A Long-Awaited Real Battle, Waver's Shock

"Watch yourselves. We'll be back soon." With that, I pulled Waver along and headed down.

We quickly reached the entrance to the 10–40 km level, the Great Magic Circuit Venous Corridor—Odwina. No one knew whether this layer had fallen away from the dragon's remains or had always been part of the land itself. In any case, enormous Magic Circuits sprawled everywhere.

No matter how powerful a magus was, they could not damage these Magic Circuits. Excavation had therefore avoided them, creating passages like a maze of overlapping corridors.

According to research, these Magic Circuits had supposedly been used by the fairies when they transferred Fairyland to the Reverse Side of the World. For a long time, this area had been home to all kinds of Phantasmal Species close to those of the Age of Gods, such as Chimaeras and giant earthworms with Mystic Eyes.

By the tenth level of the Spirit Tomb, most of the area had already been excavated clean. Nowadays, the area around the thirtieth level was the focus of mining. Around the sixtieth level was the limit for capable teams to risk excavating highly valuable spell bodies.

Near the entrance to the thirtieth level was a bottomless abyss known as the "Void Pit (Naru Pitto)." No one knew where its other end led.

A gigantic beast with three heads and six eyes lurked beneath the abyss. It had already entered the realm of Divine Beasts and was believed to share an origin with Cerberus and Abaddon.

Without lingering, we entered Odwina. Waver finally had a chance to ask, "Do you need some kind of material? Or a spell body? With your money, it should be easy for you to buy whatever you need. Why take the risk of coming down here?"

I asked in return, "Who said I came here looking for materials?"

Waver said, "Then what did you come down here for? This place is dangerous."

With a serious expression, I said, "To fight. I came here to fight those Phantasmal Species."

Waver stared at me in disbelief. "You're joking, right? How could that be possible? Do you know how many people have to work together to take down a single Phantasmal Species? There are only two of us. This is no different from throwing our lives away."

"Correction: it's just me. I only brought you because I don't know the way and needed a guide."

After saying that, I walked ahead. Waver clearly wanted to go back, but he could not bring himself to leave me alone, so he followed. At the same time, he complained, "Why am I doing something this stupid with you? I must be insane."

I patted his shoulder. "It'll be fine. If we can't beat it, we'll run."

Name: Yuan Shikai, Gender: Male, Age: 18, Magic Circuits: 72, Magecraft Aptitude: A-, Attributes: Strength E, Endurance F, Agility E, Magical Energy A-, Luck?

Remaining Attribute Points: 0 (attribute points may be freely allocated by the host), Innate Talent: Lifetime Good Fortune (with transmigration and a system, how could your luck be bad?), Passive Effect: increases the activation chance of probability-based skills by 200%. When actively activated, the next probability-based skill is guaranteed to trigger. Increases the effects of buff-type status bonuses by 100%.

Skills: Advanced Swordsmanship 2171/30000, Advanced Magecraft Knowledge 1317/50000, Intermediate Reading and Writing, Advanced Reinforcement Magecraft 1667/80000, Novice Driving, Novice Cooking.

Novice Instinct 116/10000 (the inherited skill of the ahoge family—you have it too, but it is still only at the novice level. You are still far from easily seeing through the future.) Gain one point of proficiency for every fatal attack dodged. Nonfatal attacks do not count.

Mystic Eyes of Rule Breaking, Noble Phantasm Rule Breaker (Imitation), Projection Magecraft, Imaginary Numbers Magecraft C- Magecraft Mystic Code: Necromancer (Level 3) (when receiving fatal damage, a check is performed. There is a 30% chance of ignoring death and removing all of your statuses, including buffs. Regeneration: organs and limbs can slowly regenerate).

Health: 666, Magical Energy: 1452.

After activating Reinforcement Magecraft, my Strength rose to C-, Endurance to D, Agility to D, and Health to 4102. Ever since my fight with Mapo, I had not had a life-and-death battle. I had no real idea how much I had improved, so I needed to find someone to test myself against.

Waver walked forward trembling. Suddenly, a Bicorn jumped out. Judging by its size, it was probably still young, about the size of an ordinary horse. This was the thing that dropped young warhorse horns in games.

Reinforcement Magecraft, activate. Projection Magecraft, activate. Then I unleashed a string of attacks. A mere young Bicorn went down in one combo, and I even struck a cool pose afterward.

Without looking back, I said to Waver, "Do you know why nothing happened to me during the Holy Grail War? Because I have this kind of strength."

Waver first stared in disbelief, then showed a look of horror. Then I was sent flying.

Waver said, "Are you an idiot? Even a juvenile Phantasmal Species has strength comparable to a Servant. How could you possibly kill it with two or three punches?"

Games really misled people. I could fight Mapo evenly, yet I couldn't beat a Phantasmal Species. By that logic, Mapo probably couldn't beat one either.

I could take its attacks, but I couldn't inflict any real damage. Its hide was too thick. I looked ferocious while fighting, but in the end I was just a fool.

Nope, time to run. Waver might look down on me, but a wise man doesn't fight when the odds are against him.

Then I put on an overwhelming aura. Anyone who did not know better would have thought I was about to unleash my ultimate move as I began gathering power.

The Bicorn stood ready, while Waver watched without blinking.

Then I grabbed Waver and retreated. The movement was seamless, and all I could hear was Waver screaming.

By the time the Bicorn reacted, we had already run far away. We sprinted at full speed all the way back to the entrance of the thirtieth level. Fortunately, we had not ventured too deep, or Waver might have collapsed from exhaustion. He was already sprawled on the ground, vomiting over and over.

I walked over, patted his back, and said, "Feeling better? You'll get used to throwing up after doing it enough."

Once Waver recovered, he did not get angry. "I thought you were going to fight it to the bitter end. I didn't expect you to actually run."

"I'm not stupid. I could fight it, but I couldn't finish it quickly. If the battle attracted other Phantasmal Species, wouldn't you be dead for sure?"

"Why am I the one who'd be dead for sure?" Waver retorted.

"Because I'd definitely run away."

After tidying ourselves up a little, we started back. I had thought we would spend quite some time here, but we ended up heading home so quickly.

I really embarrassed myself today. Looks like I need to buy some things for fighting and self-defense.

Kenneth's Volumen Hydrargyrum was good stuff, capable of both offense and defense. I would ask him later whether he could get me one.

We quickly found the three girls and, after saying a word to them, headed back. Waver was still complaining about wasting the entrance fee, so I said, "Relax, I paid for it, okay?"

After running the Albion dungeon once, I had not gained even a bit of experience. I finally understood the brutality of magus combat. I immediately went to Kenneth to ask about buying some life-saving equipment, and Kenneth said he needed some time to prepare.

And next, I was going to Wales to see the little girl Gray, wasn't I?