Boarding this kind of bizarre vehicle...was honestly a little unsettling.
Especially since... it had been built across an entire Month of Forgetting.
Who knew if theyâd accidentally left out some crucial componentâforgotten to install it entirely?
Still... it didnât matter much anymore.
He could fly now.
Even if this airship crashed, he wouldnât die from the fall.
"Hahaha! You must be Kanzaki Rei, right!"
A white-haired middle-aged man strode over.
Kanzaki Rei looked at him. He was likely the chief engineer of this entire projectâhis portrait had been sketched in Reiâs fire-mark paper records.
"Things from the Month of Forgetting... arenât remembered very clearly," the man added.
Rei nodded. "Mm. Thatâs right."
Over the past few days, everyone had been trying to recover what had happened during the Month of Forgetting.
Fortunately, history books and important records had been written using Trace-Preserving Paper and Long-Stasis Ink.
Quite a bit had been retained.
But even so, the effects of the Month of Forgetting were overwhelming.
Most records had already dissipated.
What remained were fragmentsâscattered, incomplete.
Still, objects themselves didnât vanish with the Month of Forgetting. Archaeologists could reconstruct events by examining items that had mysteriously appeared during that time.
It was almost absurdâarchaeologists studying things that had happened just days ago.
The records of the Life Church, however, remained intact.
Perhaps because the Month of Forgetting had been immediately followed by the Month of Life.
Among those preserved records... was the account of Kanzaki Rei slaying a god.
Those who had already been shocked once during the Month of Forgetting were shocked all over again in the Month of Life.
"Truly a young... ah, a childhood hero."
...That phrasing felt strange. "Childhood hero" wasnât exactly a flattering title.
"This airship has already been tested," the old engineer continued.
"We ran multiple trials yesterday. No issues with advancementâthe ritual completes normally."
Rei nodded. "Understood."
Yesterday had been split into two sessionsâmorning and afternoonâawakening over sixty people in total.
Rei himself had already come to observe in disguise during the afternoon.
As for why he had disguised himself...
He simply didnât want his real identity affecting what he saw.
"Come on, lad. Everythingâs ready."
"If your advancement succeeds this time... it might mark a major step forward in human history."
"Alright."
If this experiment succeeded, then his future advancement from Level 4 to Level 5 would also be secured.
Not just for others.
But for himself.
Kumironi was already waiting at the central platform.
The airship was a striking blend of white and gold.
Its model name: "Radiant Flight."
It was said to be the masterpiece of a Level 7 Mechanist.
After completing it, the creator had left Tengar entirelyâthis ship being his parting gift.
Since then, Tengarâs mechanists had repeatedly disassembled and modified it.
As for whether that was a good thing...
According to them, its performance had been "greatly enhanced."
And if anything went wrong?
Tengar still had a powerful Level 6 Mechanist who had preserved the original blueprintsâand all dismantled components were carefully stored.
Worst case, they could reassemble it exactly as it was.
They couldnât recreate it from scratch, but maintenance and restoration were well within their capabilities.
Recently, their main task had been...
Removing the shipâs built-in speed limiters.
Apparently, the original creator had imposed restrictions for safety reasons.
Now, for the sake of civilizationâs advancement...
They finally had a legitimate excuse to remove them.
No wonder theyâd rushed to Loren so eagerly.
These mechanists had probably been itching to take those limiters off for a long time.
Still...
Was this really safe?
Rei couldnât help but feel a faint unease.
His records described mechanists as... a group of absolute lunatics.
Rei stepped into the center of the ritual array.
Hummmâ
The airship began to vibrate lightly.
"All hands, weâre starting!" an operator shouted.
The scholars immediately braced themselvesâgrabbing poles or pressing against the walls.
BOOM!
In an instant, the ship accelerated violently!
The surrounding scenery stretched and blurred.
The speed... was unquestionably terrifying.
Many of the scholars nearly lost their footing.
The mechanists fared betterâthey were half combat-class.
But the scholars had to cling tightly to avoid being thrown off.
The white-haired engineer shouted:
"Once we reach maximum speedâwe begin!"
Kanzaki Rei and Kumironi stood as if on solid ground.
Unshaken.
10 km/s100 km/s200 km/s
The ship continued accelerating.
The scenery became completely indistinct.
500 km/s.
"Not yet! Still not max speed!"
Kumironi frowned. "Didnât we go slower yesterday?"
Another mechanist replied:
"Fuel costs money, miss! Canât waste premium fuel on test subjects! Use it all now, weâll have none left today!"
Rei swallowed slightly.
This speed was already nearing half of his own limit.
His burst speed relied on Rift Flashâso increases in his other class levels hadnât significantly improved his peak velocity.
Acceleration continued.
800 km/s.
Through his perception, Rei sawâ
Nine exhaust ports at the rear of the ship, each trailing a brilliant stream of light.
At the same timeâ
He sensed spatial distortion forming at both the front and rear of the vessel.
So this... was the creation of a Level 7 Mechanist?
No magical fluctuations.
Purely mechanical structure.
Even in a world dominated by magic...
technology was not to be underestimated.
"Canât push it further! Weâve hit the limit!" the operator called out.
Rei and Kumironi exchanged a glance.
Who else could advance sixteen levels in less than a year?
Ah.
That one...
"Saint One."
Who knew what path he would take in this life?
With memories of a previous life, leveling as a mage would be effortless.
Understanding came instantly.
Advancement would be as easy as breathing.
Rei gave a slight nod.
Kumironi raised her handâ
And the light of the advancement ritual ignited!
The sky split open with countless cracks!
But in the blink of an eyeâ
They were flung far behind!
Looking backâ
Rei saw countless writhing black masses chasing them.
The Corruption Worms.
Theyâd been... left behind?
"Rei, anything we missed?" Kumironi asked.
Rei shook his head.
"Theyâre all shaken off."
The ritual light surged upwardâ
And a massive void opened in the sky.
The origin of magic.
The endpoint of the Root.
Rei raised both hands.
His body turned radiant and indistinct.
[Tier 3 Origin Magic: Source · Myriad Laws][Tier 4 Origin Magic: Source · Body as Law][Tier 4 Origin Magic: Core of All Things Unified]
Brilliant, prismatic light eruptedâ
Wrapping the entire airship in overwhelming power.
Below themâ
No longer land.
Only ocean.
They had left the Ruilen Continent.
Now flying over the Secret Sea.
Rei gazed outward.
An endless expanse stretched before him.
This was his first time leaving Ruilen.
His first time seeing the so-called Secret Sea.
It was... vast.
Beyond comprehension.
He raised his hand slightly.
BOOM!
A single "Core" dropped into the oceanâ
And annihilated a massive region instantly!
Magic erupted outward in dazzling explosions as the ship advanced.
Rei looked up at the Origin in the skyâ
And launched another Core toward it.
Over the past few days, he had refined his understanding of the Core.
It wasnât just for casting magic or combat techniques.
It could also be used to trigger... Talents.
A Core represented the entirety of oneself.
And that "entirety"... included Talents.
God-Tier Talents were distortions of rules.
Origin Magic interpreted the fundamental rules of existence.
To isolate and manipulate those distortions...
Rei had spent considerable time thinking.
The Core collided with the Originâ
Hummmâ
It shattered instantly.
But in returnâ
A flood of information surged into Reiâs mind.
[God-Tier · Hidden Origin]
Acquired.
[Creator: None][Origin of Magic, one of the worldâs primordial origins, Endpoint of the RootâHidden Knowledge: Not unique, not eternal][Source of the earliest forbidden magic][Fundamental laws of magic][Direction: Endpoint of the Root]
A direction...
But not a physical one.
It pointed toward something abstractâ
A thought.
An answer.
An indescribable place.
Rei felt his Decipherer class tremble violently.
In his palm, a new Core formed.
At its centerâhimself.
Around itâhis knowledge, thoughts, encoded layers.
Further outwardâhis magic and combat techniques.
At the outermost layerâdefensive magic.
A defensive Core.
Offensive Cores, by contrast, placed magic and techniques on the outer layers.
Even if destroyedâ
they could be reformed.
And then...
another idea surfaced.
Reincarnation.
If these Cores could be preservedâ
then even after reincarnationâ
he could recover everything.
But there was a problem.
As long as even one Core existedâ
he would not truly die.
Only when all Cores were destroyed...
would he enter reincarnation.
Which meantâ
if a Core survivedâ
he could simply regenerate.
No need for reincarnation at all.
...A paradox.
Rei had already completed his answer as a mage.
He casually handed over a pincerâ
the remains of a Level 6 Abyssal monster.
His proof of combat experience.
For mages, combat wasnât strictly requiredâ
just a bonus.
As light descended from the skyâ
Rei felt it.
His Mage class...
had advanced.
Level 4.
...
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