The moment he looked at Vicente, Rory saw bluish rays around his friend's body that were much larger than the ones he had seen earlier.

At the same time, the ground up to 4 meters away from Vicente was distorted, but not only that, the mana near the black-haired young man's body was violent.

Vicente's yellow magical gem was glowing brightly on his forehead, much more than before, while it seemed to be the center of a mana vortex.

Seeing this, Rory didn't hesitate to try to sense Vicente's power and soon opened his mouth in shock.

"Intermediate Apprentice! How is that possible?' He exclaimed in his mind, his eyes twitching as he saw Vicente cross the barrier between Junior and Intermediate as if it were a simple matter.

Rory had a Green-grade talent, but after absorbing a pill of the same type as the one Vice had swallowed, he had only reached the peak of his level.

Unfortunately, he still needed an extra boost to become an Intermediate Apprentice.

But when he awoke, Rory was satisfied because he felt that even without pills, he could increase his level in no more than a week of meditation.

However, when Rory saw that Vice could do this after taking just one pill like him, he couldn't help but be shocked.

People with different magical talents should absorb resources in proportion to their talents.

Someone with a high talent would use much more of the medicinal power of the pill they ingested. In contrast, someone with a lower talent would miss out on most of the opportunities such a resource would provide.

But even though Vicente's talent was lower than Rory's, he still managed to get more out of the pill than his red-haired friend!

'Could it be that these pills had different qualities? No, that's impossible! I saw what Vice took, and it was very similar to my pill.' Rory thought to himself, trying to understand the situation.

It didn't bother him that Vice was now at a higher level than he was. This was a very happy thing for Rory because he saw this black-haired young man as his brother.

However, seeing something illogical before he had made the red-haired young man curious.

'Maybe it's Vicente's elemental affinity?'

As Rory tried to find the source of this strangeness, the lightning around Vincent gradually decreased in intensity as he stabilized his magical cultivation at a new level.

Fully aware of what he had just accomplished, Vicente felt the mana under his control increase significantly.

It didn't compare to the difference he felt when receiving his Magic Gem, but he felt now at least 50% more powerful than before!

'Unbelievable! The amount of mana in one increases that much after a single breakthrough?' He wondered as he finished his meditation and slowly began feeling more than just his body again.

Indeed, breakthroughs would bring great benefits to magicians.

In the magical world, the difference between the peak of one level and the peak of the next level was not a difference between one thing and another.

If the peak of level 'x' was 10, sometimes the beginning of level 'x+1' might be 15, 20, in short, a value much higher than 10.

As one's level increased, one's strength, understanding of the world, elemental affinity, and so on would significantly improve. As for the advancement of the magical level, it was even more tremendous, and therefore, one would need a new Magical Pentagram, or one could die with such an uncontrolled increase in power.

Realizing this from his own experience, Vicente understood how important caution was in the magical world but also how absurd its powers were.

'My second magical form is behind this breakthrough... Incredible! It looks like it's even more impressive than I thought! He clenched his fists, feeling elated at his magical growth.

Opening his eyes, Vicente saw Rory watching him intently and immediately noticed that his friend had not been as lucky as he had been.

'How do I explain this?' Vice asked himself, sensing that this was going to be a problem.

'Vice... Congratulations, man. I don't know what to say! I wasn't expecting that." Rory went over to him and said it sincerely before hugging his friend.

"Hmm, me neither. But I guess I had an epiphany while absorbing the magical essence of this pill. I got more than I expected." Vicente said, looking into his friend's eyes.

"Really? What luck, man!" Rory said, supposing that this was probably the case.

Epiphanies were special moments for magicians when, for some reason, they suddenly had a great moment of inspiration and could understand their own powers much more deeply.

In Polaris Realm, there were legends of great magicians who were able to create some of the most valuable spells on the continent during epiphanies!

"Anyway, you're an Intermediate Apprentice now, Vice. How does that feel?" Rory asked as he patted his friend on the shoulder.

"It's perfect. I feel like a bull about to explode." Vicente clenched one of his fists, revealing several veins on his arm.

"Good! As we go about our business, more dangers will come our way. Your growing strength will help our cause!" Rory said as he put on a shirt, his stomach rumbling.

Meditation might not seem tiring, but it was an activity that took a lot out of magicians.

After a single hour of meditation, a magician would be hungry. But after several hours, Rory and Vicente were starving!

Hearing the sound of Rory's stomach, Vicente started to get dressed and said. "Let's eat at Zander's Tavern. I'll pay for today's meal."

"Oh? Are you sick or something? I think your advance has affected your head, my friend!" Rory joked with his friend, who was usually very frugal.

Vicente didn't mind, and as he left the training room, he said. "Call one of our men to come with us. I want to hear the results of the investigation on these blacksmiths."

In the days since the meeting with Lukas, Rory, and Vicente had ordered their men to investigate the names of the three blacksmiths.

Earlier today, one of Vincent's men had come to him to report on their findings, but for the moment, Vice had left to deal with that after taking the last pill.

Rory heard this and quickly searched for that person while Vicente went to get some coins from his office.

With the daily work of his men at three local establishments, the group currently had 41 gold coins, 2,895 silver coins, and 15,956 bronze coins.

After picking up 256 bronze coins, he left with Rory and an Intermediate Apprentice, who were naturally shocked to learn of their leader's promotion.

"Boss, congratulations on your breakthrough!" That man said on the way to the tavern before they arrived at Zander's tavern and found a seat.

"Mason, tell me about your findings. Are any of these names compatible with our plans?" Vicente got straight to the point shortly after they sat down to wait for their food.