Leon suddenly found himself transported into a world of endless white emptiness where he existed alone—a figment constructed entirely within his imagination, isolated from all external stimuli. There was no ground, yet he stood. No sky, yet he existed in space. The silence was absolute, pressing against his eardrums.

Perfect focus. No distractions.

Leon began training with singular determination. His primary focus was on dramatically increasing his control and mastery over Holy energy manifestation.

He trained relentlessly. Time lost all meaning in the white void. He practiced forms, channeled energy, refined techniques, pushed his limits again and again. The mental strain built like pressure behind his eyes, but he pushed through. Ten thousand subjective hours passed inside the mental simulation—over a year of continuous training compressed into mental space.

TRAIN! PRACTICE! REFINE! REPEAT!

Finally, Leon opened his eyes back in the physical dimension. The glowing tome he'd been holding had lost its luminescence completely—power expended. The leather was now cold and inert, lifeless.

FADE! DARKEN! DEPLETED!

However, he immediately noticed something critical about the time differential. His internal clock felt disoriented, stretched thin.

Hmm. Two hours have passed here in the dimension.

Which meant the mental training simulation operated at approximately five thousand times faster than real-time—even surpassing his dimensional realm's already impressive acceleration.

But I've identified the limitation: no physical body improvement occurs in that mental space. Only technique refinement and knowledge integration.

His muscles hadn't grown stronger, his stamina unchanged. Only his mind had been refined.

Still, it was extraordinarily valuable for skill mastery progression.

And because I'm currently inside my time dimension—which is already one thousand times faster than the outside world—that tome will recharge much more quickly here.

The mathematics were staggering. The total amount of effective training time available through this combination was genuinely unimaginable.

I need to be extremely careful, I don't accidentally drive myself insane from sensory isolation and endless repetition.

Leon continued his brutal training regimen, pushing himself beyond reasonable limits. He used the tome again and again as it recharged. His clone trained simultaneously in a different section. Every moment was dedicated to improvement.

Only a single hour had passed in the outside Pyrrhan realm.

But Leon felt like he couldn't endure this intensity anymore. His head throbbed with a dull, persistent ache. His thoughts felt scattered, fragmented. The endless white void from the tome's simulations haunted the edges of his vision even when not activated.

I feel like I'll genuinely go insane if I continue pushing this hard. I can't do this.

Accounting for everything—including the training his clone had been conducting this entire time simultaneously—Leon had effectively experienced nearly forty-three subjective hours of intensive practice, most of which utilized the tome's mental simulation.

His progress was staggering:

Every single skill he possessed had been maximized to its current level cap. Every technique had been pushed to Transcendent rank mastery, leaving only his cloning skill unable to progress through this method.

Can't train that one with the duplicate. Inherent limitation.

He'd reached not just Level 1 Holy Aura manifestation, but had pushed through to Level 2. He could feel the difference—the energy responded smoother, denser, more obedient to his will.

Finally! The breakthrough I needed.

He'd also developed many additional elemental Auras: Level 1 Life Aura, Level 1 Light Aura, and Level 1 Illusion Aura. His Space Aura—which he'd possessed previously—remained stable.

And his other elemental Auras had all advanced: Level 2 Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind, Ice, and Earth.

Comprehensive elemental mastery. Finally approaching my potential.

He'd even discovered something remarkable: even while in his standard mana-enhanced form without Holy transformation, he could now access twenty-five percent of his sealed divine strength, which translated to one and a half stars of power, approximately two hundred fifty percent of his previous baseline.

Amazing progress. But...

His head was throbbing with overwhelming mental exhaustion. Every thought felt like wading through thick mud. Colors seemed too bright. Sounds too sharp.

I'll genuinely go insane if I even consider training for one more second. I need to stop.

He desperately needed to relax and decompress. The isolation was crushing.

I'm feeling intensely lonely. Isolated.

He needed Seraphine—her presence, her warmth, her voice, her touch. Something real and human to anchor him back to sanity.

I need a break badly.

He'd initially decided to give her time and space to train independently. But he didn't care about that consideration anymore.

Knowing Seraphine, she'll be absolutely thrilled to see me anyway. That's what matters.

His clone was still training in the distance in conscious form within the dimensional space, relentlessly practicing forms.

With just a focused thought, Leon dismissed and dismantled the clone completely.

DISSOLVE! DISPERSE! INTEGRATE!

Good. The training memories won't flood me all at once—they were integrated in real-time as the clone was training. Everything it learned, I already experienced simultaneously.

There was no sudden influx of information, no disorienting rush of foreign memories. He'd been aware of the clone's progress the entire time through their shared consciousness.

That's the advantage of the unified mind. No jarring transitions.

Before summoning Seraphine to his location, Leon needed to make proper preparations.

I want to surprise her. Make this special.

With his absolute control over this dimensional realm, creating the perfect environment required only focused intention.

It took him approximately fifteen minutes to complete preparations for their romantic date.

Using his dramatically refined elemental control, Leon constructed a beautiful, intimate setting:

An elegant pavilion formed from crystallized ice that glowed softly with internal bioluminescence—not cold to the touch, but perfectly temperate through his precise mana manipulation. The ice caught and refracted light in rainbow patterns across its translucent surfaces. He surrounded it with flowing water features shaped from his Water affinity—small streams and pools that burbled melodically, their sound soothing and natural. Flowers of living flame—sustained Fire constructs—provided warm golden illumination without actual dangerous heat, flickering like candlelight. The ground beneath was perfectly smooth stone he'd shaped and polished, with intricate carved patterns of interweaving vines and geometric designs. Floating orbs of condensed Light element drifted overhead like artificial stars, casting gentle illumination.

Perfect atmosphere. Intimate but not overwhelming.

The air smelled clean and fresh, with a faint floral scent he'd added from something he had.

He prepared food using quality ingredients from his inventory—arranging them artistically on conjured ice plates that wouldn't melt. Fresh bread, aged cheese, fruits that gleamed with ripeness. A bottle of fine wine he'd been saving, the glass cool against his fingers. He even included generous portions of that delicious purified monster meat he'd eaten at the Pyrrhan festival, which he'd fortunately stored away since there had been an abundant excess. Steam still rose from it, perfectly preserved.

Ira mentioned how much gets wasted despite preservation efforts. Good thing my inventory keeps everything perfectly fresh and hot.

Leon was finally ready. He dressed nicely after taking a thorough hot shower—the water pressure perfect, temperature exactly as he liked it, washing away the mental grime of endless training. He selected formal clothes he'd been saving: a well-tailored dark shirt, comfortable but elegant pants. He even combed his hair properly, checking his reflection in an ice mirror.

DRESS! PREPARE! GROOM!

Now... time to bring her here.

With just a focused thought while detecting Seraphine's distinctive mana signature—that familiar lightning-touched presence he'd recognize anywhere—Leon teleported her directly in front of him.

He pulled her instantaneously from wherever she'd been in the settlement, space folding around her, leaving everyone there confused by her sudden disappearance.

SHIMMER! TELEPORT! APPEAR!

A spear strike was coming directly at Leon's face—the weapon's edge catching light, moving with lethal precision but appearing really, really slowly to his enhanced Ascendant-rank perception.

Reflex attack. She was mid-training when I grabbed her.

Seraphine appeared confused initially, disoriented by the sudden spatial transition. Her eyes were wide, unfocused, still locked in combat mode. Then her gaze sharpened and truly noticed Leon standing before her—well-dressed, looking genuinely handsome and healthy and real.

Recognition flooded her features.

Her combat spear simply left her hand, forgotten, clattering to the stone ground with a metallic ring.

CLATTER!

Her thoughts of confusion and combat readiness vanished instantly, replaced by overwhelming emotion that transformed her entire expression—shock melting into pure joy.

She absolutely melted just seeing him standing there, whole and safe and smiling at her.

"Leon..."

Running with arms spread wide, she rushed toward him with desperate speed. Leon simultaneously moved forward, closing the distance, and they collided in a tight, crushing embrace.

HUG! SQUEEZE! HOLD!

Leon buried his face in her hair, taking in her warmth, her intimately familiar scent—sweat and steel and something uniquely Seraphine that he'd missed so profoundly. Her body was solid against his, real and present. Her arms wrapped around him with fierce strength.

She was shaking slightly, her breath hitching.

They both spoke the exact same words simultaneously, voices overlapping perfectly:

"I missed you so much—"

The synchronization made them both laugh through the tears suddenly burning in their eyes—his of exhaustion and relief, hers of surprise and happiness.

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