Chapter 224

Hunmu and Jiezhu had already studied this Random Teleportation Magic to the point of passing out.

When it came to Origin Magic, if the discussion was lively and intense, it was like two top scholars debating the Dao—each with their own biases, yet each possessing their own insights and lines of thought.

But this Random Teleportation Magic...

To the two of them, it was practically a heavenly scripture beyond comprehension.

Forget the complete spell—even a single foundational component of it was already far beyond their understanding. They couldn’t even figure out how one piece was constructed.

After staring at it for so long, they had simply... collapsed into sleep.

And now, having only just passed out—

Boom!

They were jolted awake by a thunderous sound, only to see a mountain of manuscripts piled in the center of the room.

What... exactly was going on?

Was this how mages worked?

Iz:

"Inspiration?"

Kanzaki Rei nodded.

"Yeah. Inspiration."

Hunmu & Jiezhu: Inspiration my ass.

—

Rustle!

Countless sheets of paper floated into the air as Iz reviewed them one by one.

This time, his expression was unusually serious.

Kanzaki Rei simply sat off to the side, calmly sipping iced tea.

Just reproducing all those diagrams had nearly overheated his brain. He couldn’t help but feel he needed to find some way to improve his memory.

Who would’ve thought—

Even with his already absurd level of Spirituality, he would still need to enhance memory?

Under normal circumstances, his current Spirituality made him practically photographic in memory. He could flip through a book once and remember every detail without issue.

But...

Faced with this kind of terrifying workload, he was forced to admit—

There were limits.

Even he wasn’t truly perfect.

"Mm... mm-hmm."

"Just as I thought!"

As Iz continued reviewing, a faint, inscrutable smile slowly crept across his lips.

Kanzaki Rei’s expression twitched.

He himself didn’t even fully understand what these diagrams contained—so naturally, he had no idea whether Iz had deliberately left meaningless markers or hidden clues within them.

But Kanzaki Rei knew—

Iz had probably already noticed something.

And that... was intentional.

He was willing to reveal a trace of his precognitive ability—but only enough to spark suspicion.

Not enough for them to realize he could completely traverse an entire day.

Iz... had likely already guessed that he possessed the ability to bring knowledge back from the future.

"...Mm."

At last, Iz finished reviewing every single sheet. After closing his eyes in silence for a moment, he spoke:

"Your inspiration is truly impressive, Kanzaki Rei."

"It seems... I’ll have to work harder as well."

No... Iz, this isn’t my inspiration...

Do I really have to spell it out that clearly?

But Kanzaki Rei could faintly sense something rising from Iz—

A kind of fighting spirit.

A will to surpass.

Tch...

"Iz... don’t you find anything about these designs... familiar?"

Iz nodded.

"Mm. They do resemble my style."

"But you are my disciple. It’s not strange that your inspiration aligns with mine."

That’s extremely strange, alright?!

Kanzaki Rei cleared his throat.

"Ahem... Iz, to be honest, I don’t fully understand these diagrams myself. Could you explain them to me?"

"Oh! Of course. Though if I go into full detail, it might take quite a while."

"Then... a brief summary will do."

—

This guy definitely noticed.

No—

He probably noticed long ago.

And yet, he never exposed it.

In fact...

He seemed to enjoy it.

As if he intended to challenge himself—pushing beyond what even his future self had conceived.

—

The teleportation array was still a teleportation array.

But its randomness had been significantly refined.

Now, it only selected between Moonsea and Boundless Mountain.

...Wait.

Kanzaki Rei’s expression stiffened slightly.

I don’t want to go to either of those places.

Was there really nowhere safe left in this world?

At the same time—

This teleportation array no longer functioned solely within Ruilen.

It could now link to three additional continents, enabling cross-continental teleportation.

...Link?

Kanzaki Rei felt a faint sense of foreboding.

Didn’t that mean—

They’d end up saving the other continents too?

My... "confiscated" treasures...

Originally, his logic had been simple:

If everyone’s going to die anyway... might as well take it.

...Sigh.

But if those people survived, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing either.

Worst case—

If items disappeared during teleportation, it could simply be blamed on a flaw in the array.

And besides—

After being transported to a new region, people would likely attribute any abnormalities to the unfamiliar environment... not to him.

Still...

Iz, isn’t your research getting a bit out of hand?

At this rate, why not just teleport the entire Secret Sea?

—

This... was the effect of a "Seer" continuously altering the future.

Originally, everyone was supposed to die.

Without his interference, the entire Secret Sea would have been annihilated without warning.

But now—

Because of his actions—

More and more people were beginning to survive.

Whether that was a good thing or not...

Hard to say.

Too much causality was being entangled.

And the more entangled causality became—

The more trouble it would attract.

His dream of living in seclusion might become far more difficult.

—

"At this point, we’ve likely reached the limit."

"If we want to improve it further, there’s not much room left."

"Next, after final refinements... I’d like to research something else."

Kanzaki Rei let out a quiet sigh of relief.

"...Mm. I’ll support you, Master Iz."

Finally—

No more copying one hundred thousand diagrams.

It felt like reliving the nightmare of engineering drawing exams from his previous life.

Using "mental exhaustion" as an excuse, Kanzaki Rei took his leave.

The two of them understood each other without words.

He would continue using future simulations—

And deliver future成果 to Iz.

It was a pity...

During those trips into the future, he had been too focused on others.

Otherwise—

He could have extracted information from his future self as well, feeding it back into his present.

—

March 20th.

Time... passed just like that.

Every day, Kanzaki Rei performed two future simulations—

One for the present or near future.

One for the future before his decisive battle with Anzheng.

And along the way, he continued bringing back Iz’s research results.

During this time—

He had finally mastered Torrey’s Origin Magic.

Though the apocalypse loomed, there was little more that could be done.

For days now, realm pigeons had been flying everywhere.

The news of the Secret Sea’s impending destruction had spread too far.

And once too many people knew—

Panic was inevitable.

Like a rising tide, it swept across the land.

Messages flew everywhere, carrying absurd dread of the coming end.

Among the chaos—

There were also scattered reports of incidents like the treasury theft of Tarabella.

But compared to the annihilation of the entire Secret Sea—

Such matters were trivial.

—

Also on March 20th—

Iz completed the deployment of the full "Continental Teleportation Spell" across the Ruilen Continent.

At present, it seemed—

Only Iz alone could construct the complete version of this spell.

Even Level 8 mages could not.

Whether that was true or not—

Kanzaki Rei decided to believe it for now.

Meanwhile—

The improved version of the Random Teleportation Spell had already been rapidly disseminated through the Mage Association.

Unfortunately—

Not everyone was Iz or Kanzaki Rei.

Not everyone could master a new spell at a glance.

Especially not a complex spatial magic like this.

So even though the improved version was public—

Very few could actually learn it.

The refined teleportation spell now restricted destinations to four regions:

Moonsea

Boundless Mountain

Former White Continent

Turbid Sea

It was a monumental advancement in magical history.

Yet—

In the face of total annihilation—

No one cared.

It was said that now, hiring a Level 4 mage to cast teleportation cost 10,000 gold per use—

And even then, supply couldn’t meet demand.

A mage, even chugging mana potions nonstop, could only cast a limited number of spells per day.

And Random Teleportation was an extremely mana-intensive spell.

A fully restored Level 4 mage could cast it once or twice at most before needing recovery.

Compared to the billions trying to escape—

That contribution was nothing.

—

Rumors spread:

The Church of Light had deployed vessels capable of infinite acceleration, allowing them to escape the Secret Sea in a short time.

The Church of Darkness was leading its believers into a shadow realm—

Where they would remain forever.

To the faithful, however—

This was the highest blessing.

Only the most devout fanatics were granted entry at the end of life.

The Church of Peace established a domain where conflict could not exist—

A sanctuary immune even to the destruction of the Secret Sea.

The Church of Cold and Preservation sealed their followers in ice—

Their intentions unknown.

Could such a method truly withstand total annihilation?

As for the Church of Life—

Silence.

No action.

No announcements.

Even Kumironi had gone quiet.

...Sigh.

Could it be—

That the organization he was most familiar with...

Was actually the final antagonist?

Whether they were good or evil didn’t matter much to Kanzaki Rei.

But Kumironi did.

And that... was what concerned him.

—

During this time—

The Seventh and Eighth Forms of the Firmament Style were completed.

"Firmament Style — Seventh Form: Phantom"

From this form onward—

No one else could learn it.

Because it was tied to his Origin Magic:

"Core of the Whole."

By manifesting that core—

He could create a duplicate of himself to fight alongside him.

Like a monkey spawning endless clones.

This technique was inspired by Flesh Magic: Flesh Reconstruction—

Using the Core as "flesh" to reconstruct a physical body.

He had technically been able to do this before.

But it had little meaning—

Because the Core already was his entirety.

A recreated body would just be a target.

A physical body wasn’t required for casting magic.

But—

Combat techniques required one.

Thus, the Seventh Form was born.

—

As for the Eighth Form—

It became another movement technique.

Normally, the eighth form of a combat style was a final killing move.

A desperate, life-risking strike.

But Kanzaki Rei...

Didn’t want to risk his life.

His escape options were limited—

Only "Void", which erased presence, not increased speed.

So—

He created:

"Firmament Style — Eighth Form: Traverse"

Originally, he considered naming it "Speed" or "Rush."

But those sounded terrible.

After some thought—

"Traverse" it was.

Names could always be changed later.

He was the creator, after all.

This technique was an explosive movement art—

Combining:

Spell Acceleration

Flight Acceleration

Instant Acceleration

All engraved in front of him—

Then crossed in a single instant.

At its core—

It fused a Fifth-Tier Light Spell, "Flash of Nullity", directly into his body.

Using principles similar to Tarabella’s "Bound Essence" cultivation—

He formed a connection with the spell.

Now—

He could activate it using blood and flesh alone.

In motion—

He became both spell and body simultaneously.

Stacking multiple acceleration effects—

He could reach twice his previous maximum speed.

—

And yet—

The faster he became—

The more resistance he felt.

As though a mysterious law limited speed itself.

At extreme velocities—

Time itself seemed distorted.

A movement that should take one second—

Felt like one second—

But in reality, only 0.5 seconds passed.

Distance was compressed.

Speed was suppressed.

The faster he went—

The stronger the suppression.

Future improvements would require exponential effort.

Still—

His average speed stabilized at:

3,000 kilometers per second.

—

In just eighteen days—

Kanzaki Rei had twisted fate on a massive scale.

The entire structure of the Secret Sea—

Was beginning to revolve around Ruilen.

In those eighteen days—

He had performed 36 future simulations.

Aside from two early deaths—

He had effectively lived over thirty extra days.

The number of secrets he had unraveled—

Was approaching the terrifying threshold required for advancement as a Decoder Scholar.

And yet—

Even dealing with such massive secrets—

Progress was still slow.

The requirements...

Were absurdly demanding.