More than a week had drifted by since Wehrlos had departed from the estate to answer the summons of the Shadow Warriors.
In the wake of his departure, the atmosphere of the training grounds had shifted.
Kanone, having witnessed the pseudo graduation battle, deemed Geehrt ready.
She officially halted his formal instruction in magic, advising him to simply maintain the grueling routine that both his mentors had established.
Geehrt followed this advice diligently. He continued his physical conditioning and weapon training every morning, but due to the perfection of his mana control and the technique granted by the Six Eyes, he found himself with a surplus of mental energy.
He directed this focus toward reading and improving his mastery of Goddess Magic.
He knew that if he wanted to travel the world in the future, particularly to the harsh and unforgiving lands of the Northern Continent, these support spells would not just be useful; they would be indispensable.
Over the course of his hellish training year with Wehrlos and Kanone, Geehrt had managed to scavenge precious fragments of time to study the holy scriptures.
Despite not being a religious zealot, he harbored a genuine sense of gratitude.
He was thankful for the new life granted to him by the Goddess of Creation. This chaotic, magical world was a gift.
This acknowledgment, combined with his naturally boosted talent for holy arts, made Geehrt incredibly skilled in utilizing Goddess Magic.
He mastered the healing and support spells with a proficiency that usually took priests decades to achieve.
One quiet afternoon, while Geehrt was deep in study within the estate's grand library, a sensation washed over him.
His mana detection, amplified by the Six Eyes, constantly covered the massive landmass of the estate like an invisible radar. He felt a signature entering his range. It was dense, familiar, and nostalgic.
It was his grandmother. He had not seen her for half a decade.
Geehrt immediately stood up, closing the heavy tome he was reading. He walked out of the library and made his way to the main entrance hall.
When he stepped outside, the sight that greeted him startled him slightly. Frase was standing there, dusting off her travel cloak.
However, the face of the Captain of the Imperial Mages had aged significantly more than he expected.
Five years on a classified mission outside the Empire had clearly taken a toll on her vitality.
But Geehrt was not the only one shocked. The moment Frase locked eyes with her grandson, she froze. She was looking at a completely different person.
The toddler she had left behind was gone, replaced by a confident child whose posture commanded respect.
The change was so drastic that for a split second, she almost did not recognize him.
"Welcome back, Grandmother," Geehrt greeted her warmly.
He chose not to comment on her aged appearance. He knew it would be incredibly rude to point out to a noblewoman that time and stress had etched lines onto her face.
"You have grown up," Frase commented softly. A rare, gentle expression crossed her face as she walked toward Geehrt and patted his head.
The two of them moved to the parlor and began to exchange stories, filling in the blanks of the last five years.
It turned out that Frase's long-term mission had been a manhunt. She had been tracking a specific tribe of people who had been persecuted and hunted for generations.
Specifically, she had tracked down an elusive grandmother and grandson pair who possessed a unique magic that the Empire desperately wanted to acquire.
They had managed to hide for so long due to their specialized techniques, but Frase had eventually cornered them.
However, instead of capturing or killing them, Frase had made a deal. She allowed them to escape and disappear in exchange for the secrets of their signature spell.
"Here is the spell I acquired," Frase said. She reached into her robe and handed Geehrt a sealed scroll containing the complex magical formulas.
Geehrt unrolled the parchment. As he read the dense magical theory, his suspicions were confirmed. As Frase told the story, Geehrt had already realized who she was talking about.
This was the backstory of Land, the stoic clone magic user he had read about in the First Class Mage Exam arc.
In the original story, it was implied that Land's family was hunted by the Magic Special Forces, possibly for the same reason.
The spell in Geehrt's hands was the very same magic that Land specialized in. It was a high-level cloning spell that allowed the user to create a perfect copy of themselves.
This copy could interact with the world, cast magic, and transfer information back to the original body in real time.
It was the ultimate safety net, allowing a mage to partake in dangerous missions while sipping tea in the safety of their own home.
This spell is mechanically very similar to the Shadow Clone Jutsu from Naruto, Geehrt thought to himself, his mind racing with possibilities.
He activated his Six Eyes, analyzing the magic circle on the paper. Within seconds, he had deconstructed the formula, memorized the mana flow, and optimized the casting process.
Without hesitation, Geehrt channeled his mana. A puff of smoke was not necessary here; instead, the air shimmered, and a perfect replica of Geehrt materialized beside him.
The clone nodded to the original Geehrt, turned around, and walked back toward the library.
The original Geehrt wanted to finish reading the rest of the scripture, and having a clone do it was the height of efficiency.
Geehrt marveled at the sensation. He could see what the clone was seeing in real time.
It was exactly like having two camera monitors hooked up to his brain, feeding him distinct video streams simultaneously.
His brain, already enhanced by magic, adapted to the influx of information without any strain.
However, as he observed the world through his clone's eyes, he noticed something strange.
The clone's vision was normal.
The original Geehrt possessed the Six Eyes, granting him high-definition, 360-degree vision that could see mana on an atomic level.
The clone, however, had a limited field of view. It could only see what was directly in front of it.
While the clone still possessed Geehrt's immense mana capacity and his perfect control, it did not have access to the Six Eyes.
Geehrt was confused for a moment, but then logic prevailed.
It makes sense that my cheats could not be cloned, Geehrt reasoned. The Six Eyes and the Gamer ability were gifts directly given by the Goddess to my soul.
The clone is just a construct of mana. If I could clone the Six Eyes, the power balance of the world would break entirely. This limitation is fair.
Frase sat in her chair, stunned into silence. She watched her grandson read a highly complex, forbidden spell scroll and then casually pop out a perfect clone within seconds.
She watched the clone walk away to do chores while the original boy sat in front of her, looking thoughtful.
Geehrt snapped out of his thoughts and thanked his grandmother for the gift.
They continued their conversation, with Geehrt detailing his own experiences. He mentioned that he had been trained as a warrior by a man named Wehrlos.
Frase listened intently. The more Geehrt spoke of his training, his mastery of weapons, and his ability to combine warrior arts with magecraft, the more her amazement turned into a primal kind of fear. She was looking at a monster.
His potential was not just high; it was terrifying. He was transcending the natural limits that defined most mages. She realized then that the Empire might not be big enough to hold him.