Chapter 404

The First Form—

Elemental Genesis.

By now, Rei’s Mana Enhancement Art had advanced steadily alongside his Mage class reaching Level 5, progressing all the way to the stage of Mana Transformation.

This had originally been Iz’s own lived experience.

This manual, Mana Ascension, was essentially Iz’s personal record of mana cultivation.

And when Iz first passed the book to him—

He himself had only been a Level 5 Mage.

Later, after reaching Level 6, he added and revised portions of it.

But...

He had still never perfected the next step.

As far as Rei was concerned,

His cultivation through Mana Ascension had reached its current limit.

If quantified numerically—

His mana pool should now be around 16.9 billion.

But under full-output combat—

The expenditure was equally terrifying.

He had now mastered hundreds of thousands of spells.

Some of them consumed tens of thousands—

Some hundreds of thousands—

Some millions of mana in a single cast...

As a result,

Even his mana reserves had begun to feel strained.

Elemental Genesis.

Rei pushed one hand forward—

And instantly—

A rainbow-colored ripple spread out from him in every direction.

Waaa—

In that very instant,

He felt mana pour out like a bursting tide.

In one second—

300 million mana was consumed.

That cost was absurd.

And within that same second—

Bzzzz—

A cylindrical region with a radius of 50,000 kilometers, centered on Rei,

Instantly dissolved.

Collapsed into a pure, dazzling domain of elemental essence.

Everything within the area—

Matter itself—

Even weaker monsters—

Vanished.

Above and below heaven—

Nothing remained but a sea of iridescent color.

Just the First Form alone—

Was already a complete instant-kill technique.

Whether it could directly annihilate Level 8 Class Advancers—

He didn’t know.

But killing Level 7 Class Advancers in one hit—

That should be absolutely sufficient.

Not because Level 7 Advancers were weak.

Level 7 beings were dragons among men.

It was simply that—

Rei was no longer anything ordinary either.

When Elemental Genesis unfolded—

A faint loneliness surfaced in his heart.

Like standing atop a solitary mountain peak.

There were truly few left in this world who could be called his equal.

From this point onward—

Those who could threaten him...

Might only be those known as beings of the God-Class Generation.

God-Tier — Future Simulation

Rei slowly closed his eyes.

Now that he had left the ruins—

Simulation could trigger again.

And he sensed—

The Second Form’s destructive power might exceed imagination.

If he tested it outside a simulation...

It might harm countless innocents.

But right now—

He was inside a simulated future.

Nothing to worry about.

Rei raised one hand toward the heavens again.

"Release Form—Elemental Kaleidoscope."

Ding—

An ordinary person could never master ten thousand spells of every element.

Even Rei—

With terrifying comprehension, able to learn simply from incantations—

Still couldn’t naturally accumulate that many.

Finding magic took time.

Comprehending it from spells took insight.

Without awakening the talent—

God-Tier — Lighthouse of Myriad Laws

Learning that many spells would still take an unimaginable amount of time.

But...

With this talent—

And with Future Simulation—

Rei had spent endless simulated futures extracting others’ magic,

Constantly enriching his spell reserves.

And somehow—

He had actually reached the threshold.

When this primordial Forbidden Magic was created—

Its creator probably never imagined a Level 5 Mage casting it.

The Second Form...

Was likely designed for Level 9 Mages to begin with.

Shhh!

In an instant—

All surrounding colors exploded into brilliance.

The air itself thickened like liquid aurora.

BOOM!

Before Rei could even prepare—

He felt a heaven-shattering destruction erupt!

The entire Land of Empty Valleys

Shattered instantly into fragments of multicolored blocks!

And in that same instant—

Boundless elemental magic surged before his eyes—

And detonated in his mind!

[Ninth-Tier Fire Magic — Complete World Incineration]

...

BOOM!

Rei felt his perception expand toward infinity.

In an instant—

Seas stretching tens of millions of kilometers screamed and churned.

WHOOSH!

Black-red flames erupted in a single instant.

Vast oceans.

Boundless seas.

All vaporized at once.

Water ceased to exist.

Only ascending pillars of burning smoke remained.

At the briefest contact—

All existence was reduced to ash.

Destroyed was not merely the Land of Empty Valleys—

But everything.

And almost the moment the spell completed—

Rei felt violent mana depletion hit his body.

16.9 billion mana.

Not enough.

Tick—

Elemental Kaleidoscope collapsed almost instantly.

And in that instant—

Only one Ninth-Tier spell had successfully manifested.

The others had only just begun forming

Before insufficient mana severed them.

Everything dissipated.

Rei stood in the sky.

Looking in all directions.

The sea—

Gone.

The earth—

Gone.

A single Ninth-Tier Fire spell burning for only a fleeting moment—

Had caused devastation on this scale.

And...

This should have been a sustained-duration spell.

A wave of emptiness and dizziness hit his body.

It had been a long time

Since he’d experienced reaching the limit of mana—

The backlash of overconsumption.

Fortunately—

His physique was powerful.

And mana rapidly replenished itself.

Otherwise the side effect would have been far worse than mild vertigo.

Tick—

Rei activated Elemental Genesis again.

Elemental Kaleidoscope was still beyond his control.

His mana control wasn’t nearly sufficient.

He had no way to command those Ninth-Tier spells.

At most—

He could prevent them from harming himself.

But precisely targeting enemies—

Damaging some while sparing others—

Impossible.

Precision damage required supreme magical control.

Rei could control Fifth- and Sixth-Tier fire magic perfectly.

Burn whoever he wished.

And even if flames touched those he wished unharmed—

They would suffer no injury.

That was control.

Fine control demanded profound understanding.

And extreme proficiency.

Ordinary spells—

Rei had at LV:501 proficiency.

Naturally second nature.

But primordial Forbidden Magic—

Had no proficiency growth at all.

Rei could feel he possessed the authority to command those Ninth-Tier spells.

He simply lacked the capability.

At his current level—

Though he could not sustain

Release Form: Elemental Kaleidoscope

for long—

He could cast it once,

Recover mana,

Then cast again easily enough.

The only problem was...

The destruction it caused

Was beyond his control.

Looks like it can only remain a trump card.

I’ll have to practice more.

After all—

I’ve already used it repeatedly inside Future Simulation anyway...

Rei repeatedly activated

Release Form: Elemental Kaleidoscope.

Every activation brought instantaneous catastrophic destruction.

But suddenly—

Tick—

That sound again.

The sound of a clock hand being forcibly turned.

It rang in his ears.

And the scene before him—

Changed.

Again.

Rei felt himself ripped out of Future Simulation—

Not by his own will.

It had been forcibly terminated.

And now—

He was holding a test tube.

Liquid medicine swirled inside.

He...

Was making potions.

What?

What is happening?

Time...

It’s still resetting forward?

I’ve returned to an even earlier point in time?

I clearly left the ruins—

And yet the effect is still on me?