As if by a chain reaction, countless cracks appeared next to Valerian and rapidly spread outward.

Seeing this, Oswald's heart sank, and the foreboding feeling that he had gotten a while back once again threatened to overwhelm him. This time with even greater force.

Under the shocked gazes of everyone present, the entire town of Omai was suddenly filled with cracks.

Morden panicked at this sudden turn of events. He looked around him in apprehension and saw that cracks had appeared all around him.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eyes, he saw something that caused him to be filled with disbelief.

He saw Adam...

Smirking.

CRASH!

As if a mirror shattering, the scene before Oswald, Hemingway, Morden, and Gorgo crumbled. Their eyes glazed over for a few short moments and they felt like they had just woken up from a dream.

It took a while for Oswald to regain his senses. The scene that greeted him next caused him to violently tremble.

What he had thought to be the young dragon's massive corpse that lay at his feet was now replaced by one of the corrupted magical beast's corpses.

Realizing this, Oswald stumbled backward and fell to the ground, his eyes flashing with terror and disbelief.

"This... this can't be happening! What is going on?!"

Hemingway, who had thought his spells had pierced the hearts of Edward and Lisa, now witnessed something else entirely.

Before him lay the corpses of orcs that had come to this town with Gorgo, their bodies stabbed by the frozen spikes he had cast moments ago.

"I-Impossible!" Hemingway's eyes widened in shock as he hurriedly knelt down before the corpses, scrutinizing them.

No matter how thoroughly he checked, the results were still the same. The corpses belonged to the orcs and not Edward and Lisa.

"W-Where are they?!" He screamed in panic.

Unable to comprehend just how greatly his senses had been deceived, the man stood there frozen in horror, his mind completely blank.

The next moment, he looked around in a crazed manner, wondering if anything around him was real.

But no matter where he looked, the couple were nowhere to be seen. Neither was the young dragon.

At the town's central square, Morden and Gorgo, who had thought they had stabbed Adam with their respective weapons, now found themselves impaling each other instead.

Blood spurted out of their mouths as they felt the cold clutches of death squeezing around their necks. Their knees buckled and they weakly fell to the ground, the grip around their weapons slowly loosening.

They had stabbed their weapons into each others' hearts!

Morden looked at the twin daggers penetrating his chest in disbelief. He raised his head and glanced at the orc who had just let go of said daggers.

"You... H-How?!"

Meanwhile, Gorgo was also glancing at Morden in front of him in shock and fear. He was sure that he had stabbed Adam with his daggers just a moment ago. "I-It can't be."

But the outcome was completely different. Now, his daggers were lodged in Morden's heart, while the latter's sword was pierced deep inside his own.

He felt like someone had altered reality itself!

The light in their eyes dimmed and they died painful deaths as their hearts gradually stopped beating. Even in their last moments, they were unable to understand just how they had died.

When Oswald turned his head in that direction and saw this scene, his eyes turned bloodshot and his whole being was consumed by immense grief.

He was about to cry out in anguish, but then his gaze shifted to the familiar young man who was behind Morden and Gorgo's fresh corpses.

When Oswald's eyes landed on this person, he was thunderstruck. "Impossible!"

Adam levitated in the air with arms wide open as if he were hugging the world.

An enormous vortex of mana gathered around him and slowly transformed every inch of his flesh, muscles, bones, and organs.

Cracking sounds could be heard coming from inside his body as his bones were greatly strengthened.

All the burn marks that he had sustained in his battle against Kevin were also slowly being revitalized, turning his skin unblemished.

The grievous injuries that he had sustained tonight were being healed at a miraculous rate. He was being reborn from the inside out as he was baptized by mana.

Like a snake shedding its skin, Adam was going through a magical metamorphosis.

The mana in the surroundings was being crazily absorbed by the youth. This energy seeped inside his mana channels and charged toward the center of his body.

His mana channels expanded and were then heavily fortified, allowing passage for even more energy to seep in.

At the same time, the youth's spirit sea was also deeply reverbarating with the change happening to him. He was transforming not only physically, but also spiritually.

The boundaries of his spirit sea expanded significantly. The water inside that represented his spiritual power thrashed about in excitement.

After what felt like forever, but also an instant, the vortex of mana gradually disappeared and Adam gently landed on the ground.

He clenched his fists and sensed the raw power coursing through his veins. When he realized that his mana channels had been connected, his lips curled up into a faint smile.

Adam raised his head to the skies. Blood continued to trickle down his eyes, yet a brilliant white flower pattern shone in his black abyss-like pupils.

His lips parted and he declared to the world.

"Unbruised prosperity cannot endure a single blow.

"But I have been in constant battle with misfortune and have acquired a skin calloused by suffering.

"No matter what life throws my way, I will never yield.

"And even if I stumble, I will carry the fight on upon my knees.

"This is my Way of Magic!"

The mana around him deeply resonated and a visible wave of energy rippled out in all directions with him at the epicenter.

At that moment

Adam had become a Rank 2 Magus!