Leon opened the heroine panel.
[Story Character: Iris C. Forlorn]
[Age / Lifespan: 36 / 1039]
[Plot Weight: A+]
[Potential Rank: S+]
[Class: Light Elementalist]
[Current Tier: Third]
[Primary Stats: Vitality 55 / Mana 61 / Stamina 33 / Strength 38 / Agility 43]
[Current Titles: Wyvern (Juvenile) Strangler; Radiant Light Elf (Unactivated); Heir of the Pureblood Oath]
[Current Affection: 20%]
[Basic Link Established. Iris personal side quest unlocked: "Fallen Dark Elf"]
[Quest Details: Prevent Iris's mother, Hamla, from falling into darkness and becoming a Dark Elf on Easter.]
[Quest Reward: +10 Mana Cap; Unlock beginner-tier Light-element magic: Light Healing]
[First-time unlock reminder: When Affection exceeds 90%, you may replicate the corresponding character's talents through intimate behavior and optimize them into various enhancement modes to strengthen yourself. Different characters have different talents and enhancement types. No further reminders will be given.]
This panel had existed since Leon awakened his past-life memories.
It was just that, up until now, aside from being able to see his own attributes, the "main story character" section had been nothing but blank templates.
Everything else was locked.
Only just now—after he established a connection with Iris C. Forlorn, one of the major characters in the Sword, Magic, and the Holy Land series—did the full panel finally unlock.
Even after he'd recruited Bisce, the former priestess-turned-wandering-spirit with Plot Weight C and Potential B-, he still hadn't unlocked a character panel.
Which suggested that, under normal conditions, unlocking probably required someone with at least dual-A ratings, or at minimum a single S-tier rating, to open their corresponding panel.
Of course, that was only Leon's guess.
Because in truth, Iris—the one who triggered the unlock—was special in her own right.
For example, Iris was one of the rare protagonists in the series who could reliably make it all the way to the ending of Game Four.
Other famous heroines—even on "good ending" routes—still had a high chance of dying together with the final boss.
And if you took the wrong route, you could end up with all kinds of horrific death endings.
As an aside: Iris was one of the heroines of Part Two, but she had already appeared back in Part One.
At the time, she'd only been a supporting character with a moderate amount of screen time, and her strength wasn't top-tier either.
But thanks to her stunning character design, plus a unique personality—cold and aloof, yet obsessed with making money—she became wildly popular with players.
So by Part Two, Iris rode that popularity and forcefully "rose" into the main cast, becoming the third heroine in billing.
Her power, too, had grown all the way to Sixth Tier—Quasi-legendary!
By the end of Part Two, Iris broke through to true legend, earning a legendary epic that was widely sung. She was a single step away from completing an epic feat and becoming an Eighth-Tier Epic-level powerhouse.
In Part Three she didn't appear, since she was in seclusion training—but in Part Four, her epic was elevated into a demigod hymn, and she ascended completely to Ninth Tier: a demigod, fully cashing in that S+ potential.
And in the final apocalyptic war of Part Four, she contributed the key spell Light Domain Purification, cleansing nearly half a continent corrupted by the End.
This pure-blood elf, Iris, was an indispensable cornerstone for reaching the perfect ending.
And as a veteran player of the whole series, Leon also knew: Iris was the kind of character you had to win over as early as possible, right after the story began.
At her current stage, she was cold, yes—but more than that, she was arrogant and tsundere.
This was the best time to "capture" her.
If he waited until Part One truly kicked off, after Iris went through the event where her mother fell into darkness and became a Dark Elf—cementing her heart shut—that was when she became truly cold.
At that point, she wouldn't be someone you could recruit casually anymore.
Of course, Leon's reason for prioritizing Iris was also practical: among all characters in the story rated A and above, Iris currently had the lowest tier.
Other S-ranked characters—when they first entered the main plot—were at minimum Fourth Tier, and most were Fifth or Sixth.
"So that blank character panel wasn't for nothing… I waited forever, and it finally activated. Man, that wasn't easy."
Leon carefully read through the newly unlocked panel, excitement surging in his chest.
Even setting everything else aside, just the first quest reward alone was incredible—it solved his core problem as an ordinary human: low mana and painfully slow growth.
Because each tier had a cap on how much your maximum mana could increase.
Since awakening his memories, Leon had trained day and night. With various items obtained through his information advantage, his mana cap still only sat at 25.
That number meant he could only fire off about twenty-five beginner spells before bottoming out.
In Sword, Magic, and the Holy Land, your mana cap determined the upper limit of a powerhouse's combat potential!
Even Iris—a third-tier pure-blood elf with S+ potential—only had a mana cap of 61 right now.
Which meant a flat +10 mana cap was absolutely extraordinary.
And the other reward—Light-element magic—was even rarer.
Elemental magic was the kind of overwhelming spellcraft basically only pure-blood elves, or a handful of special humans, could use.
At the same tier, elemental magic hit several times harder than ordinary magic.
And based on Leon's past game experience, since he'd already triggered the first personal side quest, more would definitely follow.
An A-ranked plot-weight character like Iris would be carrying at least a dozen side quests.
If you thought about it that way, staying close to Iris long-term was guaranteed profit—massive profit.
Sure, Leon had already used his future knowledge to secure some important extraordinary items and key resources.
But limited by his strength and his background, what he could obtain was still… very limited.
This side quest, no matter how you looked at it, was non-negotiable. He had to complete it.
"By the way—aren't you going to keep an eye on Iris?" Bisce suddenly spoke up while Leon was studying the panel. "There's less than an hour until midnight, isn't there?"
"It's fine. Not yet."
Leon answered calmly, still "eyes closed," continuing to browse the panel.
Leon wasn't worried, but Bisce was getting anxious. "I'm waiting to see you cash in that divination result!"
It was the first time she'd heard Leon claim he could use divination, and she was dying to see whether Iris's next move would really match Leon's prediction.
She even suspected that the reason her usually sharp self had been fooled into becoming his familiar… was because of that divination.
"No rush," Leon said. "I've got another side gig tonight. Once I finish that and get paid, I'll go wrap things up."
Bisce blinked. "You're at a ball—what 'side gig' are you talking about?"
"You've been with me for two weeks and you still don't know?" Leon said. "As long as I stand here until the ball ends, I earn two gold coins from the organizer."
"My god! That's almost half of what we make from exploring a dungeon! Why do you get paid that much?"
Bisce went wild with jealousy, ramming and rubbing against Leon's waist like an angry cow.
"Apparently, the moment noble girls hear I'll be here, they dress up and come out in full force, which makes the ball look much more glamorous," Leon said casually. "So the organizer's happy to toss me a little compensation. But don't get the wrong idea—we still can't spend recklessly. Chances like this are rare. We still need to be frugal when we should."