"How do you know I can use Light Healing? That's the hardest beginner spell. How do you know everything I can do so well—can divination really be that terrifying?"
Iris suddenly remembered how thoroughly Leon seemed to understand her capabilities. Could divination really do that?
"If a casting genius like you couldn't do it, that would be strange," Leon said with a smile.
He took out the remaining ten red spider eggs and ate them slowly, replenishing the stamina he'd spent earlier.
Even though he hadn't used combat techniques in that fight, dozens of exchanges—constantly dodging heavy swings—had still cost him 3 stamina.
Not only that, the sudden explosive heat gale had also burned him for 2 HP. He needed food to speed up recovery.
"I'm not a genius! I'm the hard-work type, not the talent type!"
Iris blushed slightly. Maybe Leon simply evaluated her through a "genius" lens, which was why it felt like he knew everything she could do?
She gathered mana, chanted, and swung her staff.
Light Healing was difficult enough that even Iris needed an incantation to assist.
Soon, a jade-green ring of light covered the gaunt blond knight, who was almost skin and bone.
Fortunately, even though Light Healing was hard to cast, it was still a beginner elemental spell. At Iris's tier, the mana cost wasn't high.
Leon estimated it likely cost her only 1 mana.
If she sustained it longer, perhaps 2–3 mana at most.
Very quickly, the knight's ragged breathing began to normalize.
His bluish complexion gradually regained color.
That was the power of Light Healing.
Leon's water magic also included healing spells, but compared to Light Healing, water healing focused more on repairing external injuries—rougher and cruder in effect.
For severe trauma like severed limbs or a broken waist, you needed intermediate healing.
Light Healing, however, could work even on someone on the brink of death.
It wasn't quite the terrifying "raise the dead, regrow flesh and bone" level—but as long as the target's vitality hadn't completely dried up, there was a chance to bring them back.
Of course, for severed limbs or broken waists, Light Healing still needed to be paired with water healing.
And because its effect was so powerful, Light Healing was the hardest beginner elemental spell to learn—master this, and you're most of the way to mastering the rest.
It required complex spell imagery, and also demanded a certain understanding of life science and anatomy.
Leon's quest reward included this spell; once he completed Fallen Dark Elf, he'd have a chance to learn it directly.
After about thirty seconds, the blond knight's complexion looked much better.
What could be repaired had been repaired; the rest depended on his own recovery.
"Leon—what exactly are you going to do with the Sighing Faerie?"
At this point, Iris stopped the healing and began chewing Minotaur jerky to replenish what she'd spent.
She'd wanted to eat spider eggs too, but she'd already finished her share earlier.
So she glared at Leon with a slightly resentful look while puffing her cheeks and chewing dry jerky.
After thinking, she reached out with long fingers and lightly poked Leon's waist, bringing up the question of what he planned to do with the faerie again.
After seeing how Leon "played" with it earlier, she couldn't shake a strange feeling in her chest.
"A rare monster like that has a lot of potential value," Leon said. "I plan to study its charm skill. At the very least, I want to find other ways to break that ability."
"I see… The Sighing Faerie's ability really is too unsolvable," Iris said. "I've heard that in ancient times—when soul magic was more developed—maybe there were ways to deal with it."
For some reason, hearing Leon say that made Iris quietly relax.
The two of them chatted and discussed while eating, waiting for their mana and stamina to recover fully.
Then—
from within the Level 17 passage, heavy footsteps in metal boots echoed out.
Leon turned and saw four people emerging from the tunnel.
One court mage in a pitch-black robe holding a staff, and three knights of the Royal First Knight Order in full silver plate armor.
All three knights were injured. Their helmets were removed and carried behind them, and they supported each other as they walked out.
The mage's hood concealed his face, but white beard hair swayed beneath it. His back was slightly hunched—clearly older.
Leon quickly realized he knew that mage.
It was his superior: Caron von Hoinpis, a fifth-tier mage.
This was also a very famous character in Sword, Magic, and the Holy Land.
He debuted at fifth tier. Though his age had already surpassed a hundred and his physical strength had declined, his combat experience was rich. He was cunning like an old fox, and he had mastered countless rare and ancient spells unknown to most—earning him the title of the kingdom's most learned mage.
Because he lacked sufficient merits, he never formed a personal saga, so he never advanced to sixth tier.
But thanks to the massive mana cap he'd accumulated over decades, plus the rare spells he possessed, his combat power could rival a sixth-tier quasi-legend.
He was simply good at hiding his strength, so only a few close friends knew his true level.
In several early-arc mid-to-small boss fights in Part One, he could play a significant role.
He was even the grandfather of Part Three's heroine—personally teaching a founder of "new-style magic," someone who would upend magical civilization. That character's potential might only be B+, but her plot weight would definitely be A or above.
A figure like Caron could not be underestimated.
And his current position was far from ordinary.
In terms of status alone, he was comparable to a marquis of the Kingdom of Holsha.
That status came from his identity as the deputy commander of the Court Mage Corps.
The Mage class was "the most common among the rare, and the rarest among the common."
The truly common extraordinary classes were warrior-type—swordsmen, knights, spear specialists, and other weapon-centered professions.
Add special buffs and you got rare classes like spellblades, holy paladins, spear masters—and Phantom Walkers like Leon.
Mages awakened at about half the rate of spellblades, and about half the rate lower than ordinary warrior classes—sitting in the middle.
That was why the Kingdom of Holsha had large, organized knight corps and swordsman corps numbering in the thousands—extraordinary professionals on a grand scale.
The First Knight Order was an elite formation—total strength under a hundred, every member at least third-tier—and it was the core force maintaining stability in the royal capital.
Its commander and deputy commander held honorary noble titles. Though they didn't have fiefs, their status was still high.
The equivalent position in the kingdom was the corps Leon belonged to: the Court Mage Corps.
It was called a "corps," but because mages were rare and the entry requirements were high, it had only about forty members.
It was also the kingdom's only official mage organization.
Unlike the knight corps—four divisions in the capital alone—many nobles also maintained private knight corps and independent mages.
Leon's corps was strong as well.
Its commander was a seventh-tier legend. Beneath him were five deputies—sixth- and fifth-tier veterans—also honorary nobles.
Below the deputies, there were no formal ranks: fourth-tier down to first-tier all mixed together.
Since mages were generally laid-back, management was loose—so loose it was practically relaxed to the point of negligence.
A great place for slacking off.
Leon was a half-month-old newbie who'd passed the assessment with his chantless casting trick and joined.
In those two weeks, he'd only met his superior Caron once. His daily work was simply to clock in, take rotations, and wait for task assignments from the king.
All other time was his own—train, explore dungeons, or lie flat—nobody cared. It was extremely easy.
Leon had originally wondered whether he should cultivate a relationship with Caron and learn some rare spells only Caron knew—building future trump cards.
But after two weeks of reporting in without seeing him again, Leon had focused instead on Iris's side quest and his own advancement.
He never expected that now—at this moment—he'd run into the superior he'd been unable to meet for so long.
So the explosive spell earlier had probably been Caron's.
But what puzzled Leon was: if a powerhouse like Caron was present, why were the knights with him still injured?
This was only the seventeenth floor!
According to the original plot, Caron shouldn't have encountered anything special around this time.
Unless they'd been exploring the fortieth floor or deeper and gotten hurt there—and the explosion just now was a minor skirmish on their return?
"Didn't expect to see a combination like you here," Caron said as he stepped out, lifted his hood, and revealed a handsome old man's face. His voice was warm. "Elf diplomat Iris… and my subordinate, Leon."
"It's an honor to meet the deputy commander here," Leon replied politely.
Then he gestured to the blond knight on the ground.
"May I ask—was this third-tier knight one of your companions? We found him possessed by a Sighing Faerie and managed to rescue him. If you know him, could I trouble you to bring him back to the surface and get him settled?"
"You ran into that Sighing Faerie?" Caron's eyes narrowed, a sharp, brilliant gleam flashing. "And you rescued him? How did you do it?"
Not only Caron—everyone with him showed clear shock.
"Is that for real?"
Their surprise also carried subtler emotions: amazement at Iris and Leon's looks and presence, and—among the men—an undercurrent of envy and jealousy toward Leon.