Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage

Henry’s quill didn’t stop once. He flew through the pages with joy and excitement, his smile getting wider with each page.

For that reason, he was done writing down his plans a lot earlier than he had anticipated. He had planned to finish before sunrise, but there were still a couple of hours before the sun would rise.

Even though he still had plenty of time left, Henry didn’t intend to make any edits; he had written up plans, not some fantasy novel.

Besides, given his outstanding memory, writing down his plans had just been a way to go over them once again.

Henry checked the time after he closed his notebook. He felt like he had taken his time to write his plans, but seeing what time it was, he realized that he had underestimated himself.

‘Hmm, if I have this much time left…’

Even though it had been ages since he last attempted to take down the Demon King in this body, with this identity, Henry remembered with precision what kind of daily schedule the soldiers had.

There were still about four hours left before the entire army would be operating at full capacity, and Henry figured that four hours was more than enough time to get many more things done.

‘They do say to strike while the iron’s hot… Maybe I’ll go for a short walk.’

Henry couldn’t help but smile as he strolled around the barracks. Part of him wanted to wake up everyone he knew so that he could see them, but he kept himself from doing so because he would be the only one excited. The others would just be groggy and confused.

He also thought that seeing them a couple of hours later wouldn’t make a difference, given that he hadn’t seen them in decades.

Henry checked his armor again, fixed his robes, and held the Wisdom tightly. He then cast a spell that made him invisible.

“Hide.”

But at that moment, he could feel mana leaving his body.

‘Right, right… Now that I’m at 7th-Circle, I should be more careful.;

Henry recalled that he had been able to use magic whenever he wanted without thinking twice after reaching the 8th-Circle. However, the 7th-Circle offered limited mana, so he made a mental note to be more careful with casting magic.

Regardless of that, he needed to use magic on this occasion. After making himself invisible, he cast more stealth spells that completely erased his presence. After making all the necessary preparations, he headed outside once again.

‘It’s exactly how I remember.’

Earlier, he hadn’t been able to get a good view earlier because of the guard he had encountered. However, thanks to all the stealth spells, Henry could wander around freely without worrying about bumping into someone. As he strolled through the barracks, he saw some familiar faces, which brought a smile to his face.

‘I’d say that’s good enough for now… I should get moving.’

Henry hadn’t cast all those stealth spells just to see some folks he knew. He quickly headed for the Second District, walking resolutely with no signs of hesitation. If his comrades had seen him like this, they would’ve most likely thought that he had finally lost his mind.

However, Henry had no reason to be afraid or to think that this was a problem to begin with. He had already taken down the Demon King several times in his past life and had the experience and capability to take down the entire Demonic Beast Forest right then and there if he needed to.

On top of that, unlike when he had struggled to take down the beasts of the Second District during this point in his past life, he knew all of their weaknesses now. And finally, there was a specific reason he needed to go to the Second District. There was someone the current Henry really needed to meet.

Once he stepped into the Second District, Henry could feel his skin and lungs stinging even more because the toxicity of the air in this area was higher than in the Third District.

At this, Henry gripped his Wisdom even tighter and said out loud, “I don’t care how much mana I use. I have to get rid of this sickening feeling.”

Zing—

Even though it seemed like Henry was just ranting to himself, the Wisdom took his words as a command. Habits were sure hard to break; even though he had just reminded himself that he should be careful with his mana, Henry had ended up using his mana carelessly a second later.

The Wisdom shook and glowed, and Henry soon felt free from the toxins that were taking a toll on him. However, he also felt his mana drain at a fast rate.

‘It’ll be three days at most.’

Given that he was a 7th-Circle, he could keep up this pace for around three days. If he weren’t, he would’ve had less time to get everything done. Henry wasn’t sure if he would be able to accomplish what he wanted if he were a 6th-Circle or lower.

In any case, three days seemed more than enough to achieve his goal.

Henry took a look around, enjoying being able to breathe without his lungs melting. He could feel the murderous demonic energy surrounding him. He knew that this area was brimming with energy to begin with, but the timeline he had returned to was when the Demon King was about to announce his descent, so the demonic beasts were more riled up than usual.

Only after doing some more preparations did Henry cancel his stealth magic. Quickly after, the unique scent of human flesh spread out throughout the forest.

- Kiruk?

Given that Henry’s scent wasn’t something common in this forest, it was a matter of time before the monsters with a sensitive sense of smell would notice his presence. It was the same with the demonic beasts.

Henry had revealed himself on purpose. Even though he had conquered the Second District in his previous life, he knew it would be difficult to find what he wanted in such a vast area in a short period of time.

- Kiaaa!

Thud! Thud! Thud!

A large demonic beast that sensed Henry’s presence closed in with a shriek. Any ordinary human would be terrified and frozen at the earth-shattering stomps of the demonic beast. It was the most natural reaction a human would have in this situation, but Henry was no ordinary human. He was as calm as a lake.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Henry could tell that the beast was near; approximating its distance was easy, thanks to its size.

“So you’re the first one to come!” Henry exclaimed. The beast that was charging at him was a Honma, a gorilla-like demonic beast with an impressive horn on its forehead that looked like a crescent moon.

Henry wasn’t sure if he was being nostalgic, but he was glad to see a Honma, a monster he would’ve considered annoying before.

But before Henry had the time to get lost in memories, the Honma let out another scream and hurled a fist at him.

Dong-!

The beast’s fist halted in mid-air, just inches from Henry, emitting a sound reminiscent of a gong being struck. Henry had stopped the Honma with his magic shield.

- KIAAA!

The Honma withdrew its fist and let out an agonized scream. Despite being incredibly powerful and large, this creature lacked intelligence. Thus, it immediately swung back with its other fist.

Then, the same metallic sound echoed in the forest, shaking the ground.

Dong-!

- KIAAA!

“Tsk tsk… You stupid beast.”

Henry chuckled as he saw the Honma hurling its swollen fist. However, he clicked his tongue when he realized just how much mana his Magic Shield had consumed to block two attacks. He was reminded once again of the timeline he was in.

When he was a mage, he was eager to become an Archmage, and when he finally became an Archmage, he strove to reach the 7th-Circle.

Having experienced what the 9th-Circle was capable of, Henry realized just how foolish the pride of his past self had been. Besides that, the magic he acquired after his reincarnation had the same properties as his Aura, so it was more powerful than ordinary magic.

However, the magic he currently had was nothing more than the ordinary magic wizards possessed.

Henry clicked his tongue once more and concentrated blue magic in his palm, and a half-moon quickly appeared on his palm, glowing blue. He grabbed it and threw it with all his might toward the Honma.

But immediately after throwing it, Henry let out a groan.

“Ghah!”

He felt as though he had just dislocated his shoulder. He had thrown the half-moon the same way he would’ve done before, but this body was just too frail. His current physical prowess was nowhere near that of his post-reincarnation self.

Besides his shoulder aching as though it had popped out, Henry also felt like he would sprain his wrist with another move like that.

He frowned and massaged his shoulder as he saw the magic projectile fly to its target.

- GHIAAAA!

The half-moon pierced the Honma right in between its eyes and killed it in one blow.

Thud!

The Honma collapsed, and the blue half-moon disappeared from its forehead. Since Henry had created it with magic, it was better to dispel it as soon as possible, as keeping it would only drain more of his magic.

Purple blood gushed out like a waterfall from the gash in the monster’s forehead, and Henry took notice of it as he kept on massaging his aching shoulder.

“Hmm, not bad. I still got the power.”

- Kiaaa!

Almost immediately after the Honma fell, Henry heard the cries of other demonic monsters heading his way. At this, Henry stretched his shoulders, getting ready to fight again.

“Tsk, I’ll have to get a full-body massage as soon as I get back.”

Henry furrowed his brow at the horde of demonic monsters, realizing that this wouldn’t be a walk in the park because he was physically weaker than he had anticipated.

***

“Huff… Woah… Huff… That was close.”

Henry collapsed to the ground while panting. If the fight had lasted a few more minutes, he probably would’ve fainted from using up all of his mana. In any case, he had fought as efficiently as possible, and he had managed to deal with all the demonic beasts and demons.

“Sigh…”

Henry heaved a sigh and wiped the sweat from his forehead, much like an ordinary worker after a hard day of back-breaking labor.

He was sitting down on the pile of dead demonic beasts; he had killed so many that their corpses had formed a small hill.

After collecting himself, Henry got up and came down the hill. Once he was at the bottom, he saw a corpse that looked awfully similar to a specific high-ranking demon.

That demon was none other than Venom, the deadly poison leader of the demon army that the current Henry needed the most.

‘The past me would’ve passed it down for others.’

He then gathered mana in his fingers, causing them to be sharp as daggers.

‘But in the end, it’s best to use things for myself.’

Henry drove his hand into the demon’s chest, feeling its warm insides. His sharp mana-enhanced fingers were cutting up everything they touched.

After a few seconds of digging his way through the demon’s body, Henry eventually got his hands on what he wanted. Once he got a hold of it, he pulled his hand out without the slightest hesitation. Blood gushed out along with tendons and blood vessels.

Henry had ripped out the demon’s heart.

Rumor had it that if one ate the Venom’s Heart, they would become immune to all poisons, and their blood would become the deadliest poison imaginable.

Henry smiled at the treasure he was seeing for the first time in ages. However, he didn’t waste any more time admiring the prize in his hand. He bit the heart in one go without even washing away the blood.

Blood gushed into his mouth the moment he sank his teeth into the heart. His clothes got even more dirty, and his face was painted red. But Henry couldn’t care less about that as he continued to munch down on the heart.

After he was done devouring the treasure, Henry felt he was heating up. A few minutes later, Henry took back the command he had given Wisdom. Then, the magic that had been draining from him like the sand of an hourglass stopped.

Henry closed his eyes and took in the harsh poisonous air of the Second District as much and as hard as he could and exhaled. It felt refreshing; his nostrils and lungs didn’t sting, and he didn’t feel his body taking any damage. He was positive that the Venom’s Heart was doing its job.

“Alright, there we go.”

The Venom’s Heart was one of the fundamental elements of his new plan, and now that he had acquired it, Henry was the king of all poisons. However, this poison power was certainly not the only thing Henry wanted to get.

After ascertaining that the Venom’s Heart was working, Henry turned away from the carved-up corpse, only to face the hill of corpses once again.

There were several ways of increasing one’s mana pool. Immediately after Henry had been reincarnated, he had slaves harvest Black Tear. Other wizards couldn’t resort to that method because the substance was highly toxic, but with his poison immunity, Henry could drink it without any problems.

Of course, Henry was in no position to seek out the easy ways, and time wasn’t on his side either. After all, he only had immunity to all types of poison. And so, he decided to do something he would never do under normal circumstances.

In order to save time, Henry decided to disregard his food preferences just this once.

“I guess this will be my last meal.”

Henry had his mind fixed on the hearts of the high-ranking demonic beasts and demons. Neutralizing the poison accumulated in them and absorbing their magic would be an excellent way of gaining more magic power for himself.

Henry was determined to reach the 8th-Circle as soon as possible, so he would eat all the hearts of all the monsters he had slain here in order to remedy his magic deficiency.