Ethan and Frieren both found it hard to believe, but once they decided to move forward, there was no turning back.
And they finally understood how someone like Minus could easily destroy a country single-handedly.
If it were just about using magical power for widespread destruction, human mages, though not as strong as her, might still stand a chance if they fought together.
No matter how powerful a mage was, their magic was finite.
Continuously casting high-impact spells would only lead to rapid exhaustion and defeat.
Even a Great Mage like Minus wasn’t so incredibly powerful.
What supported her in such feats, besides an army of golems enhanced by her magic, was a specific spell she possessed.
In the sky, a cluster of light, like a sun, emitted a warm glow that was visible to Ethan and Frieren even from miles away.
Seeing that light meant they were very close to the Great Mage Minus.
Apart from the bright light, the sky was overcast with dark clouds and buffeted by strong winds.
Even without rain, it felt like an apocalypse was imminent.
Anyone with a shred of sense would have turned and fled at such a sight.
“What is that?
It feels really strange.” Ethan stared at the light, noting that it wasn’t particularly blinding and didn’t hurt his eyes to look at directly.
Only Frieren’s expression turned grim upon seeing the light.
“That feeling… it’s wrong.
Why is it here?” Frieren immediately turned to Ethan, “Ethan, now, run— immediately!” Almost as she turned, the cluster of light suddenly “exploded.” Light moves too fast for humans to react.
This explosion sent out a vast wave of light that spread instantly.
There was no time to react; in the blink of an eye, it passed through both of them.
…
!!!
Ethan jolted awake in bed, his back soaked with cold sweat.
He looked around at the familiar surroundings, his mind still catching up to his current situation.
“Is this… my room?” Ethan sat on the bed, dazed.
One moment, his memory was of Frieren warning him to escape.
The next, he was waking up in his bed.
So it was all a dream?
It felt like he had a long, long dream, so long he almost forgot what his parents looked like.
The room, which should have been utterly familiar, now felt strange.
How do I unlock my phone?
Oh right, fingerprint.
As he scrolled through videos, the dream memories of Frieren and his life as a mage rapidly faded.
Just like on any morning after a beautiful dream, we have to face reality.
Time to get up and go to work.
He gestured towards the clothes at the foot of the bed.
After a moment of silence, he realized it was a habit from his dream—moving objects with magic.
“Haha, there’s no magic in the real world, I guess I got too caught up in the dream.” He chuckled at himself, then stood up, got dressed, and washed up, his memories of real life returning fully.
Yet, a lingering sense of regret remained.
But even that regret was slowly fading.
Stepping outside and walking down the familiar streets, he felt an odd sense of unreality, as if he shouldn’t be there.
However, the pressures of work and studies would overcome it all.
Just a few steps from his company, Ethan suddenly stopped.
Once he got to work, that lingering feeling from his dream would completely vanish.
He knew this was good for his work and life.
But he hesitated to take another step, unsure why he was feeling this way.
He checked the time; it wasn’t too late.
“Maybe I should grab a coffee first…” He turned towards the nearby coffee shop.
But halfway there, a woman’s scream suddenly echoed from the roadside.
“Stop the thief!!!
He stole my bag, help meeee!!!” Ethan instinctively looked back.
The person who had her bag stolen looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn’t recall where he’d seen her before.
The thief was getting further away.
Though some concerned citizens were chasing him, it didn’t look like they could catch him quickly.
If it were me…
Ethan’s gaze sharpened automatically.
He fixed his eyes on the direction the thief was fleeing, his body tensing.
[High-Speed Movement Magic] In an instant, Ethan leaped forward, appearing behind the thief and skillfully slapping him to the ground.
By the time he came to his senses, he already had the stolen bag.
At this moment, everyone’s gaze turned towards Ethan in stunned disbelief, his foot still on the thief’s back.
No, how could I?!
Ethan instinctively took two steps back, dropped the bag, and turned to run.
He heard people talking, but he couldn’t focus on them.
Because right now, in his mind, the familiar notebook was floating calmly.
Why couldn’t I notice this before?
Why didn’t I try meditating?
Why didn’t I try to go back to sleep?
That was the only thought in Ethan’s mind.
After running home, he immediately opened his computer.
He now understood he was in some kind of illusion.
The magic he had learned wouldn’t work, but the ‘Illusion’ powered by the notebook could still be used.
This meant magic created from the notebook was unaffected by this illusion.
The illusion was too real, too perfectly crafted from his memories, recreating even details he hadn’t noticed himself.
It wasn’t so much an illusion as a direct excerpt and recreation of his life.
His only goal was to use the notebook and his research to create new magic that could break the illusion.
However, the search engine on his computer didn’t work.
He could only access what he had seen before, and he couldn’t think of anything useful in the moment.
He tried looking up themes from Death Note, but found that ‘Kido’ was even less stylish than Zangetsu or similar blades, let alone as functional.
He really needed something else.
In that case, he would look in his game skills.
He might not have watched many anime, but he’d definitely played games.
Soon, he found what he was looking for.
From the name to the activation pose and the effect, he wrote down everything he remembered into the notebook.
He felt a bit nervous as he wrote, because the effect of this thing was quite extraordinary, and he worried the notebook wouldn’t accept it.
But as it turned out, he was worrying for nothing.
[Law of Retrogression].
A prayer from the Golden Order in Elden Ring, revealing truth, dispelling falsehoods, and returning all to the unchanging foundation.
When he played the game, he barely used this prayer, apart from realizing that “Marika is Radagon.” But he had used it at least once, so he had some memory of its effect, which was enough for the notebook to record it successfully.
After quickly writing it down, Ethan didn’t waste the remaining time.
He rapidly searched through anime he had watched previously, finding a few spells that could quickly boost his current strength.
The only issue was that his current magic capacity and imagination weren’t enough to write down anything too powerful.
He stopped after hastily creating a few.
This was a great opportunity, but Frieren was still out there!