The next day saw Lev waking up as usual. There was nothing that demanded his immediate attention, nor was there any calamity in sight. Windkeep was going to face another wave in the near future, at which point Lev could help Beatrice level further and delve once it was dealt with.

Nothing stopped him from just rushing to the platinum dungeon again, but he didn't want to leave the city's defense up to chance. No longer was he a new Adept still growing into his class. Small disasters could be prevented by just him being there, and Lev wanted to ensure he was as often as he could be.

One could argue that the Exalted could do far more than he with their eyes closed, but a single emergency could easily require all of them to abandon their positions to deal with some unholy calamity. It would be his duty in their absence to protect humanity, especially once he grew into a strong Master.

Which means I'm free to do whatever till then. Going by Umbrina's advice, I should treat myself to some chocolate milk.

She had probably suggested that as an example, but it did sound pretty delicious. Dealing with his morning routine, Lev checked himself in the mirror one last time before leaving.

Blue eyes stared back at him, accentuated by long black hair that nearly reached his shoulders. He had grown taller yet again, now standing only a few inches shorter than six feet. Luckily, he wasn't anywhere close to fully grown, which mean't he was going to be pretty damn tall. That was a positive in his book, especially because of the longer reach.

Putting on casual matching dark blue shirts and pants, he left the inn and bought himself a few cups of cold chocolate milk before making his way to the usual spot— the park. Plopping down under the trusty tree, he let his mind wander.

The lethality formation… is far too strong. Damn you, Drakys. I want all of the formations in the collection now.

Such was not meant to be, because Lev wanted his evolution with maximum potential. That forced him to minimize any external aids, be it in terms of monster assists, items, or runes.

That and more practice aside, I can read up more books on Empyrean history to pass the time or simply float high up in my bubble and enjoy a thoughtless night.

The latter sounded promising, so he thought about what to do during the day. Belatedly, he remembered that the collection had more than just combat formations, which swiftly occupied all his remaining free time.

Around him, a barrier dome blinked into being. It was quickly enchanted with mana concealment and invisiblity, giving him all the required privacy to test out new runes for however long he wanted.

Opening the collection, he gazed at the simplest one. Color formation merely changed the color of his barriers and was made of two decently complex runes. That was it.

Lev traced it on a small barrier plate and activated the main rune, finding it asking for a color. Thinking of pitch black, the plate hovering in front of him changed abruptly, now of the same color he had envisioned.

Turning it around, he observed it from different angles. There were no flaws in the formation's functions. The plate was both pitch black and uniform in the new color.

Neat, Lev remarked and read the rest of the page. Several different connectors and matching runes were present to cover large surfaces, and he moved onto the next one.

Next up was a formation for spellcasting. Since he was no longer going to add new tools into his already bloated kit, nothing stopped him from testing the shiny formation.

Lev's excitement surged like a kid given a toy as he gazed at the simple yet taxing formation. Every single rune used willpower, but there were only five of them. The main runes merely gathered and shaped the fire mana infused in his barriers, which gave form to a fireball for him to launch freely with precision.

Fire mages could do so with a single thought, but Lev didn't have that luxury. Shaping fire mana with his Mana Manipulation was also possible, but it would be foolish to ignore the tool that could allow him to fire dozens of them at once.

Once again, Lev formed a new plate and summoned the container of sap from his ring. Opening its lid, he chucked the plate inside and waited for fifteen minutes while practicing the Fire Shaping formation runes on barrier shields. It was basic as far as such formations were concerned, which only served to make Lev even more excited. He couldn't wait to try out all of them.

Once the plate was thoroughly enhanced by the sap, he stored the container and started carving. The process was slow and smooth. Lev opted to carve it as perfectly as he could as he paid half a mind to the collection displaying the full formation while carving.

Two minutes later, he closed his eyes with a soft exhale and felt the enchantment with his mind. Cycling a little bit of mana into it, the connection snapped into place. Lev smiled after seeing that the efficiency was nearly 95%, a major success for a first try despite the simplicity. He supposed the high-quality runes were also responsible.

Streaming pure mana into it accomplished nothing, however, for it was meant to manipulate fire mana. When Lev channeled fire into it, the runes reacted. Every bit of his input was scanned and prepared to be manipulated as the creator of the enchantment watched on in fasincation.

He refrained from putting too much into the plate and focused on shaping the fireball itself. Another downside of using formations made itself known when he needed both willpower and mana manipulation to form the attack, but the task was still trivial with his extensive practice.

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The dome around him ascended and grew into a full bubble. Gradually, Lev expanded its size until there was several meters of horizontal space inside, adequate for the first test.

Barrier armor appeared around his form as a shield took shape at the other end of the bubble. Lev brought the fire shaping plate next to him and starting scultping the fireball.

Fire mana was volatile by nature but it bent easily enough. In a few seconds, it was forced into a round ball primed to be launched. The rune responsible for that let him know that the speed was adjustable, and that the fireball could be further expanded or compressed based on what he needed. The former let him cover a larger area and the latter allowed him more range and stability.

He chose the former because he didn't want a concentrated blast in his bubble. With a deep breath, Lev expanded the fireball until it was larger than his head, and hurled it at the shield.

Fire mana left the plate in a speedy sphere, held together by both his willpower and the effects of the enchantment. It reached the target in a blink, considerably faster than Lev expected, and exploded.

The blast washed over him while doing only minor damage to the armor, which was fitting. Lev's hunch was proven true that his active skill, Colorful Destruction, also affected spellcasting formations. That raised their usefulness a few notches.

Descending to the ground, he skipped forward to see how many similar formations there were. Before the locked section, there were only two more of them. One for lightning and the other for, surprisingly, wind. It was more focused on sharp blades, and Lev immediately liked the sound of that.

****

Two days passed in with Lev lazing around and tinkering with different basic enchantments. Each was unique in its purpose and what it taught him, giving him a timepass that never stopped being interesting.

He was playing with basic wind blades when Beatrice entered the park, casually strolling to the tree Lev was floating above in his bubble.

She looked around, probably looking for him. Not finding anything pointing to his location, Beatrice put her back against the tree and sat down.

"Looking for me," Lev voiced from right near her ears through a hole in his bubble. It was completely invisible from the outside and entirely soundless in its travels.

Beatrice yelped, abruptly standing up and summoning three barriers to defend herself. Her gaze darted around to find the assailant when her eyes narrowed, finally recognizing the voice.

"Lev," she called out, unamused.

Lev turned off the invisiblity enchantment, revealing the bubble and him inside.

"Sup," he grinned and waved. "Three barriers. Well done."

"Thank you," she exhaled and sat down again. Lev dismissed the bubble and leaned against the tree as well while keeping a respectful distance from her. "How long have you been there?"

"Like… two and a half days?"

"Really?" she exclaimed, surprised. "What'd you do for that long."

Lev shrugged. "My Perception is very high for my level, so time passed quickly while holding it back. I also slept twice."

While saying that, Lev summoned one of the few spare cups of chocolate milk he had bought and handed it to Beatrice. She accepted it with a slightly embaressed smile, knowing there was no chance she was going to refuse something like that. Lev was slowly discovering the extent of her sweet tooth.

"What about you?" Lev asked after a few seconds. "Were you looking for me?"

She nodded after a long sip. "Yeah. I heard there's a wave happening soon. Nobody told me they happened as often as once per month."

"That should've been obvious. Everyone knows Windkeep faces the most monsters out of any city."

"And I have to participate in all of them," she voiced, not liking the sound of those words. "Doesn't sound very safe."

"Didn't you come here to evolve?" Lev quipped. "Besides, I'll be here too."

She gave him a seriously flat stare. He coughed into his hands.

"Right, but things have changed a little. With Hakim and Sherron's presence, the risks are minimal, and I also got a few shiny new upgrades for my projectiles."

"Do they actually shine?"

"No."

****

Another four days of simply waiting for the wave and doing nothing particularly of note later, a loud chime echoed throughout the city.

Lev and Beatrice, who had just sat down under the tree for the day, stilled and held their breath.

Another chime came after exactly ten seconds as everyone in Windkeep waited. Any random wave could be the last for the great bastion, and the Monster Bell was going to decide their fate.

Third Chime.

Fourth Chime.

Fifth Chime.

Sixth Chime.

Now, let's see if its going to be an easy title for me to obtain or another calamity out for blood.

The seventh chime came and went, and Lev was acutely aware of the sweat rolling down the side of Beatrice's head. He was nervous as well. No matter how long he lived, forgetting that day on top of the central spire was probably never going to happen.

Fists were clenched at when the eighth chime went rolled through the city. Beatrice was visibly shaking, and his eyes were also becoming graver by the second. Tense silence followed for nearly a minute before Beatrice and Lev exhaled in relief, glad that there wasn't a calamity coming for them.

"Eight…" Beatrice began with a gulp. "Are you sure you want to stand against that?"

"It's not as bad as it seems," Lev dusted his pants and stood up. Stretching, he glanced at the aura mage waiting for his next words. "Windkeep has more hunters than any other city, but the wave ratings still operate on the same scale. What would be disasterous anywhere else is just a big challenge here. Come on, we've got levels to gain."

She followed without complaints, admirably overcoming her hesitation in a single moment of indecision. "Surely it's not that simple. I mean, we're talking about the Dreadwoods here. Isn't that place just as bad as the ravine?"

"It is," Lev agreed, nonchalant. "Deeper inside, that is. The region is absolutely massive, and we're quite some distance away from even its edges."

He was returned a pointed look.

"Sherron's keeping tabs," he snorted. "If something was wrong, we wouldn't be here still."

Casually mentioning the Exalted by name eased her worries considerably. It also helped soothe Lev's nerves because he planned to not be held back to a single section this time around. With Beatrice's active buffs, and due to all the recent levels she had gained, he wanted to stop holding back. Evolving quicker was a priority now.

By staying in Windkeep, and in the range of several Exalted by extension, there was little reason to be overly paranoid. So far, everyone had been pretty receptive to his extreme strength, and the chances of that suddenly changing were nil. Lev also didn't want to remain an Adept for long, for the upcoming years were shaping up to be some of the most important ones for humanity.

What several days of free time does to a man, Lev grinned to himself. While it was nice to spend so many days doing nothing, he was also starting to get tired of remaining idle. Like all the times he didn't move for too long, something urged him to progress further without pause, wanting to lead him to heights only Monarch knew. Or maybe, no one did.

"Ready?" Lev questioned, knowing damn well she wasn't.

Beatrice merely sighed and kept moving to the wall, where thousands upon thousands of monsters were getting ready to tear them apart.

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