After much anticipation — even as various dark forces maneuvered behind the scenes — the long-awaited Central Domain Young
The venue was chosen on the Walker Plains of the Central Domain.
This area lay close to the Central Domain's capital city, and several major academies had branch offices nearby, meaning large forces could be mobilized at any time to suppress any unforeseen incidents.
Thanks to the wizards' magical powers, in just a few short months, a brand-new competition arena had been constructed in the very center of the Walker Plains.
In fact, even before the competition officially began, some wizards had already arrived to settle down and do business. As a result, several small marketplaces had sprung up around the arena.
These numerous marketplaces merged together, taking shape as the embryo of a wizard city.
Indeed, if this competition concluded smoothly, and given the War Committee's intention to hold such events on a regular schedule going forward, this place could genuinely become a new wizard city — perhaps even surpassing the capitals of the four domains.
...
Wizards poured in from all directions, quickly filling the place to capacity.
Watching this bustling scene, Wei Lin let out a deep sigh, pulled his cloak tighter, and slipped faster into one of the side streets.
He walked quickly, weaving through several turns, and arrived in front of a residence where he knocked on the door.
Click! The door cracked open, and a wary eye peered through the gap. Upon recognizing that it was Wei Lin, the eye vanished into the darkness, and then the door swung wide.
Wei Lin sidestepped inside without letting the door open fully.
Inside was a small room. A dim oil lamp cast unsteady, flickering light. Alin, Weinasi, and
Of the three, Memphis looked the most wretched — not only was he wrapped in layers of black bandages like a mummy, but his ears had been pierced by massive nails, leaving behind large, gaping holes.
"Hey! I say, when exactly am I going to be free of this wretched state?"
Memphis raised his bandaged hands and protested like a dried-out corpse.
As a former dark noble, he had long since grown unable to endure this kind of life, scurrying about like a rat in the underground.
"Wait a while longer! The area is constantly monitored by bloodline-detection magical arrays — you can't be exposed as a
Wei Lin explained with a frown.
"Never mind him! He's just been cooped up and wants to go outside for some fresh air!" Weinasi glanced at Memphis. "My lord, how are things out there?"
Alin also adopted an attentive expression.
"There are far too many wizards gathered here. I couldn't track down Lombard and the others either — they've probably disguised themselves or are concealing their presence."
Wei Lin smiled ruefully. "I'm afraid we'll only have a chance to catch them at the competition."
"The competition? Could it be... you intend to enter that Wizard Genius Competition?" Alin immediately seized on the key point.
"Mm! That's right. I'm only in my thirties, and Augmented Warriors are considered a branch of the ancient wizards — so I qualify to participate!"
Wei Lin smiled.
"Only at the competition is there any chance of running into Lombard and trying to convince him to turn back!"
Wei Lin murmured these words. Weinasi and Alin, who knew all too well about this Chosen One's idealistic tendencies, could only sigh inwardly at the same time.
To tell the truth, this Chosen One was wonderful in every way — except for being far too kind-hearted.
In the Dark Apex Domain, such kindness was the most dangerous thing of all. Sooner or later, Wei Lin would pay a price for it.
Alin and Weinasi exchanged a glance, as if they had arrived at some silent decision.
Wei Lin, completely oblivious to this, was still lamenting over Lombard.
In his memories, Lombard had always been a good child. How had things come to this?
...
At the registration point, a pale-faced wizard in green robes stepped forward.
"Heh heh! Leilin — and Wei Lin — here I come!"
Lombard's appearance had already changed dramatically. His spiritual power had also retracted to a level of only about half-elementalization — an unremarkable degree on the Walker Plains. Very inconspicuous. The only question was what means he had used to deceive the detection technology at the registration checkpoint.
The young man gazed at the central arena, his face flickering through a jumble of complex emotions — hatred, satisfaction, struggle — before all of them sank back into concealment.
He quickly pulled his cloak up, obscuring his face with the hood, and disappeared into the sea of people.
Leilin had a vague awareness of these people's arrival, but at this moment, he had no attention to spare for them.
Right now, Leilin was in his exclusive laboratory, with an empty potion vial sitting beside him.
Traces of black liquid still coiled lazily around the bottle's mouth, emitting a faint hissing sound — like a serpent's whisper.
Serpent's Breath Potion — the crystallization of a full decade of Leilin's work in potionology, finally brought to completion with the help of Fantix's Earth Fiend Beast Heart.
Leilin's face alternated between red and white, his aura fluctuating between bright and dim.
This state persisted for an entire night before finally subsiding.
Leilin glanced at his own status: "Leilin Farell. Warlock, Second Rank. Bloodline: Komoin Giant Serpent. Strength: 22.5. Agility: 16.3. Constitution: 31.1. Spirit: 145.5. Mana: 145 (mana determined by spiritual power synchronization)."
"A single standard dose of the Serpent's Breath Potion increased my spiritual power by nearly ten points, with boosts to my other attributes as well — not bad at all! At this rate, after five more standard doses, I'll meet the total spiritual power requirement!"
Leilin studied the data, his eyes flashing with sharp light.
The Serpent's Breath Potion truly deserved to be called the crystallization of over a decade of effort, developed upon the Dark Apex Domain's ancient second-rank residual formula and refined into the ideal spiritual power enhancement potion for warlocks.
With the help of this potion, he was confident he could compress the Chip's original two-hundred-year estimate into a much shorter timeframe.
"The prerequisites for advancing to Third-rank Wizard are reaching the threshold of two hundred total spiritual power and completing solidification!"
Both conditions were mandatory requirements for a wizard's advancement — neither could be skipped. Warlocks, moreover, had additional bloodline requirements on top of these.
Leilin smiled and raised his palm.
A thread of bright, silvery spiritual power emerged from the center of his brow, winding playfully between his fingers like a mischievous little serpent.
Though only as thin as a single strand of hair, this wisp of spiritual power contained incredibly dense energy!
Solidified spiritual power of the second rank was an unsolvable problem for any lower-ranked wizard.
Any spiritual power below this level would be directly shattered upon contact.
This was why second-rank wizards often held an overwhelming, crushing advantage over those beneath them — and one of the reasons a second-rank wizard was sufficient to hold dominion over a territory.
"And within the second-rank wizard realm, the standard for judging solidification is typically the depth of the silver!"
Leilin murmured to himself. Having collected numerous advanced Meditation Methods and processed them through the Chip's calculations, he was now completely and unmistakably clear about his own path.
"In the early stage of solidification, spiritual power appears pale silver. By the mid-stage, the silver gradually deepens into white-silver. And at the peak of solidification, the spiritual power becomes bright silver!"
With so many Meditation Methods as reference, Leilin's horizons had not only broadened enormously, but his progress in Meditation Methods had accelerated dramatically as well.
Leilin gazed with a smile at the bright silver spiritual power in his palm. With a thought, the wisp of bright silver spiritual power floated into the air, dancing about and drawing in particles of various elemental energies, forming different shapes and spell models before finally sinking back into the center of Leilin's brow.
"The coursework for spiritual power solidification is entirely complete, and my control has reached the peak!"
Leilin assessed his own strength.
After over a decade of steady accumulation, his power had grown terrifyingly deep. He had already begun to touch upon the higher tiers of the second-rank level — even the former Guardian of the Eastern Domain, Logan, was long beneath his notice.
"With my current strength, I'm probably near the absolute peak among second-rank wizards. And when I factor in the power of my bloodline boost, I can dominate the entire second-rank level!"
With the Chip's assistance, Leilin had an extremely precise grasp of his own capabilities.
"However, dealing with a third-rank wizard is still beyond me!"
At this stage, the only third-rank wizards who gave Leilin even a slight sense of wariness were a scant few — the Dark Elf High Matriarch
"No matter what, this competition concerns my future advancement, my selection of external resources, and my conjectures about fate. I absolutely will not allow anyone to disrupt it — not even a third-rank wizard!"
Leilin steeled his resolve, a dark gleam shining in his eyes.
...
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Colorful signal cannons erupted in midair, and streams of multicolored wizardry light and streamers wove together into dazzling patterns across the sky.
The Wizard Genius Competition hosted by the Central Domain was now in full swing.
The competition venue was a massive structure resembling an ancient Roman colosseum.
With the aid of magical construction, the building dwarfed even a Roman colosseum, easily capable of holding tens of thousands of wizards.
At the center of the colosseum lay dozens of partitioned arenas, where the young participating wizards would undergo the initial screening rounds.
"How utterly boring!"
Leilin sat on the main platform — the best seats in the house — alongside eight other second-rank wizards, serving as judges.
Though Leilin occupied one of these seats, he had long since grown irritated by the opening host's rambling speeches. The fact that he was still managing to sit here was purely a result of his own self-restraint.
As for the other second-rank judges, they all wore the same expression of boredom.
The initial rounds of combat were rarely intense, and the wizard ranks were not high — Third-rank Apprentices made up the majority. This level of competition was so low that even peak first-rank wizards sitting in judgment would have been more than sufficient.
As a result, Leilin and the others found themselves thoroughly and completely bored.