Time passed quickly.
Another eight full months of grueling training went by.
Allen lived like an ascetic, his daily life distilled to a simple, three-part routine: studying, meditating, and practicing newly learned Runes or experimenting with new designs in his workshop. He hadn't left the academy grounds except for one trip to complete his annual mandatory mission.
"Hah…"
Allen slowly opened his eyes. Countless streams of light seemed to flash and fade in an instant within his deep blue pupils.
He picked up a bottle of High-Level Mental Recovery Potion from beside him and chugged it down like water.
This was already his twentieth bottle this month. Including his other training supplies and research materials, his monthly expenses exceeded 2,000 Magic Stones.
But as he gazed at the two fully completed, radiant Core Matrices in his Sea of Consciousness, and at the secondary processing thread that could now independently handle complex information, he felt it was all worth it.
