Binding Technique.

Caelum immediately understood what was happening.

"Got it."

By sacrificing his own body through severe injury, the instructor had exchanged it for a massive increase in total Cursed Energy and output for thirty seconds, temporarily stepping into the combat tier of a Grade One Sorcerer.

"Urrgh!"

"ROAR!"

Savage malice burned in the eyes of the three pseudo Grade One Cursed Spirits as they split apart and charged at both the instructor and Caelum on instinct.

The instructor moved first, rushing in front of Caelum in a single step before clapping his hands together.

An invisible soundwave exploded outward, rippling through the air like a tidal wave.

The compressed shockwave detonated with terrifying force.

"Resonance Art!"

Boom!

The focused blast sent all three Cursed Spirits flying and even collapsed the warehouse wall over ten meters away.

The power was immense.

"Cough...!"

Blood spilled from the instructor’s mouth as he coughed violently.

Taking advantage of the opening, Caelum threw the Exorcist Blade toward him.

"Sensei!"

Without taking his eyes off the Cursed Spirits for even a second, the instructor caught the Grade One Cursed Tool cleanly.

Weapon in hand, his confidence immediately rose.

Blade light poured down like a waterfall.

The three Cursed Spirits were hacked apart in sprays of blood.

But the wound in his chest was clearly affecting him.

His movements occasionally stiffened or faltered, allowing the Cursed Spirits to narrowly survive several lethal strikes.

Meanwhile, his complexion continued to worsen.

"Wuuuuu..."

One of the Cursed Spirits suddenly let out the sound of a crying woman.

Without warning, it opened its grotesque maw, and another head slowly emerged from deep within its stomach.

The crying was coming from that hidden head.

A technique.

The instructor instantly became alert.

He deliberately allowed another Cursed Spirit to slam into him, coughing blood as he used the impact to propel himself toward the crying one.

During the split second of casting delay, he cut it cleanly in half with a single strike.

Then he spun and hurled the Exorcist Blade outward while gathering every ounce of strength left in his body.

At the critical moment, he landed a heavy punch on each of the remaining two Cursed Spirits, launching both of them into the air.

The thirty seconds were over.

Caelum suddenly appeared midair.

Leaping upward, he caught the flying Exorcist Blade.

The two airborne Cursed Spirits had nowhere to evade.

Already critically wounded from the instructor’s full force punches, neither could react in time.

Caelum swung his blade.

Clean.

Efficient.

Both Cursed Spirits were chopped into chunks of flesh.

The moment he landed, he dashed forward again and finished off the crying Cursed Spirit as it struggled to crawl out from its own severed body.

All three pseudo Grade One Cursed Spirits were exorcised in one go.

The instructor collapsed weakly onto the ground and gave Caelum a thumbs up, looking genuinely relieved. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"Nicely done."

Caelum helped him up.

"Let’s get out of here first."

It was only the first mission, yet the instructor had already suffered severe injuries because of Astra’s faulty intelligence.

He had no choice but to withdraw and return for treatment.

Which conveniently left Caelum alone.

White fragments gathered before him once more, condensing into a sphere of light as the massive red button and crit gauge appeared together.

[Crazy Crit Fusion Triggered]

[Begin Crit Sequence]

Caelum slammed the red button repeatedly.

[Crit Crit Crit Crit Crit]

[CRAZY CRIT!!!]

The crit gauge instantly maxed out.

The sphere exploded.

Unexpectedly, this time he hit the jackpot immediately.

[Fusion Complete]

[Technique Acquired: Extinction Art]

[Extinction Art: Damage caused by this technique cannot be removed or reversed. Reverse Technique is ineffective.]

Without question, this was an extremely powerful technique.

Extinction Art existed specifically to counter Reverse Technique.

Any damage it inflicted became permanent.

No healing method could undo it.

There was no need to think twice.

The sphere merged into Caelum’s body, and he instantly mastered the technique.

...

[Player: Caelum]

[Rank: Academy Certified Grade Three Sorcerer (Actual Strength: Beyond Special Grade)]

[Interference Value: 0.09]

[Physique: Dual Heavenly Restriction]

[Techniques: Binding Technique: Nameless One, Tenfold Limit Art, True Hit Art, Source of Cursed Energy, Reverse Technique, Void Art, Extinction Art, Growth Art, Hundred Faces Art, Penetration Art, Cleave Art, Hollow Sphere...]

[Cursed Tools: Special Grade Nameless Mirror, Special Grade Soulcleaver, Grade One Exorcist Blade]

...

That status panel was absolutely absurd.

At this point, Caelum could casually crush practically any Sorcerer in the entire Sorcerer world, including the strongest Special Grade Sorcerers.

Just the techniques listed near the top were all outrageously powerful.

Any Sorcerer possessing even one of them would see their combat ability rise close to Special Grade level.

Meanwhile, Caelum had all of them.

Still...

"Not enough."

He muttered quietly.

His combat strength already surpassed every Sorcerer alive, but that was never his true goal.

What he wanted was power capable of destroying the entire Cursecraft world itself.

And he was still far from that level.

Hopefully this operation would give him another pleasant surprise.

Opportunities like this, a massive extermination campaign against countless Cursed Spirits, didn’t come around often.

Failing to farm several more high level techniques would honestly feel like a waste.

Beep beep beep!

His phone suddenly rang.

Caelum answered the call.

"Understood."

After hanging up, he headed toward the next Cursed Spirit faction outpost.

Normally, he should have regrouped with another Sorcerer before proceeding.

Technically, he did.

His method was just slightly unconventional.

He knocked the other Sorcerer unconscious and hid him away.

Then he took the man’s phone and left.

Hundred Faces Art finally proved useful.

Disguised as his assigned partner, Caelum wandered around alone while secretly sweeping through Cursed Spirit faction strongholds behind Astra’s back.

He was having way too much fun with it.

As time passed, the Cursed Spirit faction quickly realized something was wrong.

And by the time they grasped how severe the situation had become, everything had already spiraled into disaster.

The academy Sorcerers were moving insanely fast.

Every single one of them fought like maniacs with death wishes.

Not long after the operation began, the encirclement around the Cursed Spirit faction headquarters had already formed.

And it was tightening rapidly.

Their main base falling was only a matter of time.

Inside a certain shrine.

Mordren slowly opened his eyes.

Understanding dawned on him.

Yet despite the crisis, he remained perfectly calm.

No panic whatsoever.

"Two Special Grade Sorcerers and thirty Grade One Sorcerers. What an absurd lineup. The four academies and the major Sorcerer families really think highly of me."

Astra alone clearly could not have assembled that level of force.

Across the entire Sorcerer world, there were fewer than five Special Grade Sorcerers in total.

And now two of them had shown up here.

"Well?"

Nearby, Graveflame sneered.

"Planning to run away like a stray dog?"

Mordren fell silent for a moment.

Then he smiled, looking completely confident.

"Then let’s give them what they want and have some fun."

"It’ll also be the perfect chance to properly gauge the strength of those two Special Grade Sorcerers."

He glanced at Graveflame.

"And don’t hold back on me."

"Relax."

Graveflame replied casually.

"What I’m more curious about is whether that glasses wearing brat will show up."