Preparing to Advance

Chapter 28: Preparing to Advance "All right, Father."

Anvis nodded calmly, ignoring Duke Carlot's helpless look.

"I'm preparing to choose between two area-type spells: the variant spell of Spirit Wind Domain, the dual ice-and-wind Icy Wind Field; and the variant spell of Light Illusion Domain, the dual ice-and-light Illusory Light Ice Domain."

"Is that so?"

The Duke nodded, his expression turning serious again.

"I recommend that you choose Icy Wind Field. This spell can influence the battlefield environment over a wide area, combining the ice element's control effects with the wind element's acceleration effects. By expending additional Mana, you can also summon Wind Blades to attack any point within the Force Field.

Moreover, once your strength reaches Seventh Rank or above, it can manifest a portion of a Ninth-Rank Domain's power in advance.

The Book Magic and Combat once said: a mage is one who uses wisdom to change the world.

In battle, a mage should first establish a battlefield environment advantageous to themselves. Then, by using one instant Low-Rank spell after another, they continuously control, disrupt, and weaken their opponent, gradually building an advantage.

Like constantly adding weights to one side of a scale, until it inevitably tips toward victory!"

As he listened to the Duke, Anvis's expression became somewhat subtle.

Icy Wind Field was a spell created by Carlot. Although Magic and Combat bore no author's name, Anvis knew that Carlot had written that book as well.

Wasn't praising himself like this a little...

"I understand. I'll consider it carefully..."

"You don't need to take your father's advice too seriously, Anvis. Just follow what you truly feel is right!"

Elena shot Carlot another glare. Illusory Light Ice Domain was a spell she had created, yet she had never seen herself boast as shamelessly as Carlot did.

Duke Carlot simply pretended not to hear her, wearing a faint smile with an utterly natural expression.

"Also, Magic and Combat is truly an excellent book. It was written by an immensely wise and great Ninth-Rank mage, and contains many valuable experiences and techniques. You can read it over several times in your spare time."

"..."

Elena, who had been about to say more, froze. Her Amethyst Eyes blinked in confusion, and the corner of her mouth twitched instinctively.

Taking a light breath, the Duchess restrained her Desire to test the thickness of the Duke's skin with magic. She elegantly turned away, pursed her rosy lips slightly, and redirected her gaze toward the food before her.

Leonard lowered his head ever so slightly without drawing attention, his gaze dropping as if he had heard nothing at all.

"Yes, Father."

Anvis had to exert considerable effort to suppress the Desire to roll his eyes. He forced out a somewhat stiff smile, gaining a new understanding of the Duke's level of "confidence."

After dinner, Anvis returned to his room.

Before he went upstairs, the Duke handed him a ring containing all sorts of consumables needed to advance to First Order.

Yet at the moment when he was about to officially advance, he instead found himself somewhat dazed.

Alone in the silent, empty room, a long-lost sense of hazy unreality rose in his heart once more.

But the immense Mental Power surging within him reminded him that none of this was false.

Advancing to First Order—

This was a crucial point in Anvis's plans. If he wanted to maximize the advantage of knowing the future, he had to leave Moonrise Fortress as early as possible and gain the freedom to act outside.

However, restricted by his age and strength, Anvis was still unable to leave for now. Only after advancing would he have an opportunity to openly leave the castle.

Reclining against a Black Velvet Lounge Chair before the carved arched window, Anvis's mood became incomparably tranquil.

Bright yet hazy two-colored moonlight streamed in at an angle through the window, enveloping the entire chair.

He had not lit the lamps. The physique granted by his Legendary Bloodline was enough to let him see in dim light.

Moreover, ever since his days playing the game in his previous life, he had fallen in love with this world's enchanting moonlight.

Tonight was May 18th, the Twin Moons Full Moon Night—

This was the result of him deliberately controlling the speed of his meditation. According to the conclusions of the family's large-scale secret experiments, only by condensing a Mental Power Core on a full moon night could one achieve the most perfect advancement effect.

The process of advancing from Zero Order to First Order was an exceptionally crucial transformation.

Like foundations driven deep into the earth, how tall a building could rise in the future depended entirely on the depth of those foundations.

At this stage, properly combining various resources and treasures to consolidate one's foundation could produce twice the result with half the effort.

But once the foundation had taken shape, any attempt to strengthen it further could only rely on certain extremely rare treasures, painfully yielding half the result with twice the effort. Relying on his experience as a High-Ranked Professional, Anvis had remained unadvanced all this time precisely so that he could truly push himself to the limit.

In this life, he would forge for himself the most perfect Professional foundation, one far beyond that of his previous life.

Then, upon that foundation and with the treasures he remembered, he could completely achieve leapfrog advancements in rank.

At his side, a miniature Sky City floated above the writing desk, slowly rotating in the moonlight and refracting beautiful silver-purple radiance.

It was a gift from his Second Brother Evan during the Radiance Festival: a scale model of Sky City.

Its exterior and part of its internal structure had been reproduced perfectly, and it even came with a miniature magical defense system.

After running through his advancement plan one final time and confirming there were no mistakes, Anvis took out a dish of dreamlike dust colored like an aurora and placed it beneath the moonlight.

The instant it came into contact with the bright moonlight, the powder in the Crystal dish began to slowly burn in complete silence, as if it had encountered flames.

It transformed into a dazzling rainbow glow that constantly shifted in shape, circling around him.

This was a rare treasure capable of stabilizing the Sea of Spirit and increasing the success rate of breakthroughs. Even the Olyvendi Family only harvested a small amount each year.

To ensure absolute safety, Anvis used ten times the normal safe dosage.

Sitting amid the encircling rainbow haze, he took out another miniature inscribed array plate half a meter in diameter and set it beside him, placing ten standard units of Super Magic Crystal into the Magic Array.

With the advancement environment prepared, Anvis took out a tiny, crystal-clear vial the size of a finger.

It contained a little over half a bottle of potion, clear as pure water yet giving off a faint blue radiance like moonlight.

Moonlight's Pity, perfect grade. It was effective only on Professionals below First Order, yet its brewing difficulty surpassed even that of top-tier Third Rank potions.

Most crucially, only a true potion master could brew a potion of perfect grade.

It could rapidly increase Spiritual Power without side effects while further purifying it, making it the best auxiliary potion for spellcasting Professionals breaking through to First Order.

After examining it briefly, he twisted open the stopper, swallowed the potion in one gulp, and activated the inscribed Magic Array beside him at the same time.

To be honest, its taste and flavor were practically no different from pure water.

Almost the instant he swallowed it, Anvis felt a faint swelling pain in his head.

This was the Chekman Effect, caused when Spiritual Power that had already reached its limit was forcibly increased by an outside force, yet the Sea of Spirit could not expand any further.

Suppressing his discomfort, Anvis silently circulated his Meditation Technique and sank his consciousness into his spiritual space.

Beside him, once the Magic Array activated, the Super Magic Crystals within emitted an intense, ghostly glow. Incomparably dense primal Mana rapidly dispersed and began spreading outward.

Yet before that energy could disperse, it was restrained by an invisible Force Field under the constraints of the Mana effect.

As time passed, the concentration of primal Mana within three meters of the Magic Array began to rise sharply.

Within his spiritual space, Anvis fought to suppress his instinct to break through immediately. Instead, he controlled the rapidly growing Spiritual Power and began condensing one faintly glowing spell node after another.

He intended to use this excess Spiritual Power as support to construct his initial spell.

After much consideration, Anvis ultimately decided to abandon Icy Wind Field and construct another spell instead: Illusory Light Ice Domain.

This spell could create a spell area fifty meters in diameter, densely filled with tiny composite Mana ice crystals capable of refracting light, enhancing Illusion Magic effects, and confusing the enemy's Mana perception.

Moreover, the Spellcaster could expend additional Mana to condense ice spikes for attacks at any point within the field.

Compared with Icy Wind Field, Illusory Light Ice Domain had a more complex spell model and a somewhat different focus.

Icy Wind Field focused on the slowing effect of extreme cold upon enemies, as well as the acceleration effect of wind-element Force Fields upon oneself.

Illusory Light Ice Domain, on the other hand, leaned more toward indistinguishable illusion effects and interference with the enemy's judgment.

In terms of offense and swiftly controlling the battlefield, Icy Wind Field was superior. But when it came to safety and sheer unpredictability, Illusory Light Ice Domain was the first choice.

Anvis had once imagined constructing both at once, but both spells possessed extremely complex models, and his Spiritual Power did not allow him to have them all.