Chapter 256

The battle essences for April were:

"Complex Variability" and "Madness Lost."

"Essence — Complex Variability: Each time you use a different combat style, you will randomly gain the effect of any other learned combat style."

"Essence — Madness Lost: Sacrifice sanity to greatly enhance physical regeneration, speed, strength, and instinct."

Both essences were completely unhinged.

As for April’s Moon-Origin Intent, it was:

"Chaos."

When applied to body-refinement techniques, its effect depended on the technique itself—periodically granting random boosts, such as drastically increasing mana, physical strength, regeneration, or bodily defense.

When applied to movement techniques, it added an additional effect:

Random Blink—allowing instantaneous relocation to any position reachable within ten seconds at current speed.

When applied to Heavenly Vault Style — Seventh Form: Illusion, it allowed the technique to generate an additional clone.

When applied to offensive combat techniques, it caused them to randomly inherit effects from other combat styles.

Kanzaki Rei considered his options carefully—

And ultimately assigned Moon-Origin Intent: Chaos to the "Movement" form.

At his current limits—

Within ten seconds, he could already traverse 60,000 kilometers.

With Random Blink—

That meant he could appear anywhere within that range.

As an escape tool—

It was exceptionally powerful.

...

Two and a half days had passed since he drank the ten bottles of Realm of Ascension.

Kanzaki Rei noticed something strange.

At midnight after the first day—

His Future Simulation...

Had not refreshed.

He could roughly sense why.

Time here—

Wasn’t truly passing as a normal day.

And yet—

Within the simulation, a full 24 hours still elapsed before it ended.

...How bizarre.

At this point—

His score had reached an untouchable level.

To most players, the name displayed as "Lu 8%@9"—

Sat firmly in first place with 3.2 billion points.

Over sixteen times higher than second place, Rhine.

"...This should be enough."

Having spent so much time grinding, Kanzaki Rei had also verified something else:

Luck Rituals.

Those rituals that seemed to do nothing—

Were, in fact, subtly increasing his luck.

After performing them—

Each sixth-tier monster he killed yielded an average of 86+ points, far above the normal 75.

Drop rates had also increased significantly.

Longevity Flowers: over 10,000

Realm of Ascension: over 300 bottles

If he walked away now—

The loss would be unimaginable.

He glanced at the remaining time.

Almost over...

"The last two hours... I’ll use them to increase my strength."

With advancement requirements reduced—

And his return imminent—

It was better to push his power further.

At level 5 in combat classes—

He was already close to other inheritors.

Most were likely around level 6.

Some at level 5.

Some at level 7.

He didn’t want to be suppressed by level differences.

If he could avoid fighting above his level—

He would.

Better yet—

He wanted to suppress others instead.

After a moment of thought—

He activated his will.

The Source of Calamity manifested once more.

A tide of monsters surged—

Rolling in from all directions.

A seventh-tier dungeon began to take shape.

Kanzaki Rei exhaled slowly—

And in one motion—

Sacrificed 100 million souls.

Boom—

The dungeon entrance turned pitch-black—

Deep and unfathomable.

Faint arcs of void lightning flickered within.

Rumble—

From inside—

Roars and howls echoed.

He did not enter immediately.

Instead—

He began setting up an advancement ritual.

On the ground—

A massive formation inscribed with symbols of death and destruction unfolded.

The ritual for advancing the Death Priest class.

Now that the requirements had been lowered—

There was no reason to delay.

Previously, he had held off—

Because Death Priest was the easiest class for him to advance.

Better to leave the easy one for last.

But now—

Everything was easier.

So it didn’t matter anymore.

Boom!

Above the sky—

A pale-white void opened.

The manifestation of the Origin of Death.

After consuming ten bottles of Realm of Ascension—

Kanzaki Rei could feel it clearly.

His existence—

Was becoming similar to the world’s origins.

If every class required adherence to its principles—

Then now—

He himself seemed to be forming a principle of his own.

"...I think I understand."

Among the remnants left by Seiichi—

There had been mention of this path.

Rather than approaching a single origin—

One should become an origin.

To do that—

One must experience all origins, understand them, approach them.

"Comprehend every class."

"Then carve out a path entirely your own."

"...Seiichi. Was this the path you intended?"

Though Seiichi had fallen—

A loser in their conflict—

Kanzaki Rei still recognized the brilliance of that vision.

At this moment—

Through his heightened perception—

He could feel the origin in the sky.

Empty.

Utterly empty.

A profound sense of solitude wrapped around him.

It was indifferent.

Unconscious.

A presence that simply was.

Like a place no one had ever reached—

Waiting for something to arrive.

"I have fulfilled the principles of death."

His voice was calm.

He raised his hand—

Souls rose into the sky, pouring endlessly into the void.

At the same time—

Piles of ant-like corpses, worthless monster remains—

Appeared in massive quantities.

By now—

He had also killed many humans.

Bandits.

Key figures from the Reincarnation Sect.

But—

He did not present their corpses.

This time—

He poured in 50 billion souls.

At this scale—

It meant little to him now.

The Death Priest advancement ritual—

He had long mastered it.

There should have been no problems.

As the final soul ascended—

He waited.

But—

The expected feedback never came.

No spiritual ascension.

No transformation.

Instead—

The dungeon entrances around him—

Those swirling, multi-colored vortexes—

Suddenly froze.

Then—

They turned monochrome.

Black and white.

Like still mirrors.

Crack!

They shattered.

The land—

Once pale with traces of earthy color—

Turned completely white.

A suffocating aura of death and destruction spread—

Like the arrival of midwinter.

Dense.

Unyielding.

Kanzaki Rei’s heart tightened.

He took a small step back.

Over 100,000 layers of shields enveloped him.

This wasn’t a simulation.

This was real.

But he did not panic.

Instead—

He expanded his perception.

Every piece of equipment was fully equipped.

All life-saving items—rings, pendants, anklets—

Activated.

Layers upon layers of magic formations spread across the ground.

With a flick of his hand—

Special inks formed from rare materials traced ritual patterns instantly.

Bottles and containers were laid out.

He stuffed seven different pills into his mouth like a squirrel.

Recovery.

Healing.

Antidotes.

Anti-illusion.

All consumed in advance.

With his God-Tier Alchemist Talent—

Their effects were far beyond normal.

The white descent.

The overwhelming aura of death and destruction.

"...Who did I provoke this time?"

Kanzaki Rei narrowed his eyes slightly.

This—

Was no ordinary advancement anymore.