Before learning the truth, he had always wanted answers.

But now that he finally knew the complete truth—

An empty hollowness spread through Kanzaki Rei’s heart.

He finally understood everything, yet somehow... it didn’t feel as important as he had imagined.

If one spoke purely in terms of informational value, then yes, this was unimaginably important knowledge.

But if this was the ultimate answer to his origins...

Then somehow, Rei felt...

It was strangely plain.

The Source Nest of Filth.

The totality of the Tree of Wisdom’s branches and leaves.

Perga’s schemes.

The cultivation of Earth.

It sounded like countless conspiracies interwoven together.

Yet the only feeling it ultimately left inside Rei was a single word—

Empty.

The mystery had been completely unraveled.

There were no more hidden clues, no remaining suspense.

Whether that was good or bad, he couldn’t say.

It was simply... emptiness.

One more purpose in life had quietly disappeared.

"Oh. I understand now."

After learning this truth, there were actually even more things he needed to do.

For example, remaining wary of the Source Nest of Filth.

Paying attention to the contamination within himself.

Now that he thought about it, Rei had barely paid attention to his own contamination lately...

Originally, he had assumed that under the effects of Imagined Reality Manifestation, the contamination had gradually been purged on its own.

But now it seemed...

Things were probably not that simple.

"Since I already know the answers now, I should be free to leave, right?"

Rei’s tone remained calm.

Truthfully, if he wanted to leave—

He could disappear instantly.

Still, after the other party had openly revealed these answers to him, simply vanishing without a word would be a little too cold.

At the very least, saying goodbye was basic respect.

"Not everyone is qualified to enter the Hall of Answers."

"Many scholars within the White Tower know of this place’s existence, yet spend their entire lives unable to earn the right to come here."

"Kanzaki Rei."

"You’re just going to turn around and leave like this?"

"Have you truly obtained every answer you wanted?"

Rei paused briefly before giving a faint chuckle.

"What else are you planning to tell me?"

"I don’t know myself. Honestly, my mission already ended here."

"Yogg didn’t instruct me to do anything further."

"But... from what I know, more than one person has entered the Hall of Answers. There may still be others you’d want to meet."

"And besides, if there are no further instructions... there’s actually something I personally want to show you."

Rei frowned slightly.

"Something you want to show me?"

"You’re allowed to move around freely?"

Huang Minzhi smiled.

"To be honest, serving as one of Yogg’s disciples comes with a fair amount of freedom."

"And for inner disciples like us, we’re allowed to freely explore the Hall of Answers. If we discover something interesting, we can petition Yogg’s divine revelation and request the corresponding knowledge."

That really was convenient.

"Fine. I’ll go take a look."

"This time, there won’t suddenly be another god waiting to ambush me halfway there, right?"

At the very least, his sense of impending danger hadn’t returned.

After defeating Elthemis, that constant tension warning him of approaching death had weakened considerably.

Honestly speaking—

Ever since emerging from the Time Ruins, aside from the absolute certainty of death he felt when facing Yakadikto...

Rei had rarely experienced truly overwhelming danger instincts.

Even when he was about to face Elthemis earlier—

He had only sensed danger approaching, not an unavoidable life-or-death crisis.

"Heh. Hard to say."

"But in my opinion, Yogg probably wants you to touch the answers to certain ultimate questions."

"So He likely won’t allow you to die."

"At least... not here."

Rei raised an eyebrow.

"Speculating about a god’s intentions won’t get you punished?"

Huang Minzhi answered with a mysterious smile.

"Yogg doesn’t care about things like that."

Rei nodded lightly.

"Fine. I’ll come with you."

"But you’ll need to wait a little."

The instant he spoke—

Materials for a ritual gradually appeared around him.

Floating earth formed from nothingness within the void, assembling itself piece by piece into solid ground. Complex ritual inscriptions spread across its surface.

This was an Advancement Ritual.

At this point, Rei had become exceptionally proficient at constructing advancement rituals.

"You’re advancing here?"

Rei replied casually:

"Why? Is that a problem?"

"It’s not impossible..."

After killing Elthemis, that incomparably intense battle had already fulfilled the advancement conditions for a Level 7 Warrior.

Level 6 → Level 7 Warrior.

The requirements themselves were exceptionally harsh.

A warrior needed to personally hunt a Rank-7 monster capable of killing them.

In other words—

Any Level 6 Warrior capable of advancing to Level 7 almost certainly possessed the ability to hunt higher-ranked monsters beyond their own level.

And Rei possessed countless classes simultaneously. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Even with Ascending Realm lowering his advancement requirements, the conditions remained absurdly difficult.

To achieve a perfect advancement...

Even killing Rank-8 monsters apparently hadn’t been enough.

The conditions themselves had already become vague.

Rei estimated that the requirement had likely transformed into:

Kill a being truly capable of killing him.

And after slaying Elthemis—

Rei had clearly felt the Warrior Principle rejoicing within him.

The advancement requirements had already been satisfied.

"Alright..."

BZZZZT—

Upon the starry expanse, land materialized from nothingness.

Rei stepped onto the newly formed ground and gazed upward as the Advancement Ritual activated in response.

An inverted sword slowly appeared overhead.

The Origin of Warriors was responding to Rei’s call.

Rei could feel himself growing increasingly closer to the Warrior Origin itself.

At the same time, his desire for battle rose higher and higher.

Even though his personality had never been that of a battle maniac.

FWOOOSH—

And alongside the advancement—

A phantom figure wrapped in flowing golden light gradually emerged in the distance.

The moment Rei saw the figure, he couldn’t help but laugh.

"Hah... why is it you again?"

The newcomer was none other than—

White hair.

Blood-red eyes.

Among all the people Rei knew, only three possessed such features.

Young Ansei.

Seiichi.

And the person standing before him now—

Yang Ming.

Without exception, every one of them stood among the world’s strongest beings.

And the instant Yang Ming saw Rei, his expression darkened visibly.

At this moment, Yang Ming’s aura was fixed at Level 6 Warrior—

The absolute peak of a Level 6 Warrior.

"You again."

Yang Ming was not some ancient projection.

He possessed modern consciousness and memories, though his power had been restricted to the peak state of his Level 6 advancement period.

Naturally, he recognized Rei.

He even remembered fighting him before.

"Just ten days ago, you advanced to Level 6 Warrior..."

"And now you’re attempting another advancement after only ten days."

"You may be a genius, but charging forward this recklessly is far too rash."

Rei calmly corrected him.

"Not ten days."

"To be precise, it’s been eight."

"And besides, I no longer need additional accumulation before advancing."

"I’ve already completely entered the Path."

"There’s no reason for me to remain at Level 6 any longer."