TN: Hello and Happy Holidays to everyone! Because it's the season of giving, I'll be uploading twice daily from December 21st to December 28th of 2025 to celebrate Christmas with you all. Enjoy reading!
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The world fell silent.
A boundless wave of black light devoured everything before Ur's eyes. The boar's body was instantly swallowed, vanishing without a trace—completely vaporized by the overwhelming black magic.
The sudden turn of events left Ur's body frozen stiff.
Even though this terrifying force wasn't directly aimed at him, the sheer power it carried made it impossible to move.
It had nothing to do with courage. This was the instinctive response all living beings have when facing something vastly more powerful than themselves.
The magic came fast and faded just as quickly.
After swallowing the boar whole, the black light finally stopped about ten meters in front of Ur, creating a curved arc of destruction.
When the magic vanished, Ur's legs buckled.
He dropped to the ground like a rag doll, face pale, drenched in cold sweat, panting heavily.
That terrifying display had left him utterly shaken.
And when he finally gathered the courage to look up, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
The forest was gone.
Not destroyed.
Erased.
As if it had never existed in the first place.
There wasn't a single fallen tree, no debris, no scorched marks. It was as if the entire mountain woodland had been erased from existence. Just a massive crater, several hundred meters wide.
Everything, from the dense forest to the earth beneath it, had been consumed by the black magic.
And right at the edge, around ten meters away from him, was a terrifying drop: a deep, vertical cliff that seemed to stretch into eternity.
Lying on the ground staring at the starlit sky above, Ur's heart pounded wildly in his chest.
His mind echoed with just two words:
Black Magic.
Only Black Magic could possess this kind of dark, silent, all-consuming, destructive power.
And for it to leave this kind of destruction, the caster had to be at least on the level of a Wizard Saint.
Why would someone of that caliber be here?
Wizards of such caliber were rarely allowed to act freely.
Because once someone reached that level, any full-force attack from them could change the weather, tear open the skies, or even shake the continent itself.
That was why most magic guilds across the continent followed an unspoken rule:
Wizard Saints must never fight at full strength unless absolutely necessary.
Unless, of course…
Could this mean... war?
That chilling thought crossed Ur's mind, and his pupils contracted.
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The sky began to brighten.
When the first rays of sunlight touched Ur's face, he slowly opened his eyes.
He'd passed out sometime in the night. The exhaustion, combined with the mental and physical toll of everything he'd endured, had knocked him out cold right there on the ground.
Fortunately, that terrifying blast of Black Magic last night had scared off every beast in the surrounding area. Otherwise, given how deeply he'd slept, even if something had tried to eat him alive, he might not have woken up.
After waking, Ur didn't waste time.
Despite the pain in his leg, he limped over, grabbed the corpse of the first boar monster from the pit, and left the area.
His mind was racing.
If his guess was correct, war was about to break out, then this was bad news.
War meant death.
Especially in a magical world like this, the casualties were almost always massive.
Sure, in anime, it might've seemed like no one ever died during wars. But that's just because the ones who died didn't get screen time.
According to the records of Fairy Tail, the guild had experienced multiple large-scale wars since its founding, and every single one had resulted in heavy casualties, without exception.
And if even Fairy Tail, known for being relatively peaceful, had suffered that much, then one could only imagine what happened to other guilds.
Right now, Ur could only pray.
Let Fairy Tail stay out of it!
After dragging the monster's corpse back, Ur returned to the farm and handed it over to the short, chubby uncle who had posted the request.
He received his payment, along with a flood of gratitude.
Come to think of it, I still didn't know that guy's name.
Though the farm wasn't far from the guild, Ur had earned a lot of money this time.
And with that kind of cash in hand, it was only natural to treat himself. Well… more like, his injured leg had killed any thoughts of walking to save money.
After boarding a carriage, Ur summoned his favorite little helper: The system.
Dingdong!
With a familiar ding, a message appeared across the panel, the text practically vibrating with eagerness.
[Host, your top up opti—]
"Top up now!"
Before the system could even finish loading, Ur cut it off sharply.
"Charge me 94,500J!"
He spoke through gritted teeth, voice full of petty vengeance.
[...]
[Host, you're so stingy!]
Ur: "Heh."
In previous top-ups, the system had managed to scam him twice by taking advantage of his youthful ignorance.
But this time, Ur had reclaimed every last Jewels it tricked out of him.
The system was unhappy about that. But even so, the draw had to proceed.
Very soon, the system panel morphed, transforming into the familiar black hole interface.
As the spinning vortex began to rotate, Ur's attention focused entirely on it.
The swirling black void began to spin faster and faster. No telling how much time passed.
Suddenly, the spinning halted.
A beam of white light shot from the center of the black hole and struck Ur directly in the chest…