Of course, Theo hadn’t been idle over the last year. He’d collated all the information from Gluttony’s daily answers, and he’d compiled a vast amount of knowledge about inefficient magic and Dragon Words. However, none of this helped to break through the wall of the 7th Circle.

Gluttony’s advice was simple.

- User might’ve already realized this, but the realm of master isn’t one you reach by steadily improving. It requires redefining one’s world views and destroying one’s own limitations. 

A magician from the distant past had once said that if the process of advancing from the 1st to 4th Circle was like climbing a staircase, then the journey from the 4th to 6th Circle was like climbing a sheer cliff. In that case, what did the wall of the 7th Circle and the master level look like? Theo still remembered the explanation from a book placed in an unpopular corner of the library.

The transcendent, so-called master,...