As April arrived, two new Combat Insights manifested:
"Esoteric Flow — Chaotic Complexity": Every time a different combat style is used, it will randomly carry the effect of any other learned combat style.
"Esoteric Flow — Deranged Frenzy": At the cost of losing Spirit, the body gains enhanced regeneration, speed, strength, and instinct.
Both were, without exaggeration—completely insane.
The April Lunar Intent was "Disorder."
When applied to Body Tempering techniques, it would periodically grant random enhancements—massively boosting mana, raw strength, regeneration, or physical defense at different intervals.
When applied to movement techniques, it granted an additional effect:
Random Blink—teleporting to any location reachable within ten seconds at the user's current maximum speed.
When applied to "Azure Sky Style — Seventh Form: Illusion," it would generate an additional clone.
And when applied to offensive techniques, it allowed them to randomly inherit effects from other combat styles.
After some thought, Kanzaki Rei ultimately embedded "Lunar Intent: Disorder" into the "Movement" form.
At his current limits, within ten seconds, he could traverse 60,000 kilometers.
Which meant…
This "random blink" could theoretically place him anywhere within a 60,000-kilometer radius.
For escape?
It was nothing short of perfect.
Two and a half days had passed since he drank the ten bottles of "Ultimate Perfect Ascension Elixir."
During that time, Kanzaki Rei discovered something peculiar.
After the first day passed, when midnight arrived—
His Future Simulation… did not refresh.
The reason was something he could vaguely sense:
Time here wasn't truly passing in normal day cycles.
And yet, within his simulations, time still progressed in full 24-hour intervals before ending.
Strange… profoundly strange.
At this point, Kanzaki Rei's score had reached an untouchable level.
To most observers, the entity named "Lu 8%@9" now sat at a staggering:
3.2 billion points.
Over sixteen times higher than second place—Rein.
"That should be enough…"
Having spent so much uninterrupted time farming, Kanzaki Rei had confirmed another truth from a completely different angle:
Luck Rituals.
Those rituals that seemed to do nothing—
Were, in fact, subtly increasing his luck.
After performing them, the average score per slain Tier 6 monster rose to 86+ points, far above the standard 75.
Drop rates had also significantly improved.
Longevity Flowers: over 10,000 collected
Ascension Elixirs: over 300 bottles
Abandoning this opportunity now would be an unimaginable loss.
Kanzaki Rei checked the remaining time.
Almost over.
"Then… I'll use the last two hours to strengthen myself."
With promotion requirements drastically lowered, it was the perfect time.
Soon, he would return.
He needed to push his strength higher.
At Level 5 combat class, he was already closing in on other inheritors—most of whom were likely Level 6, with a few at Level 5 or Level 7.
He had no intention of being suppressed by level gaps.
If he could avoid fighting above his level—he would.Better yet… he would suppress others with his own level.
After a brief moment of thought, Kanzaki Rei activated his will.
The Source of Calamity reappeared in midair.
A massive tide of monsters surged forth!
Roaring, converging—
Forming a Tier 7 Dungeon.
Kanzaki Rei exhaled slowly.
Then—
He sacrificed 100 million souls in one go.
BOOM—
The dungeon entrance darkened into a deep, abyssal black.
Faint arcs of void lightning flickered within.
Low roars and howls echoed from its depths.
But Kanzaki Rei did not enter.
Instead—
He began laying out a promotion ritual.
Symbols of death and destruction spread across the ground, forming a complex ritual array.
This was the Death Priest promotion ritual.
Previously, he had delayed this promotion because it was the easiest among his classes—saving it for last ensured harder promotions wouldn't become even more difficult.
But now?
With requirements reduced across the board—
It didn't matter anymore.
BOOM!
A pale-white void opened in the sky—
The Origin of Death.
After consuming ten Ascension Elixirs, Kanzaki Rei increasingly felt that his very existence was aligning with the world's fundamental origins.
If every class required adherence to its own principles…
Then perhaps—
He himself was becoming a principle.
"I think… I understand now."
From the remnants left behind by Seiichi, he had read something similar:
Rather than merely approaching a class's origin—
Become a new origin yourself.
Experience every origin. Understand them. Approach them.
Then…
Forge a path entirely your own.
"Seiichi… was this your path?"
Though Seiichi had died—defeated—
Kanzaki Rei still found his vision… extraordinary.
Through heightened spirituality, Kanzaki Rei could now perceive the Death Origin in the sky more clearly.
It was…
Empty.
Lonely.
Detached.
As if it were a place no one had ever reached—
Waiting for something… or someone.
"I have fulfilled the principles of death."
He raised his hand.
Souls rose, streaming into the sky.
Mountains of ant-like corpses—worthless monster remains—manifested as well.
By now, Kanzaki Rei had killed many humans too.
Bandits.
Key figures from the Cycle Sect.
But he did not bring out those corpses.
This time—
He poured 50 billion souls into the ritual.
At this point, such a number…
Meant little to him.
The Death Priest promotion process was already second nature.
Everything proceeded smoothly.
But—
As the final soul ascended—
The expected feedback…
Did not come.
The dungeon entrances surrounding him—once swirling with different colors like gaseous orbs—
Suddenly froze.
Then—
They turned black and white.
Like shattered mirrors—
CRACK!
They broke apart.
The land itself…
Once pale with hints of gray and yellow—
Was instantly dyed pure white.
An overwhelming aura of death and destruction descended—
As dense as the onset of midwinter.
Kanzaki Rei's heart tightened.
He instinctively stepped back.
Over 100,000 layers of shields formed around him.
This wasn't a simulation.
This was real.
And yet—
He remained calm.
His perception expanded.
All equipment activated.
Rings, pendants, anklets—every survival item equipped.
Magic arrays layered across the ground.
With a wave of his hand, special inks traced ritual patterns.
Bottles and vials lined the area.
Seven pills sat in his mouth like a squirrel's hoard.
Recovery, detoxification, illusion-breaking effects—all pre-consumed.
Enhanced by his God-Tier Alchemist Talent, their effects far exceeded previous limits.
White descended.
Death and destruction permeated everything.
What had his promotion… provoked this time?
A faint thought surfaced—
Had he sacrificed too many souls?
And yet…
Despite the overwhelming aura—
It did not touch him directly.
No attack.
Only a subtle, lingering sense of danger.
Not fatal—
But real.
Then—
A shadow appeared in the sky.
A dark, murky silhouette.
A gaunt man.
Not the pure white figure described in myths.
Kanzaki Rei exhaled softly.
Good.
It wasn't Pure White's descent.
And then—
He realized.
A soul.
His God-Tier: Soul Dominion reacted.
He did not act immediately.
He simply locked onto the target.
If it made a move—
He would stop it instantly.
"…Who are you?"
Kanzaki Rei looked up.
The figure gazed down with cold indifference.
Its presence…
Was overwhelming.
Possibly even stronger than Rexia.
"I did not expect… to encounter so many pure souls."
"And in the hands of someone so young…"
It paused.
"Mortal. What is your identity?"
"And how did you obtain such pure souls?"
"Answer me."
Kanzaki Rei replied calmly:
"My name is Kurogane. I am the inheritor of the War God Kaiga."
"The War God's inheritor?"
"And yet… you pursue the path of a Death Priest?"
"…Irrelevant."
"What matters is your souls."
After brief probing, the truth emerged.
This being had sensed the strengthening of the Death Origin—
Tracked it—
And found him.
When asked, Kanzaki Rei answered truthfully:
"My talent grants them to me."
The figure paused.
"A talent… like that exists?"
"…Then you are wasted on the War God's path."
"Become my disciple."
"You will inherit my legacy."
"I am… Ansu."
Ansu.
The name rang a bell.
Then it clicked—
Ancient Ansu Script.
A language from over 10,000 years ago.
"You created that language?"
Kanzaki Rei asked—in Ancient Ansu Script.
"Yes."
The being continued:
"The so-called gods scatter their inheritances."
"They may not value you."
"But I will."
Kanzaki Rei declined.
"I already walk the War God's path."
Ansu didn't mind.
"Then… let us make a deal."
"Give me souls."
"I will grant any wish."
"Any wish?"
"Anything."
Kanzaki Rei asked:
"Even killing a god?"
Ansu smiled.
"Yes."
"Even that."
That was when Kanzaki Rei decided.
The moment Ansu showed intent—
He acted first.
God-Tier — Soul Dominion.
The soul froze.
Its movement halted.
"…What did you do?"
Kanzaki Rei raised his hand.
The soul fell—into his grasp.
But—
Resistance surged.
For the first time—
His control wavered.
Immediately—
Hundreds of potions exploded.
A Soul-Sealing Ritual activated.
Golden and silver liquids burned into the soul.
"Hold!"
Finally—
Ansu was completely subdued.
A Level 9 existence.
Captured.
"…Ansu."
"Now…"
"We talk."
And thus—
The hunter became the prey.