Chapter 209

An incomprehensible fluctuation exploded outward!

In the next instant, Kanzaki Rei could no longer sense anything beyond the mana storm.

This spell had already surpassed his current understanding.

Within its domain, everything around him became abstract—space itself was being stripped away.

His perception extended outward, yet he couldn’t see Izparut... nor the two Tier 8 class holders.

Then suddenly—

A solid figure appeared beside him.

Obades.

It stood protectively at his side.

At the same time, two more figures emerged—

Kumi Roni, and Akagi.

"Kanzaki Rei," Kumi Roni called softly.

"You can’t stay here any longer."

"We won’t necessarily be able to protect you in this battlefield."

Whoosh—

Akagi gripped his greatsword tightly, an unusually serious expression on his face.

"She’s right."

"This isn’t a battlefield you should be on... not yet."

A roaring distortion flooded Kanzaki Rei’s perception.

Everything outside was chaos—completely unreadable.

This...

Was Izparut’s battle.

He couldn’t even see it?

What kind of fight was this?

「Combat Insight — Momentary Eternal Thought: At any point in battle, gain a near time-stop level of thinking opportunity.」

Buzz—

In that instant, Kanzaki Rei felt as if time itself had come to a complete halt.

Amid the countless disordered, stripped essences—

He finally saw it.

In the distance, a figure raising a staff.

And yet—

Even under this near time-freezing state—

Kanzaki Rei saw Roya moving at what looked like a completely normal walking pace, extending his hand toward Izparut...

BOOM!

But before he could comprehend what had happened—

Roya’s entire body exploded into fragments.

Whoosh!

In the very next moment, Izparut appeared beside Kanzaki Rei.

"We’re going to the World Tree at the center of the world. Find us there."

...What are you, the Pirate King? What is this—"meet again in two years" energy?

The thought flashed through Kanzaki Rei’s mind in an instant.

Before he could respond—

Whoosh—

His surroundings changed.

"Random... teleportation."

He had known about random teleportation for a long time.

But this was his first time experiencing it.

It was said to be an extremely strange spell.

Rather than a spatial spell, it was closer to a fate-type magic.

Because it could send you literally anywhere in the world—

Including high altitudes, deep oceans...

Even embedding you directly into rock.

Or worse—into forbidden death zones where even Tier 8 class holders couldn’t survive.

The chance of landing safely was less than 0.01%.

"...Not embedded in a mountain. Not in the sea. Only about ten meters above ground."

"...Jackpot."

If this were real, he’d probably be screaming internally by now.

So much had happened in just a few minutes—

What kind of development was this?

Where the hell did I get thrown to?

But this was still a future simulation.

These were possibilities—not reality.

Kanzaki Rei simply observed quietly, committing everything to memory.

At the very least—

He had gained crucial information.

On March 31st, two Tier 8 class holders would appear as reinforcements.

Roya.

Samu.

The entire Ruilen Continent had vanished—

Whether erased or relocated, he couldn’t be certain.

Better to assume it was erased.

Just because someone smiled didn’t mean they were kind.

Villains could smile too.

Izparut and the others would teleport him away.

Which meant—

Even they weren’t confident in protecting him in that battle.

However...

Based on lifespan—

Samu would die within an hour.

Roya still had centuries left.

An Zheng’s death was already known.

Even without seeing the full battle, the outcome wasn’t hard to infer.

An Zheng died.

Samu died.

Izparut and the others still had hundreds of years to live.

Kanzaki Rei extended his perception outward.

Future Simulation... even covered events after random teleportation.

Well, of course.

Being teleported wasn’t the same as dying.

He looked up at the sky.

It was still night.

A massive crescent moon hung overhead—far larger than the one above the Secret Sea.

After a moment’s thought—

He ascended.

Up to roughly 4,000 kilometers in altitude.

From above, he looked down.

Below was an island.

Estimating its size, it was roughly half the surface area of Earth.

Ocean stretched endlessly on both sides.

And reflected upon that ocean—

Was a massive moon.

...the sea reflecting the moon?

This was the Moon Sea?

He had heard that only the Moon Sea could reflect the moon like this.

He had never observed the Secret Sea at night.

To think he’d been sent here...

"Speaking of which..."

Since this was just a simulation—

A thought suddenly crossed his mind.

What if he performed the Pure White Descent Ritual here?

Would something different happen?

He had enough souls.

He had been collecting them steadily.

The last major expenditure was during the Month of Forgetting.

Now, over two months later—

He had accumulated 1.3 trillion souls.

Under normal conditions, the Black Ant Mountain eruption produced about 20–30 billion black ants per day.

But during February, when he mostly stayed in one place, monster tides had been sparse.

Production had dropped significantly.

Kanzaki Rei raised his hand—

And took out all the necessary ritual components from his storage.

Why carry these things around?

For emergencies, of course.

As the Archbishop of the Death Church—

Being prepared to perform a ritual at any time was perfectly reasonable.

With a since I’m already here mindset—

He began.

Hundreds of different bones were placed across the island.

Then—

A cut across his wrist.

Blood began to flow.

Under normal circumstances, the wound would instantly heal.

But that was inconvenient.

Sometimes, you needed wounds.

So he had trained an additional Death-type combat technique:

「Cessation Body: Halts all self-regeneration while active, but increases defense.」

Not some overpowered conversion skill—

Just a basic technique that stopped healing and slightly enhanced the hardness of skin and bones.

Even such a "useless" skill—

Had its use here.

Blood flowed continuously—

Like a river—

Tracing intricate lines across the land.

This ritual required an enormous amount of blood.

And it had to be the caster’s own.

Fortunately—

Even if his body exploded, Kanzaki Rei could instantly regenerate.

Producing blood wasn’t difficult.

He spent a full hour drawing.

By the end—

Thin crimson lines covered the entire island.

Bones and flesh were arranged at key points.

A massive, complex ritual array took shape.

Kanzaki Rei landed.

Touched the ritual.

「Creator: Kanzaki Rei — Secret Sea, Ruilen Continent, Archbishop of the Death Church」

As expected, [Divine Talent · Hidden Origin] displayed information closely tied to the object.

This time, it identified him as the Archbishop of the Death Church.

「Pure White Descent Ritual」「Activation Requirement: Supreme Pure Souls — 100 billion」「Upon activation: Self death」

"...Hah."

"A dangerous premonition."

He looked at the ritual.

The danger was real—

But not intense.

It was... subtle.

He knew he would die.

Yet that death didn’t feel threatening.

In other words—

Activating it meant certain death.

Kanzaki Rei hesitated.

He wanted to activate it.

To see what would happen.

But—

This ritual was tied to the God of Death.

And from his talents, it was clear that this god had a strong affinity for collecting souls.

Could such a being influence time?

Causality?

If so—

Was he even safe inside a simulation?

His divine talents had always been reliable.

In most cases, even when cautious, he trusted them.

But this—

Involved a god.

"...Forget it."

"If I know it’s dangerous, why push my luck?"

Dying just to satisfy curiosity—

Was idiotic.

Kanzaki Rei shook his head.

Turned.

Left.

The Moon Sea was vast.

In the distance, he spotted a continent—and chose that direction.

It was only 1 AM.

Eighteen hours remained in the simulation.

He could exit at any time.

But why would he?

He flew for ten hours.

Only then did the distant landmass finally draw near.

Fortunately—

Those ten hours weren’t wasted.

While flying, he studied Tier 4 foundational spells.

Tier 4 had the largest variety of spells.

Unlike low-tier magic—

Which was structurally limited.

Tier 1 spells were like five matchsticks—there were only so many ways to arrange them.

Tier 4 mages were numerous.

And they had already passed the Tier 3 → Tier 4 advancement.

Which required creating their own spells.

Spell diversity expanded massively.

The structure resembled a pyramid—

Few Tier 1 spells.

More Tier 2.

Even more Tier 3.

And the most at Tier 4.

At Tier 5, the population dropped sharply.

And with it, spell variety decreased.

"Tier 4 spellbooks really are diverse..."

After ten hours—

Kanzaki Rei had finished reading all 400 Tier 4 spellbooks in his storage.

He learned every single spell.

Then—

Upgraded all of them.

Through soul sacrifice, every spell reached LV: 401.

One notable detail:

Upgrading a spell from LV:1 to LV:401 now required 100,000 souls.

With [Death Priest Mastery: Reversal Sacrifice], each soul provided greater returns.

1 soul = 150 million proficiency.

Which meant—

A single skill to LV:401 required 15 trillion proficiency.

Without such a talent—

Reaching this level would be nearly impossible.

[Moon Sea — Unknown Continent]

Finally—

He landed.

Originally, he had only intended to observe An Zheng’s fate.

Yet somehow—

He had ended up here.

"...So every simulation..."

"I can attempt random teleportation to explore the world without risk."

Future Simulation—

Was revealing more and more value.

Flying.

Teleporting.

Space swapping.

His figure flickered continuously as he advanced.

After several dozen minutes—

He reached a large city.

His perception swept across it instantly.

No time to investigate culture or customs.

Only five hours remained.

Objective:

Identify and acquire the most valuable assets.

Whoosh!

He bypassed the northern barrier of the city and entered the purple-themed royal palace.

Another flash—

He arrived at the most heavily guarded chamber.

"Who goes there?!"

The shout had barely sounded—

Pfft! Pfft!

Two sprays of blood erupted.

In a single thought—

Two ice spears pierced their hearts.

Two Tier 4 warriors—

Dead instantly.

"...Sorry."

Kanzaki Rei walked forward.

Scanning everything.

"Latoro Kingdom..."

"A nation where divination thrives..."

Diviners...

He couldn’t help but feel a certain stereotype about them.

At the center platform—

A sealed purple book.

Upon touching it—

He sensed a layered, sealed divination technique.

「Fate Foresight」

He broke the seal.

Stored it.

"Who’s there?!"

"An intruder!"

"The guards are dead!"

Sounds of rapid approach filled the air.

Kanzaki Rei glanced back—

Then vanished.

...

Six hours later.

...

Kanzaki Rei sat cross-legged on his bed.

His eyes slowly opened.

He took out his pocket watch.

Year 5026, March 2nd.

9:08 AM.

The 24-hour Future Simulation had ended.

And this time—

The gains were... significant.