There seemed to be only one possibility.

He had gone down into the Deep Earth once. He had met Lottie there... and after that—

Could it be that Lottie had taken the tree that was supposed to exist within his sea of consciousness?

Kanzaki Rei paced slowly, reflecting.

At the same time, his gaze remained fixed on the radiant, shimmering colossal tree suspended in the sky.

Ansu had said that he had obtained the "Highest Leaf"—the single most elevated, most spiritual leaf at the very crown of the Tree of Wisdom.

But...

What did it mean for the entire tree to exist within his sea of consciousness?

Then, almost immediately, Kanzaki Rei recalled something else Ansu had mentioned.

The Highest Leaf.

It could grant a person extraordinary spirituality, along with a divine-tier talent perfectly suited to them.

And yet, everything that had happened to Kanzaki Rei—

Even the Highest Leaf alone could not fully explain it.

Even he himself felt that his origins were becoming an unsolvable mystery.

But now, after seeing the Tree of Wisdom within his own consciousness—

He felt as though some of the answers had finally begun to take shape.

The Tree of Wisdom... was inextricably connected to him.

If it was truly the entire tree, then perhaps it could explain why he possessed so many god-tier talents.

Only...

That would make his origins even more unfathomable.

Kanzaki Rei tried to reach out toward the distant Tree of Wisdom at the edge of the sky, but it was like a backdrop etched into reality itself—untouchable, unreachable.

Neither he nor the "Core" could make contact with it.

Unable to probe its origins any further, Kanzaki Rei drew his thoughts back to reality.

...

At his fingertips, a faint silver rune coiled and shimmered.

[Second Forbidden Magic — Time]

[Initiation Form: Time Prison]

[Activation Condition: None]

[Activation Cost: For every second of activation, the user ages one year.]

[Effect: Deploys a fixed-range Time Prison, freely accelerating or decelerating the flow of time within the domain by 1 to 10,000 times for any target or area.]

This... was the Initiation Form.

So far, both Forbidden Magics Kanzaki Rei had encountered began with the deployment of a domain.

However, the Time-type Forbidden Magic was strangely unique—its Initiation Form required no conditions at all to activate.

But once it reached the Release Form—

The requirements became extraordinarily harsh.

[Release Form: Complete Time Control]

[Activation Conditions: Origin Time Magic, experience an anomalous time singularity, comprehend the Ten-Thousand-Time Perspective, glimpse the true form of time.]

[Activation Cost: Eternal confinement within the Time Prison.]

[Effect: Grants absolute control over time within a designated range, freely manipulating its flow, including—but not limited to—stopping, slowing, accelerating, and reversing time.]

Activating the Release Form of this Forbidden Magic: Time would mean being permanently trapped within the Time Prison created by the Initiation Form.

Within that prison, he would have flawless, absolute control over all time.

But he would also never be able to leave it.

...

However, Kanzaki Rei himself did not need to pay any activation costs when casting Forbidden Magic.

If he could activate this form, then theoretically, he shouldn’t be bound by its confinement either.

Unfortunately—

He did not yet meet the conditions to use the Release Form.

As for the Final Form—

It could throw all of time into chaos, scrambling past, present, and future alike.

Today could be the modern era, tomorrow the Qin Dynasty, the next day the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, then suddenly the Qing Dynasty again.

But the conditions for the Final Form were far too abstract.

He needed to become a "Lunar Chronarch" to even meet one of the requirements.

And Kanzaki Rei was nowhere near that level.

...There was still a long road ahead before he could reach the rank of Lunar Chronarch. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Even so, just from these requirements alone, he could vaguely glimpse how terrifyingly powerful such beings truly were.

If a Lunar Chronarch also mastered a Forbidden Magic of the "Primordial" class—

Then plunging the entire world into chaos would be no exaggeration.

"But... that girl."

Kanzaki Rei recalled the ivory-haired girl behind the door.

She had been imprisoned there.

For some reason, it felt eerily similar to the side effects of this magic—

As if she had been permanently fixed within a certain fragment of spacetime.

Kanzaki Rei stepped out of the basement.

"Ansu, tell me everything you know about Ehkator. Leave nothing out."

Ansu stirred from its silence.

Seeing that Kanzaki Rei was no longer forging, it snapped awake. Recently, Kanzaki Rei had been completely absorbed in smithing, barely paying it any attention.

But Ansu didn’t mind.

Having lived for such an unimaginably long time, it had long since mastered the art of idleness. When there was nothing to do, it simply slept.

"Done forging, are we?"

But just as Ansu came back to its senses, it was suddenly startled.

Wait—what was with this kid’s aura?

How had it changed so drastically?

It had only been a moment—

And he had grown stronger again?

"Ehkator?"

"Why are you suddenly asking about that name? Where did you even hear it?"

Ansu was puzzled.

That name should have all but vanished in this era. It belonged to ancient times, rarely spoken even then.

And even in antiquity, it had existed only in legend.

"Don’t worry about that. Just answer me."

"Alright, alright... If you hadn’t brought it up, I might’ve forgotten. It’s been a very, very long time since I last heard that name."

As Ansu began explaining, Kanzaki Rei made his way toward the Ancient Archive of Atlante City.

Since he already knew what was coming, rushing would change nothing.

Yet the moment he arrived—

His perception suddenly brushed against something.

A faint presence.

A girl with short violet hair, her eyes heavy with drowsiness, flipping through ancient, tattered manuscripts at the librarian’s desk.

The instant Kanzaki Rei saw her—

His body reacted as if struck by lightning.

Pally?

—Whoosh!

In a single step, he appeared beside her.

The girl felt a gentle breeze pass by, stirring her hair and flipping a few pages of her book. She turned her head slightly—

And saw a boy standing next to her, just a little taller than her seated form.

"Pally?"

But instead of responding, the violet-haired girl raised a finger to her lips.

"Shh. The books in the Ancient Library are very precious. Using magic here is against the rules."

"Are you looking for a book, little one? I can help you find it," she said with a gentle smile.

Kanzaki Rei studied her face carefully.

She looked very similar to Pally.

But her expression was softer—nothing like the cold, emotionless demeanor of the Evil Diviner.

She resembled Pally... but she wasn’t Pally.

Kanzaki Rei swept his perception across her body.

She was real.

Not an illusion, not a construct.

"Big sister, do you know someone named Pally?"

The violet-haired girl tapped her cheek lightly, dimpling the soft flesh.

"Hm... I don’t think I know that name."

"But if you’re trying to find someone, I can help you divine their whereabouts."

Kanzaki Rei paused, momentarily dazed.

Then he asked again,

"Big sister... are you a diviner?"

As he spoke, the "Core" silently circled behind her—

Making contact with the body of the pale-violet-haired girl before him.