With Diana's promotion to silver rank, Alexander redefined the division between them and made her accept.

  It was obvious that those at a higher level should receive more of the money.

  Since they already had a solid foundation, Alexander decided it was time for them to leave the city.

  They followed the route he had planned in order to clear as many dungeons as possible and maximize their gains.

  Knowing that Diana hadn't seen her parents in a while, Alexander decided to make the adventurer city closest to her home—which was far from Twin City—their last stop.

  Using his map and Diana's help, Alexander confirmed that her home was located in a village in the northwest of the Empire—in the map's layout.

  An old settlement, bordering the Star Forest and near the adventurer city called Lester.

  After confirming all the points, Alexander readjusted their route for them to leave Twin City and clear as many dungeons as possible until reaching Diana's parents' home.

  However, since there were only about 3 months left until the Imperial Tournament, the journey was made with several detours to encompass various adventurer cities and already registered dungeons.

  While he was making the final preparations for their trip, Alexander had a pleasant surprise: an employee of Black Moon went to the academy looking for him to deliver, among other things, the delivery receipt with John's signature.

  After signing his copy of the receipt and receiving his orders, Alexander couldn't help but wonder: "Who exactly is Cristina to get my order in such a short time?"

  Upon evaluating the quality of the items he received, Alexander couldn't help but be grateful: "I have to remember to thank her when I have the opportunity."

  Still with much to do, Alexander stored his gratitude, set those thoughts aside and went to buy food, items, and supplies for their trip.

  The restocking of supplies cost about a small fortune in the eyes of any common person of that world.

  An investment he thought would really yield him a lot.

  At sunrise the next day, Alexander, Diana, and Ocean left Twin City.

  Since Alexander and Diana were riding on Ocean, they could use the free time to practice some of their skills.

  Alexander even got to teach Diana a few things.

  Under Alexander's guidance, already in the first month of the trip, Diana learned |Boost Endurance| and was halfway to awakening her Ki.

  In the second month, she managed to awaken her Ki.

  Although it wasn't as vigorous as that of a martial combat student, it improved her physical side as a whole.

  With her physique enhanced, Alexander gave Diana the skills |Boost Strength|, |Boost Dexterity|, and |Ascending Flow|.

  He didn't think these skills would be particularly useful for her, but since someday they could make a difference, it was better for her to have them than not to have them.

  Reviewing the books, Alexander realized he hadn't looked for the skill |Boost Intelligence|. He simply dismissed that idea.

  From his point of view, the intelligence attribute isn't necessarily tangible and is related to mana.

  Taking his map and noticing they would pass by a merchant city, Alexander arranged with Diana that when they passed through this city they would separate.

  She would go to the Black Moon store in search of a skill like the one he wanted, or similar, and he would continue fighting.

  On the day they separated as arranged, Diana went to the city and Alexander continued clearing some nearby dungeons so as not to lose the travel schedule.

  After clearing all the dungeons near the city, he went to pick her up.

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  She acquired the skill he requested, but was uneasy because the book was quite expensive: 1 small black diamond coin.

  "You don't need to worry. I already expected it to be expensive," Alexander said to Diana. "That's why I asked you to buy it regardless of the price."

  Upon analyzing the technique Diana brought and talking with her, Alexander confirmed there wasn't a skill |Boost Intelligence|—which didn't mean the technique Diana bought was useless.

  The purchased skill was |Brain Boost|, which, as the name suggests, follows the same line as the other boost skills, yet its increase uses energy to enhance brain capacity.

  Without any hesitation, Alexander used 1 growth point to learn that skill, but pretended to read so Diana wouldn't feel bad.

  Then they began to "learn" that skill together.

  After a few days of "learning," Alexander said he had managed to learn the skill and left the book with Diana while helping her learn.

  To his surprise, before the end of the second month she had already learned it.

  Around the middle of the third month, Diana had already managed to learn the basics of the skills Alexander gave her—including |Ascending Flow|, which was a mainly water element technique.

  Diana's growth literally scared Alexander, who already expected a lot from her.

  Even with his tutoring and the system's knowledge, such a feat shouldn't be possible without a good foundation.

  Although his qualitative progress was inferior to Diana's, Alexander wasn't idle during these months.

  At first, he only practiced |Great Mana Control|, |Great Energy Control|, |Magical Control|, and |Energy Conversion| frenetically until each one leveled up.

  With the foundations of most of his skills strengthened, Alexander began using the skill |Asura| to practice with |Run|, |Magical Body Strengthening|, and |Ascending Flow| at the same time.

  Before the end of the second month, he managed to level up the skills |Magical Body Strengthening|, |Ascending Flow|, and |Asura|, but |Run| didn't show any indication of leveling up.

  Knowing that the quality and density of his energies are very important, Alexander shifted the focus of his |Asura| skill to keep them coagulating and purifying while he was conscious.

  With a good base established, Alexander began to alternate his practices as he condensed and purified his energies.

  The pleasant surprise of this trip for him was Diana learning |Ascending Flow|, because thanks to her understanding of the light element in this technique, he was able to advance his own level to (Peak) in that technique.

  According to Alexander's estimates, he could already have reached the (MAX) level in the |Ascending Flow| skill, but the elemental side of light was restricting him greatly in his advance to the final levels.

  It relied heavily on the power of light to compensate for—or mask—its fatal flaw: the inability to retreat.

  This seems strange at first, but taking into account the skill's name and the fact it was inspired by a powerful creature, it makes perfect sense that it shouldn't be used to retreat. After all, rivers and streams can go forward and sideways, but, just as the powerful do not retreat, they do not flow backward.

  The solution the creator of the technique found to solve the problem and be able to retreat was to gradually lift the feet off the ground, thus creating an "ascent" to maintain the technique's flow.

  The big problem is that by artificially rising and taking the feet off the ground, the user becomes momentarily vulnerable.

  Exactly for this reason, the creator of this skill incorporated into the technique the ability to create light element mirages.

  The technique at its absolute peak requires the user to use refraction and diffraction of light whenever moving, in order to prevent enemies from exploiting this weakness.

  When they finally arrived at Lester City, near the end of the third month, Alexander's skills |Great Mana Control|, |Magical Control|, |Thrust|, |Great Energy Control|, and |Energy Conversion| had already reached the (MAX) level, and all the others were at the (Peak) level.

  With all the XP points they earned in these months, besides the huge amount of 3rd evolution creatures they ate since Twin City, which also provides XP, Alexander and Ocean gained 10 levels each.

  During the trip, Alexander cleared 71 new dungeons, 41 of beginner level and 30 of intermediate level, which earned him 71 growth points and another 297 free attribute points.

  With so many points at his disposal, he didn't think twice and put everything that was scalable at the (MAX) level.

  Ding!

  [The skill |Mana Barrier| has been maximized]

  Ding!

  [The skill |Boost Dexterity| has been maximized]

  Ding!

  [The skill |Boost Agility| has been maximized]

  Ding!

  [The skill |Mantra of Madness| has been maximized]

  Ding!

  [The skill |Boost Strength| has been maximized]

  Ding!

  [The skill |Boost Endurance| has been maximized]

  Ding!

  [The skill |Shine| has been maximized]

  Ding!

  [The skill |Brain Boost| has been maximized]

  Ding!

  [The spell |Elemental Water Blast| has been maximized]

  Ding!

  [The spell |Mana Blessing| has been maximized]

  Ding!

  [The spell |Vapor Mist| has been maximized]

  Ding!

  [The combat technique |Water Field| has been maximized]

  Ding!

  [The combat technique |Aquatic Combat| has been maximized]

  Ding!

  [Your mana is still not pure and/or dense enough to master your class]