Reborn with A Simulation Coin!

After emerging from the cave, Harry and his companions wasted no time. With preparations complete, they decided to head straight to confront the mastermind behind everything.

What they expected to be a challenging journey turned out to be surprisingly straightforward.

"This way," Sean said confidently, scanning the maze of crossroads ahead. He paused, closed his eyes, and concentrated for a moment before pointing decisively in one direction. Despite having no guide or map, Sean navigated with uncanny precision, a skill that left Harry quietly envious.

Though Sean was only a third-level apprentice, a rank on par with a knight in terms of raw power, his abilities extended far beyond what a simple knight could achieve. Sean's talent for magic, his sharp senses, and his versatility were unmatched. Harry couldn't help but reflect on the stark differences between their paths. Becoming a knight required talent and rigorous training, but the road to wizardry was far harsher and far more demanding. It made sense that a wizard would have such unique advantages.

The group pressed on, the air growing heavier as they approached their destination. Suddenly, an overwhelming stench of blood hit them. Harry grimaced, instinctively scanning ahead. What he saw froze him in place, several bodies dangled lifelessly, suspended high above the ground. Their blood had been drained, leaving them shriveled and twisted.

"That's… Sir Henry," David stammered, his voice breaking in shock. His face was pale, his wide eyes fixed on the grotesque scene. "They've already…"

David was horrified. The fallen weren't mere soldiers or untrained fighters. They were knights; true, battle-hardened knights of considerable power. Eight knights had entered this place, including Harry and David. Now, only the two of them remained alive. Six of their comrades had been slaughtered, their lives drained so completely that they now hung like broken puppets.

"How… how is this even possible?" David muttered, overwhelmed. Six knights, strong, proud warriors; were wiped out so easily? This wasn't a battlefield, it was a slaughterhouse.

While David reeled from the sight, Harry remained calm, standing shoulder to shoulder with Sean. He had expected as much. Knights were formidable in battle, yes, but they were still mortal. As Sean had once said, raw strength alone wasn't enough. Wizards had countless ways to bypass brute force; poison, traps, illusions. And this was the enemy's lair. Who knew what horrors were hidden within these walls? Harry's decision to stay close to Sean was now more justified than ever.

"The magic circle has already been activated," Sean said, his brow furrowing as he pointed ahead.

Harry followed his gaze and felt a cold chill creep down his spine. In the distance, a massive magic circle was carved into the ground, its surface etched with glowing runes. Each rune pulsed with an unnatural energy, their eerie light radiating an unsettling, almost primal power.

The truth of the scene became horrifyingly clear. The six knights' life force was being drained into the circle, flowing in streams of energy toward its center. And at the heart of it all was something grotesque: a pale, beating heart.

Yes, a heart.

It pulsed unnaturally, as if alive, despite being severed from its body. In fact, it seemed to grow stronger, its power swelling as it absorbed the vitality stolen from the knights. The sight was deeply unsettling, this heart was no ordinary organ. It radiated something ancient, something dark, something alive.

The magic circle continued to hum with power, drawing the vitality of the six knights into the heart at its center. With every pulse, the heart grew stronger, its sinister energy filling the air.

Harry couldn't help but feel a chill as he watched. The process reminded him of the 'Life Ritual', an infamous technique used to harvest life force from living beings for extraordinary purposes. But unlike the precision and power of the Life Ritual, this magic circle was crude, messy, and far less efficient.

The life force extracted here was chaotic, riddled with impurities. Harry could sense it, it lacked the clarity of the pure energy harnessed by the Life Ritual. The energy from knights like Henry should have been potent and clean, given their mastery of life energy. Yet the magic circle's crude design left their vitality tainted, rendering it both unstable and dangerous.

"This kind of sloppy extraction will have severe side effects," Harry thought. "It's no wonder it can't be directly absorbed or used to strengthen someone. And if the sacrifice were anything less than knights, the extracted force might not even be usable at all."

Sean's gaze remained fixed on the magic circle, but his expression grew tense as a figure emerged from the shadows. Slowly, an old man rose to his feet. He was draped in a flowing black robe, his long, weathered face carrying the weight of age and experience. Yet there was something unsettling about him; an aura of decay mixed with power.

"Wizard of Ryan," the old man said, his voice calm but laced with malice as his gaze settled on Sean. "It's a rare sight to see a wizard wandering the borders of the Black Forest. A rare sight indeed."

Sean's face remained impassive. "I could say the same for you," he replied coolly. "Who would have thought that in this forgotten corner of the Black Forest, where wizards are nearly extinct, I'd find a powerful apprentice, one nearly on the brink of becoming a full wizard."

The old man chuckled, his expression twisting into something sinister. "Precisely because this land is so desolate, certain... experiments are much easier to conduct. For instance—" he gestured to the heart pulsating in the center of the magic circle "—if I tried creating a Soul Beast in Ryan, the academy wizards would have hunted me down long before I completed my work."

"You really think using that heart will help you ascend?" Sean asked, his voice sharp. "This is a dangerous gamble."

"Perhaps," the old man said, his tone eerily light. "But it's a gamble worth taking. I've poured every resource I had into creating this heart. Years of work, countless materials... and now, with the life force of six knights, it's finally nearing perfection. It may not rival the effects of a crystal potion, but it will still bring me halfway to what I need."

Sean's gaze flickered toward the heart, an involuntary reaction to the old man's words. Even he couldn't deny its allure. This was no ordinary artifact. The heart, refined and nourished by the vitality of knights, was a masterpiece of dark experimentation. It pulsed with immense potential, a tool that could give anyone on the brink of becoming a full wizard the edge they needed to break through.

Harry glanced at Sean, noticing a flicker of temptation in his companion's eyes. For someone like Sean, who was also approaching the critical stage of advancement, the heart represented an opportunity, a dangerous but enticing shortcut.

The old man seemed to notice, a sly grin spreading across his face. "Tempting, isn't it?" he said. Then his gaze shifted to Harry and David. "Though I must admit, I had hoped for more sacrifices. Still, this will do nicely."

The air around them began to shift. The runes carved into the ground glowed brighter, their patterns twisting and transforming as the magic circle's energy surged. A deep, rumbling hum filled the room as the old man raised his hands, his voice resonating with power.

"Let's see if you can stop me before the circle completes," he said, his eyes glinting with confidence.

Harry gritted his teeth, his hand instinctively moving to his weapon. The battle wasn't just against the old man, it was against time itself. If the magic circle finished its work, the power unleashed could tip the scales entirely in the old man's favor.

Sean's jaw tightened, his sharp eyes scanning the formation. "We can't let him complete it," he muttered, his voice steady but urgent.

Harry nodded, gripping his weapon tightly as the tension thickened. The stakes had never been higher.

The heart no longer needed external power. It now pulsed on its own, capable of absorbing and releasing vitality under the control of the magic circle. As the magic circle hummed, all the gathered life force began to flow toward the old man, signaling his next move.

Then—'Bang!'

A sharp sound broke the tension as Harry and Sean launched their attack simultaneously. Their combined power surged forward, rippling invisibly through the air, aiming directly at the old man.

Sean's spell was deadly, an attack designed to strike without hesitation. But just as the spell neared its target, it stopped. A shimmering barrier flared to life in front of the old man, absorbing the blow. The barrier wasn't hastily made—it was woven into the fabric of the magic circle, a trap the old man had prepared in advance.

The old man didn't flinch. He remained calm, clapping his hands with almost casual indifference.

And then came the 'roar.'

Behind him, a swarm of monsters emerged from the shadows, their guttural howls filling the chamber. These creatures were no ordinary beasts. Larger and fiercer than the ones outside, their twisted forms radiated raw power and malice as they charged toward Harry and the others.