The bubble was still parked where he had left it, in the corner of the massive estate. He pulled it towards them and waited for Sherron to get in.

"You took way longer than I expected," she said after summoning a chair for herself. Lev took a seat in his usual driver's seat, one he needed to buy some comfortable padding for.

"Nobody ever mentioned a time limit," he quipped as the bubble rose. "Is everything alright?"

"Yep. Just wanted to check up on you and bring you to Whitefall."

"Whitefall?" Lev tilted his head questioningly. "That's a first."

"Your team is there," she casually voiced. "Orianna was also missing you, and it will be easier to gain more levels close to the forest's edge."

"Are they done with their apprenticeship?"

"They are," Sherron replied, slightly uneasy. "There are some… other reasons causing a delay. You will see."

Problems already? Lev thought to himself, bemused. I'm not even surprised.

"Let me find Beatrice, then. Are there any laws against flying over the farms?"

"Nope."

Flying high enough that the entire city was visible, Lev glided towards the east. Half of Timberhold was divided into farms, and another quarter was dedicated to farming trees. East was where the crop irrigation took place, covered in a blanket of green and other warm colors as far as the eye could see.

Beyond the eastern wall was also flat grassland that extended to the edge of the continent and had low atmospheric mana density. As far as Lev knew, it was the safest region on the continent, except it had one massive flaw that made humanity leave it completely untouched.

Nobody in their right mind wanted to be near the ocean.

People didn't know any exact rumors or details about the endless waters, but anyone with a mere sliver of common sense could deduce that they were bad news— not even that, they were straight-up a death sentence. Surviving on land was already uncertain. Just what kind of horrors could come out of the depths of Monarch's oceans?

Ones they had absolutely no chance against.

With a tired shake of his head, Lev banished that line of thought and closed his eyes. His sensitivity to auras had risen once again after evolving, and he wanted to see the extent of the change.

Focusing on his spiritual senses, several auras immediately stood out. The one right next to him flared the brightest, though it was expertly controlled not to overwhelm him.

Pushing past Sherron's presence, he sent his senses downward. The first hurdle immediately presented itself when he struggled to notice the people because of their weak auras. They slipped past his mind like leaves flitting about in the wind, or sand falling through his fingers.

That changed when a considerably stronger aura became noticeable. It belonged to a Master, no doubt, and he immediately pulled back to not seem offensive by blatantly scanning them.

Minutes passed as the bubble flew over the massive farms. Lev's senses spread far and wide, much further than his manipulation range. It took a bit of time before a familiar aura entered his senses, distinctly authoritative at that moment.

Opening his eyes, he looked down to see Beatrice already observing the skies, knowing he was up there somewhere. Her own sensitivity to auras was comparable to Lev's.

"Perceptive," Sherron commented, approving of the vigilance despite the safety of the city.

Descending slowly to not spook the farmers currently working, he landed on a small dirt road where Beatrice was doing rounds. She waited for him with a smile, which became strained when Sherron exited the bubble first.

"I greet the Exalted," Beatrice immediately bowed.

Sherron nodded at her and stepped aside to let Lev exit the bubble. He had the same smile as her, one becoming even brighter when she felt his new and improved aura.

"You're leaving?" she questioned, no signs of bitterness or disapproval from how they had parted before visible in her being.

Lev bobbed his head. "I am."

She was expecting it, and the hug they shared this time was much less… awkward. Just like Lev, she seemed to have come to accept several things about her in the short time they had spent away from each other in timberhold, and it showed.

"Do you remember what I said?" she asked as they separated.

"Of course I do," Lev smirked slightly. "Hard to forget."

"Good. Don't ever forget."

That was supposed to be the moment they should have said their goodbyes, but Lev looked to the ground. He needed to do something for her, and he also had the perfect materials for it.

Why was he so damn nervous, then?

"I… have a gift for you," he began, causing both Sherron and Beatrice's eyes to widen slightly. "Well, it's not complete, but I want it to be finished with both of our efforts."

"S-sure," she replied, flustered. "This is not a confession, right?"

Lev chuckled, the reaction somehow easing his nerves. "No, it's not. I just can't get the day you almost died in my arms out of my mind, so this is the best solution I could come up with. You have a storage ring, right?"

"I do," she said, his words sobering her up quickly.

A large floating barrier plate suddenly manifested in front of them. One by one, Lev took out the chunks of B-hide he had harvested from the beetle and put them on the plate. Sherron scoffed with a smile when she recognized the material, shaking her head.

Beatrice didn't quite understand what was happening, but that was fine. Once half of the B-Hide was present in front of them, which was enough to outfit several people with extremely durable armor, he took out the beetle's core.

Realization dawned on Beatrice who immediately tried to protest, but he overrode her.

"This is B-Hide, a metal harvested from the carapace of an absurdly resilient third-threshold monster, one whose cores is also in front of you. I want you to slowly work towards commissioning a powered armor from these materials."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"H-hold on, third-threshold monster? Where did you even get all of this?"

"The alert when we landed in front of the city was for a small horde of beetle monsters. It was tough enough that I just barely managed to kill it with Trailblazer's help, and even then, it cost me my entire pool. You can guess just how robust the armor from this metal will be."

"I can't-"

"Beatrice," Lev interrupted her with a grin. "This is just the first of many similar resources I will harvest. Trust me, it's not that much. I still have plenty on me."

"Still…" she balled her fists, struggling to accept something so precious out of the blue. "Why?"

Lev decided to be honest. "For my peace of mind. As long as you make something of these materials and don't delay your evolution, it will be a weight off my shoulders. Please."

She deflated after hearing his explanation. Lev had no plans to leave without making her accept, either.

"Besides," he carefully chose her words. "The next few decades will be very busy. They may try to recruit you, so…"

"Alright, alright, I will…" Beatrice trailed off and stored all the metal and the core. Lev waited for her to say something, only for her to move forward to grab him in a hug again. Except this time, there was no teasing in it, only poorly suppressed sorrow and joy.

"This is the first time anyone has ever given me an actual gift," she sniffed, face buried in his chest and refusing to look at him. "Thank you."

Lev just gently patted her back with a content smile.

****

"You definitely overdid it," Sherron said, sipping the cup of hot chocolate Lev had provided. The bubble was just scooping them up again after leaving the city, ready to fly all the way to Whitefall.

"Nope," Lev leisurely replied, similarly holding a cup. "I'm just setting the standard. All of my gifts will be exquisite at the very minimum. This was just the first."

Without waiting any further after finishing the drink, he brought out Stargazer. Because of Harun's presence, he couldn't hold the weapon too close. Now, however, he gladly embraced its pole to his heart's content.

A stream of mana also left his right arm and entered the glaive. Stargazer's enchantments came alive in a blink, guiding his will to all the right places, showing him the obvious controls for each upgrade.

The cover with the converters was also seamlessly integrated into them, letting him smoothly channel mana into it.

Well, then, Lev breathed out slowly and looked at the list of enchantments again. First up, Gravity Core.

There wasn't actually anything related to gravity inside Stargazer, as he was learning with a little disappointment. It was a weight manipulation formation, one far more advanced than anything he could hope to create right now.

Firming his resolve, he dumped a large amount of mana into the enchantment, his brows rising when the formation demanded even more. He acquiesced, and in a few seconds, the formation was fully charged.

Oh, it has a buffer, he mused, enlightened. Thought the mana stored inside was going to be enough, but that seems to be dedicated to keeping it full, not filling it up from scratch.

He had to manually power up the enchantments once at the desired intensity. The more he thought about it, the better that function seemed. More control over their weapon never hurt anyone.

Even better was the fact that he could use the regenerative core's mana to do so, not requiring his own for the first step. That only became obvious when he tried it for the second enchantment.

Before that however, he wanted to see just how heavy Stargazer could become. Bracing his mind and body, he slowly cranked up the enchantment. The burden on his body became higher until it abruptly went past the limits of his physical attributes, when his mind took over.

Lev kept increasing the weight until, at a certain point, the bubble tilted precariously. That made him lower the weight, knowing that he realistically was never going to need the glaive's maximum. It was already weighing many hundreds of kilograms, heavy enough to fall with the force of a stray asteroid wherever he desired.

The enchantment was already extremely useful, and he was just getting started. Ignoring the sharpness formation due to the lack of a test subject, he focused on the next one, Everlasting Durability.

Half of the enchantment was already active, signifying it had both an active and a passive portion. Lev willed more mana into the input of the active part and tried to guess the difference, and failed horribly. The extent was completely beyond him, but he knew that Stargazer was a lot more resilient with it active.

Lastly, there were all the enchantments related to mana, since Dexterous Glaive was also a passive. It made Stargazer more receptive to mental commands, and tiny empty channels were running from the butt of the glaive to the blade.

Closing his eyes, Lev relied on mental feedback to create and put small barrier threads inside the haft. They snaked deeper without much trouble, and the moment each channel was completely filled with a thread, the passive enchantment took over and tightly grabbed them.

Opening his eyes again, he now had several long 'holds' inside the glaive, ready for him to mentally grab and manipulate the weapon without any problem. Stargazer ensured that the threads were firmly in place, never disturbed by any impacts or other such things.

Permanent barriers mean I do not need to recreate them either, he noted, a wide smile never leaving his face as he gazed at his lovely new weapon. You just keep getting better and better, you.

Now that everything other than mana enchantments and sharpness was dealt with, he took a look around. Sherron was silently observing his testing, and they were far enough from the city that the walls were no longer visible in the distance. His bubble's speed was even higher than he expected.

"Do you mind?" he asked her, just in case.

"By all means, go ahead," she waved a hand to the ground, amused. "I'm the passenger here."

"Right, me and my Exalted passenger," Lev chuckled. "I'm definitely the one in charge."

An opening underneath his feet saw him free falling before she could reply. Barrier armor covered his body, appearing in an instant, before he slowly arrested his flight to not violently jolt his bones and brain.

Pushing back his excitement to a reasonable level, he sent some mana into the new fire converter. Nearly all of it was converted immediately, raising his giddiness even higher.

With a deep, trembling breath, he sent it inside Stargazer. Arcane Focus took notice of it first, immediately implementing a part of Lev's manipulation and providing it a qualitative improvement. Mana Focus acted next, rousing the core and taking a bit of mana from it.

In a split second, it went through the fire converter, and suddenly, Lev was looking at double the amount he had started with inside the glaive. In the same instant, the small puff of mana that had been extracted from the core had already regenerated.

… Holy shit. It's quite literally another version of my Wrath of the Arcane skill, amplifying the amount of mana instead of the result.

It took a few long seconds to bring his spiraling thoughts under control. Already, the enchantments were defying expectations, yet he hadn't even begun with the proper testing.

Infusing more mana into the glaive yielded the same result, except the stored amount wasn't even a hundredth of the mana already coursing through the enchantments. As if that wasn't already impressive enough, the core held far more mana than even that.

Lev was beginning to realize that his pool may have more than doubled with Stargazer, especially when the enchantments were taken into account. It was mind-boggling to imagine that a single piece of equipment was so strong.

Moving on with the experiment, he created a test blade in the hollow top of Stargazer and moved the fire mana into it, only to freeze in place. The transfer had happened too fast and without a hint of resistance, reaching the barrier blade in a blink.

That wasn't normal. Trying again, he moved the mana through the glaive's length, finding it moving along his wishes at a speed that exceeded all expectations combined, taking only as much time as he needed to form a thought.

What the fuck.

… Lev was speechless beyond that eloquent reaction. Forcefully moving past that impossible property, he focused on launching a mana slash with the small amount of mana. Crescent Decimation guided his actions as he added more mana, using only as much as he normally used to before evolving.

Stargazer dutifully doubled the amount, and before long, Lev was holding a barrier blade brimming with fire mana. With unconcealed glee, he adopted a stance with her after a long time. Finding and adjusting his grip, he swung it horizontally in front of him, firing a slash with it.

A large half-moon of fire took form and flew forward with enough speed to blow him back with a shockwave, leaving a wide trail of flames in its passing. It travelled more than a kilometer in seconds, continuing forward before its structure collapsed into a massive explosion.

Lev laughed. It was the only appropriate reaction at that point. He had done absolutely nothing beyond supplying the mana for the skill, yet the slash was so much stronger than before that it didn't make sense.

Stargazer was obviously much, much more capable than anything he was hoping for. It was up to him to bring out her full potential, a grand undertaking he would gladly tackle. Dismissing the barrier blade, he brought his glaive close and rested his forehead on her pole with a content sigh.

The world wasn't ready for all they were going to accomplish together.

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