After hesitating for a moment, the "Tome Spell" appeared in his hand, and the card transformed into a thick grimoire.
It was only after seeing the words inside that Bell could truly confirm that this grimoire was the real deal.
After seeing the text inside, Bell finally confirmed that this magic book was real.
'It's a surprise to find a magic book in a three-star item. I could sell it for a lot, but it's too risky. Someone would definitely get suspicious.'
The words written in the grimoire quickly caught Bell's eye.
[Magic is divided into two types. The first is the innate magic, determined by race or lineage. The second is the acquired magic, awakened through the blessing of the gods.]
The words seemed to be engraved in his mind, and as soon as Bell read them, they quickly began to disappear.
[The acquired magic is about self-realization. It's about interest, recognition, hatred, admiration, or desire. The trigger to use this magic is always within yourself.]
After a series of explanations, the scene in front of Bell turned completely white.
The words from earlier seemed to be guiding him down the right path. That path was where he could find the key to unlocking his own magic.
[Now, let's begin.]
The pure white world transformed into a vividly colored modern place. Bell looked around at the familiar surroundings, listening to the familiar sounds echoing in his ears.
They weren't the voices of this world but rather the voice he once had—his voice from the past.
Suddenly, a plain and ordinary version of himself appeared in front of him.
"You are...?"
'I am you.'
The person before him suddenly forced a smile—making it look eerie and uneasy.
However, Bell didn't feel the slightest sense of hatred for the figure in front of him because the person standing in front of him really was him.
'What does magic mean to us?'
"Us...?"
Bell was a little confused by the word. He didn't understand why he used the word us.
The other version of himself seemed to understand what Bell was thinking.
With a casual snap of his fingers, another person appeared in this strange mental space, and Bell was completely stunned at the sight of that person.
There are two Bell Cranel in this space.
"Bell Cranel... you've been here all along?"
The newly arrived Bell Cranel was dressed in simple clothes made of rough fabric. He had a gentle, innocent smile on his face so pure that it made Bell feel a little ashamed.
'You took my place… Is that really what you think?'
Bell Cranel suddenly spoke, but those words carried a nuance that caught Bell off guard.
"What do you mean?"
'I failed.'
"Huh?"
The sudden statement "I failed" left Bell completely bewildered, but Bell Cranel continued speaking without pause.
'I tried to fight the Black Dragon… and I lost. In the end, we failed. We... the Hestia Familia ended up just like the Zeus and Hera Familia. We were wiped out.'
Those words made Bell's eyes go wide. He couldn't believe what he was hearing and couldn't believe that the Bell Cranel in front of him was the one saying them.
Bell Cranel had talked about fighting the Black Dragon, but that didn't make sense.
The story hadn't gotten that far yet in the novel.
That meant… this Bell Cranel was the future Bell—the one who tried to fight the Black Dragon and lost.
"You failed… You're Bell Cranel from the future."
'Hey, don't go saying our name like that so easily. It's not just my name—it's yours too.'
"But that's not my name."
As soon as he said that, the other Bell suddenly appeared right in front of him, like he had teleported.
There was a sharp, teasing smile in his eyes, like he was mocking Bell.
[Ah~ You don't seriously think that you're the only one who traveled to another world? You don't really believe this is our first time, do you?]
The answer made Bell feel a chill run down his spine. He could tell the other Bell was completely serious and that this time travel had actually happened many times before.
The other Bell, standing before him, finally admitted to this truth.
'That's right. We didn't come here by some kind of coincidence. We've been stuck in the same cycle again and again until the subjugation of the Black Dragon becomes our destiny.'
'The very first Bell Cranel started it all. After that, there are more versions of us appearing from different worlds. We are all Bell Cranel. Even though we each have different identities in different worlds, and some of us even look totally different, we're still the same person deep down. At first, there were a lot of us. But after failing over and over again, each version of us from those other worlds started to disappear.'
'The consequence for our failures was complete and utter death, and our deaths don't change any other worlds. The worlds go on like nothing happened. We—our other selves from those parallel worlds—are stuck in a cycle, failing again and again.'
'As long as this cycle continues to exist, our souls will never be free. We'll just keep going, transmigrating it again and again.'
Bell had finally calmed down.
These words revealed the truth about traveling between worlds, being stuck in this endless loop, and all the different versions of himself in other worlds.
"So… now it's my turn?"
The other him smiled wide.
[That's right. This is our fate. We lost when we tried to defeat the Black Dragon. When Hestia's Familia was wiped out, our regret was so strong it connected all the versions of us across different worlds. Every one of us who meets the conditions will challenge that world, carrying the identity of a cycle where we refuse to accept death.]
[We did it for the sake of the world for the first time, but now it's completely for ourselves. Originally, this cycle would continue endlessly—repeating, failing, and dying repeatedly. From the beginning, I thought this was just our cycle, continuously repeating this process was supposed to let that world reset.]
[But then, we started to notice something. There weren't countless versions of us anymore. That's when we realized we were reaching the end of our destiny. It's either we accept the complete destruction of the world, or we accept our own destruction.]
[Of course, for us, perhaps this is the only way to end the pain and break free from the endless cycle.]