I Will Reveal the Truth of This World to You!

As sword and stone struck each other, brilliant sparks spread rapidly in every direction like a spiderweb.

An inexplicable sense of dread instantly filled Blainey's mind, but before he could react, everything before his eyes was swallowed by leaping flames!

Boom~

A violent explosion rang out through the silent Lower City. Lynn, who was not far away, was thrown to the ground by the shockwave. At the same time, the intelligent brain's notification sounded.

[Energy exhausted. Overload mode ended...]

"Cough, cough..." Lynn scrambled to his feet, only to feel a wave of emptiness. The consecutive spellcasting had completely drained his magic power.

Compared to Lynn, who had merely been caught in the blast, Blainey at the center of the explosion looked far more miserable...

After the smoke and dust dispersed, Lynn could not help drawing in a sharp breath. Blainey, at the heart of the explosion, was barely recognizable as human. Half of his sword-wielding right arm had been blown away, his exposed skin was blackened and crimson, and the leather armor over his chest had burst and split apart, revealing mangled flesh and stark white bone beneath...

Even more horrifyingly, the fierce explosion had instantly drained the surrounding oxygen. Blainey's shrill screams lasted for more than ten seconds before abruptly stopping.

Lynn could not help feeling unsettled. He had heard about the power of methane explosions on television news before, but this was the first time he had truly witnessed one firsthand—especially one he had created himself.

If Blainey had not been too far away, and if the trajectory of [Fireball] had not been so easy to predict and evade, Lynn would not have taken such a risky approach and used the principles of a methane explosion to lure and kill him.

Fortunately, magic's wonders allowed him to manipulate the flow of air to a certain extent. Combined with the fact that the Lower City lacked no "materials," he had managed to reach a concentration high enough to trigger an explosion—no easy feat.

Lynn picked up the longsword that had fallen to the ground and cautiously stepped forward to inspect Blainey's condition.

Despite suffering such grievous injuries, Blainey had not died immediately. His two eyeballs, still connected by strands of flesh, stared fixedly at Lynn, while a series of gurgling sounds came from his mouth. Clearly, his vocal cords had been damaged as well.

"I'll send you on your way. No need to thank me!" Lynn said coldly. It was impossible for him not to hate Blainey for breaking into his home and driving him into a corner, but he had no intention of torturing him. In that state, Blainey probably could not answer anything anyway.

In that case, death was the best ending for him!

Lynn raised the longsword and accurately thrust it into Blainey's heart. He watched Blainey's body convulse violently once before falling still again.

Perhaps fueled by hatred, or perhaps influenced by Carl, the original owner of this body, Lynn felt no excessive discomfort after personally ending a life aside from a psychological aversion. Instead, the aftereffects of his earlier spellcasting made his head throb from time to time.

Only after confirming that Blainey was truly dead did Lynn's tense expression finally relax. His body immediately swayed, and he had to brace himself against the longsword with his right hand to avoid collapsing.

"071..." Lynn called out silently in his mind, but received no response. Remembering the earlier notification, he immediately realized that the intelligent brain had likely shut down temporarily due to excessive energy consumption.

Lynn had no solution to that. He could only wait for 071 to replenish its own energy, while his heart filled with confusion.

What exactly was the magic power used by wizards, and why could it manipulate chemical elements?

And those strange runes that had inexplicably appeared in his mind just now...

What unsettled Lynn most was that, under the intelligent brain's overload mode, he had even been able to directly convert magic power into hydrogen and oxygen.

Did that mean magic power could also be converted into any other element?

If so, then its miraculous nature would likely far exceed his expectations.

[Follow me! I will reveal the truth of this world to you!]

Recalling what his mentor Coru had said when they first met half a year ago, Lynn's heart trembled.

Perhaps that old wizard had not been fooling him after all!

No wonder Carl had abandoned a relatively stable life with food and clothing to come running here and serve as a Wizard Apprentice...

The only pity was that Carl had studied magic for too short a time. Furthermore, Coru had more than one apprentice and limited time for instruction, so Carl had never come into contact with any deeper secrets.

The aftereffects of excessively draining his magic power also left Lynn deeply shaken. During his final spellcasting, he had nearly thought his brain would explode. His body felt as weak as if he had suffered a serious illness, and he desperately wanted to lie down and get a good sleep.

But Lynn knew that now was not the time to rest. Although he had dealt with two enemies, the battle in the Slums had caused quite a commotion. It would probably reach the local tribunal before long, and they would certainly send more people to capture him.

His immediate priority was to find somewhere to hide, as well as a way to contact a wizard...

Lynn lowered his head to glance at Blainey's corpse, poked it with the sword, and cut open the damaged cloth pouch at his waist. A small pile of coins spilled out.

One Secas Gold Coin, seven silver coins, and more than ten copper coins.

Seeing that those finely made coins had not been damaged by the explosion improved Lynn's mood somewhat.

Carl, the original owner of this body, had never been wealthy as an illegitimate child of a noble. After leaving home half a year ago, he had occasionally needed to fund his mentor's research, and lately, he had nearly been unable to afford food...

With this unexpected windfall, he no longer needed to risk returning to that broken-down house. Going back now would very likely be a death trap.

"Huh~" Lynn bent down to gather up the coins and unexpectedly discovered that a parchment scroll had fallen out along with them.

Most of the writing had been completely burned away by the high heat. Only fragments such as [Ur Town], [Moon Radiance Day], [Joanne], and [seventeen copper coins] could still vaguely be made out.

"Ur Town?" Lynn muttered to himself. Out of caution, he did not destroy it on the spot, instead putting away the burned parchment.

He needed someone who could answer his questions. Going to Ur Town to find the other apprentices would probably be a good choice.

At the very least, it was far more reliable than searching alone for those hidden wizards...

As Lynn considered this, he reached out, grabbed Blainey's ankle, and dragged him toward the foul-smelling Yin River nearby.

In this medieval world of magic and divine arts, even the dead could not be trusted. If the Church of this world possessed resurrection magic, then his information might be exposed.

The safest method was to dispose of the corpse as well!

(PS: Thanks to readers Bloodstained Underworld Sunlight, Starfield Maple Creek, and Vast Starry Sky Shining Stars for their 100 Qidian Coin rewards.)