Dark thoughts truly bred endlessly.

And those thoughts...

They genuinely did not belong to him.

They were influencing him, yet because Rei knew they were foreign intrusions, he instinctively regarded them with suspicion and resistance.

And Rei sensed—

This was not the end.

If time would continue resetting forward...

Then everything happening now would eventually become null.

And if he refused...

Who knew whether Iz Palt would attack him again?

After all, the initiative to strike or not lay entirely in Iz Palt’s hands.

Rei revealed a special rune.

This was his talent—

Level 5 Death Priest Talent — God-Tier: Eternal Erasure

When activated, it could completely erase a target from existence.

No reincarnation.

No resurrection.

No possibility of return.

"Iz... I trust you."

Rei spoke solemnly.

Iz gave a slight nod.

His gaze fell on Rei’s rune.

He lifted a hand—

And countless microscopic arcane sigils appeared, wrapping completely around the manifested Talent.

"By the way."

Iz Palt suddenly spoke again.

Rei looked up.

"Hm?"

"You can still steal other people’s magic, can’t you?"

"I think..."

"You may have use for this spell."

Iz extended a finger.

Ripples shimmered at the fingertip.

And from those ripples, Rei felt a lawlike resonance of time and space.

[Second Forbidden Magic — Time]

"This..."

"You’re really giving this to me?"

For one whose spell was stolen,

Relearning it afterward was nearly impossible.

The more complex the magic—

The more absolute that became.

Especially a Forbidden Magic.

In principle,

Such magic could not be self-comprehended at all.

It could only be acquired through extraordinary means.

And in Rei’s mind,

Those dark whispers had been murmuring about exactly this for a long time.

He has so much magic. Steal a few.

It won’t even matter to him.

...

But Rei had suppressed those evil whispers through sheer willpower.

Though—

He had to admit—

Sometimes those wicked whispers were not entirely separate from his own thoughts.

Sometimes his own thinking was disturbingly close to theirs.

It was just—

If he directly used Lighthouse of Myriad Laws and stole magic without Iz Palt’s consent—

Would Iz suddenly attack him?

Rei had no desire to gamble on that possibility.

And now—

Iz had offered it himself.

"Then..."

"My apologies, Master."

Rei looked toward Iz’s source-light.

Brilliant and immeasurable.

Within that radiance existed countless spells.

But the brightest among them—

Were still the primordial Forbidden Magics.

Element—

He had already learned.

Rei extended one hand,

Then slowly drew it back,

As though extracting something from Iz Palt’s very being.

[Second Forbidden Magic — Time]

A formless radiance flowed into Rei’s body.

The Second Forbidden Magic—

Mastered.

And yet...

He had never expected to obtain Forbidden Magic — Time not through the final door—

But through Iz Palt himself.

What an unexpected way.

With this...

The expedition could truly be called complete.

This trip into the ruins had gained everything he wanted.

And without triggering any additional danger.

Without releasing the disaster hidden beyond that door.

"So..."

"This is what it feels like to have magic extracted."

Iz touched his chin thoughtfully.

"But my understanding of its principles still remains..."

A true fanatic of magic.

For a fleeting moment,

Rei seemed to see once again the old master lost in contemplation of spells.

Only—

This Iz Palt was already a Level 9 Iz Palt.

What he was pondering now was likely profound enough that Rei could not even begin to understand it.

"Consider this..."

"Compensation for altering your talent."

"Rei..."

"I believe you can still be saved."

"And in this world..."

"There are existences that must be defeated by you."

"I believe you..."

"Have already thought of a way to resist the contamination."

"And will not simply let it control you."

"Iz..."

—

Though Rei did not want to become Iz’s enemy,

He could not help but think—

You trust me too much.

If I really overcome the contamination—

Then how could I ever have killed Akasei?

At best—

All I can do is try.

Of course he didn’t want to die.

Didn’t want to be manipulated by contamination.

Didn’t want to turn against his friends as enemies.

But this almost unconditional trust...

It weighed heavily.

Compared with Iz believing him hopeless and trying to kill him—

This was hardly any lighter.

Layer after layer of Iz’s magic wrapped around Rei’s talent.

He closed his eyes,

Beginning a serious analysis of its structure.

Rei did not disturb him.

He simply sat quietly nearby,

Digesting the effects of—

Second Forbidden Magic — Time

And the insights it brought him.

"It really does have..."

"Ridiculously harsh usage conditions."

"As expected..."

"Not one magic called Forbidden is easy to use."

Tick—

A clear clock-hand click rang beside his ear.

Half an hour had passed.

Rei lifted his gaze again.

Before him stretched a straight corridor.

The corridor he had first seen upon entering the spiral passage.

And now—

The door was gone.

"So I’ve returned after all..."

The Seventh Forbidden Magic — Element remained.

The Second Forbidden Magic — Time remained.

After one more reset,

He should leave the ruins entirely.

...

Rei sat cross-legged on the carpet.

He had no intention of solving further mysteries and entering the second region again.

Creating more complications would only invite more variables.

He had already gotten what he came for.

Leaving quietly was the better choice.

He waited there idly for over forty minutes.

Meanwhile, his mind turned over theories about time.

Within Rei’s sea of consciousness,

Ansu expressed confusion.

They had already entered—

Yet Rei was doing nothing.

What was this supposed to mean?

At this point, Ansu had none of the later memories.

Tick—

Again—

The sound of a clock hand forcibly turned.

Rei opened his eyes.

And discovered—

He was in a dim room.

His perception stirred.

He turned—

And saw Eoin carrying a huge stack of books down the stairs.

"Rei, these are all the records related to that ruin."

At last.

Back.

He had left the ruins.

The reset’s influence should be gone now.

From the moment he had received information from Eoin,

To reaching the third region—

The whole journey had actually only taken a little over an hour.

A faint smile crossed Rei’s face.

He accepted the information from Eoin.

Pretended to look through it.

Exchanged a few polite words.

Then took his leave.

Shhh—

A short ten-odd minutes later—

Rei stood in an open expanse of the Land of Empty Valleys.

Back in the ruins,

He had never had a chance to test the Forbidden Magic.

But now that he had returned to the real world—

He finally could.

The gains from this trip had been extraordinary.

Two Forbidden Magics.

A full two.

And because of the resets—

It meant Iz Palt had, in a sense, never truly encountered him at all.

And had never had his magic stolen by Rei.

Only—

That also meant his wish to leave a flaw in Rei’s talent,

To save Akasei through it—

Had become a hazy impossibility.

...Sigh.

Akasei.

Better think of how to prevent that future from happening.

Most importantly—

He needed to figure out the truth of his contamination.

What exactly was it?

Rei’s mind turned over countless concerns.

But in his hand—

Brilliant, multicolored elemental radiance gathered.

Just a small test.

[Seventh Forbidden Magic — Element]