Howling Fish, Coordinate Mutation, Arrival

The stalls were mostly filled with materials related to monsters: animal hides, animal bones, organs preserved in jars, bone and flesh carvings, magical tools... and even some living creatures.

Ronan was asking about a living creature kept in a transparent tank.

It looks like a miniature piranha, but it has a pair of tiny, white, and tender feet like a baby's, which kick around in the water, looking both lively and eerie.

The stall owner was a pale-skinned middle-aged wizard, a level one, with a black mole the size of a mung bean on his lip. He had a cold and sinister demeanor and was obsessed with the study of flesh and blood alchemy. Wizards who dealt with corpses all year round were mostly like this.

"You have excellent taste. This Howling Fish is the product of my twenty years of research."

When Ronan asked the question, the middle-aged wizard immediately forced a smile and began to explain to him in detail.

Although Ronan had tried his best to keep a low profile, even concealing the fluctuations of his mental energy as a second-level wizard, his young and handsome face revealed under the wide hood, as well as his naturally emanating unique temperament, could be clearly perceived from a slightly closer distance.

Any wizard with a discerning eye could easily tell that he came from a powerful organization, and that he was not just a member of an ordinary one. Only a top-tier individual of his level could possess such composure and confidence in every gesture.

With the battle for the Helamus Genius Seat about to begin, geniuses from all the major and minor wizarding factions in the South have come out to make their moves. They've seen quite a few people like Ronan over the past year.

With the permission of the middle-aged wizard stall owner, Ronan probed his spiritual energy slightly into the transparent jar.

The strange creature, called the "Howling Fish," immediately opened its mouth and let out a piercing scream.

The invisible sound waves released with the scream pushed all the water in the transparent tank outwards, clinging tightly to the tank walls. Ronan felt a slight mental shock and couldn't help but be a little surprised.

The Howling Fish reminded him of an Undead Magic he had learned during his apprenticeship—[Soul Howl]. The two were similar in that they both used screams to generate sound waves that affected mental energy.

However, the Howling Fish's abilities were far more powerful than the zero-level spell [Soul Howl], and it even had a certain impact on his mental strength.

Although it was only a slight dizziness, it's important to know that Ronan's mental power, after being purified twice, was more than ten times stronger than that of an ordinary late-stage level two wizard.

What surprised Ronan even more was that the Howling Fish's sonic attack seemed to be targeted; apart from him, the stall owner and several nearby wizards were not affected at all.

Could such a wondrous creature really have been researched and created by a mere level-one Wandering Wizard? Ronan looked up at the middle-aged wizard stall owner and asked, "How do you plan to sell this Howling Fish?"

The middle-aged wizard perked up and quickly named several items. Ronan shook his head and replied, "I only have magic stones."

The middle-aged wizard was somewhat disappointed, but quickly replied, "Five thousand! Five thousand High-Level Magic Stone, and this fish is yours."

"Impossible."

Ronan said calmly, "Unless it's along with the breeding technology of this Howling Fish. The roaring attack of this fish is indeed quite effective, but if I'm not mistaken, this thing probably won't live long."

As he spoke, Ronan glanced at the Howling Fish in the tank, which had already quieted down. It looked only a little listless, but he was extremely sensitive to life fluctuations and could sense that after one roar, the life energy contained in the fish with baby feet in the tank had obviously been greatly depleted.

This is a fish that roars with its life on the line.

The middle-aged wizard's expression changed slightly, then he smiled wryly and said, "I can't hide it from you, sir. Two thousand, two thousand High-Level Magic Stone, and you can take the fish. But the cultivation technique is probably not up to par. It's not that I don't want to offer it for trade, it's just that the technique is not yet perfect."

"Three thousand."

Ronan, his expression calm, interrupted the middle-aged wizard, "Tell me where you found this fish."

Don't worry, I won't tell a third person. If you don't believe me, we can sign a contract.

The middle-aged wizard's expression shifted. After a moment, he grabbed a piece of old animal hide from the corner of the stall, wrote something on it, and then handed it to Ronan.

Ronan readily paid three thousand High-Level Magic Stone, used his Space Ring to put away the tank containing the Howling Fish from the stall, and before leaving, glanced at the stall, casually picked up a small box containing a black unicorn beetle, and asked the stall owner, "What is this?"

"I don't know."

The middle-aged wizard shook his head. "I found it in an abandoned ancient secret realm. After studying it for a year, I only found that its secretions can be used as a preparation for some kind of low-level potion. Perhaps it's just some kind of common ancient insect with a relatively long lifespan. If you like it, feel free to take it."

"Thanks."

Ronan put away the box containing the unicorn beetle and said casually, "I've always been quite interested in these little trinkets, and this is indeed a collection I've never owned."

The middle-aged wizard smiled but said nothing.

In the wizarding community, collecting rare insects is not even considered an eccentricity.

As Ronan left the stall, he also received a reply from Grace.

"Sister Serena frankly told me the reason. She said that my soul is special, and the aura I emit happens to be very helpful to her, promoting the growth of a certain ability of hers."

Ronan looked at Grace's reply, thought for a moment, and asked, "Did she ask you to do anything?"

"Just... just"

Before Grace could finish speaking, the voice on the other end of the Communication Stone suddenly stopped.

The message was suddenly cut off.

Ronan was slightly surprised, but he didn't take it to heart, thinking that Grace might have suddenly had something else to do. He was more interested in the two things he had just acquired.

"Sister Serena."

Grace stood in a room with bookshelves on all four sides, nervously clutching the hem of her robe.

Before her stood a blonde woman dressed in a wizard's gown.

The woman was very young, extremely beautiful, with skin as smooth and delicate as porcelain, lake-green eyes, and an aura of nobility and elegance emanating from her.

"Who have you been talking to for the past few days?"

The woman walked to the desk where Grace usually sat and asked gently, "Is this the boy who saved you at the Mechanical Heart? It seems our Grace has truly fallen in love..."

"No, no. We're just friends."

Serena blushed and kept trying to explain.

The woman chuckled softly and didn't pursue the topic further. She simply said gently, "Grace, I'm a little tired. Can I rest here for a bit?"

"Sure."

Grace nodded, then quickly took a velvet blanket from the bed and spread it over the woman. She then bent down and gently rested her head on the woman's lap.

"Get a good night's sleep, Grace."

A faint white light emanated from the woman's hand as she gently stroked Grace's cheek.

Grace's eyelids grew heavy at a visible speed, and she soon yawned and fell into a deep sleep in the woman's arms.

After Grace fell asleep, the woman quickly regained her composure. She closed her eyes, and a complex and mysterious golden rune appeared between her brows.

Intense white light began to emanate from their bodies.

These white lights slowly condensed on the woman's body, seemingly forming a beautiful and luxurious suit of armor.

"Luo n"

Grace mumbled a few words unconsciously on her lap, turned over, and slept even more soundly.

Similarly, the white light emanating from the blonde woman seemed to gather faster, and the golden runes between her brows grew in sync, making her aura increasingly mysterious and obscure. As night fell, Ronan set up a defensive and isolating Rune Array at the bottom of a secluded mountain valley. Taking advantage of the starlight, he took out all the items he had obtained at the Sunset Gathering during the day.

The Howling Fish in the transparent tank were in a worse condition than Ronan had anticipated.

It was floating on the water, almost half-reclining, with its mouth wide open, looking like it could die at any moment.

"This thing can't only roar once in its entire life, unleashing its full life potential in that one roar? No wonder the stall owner agreed so readily; he probably would have sold it even for a thousand High-Level Magic Stone."

Ronan observed the Howling Fish in the tank as he pondered this.

Ronan extended a finger and gently pressed it against the transparent tank, gradually injecting the life energy of his internal Vitality Orb into the Howling Fish's body through the tank.

The latter, who was almost "on the verge of death," gradually recovered and soon began to swim again. However, Ronan realized that this was only a temporary solution.

The life energy he poured into the Howling Fish was also constantly draining away, and the little creature's soul shattered with that roar during the day.

"If we want to conduct research, we need to find more similar life forms."

Ronan opened the old animal hide the stall owner had given him, on which were written the four characters "Green Glimmering Sea Abyss" in scribbled handwriting.

Using the southern map given to him by Kosti, Ronan discovered that the so-called "Green Glimmering Sea Abyss" was located near the western edge of the Southern Continent, right near the Restwind Harbor where Old Wells and Venecia had gone.

"I can find an opportunity to go there."

Ronan thought to himself.

The Howling Fish was a peculiar creature, one that Ronan had never seen before. The life force it emitted was only at the level of a zero-tier magical beast, but its roaring attack could affect the mental power of a level two wizard.

If we can figure out how it makes its voice, and combine it with [Soul Howl], we might be able to develop a decent mental attack spell.

Of course, Ronan was more interested in the Howling Fish's ability to unleash its life force in one burst.

The technique of [Immaculate Body] life energy to achieve "Ancient Giant Demon Transformation" was something Ronan figured out a long time ago. The idea was ingenious, but the execution was very crude.

As Ronan's proficiency level in [Ascetic Body Forging] increased, he considered further optimizing and modifying this technique of compressing life force and then unleashing it, believing there was still great potential to be explored.

Especially after merging with the "Ancient Frost Hydra Bloodline," his physique underwent a second increase beyond the [Ascetic Body Forging].

"The 'Complete Demonification' state is no longer the limit my body can withstand, but I can only achieve 'Complete Demonification' now, and even then, it requires sufficient external pressure."

Ronan looked at his hands, which were long and fair, seemingly glowing in the dark starlight.

These are hands suited for playing the piano or the harp, but if Ronan so desired, he could transform them into a pair of monstrous claws in a single breath.

"My technique for compressing life force is too primitive and crude. As the Life Light Sphere grows stronger, the difficulty of compression also increases. My mental strength is even lagging behind. This aspect must be improved, otherwise this trump card will be eliminated sooner or later."

Ronan replenished the Howling Fish in the tank with a lot of energy to ensure it wouldn't die anytime soon, then put it away and turned his attention to another small box containing a mysterious black beetle.

In fact, what Ronan really wanted to buy at that stall during the day was the beetle in the small box; the Howling Fish was an unexpected bonus.

Ronan opened the box and placed the black beetle on the back of his right hand.

By the moonlight, he carefully examined the mysterious black beetle.

It has a single horn, a shiny shell, and its abdomen is covered with densely packed, slender, segmented legs.

If it weren't for the occasional twitch of its thin legs, this beetle would easily be mistaken for a dead insect specimen.

Ronan's eyes flickered, and gradually some gray marks slowly appeared on the back of his fair and smooth hand.

As the gray mark appeared, the black beetle that had been lying motionless on Ronan's hand suddenly began to show intense restlessness.

It moved, its carapace opened, revealing two pairs of thin, transparent wings, trying to fly away, but it was firmly imprisoned by Ronan's mental power and could not break free.

Gradually, some translucent unidentified liquid began to seep from under the black beetle's belly. Ronan frowned, considering whether to clean up this thing that looked like beetle "urine," when all the translucent unidentified liquid was absorbed by the gray mark on the back of his hand.

The color of the mark gradually deepened, turning from gray to black, and then it began to wriggle like a living thing.

About an hour later, the black beetle on the back of Ronan's hand completely quieted down.

Ronan removed the cloth and saw a long string of strange, twisted symbols clearly imprinted on the back of his right hand, like a tattoo.

"This"

Ronan's eyes flickered, his expression a complex mix of emotions.

These are the coordinates of the World Stone that he obtained by chance in the Ancient Mirror Garden. Kosti did not extract them completely, and some traces remain.

He sensed the presence of the beetle at the Sunset Market, and it was this coordinate mark that triggered his connection to the mysterious beetle.

"The Coordinate Mark seems to have changed."

Ronan reached out and poked the strange, unintelligible symbol on the back of his hand, but there was no reaction.

He tried to infuse it with his mental energy. "Hiss—Roar—"

In an instant, countless distorted and fragmented images flashed through Ronan's mind. Deep within his Consciousness Space, in that shadow that could not be completely erased, the dormant ancient consciousness of Hecalto also erupted at the same time, "Whoosh—whoosh—"

Ronan abruptly released his grip. Under the starlight and moonlight, his face was as pale as a blank sheet of paper, and his forehead and back were covered in sweat.

"What... is that?!"

Ronan stared in horror at the series of strange symbols on the back of his right hand.

He had no recollection of what images the symbols had just conveyed to him; the only thing he remembered was the shared atmosphere of "distortion, chaos, madness, and destruction" that those images exuded.

This aura even triggered a violent surge of the Ancient Frost Hydra Bloodline within him, which he barely managed to suppress.

"Even Hecalto's remaining consciousness felt uneasy, could it be?"

As Ronan gazed at the incomplete and hazy moon overhead, a thought that he dared not accept arose in his mind.

"Was what I just saw a scene from the other world corresponding to the coordinates?"

Because he absorbed the bodily fluids of the mysterious beetle, the coordinates transformed into another mark, seemingly with a deeper connection to the other world. Therefore, he was able to "peek" at some scenes of another world through this mark.

If his guess is correct, then it makes sense that the powerful Ancient Mirror Garden decisively stopped the experiment, listed it as taboo, and even went so far as to destroy the World Stone, and hastily moved away.

Because the aura of that world that Ronan sensed was truly terrifying.

He almost met his doom by catching only a glimpse of the aftermath.

"This matter must absolutely not be known to the Ancient Wizard Revival Society. Once they find out that this coordinate connects to such a terrifying world, who knows what insane things they might do."

Ronan gritted his teeth and thought to himself.

But then his expression turned somewhat unpleasant.

Because it's possible that the Ancient Wizard Revival Society already knows everything. The cleanup three years ago has continued until now, but no one knows how deeply the Ancient Wizard Revival Society's influence has penetrated the south.

"This is a huge problem. I hope it doesn't involve me anymore."

Ronan, his face grim, silently concealed the strange symbols on the back of his hand, and also put away the mysterious beetle that had caused the Coordinate Mark to change.

He was already somewhat regretting buying the beetle. Some things, the more you know, the more entangled you become, only adding to your troubles. Three days later.

Beside a huge lake.

Ronan, dressed in a grey- Silver Magic Robe, stood by the lake, quietly watching the enormous body of the Ice Crystal Magic Serpent slowly sink into the water.

A thin layer of ice gradually began to form on the lake surface, and the corpses of frozen aquatic creatures continued to float to the surface.

Ronan frowned slightly, wanting to say something, but it seemed that he had no better options than to do so.

He is now very close to the Fairy Ancient City, only a few days' journey away.

The closer Ronan got to the Fairy Ancient City, the more he could feel an invisible force converging towards him. There were just too many powerful wizards, which made him change his initial idea and give up on bringing the Ice Crystal Magic Serpent with him.

Even if Ronan was very confident in his abilities, he couldn't guarantee that he could protect the Ice Crystal Magic Serpent, a place where countless powerful wizarding geniuses gathered in the south.

It's almost inevitable that this Ancient Snake Species would attract the covetous eyes of others, especially since he and the Ice Crystal Magic Serpent are still quite weak.

He had originally planned to use the Ice Crystal Magic Serpent as Magic Pet, making it a great asset in his participation in the competition, but now he thought better of it.

As the Ice Crystal Magic Serpent disappeared into the lake, thankfully the lake was deep and large enough that its inherent cold aura naturally subsided after it sank to the bottom.

Without a detection method similar to the "Eye of Truth," it would be difficult to detect the presence of a powerful magical beast beneath the lake surface using only the naked eye and mental power.

Even if they could detect it, without knowing it was an ancient and exotic species like the Ice Crystal Magic Serpent, probably no wizard would deliberately provoke it.

Ronan felt slightly relieved, turned the Flying Ring on his hand, and continued towards the Fairy Ancient City.

Ronan had considered the Ice Crystal Magic Serpent issue long ago. This creature was destined to be unable to be openly exposed for a long time. If he wanted to carry it with him as an aid, it would be best to have a storage space that could hold the Magic Pet.

However, specialized Magic Pet storage items are much more precious than ordinary spatial storage items, and they also need to be able to accommodate the enormous size of the Ice Crystal Magic Serpent... Even if they existed, he probably couldn't afford them now.

Above the vast hilly plains, figures clad in monastic robes pierced through the clouds and flew swiftly in.

One of the figures suddenly descended from the air and landed lightly on a slope covered with withered yellow grass.

"Finally... we've arrived."

Ronan squinted, gazing at the scene before him.

Amidst the green and yellow hills, countless tents of various colors stood densely packed together, with numerous wizards moving among them, resembling a giant circular chessboard. Even with some mental preparation, Ronan was still taken aback by the sheer number of wizards who had come to witness or participate in this battle.

It's important to know that everyone here is at least Level One Wizard.

The further in you go, the higher the level becomes, with levels two, three, and possibly even higher-level Dawn Wizard.

Ronan did not believe that no Dawn Wizard had come to watch the battle.

"It is indeed the grandest event in the Southern Wizard World Southern Wizard Genius Gathering, where the Helamus Genius Seat competes for the inheritance of the Born Controller of Magic."

Ronan murmured softly, and soon his expression returned to calm as he slowly walked down the slope.

"Call--"

A huge shadow, accompanied by a howling wind, suddenly swept over Ronan's head, causing a long, slight commotion in the crowd ahead.

Ronan looked up and saw an enormous yellow bat with a tall, thin human figure sitting on it.

The latter, like a cold, blazing sun, recklessly radiated the powerful spiritual energy fluctuations of Third Level Wizard, its arrogant posture driving straight toward the very center of this circular settlement.

But just as he stepped into the innermost edge of the area, the young wizard riding the giant yellow bat was attacked simultaneously by several spells from below.

Amidst explosions and roars, the battle erupted instantly. The violently shaking aftershocks of the spells caused some of the crowd to scatter rapidly, and the tents set up on the ground were also moved. From Ronan's perspective, it looked like a stone being thrown into a muddy pond, splashing up water and mud.

"It's starting to feel like a grand event is about to begin."

Ronan gazed at the erupting battle, muttering to himself, feeling a slight heat rising in his veins.

The south is vast, and the vast majority of wizarding forces reside in a small corner of the country.

While there may be friction between different factions, nothing can compare to the intensity of the current great battle that brings together almost all the wizarding forces in the entire south.

Different spell systems, different schools of magic, different lineages, and different wisdoms will soon clash and collide here.

What kind of sparks will fly during this collision? Just thinking about it makes me look forward to it.

"This is the scenery I've been longing to see."

Ronan let out a soft breath, his eyes sparkling, slowly calming his restless heart.

"I wonder if Anglie has arrived yet."

He naturally remembered what Anglie had told him three years ago on the Goblin Plain. Given Anglie's mischievous nature, there was no way he would miss this grand event.

Right now, I bet he's hiding somewhere, lazily observing everything.

Ronan stopped in front of a temporary stall that sold [Space] Tent. While the stall owner was explaining the products, he sent messages to Orian and Grace, telling them that he had arrived at the Fairy Ancient City Ruins.

As a type of spatial storage device, the price of [Space] Tent exceeds that of ordinary spatial storage devices, since it is intended for living in.

But it shouldn't be ridiculously expensive, because the interior space of a typical [Space] Tent is actually not very large, only two to three times the size of the exterior space.