The wrinkled skin and tattoos that once adorned his body had disappeared, replaced by smooth, muscular flesh. The extravagant ornaments that had once adorned him were now gone, leaving behind the image of a solitary monk in a humble robe, clutching a stone tablet.
Despite the differences in his appearance, physique, facial features, and aura, Lennok remained composed and did not mistake him for another. Instead, he wore a wry smile as he gazed at the young man before him.
“I think I understand why you took so long to unfold your Domain.”
“…….”
“Proud as you were of following the Cartel’s chairwoman for half your life, deep down, were you longing for the place you had returned to?” Lennok inquired.
“…”
Lennok continued, “It’s not surprising. People’s hearts rarely move as they think. How many realize what they truly desired only after it’s too late?”
“I am grateful to you.” the young man responded quietly.
McQueen, the rejuvenated young man, spoke as he turned his gaze towards the imposing temple towering behind him.
“Even after reaching the realm of a Saint-level Wizard, I wandered for a long time. I couldn’t accept that the primal image deep within my heart had brought me back here… because I believed I never regretted a single moment spent with the chairwoman.”
Lennok nodded in understanding.
“But now, I think I understand why I yearned for these days of asceticism, which I always thought were lonely, boring, and solitary… It was also me.”
There was silence.
“Born a normal human, living as a monk, Parden McQueen was also myself. I left all my youth… here.”
With this declaration, McQueen outstretched his arms, symbolizing his reconciliation between his human self and his sorcerer self. This miraculous restoration of his youth, even if it was a phenomenon confined to his Domain, served as evidence of his progression within the realm of a level 7 Saint-level Wizard, transcending countless divergences.
The stone tablet in his hand levitated, radiating a brilliant light.
Koo-goo-goo-goo-goo!!!
In that instant, four stone statues in the temple courtyard behind him came to life, glaring down at Lennok.
Arjumartha, who had jointly unveiled the Domain with McQueen, and the fierce-looking generals known as the Suras, roared in unison.
[Roaaaaaaar!!!]
The four roaring statues burst through the temple walls and charged towards Lennok.
With astonishing speed despite their ten-meter height, chains connected to their waists extended rapidly, swiftly encircling Lennok.
Originally meant to be a formidable barrier safeguarding the mountain temple, within McQueen’s Domain, it had transformed into a colossal restraint designed to ensnare a single individual.
Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!
The statues, resembling guardian Buddha figures behind the monk, enveloped Lennok within moments, each brandishing their weapons.
The chains surrounding Lennok ascended into the air, forming a vast circle and commencing to constrict the space.
A spatial-bound spell that even McQueen could not breach.
Yet, within his own heart, within the memory of the temple he longed for…
What couldn’t be achieved within the heart of a seeker, pursuing his own salvation?
With both hands free from the stone tablet, McQueen slowly forged hand seals.
As the incantation concluded, the weapons of the statues surrounding Lennok emitted a bright yellow glow, each of them surpassing the power of McQueen’s [Column Dismissal Cannon].
His half-open eyes gleamed with a laser focus solely on the adversary before him.
“Farewell.”
[Four Directions’ Solution]
[Seven Heavenly Asura Scenery]
[Indolent Hell Fall]
The weapons of the four statues descended from different angles and converged at a single point, generating a massive surge.
A tremendous influx of heat descended vertically from the center of the expanding wave, directly targeting the bound individual beneath.
Outside the Domain, Parden McQueen, who had struggled to summon even one statue, now summoned four directional guardian spirits to execute a sure-hit spell.
No elation, no sorrow.
Just a profound respect for the adversary who had granted him another opportunity and unveiled a new realm.
McQueen slowly shut his eyes.
Then, a voice, almost like a whisper, reached his ears.
[Impressive.]
“…!!!”
[So this is the scenery of a Saint-level Wizard’s Domain fully deployed… Seeing it directly for the second time, but truly feeling it for the first.]
“How, how did you…”
[Only after reaching this high can you truly see.]
Pale and shaken, McQueen reached out to grasp the floating stone tablet.
The tranquility that had filled his mind had vanished, replaced only by the urgent need to silence the voice echoing in his ears.
His body, briefly rejuvenated, responded as McQueen rushed forward, trampling the snow.
His goal was to verify the enemy’s lifeless body at the center of the four frozen statues.
And then, Lennok responded.
[Now it’s my turn.]
In that moment, a colossal shadow emerged from the center of the four statues, rapidly expanding and enveloping everything in its path.
McQueen’s envisioned landscape of towering mountains disappeared entirely; the ground and sky were devoured in an instant, and darkness engulfed everything.
In this world painted black, resembling a starless universe, he floated in a dark void, uncertain even of where to place his feet.
“Ah!!!”
It was only when a massive golden circle materialized before him that McQueen, who had been struggling desperately, stopped in his tracks.
Out of nowhere in the void, a golden light appeared, rotating counterclockwise, forming an immense circle.
“Uh…”
As he gazed blankly at the circle, dozens of radiant lights emerged from all directions, each creating circles in a similar fashion.
Fwoooosh!!!
The overlapping golden rings multiplied, generating hundreds of ripples, then thousands of waves, eventually forming one colossal golden circle.
In the midst of this brilliant radiance, Lennok looked down at McQueen with a serene expression.
“This… This is…”
McQueen’s fingertips quivered.
He understood the spell Lennok had cast, and that made it all the more bewildering.
It was evidence that a wizard had genuinely reached the realm of a Saint.
To grasp that this was a mental landscape imprinted within his sacred Domain was almost inconceivable.
“Can this really be… a mindscape a human can possess…?”
How could he accept that this vast, empty expanse was the mental landscape of that young wizard?
McQueen struggled to comprehend the significance of this origin mental landscape, based on a lifetime of memories and experiences, resembling a universe.
It seemed inhuman, unless the monster descending from the outer sea had taken on human form.
“It’s just a matter of changing the perspective.”
Lennok, venturing into the bottomless void, spoke as he walked.
Ripples spread wherever his feet touched, and the golden waves trailed behind him.
The only source of light in this dark expanse emanated from behind Lennok.
“Beyond the past that exists in memory, passing the present of enlightenment… I chose to select the possibility itself.”
Memories of his life as an ordinary person on Earth and moments spent as Lennok in this world flashed through his mind. He had revisited them all, searching for a mindscape that met his criteria.
A mere Domain would not suffice. Lennok possessed the talent, spirit, and determination required. Once a mindscape was established within a Domain, it remained fixed. To compete with the formidable rulers of this world, he needed to select the highest potential path available.
If the desired possibility couldn’t be found within his memories, Lennok had decided to create it through his awakened state, aided by drugs. If none of the existing mindscape options suited him, he had the power to bring forth the very possibility itself.
Not dwelling on the past or present, Lennok opted to draw forth a possibility from a future he had yet to experience.
“It’s impossible,” McQueen muttered, his thoughts in disarray.
Understanding Lennok’s intention only made the process more unbelievable.
“It’s impossible. That’s just wordplay… How can a human do such a thing!!”
For Parden McQueen, dissatisfied with his own mindscape, the idea of a human choosing the landscape of their own heart was unfathomable. Even if one could bring a desired mindscape from memory, it would already be a remarkable feat, let alone extracting a needed mindscape from a non-existent future.
Even McQueen, who had lived for centuries and encountered countless superhumans and monsters, had never heard of such a concept.
“I’ve always pondered.” Lennok continued, disregarding McQueen’s protests as he advanced.
“In a choice where I cannot afford to be wrong even once, what would be the best move I can make…”
Once Lennok finalized his mindscape within his sacred Domain, concealing his identity in battles against formidable opponents would become challenging. He sought a way to maintain the anonymity that had allowed him to operate covertly while maximizing his talents to their fullest.
Ideally, his sacred Domain’s mindscape should be adaptable to the situation. Therefore, Lennok chose the ‘ability to choose’ itself as his milestone, pulling possibilities from the future.
“Avid Yonsen saw exactly what I had gained.”
Silence hung in the air.
“The opportunity to choose itself. It’s as if I am directly foreseeing countless futures from this point.”
This was the path honed by Lennok’s most formidable talent, refined to its pinnacle. Leveraging his extraordinary intuition, capable of foreseeing dozens of moves ahead, and his hypersensitive combat instincts, he deliberated and selected from countless potential futures.
The power to observe and manifest the myriad branching paths stemming from Lennok’s potential.
The sacred Domain chosen by a wizard at his zenith acted as a kaleidoscope, reflecting countless parallel worlds.
Pavavavavat!!
In that moment, within the thousands of golden rings hovering behind Lennok, diverse landscapes began to materialize. A mere glance at them overwhelmed the mind with an astonishing amount of information, compressed beyond imagination.
“Ah, ah…”
McQueen finally grasped the significance of the landscapes visible within those thousands of rings. They represented the countless branching choices that a single individual, Lennok, could have made. The golden rings suspended beneath the darkened sky served as mirrors reflecting these countless possibilities.
“If this truth is known…… all the magic towers will try to kill you.”
McQueen’s words tumbled out in a stumbling mutter, his understanding of Lennok’s accomplishment making the utterance possible.
It wasn’t merely about splitting and observing parallel worlds or realizing them. If that were the extent of it, the kaleidoscope behind Lennok wouldn’t exhibit such chaotic dispersion. It was intentional disorder, a margin left for his Domain to evolve even further in the future.
Realizing this, McQueen shouted with all his might, his voice echoing through the void.
“How arrogant, wizard! Do you seek to glimpse the laws of the world with just the realm of a Saint, without even being sure you can reach there!!”
Lennok remained silent.
“How dare you, of all people, try to grasp a fragment of omnipotence… Aren’t you afraid of the wrath of the ascendants!!!”
Despite McQueen’s desperate pleas, Lennok paid no heed. He had waited for McQueen to deploy his sacred Domain first, just to ensure the secrecy of this moment.
There was no room for hesitation. Within the double-layered Domain completely isolated from external observation, Lennok’s true value would forever remain concealed.
One of the countless golden mirrors behind him slowly descended into Lennok’s hand.
“I’m going.”
It represented one of the many potential futures that Lennok could have faced. Disguised as Eden, the leader of the Cigar Bang Gang, he infiltrated the Torben Magic Tower and acquired unique lightning magic. Overcoming internal conflicts and challenges among the tower’s wizards with his extraordinary talent, he ascended to the highest echelons. Finally, he became a tower wizard who successfully confronted his Domain—a mindscape.
A faint possibility that might have existed at the intersection of infinite choices was now being brought into reality from this place.
Kwooooooo!!!
A swirling sea of lightning enveloped them. In a sky devoid of solid ground and shrouded in dark clouds, a colossal blue light flashed, and only one wizard had absolute control over these natural phenomena.
[Sacred Domain Deployment: Branch Point Observation]
[Higher Order Mindscape Realization]
[Eightfold Celestial Matrix (八連雷理穹)]
A sky where eight thunderous paths converged. Within Lennok’s Domain, brimming with endless thunder, McQueen let out a piercing scream.
“Aaaaaaaah!!”
The technique from his prime, now unleashed anew with his regained youth, once again illuminated this place. The four statues that materialized behind him joined McQueen in forming hand seals, transforming into a radiant protective shield encompassing every direction.
[White Enigma Haven (白俺境)]
A white whale emerged from the sea of clouds, consuming everything in its path.
