Kanzaki Rei held the test tube containing the synthesized potion in his hand.

If he remembered correctly, at this point in time he should have been refining the Limit Perception Potion.

Using the eyeball of the Abyssfall Eye as a catalyst.

But just moments ago, he had clearly been practicing The Seventh Forbidden Magic — Element.

And yet the state of God-Tier · Future Simulation had been forcibly terminated.

There had been one time before when he could not tell whether he was inside a simulation or outside one.

But that had been in the Deep Earth.

His consciousness had been muddled then, so blurred he could not distinguish illusion from reality.

Now, however, he was fully in the real world.

The instant he was pulled out of Future Simulation, Kanzaki Rei realized it.

After all, this was his talent.

Reality or simulation—he could tell with a single thought.

But for something to directly terminate his simulation state—

That was completely beyond anything he had expected.

[Cryptic Scholar Level: 5]

At this very moment,

his Cryptic Scholar level was no longer Level 6.

Because advancing to Level 6 happened after this point in time.

Which also meant the corresponding talent no longer existed.

"No way..."

Kanzaki Rei set down the test tube, already unable to focus on potion refinement.

If what he was seeing was real—

Then perhaps this wasn’t a one-time occurrence.

Time...

might continue rewinding forward into the past.

"Kid, what’s wrong?"

"You look rather horrified."

Without that talent,

Kanzaki Rei was beginning to lose track of which thoughts in his mind were foreign intrusions and which were truly his own.

The contamination.

Lottie’s interference.

His own intentions.

All mixed together.

"Ansu."

"My time is resetting backward..."

"What do you think?"

Though his words were brief, in an instant he transmitted massive amounts of information through his sea of consciousness into Ansu’s mind.

Ansu pressed a shriveled hand to his temple.

"You’re saying you’ve already been to that ruin."

"And the temporal reset effect you described is still attached to you?"

Ansu sneered.

"Heh. Most people could never even dream of such a blessing."

"Time is rewinding for you?"

"If I were you, I’d treasure the opportunity and see whether you can return to the past and alter certain events."

"But if you ask me..."

"No matter what, time doesn’t truly change. What you think you’re reliving as a reset past may simply be a future that hasn’t happened yet."

"It’s just being realized through a method stranger than I imagined."

"But the situation seems clear enough."

"The cause is that door."

"Go back."

"Open it."

"Perhaps this ends."

"Or perhaps..."

"something happens that you’d want even less."

After hearing Ansu’s analysis, Kanzaki Rei fell silent.

It seemed...

he had no choice.

This reset had already sent him back to before he advanced into a Level 6 Cryptic Scholar.

His strength increased continuously with time.

Which also meant—

the farther back time moved,

the fewer methods he possessed.

The weaker he became.

And he had no idea when the rewinds would stop.

In the worst case...

they would never stop.

All the way back to the origin of time.

To the origin of his own life.

The worst possibility—

was death.

How could he possibly allow this to continue?

It seemed the only option was to find a way to open that door.

No matter what—

preserving himself came first.

"Understood."

He calmed himself again.

Then resumed refining the potion.

Even if time had returned to this point,

none of the steps he should go through could be skipped.

Enhancing perception was necessary.

After that, advancing Cryptic Scholar was necessary.

Only by reclaiming his talent and re-entering the ruin would he have greater confidence.

...

Another full day passed.

This reset had thrown him back this far?

An entire day.

At last the potion was complete.

This time he did not hesitate.

Kanzaki Rei immediately drank it.

After waiting in place for a while—

he once again felt that roaring sensation,

as if ten thousand voices were calling his name.

The sensation of impending advancement.

It was time to advance.

The following process was largely the same...

At the wishing phase, he chose the same wish again.

To unravel the mystery of the ruin.

But this time, unlike before—

his first wish slot was already empty.

The wish that originally should not yet have been fulfilled

had been completed the instant time reset.

Bzz—

As the Cryptic Scholar advancement ritual ended,

the class mastery and talent he obtained

were exactly the same as last time.

Once the advancement was complete,

he headed straight for the ruin.

The third time here...

And still that spiraling entrance.

Though it stood unmoving in one place,

Kanzaki Rei somehow felt as if it could never be exhausted.

As though the ruin itself kept seeking him out.

Three visits already.

Like paying three visits to the thatched cottage.

Whoosh—

Kanzaki Rei stepped inside again.

He passed the first region with ease.

And when he entered the second region again,

all that remained before him

was emptiness and blackness.

Ispalut did not appear.

This place no longer seemed to be the Realm of Secret Knowledge.

It felt more like a fracture in time.

He had questions for Ispalut.

Yet this time he was absent.

Troublesome.

Every passage through the second region

changed.

Kanzaki Rei confirmed it with Ansu.

Yes—

this truly was a temporal fault line.

Meaning—

follow the direction where light existed,

and he would once more reach the corridor with the great door.

Tick—

Time passed second by second.

The search went smoothly.

Soon,

Kanzaki Rei once again arrived at that corridor,

once again saw the mysterious colossal door in the distance.

Behind it seemed to echo a girl’s voice—

and voices like restless dead.

Crying.

Whispers.

Sorrow.

Kanzaki Rei stood before the door once more.

He did not know what opening it would unleash—

but he had to try.

He pressed the Core against the door.

Previously, even trying to open it,

the door had not budged in the slightest.

Who knew—

if giving everything he had

might move it.

At least this time he had not fed his soul to Ansu.

He had soul power to spare.

"Ansu."

"What do you think this door is?"

Kanzaki Rei did not force it open immediately.

He questioned first.

"What else could it be?"

"Open it."

"But if your strength isn’t enough..."

"Leave it to me."

"With just a little soul power,

I should be able to help you open it."

Hearing Ansu ask for souls again,

Kanzaki Rei almost laughed inwardly.

It gave him the feeling of watching a dog unable to quit eating filth.

Future Simulation still could not be used inside this ruin.

Divination also could not reveal what lay beyond after opening the door.

"Ansu."

"What do you think is behind it?"

"Based on what I understand, this door is a prison containing time itself."

"What do you think it means to imprison time?"

Ansu replied,

"Time can be imprisoned?"

"But if I follow your meaning..."

"Maybe it means many people like you have their time stored inside."

"Every stretch of time you lost through reset has been preserved there by some special means."

"Time must be conserved."

"You cannot simply lose a portion of time for nothing."

"If you keep resetting,

then perhaps the time you lose is filling somewhere else."

"Maybe..."

"behind the door."

His words were profound, almost mystical.

"But you can’t be the only one who entered this ruin."

"Maybe others who entered it, like you, went from time moving endlessly forward..."

"...to endlessly backward."

Kanzaki Rei thought.

Back when Ewin had shown him the intelligence,

someone had indeed returned alive from the third region.

She had mentioned time there continuously reset.

But if one waited a while,

one could come back out.

...

Thinking about it now—

Was the one who returned really herself?

"How many souls would you need to open the door?" Kanzaki Rei asked.

Ansu answered again,

"I can’t be sure."

"I can only try."

"The laws on this door are strange."

Kanzaki Rei replied,

"Then forget it."

His thoughts gradually clarified.

At the same time he made a wish.

I return to normal spacetime.

The wish was not fulfilled.

So he was still inside the temporal cycle of resets.

With the wish as a safeguard,

Kanzaki Rei raised one hand.

This time—

he touched the door directly.

The previous attempts had used the Core,

or not touched it at all.

Though the Core was himself,

an inseparable part of him,

the sensation was different.

Bzz—

The moment his palm touched the door,

he felt endless vibrations.

A humming traveled through the gateway into his flesh,

making even his body go slightly numb.

And from the door

he felt warped spacetime itself.

Like the groggy haze of being forced awake at dawn.

Dream and reality overlapping.

The instant of contact—

his perception seemed to see countless afterimages of himself.

Each subtly different.

One of them...

seemed to be himself from his previous visit,

using the Core against the door.

Then what were the others?

Future scenes?

Would he come before this door so many times?

This was already the third visit.

He thought that was many enough.

But...

there would be more?

No—

perhaps they were only possibilities.

If brute force was needed to blast open this door,

ordinary death magic would not do.

Then there was only one thing to try—

Kanzaki Rei opened his eyes again.

Within his pupils swirled ten thousand iridescent colors.

The Seventh Forbidden Magic — Element

His greatest killing move.

Unfortunately,

with the Time Forbidden Magic,

he met only the first condition.

And it was useless here.

So—

he would try pure destruction.

See if he could blast the door open.

Initiation Form: Elemental Genesis

Whoosh—

In an instant,

everything around him disintegrated.

All that remained

was brilliant elemental color.

The corridor vanished completely.

Only the lone door remained.

"Kid!"

Ansu shouted in shock from within his sea of consciousness.

"The Primordial Forbidden Magic."

Not only was he shocked Kanzaki Rei had learned a Primordial Forbidden Magic—

he was shocked he could use its ultimate form at all.

Because Ansu knew.

To use any Primordial Forbidden Magic,

the price was enormous.

Astronomical.

Not something ordinary mages could bear.

And yet—

after the First Form ended,

the door still remained.

It did not become elemental matter.

It was unaffected.

It was no ordinary thing.

Its laws transcended even the Initiation Form.

And within the elemental field,

Kanzaki Rei vaguely sensed—

the door was not composed of elements at all.

Something in this world

not made of elements.

Truly eye-opening.

Then—

let’s try this.

Release Form: Elemental Kaleidoscope

Flash!

The whole domain lit up.

After over an hour of practice,

he could sustain Elemental Kaleidoscope longer.

At least—

one full second.

And in that one second—

at least four Ninth-Tier elemental spells fully formed.

The entire corridor

ceased to exist.

This space became only a swirling iridescent vortex.

...

Kanzaki Rei’s mana was drained instantly.

Inside his consciousness,

Ansu was speechless in shock.

No...

Why could this child

use the Second Form of a Primordial Forbidden Magic?

While the existence of the other Primordial Forbidden Magics was uncertain,

Element was comparatively widespread.

With Ansu’s experience,

he had seen it.

Understood its release conditions.

Its price.

But...

why could Kanzaki Rei cast it?

A sudden terror gripped Ansu.

Though he had spent day and night beside Kanzaki Rei,

knew he far surpassed others his age—

No.

Far surpassed all beings at the same rank—

there should still have been a limit.

And until now,

Ansu had believed his strength remained within what he could accept.

Until now.

Watching the iridescent eruption—

watching Ninth-Tier elemental magic bombard the colossal door—

Ansu realized

Kanzaki Rei’s strength had surpassed the limits of his comprehension.

BOOM!

The giant door rang violently.

A massive feedback wave exploded outward—

Enduring backlash-induced vertigo,

Kanzaki Rei focused his senses on the colossal gate.

It had not opened.

Even Ninth-Tier elemental magic had failed.

At the same time,

rippling currents of time surged backward through the impact—

rushing into his body.

Tick—

Another faint click.

The sound of a dial being turned.

Damn...

Just hearing it made his scalp go numb.

He lifted his gaze again.

What he saw—

was a dark, cramped basement.

Painfully familiar.

This was...

Miseru.

In Atlantis City.

He was being sent farther and farther back.

You’re on the free plan