The following day...
Leo was wandering through the vast territories of the Dainhart Family when, suddenly—
His chest tightened violently.
A sharp, sudden pain tore through his body without the slightest warning, as though an invisible hand had reached directly into his chest and squeezed his heart with all its strength.
Leo's footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
His entire body stiffened.
For several moments, he could not even move his fingers.
His eyes widened, and a rare expression of shock appeared across his usually composed face.
"Damn..."
He couldn't stop himself from thinking.
"What is the cause of this pain?!"
The sensation was suffocating.
Sharp.
Violent.
It was so intense that, for a moment, Leo couldn't even determine where it was coming from.
He immediately began reviewing everything he had done over the past few days.
Had I overtrained?
Did I exhaust my mana to a dangerous degree?
Did I overuse one of my abilities?
Could there be an injury I hadn't noticed?
But none of it made sense.
"I haven't done anything recently that should cause pain like this..."
Yet after what felt like an eternity of suffering, the pain gradually began to recede.
Slowly at first...
Then a little faster...
Until eventually, only a faint trace remained.
Leo released a long breath, as though he had been unconsciously holding it the entire time.
He placed a hand over his chest.
"What was that?"
He remained silent for several moments.
Then his expression became serious as he began analyzing the situation.
"I haven't used the Eye of Fate recently."
"And I haven't pushed myself hard enough to completely exhaust my mana."
"I don't have any old injuries either."
Leo raised an eyebrow.
"Then... where did that pain come from?"
He had no answer.
And the more he tried to analyze it, the stranger the situation became.
Pain had appeared out of nowhere...
And disappeared just as mysteriously.
Eventually, Leo released a heavy sigh.
"It doesn't matter."
His eyes narrowed slightly before his expression gradually relaxed.
"Everything will reveal itself with time."
And with that...
Leo decided not to waste any more time thinking about it.
He turned around and continued walking.
As he walked, Leo decided to explore the territories of the Dainhart Family for a while.
He had no particular destination in mind.
He simply wanted to observe his surroundings and become more familiar with the land that had, in one way or another, become part of his current life.
He passed through magnificent buildings and expansive gardens, silently observing the enormous territory and imposing presence of the Dainhart Family.
Eventually, however, his steps led him—
without any particular intention—
toward the training grounds.
The place was bustling with activity.
Trainees of various ages were practicing their magic.
Balls of flame soared through the air.
Blades of wind tore across the training fields.
Ice projectiles streaked forward one after another.
Leo stood at a distance and watched silently.
But...
After only a few moments, something strange happened.
Something that had never happened before.
When one of the trainees cast a spell...
Leo saw something.
A path.
An invisible line extending through the air, revealing the trajectory the spell would take before it even reached its target.
His gaze froze.
Another trainee launched a spell.
The path appeared again.
It was as though the immediate future of the spell had suddenly become visible before his eyes.
The spell itself wasn't what was strange.
It was...
its trajectory.
Leo could see the direction it would travel.
The subtle deviations it would make.
And even the exact point where it would eventually arrive before the spell had completed its journey.
He stared for several moments.
"What is this...?"
He couldn't understand what was happening.
But only a few moments later...
The sudden pain from earlier resurfaced in his memory.
Leo's thoughts abruptly stopped.
His pupils widened.
"Wait..."
Another piece of the puzzle slowly fell into place.
He remembered something.
Magical beasts.
Some magical beasts were born with special abilities tied to their nature and bloodlines.
Abilities that could not be learned through conventional methods.
Such as the Copying Ability possessed by the Jighar.
But magical beasts weren't the only ones capable of possessing such abilities.
Humans...
Certain ancient magical bloodlines also carried abilities passed down through their lineage.
And the Dainhart Family was no exception.
In fact...
The Dainhart Family possessed three bloodline abilities.
However, possessing even one of them was extraordinarily rare.
So rare that the appearance of an individual carrying one of those abilities was almost like an event that occurred only once in an entire generation.
Leo's eyes narrowed.
He looked toward the spells flying across the training grounds.
"Then..."
His gaze sharpened.
"That sudden pain..."
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
"Was the price of awakening."
He understood now.
The pain hadn't been caused by an injury.
Nor was it the result of mana exhaustion.
It was simply the pain of awakening—a dormant bloodline ability finally emerging from within him.
An ability that had been sleeping within his bloodline until now.
An ability capable of seeing the trajectory of attacks.
Leo remained silent for several moments.
Then...
A rare spark of excitement appeared in his eyes.
The pain the ability had caused him was terrible.
But what he had gained in return...
was worth it.
"However..."
Leo began analyzing the ability at astonishing speed.
There was an obvious problem.
The speed at which the trajectory appeared.
The path would emerge...
and then disappear.
Although the ability provided extraordinary information, the speed at which that information appeared could easily exceed the processing ability of an ordinary person.
In a real battle...
The difference between seeing an attack's trajectory and understanding it in time could very well be the difference between life and death.
But suddenly...
Leo's expression changed.
As though an idea had flashed through his mind.
"Unless..."
A smile slowly formed on his lips.
"I combine it with the Eye of Fate."
The Eye of Fate.
An ability that allowed him to perceive the movements of his opponents and their attacks in a much slower and clearer manner.
By combining the effects of both abilities...
The picture became complete.
The trajectory ability gave him the direction and predicted path of an incoming attack.
The Eye of Fate slowed his perception enough to give him more time to analyze that path and react accordingly.
Each ability compensated for the weakness of the other.
Leo smiled.
"Perfect."
For the first time since awakening the ability, he felt that he had truly understood its potential.
"If the Eye of Fate slows down my perception of an attack..."
"And the trajectory ability tells me the path that attack will take..."
His smile paused for a moment.
Then widened.
"That means I won't need to chase the attack..."
"Because I'll already know where it will be before it gets there."
That was exactly the application he had been searching for.
Now...
There was only one thing left to do.
Test it.
Leo turned toward the trainees.
His gaze swept across them before finally landing on one particular boy.
Leo pointed toward him.
"You there."
The boy froze.
He slowly turned around, almost as if he were desperately hoping that Leo wasn't talking to him.
But there was no one standing behind him.
He swallowed hard.
"Y-Yes?"
Inside his mind, he was screaming.
Damn it!
Why did a member of the Dainhart Family call me?!
Then he remembered something even worse.
And why did it have to be him?!
It was Leo.
And among all the members of the family...
Leo was the last person any trainee wanted to attract attention from at the wrong moment.
Leo spoke calmly.
"I want you to attack me."
The boy froze.
Then—
He immediately dropped to one knee.
"I-I wouldn't dare attack you!"
Leo looked at him in confusion.
"Don't be afraid."
Then he added simply:
"I won't punish you."
The boy remained frozen.
"But..."
Leo raised an eyebrow.
His tone changed slightly.
It became more serious.
"Do you dare disobey?"
The boy's body trembled.
He swallowed with difficulty.
"N-No... Of course not!"
He quickly stood up.
Then began gathering mana.
His magical energy gradually rose.
From the aura surrounding him, Leo immediately determined his level.
Upper First Circle.
The boy raised his hand.
Mana gathered in his palm.
A small sphere of flame began forming before gradually growing larger.
The boy looked toward Leo with extreme nervousness.
Then he said:
"Please forgive me..."
And released the spell.
Fwoosh!
The fireball shot toward Leo at incredible speed.
At that exact moment—
Leo opened the Eye of Fate.
Then activated his newly awakened bloodline ability.
And suddenly...
The world before his eyes changed.
The fireball was no longer merely a spell flying toward him.
Its trajectory became visible.
A line stretched through the air, revealing the exact route the spell would follow.
The path was clear...
Slow...
Precise.
So precise that Leo could even see the point where the fireball would eventually arrive before it came anywhere near him.
He watched it calmly.
Then...
He smiled.
A smile of pure satisfaction.
"This is even better than I expected."
He didn't even need to think.
Leo simply took one step to the side.
The fireball passed beside him.
It didn't even touch the edge of his clothes.
The trainee froze.
So did everyone else watching.
It had been...
far too easy.
Leo hadn't barely avoided the spell.
He hadn't leaped backward.
He hadn't used a barrier.
He hadn't cast a counterspell.
He had simply...
taken one step.
Leo spoke.
"Again."
The trainee was confused.
"A-Again?"
Leo looked at him.
"Yes."
The boy didn't dare ask any further questions.
He gathered his mana once more.
Another fireball formed.
He launched it.
Leo activated the ability.
Watched the trajectory.
Moved.
Avoided it.
"Again."
A third fireball.
Then a fourth.
Then a fifth.
And every single time...
the same thing happened.
The trajectory appeared.
Leo read it.
Then moved before the spell could reach him.
After the fifth attempt, the faint smile on Leo's face faded, replaced by a calm expression of satisfaction.
He had confirmed it.
The ability wasn't merely useful in theory.
It could genuinely be used in battle.
Leo closed the Eye of Fate and deactivated his bloodline ability.
Then he turned toward the trainee.
"Well done."
The boy froze for a moment.
Was it really over?
Leo nodded.
Then turned around and walked away immediately, as though what had just happened had been nothing more than a casual experiment.
The trainee...
remained standing where he was.
One second...
Two seconds...
Then his legs finally gave out.
Thud!
He collapsed onto the ground.
He sat there, gasping for breath, his face pale.
He couldn't tell whether it was because of mana exhaustion...
the tension...
or the sheer terror he had experienced during the past few minutes.
But eventually, he raised his head toward the sky and released a deep breath from the bottom of his soul.
"Finally..."
He closed his eyes.
"The nightmare is over."
For Leo, what had just happened was nothing more than a simple test of a newly awakened ability.
For that poor trainee...
It had been one of the most terrifying experiences of his entire life.