(Rodova Military Academy – The Day Before the Breakthrough)
After reaching the threshold for his breakthrough, Leo finally took a full day off—just as Major Hen had advised.
It was the first time in months that he allowed himself to stop, and only in the stillness of rest did he realize how much his body had been screaming beneath the surface.
The aches weren't sharp, but deep and systemic—settled into his bones like a second skin. Every joint throbbed dully, his muscles felt like tightly wound cables fraying at the edges, and even his breath carried a lingering heaviness that he had grown too used to ignoring.
That day, Leo slept.
Not the shallow naps he'd been surviving on between training sessions, but true, uninterrupted rest.
For seventeen hours, his body remained still—his mind silent—as the accumulated strain of relentless grinding bled away.
When he finally opened his eyes the next morning, his body felt light. Focused. Alive.
He stood, dressed, and walked to the Promotion Wing of the Rodova Military Academy—his mind razor-sharp and his aura quiet, like the stillness before a storm.
—----------
(Rodova Military Academy – Promotion Room)
The Promotion Room was massive, its structure composed entirely of reinforced obsidian-tinted steel designed to withstand magical explosions and high-pressure mana bursts.
The chamber was bare—no runes, no markings, no equipment—just emptiness, as if inviting chaos to fill it.
It was built for one purpose only: to allow a warrior to transcend safely.
Major Hen stood waiting just inside the entrance, holding a sleek vial of violet-blue liquid—the Grandmaster Breakthrough Potion. The mana swirling inside glowed faintly, as though photosensitive and mystical.
He handed the vial to Leo without ceremony, his gaze firm.
"Once the chakra node formation stops—-
Once the mana stops building your body and starts boiling it… that's your sign.
You burn it all immediately. No hesitation.
You will have a window of about 1.5-2 seconds to burn it all before it starts to damage your body, and if you take anything more than 5 seconds, then you will be a lost cause.
So remember to act rapidly at that point" Hen warned, as Leo nodded without a word, gripping the vial tightly as Hen gave him one final look before stepping outside and sealing the heavy steel door behind him with a dull clang.
—---------
Once Hen left, Leo stepped into the center of the room, his breathing slow and even as he knelt down, placing the vial before him.
He took one last moment of stillness.
One last breath as a Master.
Then he uncorked the vial and downed its contents.
The potion was warm—strangely smooth at first—but within seconds, that warmth turned molten. A surge of energy exploded through his chest, flooding his mana core with violent force as it rushed into every corner of his body.
The pain hit almost instantly.
It wasn't sharp, but vast—a wave of pressure that bloomed from his core outward, like he was being inflated from the inside.
His circuits lit up as the mana burst into them like a flood through a narrow canal, forcefully widening them with each second that passed.
Leo clenched his jaw, body shaking as he dropped to one knee, mana sparking wildly around him. His vision blurred, his muscles tensed, and he could feel the walls of his circuits stretching, tearing, and healing all at once in a maddening loop of destruction and repair.
'Endure. Direct. Control it.'
He could feel his mind guide him, as [Monarch's Indifference] seemed to be working overtime to maintain rationality through this irrational pain.
Gritting his teeth, Leo focused everything into his flow—directing the mana through his arms, legs, spine—as the potion-fueled torrent continued to rampage within.
His skin flushed red, veins bulging across his body as mana-infused blood began interfacing with his nervous system.
And then, it began.
The chakra nodes started forming.
First along his spine—tiny convergence points where mana circuits, nerves, and blood vessels overlapped and fused.
One by one, they ignited, each formation burning like a miniature sun as it locked into place. The pain was searing, but Leo's expression remained fixed, his mind processing each change with surgical clarity.
With every new node, his body transformed—muscles growing tighter, more compact, as strength surged through him at levels he had never touched before.
Everything felt amplified. Reaction time, movement speed, power output—all operating under a new fuel source, as mana coursed directly into his tissues through his bloodstream.
He was faster. Sharper. Stronger.
But it didn't last.
What had felt like clean energy began to twist. The mana still circulating inside him started to boil—not figuratively, but literally—as a blistering heat ignited in his chest and spread outward. His veins seared. His muscles throbbed. The mana had begun turning toxic.
This was the window.
As despite the mind numbing pain, Leo moved without hesitation.
In a single moment, he activated [Thousand Phantom Slashes], [Celestial Veil], [Parallel Processing], and [Absolute Vision] all at once—layering offense, defense, precision, and awareness into a synchronized, explosive burst.
His blade screamed through the air, afterimages multiplying in every direction as his limbs blurred into motion. Celestial Veil shimmered over his skin, protecting his burning muscles for just long enough to keep moving. Parallel Processing fractured his mind into hyper-efficiency, allowing him to cast and strike simultaneously. Absolute Vision tracked every particle of motion around him in perfect clarity.
With a roar, he drove his blade into the reinforced wall—tearing a chunk of steel loose with sheer force—only for the debris to collapse inward in response.
He didn't flinch.
[Full Counter] ignited a heartbeat later, his hand flashing up as he redirected the incoming mass mid-air, returning it with twice the force, vaporizing it in the process and triggering a secondary shockwave.
All of this—every skill, every surge of power—happened in the span of half a second.
And yet… It wasn't enough.
His body still surged with residual mana, skin pulsing red, lungs on fire.
So he did it again.
Once.
Then twice.
Each time pushing harder, layering skills faster, tearing into his surroundings with relentless precision as he burned away every last trace of the unstable energy within him.
And finally—
There was nothing left.
No mana. No strength. No weight behind his limbs, as he managed to burn everything away within two seconds, thanks to him layering all his skills one over another.
"GAH—"
He dropped to one knee, gasping, as the silence of the chamber pressed down on him like a collapsing star.
His body trembled, blood cooling, skin pale. His muscles refused to contract fully, his heart slowed, and a sensation unlike anything he had ever felt set in:
He felt like a fish out of water. Breathless. Suffocating. Dying.
And then he reached inward.
Summoning the natural mana stored in his core, and deep within the very cells of his blood, as he began to circulate it.
Slowly at first—his consciousness tethered to the fragile thread of life still flickering inside him—as he guided the pure, stable mana through his freshly expanded circuits.
The difference was immediate.
Where the potion's mana had burned like wildfire, his own mana moved like cool water—soothing, harmonizing, filling.
"Gasp—"
Leo inhaled sharply, his lungs expanding as life returned to his body in waves. His vision steadied. His heartbeat normalized.
And his body—reborn under a new law—came alive once more.
He had done it!
He had successfully became a Grandmaster without any accidents, as the chambers gates slid open, and a team of medical staff rushed all around him.