Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage

A phrase kept repeating in Henry’s head.

‘Turning back time?’

If that was indeed possible, everything could go back to normal. After all, whenever humans had regrets about something, the first thing they wanted to do was turn back time.

However, turning back time was easier said than done, or rather, one couldn’t even call it a problem to begin with because of how ridiculous it sounded.

Time was a realm of its own, completely different from space.

There was a variety of magic when it came to space, such as Henry’s subspace and spells like Teleportation and Blink.

Of course, there were also some spells that, at first glance, seemed to manipulate time, such as Rapid Growth, which Henry had used to deal with the food shortage problem.

However, Rapid Growth didn’t actually speed up the process of growth, but merely provided the seeds with various nutrients through mana.

Henry thought about the phrase that was repeating itself in his head. It was a ridiculous fantasy, but the idea of turning back time felt like a shortcut to solving this seemingly unsolvable problem of the blind believers.

Henry had thought about time magic before. In fact, every wizard had fantasized about that at some point.

But they all had to stop at fantasizing.

Time was literally a realm of its own, an absolute force that couldn’t be contained by nature or any element out there. The few theoretical principles of time magic were infeasible and paradoxical, which was why such magic had never left the realm of fantasy.

But now, Henry thought things were different.

He had reached the 9th-Circle, something he had thought he would never reach in his lifetime. On top of that, he had also gained dimensional powers, something that was also beyond the realm of the ordinary.

Therefore, even though he didn’t have grounds for it yet, Henry thought that even time magic might be possible. However, he was a bit scared to start researching time magic.

This kind of magic might just be the solution to the blind believers problem, but just like the research he had been conducting for the past six months, the study of time magic would be a unique challenge, and a very difficult one at that.

He would have to create something out of nothing.

‘Is there really no solution? I feel like there must be a way…’

Henry was lost in thoughts again.

Magic that could create something out of nothing. There were no clues or theories on how to achieve that.

In any case, Henry quickly dispelled his negative thoughts. After all, when he first reached the 8th-Circle in his previous life, he thought he couldn’t possibly progress any further than that. However, he reached the 8th-Circle more easily in his second life, and he even surpassed that by becoming a god and reaching the mythical 9th-Circle.

Remembering those crucial details, Henry decided to have some faith that discovering time magic wasn’t an impossible undertaking.

‘I need time.’

After some thought, Henry decided to be more proactive in his research, but in order to do so, he would need to take a break from his current research team.

‘I’ll have to let Lore know about this.’

Of course, Lore and the other wizards on the research team would be completely fine with waiting for Henry even if he didn’t tell them why. However, Henry didn’t want to keep them in the dark because he knew how hard it was to wait without any hope.

Besides, Henry now carried a great responsibility as the king of Morris, so his actions no longer affected just him.

Having made up his mind, Henry went straight to Lore.

***

“Time magic… you say?”

“Yes. I should take this opportunity to dig into it.”

Lore couldn’t help being baffled by Henry’s plan. Researching time magic? It was the first time Lore had ever heard a wizard say that they would actually attempt to unlock the secret of time magic, something that had always been in the realm of fantasy.

But this was none other than Henry, the god of magic himself, so Lore was strangely excited by his idea.

After thinking about it for a few moments, Lore said cautiously, “Alright. I will take charge of the research while you’re away, Your Majesty.”

“I’ll leave Klever behind just in case, since capturing the blind believers can be quite exhausting mentally.”

“That’s alright. We have more than enough servants to capture the blind believers, so please don't worry about us and focus on your research, Your Majesty.”

“Thank you. For starters, I’ll be gone for a week.”

“You can take longer.”

“No, I’ll take a week to do some research first and then decide what to do after.”

“Alright.”

“And about this… You know, right?”

“Of course. I’ll make sure the rest of the team doesn’t talk about this either, so you don't have to worry.”

Henry knew he could fully trust Lore; he could see it in his eyes. He patted him on the shoulder a few times and quickly disappeared.

Immediately after that, Lore clasped his hands together and prayed.

“Dear late head of the spire, please take pity on your disciple and watch over him.”

People generally prayed to gods, but Lore was praying for Henry, who was a god himself and the one Lore believed in. Thus, he opted to pray to the late Henry Morris, the original Archmage.

He hoped that Henry’s late master would watch over him and offer him guidance, unaware that they were one and the same.

‘How cute.’

Lore’s prayer put a smile on Henry’s face.

***

Henry’s first research site was the Demon Realm, and the reason for starting his research there was simple.

He had received the ability to manipulate dimensions, a 9th-Circle ability, from the Demon God, who oversaw the Demon Realm.

Henry thought that if the Demon God knew about dimensional powers, the epitome of spatial manipulation, he would also know about the power of time.

However, even with his dimensional powers, Henry couldn’t find the Demon God right away because he didn’t know the coordinates of his dwellings. Thus, he started by looking for Raina, his representative.

Henry arrived in the Demon Realm seamlessly, but to his surprise, he wasn’t at the altar of the Demon God in the forbidden zone, but near Gaga, who seemed to be busy hunting.

Gaga, unaware of Henry's presence, was aiming for the back of his prey with his spear, and just as he was about to throw his spear, Henry said, “Hey.”

- Eeek!

Gaga was startled by the sudden sound of someone’s voice, and his prey noticed him.

- Kwaa?

Gaga’s prey was a giant demonic beast that resembled a heron. Henry didn’t know what this creature was called, being the first time he saw this breed.

Realizing that its life was in danger, the bird-like demonic beast rushed at Gaga furiously.

- Uh… Huh?

Gaga was facing a demonic beast that was charging furiously at him, and behind him stood someone even more terrifying than the Demon King.

He was frozen.

“Tsk.”

Seeing this, Henry held out his right hand and snapped his fingers.

Pop!

With a light pop, the head of the bird-like demonic beast exploded, its gory remains landing on Gaga’s face.

Not even wiping his face, Gaga quickly turned around and looked up at Henry with a puzzled expression.

- Wh-what brings you here?

Gaga wasn’t so much as shocked as he was terrified. For Henry, only six months had passed, but for Gaga, it had been nearly five years.

Seeing how Gaga was trembling in fear, Henry quickly explained, “We have somewhere to go.”

- Wh-where?

“You’ll see.”

Henry grabbed Gaga by the back of his neck and used spatial magic. Their silhouettes distorted and quickly disappeared.

Terrified, Gaga covered his face with his arms and curled up into a ball like a pill bug. However, Henry was still holding onto the back of his neck, and upon their arrival, he flung him on the ground.

Gaga rolled over.

They had arrived at the altar of the Demon God.

After throwing Gaga, Henry turned to the altar and said, “Raina.”

Raina, the Demon God’s sole representative—Henry knew very well how she chose to communicate, since they had talked before. He had brought Gaga here to use him as a medium for Raina to communicate.

In front of the altar, Gaga briefly emitted a flash of light. He then stood up like a mummy, his eyes hazy as if he were dead.

That was proof that Raina had succeeded in possessing Gaga.

Seeing this, Henry said, “Looks like I’ve done a good job bringing him.”

- …Thank you for your consideration, but what brings you here again?

Raina was being polite to Henry and thanked him because he was a god at the end of the day. However, she was puzzled about his unexpected visit, given that the Demon God hadn’t mentioned anything about him.

“I’m here to see your superior,” explained Henry.

- The Demon God…?”

“Yes. Can you call him for me?”

It was a simple, straightforward request. Raina looked quite confused, likely thinking that Henry was being very audacious.

But no matter how disrespectful Henry was, Raina was just the representative of the Demon God, so she essentially had no power over Henry.

Tzzzz!

Just then, Gaga was enveloped by a murky aura.

That was what Henry had been waiting for. His lips curled up into a smile as he watched the Demon God descend at his request.

Soon, the familiar-looking Demon God finally stood before Henry, releasing a murderous aura.

- What are you doing?

The Demon God had been watching them all along, and he immediately expressed his anger at how Henry had spoken to his subordinate. The sky reacted to his fury, the swirling clouds unleashing destructive thunderbolts.

However, Henry was unfazed. He wasn’t afraid of thunder. Instead, he welcomed the Demon God with an expression as if to say, ‘that’s the least a god can do.’

“It’s been a while, Demon God.”

- Answer me! What the hell are you doing?

“I was just asking Raina to meet you, so don’t get too upset. We shouldn’t be angry at each other as fellow gods.”

- How dare you?!

Henry tried to make light of the situation, but the Demon God was having none of it. Without any warning, the Demon God sent a bolt of lightning down on Henry’s head.

Boom!

The lightning bolt was incomparably thicker than those occurring in the human realm. But even after the lightning disappeared, Henry was still smiling, unaffected.

“Your greeting is a bit aggressive,” said Henry.

- What?

The lightning had no effect on Henry because his divine power was greater than that of the Demon God, both in quantity and quality.

The Demon God was a bit baffled, the skin under his eyes twitching slightly.

Henry smiled and said, “It seems that I have more divine power than you. You should’ve taken better care of your believers.”

- Ha? What the…!

The Demon God laughed in disbelief, and Henry took this opportunity to get to the point.

“Alright, why don’t we calm down and get straight to business? I didn’t come all this way to make fun of you.”

The Demon God was left speechless by Henry’s audacity. However, he also realized that Henry wouldn’t have come here just to mess around and mock him.

As the Demon God furrowed his brow, Henry asked, “Do you happen to know how to manipulate time as well?”

Hearing Henry’s question, the Demon God frowned even more.