Unlimited Power - The Arcane Path

In the end, it didn't take long for Leon to feel that his body was already reaching its limits. He finally understood that Netro had given up on trying to make him run out of mana… Mages like Leon could recover as much as mana they wanted as long as they focus on it, but they couldn't recover their bodies that easily. After half an hour of being attacked by a conceptual attack, Leon's body was already skin and bones. He survived hundreds of those attacks, but that had been the price.

"Shit… nothing yet?" Leon said, annoyed.

The equivalent of five years had passed inside his mindscape, but his replica didn't manage to do what he wanted. It looked like Leon had been too greedy trying to evolve that spell as well.

"I guess this is it, guys," Leon said to his spirits. "I hope all of you find a less dumb human to call master the next time… I would recommend my friends, but I recommendation of a dumb guy like me isn't appreciated, right?"

"Leon, it is too soon to give up…" Sylph said. "Hey, Sekundez. Can't you do something about Leon's body?"

"To make time move backward to a living being, a stupid amount of mana would be necessary," Sekundez crossed her arms and said. "Even if Leon explode his head trying to obtain that amount of mana, his body can't handle it. So, I cannot do anything."

Before, Leon had tried that before, making time move backward only on his body… he actually succeeded in making time in his body move backward by 0.002 seconds. He had spent two hundred thousand points of mana to do that. Of all spells Leon had tried so far, that was by far the costliest.

Regardless, even though Leon said that. He wouldn't go down without a fight… Leon had noticed that the closest he gets to Netro, the more powerful his attack would become. That was only obvious given that he was using mana to attack. Still, that means that if he gets too close, Leon will receive the full power of that conceptual attack. However, he didn't have any other choice. To cause as much damage as possible, he also needed to close to the target.

"Let's see if that son of a bitch can destroy this with his conceptual attack," Leon smirked while he was creating an altered version of Dark Sun.

Leon couldn't afford to die without even taking down the enemy with him, Ilyana didn't owe him anything, but perhaps if he kills Netro, she would protect Earth. Teleporting wasn't an option. Leon would need all the mana to make that attack cause as much damage as possible, and in the worst-case scenario, he also would need to send a copy of his memories to Ilyana. So, Leon would have to fly directly toward the enemy.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Dark Fire Shield

Cost: 300000 mana

You obtained 01 status points.

After learning the spell, Leon flew toward Netro at his top speed. Even if he dies, the momentum will let him crush the bastard with a massive shield made by darkness and fire. In the end, Leon only accepted his imminent death when he felt those shivers again. However, …

…

Congratulations! The skill Foresight has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Foresight has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Foresight has reached the max level.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Dragon Mode.

Cost: 15000 health, 15000 mana, and 15000 stamina per second

You obtained 01 status points.

"You have got to be kidding me… Now? Of all times?"

Somehow, his replica managed to cancel Mindscape Transportation on his own and also sent the knowledge Leon needed. He also understood why he took so long… just trying to evolve Dragon Force alone wasn't enough. His replica had to use Foresight and try many ways to strengthen the spell before discovering a way to do it. In the end, Leon had to burn his energy to learn that spell instead of increasing his body's power.

"Dragon Mode!" Leon shouted.

Leon didn't have to, but he shouted because he was truly in a desperate situation. Immediately, all the senses in his body became numb, but at the same time, he felt an immense sensation of freedom while his skin was becoming black and turn into a scale-like shape. His speed increased, but Leon still got attacked before he could smash Netro. However, his upper and lower body didn't get separated this time… the attack only cut halfway through his belly, and Leon didn't hesitate in healing that wound.

At the last moment, Leon saw the surprise in Netro's eyes. Thanks to it, he smirked in satisfaction, but also, in the blink of an eye, the bastard started to glow like the spirits when they evolved. He didn't expect that he would kill the bastard that easily, but Leon also didn't expect he would have such a trump card… Netro had turned into a dragon and easily blocked Leon's attack with a single paw.

Somehow, Leon reacted on time to deactivate Dragon Mode and recover enough mana to Teleport away from there before he could get crushed by the other paw. While Leon could actually feel life leaving his body now that he didn't have enough nutrients to recover his wounds, he studied Netro's new form. A one hundred meters long fire dragon, his scales were red like blood, and his eyes were black like the void of outer space. Although Leon couldn't tell how much mana he had before in his humanoid form, Leon felt like the time he tried to access the total mana of the galactic snake… that was the difference in power of Netro, the dragon, and Leon, the human.