"To ensure everything goes smoothly, you must take Bill out before the Awakening Ritual."
"I know this will be your first time killing someone, and it won't be easy for you. But I have to remind you—Bill's betrayal led to the slaughter of a quarter of the human race. He's already turned against humanity."
"So by killing him, you'll be protecting humanity. And protecting your family."
Link was more certain than ever—his future self knew him best. With just a few sentences, the notebook had completely prepared him psychologically for what was to come.
He took a deep breath and continued reading the content of the notebook.
"Killing Bill—especially from within the human rear lines—is an extremely difficult task for someone who hasn't even awakened their talent yet."
"But don't worry. I've already come up with a plan for you. You can absolutely rely on another force—let them do the dirty work…"
Link carefully committed every word in the notebook to memory before closing it and putting it away again.
The side effects of Death Rewind were making it harder and harder for him to focus. At the moment, he had no medicine to restore his mind power, so he could only resort to the most primitive solution—sleep.
But now wasn't the time to sleep.
There were still some things Link needed to prepare.
After some thought, he went over to his bookshelf and pulled out a book on the history of the moonfolk. On the inside cover, he scribbled a special marking with a pencil—a coded symbol of sorts.
Then, he changed into a trench coat, put on a face mask, and jumped out of the window.
He walked briskly down the quiet street—after all, it was already late at night and there were barely any people around. He made his way to a street corner and dropped the book into a public mailbox.
Everything had been handled smoothly. Link quickly made his way back home without any incident.
But he didn't know… a pair of eyes had been secretly watching his every move.
The moment Link left the street, a dark figure rushed to the mailbox and retrieved the book he had just dropped in.
Meanwhile, Link had already returned to his room.
The trench coat and mask he had worn earlier had been casually tossed into a junk collection bin.
It was only after closing his bedroom door that he finally let out a long sigh of relief.
If everything went according to plan, Bill wouldn't live to see the sunrise.
The method he had just used came from the notebook—specifically, the instructions on how to contact the Demonworship Sect.
The Demonworship Sect and the Moon Worship Sect were both treacherous organizations hidden among humans, but their relationship with each other was far from friendly.
The Moon Worship Sect worshiped the moonfolk as divine beings.
In contrast, the Demonworship Sect worshiped the power of the moonfolk.
In short, both groups were despicable in their own ways—but they were enemies of each other as much as they were enemies of humanity.
So, although Bill had connections with the Moon Worship Sect, the Demonworship Sect had no idea about that.
…
Link lay in bed.
His head was throbbing, and his whole body was exhausted, but sleep still eluded him.
His mind was a whirlwind of complicated emotions. After all, this was his first time planning a person's death.
Even though he hadn't done the deed with his own hands—even though he had merely used the Demonworship Sect as a blade—and even though the target was a human traitor…
Still, his feelings were complicated.
Maybe… he wasn't mature enough yet.
Link let out a bitter laugh and shut his eyes tightly.
Everything that needed to be done was already done. The next pages of the notebook hadn't been unlocked yet.
According to the notebook, the next part would only be revealed after his talent had awakened.
If everything went smoothly, this Awakening Ritual should grant him an unprecedented three talents.
"Link, you're about to awaken your talent. Are you excited?"
"Not really," Link replied with a yawn.
Same scene, same dialogue—everything was playing out just like the memory.
Students were lined up in the plaza, waiting for their turn to undergo the talent awakening.
But unlike before, one student—Bill, the focus of much attention—was conspicuously absent today.
As Link and the others waited for the Awakening Ritual to begin, their supervising teacher suddenly received a phone call. His expression grew tense, and he quickly walked off in the direction of the headmaster's office.
A while later, Headmaster Ximar himself arrived at the plaza with a grim expression on his face.
"All students, please pay attention," he said solemnly. "After completing the Awakening Ritual, do not leave the plaza immediately. There will be an emergency assembly right after."
The students' expressions turned tense at the announcement.
They began whispering amongst themselves.
"Link, what do you think the headmaster's going to say? He didn't look very happy."
Link shook his head lightly. "I'm not sure. Maybe it's something about the talent awakenings."
But in his heart, he already had a good idea—it almost certainly had to do with Bill.
Still, it was something he had to keep to himself.
Soon enough, it was Link's turn to undergo the awakening.
He walked up calmly and carried out the ritual according to the process he remembered.
Just as expected…
Three messages appeared in his mind, one after another:
[UR Rank Talent: Death Replication]
[SSS Rank Talent: Death Rewind]
[SSS Rank Talent: Supreme Library]
Everything had gone according to plan.
Link exhaled deeply and walked back to the plaza.
"You think the headmaster's gonna teach us some new meditation techniques? I heard Headmaster Ximar is kind of a meditation scholar. Maybe he's got some secret methods or something!"
"No way. That guy's way too strict to do something like that. And did you see his face? He looked like someone died."
"Speaking of that… did anyone else notice that Bill didn't show up today?"
As the students chatted, Headmaster Ximar stepped onto the stage.
He cleared his throat, then spoke in a somber, sorrowful tone:
"Students… I've just received some very unfortunate news."
"General Lannis's only son—our classmate, Bill—was killed in the early hours of this morning during an attack by the Demonworship Sect."
The moment the words left the headmaster's mouth, the entire plaza erupted in chaos.
"Those Demonworship Sect bastards! Do they have a death wish?!"
"But weren't we supposed to have the upper hand? Why are we still getting pushed around like this?!"
"Bill was one of the best students in the school. We can't just let this slide!"
Headmaster Ximar didn't respond right away. He simply stood there quietly and let the students vent their emotions.
After a long moment, he finally spoke in a low, resolute voice:
"We will repay the Demonworship Sect for what they've done—tenfold, a hundredfold."
"But what I need to tell all of you now is this: even though you're in the rear lines, that doesn't mean you're safe."
"You must protect yourselves. Focus on becoming stronger. Tomorrow afternoon, you'll be taking your first Power Values test—don't be late!"