If one were to speak of morality, Kanzaki Rei did possess a sense of it.
But when it came to the conduct of gentlemen and villains… he was fully aware that he was no true gentleman.
In truth, Rei didn't even believe what he was doing was right.
He simply understood perfectly well that it wasn't right—and chose to keep doing it anyway.
I entered this ward through my own ability.
Not taking anything should already count as restraint. What's wrong with taking a look?
Wards existed to prevent entry and protect important things.
If he strictly followed the rules—
Then wouldn't the talent he had awakened for breaking wards be completely wasted?
Rei borrowed knowledge openly and without guilt.
He had long since shed any psychological burden.
A sheet of copying paper touched the page.
Because the book's protective ward had already been broken, its contents could now be copied directly.
Page by page, Rei reproduced the text.
Soon the copied pages stacked into a thick bundle.
Then he moved on to the next book.
"Sacred Light Spell: Purification of Original Sin"
Mm. Borrowed.
"Punitive Light Spell: Prayerflame of Sin"
Mm. Borrowed for a look.
"The Holy War Light Style"
A combat technique style for light-element practitioners. Not bad… borrowed.
"Celestial Creature Summoning Magic"
Oh?
That sounded promising.
The previous Void Creature Summon spell had been immensely satisfying for Rei to use. Afterward he had deliberately searched for other summoning magic.
But he quickly discovered that summoning spells in this world were absurdly rare.
At Loynz Magic Academy, the only ones available were:
Fire Elemental Summon
Water Elemental Summon
Even spells that should logically exist alongside them—like earth, wind, or lightning elementals—were nowhere to be found.
In the end, Rei had taken the fire and water summoning spells and reverse-engineered the remaining elemental versions himself.
But strictly speaking, those weren't true summoning spells.
They were merely elemental manipulation disguised as summoning.
Originally, he was just summoning a lump of burning flame and remotely controlling it to attack enemies.
That was basically remote-controlled fire.
How could that count as a true summon?
Only after he later upgraded those spells into Transcendent Magic did they finally qualify as genuine elemental summoning.
Otherwise, they had been little more than fancy elemental puppetry.
Yet now—
He had discovered another summoning spell here.
As expected.
Everything hidden away in this forbidden hall was top-tier material.
The Light Church's Forbidden Hall really did contain an astonishing number of treasures.
Rei rapidly copied the contents of each book.
Then he placed every original volume back exactly where it had been.
The wards remained intact.
Nothing was damaged.
No disturbance occurred.
Rei had come quietly—
And he left just as quietly.
Without taking a single item.
Thinking back on the experience afterward, Rei couldn't help feeling a rush of excitement.
Fortune favors the bold.
This was probably the most dangerous risk he had deliberately taken since arriving in this world.
Before infiltrating the forbidden hall, he had spent two full days scouting the area.
He confirmed no Observers were monitoring the place continuously.
After breaking the wards, he had also swept the entire hall with his perception, performing meticulous inspections to ensure there were:
no hidden traps
no detection artifacts
no tracking magic
Only after multiple rounds of careful probing did he finally take the risk.
At present, the only people who could instantly threaten his life were Level 7 Class-Advancers.
Against a Level 6, Rei estimated he could at least stall briefly… and escape.
"But the harvest really was good…"
These spellbooks felt far superior to ordinary magic found outside.
Even spells of the same tier could differ dramatically.
Within the same tier, some spells could devastate the heavens, while others were no better than a puff of air.
Especially that tome labeled Forbidden Magic.
Rei was full of anticipation.
Hopefully it was a spell.
Loynz Magic Academy
Compared to staying at home, Iz spent far more time at the academy.
So Rei frequently came here to find him.
Iz held the stack of copied manuscripts in his hand.
"Oh…"
"You're saying these copies of highly classified secret tomes—originally stored in the Light Church—were something you accidentally picked up on the road?"
His tone remained calm.
…Okay.
That excuse did sound a little weak.
The fact that Iz could identify their origin so easily surprised Rei.
Then again, Iz's magical knowledge far surpassed that of ordinary people.
Rei realized he should have invented a better story.
Seeing that the lie wouldn't hold, he prepared to confess.
"Iz—"
Iz Parult suddenly asked:
"So, you also went to steal magic books."
Rei's words halted abruptly.
Instead he asked,
"What do you mean also?"
Looking up, he saw Iz smiling faintly—an approving smile.
It was the expression of a teacher pleased with a promising student.
"Worthy of my disciple," Iz said.
"You actually managed to borrow the Light Church's secret scriptures."
"Back in my day, I only managed to borrow the original texts of the Cold Church, and briefly 'consult' the secret techniques of the Riga Kingdom."
"But the Light Church…"
"They hide their texts extremely well."
For a moment, Rei didn't know what to say.
Was that something to be proud of?
Iz suddenly asked another question.
"Rei, what is the guiding principle of a mage?"
"To pursue… the Root?"
Wasn't that basic knowledge?
Why ask now?
"Oh… I see."
Iz nodded.
"Exactly."
"We are simply walking the path of our principles—seeking the Root through every possible method."
"You did well."
"You're properly practicing the mage's creed."
Rei was deeply shaken.
So it can be interpreted like that?!
At that moment, Iz's moral standing dropped slightly in Rei's mind.
After helping Rei rationalize the situation, Iz asked again:
"These should be forbidden spells stored at the church headquarters."
"How exactly did you get them?"
Rei thought for a moment and decided to answer somewhat honestly.
"I've recently made some progress as a Puzzle Scholar… so I broke their wards."
"Oh~"
Iz leaned forward.
"Then can you break other ones?"
"Uh… probably."
Rei didn't sound entirely certain.
"I remember the Dark Church has some very interesting dark forbidden spells."
"Unfortunately their vaults are sealed extremely well. I never had a chance."
"And if the Dark Church starts hunting you down, that becomes troublesome."
"When I borrowed the Cold Church's original texts back then… they chased me for quite a long time."
I actually borrowed mine…
You just robbed them.
Iz continued:
"If you ever find a way to obtain the Dark Church's scriptures, I could assist a little."
"Of course, it's best not to attract attention."
"If we can avoid being discovered and operate quietly, that would be ideal."
What kind of master encourages his disciple to rob forbidden vaults?
And even proposes working together?
Now Rei fully understood what Kumironi had meant when she said Iz was obsessed with magic.
If there was an opportunity to learn unique spells—especially forbidden ones—
Iz simply didn't care about anything else.
"I'll… think about it."
Rei responded vaguely.
Better to study the magic he already had first.
As for the future…
That could wait.
Still, knowing Iz Parult was willing to act as an accomplice gave Rei a lot more confidence.
Even if something went wrong, someone powerful would be backing him up.
And as for whether it counted as stealing—
When it came to a mage, what was wrong with taking a look?
If even Iz Parult said so, then there was no need to overthink it.
If anyone asked—
He could always say his master taught him.
Their conversation shifted from future plans to practical matters.
"These light spells really are extraordinary…"
Forbidden Magic: Heavenly Judgment Purification
This was Rei's first encounter with Forbidden Magic.
The spell had no tier restriction.
It could be learned at any level stage.
However, its power and effects scaled depending on the level at which it was cast.
Effect:Summons a pillar of light that descends from the sky, continuously burning and imprisoning the locked target. The pillar persists until the target dies or the caster manually dispels it.
It possessed extremely strong bonuses against:
Evil
Undead
Dark-attribute enemies
Its area was also massive.
Even at Tier 3, the radius already reached 300 meters.
As expected of forbidden magic.
It was simply far stronger than ordinary spells.
"Oh, Iz—this spell is fine too, right?"
"Then I'll learn it."
With Iz helping identify spells, learning became incredibly convenient.
It saved Rei from the tedious process of testing whether a book contained dangerous forbidden knowledge.
In a single afternoon, Rei learned more than ten Light-attribute spells.
And these were not the cheap versions found outside.
Every single one was top-tier.
Unfortunately, some spells required levels too high for him to learn yet.
Sigh.
He still needed to raise his Mage level as soon as possible.
Rei had already told Iz about the progress of his Second Origin Magic.
Iz estimated Rei would likely comprehend it around February.
Rei's own estimate was similar.
Though with enough inspiration, it might happen even earlier.
There was no point rushing.
Fortunately, his other classes were still leveling during this period.
Even without increasing his Mage level, his overall strength continued growing.
December 10
Rei still hadn't visited the Dark Church's Forbidden Hall.
Instead, he set out with Iz and Kumironi for the former headquarters of the Death Church.
Class advancement came first.
Wind roared around them.
Rei flew through the sky under Iz's guidance as landscapes rushed past below.
This world really is enormous.
High above the ground, Rei couldn't help reflecting.
The Ruilun Continent alone was larger than the entire surface area of Earth in his previous life.
And beyond Ruilun were five other continents of similar size.
Plus the Secret Sea.
Then again—
Earth had only seemed small because humanity couldn't leave the planet.
In truth it was merely a tiny speck in the universe.
If this world had no outer space limiting exploration…
Perhaps the correct comparison would be the entire universe.
Wind howled again.
Rei had no idea how fast Iz was flying.
All he could do was stare toward the horizon as distant mountain ranges rapidly approached.
Back then, Iz had chased Messer at this speed for three straight days.
Just how far had they traveled?
Suddenly—
Whoosh!
Iz and Kumironi stopped midair.
From extreme speed to a complete halt happened instantly.
"What's wrong?" Rei asked.
Iz looked toward the distance.
Rei followed his gaze.
Far away, a dark mass of monsters surged like a tidal wave, surrounding a small town nestled at the foot of the mountains.
Iz said,
"Looks like we'll need to make a small detour."
Rei nodded.
"Alright."
They accelerated again.
In less than thirty seconds, they reached the town that had once been barely visible on the horizon.
Iz landed.
Kumironi descended inside the town and raised her hand.
A beam of emerald light shot skyward.
It condensed into green rainclouds.
Then rain began to fall.
Everyone touched by the droplets had their wounds rapidly healing.
"There are quite a lot of them…" Rei observed.
He looked at the dense monster swarm.
"This is a Tier-5 monster tide."
"Monster tides during this month really are much fiercer than usual."
"Rei, can you handle it?"
Rei nodded.
"Yes."
"I'll take care of it."
He raised the Astral Ring Void Star War-Spear.
Cracks opened across the sky.
Five hundred winged angels emerged from the rifts.
Then—
Twenty massive Void creatures descended.
BOOM!
The moment the Void creatures touched the ground—
The slaughter began.
Rei raised his hand again.
The dark crimson cloud-covered sky split open.
Blazing pillars of light crashed toward the earth.
Light Forbidden Magic: Judgment Purification of All Sin(Tier 4, Level 301)
Numerous descending pillars of light
Paths burned by holy flame
Soul-searing karmic fire
Power increases over time while burning
Extremely difficult to extinguish
Extremely fast movement
Special damage against Evil, Undead, Dark entities
Purifies monsters
Pillars of light plowed across the land.
Thirty-six beams, each nearly 500 meters in radius, swept across the battlefield.
Mountains struck by the beams left behind glowing white-red trails of molten rock.
Any monster touched by the light simply vanished.
Not even ash remained.
Rei had no interest in low-tier monster corpses anymore.
He wasn't short on money.
As for leaving them to the townspeople?
Heh.
They were about to die—why worry about profiting from monster corpses?
The strongest person in the town was only a Tier-4 Class-Advancer.
And there was just one of them.
How could they possibly resist a Tier-5 monster tide?
If Rei hadn't arrived, the town would have been destroyed before long.
For ordinary people, rampaging monsters were simply natural disasters.
The pillars swept across once.
Large swaths of monsters died instantly.
Since the tide was dense, Rei also activated Thousand-Army Ant Mountain, letting it produce more black ants to harvest souls.
Under its relentless efficiency, the monster tide rapidly thinned.
Within about thirty minutes, the battlefield was almost completely clear.
"Finished."
If only Thousand-Army Ant Mountain were even more efficient.
Rei remembered discussing monster biology with Yuna.
In theory, monsters could evolve from lower tiers into higher ones.
Even that monster soul he once encountered had mentioned evolution.
Which meant monsters themselves could evolve.
Perhaps he should think about how to improve Thousand-Army Ant Mountain's efficiency.
Saving the town.
Receiving their gratitude.
Rei began to understand that kind of journey.
Afterward they continued flying, though at a slightly slower speed.
Below them, Rei occasionally saw ruins flashing past among mountains and rivers.
Places where civilizations once stood.
Where people once lived.
Sometimes monsters wandered through abandoned villages.
Whenever they encountered such places, Iz would land and casually cast a spell—wiping out all nearby monsters.
Then Kumironi would shake her head.
"There are no survivors."
…
"How cruel," Rei murmured.
Iz replied calmly,
"This happens everywhere in this world."
"We cannot save everyone."
"We can only do what lies within our power."
Rei asked,
"Is that why you dislike participating in wars, Master? Monsters killing people is already brutal enough—yet humans still kill each other."
Iz nodded.
"Yes… that's one reason."
Along the way they saved two towns.
But they saw hundreds of ruined villages, towns, and even city-states.
Some might have fallen recently.
Others perhaps long ago.
At several places they found monsters still roaming the ruins—but no living humans remained.
Around noon, the three finally landed.
Before them stood a hidden base inside a mountain cave.
Naturally, the Death Church wouldn't build a conspicuous palace.
This had once been their headquarters.
Rei sensed a powerful ward surrounding the area.
It seemed something still remained inside.
Kumironi spoke:
"Let's go."
"For today, no church members will come here."
"But we still need to be careful."
"We absolutely cannot let the church discover this."
Rei glanced at her.
Kumironi… your stealth aura is pretty strong too.