Congratulations! The skill Mana Absorption has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
Congratulations! The skill Summon Earth Golem has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
Congratulations! The skill Mana Absorption has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
Congratulations! The skill Summon Earth Golem has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
...
Three days later, Leon's golems reached level one hundred. Meanwhile, the mechanical spiders already surpassed the level two hundred... Ilyana's monsters already could decimate Leon's golems in a single strike, so she stopped them from attacking Leon. Although she didn't say to Leon to stop, he did stop killing them by absorbing their mana.
"I have to level up Alchemy and Farming, so I guess it is time to stop."
"It is time for your resistance training," Ilyana said, using Telepathy.
Leon headed toward her castle without wasting time because he had some questions to ask, not because he was eager for another torture session.
"It looks like you have some questions," Ilyana said when Leon arrived. "What is this time?"
"The human I faced used Anti-Mana Field, and that made things a little bit difficult for me," Leon said. "How can I counter it?"
"It is simple, just break his spell," Ilyana said. "As you know, Anti-Mana Field consumes your mana to stop magic attacks or effects from reaching. Even if you don't feel it, if you try to use your mana, the enemy will lose his mana to block your attempt to use it. All in all, the best way to try to cancel or break Anti-Mana Field is to have a larger mana pool than your enemy and try to use spells that consume a lot of mana."
The answer was a bit too simple than Leon had imagined. Still, it made sense. That spell was like Mana Armor, after all.
"... Does a high level in that skill increases how much time the enemy can stop me from using mana?" Leon asked. "It makes the spell more efficient?"
"Yes, but if you have a high-level spell that uses a lot of mana can counter that effect," Ilyana explained. "Training the skill can help, but not all that much."
"That guy also attacked me, and his magic projectiles ignored my Mana Armor," Leon said. "How is that possible?"
"Once you become skilled enough, you will be able to create Anti-Mana Fields even around magic projectiles without making them lose their magic properties," Ilyana said. "It will take a long time and insistence, but it is possible. Mana can do pretty much anything. The secrets are your imagination and non-stop practice."
"I see... thanks for the explanation," Leon said. "Before doing the regular thing, I would like to level up some of my defensive spells."
"That is not a problem," Ilyana said.
Congratulations! The skill Anti-Telekinesis Field has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
Congratulations! The skill Anti-Gravity Field has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
Congratulations! The skill Anti-Mana Field has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
...
Ilyana was a lot more collaborative and friendly than Leon imagined she would be after the failure of that job. It was weird, but Leon didn't have much time to think about that because since his health increased, the torment became longer as well.
At the end of another training session, Leon suddenly had an epiphany. Blue angel plants were magical plants, so could exist monster plants that could produce it. Leon returned to Ilyana's castle to ask about it.
"They do exist," Ilyana said. "I made use of them before, but unlike the blue angel plants, they needed to eat to produce the mana fruit. They have to eat other monsters. The stronger the monster, the more mana its fruit can restore... I guess it can become useful for you, but you are not strong enough. I doubt that I can explain to you how to produce an organic monster, and to learn by using a tome, you will need to have ten thousand points in control and thirty thousand in intelligence."
Leon opened his eyes widely... it would take some long years before he can obtain that level of power, after all. Regardless, even though Leon hated to say or even think about such a thing, it looks he was destined to keep working doing menial chores. Although he could increase his speed and quickly replant more blue angel leaves and use the same spells to fabricate the mana liquid, it wasn't that simple because his speed could easily affect the environment. If the tries to move at his max speed around his plant, he could quickly burn down his plants.
Even if Leon tries to use only Telekinesis now that his control reached an absurd level, things wouldn't just progress as fast as he wants. Although Leon had to level up Farming and Alchemy eventually, he didn't want those skills to slow down his growth or the growth of other spells.
"The only way for you to grow strong as fast as possible is by facing my monsters," Ilyana gave the answer Leon wanted even though he didn't ask for it or liked the method. "Although you are strangely adamant in not using that method frequently, it is the best option for both of us. I would say that your strength is around the same level of the species that fought daily, and their planet is about to reach the fifth stage of the assimilation. Even if I make my monsters fight against thousands of other monsters on the same as them, they won't grow strong as the same speed as you."
Ilyana was strangely very interested in making Leon cooperate with her. Although her arguments were sound, Leon could help but think that she was planning something or that he would be the only one that would receive benefits from that... in the end, Leon decided to accept her idea.