Mage and Cryptology Scholar were, in theory, the most recommended dual-class combination.
The previous night, Rei had even gone out of his way to confirm details about the Cryptology Scholar profession with Pari.
Mese hadn't tampered with the secret scroll at all.
It would have been extremely difficult for him to deceive both a Level 6 Diviner and a Level 6 Archmage simultaneously. Iz had inspected the scroll more than once.
Besides Iz, Kumironi, Akasei, and Obades had all examined it as well.
In addition, Rei had asked Pari about Iz's attitude.
Specifically—once Iz returned, would he allow Rei to choose the Cryptology Scholar profession?
In truth, Rei had already decided beforehand that his next secondary class would be Cryptology Scholar.
Asking Pari served several purposes.
First, he wanted to know whether her divination results would conflict with his expectations.
Second, the question could indirectly verify the accuracy of her divination.
Third, through the same question, he could confirm whether Iz would actually return.
After all, their opponent was Mese.
Iz himself seemed very confident, but Rei still felt faint unease. He had never witnessed Iz's full strength.
Nor had he seen Mese's abilities.
Naturally, some worry lingered.
Pari's answer had been simple and crude:
"Yes."
That single question cost 100,000 gold coins.
More expensive than the staff Rei currently carried.
What a heartless diviner.
Still, after confirming the answer, Rei finally felt a little more at ease.
…
Kumironi held the secret scroll Rei had given her and began chanting a prayer that Rei only half understood.
"Secret lock, solution, answer the unknown."
"I know not what words lie sealed, yet I seek their truth."
"An apprentice who searches for locks and answers is born toward secrecy."
"End."
Dong—
A faint light flickered over Rei's body.
And just like that, the class change ceremony was complete.
A first class change required no complicated preparations. There was no trial or assessment.
All that was needed was the secret scroll.
For common professions found on the market, even the scroll wasn't necessary. One could walk in empty-handed and still change class.
A vast ocean of knowledge surged through Rei's mind once again.
Instantly, he felt himself master cryptography and fundamental decryption logic.
At the same time, he automatically learned two additional languages:
"Chino" and "Minier."
Talent Acquired — God-Tier·Perceive Secrets
Knowledge Learned: Rapid CalculationKnowledge Learned: Trap Studies (Beginner)Knowledge Learned: Cryptography (Beginner)
Technique Learned: Key Break (LV: 1)
Cryptology Scholar Mastery Learned: Discover KeyCryptology Scholar Mastery Learned: Decryption Difficulty Observation
Current Professions:Level 3 Mage / Level 1 Death Priest / Level 1 Cryptology Scholar
His spirituality rose slightly again.
So every time one changed professions—or completed a profession's promotion—spirituality would become denser…
Perhaps because Cryptology Scholar was a purely intellectual profession.
Rei could clearly feel his mind becoming more flexible after the class change.
The increase in spirituality combined with the class's own nature.
Indeed, class changes could make a person smarter.
Mage and Death Priest were also somewhat intelligence-related professions—but fundamentally they were still combat classes.
Rather than making someone smarter, it was more accurate to say that intelligent people could better utilize them.
Their class upgrades didn't improve cognitive ability very much.
Their greatest effect was stimulating spirituality.
But once Rei changed into Cryptology Scholar—
Many of the lingering questions he had about Origin suddenly resolved themselves.
"No wonder…"
No wonder Cryptology Scholar was said to pair perfectly with Mage.
One profession generated questions.
The other provided answers.
As for the Cryptology Scholar's talent—
God-Tier Talent — Perceive Secrets
Discover all naturally or artificially hidden locations, information, and special objects. Detect what lies concealed within them and learn the key method to unlock them.
After gaining this talent, Rei casually glanced around.
He had only meant to look around idly.
Yet unexpectedly—
That single glance really did reveal something unusual.
One particular floor tile felt… off.
Secret: Floor TileHidden Object: Profession Scroll & MoneyUnlock Method: Lift with telekinesis
"Kumironi, big sister."
Rei spoke.
"Over there… that floor tile seems different from the others."
Kumironi followed the direction of his finger. Her perception immediately swept the area.
Whoosh!
Through Rei's perception, it felt as though a jade-colored mental wind had swept past.
Such powerful perception.
"It's true."
Kumironi flashed forward, appearing beside the tile almost instantly.
She glanced down, then raised her hand slightly, lifting the tile.
There had been no magical concealment or sealing technique.
It was simply… a removable brick placed over the spot.
Once lifted—
A secret scroll and 10 gold coins were revealed underneath.
Profession Scroll: Death Priest
Heh. It seemed he and the Death Priest class were truly fated.
"A prohibited scroll… and gold coins."
"The Kingdom of Loren does not permit Death Priest as a hidden class…"
Kumironi frowned.
But she didn't say anything further.
She stored the scroll inside her spatial storage and handed the 10 gold coins to Rei.
"Little Rei, even though you discovered the scroll… I can't give it to you."
"There are some things I need to investigate."
Ah…
So this had exposed something that shouldn't have surfaced.
Someone was probably going to suffer for it.
Still, Kumironi and the others should be able to handle the aftermath.
"Little Rei, you might have to go play on your own."
That really sounded like something said to a child.
Though… technically he was one.
Kumironi opened the secret chamber door and left, clearly going to question someone.
Rei waited a moment before leisurely following after her and exiting the chamber.
Don't look at me…
I wasn't the one who found it.
Leaving the chamber, his perception expanded outward.
Rei felt himself "see" everything within a one-kilometer radius.
Even where his eyes couldn't reach, his perception sensed clearly.
Crooked alleyways.
Spacious shops.
Everything appeared vividly before him.
However, seeing didn't mean noticing everything.
Perception functioned like an expanded, distant pair of eyes.
Only when he focused on an area could he observe its fine details.
Otherwise, it was like peripheral vision—important clues could easily be missed.
Rei sensed Kumironi entering the inner hall of the Promotion Hall.
Several elders rushed out to greet her, sweating nervously.
Rei decided not to follow.
Leaving via the Path of Ascension, he crossed the Bridge of Celestial Passage.
Before long, he exited the City Within the Circle.
Outside the city, Rei condensed a new spell.
Flying Ice Swarm (Tier 2) (LV: 201)
This was the second-tier version of Rapid Ice Shuttle.
Sacrifice Souls — 100
Flying Ice Swarm: Proficiency +100,000,000
Flying Ice Swarm (Tier 2) (LV: 245)
"Level 245?"
One hundred million proficiency only raised it that much?
That was far lower than expected.
It seemed that even with Proficiency Evolution, raising skills to Level 300 was no easy task.
Fortunately—
Sacrifice Souls — 2000
Rei directly sacrificed 2,000 souls.
Flying Ice Swarm: Proficiency +2,000,000,000
Flying Ice Swarm (Tier 2) (LV: 300) (Evolution Available)
After sacrificing 2,000 souls, the skill instantly reached max level.
"Evolution path: Control."
Rei intended to push this skill's control aspect to its absolute limit. Other directions weren't worth considering.
After all, he possessed plenty of magic already.
Orbiting Ice Swarm (Tier 2) (LV: 301)Thirty ice bees. Each bee independently controls three ice shuttles. Extremely high speed. Extremely rapid directional changes. Ice self-destruction. Swarm-based combat.
The creator of the original Ice Spike spell probably never imagined that such a simple spell could evolve into something this outrageous.
Rei generated the spell.
Immediately, 120 tiny ice bees appeared around him.
Each bee had three ice shuttles orbiting its body.
Their tails formed long, needle-thin ice stingers.
Rei tested his control.
The ice bees beat their wings, sliding sideways through the air with almost no turning arc at all.
The three ice shuttles surrounding each bee could either attack enemies automatically or be controlled manually.
This spell was already incredibly sophisticated.
Rei generated another version.
This time, all the bees merged into a single massive ice bee.
Rei stood atop its head, gripping its icy antennae.
Boom!
The ice bee flapped its wings, bursting forward in a storm of freezing wind.
So fast…
Far faster than Ice Shuttle.
And its maneuverability was incredible.
No—this wasn't turning.
Rei felt that if he wished, he could instantly shift from charging forward to retreating backward.
A 180-degree reversal in a single thought.
Sacrifice Souls — 2000Increase Proficiency — Spreading Inferno Sea
Sacrifice Souls — 2000Increase Proficiency — Focused Light Beam
Sacrifice Souls — 2000Increase Proficiency — Ice Sea
…
There were over 150 spells.
At 2,000 souls each, that meant 300,000 souls in total.
Fortunately, Rei now possessed plenty of souls.
Otherwise, this kind of spending would be impossible.
Back when he could only gather a few thousand souls per day, his reserves would have been permanently in deficit.
While increasing proficiency, Rei suddenly received a signal from his perception.
Secret: Tree HollowHidden Object: AxeUnlock Method: Destroy
Rei instantly stopped and looked down.
It appeared to be an ordinary tree—no different from the rest of the forest.
Rei didn't approach recklessly.
Instead, he extended his perception deeper inside.
The interior of the tree was hollow.
And inside it was an axe.
Rei descended.
With a wave of his hand, several Sudden Kill Wind Slashes (Tier 2) (LV: 301) shot out.
The tree was sliced cleanly in half.
Inside the hollow trunk lay a weapon.
Woodbreaker Axe
Special Effect: Extremely effective at cutting and destroying wooden materials.
…What trash.
Maybe worth 50 silver coins.
Still, even something like this could be detected.
This talent's range of application was truly wide.
Rei continued traveling.
Along the way he found several other hidden objects.
Cavities behind waterfalls. Hidden trap paths. Even wild monsters with concealed magic crystals inside their bodies could be detected.
Rei collected them all.
The items were indeed hidden, but none were particularly valuable.
Altogether they were worth maybe a dozen gold coins.
Well, consider it testing the talent.
Soon, Rei arrived once again at the cave that sealed the Thousand-Legion Ant Mountain.
Secret: Seal
Hidden Object: Tier-4 Nation-Destroying Monster — Thousand-Legion Ant Mountain
Unlock Method 1: Level 6 Mage reverse decryptionUnlock Method 2: Level 6 Cryptology Scholar decryptionUnlock Method 3: Contract of UnsealingUnlock Method 4: Overwhelming force
Recommended Method: Use the Contract of Unsealing.
This seal was incredibly powerful…
It required a Level 6 Mage to break?
However—
A faint contract pattern glowed on the back of Rei's hand.
The seal opened.
Boom!
The moment the seal broke, a black tide of ants poured out!
Whoosh—
But flames surged.
The instant the ants rushed out, they were incinerated into ash.
Origin·Infernal Prison
The second-tier Sea of Fire had evolved into:
Infernal Prison (Tier 3) (LV: 301)
Multicolored flames extended inward.
Almost every black ant that touched the flames was instantly burned to ash.
Not even corpses remained.
The burning power was terrifying.
100 million souls.120 million souls.150 million souls.180 million souls…
By the time every ant except the Ant Mountain itself had been killed—
Rei had accumulated 182,110,000 souls.
The cave interior had practically been filled to the brim with ants.
"So many…"
Thankfully, the cavern Akasei excavated was large enough.
Otherwise it wouldn't have fit them all.
Rei rotated his finger.
Infernal Prison encircled the Thousand-Legion Ant Mountain.
The flames didn't touch it directly, but completely surrounded it.
At the same time, the flames burned across the entire cave wall.
With Origin·All Magic, spells could still maintain permanent duration.
As long as Rei didn't cancel it, even if he traveled to the ends of the world, Origin·Infernal Prison would persist forever.
The price was leaving one Origin core behind here.
Without Multi-Casting, that would mean losing access to Origin·All Magic.
But with Quadruple Casting, Rei could leave one Origin behind while still controlling the other three.
"That way, I won't need to harvest souls every day."
The biggest annoyance of the Thousand-Legion Ant Mountain was the daily collection.
Coming here every day was troublesome.
In just two days, it had already produced nearly 200 million ants.
If left unchecked in the wild, the swarm would probably attack the City Within the Circle within days.
"Unfortunately, this is the only monster I can farm like this for now."
Rei had asked Kumironi and Akasei why others didn't raise monsters.
The answer was simple.
It wasn't that nobody did—it was just extremely rare.
Most monsters could not reproduce.
They were dangerous as well.
Only King-level monsters were worth cultivating.
And they needed to continuously produce value.
Even after discovery, one also needed a method to seal and contain them.
All these difficulties combined meant that monster farming was rare.
Usually the cost exceeded the profit.
Even if profitable, the returns weren't impressive.
Most people would rather do something else.
Once the Infernal Prison was established—
Rei felt his soul count increasing constantly.
The monster population in the surrounding region had already thinned drastically.
Yet the Thousand-Legion Ant Mountain still produced over a thousand black ants per second, providing him with roughly 1,000–2,000 souls per second.
Rei left the sealed area in a cheerful mood.
From now on, he could simply wait for souls to accumulate naturally.
Nearby lay the Thousand Caverns of the Distant Realm.
The dungeons there were probably still overflowing with monsters.
But right now, Rei didn't feel particularly motivated to farm them.
When wealth reached a certain level…
The thought of earning more simply felt rather dull.