His spiritual power had increased—
—but compared to his advancement as a Death Priest, the improvement was far too small.
The Mage class, after all, had its limits when it came to enhancing spirituality.
Two new Mage masteries appeared:
[Mage Mastery — Insight Seeker (Exclusive): Allows easier inspiration from various sources, greatly enhancing the ability to derive new magical creations.][Mage Mastery — Arcane Cipher (Exclusive): All magic possesses a core; allows encryption of magic, making it far more difficult to decipher or disrupt.]
Harder to decipher…
Heh, Iz.
Let's see if you can still analyze my magic now.
—
The level-up didn't directly grant him new spells.
Aside from a massive increase in mana, and a clear perception of spatial changes and the flow of spatial elements…
There were no other immediate gains.
Level 4 Mage — grants control over spatial elements.
Kanzaki Rei could now see them.
Unlike other elements, spatial elements varied in density, permeating every corner of the world, forming a continuous, glass-like structure.
It was incredibly complex.
Like looking at a geometric figure filled with intersecting lines and being asked how many squares or triangles it contained.
Only now that he could perceive it did Rei realize—
Space itself wasn't fully continuous.
It fractured… and reconnected.
"A whole different world…"
A different perspective.
A different understanding.
The higher one ascended, the further one transcended mortality.
—
[Talent Acquired: Lost Sea of Magic (Supreme) → God-Tier · Absolute Law]
Another Supreme-tier evolution.
There was always that subtle feeling—
Upgrading a low-tier talent to God-Tier felt more rewarding than upgrading a Supreme-tier one.
Like he'd somehow "earned less."
Of course, the thought passed in an instant.
Rei understood clearly—
The tier didn't really matter.
From Common to Extraordinary, the first three tiers of talents leaned toward foundational enhancement.
From Excellent to Supreme, talents began to approach abstract, rule-adjacent abilities.
But even then—
They couldn't truly distort rules.
—
[God-Tier · Absolute Law]Completes the missing fragments of extinguished originsAllows comprehension of all lost magicRepairs incomplete lawsDirectly learns same-tier Origin Magic from othersGrants immunity to all knowledge-based corruption
—
Absolute Law.
The moment this talent formed, a line from his earliest magic textbook surfaced in his mind:
[There is no perfect magic in this world.]
Magic decayed with time.
Ancient spells vanished.
Spatial magic had nearly disappeared—only a handful remained.
Its theories no longer aligned with reality.
And magic, as a discipline, was built upon reality.
If theory and reality diverged—
Magic couldn't manifest.
So what did it mean to "restore laws"?
Were spells currently unusable because the underlying laws were incomplete?
Or—
Were all existing spells, in some way, already flawed?
This talent would require time to fully understand.
But one thing was certain—
Ancient spellbooks he had obtained might now become usable.
And more importantly—
He could directly comprehend other people's Origin Magic.
A God-Tier talent, effortlessly rewriting a rule once thought absolute.
—
Aside from the new talent, all Mage-related talents experienced growth.
All skill level caps increased to LV: 401.
Meaning—
Magic could now evolve four times.
With [God-Tier · Ascension], Tier 4 spells could now be elevated to Tier 5.
The difference between Tier 4 and Tier 5 was a qualitative leap.
And the higher one went—
The greater the gap between tiers.
Tier 8 and Tier 9… were likely worlds apart.
—
Multi-Casting advanced from 4 simultaneous casts → 5 simultaneous casts.
Rei could now condense five "Cores."
Likewise, his other Origin Magics could each generate five "Sources."
—
Class Levels:Level 4 Mage / Level 4 Death Priest / Level 4 Decipherer / Level 4 Warrior
A rather ominous number—
At least, in his previous world.
Here, the number 4 didn't carry the same connotation as "death."
Just old superstition.
—
Everyone stared at him intently.
Only after Rei fully withdrew his magic did someone finally speak:
"…Is the ascension complete?"
Rei looked up.
The void in the sky had already vanished.
"Yeah. It's done."
He turned to Kumironi.
She asked, "Any signs of contamination?"
Rei shook his head. "Doesn't seem like it."
He checked his own body.
Nothing.
Kumironi also examined him thoroughly.
Rei trusted her completely—
After all, she had once healed damage inflicted by divine authority itself.
"…Confirmed. No issues," Kumironi said with certainty.
—
"Then… we slow down?" a mechanist asked.
Rei nodded. "Yeah, reduce speed."
Whoosh—
A faint forward pull of inertia.
The airship gradually decelerated.
Rei looked back.
In the far distance, faint black specks still pursued them—
But as they chased, they continued to dissipate.
As the ship slowed further, he waited a moment longer.
The black specks… vanished entirely.
"They didn't catch up. And they're gone."
A faint smile appeared on Rei's face.
"…Looks like this method works."
—
The scholars exchanged glances.
Their faces were filled with disbelief.
"That's it…? That's all it took?"
Everything felt unreal.
They had considered countless approaches:
Separating spirituality.
Blocking its descent.
Perfecting ritual structures.
Finding materials that could resist contamination.
Seeking powers like Kumironi's purification.
And yet—
Who would have thought…
As long as you ran fast enough, you could outrun it?
Damn it!
Decades of research—reduced to something almost laughable.
Like struggling endlessly to extract a rare material—
Only to discover you could just stick tape on it and peel it off.
—
This experiment had only been conducted because it was theoretically plausible.
No one had placed high hopes on it.
There had been countless concerns:
What if the corruption entities could teleport?
What if they accelerated alongside their target?
What if they already possessed equivalent speed?
What if they didn't dissipate over time?
So many variables.
And yet—
They actually outran them?
Ridiculous.
—
At that moment, the white-haired mechanist coughed lightly.
"…There's still one issue."
"How fast are these corruption entities, exactly?"
"Are we far beyond their speed—or just barely escaping?"
"And maintaining this speed with Radiant Flight… consumes a lot of fuel."
—
The room fell silent.
Reality snapped back into place.
What speed was required?
That question was crucial.
—
And Loren…
Didn't even have a Level 7 Mechanist.
They couldn't build a ship like Radiant Flight.
In fact—
They barely had any mechanists at all.
—
A scholar asked, "Can magic reach this speed?"
Rei replied calmly, "Magic is a personal miracle. I think it's extremely difficult."
As a master of magic, he was qualified to answer.
Even he—
Could only achieve comparable speeds in brief bursts.
He couldn't sustain it.
And he certainly couldn't grant that speed to others.
Launching an enemy a thousand kilometers instantly?
That, he could figure out.
But transporting people safely—
Maintaining high velocity—
Supporting a massive ritual array—
All simultaneously?
Even for him—
That bordered on impossible.
—
Perhaps it could be done.
But the difficulty would rival that of finding a Level 7 Mechanist to build another Radiant Flight.
—
In the end—
This wasn't Rei's problem alone.
That was the White Tower's domain.
If they couldn't find a breakthrough soon…
They'd have to rent this airship from Tengel.
At a staggering cost.
Fuel alone would be exorbitant.
—
From a financial perspective—
The technical problem of early awakening had been solved.
But the cost per awakening…
Would be astronomical.
And early awakening didn't guarantee success.
If they spent tens of millions of gold—
Only to awaken a failure…
Loren would be devastated.
—
…
On the return journey to Knolorea, they had time to admire the Secret Sea.
Its waters were deep blue, tinged with faint streaks of dark iridescence.
They said countless monsters lurked in the depths—
But since they couldn't leave their domain, they posed little threat to the continents.
—
The skies, once filled with aerial monsters—
Had thinned dramatically since two thousand years ago.
Now, only a few remained.
—
Far in the distance—
A continent.
"Tengel," a mechanist said.
At normal speed, it would take ten days to reach.
Roughly 100 km/s.
Incredibly far.
—
Iz had once claimed—
His Tier 6 Origin Magic could destroy all continents within the Secret Sand Archipelago.
Heh.
Rei had no comment.
—
…
Back in Knolorea—
Rei headed straight for the Mage Tower.
"Eldrin."
Eldrin was teaching again.
As an Origin Mage, his private lessons cost 100 gold per student.
Not his earnings—
Each student paid that much.
A price most adventurers could never afford.
—
Rei walked directly into the classroom.
At the childish voice, Eldrin frowned.
"Who is it?"
He turned—
And instantly stood at attention.
"C-Chief!"
Rei's reputation now spoke for itself.
He was no longer the newcomer who had faced skepticism upon arriving in Knolorea.
—
"Class dismissed early. Come with me."
With a casual motion, Rei pulled Eldrin to his side.
At the same time, he tossed out a pouch of gold.
"To compensate your lesson. Split it among yourselves."
A full 20,000 gold.
He didn't even bother counting.
—
"C-Chief, wait—wait wait wait!!"
"What's going on?!"
Seeing Rei's serious expression, Eldrin trembled violently.
As if realizing something—
He immediately dropped to his knees, wailing:
"Chief! Everyone does it!"
"It's not just me!"
"The teacher next door—Tino! And the one after that—Pava! They all take money too!"