yet know who I am."
These were the first words Gru spoke to Leo. His face was expressionless, and his voice and tone carried the flavor of iron and blood. His booming voice left Leo's head ringing.
Leo suspected that if he still had the physique of an ordinary Earth human, that bellow alone could have left him half-dead.
"I am a Level Two Body Refinement Wizard, an externally hired teacher at the Purple Flame Wizard Academy, and your dedicated body refinement teacher from now on. What I can guarantee is that you won't die under my care. I'll also have you advance to Level One as quickly as possible."
Leo nodded hastily, not daring to say another word, afraid that something he said might displease Gru and provoke his dislike.
"Before devising a training plan, we'll test your basic strength."
Gru handled Leo like a puppet on strings. Without strength, obedience was his only rule of conduct.
"Mental power: 15 points. Not bad."
"Stamina: 17 points. So-so."
"Strength: 19 points. A good start."
"Your talent is the Half-Shadow Talent. This is an ability you gained after a life-form from another world infected you and altered your bloodline. Although it differs from my abilities, teaching you won't be a problem. Believe me, you'll make an excellent assassin."
After undergoing all kinds of complicated tests through various methods, Leo gathered from Gru's words that his abilities were fairly good. At least he wasn't trash with a combat power of five.
"You'll have two elemental wizard classes every day. The rest of your time will be spent studying with me. Since I'm receiving extra pay from the headmaster, I'll make sure to teach you your money's worth."
"Now, let me see your talent for combat."
One second, Gru was calmly explaining the test results to Leo. The next, with his back still turned to Leo, he swung a slap straight at him.
Before the palm even struck him, the compressed air had already squeezed Leo's face out of shape.
Before Leo even understood what was happening, his body went flying, spinning 7,200 degrees.
"He's a complete freak!"
"Kid, show me some real ability if you don't want to suffer. With your physical capabilities, you could absolutely have dodged that."
Ignoring Leo, who lay on the ground spewing blood, Gru threw another slap from over ten meters away.
His thick arm was broader than Leo's waist. Facing another attack, Leo's pupils contracted sharply. The palm struck from over ten meters away, and knife-like winds battered his body as he crossed his arms in front of himself,
It did nothing. He went flying through another 7,200-degree spin.
"Kid, if you enjoy getting beaten, just lie there and don't move."
Gru didn't even need to approach Leo. A wave of his hand from dozens of meters away unleashed a powerful attack, keeping Leo suspended in the air as he battered him every which way.
It hurt. It truly hurt.
But Leo had absolutely no idea how to do what Gru said and bring out his body's capabilities. Even a hint would have helped.
There was nothing. He started with a beating, then pummeled him in every way, and Leo couldn't dodge any of it. He didn't know whether this was how everyone in the Wizard World taught, or whether it was just Gru's teaching style.
In any case, when he was down to his last breath, Gru finally stopped and said with utter disdain, "Kid, remember today's lesson. If you don't want to get beaten, grow stronger quickly."
Leo was casually tossed into a room, and a vial of potion was thrown in with him. "That's a recovery potion. It'll let you recover quickly. Remember to give me five hundred wizard coins once you've recovered."
Leo didn't dare utter a single word of protest. He could only squeeze out the last of his strength to pour the recovery potion into his mouth. As for the wizard coins, didn't he have ten thousand in compensation?
After he swallowed the recovery potion, his battered body began to recover. Leo could endure the physical pain, but what hurt even more was the future beyond his control.
"Kid, aren't you a little too stupid? Don't you know how to dodge?" a voice suddenly asked.
"Who?"
Leo abruptly sat up and looked around warily. There was no one!
"I'm your cheat grandpa."
The hairs on Leo's body, which had stood on end who knew how many times that day, rose again. This voice hadn't come from outside. It had appeared directly in his heart.
If Leo had still been that ignorant Earth human, he might really have believed this nonsense, believed in systems, grandpas, and the like from novels.
But now, after his initial exposure to the Wizard World, Leo's worldview had been completely shattered and reforged. He wasn't stupid enough to believe he had some system or portable cheat.
"Then what guidance do you have for me, Grandpa? Can you let me defeat Gru in one minute? Become godlike in five? Or give me a system? A space? Deep Blue? A lottery wheel?"
"Tch, what are you thinking? Gru is already a Saint Level life-form. With your strength, don't even dream of defeating him without centuries of cultivation."
"Centuries? Then I definitely won't live that long." Leo gave up and lay back down as he spoke.
"What are you afraid of? I meant you'd need centuries to surpass him if you cultivated on your own. Don't you have me now?"
The voice came from within his heart, its tone making it sound as though surpassing Gru were a trivial matter.
"You said Wizard Gru is a Saint Level powerhouse. Then what level are you? You'd have to be at least Saint Level, wouldn't you? Otherwise, even with your teaching, I still couldn't beat Gru," Leo asked.
"I am a demigod undying through time, just one step away from ascending to godhood. A mere Saint Level being is nothing more than a flick of my finger." The voice within his heart sounded smug.
"You're that powerful? Then come out, kill Gru, and take me away from this academy. I'll follow you from now on," Leo said.
"I can't. I'm only a projection of consciousness. I have no actual combat power."
Leo: "..."
"Don't be disappointed. I can teach you abilities guaranteed to suit you better than Gru's. You don't need to learn the more advanced skills yet. First, I'll teach you to control your bloodline power. Your potential exceeds your imagination."
The will within his heart seemed to sense Leo's disappointment and immediately demonstrated its worth.
Before Leo could speak, a surge of power suddenly emerged from somewhere in his body. His body began to turn illusory, as though behind a layer of black gauze.
The shadow at his feet had been an ordinary projection, but now it seemed to have suddenly come alive. The formerly normal patch of shadow began to writhe and spread throughout the room.
Leo stared in surprise at the shadow beneath his feet. He felt a bond of blood with it, as though the shadow were an extension of his body. In an instant, a great deal of knowledge appeared in his mind.
"Your bloodline contains an extremely powerful force of Shadow Power. As long as you master it completely, the very essence of your life can undergo a leap."
Leo said nothing. Instead, he looked at the shadow that now covered the entire room. With a movement of his body, he sank as though into water, and his entire body vanished from the room.
Strangely, although Leo had vanished, the shadow covering the entire room remained.
In another corner of the room, Leo's figure slowly rose from the shadows.
With a movement of his foot, the shadow covering the room instantly returned beneath him, as though the strange sight just now had been an illusion. No matter who looked, the shadow at Leo's feet was still an ordinary, normal shadow.