Enchantment workshop, a certain workroom.
Ivan stood next to a pile of materials. As he operated, a variety of raw material powders, including magic stone powder, mixed with the soil, stirring on their own as if an invisible hand was kneading them.
He moved his fingers, and a string of droplets spontaneously appeared, falling into the churning mixture and causing the powder and soil to mix more evenly, eventually forming a soft, round heap of mud.
A ring of fire wrapped around the mound of mud, baking it for several seconds before extinguishing.
‘Mud to Rock Transformation’
After the spell, the soft mound of mud turned into a hard stone platform with a diameter of just three meters.
Ivan fetched a rune brush and ink made from blending magic stone powder and started inscribing rune lines directly on the stone platform. His fluent lines took shape under his brush, and after completing the overall framework, he switched the ink to Wind element ink and continued inscribing.
Before long, a vivid runes bundle array came into being.
Several bottles of Magic Stone Water floated to the stone platform and orderly fell onto the runes bundle array.
He sat down in the middle of the stone platform, and as the runes bundle array activated, the Magic Stone Water quickly turned into dark energy. The dark energy then dissipated, turning into a cloud of black smoke.
The black smoke floated for a while, its shape constantly changing—sometimes dense, sometimes thin, rotating fast or slow.
“Still haven’t found the key factor,” he said.
No sooner had he spoken than a strong wind unexpectedly gushed from the stone platform, scattering the black smoke haphazardly.
He glanced over to the side where the Raw Stone Array Disc was emitting a glowing light, gentle and soft. The light from the disc only began to fade slowly when there was an issue with the runes bundle array.
He had grown accustomed to the reaction from the Raw Stone Array Disc. This time was no exception.
The Raw Stone Array Disc was secondary, the focus lay on the runes bundle array he had inscribed himself.
“Transforming Magic Stone Water into mental energy isn’t a major issue, but turning mental energy into the black wind is no simple matter.”
“How exactly did the black wind form that day? It’s a pity Heidi destroyed it with one strike, not a shred of residue was left.”
Ivan felt regret that when in the Kanda magic stone mine, he didn’t take a closer look at the Black Wind Prison Cage Array set up by the black robed monster; now, he couldn’t even if he wanted to.
This was said because he had encountered a problem while exploring the runes bundle array.
According to his original idea, he was simply using the runes bundle array to transform more mental energy and then somehow turn that into his own spiritual power for use during ascension.
During the ascension to official sorcerer, even an increase of half a degree in spiritual power could play a significant role.
After careful investigation, he found that this approach was somewhat unfeasible. No matter how he transformed or refined them, the converted mental energy was always different from his spiritual power, a difference too significant to be ignored.
Forcing a mixture resulted in only one outcome: contaminated spiritual power, which likely couldn’t be completely purified later on.
Therefore, this plan could only serve as a last resort.
For this last resort, he had recently used a 5th-level Light of Wisdom, and the result was a slight increase in the purity of the transformed mental energy.
Then, he began to explore a new plan.
The new plan came with new ideas. His new idea was to use the Confinement Power generated by the runes bundle array.
Back in the day at the Kanda magic stone mine, the black robed monster had whipped up the black wind, pulling them into it. Under the confinement of the black wind, he had felt an impression similar to when breaking through the 3rd Class threshold, unable to sense his body’s existence.
This Confinement Power was undoubtedly quite substantial.
To put it plainly, a sorcerer’s ascension is breaking through a level of spiritual restriction and confinement. Using Confinement Power to combat Confinement Power, his line of thinking should be correct.
The problem lay in replicating the black wind conjured by the black robed monster’s runes array.
Several hours later, with all the materials in the workshop exhausted, he could only helplessly end this exploration.
Passing by the room next door, he noticed the door was closed tight. He wasn’t sure if Carmel and his siblings had come.
Working on runes within the enchantment workshop came with a benefit: the workrooms did not affect each other. Once the door was closed, the inside and outside were two separate worlds. Even if a runes array went out of control, it could be easily suppressed.
A week later, Ivan used a 4th-level Light of Great Wisdom. In the past, the tenfold increase in perception and spirituality he experienced from it allowed him to triumph in any endeavor, always able to find the key to solving problems amid complex clues. This time was no exception.
“So that’s how it is,” he realized.
“It wasn’t about Wind element power at all but purely about manipulation of mental energy. That black robed monster, born in the magic stone mine, its comprehension of magic stone energy is beyond ordinary people.”
Eight minutes later, he came back to his senses, disappointed.
He then picked up the rune brush to inscribe a new runes array. Each rune line was drawn in one smooth motion, even multiple lines without a single pause. Soon, a new runes bundle array emerged on the stone platform.
He placed the Magic Stone Water on it, activated it, and transformed it into mental energy. The mental energy then took the form of black wind.
The breeze was gentle yet distinctly different. As the operator of the runes bundle array, he could still feel a kind of spiritual pressure that instinctively made one uncomfortable.
“It worked, this is the Confining Wind I was looking for,” he affirmed.
“The conversion rate is quite low, and it’s arduous to manipulate, but it will just require gradual adjustment over time.”
Ivan nodded slightly, pleased that the Light of Great Wisdom had not disappointed him. Having identified the key factor, other issues were no longer problems.
He also noticed that the completeness of the rune line had increased from 97% to 98%, and both his Enchantment Skill and Runes Skill Experience Points had significantly increased, especially Enchantment Skill.
In the evening, he walked out of the workshop in high spirits only to find that the next door was still tightly closed.
Just a few steps outside, Ivan heard an unusual noise from behind him.
“Cough, cough.”
He couldn’t help but look back, to see Carmel coughing incessantly as thick black smoke emanated from the door beside him.
“Cough cough, Ivan, wait for me,” Carmel called out to him as soon as he noticed him.
“What happened?”
“Don’t ask, my sister was overconfident—”
Carmel choked on his words, as Heidi walked out with a stern face, glancing at him with a silent yet expressive look.
“Heidi, I’m leaving with Ivan,” Carmel quickly walked away, and when he came closer, he gave Ivan a look, signaling him to leave quickly too.
Over the past month, the two hadn’t come to the enchantment workshop every day and hadn’t seen each other on some days.
Carmel talked non-stop along the way. He was always well-informed about important events among the apprentices, such as who had cast a powerful spell and which apprentice had died on a task.
“How’s your progress with the Raw Stone Array Disc?” Upon reaching the enchantment workshop, he couldn’t suppress his curiosity and asked.
“Not bad, I have some clues,” Ivan said.
“You’re not going to succeed soon, are you?” Carmel speculated.
“Where did you get that idea?” Ivan looked at him in surprise but didn’t deny it, “It still needs improvement.”
“That’s really impressive.” Carmel was somewhat taken aback, realizing the implication of Ivan’s words. After all, he and his sister had also been studying the same subject, with their mother occasionally guiding them, but they were far from success.
The two parted at the doorstep, leaving Carmel to wait for his mother and sister.
“Heidi, Ivan might be close to success,” Carmel said without being asked to keep it a secret; he wasn’t one to hold his tongue. After seeing the two, he simply spoke up, “That Ivan is still the same, even more capable than you and me combined.”
At his words, Heidi frowned slightly.
“Carmel, whether a project is successful or not needs to be verified by professionals, not just decided by oneself. Many people think their research is unparalleled in the world, but that’s only because they are limited by their own perspectives and in reality, it means nothing,” Madeline replied, setting him straight.
“Mom, Ivan is not that kind of person,” Carmel argued.
“Mom, if Ivan says so himself, it’s likely true. He is one of the most perceptive people I’ve met when it comes to Enchantment Skill. We have an agreement with him that if he wants to trade, he’ll come to us,” Heidi agreed.
“Oh, then I shall see,” Madeline trusted her, as her daughter’s words were always reliable.
“What the heck, Mom really, I tell you something and you don’t believe it, but you believe when Heidi says it,” Carmel muttered in complaint, though he was actually pleased that his mother was willing to trust Ivan.
The following day, Ivan didn’t go to the enchantment workshop, as many rapid wood silkworms were emerging from their cocoons that day.
A cocoon hanging in the corner of the cabinet suddenly shook violently, the silk loosening, but after a while, no rapid wood silkworm emerged.
“Did it fail?”
Ivan probed with his mental powers, and found the rapid wood silkworm inside the cocoon had lost its vitality.
This wasn’t the first rapid wood silkworm to die.
In fact, from the third batch of spinning and cocooning, rapid wood silkworms began to die off, with fifteen deaths, making up a quarter of the total.
Now in the fourth batch, which had the highest number, with well over a hundred, the death rate had exceeded a third, and he estimated the final batch’s mortality rate might reach half.
Evolution was always a cruel process.
“Weng weng.”
Seeing him distressed, the Silkworm Queen called out to attract his attention, wriggling her body to split off a distinctly different caterpillar.
It was a plump caterpillar, looking much like the Silkworm Queen when he first met her.
“Is it like you?”
“Weng weng.”
Indeed, this was another silkworm mother similar to the Silkworm Queen, capable of continually splitting to produce new caterpillars. The Silkworm Queen had exhausted a considerable amount of energy fostering this little one; even her calls had become feeble.
“I understand, with death comes rebirth, I won’t get upset about it. You should rest well,” Ivan understood what the Silkworm Queen wanted to convey. Seeing her completely fatigued, he promptly provided an array of food to help her regain strength.
Time was like a thin stream, silently slipping through the fingers.
Ivan went on with his orderly life for another half month until a sudden letter disrupted his calm.
There was a hurried knock at the door, and when he opened his dormitory door, there was no one outside, only a substantial letter slowly floating down from thin air, about to land on the ground.
He gestured with his hand, and the letter drifted in front of him.
‘For my apprentice Ivan, personally,’
On the envelope, familiar handwriting struck a chord, making Ivan’s pupils constrict.
It was a letter from Toyennes.