[Shattered Silver], Ronan Damien's Space Mithril Transformation! The Key

Amidst the intertwining of countless mysterious energies, layers of metal enveloped Ronan entirely, writhing like a living creature, eventually transforming into a living metal armor covering his entire body, revealing only Ronan's hair and a pair of eyes.

His face was covered by a black mask with countless metal ripples flowing across it like water, giving him a mysterious and eerie feel.

After Ronan was completely enveloped by the [Living Steel], a deep silver color spread from his face, rapidly expanding until his entire body turned silver-gray. Numerous complex and mysterious patterns appeared on the mask on his face, giving him an air of nobility in addition to his mysterious and eerie appearance.

Over three years, Ronan's height increased from 1.8 meters to 1.9 meters, making him quite tall and imposing among wizards. Now, "wearing" Living Steel, he is even more robust, resembling a silver-white Metal Monster over two meters tall.

With a flicker, a faint spatial energy fluctuation rippled out, and Ronan appeared in the center of the Mystic Garden.

"Whoosh—"

Amidst the blooming lavender and geraniums, a twisted, transparent humanoid figure "arrived as promised."

Beneath the Silver White Metal mask, countless white lines rapidly spread within the azure eyes, and a shimmering eye pattern appeared on the forehead.

At this moment, in Ronan's eyes, the transparent humanoid figure, which was incredibly fast and difficult to detect with the naked eye and mental power, had transformed into a large number of [Shine] silver threads, looking like a rapidly rolling silver ball of yarn.

The "ball of yarn" rolled rapidly toward Ronan. Unlike before, this time Ronan did not dodge when faced with the attack from the distorted, transparent humanoid figure. Instead, he stood still and slowly narrowed his eyes.

The distorted, transparent humanoid rushed towards Ronan at an incredible speed. When the other party entered within five meters of its body, the [Eye of Truth] between Ronan's eyebrows suddenly shone brightly, and the pure white eye pattern almost broke free from his forehead.

At the same time, within the Consciousness Space, the third golden Spiritual Power Crystal trembled slightly, and the Soul Rune embedded inside it hummed incessantly.

A series of mysterious silver-white lights burst forth from Ronan's eyes, and intense spatial energy fluctuations emanated from his body, almost instantly overshadowing the fluctuations of Metal Element spells.

"Hiss--"

Ronan took a deep breath, and just as the transparent, distorted humanoid figure was about to rush in front of him, he suddenly stretched out his right hand, his five fingers suddenly spreading wide.

In an instant, the silver metal attached to its body rolled like water, and countless silver-white metal tentacles quickly extended from its right arm and five fingers, wrapping the transparent and twisted humanoid figure layer by layer in a moment.

The latter's forward momentum slowed slightly, but its body, like the Keen Edge blade, continued to slice through the metal tentacles that hindered its progress.

Numerous metal tentacles snapped off, but Ronan remained unmoved, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes as he uttered a low shout.

"[Stasis]!"

Within the Consciousness Space, the Soul Rune contained in the third Spiritual Power Crystal flickered once more.

A wisp of Stasis, mysterious aura emanated from Ronan, instantly freezing the space within a small area around him, as if a large amount of invisible glue had been poured in. The airflow, light, and even time seemed to fall into an extremely slow flow.

Under the influence of this force, the transparent, distorted humanoid's movements slowed down by tens or even hundreds of times.

A terrifying force of struggle erupted from its body, and the solidified void cracked with a "crackling" sound, as if this Stasis space would be completely broken in the next second.

Ronan remained calm, then suddenly took a step forward, instantly appearing in front of the transparent, distorted humanoid figure.

He stretched out his right hand, and layers of metal crumbled, the sound of bones colliding coming from his right arm.

The once long and sturdy right arm instantly became incredibly strong, with muscles clashing, veins bulging, and dark blue snake scale patterns appearing. The five fingers also grew rapidly, the fingertips turning pitch black. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into an arm resembling a legendary monster, and suddenly plunged into the chest of the transparent, twisted humanoid figure.

"Bang bang bang—"

Under the Eye of Truth, countless silver threads that formed the transparent, distorted humanoid figure broke one by one under Ronan's palm.

Ronan tore the ball of yarn apart with extreme "roughness," his entire arm almost completely disappearing into the transparent, twisted humanoid body. Then, as if he had grabbed something tightly, his expression shifted, and he quickly pulled his hand back.

"Bang!"

As Ronan withdrew his hand, the transparent, twisted humanoid figure, entangled by numerous metal tentacles, exploded violently, transforming into countless streams of silvery-white energy that scattered in all directions, leaving behind trails of pitch-black slashes in the void.

The Living Steel on Ronan's body was pushed up in front of him, but it was as fragile as paper under the impact of these spatial energy flows, and was quickly washed away and torn to pieces.

He remained unperturbed, standing quietly like a reef amidst the intense turbulent energy currents, letting the occasional turbulence leave lacerations on his body.

The Vitality Orb within his body, like a blazing fireball, released specks of vitality, rapidly healing the wounds.

Throughout the process, the Master Level proficiency of [Ascetic Body Forging] on the Character Panel increased rapidly. At this moment, Ronan's attention was completely drawn to what he was holding in his hand. His right arm had returned to normal, and between his fair and slender fingers, he firmly grasped a silver ball of light that had almost solidified into a tangible form.

Ronan stared intently at the ball of light in his hand, a strange light flashing in his eyes.

Really.

Just as he had concluded from countless deductions in the Ascetic Loft, the true exit of this Mystic Garden was not in any corner of the garden.

The key to the entrance to the next Secret Realm Space is hidden inside the transparent, twisted humanoid body that guards the entire garden!

"The spatial Teleportation Array scattered throughout the garden, with their unpredictable movement and landing points, are nothing but a smokescreen. What spatial array maze? A maze has no exit; every path is a dead end. The real exit is right under our noses, but it's been overlooked time and time again."

This kind of "blind spot" puzzle isn't actually that hard to solve. The real challenge lies in how to defeat the transparent, twisted humanoid guardian of the garden and obtain the "key" from within it.

It's unclear whether this is a puppet created through magical alchemy or something else. It possesses powerful spatial and mirror-like properties, making it extremely strong, fearless, and incredibly lethal. Even a typical Third Level Wizard might not be able to suppress it in a head-on confrontation.

Even if the mystery is revealed, breaking it and extracting the "key" from its body is not something an ordinary wizard can do.

Ronan was able to "kill" him in one fell swoop mainly by taking advantage of the special effect of the upgraded and optimized [Silverization] seal.

He spent three whole years in the Ascetic Loft, relying on the accumulation of more than three thousand runes, and barely managed to make a preliminary analysis of the few space-type runes on his hands, integrating the effects of "space teleportation" and "space Stasis" into the [Silverization] rune.

Combined with the effects of the Metal Element spell "Living Steel," which he had comprehended from the Extraordinary Magic Domain, and the powerful physical strength of his "[Immaculate Body]" and the Ancient Frost Hydra Bloodline, he forcibly extracted the "key" from the transparent, distorted humanoid body in the brief moment it was "frozen."

This "key" is also the core of the other party's power, which is why it presents such a relaxed and carefree visual effect.

Ronan held the silver ball of light in his hand, raised his head, and looked around.

If this is the "key", then his next step is to find the "door" where the key is inserted.

Suddenly, Ronan felt a force emanating from the ball of light he was holding, as if it were trying to break free.

He subconsciously clenched his fingers, which unexpectedly "crushed" the ball of light, and countless silver streaks of light shot out from between his fingers.

Before Ronan could even frown, he realized he still had a little something left in his hand—

It was a rune with a mirror-like luster and brightness, the most beautiful, complex, and mysterious rune Ronan had ever seen.

So that's the core idea. Ronan blinked, somewhat surprised.

Then I saw the mysterious rune in my hand suddenly shatter, then reassemble, then shatter again, repeating this process over and over.

"A rune in GIF format?!"

Ronan was "astonished"! The rune in his hand was indeed like a static image compared to a dynamic one, compared to the runes he had seen before.

It was obviously far more advanced than anything he had ever seen before.

However, before Ronan could be surprised for long, he noticed that the entire Secret Realm Space, including the space beneath his feet and around him, began to tremble, breaking the tranquility of the garden.

Ronan took a few steps back to where he had come in, and then saw the entire garden in front of him begin to "collapse" rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Black cracks appeared in every corner of the entire garden secret realm, like a beautiful mirror that had been ruthlessly shattered.

More and more black cracks appeared, and then pieces began to "fall off" downwards.

A "fragment" broke off near Ronan, accompanied by an invisible wave that dissipated. Ronan's brow twitched slightly, and he subconsciously stepped back, but the wave had already grazed his cheek.

A stinging sensation came over me.

Ronan reached out and gently wiped his left cheek, leaving traces of blood between his fingers.

His eyes flickered slightly as he used [Eye of Truth] once more.

Amidst the interplay of white light, Ronan squinted and looked up.

The crumbling garden secret realm suddenly presented a completely different scene in his eyes.

Countless arcs of light and countless lines were peeled away from a complete whole. This peeling process emitted obscure fluctuations, which contained terrifying power.

The scratch that just grazed Ronan was extremely insignificant; even from a distance, Ronan felt his heart pound with fear.

At this moment, Ronan looked down at the "broken" rune in his hand again, a deep emotion appearing in his eyes.

"This is the power of space shattering!"

Only the collapse of a space could generate such terrifying power.

He was acutely aware of the extraordinary nature of the mysterious rune in his hand, but the next second a bold idea arose in his heart.

The thought made his heart pound and his blood almost boil.

It was an immense feeling of excitement, like suddenly seeing the light of dawn after searching desperately in the darkness for a long time.

For the three years that Ronan spent in the Ascetic Loft the Arcane Circle, he did one thing—trying to incorporate the mysteries of space into Metal Element magic!

Without the corresponding spatial Spell Inheritance, this is almost an impossible thing to do.

However, thanks to the spatial energy seed left to him by the Dawn Rank Silver Staff, his several Soul Rune underwent a miraculous transformation under the natural "watering," laying the foundation for spatial modification and making everything possible.

Over the course of three years, Ronan has made considerable progress in the spatial transformation of the Soul Rune.

The modified [Silverization] rune now possesses the effects of "short-range directional teleportation" and "brief spatial Stasis," making the Metal Element- based spells it unleashes far more powerful than before.

This is actually thanks to the fact that the [Schubert's Mithril Transformation] rune is not of a high grade; it is only a second-tier rare Metal Element rune. If it were higher than second-tier, Ronan might not have been able to do it.

To date, Ronan is still working on optimizing the [Silverization] rune, and he is trying to add the rune effect of "spatial rift power" to it.

It was the second-tier Silver Comb magic tool he had obtained from the rattan table in the Mystic Garden, with its core magical runes.

The principle of "spatial severing power" is actually to condense spatial energy into a "knife" and then use this "knife" to cause damage.

The power of spatial severance is far greater than the cutting power generated by physical magic, such as Metal Element magic. This is one of the reasons why spatial magic is far more powerful than ordinary elemental magic.

This step was quite important for Ronan. In fact, after advancing to the second level of wizard, Ronan had already felt the fatigue of Metal Element magic in terms of its destructive power.

When he was First Level Wizard, Metal Element magic could be his main combat spells, but after the second level, Metal Element magic could only provide auxiliary combat effects for Ronan most of the time.

The main reason is that its power is not strong, which may also be related to the fact that the Metal Element Spell Inheritance obtained by the Silver Magic Ring is not strong enough.

Ronan modified his Metal Element magic system to make up for this shortcoming. If the mysteries of space magic could be integrated into Metal Element magic, the situation would definitely be different.

Three years later, a [Silver Transformation] talisman that had been completely altered was barely enough to prove that his idea was still feasible.

According to Ronan's plan, once the "spatial severing power" of the Silver Comb artifact is successfully integrated into the [Silverization] rune, the spatial transformation of Metal Element magic will be initially completed, achieving his expectations.

However, Ronan has now discovered a more powerful and suitable modification idea for the current [Silverization] rune.

"If... if I were to abandon the 'power of spatial severance' and instead integrate the profound mysteries of 'spatial collapse' into the [Silverization] rune."

The "spatial collapse" is more profound and powerful than the "spatial rupture"!

The most crucial point is that the current [Silverization] rune already has the 'space Stasis' effect derived from the Dawn Rank Silver Staff.

After the "Stasis" effect is activated, the area covered by the power will temporarily become a single entity. At this point, using the "Shatter" effect will break it apart, further enhancing the power. The entire process is undoubtedly much smoother than he originally envisioned! "Stasis... Shatter"

At that moment, Ronan's mind was filled with a multitude of ideas, and countless sparks of inspiration flew out.

His gaze kept shifting between the broken runes in his hand and the crumbling garden before him.

Countless tiny lights flickered and danced in his eyes, while something in his mind sprouted and grew rapidly like a seed. He didn't know how much time had passed.

Ronan, who had been silent all along, suddenly raised his hand and made a waving motion.

Beneath the robes, a dazzling silver light shone forth.

The silver metal, as if it were a living, writhing creature, was flung out by Ronan. After flashing and disappearing several times, it suddenly solidified into a huge disc in a certain location.

The flowing metal on the surface of the disc solidified, emanating a Stasis aura, and the space where the Metal Disc was located suddenly shone with a light that seemed to refract like a mirror.

Then, just as the Stasis energy reached its peak, everything quietly shattered again – "Bang!"

"Shuashuashua——"

The shattered mirror- Metal Disc transformed into countless crescent-shaped fragments, shooting out in all directions. Each fragment dragged out strange and terrifying magical fluctuations, leaving countless shocking, pitch-black cracks in the void in an instant.

"Call--"

Ronan exhaled, his eyes burning.

Countless scattered metal fragments transformed back into liquid life and surged toward him.

At this very moment, within the third Spiritual Power Crystal of his Consciousness Space, a brand-new Soul Rune is shining brightly.

"It's done!"

"After incorporating the three spatial properties of 'teleportation,' 'Stasis,' and 'shattering,' the magical destructive power of the [Silverized] Living Steel is far greater than before. The means of changing spells during combat are also much richer, far exceeding my initial expectations."

This move can be called— [[Shattered Silver]]!

Ronan pondered for a moment, "It's obviously not appropriate to call the current [Silverization] rune the [Silverization] rune anymore."

Using the term "[Space Silvering]" to describe it would be more apt.

The full name is: [Ronan Damien's Spatial Mithril Transformation]! A brand new rune name naturally popped into Ronan's mind, and an unprecedented sense of accomplishment welled up in his heart.

For the first time in his life, he experienced the joy of "creation".

On this vast wizarding land, yet another brand new rune was born from his hands.

This was the first seal he "created," and although he built upon the work of many predecessors, merely "transferring and piecing together" it, it was still of great significance to Ronan.

Unfortunately, there was no one to share this achievement and joy with.

After a brief moment of joy, Ronan's mood gradually calmed down, and he continued to ponder as he looked at the mysterious runes in his hand that were constantly breaking and reforming.

"This rune is too profound and mysterious. I can only say that I have a superficial understanding of it. There is still room for improvement and refinement."

Moreover, Ronan discovered something.

The combination of "spatial Stasis" and "spatial collapse" is not limited to the use of Metal Element spells.

His other two Soul Rune might also add these two characteristics.

Especially the [Tundra Frozen Earth] seal.

"The more powerful and stable a spatial structure is, the stronger the spatial collapse force it generates when it breaks."

"It's like a mirror that's very [Fortify]; the more solid it is, the sharper the edges of the shards will be when it's broken."

Ronan's first thought upon hearing this spell's principle was his own Ice Cold Domain.

How can the "mirror" formed by two types of silvered second-order metals compare to the "mirror" formed by an entire domain? "If, after constructing Ice Cold Domain, the entire domain is then transformed into a 'mirror' and shattered..."

Ronan's eyes flickered slightly. "How terrifying would the resulting spatial shattering power be?!"

He couldn't imagine it.

But one day he will be able to see it with his own eyes.

Ronan is already preparing to optimize and modify the [Tundra Frozen Earth] seal.

Upon opening the Character Panel, sure enough, the Strength Progress had regressed slightly.

The solidified Soul Rune is not unchangeable, but the result of changing it is like Ronan's current situation—a decline in Soul Power and a weakening of mental power.

This behavior consumes a lot of Soul Power, causing a temporary "weakness" of the soul.

This wasn't the first time Ronan had experienced this. In the Ascetic Loft the Arcane Circle, he repeatedly "modified" the solidified [Silverized] runes. Each modification would go through such a "weakening period," which would take some time to recover.

Ronan was already lacking in Soul Power to become Third Level Wizard, and now he's even further away.

However, compared to the future strength, this small "side effect" is really insignificant.

Carefully putting away the mysterious rune in his hand, Ronan looked up at the scene before him again.

The once beautiful and tranquil little garden has completely disappeared, leaving only a pitch-black void before my eyes.

There was no Secret Realm Space beyond the garden that Ronan had imagined.

Perhaps it's a corridor, or perhaps it's the living room of the garden's owner. After the garden's secret realm shattered, no other space was created. This is a completely independent Secret Realm Space, and it's on the verge of collapse.

The reason it has not completely disappeared until now is that a mysterious spatial force is supporting this crumbling spatial "shell".

——

A ball of silvery-white light.

It was filled with incredibly rich spatial energy.

Just like the silver light that enveloped that mysterious broken rune before.

It floats silently in the center of the void, becoming the only source of light that dispels all the darkness around it.

Ronan's eyes flickered slightly as he slowly walked towards the ball of light.

When he got closer to the ball of light, he saw what was inside and his eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"Key?!"

Ronan blinked, reached out, and grabbed the entire ball of light.

He thought the transparent, distorted humanoid figure contained the "key" to escape the Garden Maze, but he was wrong; it was merely a rune.

He thought there was no next level in the Garden Maze.

It seems the result was wrong again.

After the entire Garden Secret Realm collapsed, a real "key" appeared before him.

——

A silver key that looks no different from the brass key that matches a regular door lock.

It's palm-sized, made of a peculiar material, resembling silver but more translucent, and contains indescribably rich spatial energy particles.

"This key was made from a material with certain spatial properties!"

Ronan was shocked.

A material with spatial energy properties! Based on this alone, the "key"-shaped object in his hand is already an extremely precious treasure.