Reginald, with nothing left to lose, resolved to dismantle the church's headquarters. Over the years, he had verified that the church's contract wasn't absolute; his divine power could counteract its effects as long as he adhered to the principles outlined in the holy book. This allowed him to assist outsiders without suffering the backlash of betrayal, as dictated by the contract. His divine power mitigated the contract's effects by pacifying the point of contact within his soul.
Relying on his understanding of the contract's limitations, Reginald meticulously planned to target key strategic locations of the church, including its headquarters. His aim was twofold: to announce his rebellion, thereby diminishing the power of the Holy Empire, and to vent his pent-up anger through acts of destruction. However, he resolved to limit his actions to spots where corruption was evident among the personnel. By doing so, he hoped to avoid triggering the backlash of the contract, which could compromise his divine protection.
This plan also entailed confronting and, if necessary, eliminating the corrupt paladins and the grand priestess. Their actions had led to the deaths of numerous innocent individuals, and Reginald believed that removing them would not only save future lives but also weaken a significant portion of the Holy Empire's power structure.
However, when faced with the paladins and the grand priestess—whose eyes eerily mirrored those of the saintess—he found himself unable to strike them down. Instead, he incapacitated them and symbolically destroyed the building to announce his rebellion to the world.
Retreating into hiding, Reginald initially entertained thoughts of unleashing havoc upon various key locations of the Holy Empire. However, a nagging realization haunted him: he had yet to avenge Clarice by confronting the masked man responsible for her demise. Fearing that excessive destruction might jeopardize his divine protection against the contract's repercussions, he reluctantly set aside his plans for destruction and turned his focus toward tracking down the elusive blue masked figure.
Reginald grappled with conflicting emotions in the aftermath of Clarice's death. Despite sensing her urging for forgiveness and understanding, he couldn't suppress the burning desire for vengeance that surged within him. Knowing the reasons behind Clarice's gratitude toward her killer only deepened his inner conflict.
His mind wrestled with the urge to honor Clarice's final wish, while his heart clamored for retribution. The profound loss of Clarice, the guiding light in his life, left him engulfed in grief and driven by an insatiable thirst for vengeance.
Reginald found himself locked in a prolonged internal struggle as he awaited the emergence of the perpetrator from the lightning magic tower. Through meticulous deduction, he had narrowed down the suspect to the occupants of the tower. However, he ruled out the original three level 2 powerhouses, as their previous encounters during the great war had left him certain they lacked the capability to assassinate the saintess.
Moreover, it seemed improbable that they would conceal their true power, especially during a time of war when their strength would have been crucial. Additionally, the notion that they would withhold any newfound breakthroughs in power during the past decade, a period marked by the gradual decline of the Fulminar Empire, further defied reason. After all, the tower's fate was intricately tied to the empire's survival.
This left Reginald with the newest level 2 wizard of the tower—a mysterious figure whom he had never met—as the primary suspect. Yet, despite his suspicions, this individual remained sequestered within the confines of the tower, frustrating Reginald's efforts to confront them and seek revenge for Clarice.
*** Zack POV ***
Zack was scratching his head. This was so weird, man. Ever since he activated his mini domain, he had this crazy urge to battle and flexed his powers on someone. But, as soon as that urge hit him, he was like, 'Whoa, hold up!' He remembered feeling something similar back when he was just an apprentice, you know, after he learned a bunch of level 0 spells.
Damn, this ain't his style at all. No matter how strong he was, He was not about that battling life. He ain't gonna look for trouble with someone for no reason. It was risky stuff, and he knew he gotta squash that urge, no matter what.
So, for like the next week, he was stuck in this internal struggle. Part of him wanted to throw down in a fight, but he was fighting against that feeling. After a week or so, he started feeling that urge ease up a bit. He let out a big sigh of relief. But just when he was thinking, 'Phew, dodged a bullet there,' he ran into a problem. One of the materials he needed for his formation studies was totally out. And get this, it was not just sold out, it was like vanished from the tower's market.
Isn't that wild? The tower's market was like the ultimate black market, you can find anything there. Sure, sometimes they ran low on stuff like any regular market, but it was never been wiped clean like this.
So, he started digging for info on what was going on. Turns out, the place where they usually collected the material was crawling with scaled panthers. These suckers were no joke; even the adults could hit peak level 1. And just like wizards, magic beasts have ranks too. So, a level 1 magic beast is like facing off against a level 1 wizard.
So, here's the deal with these magic beasts: they might not have the same range of magic spells as wizards, but they more than make up for it with their brute strength. Now, regular panther types usually like flying solo, but these scaled panthers? They're like a pack of wolves, sticking together and all. And a pack of peak level 1 was usually led by a level 2 magic beast.
You following? Now, in the lightning magic tower, there were only 4 level 2 wizards, and everyone, except him, was caught up dealing with the Fulminar Empire stuff. So, nobody was around to deal with this magic beast situation.
When Zack heard about the shortage of materials, he was like, 'Seriously, Fate? First, you hit me with this sudden urge to battle, and now this nonsense? You think you can just push me out of the tower like that? Well, let's see who wins: my homebody habits or your tricks to kick me out!'
He stormed away from the tower's market, thinking, 'Fine, whatever. I'll just learn another formation. There is plenty to practice anyway.'
Back in his practice room, he cracked open those level 3 wizard books he borrowed from the library. And just like he figured, even though he grasped a "concept" a couple of weeks back, it was still not officially level 3 wizard status.
But hey, that first step into level 3? It was the toughest one. Once a wizard got a concept down, it was only a matter of time before they hit level 3.
Alright, so here was the scoop: once you had grasped a concept, the next step was crafting your own unique sigil based on what you had learned. Now, the tower couldn't really lend a hand with this part. Each wizard's concept was like their fingerprint—totally unique.
Even if there had been a wizard in the past who understood something kinda similar to what Zack got, the concept of fast, it was never exactly the same. So, their sigils ended up looking different too.
According to the book, checking out other wizards' sigils could actually mess you up. Your brain might start trying to copy stuff that was not right for you without you even realizing it.
But here was the good news: while the overall design had to be unique, the individual patterns for a certain concept tended to be kinda similar. It was like how different spells with the same concept might use similar patterns.Zack figured he could study those spell patterns for speed and used them as a base for his sigil.
Also, even though his sigil was not fully cooked yet, he could still kinda summon it like a spell pattern. It chowed down on a ton of mana, but the results were also huge. With just 20% of the sigil done, he was already extending his domain out to 90 meters.
Seeing that sigil hovering over his hand, Zack was blown away. It was like this 4D shape with various shades of blue made up of all these geometric patterns and symbols that kept shifting around. The shape itself was always changing, but just looking at it, you could tell what concept it represented.
Staring at his sigil, it felt like the whole world hit pause for a moment. It's just pure magic. That feeling perfectly sums up his sigil, embodying the concept of "fast." It was sorta like when he glimpsed the saintess' destruction sigil—it grabbed your attention while everything else seemed to crumble to bits around you. See, a sigil isn't just some doodle; it's like the ultimate culmination of a wizard's spell pattern know-how and their own spell's essence.
When he activated his sigil, everything around him went still. He didn't even need to tap into his [Triple Enhancement]; he could zip around at hyper speed thanks to the sigil alone. But if he did combine it with [Triple Enhancement], he was edging closer and closer to pulling off a true [Time Stop].
Now, to the casual observer, the difference between using [Triple Enhancement] alone and throwing in the sigil's effect might not seem huge. I mean, it was like comparing super slow to super duper slow, right? But trust him, the gap was massive.
With the speed boost from both [Triple Enhancement] and the sigil, he could leave his past self in the dust, the one using just [Triple Enhancement] alone. It's like Chronos going head-to-head with the Flash; there's just no competition. Chronos would freeze time and give the Flash a beatdown. No offense to the flash fans.
Anyway, the more he fleshed out that sigil, the stronger the effects got. And get this: it was not just him that got the speed boost. Anything within his domain—like his spells—got juiced up too. So, if he hurled a spell from within his domain, he was pretty sure it could speed up enough to rip through space itself. No joke, he got that kinda feeling if he managed to complete his domain.
Clicking off his domain, he let out a heavy sigh. It was all too clear why he kept getting that itch to battle—it's the darn OP effect of his domain. Reminded him of those cocky apprentice days when he felt invincible, even though there were plenty of folks who could wipe the floor with him. Like those big-shot department heads in the magic towers.
So, even though he was feeling unstoppable right now, who knows? There might be someone out there who could put him in his place, someone he hadn't even crossed paths with yet. But still, normally, he wouldn't be caught dead with this kind of cocky vibe. Fate's gotta be messing with him.
The stronger that urge got, the more cautious he became. The more fate tried to drag him out of the tower, the tighter he clung to it. 'Let's see who's more stubborn here!' There gotta be something or someone out there that fate was pushing him towards—probably some epic showdown.
In moments like this, he leaned on his cheat system for a bit of solace.
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Name: Zack
Age: 25/300 (2000)
Occupation: Official Wizard - Level 2
Contract: [Lightning Magic Tower - Official Member]
Hidden Contract: -
Mana: 3600/3600 (111,960/111,960)
Overt Talent: [Low Mana Manipulation Correction], [Low Mana Sensory Correction]
Hidden Talent: [Limitless Mana Well], [Advanced Mana Manipulation Correction], [Advanced Mana Sensory Correction], [Advanced Intelligence Correction], NEW [Enhanced Computation Power]
Hidden Boss Abilities: [Hidden Strength] [Thousand Faces]
HBP: 1
HB Progress Bar: 60/100%
Expand Hidden Boss abilities Store? yes/no
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