The early morning mist of Sosei was cool against Lencar's skin, but it couldn't dampen the heat of the thoughts racing through his mind. He sat on the edge of his bed, the blank grimoire resting on his knees. The leather felt warmer now, pulsing with the combined life force of the four soul crystals he had harvested in the ravine.
Last night, he had been touched by his parents' concern. He had felt the pull of a quiet life in the village. But as he sat in the silence of dawn, the Data Analyst within him began to run a cold, hard simulation of that future.
Scenario A: Return to Hage after the exam.
Probability of exposure: 65% within two years. Probability of collateral damage to Rion and Marta: 90%.
"I was wrong," Lencar whispered, his voice barely audible. "Returning here isn't protecting them. It's turning this house into a target. If a Magic Knight or an investigator ever tracks my mana signature back to this village, my parents will be the first ones they use for leverage."
The logic was inescapable. To truly protect the two people who loved him unconditionally, he had to become a ghost. He couldn't come back. After the Entrance Exam, he would have to find a way to stay near the Royal Capital—perhaps in the sprawling, chaotic slums of the Common Realm or the Outer Capital. There, in the sea of millions, a "failed" commoner would be invisible.
"The objective has shifted," he noted, his eyes narrowing. "I will go to the Capital, I will fail the exam as planned, but I will not return. I will stay in the heart of the kingdom, siphoning the strength I need to surpass the 'Ceiling' of this world."
He thought of Julius Novachrono—the man who was secretly the vessel for Lucius Zogratis. Based on his knowledge of the future, the coming years would be a sequence of escalating disasters: the Eye of the Midnight Sun, the Elf Reincarnation, the Spade Kingdom invasion.
"I need to be stronger than a Wizard King before the clock runs out," Lencar determined. "And to do that, I need to understand exactly where I stand on the board."
He opened his grimoire, looking at the multi-colored rims of the pages. He recalled the texts he had read in the tower and combined them with his meta-knowledge of the Heart Kingdom's grading system.
The Heart Kingdom Magic Stages: A ten-level scale from Stage Nine to Stage Zero.
"According to my current measurements," Lencar analyzed, "I am sitting at Peak Stage Six."
It was a significant jump. When Yuno had first received his four-leaf clover, he was approximately Mid-Stage Six—a monstrous starting point for a commoner, but still a long way from the Spirit Guardians or the Captains. By siphoning Yuno, Lencar had reached that baseline. However, the Absolute Replication of the four bandits had done more than just add volume; the four soul crystals had reinforced his spiritual architecture.
"Yuno's mana capacity has likely expanded since our fight," Lencar mused. "But my soul is now 'Thicker.' My recovery rate is fifty percent higher, and my multitasking is unmatched. I am at the peak of Stage Six in terms of capacity, control, and spell complexity. But in a world where Captains are Stage One or Zero... I am still a minor variable."
He had one month and fifteen days. Forty-five days to bridge the gap between a talented commoner and a monster that could hide in plain sight.
The most immediate threat to Lencar's existence wasn't a bandit or a monster; it was the senses of the elite. He knew that the Black Bulls' Captain, Yami Sukehiro, used 'Ki'—a sixth sense that read life energy, muscle movement, and intent. Even more dangerous was William Vangeance, whose body hosted Patolli, an elf with mana senses so refined they were practically divine.
"If I cannot hide from them, I cannot survive the Capital," Lencar decided.
He dedicated the first two weeks of his remaining time to his newly acquired Concealment Magic. Because he had taken the "Source Code" from the bandit via Absolute Replication, the magic was now a natural extension of his will. He didn't just cast a script; he felt the frequency of the shadows.
He retreated deep into the forest, away from the prying eyes of Asta or the villagers. He stood in a small clearing, closing his eyes, focusing on the rhythmic "thump" of his heart and the "hum" of the mana in his veins.
"To a Ki user, I am a beacon of physical intent," he reasoned. "To an Elf, I am a pool of foreign mana. I must become a vacuum."
He began to experiment. He took the basic concealment spell he had siphoned and began to rewrite it, using his reinforced soul to multi-thread the mana flow.
"Concealment Shroud Magic: 'Phase-Shift Veil,'" he commanded.
A ripple of purple mana washed over him. He watched his hand disappear, but he could still feel the mana leaking.
"Inadequate. The heart is too loud. The soul is still vibrating."
He spent days in meditative silence, learning to synchronize his mana flow with the ambient mana of the forest. He used his knowledge of data encryption to "noise-cancel" his own biological signals.
By the end of the first week, he developed:
Concealment Soul Magic: [Static Spirit]
This was a high-level application. It didn't just hide his body; it masked the 'Vibration' of his soul crystal. To a sensor, his soul would appear as nothing more than the background radiation of the world—flat, grey, and unremarkable.
By the end of the second week, he pushed the boundaries even further. He focused on the physical "Ki" that Yami would read. He learned to suppress his heartbeat and even the involuntary micro-twitches of his muscles.
Concealment Stealth Magic: [Void Pulse]
When active, Lencar became a hole in reality. He could stand three feet behind a mountain lion, and the beast wouldn't even turn its head. He had successfully encrypted his life-force.
Data Update: Stealth capabilities reached Stage Four efficiency. Probability of detection by Captain Yami: Reduced to 15%. Probability of detection by William Vangeance: Reduced to 10%.
With his "Digital Mask" firmly in place, Lencar turned his attention to his offensive and defensive capabilities. He had one month left, and he had four Absolute Attributes—Wind, Fire, Sand, and Concealment—to integrate with his Mana-Forged body and his Heretic Mode.
"The bottleneck of 'Rigid Scripts' is gone," Lencar said, opening his grimoire in his training clearing. "I am no longer limited to the bandit's imagination. I can use the data of my previous life to create spells that shouldn't exist in this era."
He began his new routine. It was a brutal, 18-hour-a-day cycle designed to exploit his reinforced soul's multitasking ability.
04:00 - 08:00: Heretic Mode & Physical Optimization.
Lencar focused on his Anti-Magic. He practiced the "Toggle" until it was no longer a switch, but a seamless transition. He worked on his physical strength, knowing that in Heretic Mode, he was purely reliant on his muscles. He practiced striking with the "Void," learning to coat his fists in a thin film of Anti-Magic that could shatter a spell upon contact.
08:00 - 12:00: Wind and Sand Integration.
He combined his siphoned Yuno-level capacity with the flexible Sand Magic. He discovered that he could use Wind Magic to suspend Sand in the air, creating a "Grinding Storm."
Sand Creation Magic: [Desert's Guillotine]
He created high-speed, spinning discs of sand that could cleave through oak trees like they were made of butter. Because he was Stage Six, his control allowed him to maintain twelve of these discs simultaneously, each one dancing to a different mental thread.
12:00 - 16:00: Fire and Combat Logic.
He took the basic Fire Magic he had stolen and refined it into something surgical. Instead of huge, wasteful fireballs, he focused on "Heat Concentration."
Flame Creation Magic: [Crimson Needle]
He produced small, white-hot needles of fire that could penetrate iron armor. He practiced firing these from his fingertips while moving at high speeds, treating the battlefield like a high-speed data stream.
16:00 - 20:00: The Total System Loop.
This was the most grueling part. He would engage in a simulated battle against "shadows" of his own creation. He would use Concealment to vanish, reappear with a Sand strike, Toggle to Heretic Mode to "delete" a hypothetical counter-spell, and then Toggle back to finish with a Wind-enhanced Fire punch.
His soul, reinforced by the bandit crystals, thrived under the pressure. Where a normal mage would have suffered a mental breakdown from the cognitive load of managing four elements and a soul-toggle, Lencar's analyst brain simply allocated the resources.
He felt himself growing. Not just in capacity, but in depth. He wasn't just Stage Six anymore; he was pushing against the borders of Stage Five.