A fourth-tier's class amplification works for casting intermediate magic—but not for advanced magic.
For a caster-class to reach sixth tier, beyond accumulating merit to form a saga, they also needed to master at least one king-tier spell and five advanced spells.
To reach fifth tier: at least one advanced and five intermediate spells.
To reach fourth tier: at least one intermediate and ten beginner spells.
From fourth tier onward, tier gaps widened exponentially, and fighting above your tier became harder and harder for casters.
By sixth tier, only pure-blood dragons and pure-blood elves could reliably suppress "weaker" intelligent races across tiers.
At legend and above, even pure-blood dragons and pure-blood elves facing human mages could usually only win by grinding through the fight—burning the opponent's mana down to zero before finishing them.
Before the opponent's mana ran dry, the gap in offense and defense wasn't that enormous. If strategy was right, cases of a human legend beating a long-lived-race legend 1v1 were rare—but still happened once or twice every few hundred years.
Because the stat gap was large, human legends versus long-lived legends could look spectacular—but humans usually lost.
Dragons were a special case: their enormous bodies added extra attack options, and cases of humans beating same-tier dragons basically hadn't appeared for over six thousand years.
Faced with Kaiku's question, Leon answered, "Ten-ish years?"
As a veteran player in his previous life, Leon certainly knew how hard advanced magic was and how long it took.
But his current persona was just a rural quasi-baron's son—he couldn't plausibly know the true cost.
So he intentionally said the wrong number.
Kaiku shook his head. "How could it be only ten years? It's a lifetime. Without enough talent and effort, humans learning advanced magic before they die is pure fantasy. Caster classes do get stronger later on—but they're far harder to advance than warrior classes."
There was real emotion in his voice.
From what Leon knew, Kaiku's B- potential really did "fit" fourth tier.
B corresponded to fifth tier, B+ to sixth, A- to seventh, A to eighth, and A+ to demigod.
That was the standard mapping of maximum potential.
Of course, exceptions existed—some characters did break beyond their potential ceiling.
But that required the right direction of effort and rare opportunities, and was extremely uncommon.
It was also quite common for someone whose potential had "capped out" to find themselves unable to break further.
Thinking about it, Kaiku choosing to give up on advancement, hunt safely for money, and enjoy life wasn't actually a bad path.
But unlike Kaiku—Leon's road wasn't blocked.
Leon knew how to learn advanced magic, and he'd been preparing for it all along.
Advanced magic had two major difficulties.
First: a baseline 50 mana reserve.
Without 50+ mana, you simply couldn't cast advanced spells.
For stronger advanced spells, spending over 100 mana wasn't unusual.
But most human fourth-tiers had a mana cap around 40. If they wanted to advance, they had to find ways to push beyond to 50+ first.
Spells at that level were already small disasters covering kilometers—without enough mana, you couldn't even launch them.
Second: spell imagery complexity so high it was absurd.
If a beginner spell was "complexity 1," then an advanced spell was "complexity 100"—like simultaneously visualizing dozens of beginner spell images at once.
The human brain had limits. Even with chanting assistance, it was nearly impossible to build such a complex image with precision.
One tiny misstep and the spell failed.
That was why, from the moment Leon awakened his past-life memories, he'd invested heavily into imagery meditation training—ensuring he could instantly visualize each beginner spell image, steadily increasing the number of images he could hold at once.
At the same time, he used his previous-life knowledge to prioritize finding auxiliary items that boosted meditation efficiency and improved success rates.
Even so, it would still be hard to keep up with the inevitable future crisis. Without "cheats," learning magic—something that required raw aptitude—was brutally limiting. Kaiku was the living example.
So Leon had to keep completing quests, raising affection, and acquiring heroine talents—fusing their advantages—until his foundation was truly stable.
Especially Iris's absolute focus talent: once Leon gained it, his magic-learning efficiency would soar.
It would be a powerful amplifier for meditation efficiency.
"Kaiku, I understand your desire," Leon said, "but if you plan to use the Sighing Faerie like that, I can't agree. Once I've figured out how to properly counter charm, then I'll consider selling."
"Fine," Kaiku said. "Your attitude told me the answer anyway. No problem—I can wait. When you're ready to sell, contact me first."
He rubbed thumb and forefinger together in a "money" gesture.
"I've been fourth tier for nearly twenty years. I've saved a lot. If you find any rare items, bring them to me. Since we're colleagues, the price can always be negotiated."
…
The gathering ended.
In total, Leon spent 32 gold on Crying Dollgrass and 61 gold on the Kraken brain core—93 gold altogether.
For the remaining funds: tomorrow the magical craftsman would make a protective garment from Minotaur hide, requiring another 25 gold (and Leon had already paid a 25-gold deposit at the guild), plus a 15-gold budget for weapon maintenance.
So besides the materials he still kept on hand, his profit had already shrunk down to 57 gold.
Of course, if he were willing to sell the Sighing Faerie, he'd have plenty of money.
But the faerie was extremely rare—an item you held until you truly needed the cash.
So for now, he'd keep it. Just keep it sleeping with hypnosis powder.
As long as a monster didn't expend mana, it could generally survive a long time.
Iris had also finished her purchases. She spent 44 gold to buy two un-aspected second-tier magic stones:
one to replace the staff's current stone, and one as a spare.
It was a rare "big spending" moment for her.
Her explanation was:
"I realized that after teaming with you, we're running into powerful monsters more often. In this dungeon run, we hit two strong monsters, and one Sighing Faerie that was basically as dangerous as a strong monster. That means our ability to make money is higher—but so is the risk. Spending a bit more is better. We'll earn it back later."
That also reminded Leon of something.
He didn't think teaming up increased the odds of strong monsters.
He thought Iris's "protagonist luck" was starting to take effect because she'd changed her normal behavior pattern.
"Iris—since you've replaced your magic stone and upgraded your gear a bit, tonight I'm going to take you to see your mother."
"!!!"
Iris's eyes went wide.
…
Late night.
Outside the Prince's Estate District in the North Ward.
Two figures sprinted along the street at incredible speed.
With agility over 40, they ran like wind.
"Iris—breaking your 'never stay out overnight' rule again," Leon teased, "don't blame me."
"Leon, thank you," Iris said softly. "You don't need to force jokes to comfort me. I'm fine. It's just… thinking I'll see my mother soon makes my feelings complicated."
"Good. Hearing you say that reassures me."
Leon was worried Iris would get too emotional and lose her calm—that's why he'd spoken up.
Hamla's situation wasn't good. If Iris saw her, she would likely explode with rage.
If things went wrong, it could trigger a major fight.
So Leon intended to act quietly and safely extract Hamla.
They stopped behind a tree outside one of the prince estates.
"This is the estate of Prince Abrahla—Holsha IX's sixteenth brother," Leon said. "Your mother is imprisoned in the dungeon below. Don't ask me why—I don't know. Our task is rescue."
For a sixth-tier powerhouse to be imprisoned, it was probably not because the enemy was stronger—it was because Hamla herself had a problem. Her strength was likely a fraction of what it had been, and she was currently unconscious, unable to wake.
Prince Abrahla was a seventh-tier legend, praised as the kingdom's greatest swordsman.
His most famous feat was eighty years ago, when he fought two beastfolk legends at once and won, preventing a border war.
But his motive for imprisoning Hamla was hard to guess.
Leon could see Iris's emotions were already unstable. He pressed a hand on her shoulder.
"I checked. Prince Abrahla left last week with a large force to return to his territory, so the internal guard right now isn't strict. With my skills, sneaking in is easy. Next, I need you to go to the west gate and repeatedly cast Light Radiance to draw the guards' attention. The moment you see me start moving, return to your own residence immediately and wait for me to rendezvous. Understand?"
"Don't worry," Iris said. "At a critical moment, I won't act recklessly."
"Good."
They moved quickly.
Even though this was the estate of a legendary prince, the high-level experts weren't present.
Otherwise Bisce couldn't have slipped in and found Hamla.
And conveniently, Leon had infiltrated Abrahla's estate several times in his previous-life playthroughs—he knew it well.