"Donât go souring a whole string of prosperous prophecies."
When Kanzaki Rei saw that prediction, his expression barely shifted. He only let out a faint sigh.
So... trouble had still found its way to him.
The good news was that there were still a full twenty-eight days before the apocalypse.
He had more than enough time to run.
The other piece of good news was that prophecies werenât guaranteed to come true.
The creed of a Doomsday Prophet was to issue a prophecyâand then make it happen.
Compared to true prophecy, what they released was closer to a declaration. Like a phantom thief announcing a heist before stealing something, such "prophecies" naturally carried far more uncertainty than genuine foresight.
"Since Iâm already simulating the future... just thinking about running away would be pretty stupid."
He liked staying aliveâbut not to the point of fleeing twenty-nine days in advance over something that wasnât even certain.
If escape was impossible, a day or two wouldnât matter.
If escape was possible, a day or two wouldnât matter either.
In short...
Whoosh!
Kanzaki Rei took a step and reappeared outside the city of Knulloria.
Originally, he had planned to use this future simulation to steal more knowledge.
But then he realizedâ
He had already "borrowed" everything in Knulloria.
The White Tower, the Church, the Forbidden Archives, even the Combat Academyâs techniques.
The entire city... had nothing left for him to steal.
To think heâd cleaned it out this thoroughly...
Even he felt a bit impressed.
Whooshâ
Since his plan was to avoid interfering with events as much as possible, Kanzaki Rei didnât intend to show himself anywhere.
Instead, he slipped into a dim, secluded chamber without alerting anyone, and took out a book from his storage space:
The First Ten Forbidden Spells.
Now that he possessed [Divine Talent · Perfect Method], he no longer risked fainting just from reading. Even the forbidden texts he previously couldnât access in Loren were now open to him.
He simply hadnât had time to study them before, as heâd been focused entirely on Origin research.
Besides, he couldnât let Yuna read these.
He was immune to knowledge corruptionâshe wasnât.
If she turned into some grotesque tentacled monstrosity, that would be a problem.
Though honestly... her intense pace of absorbing knowledge was worrying in its own right.
Scholars who accidentally stumbled into forbidden knowledge werenât uncommon. Even without being combat classes, their mortality rate rivaledâor even exceededâthat of fighters.
It usually started innocently:
This book feels a little strange... just one glance.
If somethingâs wrong, Iâll stop immediately.
Two glances seem fine... maybe Iâll just finish the page...
And by the time they snapped out of itâ
Hair would be sprouting all over their bodies, and their flesh would have twisted into writhing tendrils.
"Forbidden spells..."
Flame-script paper appeared in Kanzaki Reiâs hand. A flicker of fire passed over it, leaving behind faint, barely visible markings.
Good enough. A trace was all he needed.
After all, this was just a simulated futureâthere was no need to be overly meticulous.
Simply experiencing the future like this was already an absurd advantage.
In fact, Future Simulation could even be used to save time.
Even without simulating a specific day, just spending a full day studying here was equivalent to splitting time into three.
Others had 24 hours a day.
He had 72.
Triple the effort.
So this was what his childhood teachers meant byâ
A monster with both talent and seventy-two hours of study a day.
Tap... tap... tap...
Time passed steadily.
The "First Forbidden Spells" in the book were not something that could be deciphered casually.
Their decryption difficulty was Level 7.
Right now, he was only a Level 4 Decryption Scholar. He still lacked several prerequisite conditions to solve them.
Still, familiarizing himself with the book would definitely help later.
After skimming through the entire text, Kanzaki Rei felt his spirituality being contaminated.
Yet the corruption didnât truly invadeâit transformed into pure knowledge and was absorbed.
"So this is what corruption feels like..."
Corruption merged into oneâs spirituality.
The author of the book was someone named Noctis Moth, located in the Moon Seaâlikely a high-tier mage.
Probably around Level 7.
As for the book itself, it had connections to the Origin Source.
Nothing about it was simple.
Who wouldâve thought that ordinary things encountered daily could all trace back to various fundamental origins?
After going through the entire book once, Kanzaki Rei stopped.
Without meeting the decryption conditions, there was no point continuing.
Instead, he pulled out several ancient tomes on spatial magic and began studying incomplete space spells that normal people couldnât learn.
Would learning in a simulated future even matter?
Magic was the manifestation of knowledge and application.
Even without physically touching a spellbook, one could still cast spells after gaining the appropriate class levelâso long as the knowledge existed.
Which meantâ
Knowledge alone was enough.
ăSpatial Fragment Flow (Tier 5) (LV: 401)ăăSolidified Spatial Lock (Tier 5) (LV: 401)ăăSealed Domain (Tier 5) (LV: 401)ăăSpatial Scale Shift (Tier 5) (LV: 401)ăăInstant Flash (Tier 5) (LV: 401)ă
Beyond ancient spatial magic, Kanzaki Rei naturally learned modern spatial spells as well.
TeleportationâFlashâwas already within his grasp.
But compared to Origin Magic, Flash could only move himself.
It couldnât reposition objects.
It couldnât move others.
In the end, it fell far short.
Learning ancient spatial magic required decoding, translation, and comprehension.
Most importantly, it required law completion.
This wasnât instantaneous.
At first, a conceptual framework of the spell would form in his mindâbut incomplete, missing key laws.
Over time, under the influence of his talent, the spell would naturally grow and complete itself.
And as it did, the missing Origin Laws would be filled in simultaneously.
Unlike ordinary magic, which could be learned at a glance, each ancient spatial spell took at least ten minutes to grasp.
It was a strange sensation.
Like being used to having two arms and two legsâ
Only to gradually realize that the ultimate form had ten arms and ten legs, each with unique functions.
Now, he was in the process of rediscovering those functionsâand regrowing the limbs themselves.
And once they grew back...
He realized just how incomplete he had been before.
Kanzaki Rei was deeply immersed in his researchâ
When suddenly, a premonition struck.
The Void Ring Star Spear appeared in his hand.
His perception surged toward the royal palace.
At the same time, layers upon layers of shields activated around him.
ăTier 5 Origin Magic: Immutable Eternal Preservationă
An Zhengâs Origin Magic.
Instantly, Kanzaki Rei stacked layer after layer of indestructible shields onto himself.
As soon as one layer formed, the next followed.
Because the shields did not disappearâ
He could stack them indefinitely.
To be safe, he applied a full 100,000 layers in one go...
Eventually, he couldnât stack any more.
Reluctantly, he stopped.
But thenâ
He raised his spear again.
ăDeep Condensed Barrier (Tier 5) (LV: 401) â Stacking condensation, massive barrier, extreme hardness, invisible transparency, strength scales with mana input, stackable, absorbs mana, absorbs impactă
Whoosh!
Rows upon rows of barriers manifested across the sky, blanketing the heavens.
There was no room left around him...
So he built the defenses up there instead.
Would this level of defense work against an 8th-tier mage?
Who knew.
But even if it only bought him a little time, that was enough.
He wanted to see what would happen.
Whooshâ
At the same time, his five cores shot out in different directionsâthis time all in defensive mode.
Ten "Origins" began orbiting around him as well.
Ready for anything.
Time: 23:55.
Five minutes remained until the end of the Month of Knowledge.
And thirty minutes...
Until An Zhengâs death.
Hoooâ
The wind began to surge unnaturally.
Not natural windâ
A storm formed from condensed mana.
Kanzaki Rei rose into the sky, watching as dense mana twisted into a massive vortex.
The sheer volume...
Far exceeded his own.
Even the mere gathering of mana had already stirred the distant Secret Sea into towering wavesâ
Lightning tore purple fractures across the clear night sky!
The bright blue moon sank lower.
The stars dimmed.
Kanzaki Reiâs perception locked onto the continentâ
But suddenlyâ
BOOM!
Two figures appeared high in the sky.
One was a man with slightly curly brown hair, wearing sunglasses and a modern-style jacket, hands in his pockets, blowing bubble gum.
The other had long black hair, his entire body wrapped in bandages, only half his face exposed.
Flat-chestedâprobably a man.
"Whoâre you?" the curly-haired man asked, blowing a bubble as he glanced sideways.
The bandaged man didnât respond, only casting him a cold look.
The bubble grew larger.
"Why so cold? Youâre obviously my partner, right? Not even gonna say hi?"
"...Hmph."
"No greeting, no communication. My class is kinda special, you know. If you donât talk, donât blame me for dragging you down in a fight."
The bandaged manâs face twitched.
"Death Church. First Executor. Samu."
The curly-haired man perked up.
"Ohhh?"
"So youâre that Samu?"
"Heard about you for agesâfirst time seeing you! Hahaha! Thought mummy types like you only existed in gag comics!"
"Oh, you know what comics are? Theyâre entertainment from my country."
Samuâs wrinkled face twitched violently.
What the hell is this guy even here for?
"You still havenât said who you are," Samu said coldly.
"Oh? You wanted to know?"
Samuâs bandages tightened.
Before killing Izparut... maybe I should kill you first.
The curly-haired man grinned.
"My nameâs Roya."
"Class: Tier 8 â Chaos Trickster. Never heard of it, right? Itâs a unique hidden class."
Samu paused.
Tier 8... unique class?
He had never heard of this person before.
An Zheng had really brought in someone extraordinary.
"Youâre here to kill Izparut and Kumi Roni too?"
Roya laughed.
"Nah, not really. I owe An Zheng a favor. He asked me to protect him, so... here I am."
"Of course, if someone tries to kill him, Iâll help out."
Roya glanced around.
"...Though these ordinary people seem kinda innocent, donât they?"
Whoosh!
He raised a hand.
Kanzaki Reiâs pupils shrank!
The entire vast Ruilen Continentâ
Vanished in an instant.
What remained was only the boundless Secret Sea.
Like a massive basin had been carved out, seawater rushed inward to fill the void.
"Thereâs one more in the sky," Samu said coldly.
"That one..."
Roya looked upâmeeting Kanzaki Reiâs gaze.
Popâ
The bubble burst.
He blinked, then broke into a bright, cheerful smile and waved.
...Why are you waving at me?
"That one doesnât matter," Roya said casually.
Samu paused.
For some reason...
He suddenly felt the same.
And abandoned the thought of killing Kanzaki Rei.
Facing beings who could erase an entire continent with a gestureâ
Kanzaki Rei had zero intention of fighting.
The outcome was obvious.
Charging in would only get him instantly killed.
Better to pretend he didnât exist.
Observe quietly.
Gather as much information as possible before being wiped out by the aftershock.
Tier 8.
That must be the Chaos Trickster Roya mentioned in An Zhengâs notes.
And Samu, standing beside him, was likely also Tier 8.
Heâd walked straight into a nest of monsters.
And on this very day, two reinforcements had appeared out of nowhere.
Izparut was a mage, not a diviner.
Even he couldnât have predicted this variable.
At this momentâ
Izparutâs palace had been displaced.
Standing within the raging storm of mana, his hat brim fluttered, shadowing half his face.
"Three Tier 8 classes..."
"How interesting."
His staff appeared in his right hand.
With his left, he adjusted his hat.
Beside him, An Zheng stoodâhis withered body clutching a radiant staff.
His signature weapon.
His greatest creation.
"Izparut!" his aged voice boomed with amplified mana.
"I admitâyou may be the stronger mage now."
"My body is decaying. My life is nearing its end."
"But your mistake..."
"Was thinking I stood alone."
"You never considered how many allies I made traveling the world."
Izparutâs gaze was calm.
"Those allies... include the Death Church?"
An Zheng replied:
"Izparut... one day, you too will rely on such power."
"When your life reaches its end..."
"You will embrace death."
Samu stepped forward, placing a hand on An Zhengâs body.
His decayed flesh peeled away like scabs, turning to ashâ
As fresh, pale skin regenerated beneath.
"Izparut..."
"Do you still think you can stop me now?"
Izparut only shook his head slightly.
Then raised his left hand.
"Tier 6 Origin Magic..."
"Essence Stripping."