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4, Month Fall-Amberine, Year 2763 B.A.

04:25, Demon Mountain Range

 

Shocked, Isabella quickly looked back at the manual. And, indeed, after reading the first words of each line together, they were actually forming another sentence entirely.

People die if they are killed.

If these words were just written randomly somewhere, they would probably have meant nothing. It would be a quote that didn’t even make any sense!

Yet, when the manual radiated such a profound killing intent, Isabella couldn’t help but feel like there was something hidden deep inside it.

It was such a simple phrase, yet it actually contained the law of the world. It contained a glimpse of the true meaning of the universe itself!

Even the other followers in the chat room also went into an uproar.

[Mizao: ???]

[Roboto_1291: technicallythetruth]

[EmperorOfYellowKingdom: I am very much impressed with “your profound wisdom”, sage.]

[Animeboyforlife641: I see sage Khun is a man of culture as well...]

[LittleSnow: I will also put this in our manual and have our members recite it every day, great sage.]

[SealedFate: ...]

“…”

Isabella didn’t know why, but sage Khun’s face seemed to darken slightly after reading their responses. But her confusion didn’t last long as sage Khun continued his explanation shortly after that.

“Anyway...” he said after coughing once. “People die if they are killed. The meaning of this phrase is very deep and at the same time profound. Everyone that has read it would probably have a different interpretation of their own.”

“Yes...” Isabella agreed. Her eyes were not moving away from the tablet, wanting to get all the hints she could. “But what is the correction interpretation of it then, sage?”

“No, there are none. That is what the laws of the world are. They are all around us, but they could never be truly understood.” he shook his head slightly. His voice was a bit distant as if he was reminiscing something from the past. “Each of us have our own opinion of them. But never could we know that whose is the correct one.”

His voice was soft, but the weight of it was strong. He sounded casual, but his speech was profound. Isabella felt as if the view of the world that she saw had turned into a new light.

“So the law of the world is something really deep...” Isabella murmured. She couldn’t help but feel impressed by all of this.

“So, this phrase… People die if they are killed...” sage Khun sighed then continued. “While you could take the meaning of this phrase literally, it was actually something deeper than that.”

“Something deeper…” Isabella nodded subconsciously.

How could the law of the world be easy to understand?

If that was the case, the world would be full of sages already.

The laws of the world weren’t something words could easily explain. They were up to each individual to interpret them. It seemed easy, but it was actually very complicated. There were probably thousands of perfect circle mage in a century, yet even that could not guarantee that a single sage would emerge from one of them.

That was just how hard it was.

To cross the last step. To understand the law of the world… Not only would it require effort. Talent, luck, and special encounter were also necessary.

“Also, it isn’t that the rest of those sentences were not important.” sage Khun added. “They are the writer’s thoughts, after all. To truly understand the writer’s intent, you have to analyze those as well, understand?”

“Yes, sage. I understand.” Isabella nodded. She shifted her gaze to read the introduction page again—this time with a new mindset completely.

As sage Khun said, while other sentences were just a disguise, it didn’t actually mean that she could just discard it completely. While it didn’t contain the essences of the manual, they contained the writer’s thought.

She slowly read it, verse by verse. She then noticed that the introduction page could actually be divided into 2 parts. First was the first 4 lines which contained the kill or be killed situation. And the last 2 lines which depicted when the writers went against demons, gods, and even heaven itself.

All of this combined with the phrase that sage Khun’s gave...

“People die if they are killed. This phrase isn’t simple as it seems!” Isabella suddenly blurted out. Her body trembled slightly from the excitement. She felt as if something clicked inside her head.

“Are they god? Are they demon? Or are they mortal? It doesn’t matter. Killed by heaven or to kill the heaven. Only the strong could define their own fate. The true meaning that the writer wants to convey is that everything could be killed. Everything could die!” She continued then looked at the tablet expectantly. She wanted confirmation from sage Khun.

“...”

But sage Khun only smiled mysteriously. He didn’t deny her thought, but he didn’t affirm it either.

That was understandable. After all, the path of sage was something that each one had to walk their own path. Some guidance was possible. But there was no way to assist the other until the end. This was a journey that everyone had to do alone.

“Thank you very much, sage!”

Isabella offered her gratitude then nodded to herself. She read the manual one more time before putting it on the ground. The catgirl closed her eyes. She began to analyze the meaning of sage Khun’s word and the manual, comparing them with her own experience.

People die if they are killed.

That was indeed the truth. Everyone died if they got killed. Even a person with an undying body could die.

Death was something that not even a sage could escape.

It was the law.

Isabella had heard that before this era, the world was much more chaotic than the current time. In those times, there were multiple clashes between demons with other races in the world. In the end, their sage—the demon lord—collapsed, and their ruling of the world was over.

Now they were just another race in the world.

People… mortal… undying body… sage… even such a powerful race as demon… They all lived—they all existed—but in the end, they all could be killed. Nothing could ever stand the test of time. They all died and disappeared.

This was the law of the world.

“…!”

As if something had opened inside Isabella’s mind. The world she felt began to change into something else entirely. No, it was not like that. Isabella felt as if she was a frog at the bottom of a well that had climbed to the top for the first time. Her world’s view had expanded exponentially.

At that time, the manual in front of her opened by itself. It faded into a white circle and floated toward Isabella’s head.

It was then that Isabella understood that this book wasn’t actually a manual at all. This book was—in fact—the memory of the writer all along.

A vision suddenly appeared in her mind. It was a scene of a man. It started from when he was a child and grew up.

The time was chaotic, only those who were strong could live. He had to kill everyone just for survival. Everywhere he went, a path of slaughter would follow. Countless deaths followed behind him. Some got saved by him, but some don’t. Isabella watched as he killed countless people, and countless things. Each of the kills he made resonated with the diagram in the later pages.

Eventually, he even went into a battle against heaven and got himself killed.

He got killed… He was so strong, yet he died.

People die if they are killed.

Everyone died.

Everything died.

This is the law of the world…

Isabella didn’t know if this interpretation of her was correct or not. But she went with it nonetheless. She condensed her own version of the law of the world.

The Law of Death: The Aspect of Killing!

Boom!

A powerful force descended from the sky. It contained an oppressive feeling to everything looking at it, causing them to kneel respectfully. The force was like a clear stream. It was transparent, yet it could be seen. This force slowly entered the cave and got absorbed into Isabella’s body.

It nourished her body and her soul. The stream then slowly circulated into her perfect magic circle, merging into it. It appeared the same on the outside, but Isabella knew that it had changed, completely.

Her body also changed. Her left arm, which was missing before, regenerated. Not only that, her body became lighter—as gravity no longer affected her.

She had broken from her mortal shell and started her path of becoming a sage.

Those who became sage were no longer mortal. They could bend the world to their will and they were free to go anywhere they want. They were free from the shackle of the world that every mortal had. That was why they could fly in the sky, even without the help of the flying artifact at all.

They could even go to another planet or even other dimensions entirely.

This was the reason why this world had no known sage resided in currently. Those that hadn’t died had gone out to explore the endless universe already.

The absorption of the law of the world only took a few seconds. When Isabella opened her eyes, everything had gone serene again. She had finished her breakthrough. While Isabella wasn’t quite at the level of a true sage yet, she was at least halfway there.

If she continued to develop her understanding of the world in this direction, she would probably become a true sage in less than 100 years from now.

Her magic power was still at the same level as previously—as she hadn’t became a sage yet, but Isabella could utilize the basic of the Law of Death now. The power she could unleash currently was something that mortal could never imagine.

Her perception also expanded out entirely. Isabella could felt outside into the forest. She could even perceive the rogue bearman who was waiting for her at the edge of Demon Mountain Range.

“Hmm...”

It seems that my breakthrough has attracted some attention here…

Boom!

The cave shook and the rock that she had put in the front crumbled. The entrance, which Isabella sealed before, was clear to enter now.

Isabella shook her head slightly. She looked at the entrance to see that her visitor was actually the nonagon-level Red Fur Boar that she had circled around before.

Not only that, there were dozens of demonic beasts in the area behind it. They probably gathered here after sensing the power of the world.

While these demonic beasts were strong, their intelligence wasn’t actually that high. They only operated based on their instinct. Only after they became a sage, could they have some level of intelligence.

That was why they were looking at the catgirl in front of them hungrily. They wanted to kill her and took whatever descended from the sky from her.

Isabella didn’t even stand up from her sitting position, she just looked at them coldly.

“Die.” she said. Her voice was short and icy, but it contained her own understanding of the world.

The beasts only realized their own mistake in that instant. Their instinct warned them in terror, wanting them to flee, but it was all too late.

When the voice rang beside their ears, a powerful force had already attacked their entire being.

Their eyes became vacant, and they all collapsed to the ground lifelessly.

They died.