Second Spiral Palace, [Declining Blood], the Storm Body, Dawn, Twilight, and Ascetic Body Forging

"I?"

A stormy rune flashed in Ronan's eyes as he replied softly, "I feel great right now."

The Storm Spirit, Storm Weaver, who was about to advance to level seven, summoned a thunderstorm that tore Ronan's body apart, but also brought him a second rebirth.

When the Character Panel is brought up, most of the data remains unchanged.

Besides the soul age advancing another step, from 21 to 22, the remaining task is [Ascetic Body Forging].

The Master Level proficiency of [Ascetic Body Forging] has increased from just over 1500 points to 1599/1600.

Only a final bit of proficiency remains to be perfected before breaking through to the next level.

Ronan's nearly year-long arduous training in the Storm Realm, along with his courage to actively engage in Stormweaver Storm Weaver, was not without reward. The massive increase in his Master Level proficiency in [Ascetic Body Forging] brought him a leap in physical strength.

He is now almost immune to electric and wind spells below level four. The Blue Snail nurtured in the Life Light Sphere within his body has also become more complex and larger, a result of the completion of the [Second Spiral Palace].

If these improvements were all within Ronan's expectations, then there was another improvement that he had not anticipated.

Ronan focused his mind on his body, letting his spiritual energy slowly circulate within him.

Wherever he went, one could clearly see that his flesh and bones were now covered with beautiful and intricate thunder and wind patterns, like flower branches.

The Storm Weaver's baptism of storms left a massive amount of thunder and hurricane power within him. After leaving the Storm Realm, he has been working hard to digest and eliminate this power.

During this time, some strange changes occurred that he could not explain. His body seemed to have autonomously inscribed certain core mysteries of the Weaver's Storm Power, deeply imprinting them into his flesh and bones.

These Storm Rune resemble some kind of naturally formed runes, but perhaps Ronan's exposure to the power of the storms was not deep enough, so these Storm Rune are not complete.

But even this alone has already given Ronan a certain degree of "talented ability" to freely control wind and lightning elemental spells.

This ability even affects the effect of his "Ancient Demon God Body" to some extent. Now that he has activated the "Ancient Demon God Body" transformation, his control over the black Spirit Force has also undergone many unexpected changes.

Overall, it's a good thing.

"I'd like to take a closer look at your body. Is that alright?"

Alazan in a low voice, in a serious and consultative tone.

Alazan's soul needs to be attached to Ronan to live, and because of the "master-slave contract," his understanding of Ronan is actually very limited.

Ronan almost completely shut himself off, leaving Alazan only a certain range of freedom of movement within his Consciousness Space and a small opening for him to come and go as he pleased.

Ronan paused briefly before nodding in agreement to Alazan's request.

He was equally curious about the changes that had occurred to his [Immaculate Body], and perhaps he could get the answer from Alazan.

Releasing the restrictions on Alazan's soul, the golden ladybug began to crawl from Ronan's brow, slowly covering Ronan entire body from the inside out, occasionally pausing in certain places. Ronan did not show his heart, which was running the Bloodline Deduction Array, to Alazan.

Soon, Alazan's soul power receded back into Ronan's Consciousness Space.

After a period of silence, Alazan finally spoke.

"Your body right now is like someone born with '[Declining Blood]'."

"[Declining Blood]?"

Ronan was slightly taken aback; it was the first time he had ever heard this word.

"The [Declining Blood] of Level Seven Wizard is too far removed from you, so it's normal that you don't know about it."

To explain this realm clearly, we need to start with the ancient shamans' division of the nine levels.

You are about to ascend to Dawn; there are some things it's time to understand.

"Alazan."

If you were willing to occasionally hold a wizarding workshop and share your boundless wisdom with me, I think our relationship would be much better than it is now.

Ronan adopted an attitude of being all ears.

Alazan naturally ignored the teasing in his words and said calmly, "The division into the three phases of mist, Dawn, and Twilight has been passed down for a long time."

You should have already grasped the true meaning of the fog; as for Dawn, how do you understand it?

Ronan pondered for a moment, then answered, "Nurture the primordial spirit, and let spiritual power embrace the light of the elements."

What Ronan said are the two most obvious characteristics that distinguish Dawn Wizard from Mist Wizard —their souls undergo further transformation, giving birth to an elemental energy spiritual aggregate within their bodies to assist in combat, and their mental power carrying the attack characteristics of elemental energy.

That's all he knows.

"It's not comprehensive, and it's also very superficial."

Alazan made the assessment.

"The true meaning of Dawn is to pass through the fog and embrace the light of Dawn."

The light of Dawn, besides being the light of the elements, also represents the light of truth and the light of wisdom.

"The purpose of a wizard nurturing a spirit is not to enhance their control over elemental energy or their spellcasting abilities; these are merely secondary considerations."

The true purpose is to forge a key, a key that can unlock the door to truth.

Ronan's eyes flickered. This was the first time he had heard such a statement. Alazan was the oldest wizard in the Hall of Spirits, and in addition, he was also a wise and learned ancient wizard.

In today's Wizard World, he would be nothing short of a "living antique," the best way for him to glimpse the brilliance of ancient wizarding civilization.

"The essence of wizards creating elementals is to better align themselves with the natural universe."

The third stage of Dawn, the gestation, birth, and growth of the primordial spirit, is the process by which wizards step by step into the Hall of Truth.

Levels four, five, and six are the three most important stages of a wizard's development. Naturally, the mentor is the one you need to do your best to acquire the knowledge that the mentor imparts and presents to you.

The rank of your elemental spirit determines the scope of your activities and the level of your authority within the Hall of Truth in the natural universe. When you complete the Dawn Rank, and the final bell tolls as you glimpse the truth for the first time, you will enter the next phase— Twilight.

Alazan's tone suddenly rose a little.

"Dawn, noon, dusk... when the sun sets, if we cannot pierce the darkness before the eternal Black Night descends and usher in the immortal light..."

Alazan's tone lowered and became heavy.

"... Then I can only be like myself, forever [Depravity] into the twilight, until my bones are covered by ashes."

Ronan was stunned, experiencing for the first time a cruel, cold, yet magnificent impact.

Some emotions welled up inside him, but he didn't know how to express them.

At this moment, Alazan continued slowly:

The end of Dawn is to strengthen the primordial spirit to its fullest extent and then merge it into oneself.

Once you reach level seven, the first thing you need to do is create your own Fundamental Rune.

"Fundamental Rune?"

"Yes, unlike runes in the general sense, Fundamental Rune represent you, everything about you—knowledge, courage, character, strength. Everything that is settled in your soul."

This creates a unique mark, a rune, that is uniquely yours.

First, it is engraved in the flesh. Once successful, your blood will have the value and meaning of inheritance, able to bless future generations, flowing and being passed down in the river of time in the form of bloodline."

"Bloodline... So this is the true meaning of bloodline."

Ronan murmured to himself, and at this moment he seemed to understand why he had been able to gain Soraya's kinship-like approval with just a single [Frozen Earth] rune.

It's because of the runes.

That's right.

The true bloodline is still passed down through runes, Soraya knew this. So after the last member of the "Ice Flame Iris" Lanster Family died, the Frozen Earth became the only thing that carried their family's spirit.

"... but what if this step fails?"

Alazan paused, then steered the conversation back to Ronan, "You'll end up like this now, which is what I called before—level seven '[Declining Blood]'."

"The damaged runes, not fully inscribed, still possess a portion of the power, but they decay much faster than typical level seven runes and will never have the potential to advance to level eight."

"Actually, my description of your body is not entirely accurate; you just seem to have '[Declining Blood]'."

"If '[Declining Blood]' is like a tree that is about to wither and die, then you should be a sapling in the growth stage."

Although they may look somewhat similar in size and condition, they are fundamentally different.

After Alazan's wizarding mini-lecture ended, Ronan fell into a long period of digestion and reflection.

According to Alazan, the growth of Storm Rune in his body means he has indirectly inherited a fragment of the Storm Weaver's bloodline? But why would this happen? Even if the Storm Weaver's spells contain profound and mysterious power, they shouldn't be so easily "stolen" by someone else, right? Could the problem lie with "your body"?

Alazan seemed to read Ronan's mind, saying, "Your body is quite peculiar."

Unimaginable.

Like a perfect blank sheet of paper, it was born to be inscribed with runes.

Is it really because of the [Immaculate Body]? Ronan took a deep breath, unable to calm the turmoil rising within him.

He had always felt that the [Ascetic Body Forging] was mysterious and extraordinary, from the birth of the [[Immaculate Body]] to the appearance of the [Ancient Power].

Now, this sense of mystery and extraordinary nature has reached a new level in Ronan's mind.

If nothing unexpected happens, the reason he's currently stuck at the final point of Master Level proficiency in [Ascetic Body Forging] is because he's missing a crucial material.

Ronan had previously speculated that the material was the Holy Shrine Power, and now, considering even Alazan's surprise and admiration for [Ascetic Body Forging], this speculation seems even more likely.

"It seems the search for the Holy Shrine Power should be put on the agenda as soon as possible..."

Ronan thought to himself that Alazan seemed to want to say something more to him, perhaps wanting to know how he obtained such a physical body, and asking about the [Ascetic Body Forging].

Just then, a sharp whooshing sound rang out.

The mist in front of the swamp dispersed to both sides, and a figure in a billowing robe quickly appeared in Ronan's field of vision.