With a casual swipe of his hand, the powerful monster before him vanished.

It felt like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.

This move was a trump card that had made Kanzaki Rei feel he might be able to challenge even a Level 9 class-advancer...

And with the strength he now possessed, Rei finally had considerable confidence.

He simply didn’t know how wide the gap between himself and a true Level 9 still was.

Everything had settled.

Rei turned and looked behind him.

That casual test had also conveniently wiped out all the monsters in the area.

The Abyss was still continuously disgorging new creatures.

But the moment they crawled out, Rei instantly drained them into withered husks. Countless streams of blood essence flowed into his body, nourishing him and making his flesh even stronger.

The monster threat could be said to have been completely erased.

Whoosh!

With a single step, Rei returned to the Land of the Moon.

The class-advancers who had been fighting there were now utterly dumbfounded. Mixed in with their shock was overwhelming joy.

No one knew why.

The monsters had suddenly all died.

Every single one.

At last, the taut nerves stretched to the breaking point were able to relax.

Many bold class-advancers immediately began investigating the monsters that had died so suddenly.

"What happened to these monsters...?"

"They suddenly shriveled up?"

A healing mage stared at the corpses scattered across the ground.

"Their life force was drained away..."

It was practically the work of some eerie forbidden art.

But no matter what, the result was a good one.

Only the monsters had been killed. Not a single person was harmed.

News of the monsters’ sudden deaths spread quickly through the Land of the Moon and soon reached King Lothar.

And at this moment, standing before Lothar was none other than Kanzaki Rei.

"Lord Rei."

"I’ve heard that every monster invading the Land of the Moon has died. Don’t tell me... this was your doing?"

Rei had no intention of hiding his achievements. He simply replied,

"Aside from me, there should be no one in the Land of the Moon capable of doing this."

The moment his words fell—

Rumble... rumble...

Massive heads rolled onto the floor one after another.

These were none other than the trophies Rei had collected along the way.

And when those heads hit the ground—

Several White Tower scholars present in the royal court drew sharp breaths.

Many of them were monsterologists who specialized in the study of monsters.

With a single glance, they recognized exactly what level of creatures these were.

Eighth Rank...

These were Eighth Rank monsters!

And not just one.

A whole group of them!

Since the Abyssal corruption invaded the Sea of Moon and monsters began their devastating rampage, the number of monsterologists had increased dramatically.

They dedicated themselves to studying monsters.

Only by understanding their weaknesses was there any hope of saving the world.

Now, the focus of nearly all research had shifted toward discovering how to exploit monster weaknesses and counter them.

Rei spoke in a calm tone.

"Your Majesty."

"Do you know how many monsters are eyeing this place from beyond the Land of the Moon?"

"In their eyes, your kingdom is nothing more than a slightly larger paper house."

"If they had truly intended to attack, this place would have fallen long ago."

Lothar looked at the severed heads rolling across the floor. His expression turned grave for only an instant before he burst into hearty laughter.

"Hahaha! Is that so? Then it seems we really were fish on the chopping block..."

"If they had attacked, we would truly have been finished! Hahaha!"

The ministers remained silent, their hearts heavy as they stared at the heads.

Yet Lothar was still able to laugh.

He slapped his thigh and looked at Rei with a wild gleam in his eyes.

"But what about now?"

Rei replied indifferently,

"Now, I have slaughtered every Eighth Rank monster within a radius of 300 billion kilometers around the Land of the Moon."

"Your Majesty, I recall you said you would surely reward me."

"I would like to see what kind of ’reward’ you can offer for my current achievements."

The moment they heard Rei’s words, the surrounding ministers drew another collective gasp.

What had he just said?

Within a radius of 300 billion kilometers?

Rei had arrived in the Land of the Moon less than a day ago.

To be precise, it hadn’t even been ten hours.

In those brief ten hours—

He had disappeared for only a short while before returning to the royal court in the middle of the night, carrying hundreds of massive severed heads.

And these were likely only the heads small enough to bring back.

Some monsters were as enormous as mountains or even archipelagos.

Naturally, there was no way to toss such gigantic heads into the throne room.

And if Rei could kill so many Eighth Rank monsters, there was no possibility he had been unable to slay the larger ones.

Which meant the true number of monsters he had killed was likely far greater than what was currently displayed before them.

The legendary mage who had reestablished the very foundations of magic...

Did he truly possess such overwhelming power?

There had long been rumors of a genius named Kanzaki Rei.

In just half a year, he had shone like a meteor on one continent, achieving astonishing feats and earning the title of the greatest prodigy in Loren’s history.

Yet there were remarkably few records about him.

In the end, he became little more than a legend passed down by bards, or a single bold stroke in the annals of magical history.

But no one had expected that after ten years, his reappearance would reveal such terrifying combat power.

Upon hearing Rei’s question, Lothar was visibly stunned.

It seemed he had not expected Rei to come specifically to claim his reward.

"Lord Rei, I have indeed witnessed the extent of your strength."

"But I do not know what you still lack."

The reason Rei had come to see Lothar was not entirely because he expected to receive something useful.

Rather, he found Lothar to be a mysterious figure.

The last person who had given him this feeling was Pari.

In truth, Rei had already felt something unusual about Lothar ten years ago.

But at the time, Rei had been weak, and Lothar was merely the king of a single nation. He had done nothing particularly extraordinary, and his remarkable good fortune in Loren could still be explained.

The appearance of Iz and the others in his kingdom, as well as Rei’s own arrival there, could all be attributed to coincidence.

The nation of Loren had somehow naturally avoided every major danger.

Again and again, incredible luck had spared it from the brink of destruction.

But looking at it now, Lothar was far too unusual.

Even in the Sea of Moon, surrounded by countless Eighth Rank monsters, he had managed to maintain a foothold and endure until Rei’s emergence saved Loren from catastrophe.

This inevitably led Rei to want to test him.

"Your Majesty may reward me according to my merits."

"I lack nothing."

"Simply calculate what my achievements are worth and tell me what kind of reward I can obtain within Loren."

As Rei spoke, his eyes gazed into the future.

His perception enveloped Lothar like a thin cloak of feathers.

Now that he had entered the Path.

When Rei looked at Lothar again, the scene in his eyes had completely changed.

He could vaguely see a golden radiance surrounding Lothar’s body.

It seemed to be a form of fate unique to the Domain of Luck.