Later that day, Leo retired to the teacher's lounge and sat there in silence.
She mulled over the boy's words with a calmer mind, realizing that he was absolutely right. She was hesitant to take his advice though. After all, she had grown increasingly prideful over the years. Still, she decided that she should indeed focus more on more useful skills.
"Student, come here."
With her mind, she summoned a student to the room.
"Absorb magical energy from the environment."
Immediately, a similar scene played out. Like before, a strong wind blew in the room, forming a swirling mini-tornado.
Leo closed her eyes and focused on sensing the presence of the magic. Magic Sense was passive, so she barely needed much effort.
She could soon sense the presence of that energy. Though she felt it near, it was as if she was cut off from it. All she could do was perceive the energy, but she could not feel it.
It took her half an hour of nothing but concentration before she could feel the energy, but by then she felt a sharp pain in her stomach.
She cried out, but never lost her focus on the energy.
She continued.
She was so entirely focused that she did not realize the boy with the dark green hair had appeared beside her.
"Slowly, now. Don't force it. If you do that then the seal inside of you won't function properly."
If Leo was doing something less crucial, she would have already responded. However, she ignored his words and kept her focus.
She still did as instructed though, which almost made her annoyed enough to lose her concentration.
She persisted, feeling her spirit finally come into contact with the energy.
"Magic Sense advanced. Magic advanced. Magic use beyond Level 1 limitations will require point expenditure."
Leo was about to rejoice but she felt that pain in her stomach again.
This time it was much worse, and she coughed up a mouthful of blood.
She turned to see the boy smiling at her.
"Wait for it."
She spat out the remaining blood and pointed a finger at him.
"Wait for wha-"
Before she could finish speaking, a surge of warmth spread throughout her entire body. Her pain went away, the blood on her lips and in her mouth receded into her body, and she felt refreshed.
"You have received the life force of a celestial dragon. Physical Limitations perk has evolved into Dragon Physique. Unique Skills and Mastery Skill added accordingly."
Leo remained motionless in shock.
"Life force fully absorbed. User lifespan increased."
The boy laughed.
"There you go. Now all you need to do is Devour the magic and then make it your own. However, I suggest you work hard on strengthening your body. If you tried to use the Dragon Physique ability you might very well shatter all the bones in your body. And that's the best case scenario."
Leo stood up and sent the student away. She folded her arms behind her and turned to face him.
"Allow me to reintroduce myself."
"Why?"
"Shut up!"
The boy and Leo looked into each other's eyes before breaking into playful laughter.
"My name is Leo Eslon, future ruler of this Kingdom."
He gave her a knowing smile.
"You can call me Nox. And from now on you should aim higher. Didn't you say you've yet to lose our little game?"
Leo smirked.
"You're damn right."
Weeks turned to months. Leo's time was spent going over everything she knew about the academic side of things, but she mostly focused on her perks and abilities.
For instance, her Magic Sense was now close to Mastery, her Magic was at Level Three, Devour was at level Six and Spatial Manipulation was also making progress.
What she was doing now alongside her helper, Nox, was working on Cell Manipulation.
"You see, Leo. Things like this are meant to be understood first. If you don't understand the cell and how it works, then you can't understand how to manipulate it and make it change."
Leo scoffed.
"How am I supposed to do that!?'
They were currently outside in the field.
Leo's white shirt was torn all over and her cloak was tied around her waist. She had tossed her skirt to the side.
She hated skirts.
"Obviously you have to use your sight and then your mental powers, you buffoon."
"Hmph!"
She did just that, her vision entering her own body.
"Divine Introspection voided. Superior Sight is more efficient."
The system had realized that the skill, Divine Introspection, had a similar function to this. However, Superior Sight did it much better.
"I see some cells. I'm going to try to understand them."
Nox sat under a tree and yawned.
The other students were all attending classes.
"Alright! How 'bout now?" Leo raised her hand and it soon began to morph. Long, thick hairs grew all over it, soon making it impossible to see her skin.
"Good. Keep doing simple things like that and you'll find it easier to do more amazing things." Nox smiled.
"Now then, it's time for something a lot more complicated."
Leo smiled.
"I'm going to teach you something very important. If you don't get it the first time, I'm afraid you'll never get it at all."
Leo took several deep breaths.
"Ready?"
"Ready!"
Leo activated her Superior Sight, made sure to already begin sensing for magical energy, and poured out all of her mental power.
"This is what you recognize time to be."
In Nox's hand was an illusory clock.
"I don't see what you see. That is to help you understand exactly what you are seeing."
The clock had multiple hands all spinning in random directions. Sometimes they would even change direction or stop entirely, but all of them never stopped altogether, and they never all spun in the same direction.
"The flow of time exists outside of itself. If you reverse it, it still goes forward. Go forward, it still goes backward. Stop it, and it still moves both forward and backward. Time cannot be stopped, it can only be manipulated and thus traversed."
Leo nodded.
"This is what that looks like."
Nox tightened his grip on the clock, and immediately the world around them changed.
Streams of lights flew around them, dancing as the earth underwent change after change.
"This place was a battlefield. This is what you saw. The Sorcerer and the Celestial Dragon."
Leo saw the images unfold, she even picked up on some of the sorcerer's magic. Then they went even further, arriving in a world of trees and bizarre creatures.
"We have gone back, but in doing so the present and the future have become the same. Our past and our present are now also the same. You may think that we have merely gone to the past of our previous present, but we are actually in a new past and a new present. The future is a new future."
Leo's wide eyes and open ears soaked in everything she was hearing and seeing. Her mind perfectly understood and grasped the concepts.
"Good. Only a master of time can traverse time and not wind up in a new past, present or future. It takes a deep understanding."
Leo nodded, then they returned to the open field near the castle.
"Wow. That was amazing."
"Indeed. Time is far more complex than a lot of things. I see that your mind and sight are truly impressive."
Nox then went back to sitting by the tree.
"What about fighting? Do you know how?"
Nox chuckled and gave Leo a look, raising his brow.
"Of course I know how, but fighting is boorish now. Whether I use my fists or magic it's all a bore. I can't teach you what I know until you can take a single blow from me. There's no point to doing it any other way."
Leo sighed and nodded dejectedly.
"Well alright. It's almost time for the tests. The Queen Dowager is gonna come for a speech. I want to see how formidable her mind is."
"You do that. I'm going to visit someone."
Leo's eyes lit up with a curious glow.
"Oh? Could this be the person you were talking about when you said you were 'taken?' A girl, maybe?"
Nox shook his head with a laugh.
"Focus on your life first."
Then he teleported away.
Leo smiled as she shook her head, retrieving clothes from her storage space and changing right there in the open.
She noticed a rock not too far off from where she was and immediately groaned.
"Devour."
Immediately, her jaw unhinged like a snake's and her tongue grew to an astonishing length.
It slithered out of her mouth and wrapped around that rock, retracted with great ferocity then reentered her mouth, rock and all.
"Devour has successfully made progress toward the next level."
With a contented smile, Leo paid the required points and teleported home. Once she was there, she found Veronica and Ferris chatting about something, but had hushed voices when they saw Leo appear.
"My darling baby girl. You're home early." Ferris warmly smiled and pinched Leo's cheeks.
"Just wanted a change of clothes. Pants this time."
Ferris nodded and left, an outfit already in mind.
"So, what was that about?"
Veronica shrugged. The brown hairs falling to her face were turning grey, reminding Leo that Veronica was much older than she appeared.
As time passed, that would only become more apparent.
"I don't think she'd want me telling you. And no mind reading this time."
"Sure thing, Gram."
Ferris soon returned with Leo's change of clothes. After taking off her tattered clothes she carefully scrutinized the outfit.
A short black top and loose fitting grey pants. Leo put them on and looked at herself in the lengthy mirror. She liked this look a lot more.
She grabbed handfuls of hair and flung them about then shook her head a few times.
"Much better."
She merely glanced at her bright red eyes and blonde hair before smiling and leaving the room.
"How adorable!" Ferris couldn't help herself. She ran over and admired her daughter while also making adjustments here and there.
"I'll be going back to school. See you both later."
The mother-daughter duo waved her off, and once she was gone they went back to their discussion.
Leo returned to school and entered the classroom, mainly to keep up appearances. She wasn't actually focused on the goings-on, but was accessing the minds of all her teachers in order to know exactly when the Queen Dowager would arrive.
"There you are, you-- Whoa! What part of this is an old woman!?"
Leo used her sight to essentially see the Queen Dowager through the eyes of the teacher. This absolute bombshell of an amazon was more than well endowed and had perfectly kept red hair.
Her attire was reserved to say the least, but no amount of effort could hide that alluring figure. The velvet robe over her clothing was decorated with phoenixes and dragons, and there was a sword at her side.
Leo carefully regarded her face, noticing the wealth of experience that poured out of her verdant eyes.
There was nothing applied to her face, yet her lips were perfect, and her brows dignified. The mature beauty of this woman was undeniable.
Leo immediately stood up and left the classroom, heading for the teacher's lounge.
This first impression would mean everything.
Meanwhile, Nox's visit was underway.