Unlimited Power - The Arcane Path

Although that was indeed the case, in the end, ninety-nine percent of the skills Leon learned, he learned for the status points. So, there wasn't a good reason to stop doing that. Besides, even though Leon had a massive stock of mana fruits, he was kind of bored of the taste since he was eating it day in and day out. Learning a skill that would enhance his sense of taste would be quite interesting in that scenario.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Enhanced Taste.

Cost: 50 mana per second

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Enhanced Hearing.

Cost: 150 mana per second

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Enhanced Vision.

Cost: 150 mana per second

You obtained 01 status points.

"Well, well... this isn't half-bad," Leon said while he was testing Enhanced Taste. "I guess the name of the skill would be misleading if it were called Sharp Tongue..."

Putting such worries aside, Leon could tell that the mana fruits became a lot tastier. Enhanced Smell had a lot of potential since after eating the fifth mana fruit, Leon wasn't getting bored of the sweetness.

Regardless, Leon also practiced Enhanced Hearing and Enhanced Vision; with both, he could hear the sound of the waves far away from him, and he also could see in detail even grains of sand.

"I wish I had learned those skills when I was on Miebos..." Leon dropped his shoulders and then sighed. "Life would have been much easier with them."

Leon couldn't wait to eat some meat while keeping that skill active, he actually could just summon some meat using Mind Summoning, but that would be weird. Leon wanted to eat something fresher. In any case, since a lot of time has passed since he saw her, Leon couldn't remember all of the incredible things Ilyana could do.

Leon already could create tomes, monitor spaces far away from him, use Telepathy, read minds... the only thing he could recall was her teleporting him around. But to do that, Leon would need the power of the spirit of darkness. Since that was something that would only be possible in the far future, Leon resumed his training since he could keep his new skills active while he learns some other spells.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Torment.

Cost: 1000 mana

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Solar Burst.

Cost: 2000 mana

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Death Barrage.

Cost: 500 stamina per second

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Infernal Ray.

Cost: 500 mana per second

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Magma Hail.

Cost: 800 mana per second

You obtained 01 status points.

"What scary names..." Leon frowned. "Still, the names are quite fitting, considering that all those skills can do is cause destruction."

Although those skills weren't that effective against zombies, Leon still practiced them eagerly because skills like Torment and Magma Hail also influenced skills like Fire Transformation, Wind Transformation, and Earth Transformation. Death Barrage was just a quick succession of punches but still could help Leon level up Martial Arts faster... even though it was quite scary getting near zombies and punching their heads.

"I guess it would be safer to use a replica and give the knowledge of those skills..." Leon rubbed his chin. "Still, what will happen if my replicas get bitten? What will happen if I assimilate the knowledge of a replica bitten by a zombie?"

Although Leon wanted to take some risks in order to grow stronger faster, risking himself against the possible virus was another thing. Dying after being defeated by a power monster was acceptable. Dying by a zombie virus wasn't.

Not even Mana Eyes could grant Leon the power if those zombies had some kind of disease, so Leon barely attacked them physically. Maybe he was thinking too much about it because he saw many zombie movies in the past, but since Leon had a lot of free time, that was only obvious.

"Eighty years have passed since the fourth horde of zombies started... there is a big chance that this horde will last for more forty-five years," Leon nodded to himself. "Although that is a pretty long time, maybe I should focus on learning something different from offensive spells... I can't rely too much on my defenses to deal with the dragons, after all."

As long as Leon has mana, he wouldn't instantly die. Still, not dying wasn't enough. Just defending wasn't enough, so Leon started to work on the next level of some defensive skills.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Reflect Shield.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Reflect Armor.

You obtained 01 status points.

In the end, it took him thirty years of training to learn just two spells, but Leon was more than satisfied with the result. Just like Mana Shield and Mana Armor, Reflect Shield and Reflect Armor protected Leon from all types of attacks, but they also could reflect those attacks and the mana he used also increased the damage the attacker would receive.

"Hehehe, now we are talking," Leon smirked.

As expected, the cost of mana used was higher, but considering its wonderful effects, it was more than worth the hassle. Leon understood that when he saw the zombies crawling over his Reflect Armor and get destroyed in pieces. Although they didn't die instantly, they eventually would die since they were zombies and didn't think or do anything aside from attacking.

Although Leon hesitated a little bit, he decided to level up both skills to the max level before anything. What exactly took him fifteen years, and as expected, after one hundred and twenty-five years, the zombies stopped coming... and the dragons appeared.