BZZZZ—

The sea, the clouds in the sky, the streaks of fire across the firmament, even the stars in the night sky!

With a flash of the Void!

In an instant, that cylindrical column of Space was reduced to nothingness!

Only an empty, colorless zone remained.

This was a form of Magic that Meiser had never heard of, a feat he had no idea how to accomplish.

No, was this even Magic?

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a miracle.

Iz’s gaze shifted to the side, where another Meiser stood.

"A Magic to store one’s soul in different bodies... It’s quite interesting. If you had focused on studying Soul Magic, you might have become a decent Soul Mage."

Meiser stared at the body of his that had been annihilated into the Void.

He could no longer sense that vessel at all.

He roared at Iz, "Iz!"

"Don’t you want to know anything?!"

"If you kill me just like that, what do you think you’ll gain?!"

"Hmm, I do have some questions for you. That’s why I left ’you’ alive."

"Now..."

CLICK—

But just as Iz was responding!

On the surface of the sea beneath his feet, in the area that hadn’t been erased, layers upon layers of Magic Arrays lit up in succession!

BZZZZZZZZZZZZ—

Thousands of interlocking Magic Arrays flared to life. To think Meiser had laid a Grand Array of Magic across this entire patch of sea! Hundreds of individual Arrays connected and interacted, interlocking like a precision instrument...

And that Meiser was standing outside the Range of the Array.

Iz glanced at the Array.

"Magic for transferring a soul."

"It seems you’ve been preparing for this day for a long time."

Meiser’s expression was grim as he pressed a hand to his heart.

"My body has already endured too much... In my quest to prove the truth of the Root Source, I have very little life left."

"Iz, after long and careful consideration, you are the best choice I could think of."

"Only the strongest magical genius can allow me to truly stand before the Root Source."

"This is my only solution to reach the Root Source."

Izparut: "It seems you’ve made the wrong choice."

BOOM!

Countless rays of multicolored Elemental light shot into the sky!

The entire world was churned by the dense Magic Power!

Iz didn’t move an inch. Beneath his feet, the Grand Magic Array that Meiser had constructed was already being reversed and dismantled. The individual Arrays Meiser had once commanded were slipping from his grasp one by one, falling under Iz’s Control.

Hollow.

Powerless.

That was what Meiser felt at this moment.

His meticulous preparations, years of planning—all of it was like a sandcastle, crumbling at the slightest touch.

As long as one stood before him...

...it was impossible to win against him in Magic.

"Your Magic is like a castle in the sky... To seek the Root Source with such an unstable foundation means you’ve already gone astray."

"Meiser, you were wrong from the very beginning."

Meiser stared blankly at the reversed Arrays.

’Completely ineffective?’

Even though he had considered failure, considered that his plan was fraught with peril and had a slim chance of success...

...this outcome was still difficult to accept.

"Why..."

"Why was it ineffective?"

"Perhaps it’s because my attainments in Soul Magic are also a cut above yours."

’No, it’s not just a cut above.’

’Dismantling a pre-laid Array so easily isn’t something that can be explained by being just ’a cut above.’’

’His mastery of this type of Magic has reached a level I can’t even begin to comprehend.’

’But I’m a genius...’

’At least, I used to be a genius.’

BZZZ—

Suddenly, he felt a heavy blow to his soul.

Iz’s voice echoed in his mind...

"Now, I will ask, and you will answer."

Meiser’s consciousness grew hazy, and he could only comply with Iz’s command involuntarily.

...

"Was Meiser strong?"

"Not strong," Iz replied. "His abilities were on par with an average Mage."

Lu Cang wondered what Iz’s standard of "average" was.

But it seemed his master had won quite easily.

Even though his opponent was the most wanted criminal on the continent, a name that made everyone’s face pale.

Iz suddenly asked, "Lu Cang, if one day you discovered that to pursue the ultimate Root Source, you had to betray your own principles, what would you do?"

Lu Cang thought for a moment before answering, "I’d take another path. Become a Warrior, or an Assassin, or something like that."

"Oh? You’d give up that decisively!" Iz remarked.

Lu Cang said frankly, "After all, the purpose of pursuing the Root Source is to better uphold my principles."

"If I have to do something that goes against my heart to gain power, then what’s the point of having that power?"

"Iz, I will never go astray like Meiser."

"As expected of my apprentice," Iz said. "A very good answer!"

"That’s right. The Root Source is the Root Source, and you are you. Our goal is to explore the Root Source, but that doesn’t mean we should lose ourselves on that path."

"Tell me, what new understandings have you come to recently?"

"I heard you’ve already comprehended Root Magic. Let me see your Source."

...

This reunion left Lu Cang feeling like he had endless things to say.

And indeed, his improvements during this period gave him plenty to talk about for a long time: Flesh Magic, Void Magic, the Magic he created himself, the Rituals he’d found...

’It’s great to have a master I can talk to without any worries.’

Lu Cang didn’t have to worry about Iz killing him for his treasures, nor did he have to worry about being imprisoned or suppressed for mastering some forbidden art.

He was just that kind of reassuring master.

A master who would cross thousands of miles to hunt down Meiser just to eliminate a danger to his apprentice...

His very existence was reassuring to a frightening degree.

’He really is a master who never disappoints.’

As he shared his insights from the past few days with Iz, the unique perspectives he received in return quickly sparked new flames of inspiration.