Reyn had never experienced anything like it before.
The moment the Will of Truth activated, his mind underwent profound purification. Consciousness became crystal clear, every thought under full control, mind calm as a lake's surface, thinking speed multiplied. His entire inner world seemed transformed.
Humans struggle to focus on one thing beyond ten seconds. Thoughts wander, scatter, like an unruly monkey—the famous "mind monkey."
But now Reyn could effortlessly control his thinking, as if taming that monkey. He could focus long on one thought or object without distraction.
This sensation extended beyond mind to body.
Every fluctuation of spiritual power in his soul, every muscle twitch—all reflected clearly in his consciousness with incredible precision.
Reyn realized: now, with mere intent, he could fully control his spiritual power and muscle movements.
This control level was immeasurably higher than an ordinary human's.
An ordinary person casting a spell or sword strike, even intentionally repeating the same action, always has variances. Absolute identical motion is hard.
But with the Will of Truth, Reyn knew without trying he could repeat any action with absolute precision. His body became a super-precise mechanism—concise, efficient, flawlessly reproducing prior motions.
Consciousness became the supreme ruler of the body!
Reyn sighed in awe, recalling the famous phrase: "I think, therefore I am."
The Will of Truth seemed its embodiment. He even felt that if he concentrated thoughts, focused, and trained long, his mind could influence matter.
"It must be 'Psionic Affinity.' No wonder the Will of Truth boosts mind school spells."
Reyn looked in the mirror and activated Soul Eye to examine his state.
The Demon Soul of the Heart-Subduing Monkey had fully integrated with the World Tree.
This soul, though containing a Legendary element, wasn't especially powerful itself. Merging gave him 15% energy charge—acceptable.
At the World Tree's base, three branches now grew in different directions. The first had three leaves, the second four, the third just one.
But that single leaf was the brightest object in his soul.
Its faint glow filled the spiritual space, forming a thin but incredibly tough protective layer. Reyn felt deep calm—no longer fearing foreign force intrusion into his soul.
"Legendary elements are truly special!" Reyn couldn't help admiring.
Then he noticed something astonishing.
"Where's the Bloody Soul Curse?"
This curse, present in every human soul, Reyn had seen countless times in his own and grown used to it. But now it was gone.
The Bloody Soul Curse was tiny and hid very deep.
But Reyn thoroughly searched his soul several times and found no sinister rune resembling a living being.
"My curse is lifted!"
Reyn was overjoyed. He hadn't expected this effect from the Will of Truth.
This horrific curse tormenting humanity for millennia, every person's deepest nightmare—simply gone!
Reyn had seen it drive people mad, killed fallen ones, heard the Dark Lord's whispers. Though his will was strong and he suffered little, Reyn knew well how terrible it was—it clung like a plague, impossible to remove.
Millennia, countless died from the Bloody Soul Curse, as many tried removing it. It remained humanity's greatest threat.
They said it could be lifted only by reaching Saint rank or a mighty deity's special blessing.
He never imagined the Will of Truth could do it!
This unexpected gift brought Reyn immense relief, like heavy shackles falling from his shoulders. He felt incredible lightness and freedom.
Then he frowned at the distorted red-black skull rune in his soul.
"The Bloody Soul Curse is gone, so why's the Seal of Discord still here?" he wondered.
"Maybe because the Seal of Discord doesn't harm me directly, doesn't affect my mind, has no negative effects, so the Will of Truth ignored it?"
Reyn scratched his head and opened the book Gods and Believers on his "phone."
After long reading, he reached a likely explanation.
The Seal of Discord consisted of divine power—a very high-level energy form. It could be destroyed only by letting it dissipate over time or neutralizing with other divine power.
The Bloody Soul Curse, though horrific, wasn't divine power but a Fel-blood alloy.
Thus, the Will of Truth removed the Bloody Soul Curse but ignored the Seal of Discord.
"What a shame."
Reyn shook his head helplessly and mentally prayed to the Goddess of Magic. The Flame of Faith flared brighter, and he immediately felt the Seal of Discord weaken slightly.
The change was subtle. Before, it took two or three prayers to notice, but now, thanks to the Will of Truth, he sensed it instantly.
"Guess I'll have to erode it bit by bit."
Reyn checked the time. Merging with the Demon Soul took less than half an hour.
He stood and returned to Viola's bedroom. A smile hadn't left his face. Viola sat at the table writing. Looking up and seeing his expression, she asked in surprise:
"What made you so happy?"
Reyn smiled silently and handed her the Soul Stone.
Once gray-violet, now the stone was completely clear, transparently lilac, sparkling in the lamplight.
Viola noticed the difference right away. She stood up abruptly, stunned:
"You... you merged with it?"
"Yes," Reyn nodded.
"So now you're a third-level mage? Goddess..." Viola didn't know what to say. She had almost gotten used to his rapid progress.
She clearly remembered that Reyn had become a second-level mage quite recently. Only a month had passed, and here he was at third level!
Less than three months had passed since his first Soul Transformation.
Three months—from an ordinary human to a third-level mage! Less than a month per level on average. Even the most perfect Soul Transformation didn't grant such development speed. At least, the few known figures with perfect transformations hadn't shown such astonishing speed.
Viola looked at the man before her, and an inexplicable tremor stirred in her heart. Several absurd thoughts flashed through her mind.
"Reyn, are you by any chance a reincarnated god?"
"Of course not," Reyn laughed, shaking his head. "I'm just a mortal."
As he said it, he looked at the half-elf's beautiful figure, clad only in a silk nightshirt through which her seductive curves were visible, with frank lust. Though he had measured them countless times himself, his heart still beat faster.
This lustful gaze truly belonged to a mortal.
Viola suppressed her complex feelings and met his scorching gaze. Their bodies quickly intertwined as one.
After a stormy night, Reyn woke up refreshed and full of energy. He began his usual morning meditation and training.
Viola had breakfast and left—she was now devoting all her energy to creating the Silver Star recording company and was very busy.
Reyn had given her all the technologies for producing gramophones and records. After careful consideration, to speed up the company creation process and release the first batch of gramophones by year's end, Viola decided to acquire an existing mechanical factory. Her choice fell on Kenedji's company. In exchange for ten percent of the recording company's shares, she acquired Anders Machine-Building Company.
Kenedji's company was not small; its total value was around fifty thousand gold shields, far exceeding the current price of a ten-percent stake. Yet Kenedji agreed without hesitation.
He not only agreed to the deal but also additionally invested ten thousand gold shields as startup capital, showing exceptional generosity.
Reyn and Viola weren't surprised—any smart businessman would do the same. The prospects of Silver Star were limitless, and in the future, the value of that stake would multiply several dozen times. Moreover, the true owner of the company was the Silver Star Duchess. Becoming part of her company meant gaining a connection to the Duchess herself—a chance many could only dream of.
Learning that Reyn had provided this opportunity, Kenedji was endlessly grateful to him.
As a High-Rank Mechanic, Kenedji lacked outstanding combat abilities but was a true genius in mechanics. In just a few days, he mastered gramophone technology, improving it to make production cheaper and more efficient than in Reyn's original plan.
Reyn was pleased with this development and no longer interfered.
His days flowed steadily and fully. Every morning—meditation and training, then a few hours of work in the Great Library of the Silver Star, and after lunch—lessons on spiritual gun crafting with Zoltan at the Basilisk tavern. Evenings he spent at Vigo's estate with Viola, often deepening their relationship.
During this time, Reyn visited Brent Street several times and secretly observed the Sword of Oath shop. He noticed that after Wilt's death, Loxi's followers appeared there much less frequently. Whether their plans had been thwarted or they had simply gone into hiding, sensing danger—Reyn didn't know. He didn't dare investigate and pretended to know nothing.
Basilisk tavern, mechanical workshop.
Reyn sat at the workbench. His hands moved at incredible speed, parts falling into place one by one, and soon he assembled a massive pistol.
The weapon, over thirty centimeters long and entirely cast from silvery metal, weighed fifteen pounds. Its predatory outlines and unique design, with the grip and barrel covered in runes, created a strange beauty—a blend of magic and mechanics.
Click—and the magazine was inserted.
Reyn took the pistol in hand. Using the Metal Touch element, he sensed every detail of the weapon.
This was his first spiritual gun. The design was relatively simple, only superficially resembling the famous Desert Eagle from his past life, but inside it was entirely different.
A spiritual gun was essentially an enchanted weapon. This pistol was no exception: it used phlogiston bullets, and the shot was initiated by the shooter's spiritual power. The power was considerable.
"Zoltan, take a look," Reyn handed the pistol to the dwarf standing nearby.
Zoltan took the spiritual gun and whistled in admiration:
"I don't even need to try it to know—this is an excellent weapon. Reyn, you're a born gunsmith! You've been learning from me for less than ten days and already created your first spiritual gun. Besides deeper rune knowledge, I have nothing left to teach you."
Saying this, he walked to the corner of the workshop and fired at the wall.
Bang!
A deafening shot rang out. The runes on the pistol flashed red, sparks flew. A dent formed in the stone wall.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Zoltan kept firing, emptying the magazine. The spiritual gun's strong recoil barely affected him; the barrel stayed steady, and every bullet hit precisely, chipping stone from the wall.
"Stable power, runes activate smoothly, no loosening in the construction," Zoltan clucked his tongue. "If I hadn't seen you assemble it, I'd think it was the work of an old master gunsmith."
He noticed that this spiritual gun felt somehow special, though he couldn't pinpoint why. It was just incredibly comfortable, and shooting it brought true pleasure. Despite the pistol's enchantment only slightly boosting firing rate, and its power being fairly average, the recoil felt superb!
Zoltan didn't want to let it go.
"Reyn, sell me this pistol. I want to add it to my collection."
"Like it—take it," Reyn smiled without a hint of regret. "Consider it a gift in thanks for the lessons."
"Excellent! Then I won't stand on ceremony!" Zoltan happily stroked the spiritual gun, his thick beard shaking with delight.
Reyn smiled, understanding this attachment to things.
In truth, he had studied gunsmithing only to understand rune technology and application, not out of love for spiritual guns.
Weapons were external objects, far less reliable than one's own power.
If he were in a world without supernatural forces, where everyone was ordinary humans, creating firearms would be the best choice. But here, in a world ruled by personal might, weapons seemed somewhat useless.
With his current strength and Steel Body, Reyn could ignore most spiritual guns—they likely couldn't pierce his defenses. High-quality specimens that could threaten him might exist, but they were rare.
On Ellunes, there were countless spells and abilities far more powerful, convenient, and effective than spiritual guns. It wasn't worth investing too much effort in them.
This was the problem with the Gunner class. Gunners started easily, were strong at early stages, and with one spiritual gun could stand against any Superhuman. But at mid-levels, due to weapon power limits, their overall strength became mediocre. At high levels, due to a sparse arsenal of techniques, they ranked at the bottom of class hierarchies.
Exceptions were only those Gunners who reached Legendary rank and became Cannoniers—beings rarer than dragons, by rumor.
Reyn had no interest in the Cannonier path. Far more appealing were ideas for firearms from his past life.
Powder weapons had one advantage: no spiritual power needed for firing.
He had observed Kenedji's work and noted that the mechanic's golems were geared for close combat or used minimal magic, but lacked ranged weapons. The reason was simple: golems had no spiritual power to activate phlogiston bullets.
What if powder weapon technology was combined with mechanical golems? Couldn't that create a mechanical army with powerful ranged armament?
Besides powder weapons, there were other ideas. Some weapons existing only in sci-fi blueprints, like blasters, also required no spiritual power. In his past world, they couldn't be made due to material and tech limits. But here on Ellunes, with its supernatural forces, possibilities were boundless!
This thought excited Reyn. Of course, these were just possibilities, far from realization.
Reyn shook his head, stood, and headed to the workshop storeroom for alchemical materials for further research.
The storeroom was dark, but he had Dark Vision, and after merging with the Will of Truth, super-powerful Mental Vision too. Even in pitch blackness, he saw clearly, even better than by day.
Grabbing a few ingredients from the shelf, Reyn glanced at the floor and froze.
He had noticed these floor carvings before, hidden under dust. They seemed odd, but he hadn't paid them mind.
Today, however, it was different.
Reyn sharply sensed magical fluctuations from these patterns. Faint energy seeped from under the dust.
He crouched and brushed away the dust, revealing a complex, mysterious rune.
"Teleportation circle?"
Reyn recognized it immediately. This rune belonged to the arcane sequence, often used in teleportation arrays.
After a moment's thought, he called Zoltan.
The dwarf entered the storeroom with a gas lamp. Seeing the runic array on the floor, he widened his eyes:
"Teleportation circle… activated?"