Whoosh!
Wrapped in a rushing gale, the opponent charged straight toward Kanzaki Rei!
A mage rushing into close combat.
So they were also dual-classed as a warrior, it seemed…
Rei murmured an incantation under his breath.
"Howling Wind."
WHOOSH!
A violent storm burst outward!
Yet at that very moment—
Rei noticed countless swirling currents of wind coiling around the opponent's staff.
Whoosh!
With an upward slash, the opponent cut out a wind blade!
The strike split the hurricane Rei had casually thrown.
Using combat techniques to release a wind blade, infusing it with the cutting force of martial arts…
That's actually a clever approach.
The wind Rei had casually cast earlier had merely been a basic gust spell.
It wasn't some transcendent magic.
Rei lightly retreated backward.
"Repelling Water… Binding Wood… Swift Flash…"
He cast several spells experimentally.
Pretending as though he were still chanting.
Ding!BOOM!Bang!
The opponent—Anka—gripped her staff tightly as she pursued Rei in a relentless charge.
Her staff spun through the air—
And flames danced around it.
Flame Dance Technique…
A low-tier spell combined with abbreviated chanting.
Judging from her movements, she had clearly undergone specialized training.
But unfortunately—
After several probing exchanges, Rei saw nothing worth learning from her techniques.
"Instant Flash of Light."
Swish!
Rei extended a single finger.
A ray of light pierced through Anka's body, instantly puncturing her heart.
Anka stared at her chest in disbelief.
She couldn't understand…
Why had she died?
There had been no sign she was about to lose.
[Winner: Kanzaki Rei]
An effortless victory.
The War God Cup was a tournament open to the entire Rilen Continent.
Although Rei was already quite famous within the City Within the Circle, across the continent as a whole—
Very few people likely knew who he was.
Therefore, Rei had no intention of revealing too much of his strength.
Casting spells with shortened chants and casually eliminating opponents was more than enough.
The battle ended.
His next opponent had apparently not finished their match yet.
Rei waited on the spot and took out a yellowed manuscript.
[Manuscript of Armas Zheng]
His perception swept across the document.
The information within resurfaced in Rei's mind.
「Deciphering Scholar Talent — God-Tier · Information Traceback」
The notebook's original records reconstructed themselves inside Rei's consciousness.
Just as expected…
Originally, every page of this notebook had contained entries.
But later—
Someone had erased the records.
Rei didn't know who had done it.
From the year 4997 to 5025, every single day in January had a recorded entry…
That's a lot of information.
Just then, a notification sounded in his mind.
[Opponent Ready]
Rei looked up at the person standing before him.
A warrior.
"You're a Level-3 mage from Loren?"
"A Level-3 entering a tournament like this—haha! Why don't you just surrender now?"
"There's no way you can win anyway."
"I'm the leader of the adventurer group known as the Eastwind Tiger in Rygari!"
Eastwind Tiger…?
Never heard of it.
Do people from Rygari all love chatting this much?
Rei sighed inwardly.
The countdown finished.
Battle start!
"Instant Flash of Light."
Rei recited the line expressionlessly.
From the tip of his cheap staff, a flash burst forth.
In an instant—
It pierced through the man's body and destroyed his heart.
So weak…
After the fight ended, Rei once again had to wait for the next match to finish.
After thinking for a moment—
His consciousness shifted.
He joined the spectator seats.
He began searching for Luluvi's battlefield.
He found it quickly.
Her opponent had just arrived, and the two were currently in the ten-second pre-battle exchange phase.
The opponent was provoking her.
But Luluvi didn't respond at all.
She simply waited for the countdown to end—
Then raised her bow.
BOOM!
It was the same attack Rei had seen before.
A shot that pierced through the city, blasted apart layers of ruins, and annihilated everything in its path.
Third match.Fourth match.Fifth match…
Rei suspected that Luluvi might also be watching his matches after finishing her own.
Both of their battles appeared incredibly plain.
Luluvi used only that single attack.
Rei, meanwhile, simply cast one "Instant White Flash" against opponents who showed no special traits, killing them instantly.
Both of them relied on the simplest possible move.
The War God Cup had roughly 1,000 participants.
After seven consecutive rounds of battle, the number of competitors had dropped drastically.
Each round eliminated half of the participants.
After seven rounds—
Accounting for byes—
Only eight people remained.
"Pretty fast…"
So far, only about four hours had passed.
Though during the middle rounds there had been a competitor with absurd defensive power who had dragged a fight out for two full hours.
He had won through pure endurance.
Then in the next round he had dragged another battle out for a long time as well.
That person was a warrior dual-classed as a defender.
An absolute tank.
Both of his classes had already reached Level-4.
After carefully observing the remaining competitors—
It seemed that almost everyone who had reached the final stage was Level-4 in two professions.
A dual Level-4 was essentially equivalent to Level-5 combat strength.
As expected of the War God Cup.
Everyone here had real skill.
Aside from Rei himself, the remaining competitors were:
One Root Mage
Two Ultimate-Intent Warriors
One Trace-less Assassin
One Supreme Archer
One Summoner
One Puppeteer
The Puppeteer was a Secret Tome profession.
Not only had these competitors grasped concepts like Root and Ultimate Intent, but they had also dual-classed and trained both professions to Level-4.
Honestly…
There really are strong people in this world.
These individuals were likely the top champions of their respective cities.
However, in terms of ranking points, they probably still couldn't compare with Rei or Luluvi.
[Your opponent is ready]
Rei looked at the figure before him.
The opponent wore a large hat, the brim pulled low enough to obscure their face.
Gray gloves covered both hands.
Rei's perception swept over the figure.
It wasn't a real person.
It was a puppet.
A Puppeteer, huh?
Come to think of it—
Rei himself still possessed a Secret Tome for the Puppeteer profession.
Neither side seemed particularly interested in talking.
During the countdown, they both remained silent.
[Battle Start!]
Rei's intuition suddenly screamed—
The ground beneath him was about to erupt!
Rei lightly jumped backward.
BOOM!
The earth exploded upward!
A massive creature resembling a giant gorilla burst out from underground.
Boom!
The instant it emerged, it charged toward Rei.
Another warning flashed through his instincts.
But Rei merely tilted his head slightly—
And the attack missed.
「God-Tier · Ultimate Sense」
This ability allowed Rei to perceive danger almost like precognition.
Under this instinct, enemy attacks felt as though they first declared:
"I'm about to attack you like this."
Only then did they actually strike.
At the same time, multiple evasion strategies appeared instantly in Rei's mind.
Rei placed a hand on the arm of the giant gorilla as it swung past him.
In an instant—
Its internal structure was analyzed in his mind.
"I see…"
"Artificial puppet. Controlled remotely."
Splash—
A ring of water pushed the gorilla away.
At that moment—
Another warning struck his instincts.
His perception detected several nearly invisible threads.
His intuition instantly understood:
If those threads pierced his body, he would be controlled like a puppet.
What an interesting profession.
"Flame."
WHOOSH!
Fire erupted instantly, burning the nearly invisible threads.
They were surprisingly resistant to heat.
Rei could feel it.
But immediately afterward—
Another danger warning appeared.
The surrounding space was already filled with countless invisible threads.
These threads also blocked perception.
Without Ultimate Sense, Rei would never have discovered them.
At the same time—
Figures began emerging from all directions.
Humanoid forms carrying weapons:
Swords.Spears.Blades.Shields.
Even staves.
Their bodies shimmered with colorful light.
The material seemed identical to the training dummies in the Advancement Hall.
If that was the case—
These puppets likely possessed physical durability approaching a Level-5 warrior.
And there were so many of them.
BANG!
Five puppets charged Rei from different directions!
"Fierce Strike — White Cleave!"
"Combined Form — Qi Blade Slash!"
One puppet even cast Wind Blade Magic toward him!
Outnumbering the enemy.
And the real body of the puppeteer was hidden somewhere.
Rei had already detected the opponent's location—
But he didn't expose it.
These puppets could not only perform combat techniques…
They could also cast magic.
What an excellent tool.
If Rei ever truly switched to the Puppeteer profession, he might not even need to appear personally during future operations.
He couldn't help but feel slightly tempted by the profession.
Rei easily dodged the puppets' attacks.
He reached out and touched them.
Instantly deciphering their internal construction.
Mechanical gears.
Precision engineering.
The puppet bodies were intricate machines.
So a Mechanist was involved too…
Rei touched another puppet.
Deciphering Scholar Technique:
「Structural Deconstruction」
His power flowed into the puppet's interior, shutting down its mechanisms.
Click.
In an instant, the puppet powered down.
Its eyes dimmed.
It stopped moving entirely.
Oh?
The Deciphering Scholar techniques worked quite well against puppets.
Rei calmly analyzed while weaving between puppets and threads.
He moved so casually it felt like a leisurely walk through a garden.
Meanwhile—
The Puppeteer gradually realized something strange.
This guy…
He seems to be walking toward me.
Unhurried.
Calm.
Step by step…
He had already reached the building where the puppeteer was hiding.
Then he began climbing the stairs.
Wait!
He's not randomly dodging!
He's coming for me!
But how?!
He had hidden himself perfectly.
His second profession was Assassin.
Invisible assassin + puppeteer.
Under normal circumstances, it should be impossible to locate him.
The opponent should have been slowly toyed to death by the puppets.
CRASH!
The puppeteer smashed through a window and fled.
"Why run…"
Rei strolled toward the window.
He tilted his body slightly and shifted one step, calmly dodging the surrounding puppets' attacks.
Then he pointed forward.
Swish!
Light pierced through the fleeing opponent's body.
Easy victory.
After finishing him off, Rei switched to spectator mode again and traveled to another battlefield.
Here—
A Summoner was fighting an Ultimate-Intent Warrior.
The warrior was the same one who had dual-classed as a Defender.
His combat intent seemed to revolve around defense.
Rei saw:
A giant bear engulfed in flames
An undead warrior wielding a massive axe
A four-winged sacred being holding a longbow
Dozens of half-human-sized monsters surrounded the warrior as well.
Meanwhile—
The summoner stood on high ground.
Holding a baton, he seemed to be conducting the battlefield like an orchestra performance.
Level-4 Summoner / Level-4 Commander.
Rei sighed.
None of these people are ordinary.
Commander was a strategic profession, capable of massively enhancing the entire battlefield.
In team combat, the presence or absence of a commander made a world of difference.
And combining Summoner + Commander was clearly a synergy where 1 + 1 > 2.
Clang!Bang bang bang bang—
The warrior held his shield, defending with absolute stability.
His feet were planted like roots in the earth.
He didn't move at all.
He focused purely on destroying the summoned creatures.
He showed no intention of targeting the summoner first.
Maintaining summoned creatures consumed large amounts of mana.
When they died, they needed to be resummoned.
CLANG!
Shield bash.Shield stance.Shield guard.
His defense was overwhelming.
But his attack power was far from weak.
He simply wore the enemy down.
Absorbing attacks.
Converting the enemy's offense into damage for his next counterattack.
Every two or three minutes, he eliminated one large summon through defensive counterstrikes.
Rei muttered:
"What a… iron turtle fighting style."
He wasn't in a hurry.
He would simply grind the opponent down slowly.
If the summoner stopped attacking, the warrior would immediately advance and launch an assault.
But if the summoner attacked—
They would have to maintain summons and consume mana.
In a battle of endurance—
The warrior would inevitably win.
Plain and simple.
Just a contest of who could last longer.
Watching these battles broadened Rei's perspective.
He was seeing all kinds of bizarre strategies and combat styles.
At one point, the summoner tried several times to cancel some summons to conserve mana.
But the moment the pressure eased—
The warrior immediately charged toward him.
[Your opponent is ready]
Oh.
That battle had ended.
Rei returned to his own battlefield.
His next opponent was another Root Mage.
Name: Duskveil.
His entire body was wrapped in white cloth.
Through the perception-blocking fabric, Rei could see flesh underneath that looked burned and charred.
"Lu—"
He stopped himself and said instead:
"Kanzaki Rei."
"I've heard you're also a mage who has comprehended Root."
"But why do you never use Root Magic?"
Rei chuckled lightly.
"I'm not very skilled with it."
"If you don't mind, we could also discuss Root together."
His tone was extremely relaxed.
The opponent hesitated briefly.
"…Alright."
Huh.
Rei hadn't actually expected him to agree.
Yet the man really accepted.
It seemed that when mages met on the battlefield—
If they could communicate, sometimes the fight didn't even need to happen.
A transparent, colorless shield had already formed around Rei's body.
"May I see your Root Magic?" Rei asked.
Duskveil nodded slightly and raised his staff.
SWISH!
In an instant—
Rei and his opponent switched positions.
Rei suddenly found himself much farther away from the man.
The moment Rei saw the spell—
His Root recorded the magic.
「Origin · Spatial Reversal Shift」
It was space-type Root Magic.
An extremely complex spatial spell.
..
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