May 30.
The month of forging was about to end.
Because of Kanzaki Rei's presence, the Land of Moonwatch had obtained a brief period of peace.
Suenari walked through the palace corridors wearing a light velvet mage robe.
Everyone who saw him lowered their heads respectfully in greeting.
That kind of treatment still left him feeling flattered and overwhelmed.
Back in Sealed Expanse City within Boundless Mountain, he had only belonged to an ordinary family. The strongest person in his household had merely been his older brother—a Level 4 warrior.
That had once been Suenari's ideal.
Even the lord of Sealed Expanse City had seemed like an unimaginably great figure to him.
A powerful hero.
The legendary Level 6 warriors were goals ordinary people could spend their entire lives chasing without ever reaching.
But all of that changed after meeting Kanzaki Rei.
In just a few short days, the knowledge he had learned and the things he had heard made Suenari feel that Level 6 was merely the starting threshold.
The true path stretched far beyond that.
"Mana Void… Mana Oceanization…"
Suenari sensed the changes within his body.
Mana constantly surged forth from the void, while his total mana capacity continued expanding without pause.
Every breath increased the total amount of mana inside him by a significant amount.
Master Kanzaki had told him that this mana enhancement technique had originally been called Mana Tide. One needed to endure a life-and-death crisis, forcing out their hidden potential in absolute desperation until the tide collapsed into a void.
Only then could one learn Mana Void.
It was an unbelievably powerful mana enhancement art.
But over the years, Master Kanzaki and his own teacher seemed to have improved the spell together. Now, one no longer needed to face overwhelming danger. A slight stimulus was enough.
"Did you hear? He's the kid Lord Kanzaki accepted as a disciple."
"Huh? What's so special about him that someone like that would choose him?"
"Special qualities… I remember the commotion during his class advancement. I heard he has affinity for all elements. No idea what Talent he awakened, though."
"But if he was chosen by that lord, then at the very least, it has to be a Transcendent-grade Talent, right?"
"Transcendent? Isn't that too low? It should at least be Supreme-tier, right beneath Divine Talents."
"Who knows? Maybe it really is a Divine Talent. I heard the emperor values him immensely right now. Apparently, yesterday he even asked the ministers what gift should be prepared for him. They debated forever and still couldn't come up with an answer."
"That lord's treasures are probably piled mountain-high already. There's no way he'd care about anything we own."
"Yeah… if it's that lord, I genuinely can't imagine what could possibly attract him anymore. What happened a few days ago… I probably won't forget it for the rest of my life…"
Over the past several days, Suenari had heard countless legends about Kanzaki Rei.
Especially the event from a few days earlier—the one witnessed by everyone.
Apparently, when Kanzaki Rei first arrived, he single-handedly annihilated every monster within a 400-billion-kilometer radius surrounding the Land of Moonwatch.
Not only did he kill them all, but even the monsters that should have continued endlessly emerging from the Abyss had been completely suppressed.
Since then, nobody had seen another monster appear.
The ocean itself had been filled in. The vast sea spanning four hundred billion kilometers had transformed into solid land, and ordinary monsters that touched that land would immediately suffer crushing invisible gravitational pressure.
Any monster below the Eighth Tier would die instantly upon encountering that gravity, their corpses flattened where they stood.
Furthermore, the exits of the Abyss had been buried beneath the landmass. Even if those creatures managed to survive briefly, they still couldn't break through the immense layers of earth to reach the surface.
Even Eighth-Tier monsters could not survive long in such an environment.
Throughout the Land of Moonwatch, people were spreading the same story:
He possessed the power of a god.
Kanzaki Rei was a deity walking among mortals.
Some even speculated that the recent phenomenon—people awakening memories of their past lives and recovering their former powers—was also Kanzaki Rei's doing.
He could already manipulate reincarnation itself.
Even remnants of the legendary Church of Reincarnation had begun resurfacing, hoping to find Kanzaki Rei and persuade him to inherit the legacy of Reincarnation.
Unfortunately…
Minor figures like them had no chance of meeting him.
Even after traveling all the way to Rothedan to seek an audience, they received no response whatsoever.
Though during that process, they did encounter the original owner of the title "Reincarnation."
Seiichi wandered around in circles for a while, drifting across the Moonsea without knowing where to go.
In the end, he still returned to the Land of Moonwatch…
After some consideration, Seiichi ultimately reclaimed his former organization.
Among the common people, Kanzaki Rei was already praised like a divine being.
Some exaggerated rumors even claimed he had already become a Moonstar.
…
Suenari arrived at the training grounds.
The royal training grounds were vast and brilliantly illuminated, spanning a full ten kilometers of open space.
For mages below Level 4, it was more than sufficient.
Tap—
As night descended, a familiar figure once again entered Suenari's field of vision.
"Master Kanzaki, good evening."
Kanzaki Rei gave a slight nod, his gaze sweeping across Suenari.
"Mm. Your condition looks good today. Let me see the results of your training during this period."
Kanzaki Rei raised a fingertip slightly.
A tiny flame ignited at its tip.
"I'll only use First-Tier magic."
"Attack me with everything you have."
Suenari took a deep breath, his expression turning serious.
"Then… Master Kanzaki, please be careful."
Seriousness.
Excitement.
Fanaticism.
Countless emotions gathered within him.
Whoosh!
A mass of pitch-black flames erupted like crashing waves, surging toward Kanzaki Rei.
[Focused Magic: Void Erosion • Flame (Tier 1) (LV:44)]
This was the spell Kanzaki Rei had taught him several days earlier.
Kanzaki Rei had never intended for him to merely learn something like "Fireball" and evolve it.
Instead, he had taught him Void Magic directly.
"Not bad."
"But it's too scattered."
"Gathering mana. Dispersing mana. Precise magical control. Understanding the elements. Every single one of these is a mage's fundamental skill."
A faint flame swirled around Kanzaki Rei's fingertip.
[Element: Flame Condensation]
He hadn't even used a spell.
Kanzaki Rei merely guided the surrounding elemental energy, gathering all nearby fire elements onto his fingertip.
Then casually flicked it outward.
Whoosh!
In an instant, a blazing fire serpent exploded forth!
Boom!
The pitch-black Void Flames collided with ordinary fire elements, yet the black flames began dissipating one after another.
But at the exact moment the opposing flames vanished, an ice spear tinged with faint darkness pierced through the inferno!
At the same time, faint lightning elements began gathering behind Kanzaki Rei.
"So that's what it feels like."
Back when he fought Iz, Kanzaki Rei had thought he was already fast.
He had believed his "Lightning Flash" magic could practically be considered instant-cast.
But now, looking at Suenari before him—
It only felt unbearably slow.
Forget the process from magical formation to release.
Before the spell even manifested, the moment Kanzaki Rei sensed the slightest fluctuation of mana within Suenari's body, he already knew what spell Suenari intended to cast.
Crackle—
Yet Kanzaki Rei did not dodge.
The lightning still exploded beside him!
BOOM!
But the instant the lightning detonated, it was completely neutralized by another reversed bolt of lightning.
"I already taught you the fundamentals of simultaneous casting, didn't I? If you only release two spells at once, you'll never defeat me."
"If you want to become a truly first-rate powerhouse, then fight me with the determination to surpass me."
Kanzaki Rei raised both index fingers and drew a cross through the air before him, aiming toward Suenari.
"I'm about to attack."