"I said, in the face of civilization, any individual is just an ant."

Hazel pronounced each word deliberately. He had always been a reserved person, never making bold statements unless he was absolutely certain they wouldn't backfire.

This was Yuan's absolute confidence in his own principles.

He had always considered himself a tangled person, especially when it came to most things. He was not someone interested in fame, power, or wealth. Being the second son of the Maston nobility without inheritance rights, being a carefree nobleman seemed quite comfortable.

But making some contribution to the family seemed necessary, so after much thought, he chose Magic as a way to try.

Never had he imagined that his mental power and elemental senses were remarkably excellent, and he would make rapid progress on the path of Magic. He even caught the eye of the Maston King. Pressured by the royal family and the responsibilities of the nobility, he was almost forcibly sent by the family to the national Magic training institution.

It was only when he compared himself with his peers and even seniors that Hazel realized he might be a genius, just needing a little effort to reach heights even his mentors couldn't achieve.

When his name reached the top three in the academy rankings, Hazel started to panic. If things continued this way, his entry into the national Magic corps was a certainty.

Objectively speaking, Maston was a militaristic nation. Almost all nobles had a military background, and recruitment into the army was extremely strict. They maintained huge military expenditures year-round, providing protection to several dependent states. The national Magic users, being part of the military organization, were soldiers able to use Magic, always obeying the country's orders, viewing Magic merely as a tool for killing.

Hazel was deeply resistant to all of this. All he wanted was the lofty status of a Magic user, occasionally contributing a research result to enhance the family's reputation, rather than achieving any extraordinary deeds.

"To contribute leisurely a little, not appearing too wasteful, and living an easy life without shortcomings," this was Hazel's greatest wish.

He couldn't afford to try harder.

Realizing this deeply, Hazel began to indulge himself in being a troubadour in taverns. Listening to stories had always been his hobby, and telling stories he heard or created to others was something that brought him joy. The applause and rewards of a dozen coppers and silvers from tavern listeners gave him more satisfaction than even improving a spell.

Initially intending to divert his attention slightly, Hazel gradually became truly engrossed in it, to the point of neglecting his Magic studies entirely and planning to publish a collection of stories.

Naturally, due to his frequent truancy from classes and Magic experiments and failure to submit research reports, his ranking among his peers in the national Magic training institution plummeted rapidly to the brink of being expelled. While the mentors were dumbfounded by his great rise and fall, Hazel, on the other hand, enjoyed the prospect of being expelled.

— Anyway, even if he were expelled, he was a proper Magic user. With the subsidies from the Continental Magic Users' Association, the research funds of the Magic Guild, and his family's annuity, as long as he made some casual improvements to spells, researched some potions, he could live quite comfortably.

In fact, this gave him even more time for creating.

But man proposes, God disposes. Perhaps the gods didn't permit this self-proclaimed genius to continue at ease.

One day, when conceptualizing the worldview framework for a new story, Hazel suddenly sensed something wrong. He seemed to see countless "threads" interconnecting to form an unprecedentedly vast "sanding table," capable of changing as desired, with the scenes on the sanding table coinciding with the world he envisioned for his new story.

The rise of civilizations, conflicts between tribes, the establishment and conquest of nations, technological advancements and revolutions... everything on the sanding table seemed like a real existing world.

But even at this point, he didn't find anything wrong with it – in fact, he found it quite convenient. The framework of the world he constructed enhanced the realism and epic feeling.

Inputting parameters into the sanding table, observing the evolution, and weaving stories around them, Hazel truly felt the pleasure of creating a world, as if it were a divine prerogative.

Until one day, he unintentionally projected the world in the sanding table into reality.

It was a civilization where technology had developed to a considerable degree—although Hazel's abilities couldn't allow him to observe deeper aspects of the civilization, such as the development of scientific theories, merely the external manifestations left him awestruck.

In a moment of distraction, a high-energy laser weapon in testing pierced the boundary between the sanding table and the real world, with a shot tearing through the thunderstorm clouds gathering over the city at the time.

Thus, without even realizing what had happened, Hazel was promptly sent to the national Magic headquarters.

It was only at this point that the young Hazel realized the ruthlessness of society. If he had known earlier, he wouldn't have harbored the thought of making even a small contribution in the first place. Lying low and being a useless waste was embarrassing but indeed comfortable! His parents wouldn't be so heartless as to let him starve even if they found him worthless. With their wealth, they could easily support a layabout like him.

After confirming that his "Civilization" was a Holy Rank rule, Hazel was utterly speechless.

In reality, there were very few on the Western Continent who comprehended Holy Rank rules like him. It was actually the Eastern way of cultivation that was a little closer, known as the Great Dao.

The importance of Holy Rank for a country, especially a strong nation like Maston, went without saying. Hazel understood this well. But he had never imagined that he could comprehend the rule by doodling and writing novels, leaving plenty of great knights and Magic users stumbling at the Holy Rank gate.

After all, it was his own homeland. Born and raised there, even if reluctantly, Hazel half-heartedly accepted the situation.

Fortunately, due to Milt's long-term influence in balancing the Holy Rank in the human world and not engaging in national conflicts, Hazel was mostly adored as a deterrent or lucky charm. It was not until a short while ago that the pact upheld by Milt, the "Not Interfering with the World," crumbled due to a demon invasion.

For Hazel, this was his first encounter with an opponent who was also a Holy Rank.

...But no matter what, when the evolution of civilizations in the rule reached this point, even the Holy Rank could not directly confront the forces within it. A volley of electromagnetic guns was merely an appetizer.

"It's over."

Crossing his arms, Hazel gazed into the distance at the cascading barrier and, further beyond, at Tiran and Aya, his eyes now carrying a hint of disdain, almost wishing he could command the heavens and the earth.

Behind him, the screen of the canvas suddenly extended upward at high speed, followed by a cylindrical object with a silver surface trailing a long fiery tail, plummeting directly towards Tiran and Aya's position.

"A missile?"

Tiran was momentarily stunned. Although this thing didn't fit the current world's style at all, it seemed relatively better than electromagnetic guns. Even considering the possibility of it carrying a nuclear warhead, Hazel wouldn't be so lunatic as to use it in the densely populated royal capital. Its blast radius would be way more than enough to obliterate just the two of them.

Typical forbidden curses, such as the Heavenly Fire that nearly destroyed the Elf King's City, were actually insufficient to wipe out an entire city, let alone the devastation caused by nuclear weapons... using a hydrogen bomb as a yardstick, the behemoth-gigantic fireball produced by a formidable alliance was eight kilometers in diameter. The royal capital would not be left standing, let alone Hazel himself.

Therefore, Tiran didn't waste time and immediately teleported with Aya.

In the blink of an eye, the missile erupted in mid-air.

Almost at the same time, both Aya and Tiran felt a splitting headache, as if their organs had been twisted, their blood seemed to be in turmoil, and they could barely remain upright, barely supporting themselves on one knee.

"Wha... what the hell?"

The dreadful reaction continued, showing no signs of subsiding.

Aya reluctantly applied an intensive healing halo to herself and Tiran, but the rate of destruction seemed to match the healing spell, making it a continuous cycle, leaving them both completely incapacitated.

Hey, isn't this too treacherous? And using a subsonic wave?

Tiran could already smell the blood in his throat and nostrils. Luckily, both he and Aya belonged to the level of powerful and abnormal beings, and Aya had healing powers. Otherwise, they would have collapsed without even reacting to the attack.

"It's all right, no problem."

Enduring the nauseating sensation and intense pain, Tiran barely managed a smile. "Good thing we learned physics in middle school..."

"What's physics?"

Aya paused for a second.

"It's not important, Aya, create a vacuum barrier around us."

Despite most of their magical power being used for healing, a small wind spell posed no burden to Aya. When the vacuum shield completely enveloped them, the pain and nausea dissipated from their bodies.

"Used to battling with swords, never thought about these things before."

Standing up, Tiran pressed his temples, still feeling a bit scared from the rapid thumping just now, and managed a smile tinged with relief. "But this reminded me that Vibrations have quite a bit of development potential."

Far in the distance, with the help of the civilization evolved through the rule, Hazel created a barrier to protect himself and shield against the infrasound harm outside the battlefield. He looked surprised as he watched Tiran calmly get up, his expression now likely resembling an arch-villain.

"Although you wield powerful weapons, you seem to lack an understanding of physics, kiddo."

Tiran sneered twice, looking quite the antagonist by now.