Kai dreamt of his past.

The one where he had finally become a Magus.

After that breakthrough, he had gone straight out from the Sorcerer’s Tower to deal with a nest of dead mana creatures that had been harassing it for weeks. He still remembered that day clearly. The sky had been grey, the ground filled with those twisted creatures, and the other Mages had stood back, watching.

He had moved with his newly gained power, and he had torn through them. Spell after spell, wave after wave, cutting them down without pause. Hundreds of them had fallen, and the rest of the Mages had simply stood there, watching in awe.

It had been one of the best days of his life.

For the first time, he had truly felt like he had reached a peak, like he had stepped into the power his path promised. But even in that memory, something felt off.

Something felt so wrong that he couldn’t help but pause between his attacks.

A voice that kept echoing in his mind.

He focused better and created another spell just to hear someone yell, “Get up!”

It came again.

“Arzan, get up.”

It grew louder, more insistent, pulling at his focus. For a moment, he faltered, just slightly, and that was enough. One of the creatures leapt at him. It crashed into him, its jaws snapping toward his neck.

“Fuck!”

Kai opened his eyes. He really, truly opened his eyes. The dream shattered and his heart pounded in his ears.

He blinked away the haze, his vision clearing slowly as he found himself staring up at Elias, the old man’s face hovering above him.

For a moment, Kai didn’t move.

Then the memories came back, one after another. The advancement, the pain, the breakthrough—they all rushed at him.

He pushed himself up slightly and grunted. He still felt the aftereffects lingering in his body and looked at Elias.

“Did I pass out?” he asked.

Elias scoffed immediately. “What did you think, kid?” he said. “Of course, you passed out. If you were planning an advancement here, why didn’t you tell us first? Do you know how much of a mess you made?”

Kai couldn’t help but frown, forcing himself up further despite the heaviness in his body.

“I… didn’t expect to pass out.” He cleared his throat. “The pain just got too much at the end—” he paused his words, catching onto something Elias had just said. “What do you mean mess? What happened?”

He opened his mouth, but before he could answer, a loud screech echoed from outside the tent and Kai froze on the spot.

Elias, on the other hand, simply smiled. “That kind of mess.”

Kai sighed, simply being done with the Mage’s indirect words. “Explain,” he said.

“When you advanced, you released a huge amount of mana. Enough that even the nearby spirits picked up on it. I think they sensed something foreign and strong. It’s not something they’re used to feeling here, I can tell that much. And since then, they’ve been coming at us one after another. It’s almost like a siege.”

The frown he had on earlier deepened. Kai immediately tried to get up, but Elias placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

“You should rest,” the old Magus said. “It takes time to get used to being a Magus.”

Kai only smiled at that. “It’s fine,” he said. “I’ll be okay. I’ve never felt better.”

He wasn’t lying. At first, when he had just woken up, it hadn’t been obvious. But now he could feel it. The mana that surrounded him felt alive in a way it never had before. And it wasn’t just the density anymore, he felt it extremely clearly.

And it wasn’t just that.

His senses stretched outward, far beyond what they used to be. Hundreds of meters, easily. He could feel everything around him—the movement of mana, the disturbances, the clash happening outside the tent.

That was what becoming a Magus gave. What Mages called a third eye; it wasn’t truly an eye, at least not in the physical sense as one would explain. It was more of an evolution of mana perception. Though some could manifest it as an actual eye on their forehead, one that saw only mana itself.

Kai could already feel it forming, and through it, everything unfolded differently. He could sense dozens of spirits outside. He sensed their movements, attacks, and even how his party tried their best to hold them back.

He pushed himself up fully and stretched his body slightly, testing how it felt, or to see if it still ached the same.

But no. Everything responded perfectly.

He looked at Elias whose eyes were studying him carefully. “I’ll handle the spirits,” he said.

Elias frowned. “You sure?” he asked. “They’re not easy to deal with. We would’ve already finished them if they were.”

Kai only smiled. “Yes, I’m sure.”

Then he stepped out of the tent, and in two words, the surroundings were a chaotic mess.

There were three different types of spirits that were facing his party, and parts of the camp had already been destroyed by the altercation. In some places, the ground was completely gone, as if something had scooped it out entirely.

The first were the flying ones. They were shaped like elves, but much smaller, their forms light and sharp. They moved through the air with ease, controlling wind around them and sending out slicing gusts that cut through everything in their path.

The second were spirits that were shaped like rocks. They stood as tall as Kai, and their bodies were bulky and uneven. From the looks of it, they didn’t engage in close combat. Instead, they raised their hands, and pieces of earth tore out from the ground, lifting into the air before being hurled toward his party with force.

The last were smaller creatures.

They looked like rabbits at a glance, but their bodies were tense and sharp and their claws were long and crooked. They kept digging in and out of the ground, appearing and disappearing unpredictably.

As he continued to watch, one of them burst out right behind Killian and slammed into the lightning armour covering his body. The impact nearly broke through it, forcing Killian a step forward before he turned sharply and drove his sword straight into its neck. The spirit dropped instantly, and Killian crushed it under his lightning-covered foot.

But even then, two more erupted from the ground. Before they could strike, Veridia moved.

A stream of magma surged out from her hand and slammed into them. The spirits let out sharp cries as they burned, their forms breaking apart into wisps of mana. But she didn’t get a moment to breathe.

Two massive boulders came flying toward her from the side.

She reacted instantly. Illusions spread through the air, multiple versions of her appearing at once. The boulders crashed into one of them, and it shattered into specks of mana.

On the side, Elder Caelith stood with his hawk spirit manifested beside him. Together, they faced two of the rock spirits.

Chunks of earth kept flying toward them, but Caelith moved accordingly, his spirit mirroring him. Arrows of compressed wind shot forward from the bow he had, striking the incoming boulders and breaking them apart mid-air, while the spirit itself surged forward in bursts, trying to close the distance despite the constant barrage.

At the very back, Claire stood slightly apart from the others.

Lightning flickered across her palms as she focused on the ground, striking down as many spirits as she can that tried to surface beneath them. Every time a ripple appeared in the earth, a bolt followed, forcing the creatures back.

But her range was limited and it showed. It was clear that she wasn’t fully used to the chaos of a battle like this. Her eyes moved everywhere at once, hence her focus stretched thin and she couldn’t keep track of everything happening. Her movements slowed by the second.

Kai watched all of it for a few moments. Half a minute at most.

Then he made his decision.

The longer this continued, the worse it would get. Fighting these spirits was a matter of risk. The noise, the mana, the disturbance… all of it would attract stronger ones.

And when they came, they wouldn’t come one at a time, rather, all together. He had no doubt about that. He couldn’t let that happen.

So he moved.

He rose into the air, lifting himself above the battlefield and looking down at everything below. His party noticed him immediately.

“Lord Arzan, stay back!” Killian shouted. “We’ll handle them!”

Kai shook his head. “That will take too long,” he said calmly. “Let me handle it.”

The spirits had already noticed him.

One of the rock spirits raised its arm, and a massive boulder tore free from the ground and shot toward him.

Kai simply raised his hand slightly. Mana surged outward from his body, a controlled wave that struck the boulder mid-air and shattered it into pieces.

He heard a soft gasp from somewhere to his left. But his attention was elsewhere, on one thing to be specific—What spell should he use?

Now that he had stepped into the fifth circle, an entirely new range of spells had opened to him. Before this, he had been able to use a few, but only with limitations. Many required control he simply didn’t possess at the time.

Now, all of them were within reach.

Seconds passed as his mind worked, searching for the right spell to end this in one move. And just as he found it and built the spell structure, the spirits attacked all at once.

Boulders tore through the air, blades of wind rushed toward him, clawed shapes burst from the ground, aiming straight for his body.

Kai inhaled sharply and pushed his senses outward. And in that instant, everything changed. Time slowed. Not truly, but enough that it felt like it had.

Every movement around him became clear. The path of each boulder, the direction of every gust of wind, the exact moment each spirit would strike. He could see it all, not just with his eyes, but with something with his mana.

He felt the world unfold around him in layers. He could feel the spirits, not just their positions, but what they were made of. The flow of mana inside them, the density of it, the way it held their forms together.

For a moment, it felt like he had stepped beyond everything around him, like he was standing on a level none of them could reach.

As his senses spread, he reached out with threads of mana, sending them through his body and into the surroundings. They moved quickly, slipping through the air, diving into the ground, reaching for every spirit in range.

Some of them reacted and tried to resist, but it didn’t matter. The threads pierced through them, slipping past their defenses and embedding themselves into the very core that held their forms together. Once the connection was made, there was nothing left to decide.

Kai didn’t hesitate. He activated the spell fully.

Flames surged along every thread at once. They raced outward in an instant, striking every connected spirit simultaneously.

The reaction was immediate. Cries echoed through the clearing.

The attacks aimed at him had already failed. The boulders had fallen apart, crashing uselessly against the ground. The wind attacks dissipated before they could reach him.

And the spirits… all of them were burning.

Some had been forced out of the ground, their bodies writhing as flames consumed them, and others staggered in place. Their forms broke apart as the fire spread through their cores.

Even the rock spirits weren’t spared. Their heavy bodies began to melt, cracks forming across their surface as they collapsed inward.

One by one, they turned to ash and dirt. All of it was a gruesome sight.

The air was filled with the smell of burning mana. Kai could hear gasps behind him, but he didn’t turn right away. He had done what needed to be done.

That was [Soulflame Convergence].

One of the most efficient spells to eliminate multiple enemies at once in a matter of seconds.

Of course, it wouldn’t have worked against another fifth circle Mage, or even a beast with strong control over its mana. They would have been able to sever the connection before the flames reached them.

But these spirits, they had never faced anything like this. And now, they were gone.

Kai slowly descended to the ground. His eyes moved over the melting bodies and scattered ashes for a brief moment before he finally turned back toward his party.

“Sorry,” he said. “I should have told you before advancing to the fifth circle. I didn’t expect to attract so many spirits, especially when they’re already used to high concentrations of mana.”

Veridia snorted lightly. “The wave of mana you released was anything but normal,” she said. “For a moment, I thought the spirit king itself had appeared nearby.”

Elias, who had stepped out from the tent by now, gave a slow nod. “I had my doubts about the rumors of you being a Magus,” he said. “But I didn’t expect you to become one this fast… and certainly not like this.”

He paused, his gaze fixed on Kai, as if trying to understand something beyond him. “How did you do it?”

Kai’s expression didn’t change much, but his tone sharpened slightly. “What?” he asked.

He didn’t like where the conversation was going. There might be allies here, but that didn’t mean he was willing to reveal everything, especially not at this state.

Veridia let out a small scoff. “You know exactly what he meant,” she said. “Nothing like that happened when I advanced to the fifth circle. You did something different.”

She glanced at Elias, who gave a small nod in agreement. Kai could clearly see the curiosity in both of their eyes. As Mages, it was only natural—they wanted to understand what he had done, to see if they could replicate it for themselves.

Before Kai could say anything, Elder Caelith clicked his tongue. “You two should leave the boy alone,” he said. “What matters is that his strength has grown. That will help us far more in this place.”

Elias let out a quiet sigh. “I suppose you’re right,” he said. “But I’m still curious. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

Kai simply smiled. “I just have my own methods,” he said. “Maybe one day I’ll tell you. For now, we should move.”

Veridia crossed her arms slightly. “Yes, we should,” she said. “But where? This place is massive. We can’t just wander without a direction.”

Killian gave a slow nod. “She’s right, Lord Arzan. If we keep moving without a destination, we’ll only waste time.”

Kai knew they were right.

On the first day, he had focused on adapting—getting used to the environment, the mana, the pressure of the Earth Plane. But now things were different. He was stronger, and they needed to move with purpose.

The Elder Tree seed was their goal. But they didn’t know where to find it. So that had to come first.

Kai had thought about it before, going over every possibility. In the end, there was only one approach that made sense.

He turned toward Claire.

“We should first find a way to locate the Elder Tree seed,” he said. “And I think the storm sovereign can help us with that.”

Claire raised an eyebrow. “Aeralion?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. “Call him out. I want to speak with him.”

***

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