"The Night of Demonic Essence" was written in Minier, the language used by vampires, demons, ghosts, and high-tier undead.
It was a tongue hidden among creatures of evil and darkness.
It was also a language passed down from ancient times.
"Fallen Sacrifice Ritual."
"A sacrificial ceremony that uses souls as offerings."
"It requires the blood of evil creatures to inscribe the corresponding magic circle, then a sufficient number of souls must be sacrificed."
"It can… gather massive tides of monsters?"
That was… unsettling.
Rei had truly glimpsed an extraordinary secret.
He reproduced the ritual array on a sheet of fire-writing paper, carefully recording it.
Afterward, Rei paused, wondering whether he should destroy the book.
If another Puzzle Scholar saw this book, they would likely be able to decipher the ritual as well.
If such a sinister ritual spread into the world, the consequences felt… troubling.
Since arriving in this world, this was the first time Rei had struggled with the question of keeping a secret.
…Forget it.
He would borrow the book instead.
He would simply "forget" to return it and let the library deduct the deposit.
The remaining secret books contained various hidden pieces of knowledge.
One described the formula for creating a deadly poison.
Another recorded the forging method for a special magic sword.
Another revealed the class-change conditions for a profession called the Reborn Transmuter.
The poison required the Alchemist profession.
The magic sword required both Enchanter and Blacksmith classes.
As for the Reborn Transmuter…
It required a Class-Change Secret Scroll.
None of these secrets were particularly useful to Rei right now.
Though if he wrote them down and sold them, they would likely fetch a large sum.
But he wasn't lacking money at the moment.
So he dismissed the idea.
After that, Rei wandered through several other floors of the library.
There were indeed pleasant surprises.
In total, he discovered ten books containing hidden knowledge.
Three could be deciphered.
The remaining seven were beyond his current knowledge.
They required expertise in Demonology, Creation Studies, Advanced Cryptography, Jungle Ecology, Ornithology…
Was this the trouble faced by Puzzle Scholars?
Although the class granted innate knowledge after the class change…
There was still an enormous amount left to study.
Rei thought for a moment.
In the end, he packed up the unread books and paid a 10-gold deposit at the library's front desk.
If the books weren't returned on time, the deposit would be deducted directly.
The penalty was quite ruthless.
It wasn't simple compensation for the book's value.
Nor was it based on how late the return was.
Instead—
Once the 30-day limit was exceeded, the library would deduct ten times the book's price.
Heh.
What a predatory library.
After leaving the library, Rei pulled down his hood.
With every step he took, his body slowly grew taller.
After walking about a kilometer and turning three or four corners—
Rei's height had reached roughly 1.6 meters.
He wasn't a tall 1.8-meter man, but he now looked like a short adult male.
His face had matured significantly as well.
「Flesh Reconstruction」
This spell really was incredibly useful.
It even altered his vocal cords.
"Ah—"
Rei tested his voice.
It sounded unmistakably like an adult.
Still, flesh magic was a forbidden art in this era.
Unless absolutely necessary, he should avoid revealing that he possessed it.
And a spell capable of fundamentally changing one's appearance…
It was best if nobody knew about it.
The essence of this spell was reshaping flesh, not illusion.
That meant even magical detection would find nothing suspicious.
Because at that moment—
Rei genuinely looked like this. It wasn't a disguise.
With his robe enchanted with Presence Weakening, almost no one noticed his transformation.
Originally he had been around 1.2 meters tall.
Gradually growing to 1.6 meters was hard to notice even without the enchantment.
Besides flesh magic, many other methods existed to increase height.
[Magic Bookstore]
As the name suggested, it sold magic books.
Rei entered with his new appearance: a short, ordinary-looking man with slight stubble.
"I'd like to buy some Tier-3 magic books."
The shopkeeper asked,
"Customer, what type? Elemental, Mental, or Arcane?"
Rei pretended to think for a moment before answering.
"All of them."
"All?"
Rei nodded firmly.
"Yes. Every Tier-3 magic book you have."
"Customer…"
"Our magic books are not available for trial reading."
Rei flicked his hand.
A money pouch landed on the table.
"Is this enough?"
The shopkeeper picked it up and weighed it.
…What the hell?
Thirty thousand gold?
"Not just Tier-3…"
"I'll buy all the Tier-1, Tier-2, and Tier-3 books."
"If it's not enough, I can add more."
The shopkeeper instantly snapped to attention.
"Yes! I'll pack everything up immediately!"
He hurriedly began stuffing beautifully bound magic books from the shelves into a storage ring.
Then he ran into the back room.
About three minutes later, he returned.
"This shop has 80 magic books in total."
"20 Tier-3 magic books."
"30 Tier-2 magic books."
"30 Tier-1 magic books."
"All different titles."
Rei scanned the storage ring with his perception.
Indeed—80 books.
That's actually… not many.
The shopkeeper began explaining.
"Tier-1 magic books are 1 gold each. A few rare ones cost 1 gold 50 silver."
"Tier-2 magic books are 10 gold each. Some are custom spells created by individual mages, so they cost 20 gold."
"Tier-3 magic books cost 100 gold each. Some special ones go for 400–500 gold."
The shopkeeper weighed the pouch again.
"Hehe, esteemed customer."
"I've calculated everything. This is your change."
Magic really was expensive.
100 gold for a single book.
That was equivalent to the earnings of a Level-3 adventurer working for three months.
And that only bought one spellbook.
But without such books, even if a mage reached Level 3, they might still be unable to learn Tier-3 magic.
The Mage class was different from others.
When a Warrior reached Level 3, their body underwent a qualitative transformation.
Their physical strength jumped to a new tier.
Their combat styles simply unlocked new techniques, and the improved physique amplified their power.
It was straightforward.
But for Mages—
The strength of magic was primarily tied to spell tier and proficiency.
Leveling up mostly increased mana and maybe improved casting speed.
Beyond that, there were few obvious improvements.
To significantly increase power, they had to learn higher-tier spells.
But high-tier spells required money.
A mage with spells was a supreme mage.
A mage without spells was just a weakling.
No wonder high-tier mages rarely remained independent.
Most joined magic academies.
Apparently, academy libraries allowed free borrowing of magic books.
Professors even personally taught key techniques.
Listening to a single lecture could equal an entire day of solo practice.
Any mage had to study at an academy for several years.
Otherwise, they couldn't even afford to learn spells.
"Alright. If you get new spells in stock, I'll come back."
Rei collected the storage ring.
He didn't care how much profit the shopkeeper made.
Even spending tens of thousands of gold meant nothing to him now.
Clearing one dungeon and killing ten Nation-Destroyer-class monsters meant two million gold.
Instead of wasting time arguing over trivial sums, he could simply clear a Tier-4 instance.
"Mental Resonance Barrier, Thunder Wave, Daylight, Darkvision…"
Tier-3 spells were clearly far more advanced than Tier-2 ones.
First of all, mental spells appeared at this tier—something Tier-2 lacked.
Spells for mental attack and defense.
Meanwhile, elemental magic now showed the potential for battlefield clearing.
Large areas.
Significant damage.
And from Tier-3 onward, elemental magic began incorporating dual-element fusion.
Starting at Level 3, mages were no longer the pathetic casters who spent ages chanting just to launch an ice spike that barely crippled a monster.
Perhaps because his main class was Mage, Rei often felt compelled to complain.
Normal mages felt so… weak.
Why were their spells so complicated yet so underpowered?
As for other classes, he didn't have much personal experience.
Though encountering Atrlendo in the Combat Arena had given him a positive impression of warriors.
They seemed like a powerful class.
"Lightning of Betrayal, Wave of Trembling—"
Rei stopped halfway through chanting and glanced around.
…Forget it.
Casting magic in the middle of the street wasn't a good idea.
Eventually, he found himself once again at the [Combat Arena].
Rei intended to push his record to 500 wins.
He stepped through the Gate of Battle.
[Current Rank: Level-3 Combatant]
[Achievement Reached: 200-Win Streak — World Quick Match Unlocked]
[Do you wish to enable Quick Match?]
[You will be matched with combatants from battle zones outside the City Within the Circle]
Rei raised an eyebrow.
"There's even a feature like this… The War God's monument really is full of fancy tricks."
"Alright. Quick match it is."
How many Combat Arenas existed in this world?
The Loren Kingdom had three.
One in the City Within the Circle.
One in the capital Knoroya.
And one in Baihan City.
Their rival, the Riga Kingdom, had four.
It was said Combat Arenas existed across the world.
Not just on the Rilen Continent—
Even in the rumored Hell and Heaven.
Of course, whether those realms truly existed remained widely debated.
[Match Found]
Buzz—
A beam of light descended.
A creature appeared before Rei.
It had black wings, crimson skin, and two horns on its head.
Oh?
Not human.
The creature roared the instant it appeared.
"ROAAAR!"
A faint blood aura spread around it.
Two curved blades were already gripped in its hands.
"A warrior…?"
But different races couldn't be judged by human standards.
Each race had different classes.
For example, humans had a class called Demon Hunter.
But demons themselves certainly wouldn't have Demon Hunters.
Hunt themselves?
Rei became slightly cautious.
[Countdown — 2]
The opponent had no special title above its head.
So it probably wasn't something like an Ultimate Warrior.
Still, he couldn't be careless.
Better treat it seriously.
[Countdown — 1]
[Battle Start]
Whoosh!
Rei sensed it instantly—
The creature appeared behind him almost instantly.
Not a warrior.
An assassin?
But at the same moment—
Layers of shields erupted around Rei.
「Thousand-Wave Enduring Water Barrier (Tier-3) (LV:301)」「Encircling Lava Mantle (Tier-3) (LV:301)」「Absolute Repulsion Storm Guard (Tier-3) (LV:301)」「Corrosive Black Shield (Tier-3) (LV:301)」
…
Thirty-six layers of shields instantly surrounded him.
And on the outermost layer—
Four Origin: True Sanctuary Barriers, the ascended version of protective shields.
CLANG!
Before the curved blades could even fall—
Rei had already raised his hand.
「Instant Burst Wind Detonation (Tier-3) (LV:301)」
The ascended version of Repulsion Wind Blast.
BOOM!
A compressed storm exploded directly in front of the creature.
Unlike the previous linear wind blasts, this explosion detonated right on its body like a solid blast.
Its repulsive force was on an entirely different level.
The moment the wind exploded—
Spikes shot up behind the enemy!
They pierced straight through its airborne body.
「Black Crystal Spike (Tier-2) (LV:301)」
A variant of Crystal Wood Spike.
Extremely hard and sharp—and poisonous.
Stone spikes for hardness.
Ice spikes for freezing.
Wood spikes for sharp poison.
This was Rei's evolved combination of spike magic.
[Winner: Kanzaki Rei]
Huh?
Dead?
It died in one hit.
He thought it might be strong.
After all, it was the first non-human opponent he had encountered, so he had been extra serious.
But apparently—
Other races weren't that impressive either.
Rei easily disposed of it.
While slightly surprised, he also learned the new spells he had just purchased.
Then he started matching again.
Sure enough, it was much faster.
Previously, matchmaking took several minutes.
Now it happened instantly.
[Opponent — Free Void: Devour Night]
…What kind of name is that?
Sounds pretty intimidating.
Rei looked at the creature that appeared before him.
It was pitch black.
Its hair writhed like Medusa's snake hair, except entirely black.
Its hands were clasped together.
"Human?"
"Interesting…"
"I've never encountered a human opponent before. I thought humanity had already run out of fighters."
Oh?
This one had a title.
Free Void?
What was that supposed to mean?
And his words sounded quite arrogant.
"Humanity has no one left."
So he was looking down on humans.
Was he really that strong?
Rei didn't have the habit of talking during fights unless necessary.
[Countdown — 1]
Whoosh!
Again—appearing behind him.
Seriously, couldn't anyone attack from the front like a proper fight?
Thirty-six shields instantly activated.
The wind blast detonated.
But at almost the same moment—
A hand emerged from inside the opponent's body.
In its palm was a dark sphere.
BOOM!
The dark sphere collided with the wind blast.
Shock flashed across the creature's single eye.
In the next instant—
It was blasted backward.
What spell was that?
He couldn't neutralize it?
But just before crashing into the wooden spikes—
Its body vanished again.
The next moment—
It reappeared beside Rei.
「Instant White Flash (Tier-3) (LV:301)」
WHOOSH!
The moment it appeared—
Four white flashes pierced straight through its body.
What insanely fast magic!
Something's wrong!
After being suppressed twice, Devour Night vanished again, retreating to create distance.
This time it fled nearly one kilometer away.
But the flashes still pursued him.
Whoosh—
And following the flashes came an overwhelming storm of spells.
Fire scorching the earth.
Ice freezing the sky.
The moment he sensed them—
There were…
Hundreds of spells blasting toward him simultaneously.
…Was this really a human?