「Ten days later」Outside Shadow Moon Tower, in the Nameless Valley.
The night sky was moonless, and thick clouds hung low.
The wind whistled through the dry grass, making a low, whimpering sound.
Ian stood at the entrance to the valley, his deep blue Wizard Robe almost blending into the night.
On his shoulder, Gaga was huddled inside his hood, its small eyes alertly scanning the surroundings.
"Are you sure this is the place, ga?"
Its voice was kept extremely low, transmitted into Ian’s mind through their Soul Link.
"I’m sure."
Ian’s gaze fell on the depths of the valley.
An unassuming stone house stood there, its walls covered in moss and its roof tiles chipped and broken.
It looked like the abandoned residence of some reclusive Wizard.
But Ian’s Spiritual Power—his Crystal Perception, gained after his promotion to Level Two—was already sweeping silently over the area.
The stone house was surrounded by three layers of Concealing Barriers.
One layer concealed its aura, another blocked detection, and the third...
...was a triggered alarm.
The technique was masterful, even bearing some resemblance to the defensive Witchcraft used within Shadow Moon Tower.
A pity.
Before a Level Two Crystalized Wizard, these tricks were as flimsy as paper.
Ian could clearly "see" a hidden secret chamber ten meters beneath the stone house.
In the center of the secret chamber, an emaciated old man sat cross-legged.
He wore a dark gray Long Robe, his head was covered in sparse white hair, and the wrinkles on his face were as deep as if carved by a knife.
It was the very same administrator from the library’s free-access area who had tried to harm him all those years ago.
’Old bastard... I’ve found you.’
Ian’s eyes were ice-cold.
That life-or-death crisis had been the first time he was nearly framed after arriving in this world.
If the panel hadn’t saved him, he would have been a corpse long ago.
He had never forgotten it.
He had simply lacked the strength to act before, and after his promotion, he was too busy with other matters, so he had put it aside for the time being.
When he finally had some free time, he sent Gaga to investigate, only to find the place completely empty.
Now, he was about to leave the East Coast for a distant, unknown continent.
It was time to settle some old scores.
Ian didn’t approach the stone house.
He raised his right hand, slowly uncurling his fingers.
Above his palm, a black dot the size of a grain of rice appeared without a sound.
There was no light, no fluctuation, only the air around it beginning to distort subtly.
[Gravity Collapse Ball].
A Level Two Talent Witchcraft with a maximum casting distance of two thousand meters.
He was currently only three hundred meters from the stone house.
With a mere thought from Ian, the black dot floated up from his palm and flew toward the stone house.
It moved with extreme speed, yet was perfectly stable.
As it passed, the dry grass on the ground bent low, as if crushed by an invisible weight.
0.1 seconds later.
The black dot passed through the wall of the stone house. Its surface rippled, but it remained completely undamaged.
This was one of the characteristics of the Gravity Collapse Ball.
It could penetrate most physical barriers to lock onto its target with precision.
The black dot entered the underground chamber.
It hovered three feet above the old man’s head.
The old man seemed to sense something and snapped his eyes open!
His murky pupils constricted, and a look of horror spread across his emaciated face.
"Who?"
He had just uttered a single word when the black dot abruptly collapsed!
VWOOM!
There was no sound.
But centered on the black dot, the space within a thirty-meter radius instantly collapsed inward!
The stone house, the chamber, the layers of rock, the dry grass...
Within one ten-thousandth of a second, all matter was crushed into its most fundamental particles by the terrifying gravity!
A massive, hemispherical crater thirty meters deep appeared in the ground.
The walls of the crater were as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the faint light from the night sky.
And that was with Ian deliberately suppressing its power.
The old man didn’t even have time to cast a single spell of Witchcraft.
Even his scream died in his throat.
His body, Soul, and personal belongings—all were reduced to the Void.
Only a few wisps of Ashes at the bottom of the crater remained, slowly scattering in the night wind.
Ian lowered his hand, his eyes as calm as stagnant water.
A single, fatal blow.
This was the absolute dominance of a Level Two Wizard over a Level One Wizard.
There was never any doubt about the outcome.
"Ga... It’s over already?" Gaga poked its head out of the hood, its small eyes wide and round.
"Yes."
Ian walked to the edge of the massive crater, his Spiritual Power sweeping across its bottom.
Most everything had been annihilated.
But... a small, dark-gray Bone Fragment had somehow survived the collapse.
It hovered in the air at the bottom of the crater, a faint Soul fluctuation emanating from its surface.
’Interesting.’
Ian made a grasping gesture, and the Bone Fragment flew into his palm.
It was cool to the touch and hard, its edges densely engraved with tiny Runes.
It was some kind of Soul Artifact used for storing memories.
Moreover, its quality was extremely high; it had to be the work of at least a Level Two Wizard.
Ian didn’t try to read it immediately. Instead, he first set up a Sound Insulation and Warning Barrier.
Only after confirming that his surroundings were secure did he extend his Spiritual Power into the Bone Fragment.
HUMMM!
A flood of fragmented images appeared in his mind.
The first scene: A young Wizard knelt before a gray-robed figure, his right hand placed on a pitch-black codex as he swore an oath.
"I wish to join the Eye of Dusk... to offer my Soul and serve the Lord of Dusk..."
The second scene: The young Wizard infiltrated Shadow Moon Tower, disguised himself as an ordinary Apprentice, and then slowly worked his way up to the position of library administrator.
He secretly gathered intelligence, screened for potential "seeds," and looked for opportunities to strike.
The third scene, the fourth...
One by one, Apprentices vanished without a trace.
Until... he encountered Ian in the free-access area.
’Light Attribute Affinity, a Middle Level Apprentice... Not bad Talent, and highly alert. A pity you ran into me.’
’Once I complete this mission, I can trade it for a chance at a Spiritual Eye Reshaping... My promotion to the Liquefaction stage will be just around the corner!’
After that, Ian escaped. The man was punished by his superiors, transferred from the core area, and forced to lie low in this very valley.
’That brat... he’s actually still alive?’
’But it doesn’t matter. Once I achieve my breakthrough, you’ll be the first one I kill...’
The memories ended there.
The remaining images were simply scenes from his daily life over the years: lying in wait, his Cultivation, and occasionally passing on intelligence.