First in the second phase, changes, the Myriad Source Pool, physique upgrade-top-tier peak!

Outside Keser City.

Ian stood on the airship's deck, looking down.

Among the mountains, a patch of blood-red flowers had appeared. The aura of dead souls had drawn countless Twilight Butterflies.

Their wings were translucent, with layers of gray along the edges. These low-level creatures tended to gather wherever the aura of death was strongest and most abundant.

And now...

All he saw was a gray mass that seemed to blot out the entire sky. It was not just Twilight Butterflies; even more supernatural creatures were greedily absorbing the aura of death.

It was like a carnival.

"I came here once with my family. Keser City used to have around five hundred thousand humans and wizards. It was quite prosperous."

Emil stepped out beside him, gazing ahead with a wistful expression.

Five hundred thousand people.

Ian sighed as well.

Wars between white witches rarely involved ordinary people, and no one thought much of deaths that came from fighting over resources.

But this wanton slaughter by black wizards genuinely unsettled him.

"This is the Wizard World. Great power rests in the hands of different wizards, while weaker wizards and humans can only live with their choices."

Ian murmured.

Yet his gaze grew increasingly resolute.

Beyond sorrow, he felt something even more strongly: today, the victims were the wizards of Keser City. What if one day something like this happened right before his eyes?

It was hardly impossible.

After all, he was only a mere Second Ring wizard.

Among Second Ring wizards, he ranked at the very top, but compared to those at three rings, he was still insignificant.

Even the weakest three-ring wizard wielded a measure of the power of rules, putting them beyond anything Ian could match.

It's still not enough. I have to break through to three rings.

Ian's