Training Addict Magician in a Growth-Focused Story

Training Addict Magician in a Growth-Focused Story

EP.13 Did It Appear?

The next day.

Leon met the manager at a place halfway up Herb Mountain. Contrary to Leon’s expectation of a strict person, the manager was a kind-faced middle-aged man.

‘I don’t believe it.’

For some reason, Forn’s face flashed through Leon’s mind.

“You say you know the recipe for F-grade elixirs?”

The man, who introduced himself as Walter, faced Leon with a faint smile.

“I learned it from Forn.”

“Hmm… Did he know about elixirs?”

“I remember coming here several times to gather herbs.”

“That might be true…”

Could the manager really not know? Although Leon didn’t show it, Walter seemed to sense his doubt and laughed softly. It was a somewhat naive laugh.

“I mainly manage Zones 2 and 3, so I’m not very familiar with it.”

“I see.”

“Well, it’s good that you believe me.”

Walter handed a blank sheet of paper across the desk to Leon.

“Write down the herbs and their management methods needed for making F-grade elixirs. Actually, the knowledge of elixirs isn’t necessary for Zone 1, which you’ll be managing. You just need to do what I tell you.”

Leon didn’t pick up the quill but listened quietly to Walter’s words. He felt there was more to be said.

“But a smart kid like you shows promise.”

“What kind of…”

Walter responded with a small smile instead of an answer. Leon, sensing the atmosphere, refrained from asking further questions and picked up the quill to write down his knowledge about herbs. All the information came from the elixir recipes he had obtained as rewards. When he handed over the densely filled paper, Walter’s smile deepened.

“Are you confident you can work hard?”

“Should I take that to mean you’ll entrust me with bigger tasks if I do?”

“Exactly.”

Thus, Leon began his duties at Herb Mountain.

*****

Leon’s work in managing Herb Mountain consisted of three main tasks.

First, he had to patrol the mountain at regular intervals. Since the herbs were naturally cultivated across the vast mountain, he needed to remove any weeds he spotted during his patrols and spread fertilizer when it was time.

The second task was replacing mana stones. To ensure that mana flowed throughout the mountain for the herbs needed for elixirs, he had to place artificially created mana stones in designated areas and replace them periodically.

The third task was, of course, harvesting the herbs. On the first day, Walter personally took Leon around the mountain, teaching him how to harvest the herbs with their roots intact. Walter’s meticulous harvesting technique clearly showed his expertise as a seasoned herbalist. Leon believed that learning Walter’s harvesting skills would be immensely beneficial and paid close attention.

“You learn quickly for someone so young.”

For some reason, Walter seemed to have a favorable impression of Leon, but after the first day, it became rare to see Walter’s face. Apart from teaching Leon the harvesting technique, Walter left him with a book on herbology and disappeared. He mainly managed other zones, which were quite far from Zone 1 that Leon was responsible for.

Zone 1 mostly contained low-grade herbs. While it had all the herbs needed for F-grade elixirs, it lacked some of the herbs required for E-grade elixirs.

Out of the five herbs needed for E-grade elixirs, only four were available in Zone 1. The remaining herb seemed to be in Zone 2. Regardless, it was true that most of the necessary herbs could be obtained from Zone 1.

At this point, Leon found himself in a dilemma.

‘Should I just take the herbs grown on the mountain?’

This didn’t make sense. Beyond the moral implications, he needed to accurately track the quantity of harvested herbs. Stealing them thoughtlessly would surely get him caught quickly. As he grew more confident in his herb-harvesting skills, his worries deepened.

Then, a brilliant idea crossed his mind.

‘What if I take the discarded herbs?’

Herbs that couldn’t be used for elixirs were discarded for various reasons. Their quality might have been lower than expected, their roots might have been damaged during harvesting, or their components might have changed due to natural growth conditions. These herbs were gathered and either burned or given to other mages if they needed them for research.

‘No one would notice if I took a few of those.’

It was natural for herbs grown for elixirs to become useless if they couldn’t be used to make elixirs. The question was whether these defective herbs could grow normally if transplanted.

‘I’ll have to trust the Orb of Time and Space.’

From then on, Leon began to take the discarded herbs and transplant them into the orb. The size of the herb garden inside the orb was gradually increasing. Initially, Leon had created a small garden next to his training spot, but as the first transplanted herbs began to thrive, he had to prepare a much larger space.

Clearing trees, uprooting stumps, and leveling the ground was no easy task. So, Leon assigned the job to Kito. By this time, Kito had been inside the orb for over a month.

For Kito, who had been inside the orb, five years had passed. Though he still couldn’t fly, he could now stand and move around.

“If you have nothing to do, clear out some trees.”

“No… This place is too nice… I want to sleep…”

“Do you want to get out?”

“Sorry. I’ll do it…”

Of course, due to their contract, it wasn’t easy to let him out at will. However, Kito, sensing Leon’s intentions, reluctantly agreed. It seemed he had grown quite fond of the place. Whenever Leon entered to train, he often found Kito lounging around, asleep.

Thus, Leon assigned the task of clearing the trees to Kito and began the extensive expansion of the herb garden. As expected, the defective herbs quickly shed their flaws and started to grow rapidly, bringing a satisfied smile to Leon’s face.

Leon also designated specific areas for each type of herb. Root herbs were planted with wide spacing to absorb nutrients from the soil effectively, while herbs used for their leaves were planted as densely as possible. Mosses were grown under the shade of trees, in a separate area from the other herbs.

Although he had only transplanted six types of herbs so far, making the expanded area feel somewhat empty, Leon thought it would be best to organize the zones from the start, even if it was a bit troublesome, for future convenience.

‘At least I don’t have to worry about water supply.’

The weather inside the orb was always bright and clear. Initially, Leon was concerned that this constant weather might cause some trial and error, but it turned out to be an unfounded worry. The herbs grew well even without water.

‘Since these herbs are needed for elixirs, I guess mana is the most important factor?’

Leon was gradually learning more about the orb’s space and the herbs. The reason he spent so much time creating this environment was, of course, for training. Above all else, training was the most important.

Leon felt this truth even more acutely after his battle with Forn. You never knew when you might get blindsided! What he needed was even greater strength.

After the fight with the old man, Leon had changed his quest rewards to attribute constitution. Although the artifacts he received as rewards were incredibly useful in battle, the essence was ultimately Leon’s own power. Even disposable artifacts required dozens to be effective against an opponent just one grade higher.

By raising his level and honing his innate power, he could handle danger more calmly. Normally, he would have chosen a magic book as a reward to sample its contents or an elixir to prepare for advancing to the third grade. However, the necessity for a magic book had decreased since receiving Arpina’s magic book, and he had already gathered all the herbs needed for F-grade elixirs, so there was no urgency.

‘This time, let’s aim for a six-attribute constitution.’

A constitution encompassing fire, water, wind, earth, wood, and electricity. While it wasn’t the rare talent for light and darkness, it was a talent just below that level. It was also the talent that Rowen possessed.

Thus, three more months passed as Leon balanced herb management duties with his training. Sitting cross-legged in his private room, Leon let out a sigh of frustration.

“It should have appeared at least once by now.”

Since he first started the quest, he had received nearly 300 rewards. He made sure to secure at least 10 hours of training each day, ensuring he received at least one reward daily. During that time, he hadn’t seen even an S-grade reward, let alone A or B grades.

“They said the probability increased.”

Even the most money-hungry gacha games would have given something good by now.

“Ugh.”

Leon thought to himself, not sure who he was complaining to, and summoned his growth assistant.

General Quest

▶ Basic Magic Training (Completed)

Leon had completed today’s quest. Since his training in reality was done, he planned to check his reward and then immediately continue his training inside the orb. He had 221 hours left to use the orb. He had kept the 200 hours he received as a reward for breaking through to the second grade untouched. He thought he might need to enter the orb to avoid danger in an urgent situation, like during his battle with Forn, and he also planned to use the time in one go when he approached the late second grade to break through to the third grade.

Without much expectation, Leon pressed ‘Complete.’

▶ ———————————

The reward gacha spun as usual. As it began to slow down, the reward details appeared.

▶ You have obtained the All-Attribute Constitution (Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Wood, Electricity, Light, Darkness). (Apply / Cancel)

“Wh-what?”

Leon rubbed his eyes and checked again. He hadn’t seen it wrong. A powerful sensation, as if he had been struck on the back of the head, overwhelmed him.

“It… It appeared!!!”