It was hard to say if that were good news or bad news. The fact that the original Sekundez was still free was good news because it means that Leon could obtain her cooperation, but it was terrible news because it showed how difficult it was to find it. Besides, just a small version of her power caused a lot of trouble for Leon... He was sure that the real Sekundez would be a massive pain in the ass.

"One more question... do you know how many days, months, or years have passed on a planet called Earth since I arrived here?" Leon asked.

"This place works following a pre-determined set of rules since it is a place lost in time and space," Sekundez explained. "One of them is that the time passes according to the challenger's notion of time and level of power. It is hard to say how many days and nights you stayed here since there is no day or night, but according to the cycle of mana in your body, three hundred and twenty-three days have passed since you appeared here."

Leon bit his lips, that was roughly eleven months. The harvesters might have already arrived on Earth. Still, there was a chance that he could return on time. Ilyana already proved that she wanted Leon as an ally, so she would do her best in order to help the human race and make Leon feel indebted to her. If she at least manages to protect his family and friends, her goal could be accomplished.

"I want your cooperation, not only your power," Leon declared. "What do I have to do to deserve that?"

"It is pretty simple, just keep your sanity while you experience the same amount of time and things I experienced so far," Sekundez answered.

"... Will time continue to move at the same speed here and on Earth if I decide to take the test?" Leon asked. "There is no meaning in obtaining your power if I return to Earth in thousands of years in the future."

"You can rest assured, just like you can't afford to waste time, I also don't want to wait for so long to see if you deserve my cooperation or not," Sekundez said. "I will transport you to a place where the concept of time doesn't exist, so while you will experience thousands of years of solitude, only an instant will pass on this reality."

"Thousands of years..." Leon said.

"Yes, I can't tell the precise amount of time you will have to stay there since that is also part of the trial," Sekundez added. "While you will be able to use powers and make them stronger, you won't be able to receive help from the spirits you already have with you."

"Hey, this isn't fair," Celsius protested.

"My, my... she wasn't joking when she said thousand years of solitude," Undine said.

"I thought the mental torture couldn't become worse," Volt said, and Leon felt the uneasiness in his voice. "I was obviously wrong."

"Forget about this, Leon," Efreet said. "The power of a single fragment isn't worthy of so much trouble. Even if I were the original Efreet, I wouldn't make someone to endure so much trouble to obtain my cooperation."

"Right! It isn't fair!" Sylph said.

"I didn't finish my great labyrinth, Leon," Gnome said. "So, you can't accept such a dangerous trial."

The spirits were worried about their ways, but after coming this far, there was no way that Leon would return to Earth empty-handed. He only could do one thing, obtain Sekundez power no matter what.

"Can I ask you a favor before starting the trial?" Leon asked.

"Sure, the trial will be difficult, so I can take some worries out of your mind in order to let you focus on the trial alone," Sekundez nodded.

"Drain some of the mana while I'm in that place," Leon said. "If I fail, I want you to send the spirits within me to Earth. Although it would be preferable to let them join my other friends, I don't want to force them to do that."

"I can do that, but you must know there is only one way for me to do that," Sekundez said. "If you just lose your mind, I won't be able to do anything, but if you..."

"I know..." Leon sighed. "Anyway, thanks for hearing my wish. You can begin the trial."

Leon couldn't help but frown, considering that the conversation happened without any troubles so far, and the fact that he was so pissed at Sekundez a few minutes ago that he was still considering killing her. Regardless, before the spirits could protest again, Sekundez sends Leon to the place where the trial would be held... a moment later, Leon frowned when he saw himself back on that island where everything began or ended for Leon.

"Man... she doesn't really hold back," Leon sighed after he checked his surroundings and confirmed the place he was in. "I thought those four years were long, but I guess that eventually, I will feel like that those years will be just like a random weekend."

There was only one thing Leon could do on that island to pass the time, train to get stronger. However, before that, Leon bought a certain tome on the shop that Ilyana created for him.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Thoughtography.

You obtained 01 status points.

Those years will be long, very long... so Leon created some pictures using that spell. He didn't have a single image of everyone together, but Leon created photographs of everyone he cared about at some point in his life. His parents, Amanda, Maya, Hector, Sasha, Betty, Gisela, Lennart, Sarah, Tom, Yuki, Ren, Makoto, Darya, and his spirits, even though he never saw how the spirits really looked like. In the end, Leon also created one for Ilyana and Sekundez... despite everything, all of them would give him the strength to endure the years that are to come.