Explodes on the Spot!

On-the-Spot Explosion!

"Place your hand on the crystal ball, close your eyes, relax your body, and leave everything to fate."

Following the diviner's instructions, Anvis extended his pale, slender right hand and gently placed it on the crystal ball.

A smooth, icy sensation spread from his palm. Though reason told him that the power of the Wish Spell would most likely interfere again, he still felt somewhat apprehensive when the test truly began.

"Relax."

The diviner immediately sensed Anvis's tension. In truth, most people undergoing the test reacted similarly.

"Don't be nervous, Anvis, Your Excellency. There is nothing frightening about this. If you possess the talent, you will randomly see a small fragment of the future."

Anvis nodded, took a deep breath, half-closed his eyes, and focused all his attention on his perceptions, gradually entering a state akin to meditation.

At first, aside from the crystal ball's hard texture, Anvis felt nothing.

But as time passed, immersed in that dazed state, he suddenly sensed the presence of something!

It was a patch of mist—

The moment Anvis sensed the mist, the crystal ball in the study began to emit a grayish-white glow without warning, and the image of a cloud of mist appeared within it.

Upon seeing the change in the crystal ball, the expressions of the two people present immediately shifted. The gray-robed diviner froze slightly, surprise flashing through her eyes.

The duke was also slightly startled, but his surprise immediately turned to delight.

Since the test was not yet complete, Duke Carlot suppressed his joy and merely stood quietly to one side, watching. Yet the slight upward curve of his lips revealed his true feelings.

"It has changed..."

The diviner spoke slowly, her voice carrying a hint of amazement.

"Congratulations, Your Grace!"

At the diviner's congratulations, the duke's lips could not help but curl upward. But just as he was about to speak—

Crack—

The crystal ball's light flickered once, then it instantly exploded!

The duke's gaze sharpened, and countless flying fragments froze in midair. The space within the room seemed as though someone had suddenly pressed a pause button, like a photograph captured in an instant.

For a moment, crystalline shards filled the study's midair, sparkling under the refracted sunlight from the windows like stars in the night sky.

Anvis stared at the scene in surprise. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw this fantastical and beautiful "starry sky."

The crystal ball's explosion was not very powerful. Protected by magical power, he had not been injured, but it had jolted him out of his perceptive state.

The next moment, the countless motionless "stars" in midair began to return along their original paths under the effects of magic, moving at a pace that seemed slow but was actually fast, gathering once more into the crystal ball's original form.

Anvis could even see some fragments that had previously struck the three of them and been bounced away by magical power flying back along their original trajectories.

After striking the same spot a second time, they flew back in the direction they had originally come from.

Once the reassembly was complete, the cracks covering the crystal ball's surface gradually faded, closed together, and shrank inward...

At last, beneath Anvis's astonished gaze, countless cracks converged at a single point in the center of the crystal ball, then vanished after a faint flash.

Eighth Rank Change School Secret Art—Greater Restoration!

However, although the crystal ball had been restored intact, Anvis could sense that it had become an ordinary crystal ball.

All the mysterious power it contained had drained away and had not returned along with the restored crystal ball.

"What is going on, Ilyena?"

Duke Carlot frowned and looked toward the diviner's face hidden beneath the shadow of her hood, his slightly low voice echoing through the study.

"What did you see just now?"

Yet the gray-robed diviner, who was being questioned, did not immediately answer the duke. Instead, she turned to Anvis at once and spoke with slight urgency.

For the first time, her ethereal, melodious voice carried an obvious emotional fluctuation.

Anvis half-closed his eyes and recalled what he had just seen before speaking softly and hesitantly.

"A... starry sky?"

"A starry sky?"

Slightly taken aback, the diviner named Ilyena turned toward Duke Carlot, her gray robe stirring faintly.

"My apologies, Your Grace. This is also the first time I have encountered a situation like Anvis's, so I lost my composure just now—"

Carlot tapped his index finger against the Black Dragon Blood Wood tabletop and looked at the diviner in confusion.

"Then, Ilyena, what does this phenomenon mean? Does Anvis truly possess talent for divination?"

"In theory, causing the crystal ball to display an anomaly means that the test subject possesses diviner talent. But for the crystal ball to automatically explode during the test..."

The Chief Diviner's tone was hesitant. Even she did not know what this situation truly meant.

"I cannot give you a definite answer at present, Your Grace. I am afraid I will need to seek an answer from my teacher regarding this matter."

"Father, Diviner, I have an idea."

At that moment, Anvis suddenly spoke, drawing both of their attention.

"If you're unsure whether I possess a talent for prophecy, then could you grant me access to some prophecy magic books? We could see whether I'm able to learn and use them normally."

"Open the prophecy books to him?"

After thinking for a moment, Duke Carlot looked at the diviner.

"Would there be any danger?"

Diviner Ilyena shook her head.

"Throughout history, there has never been a precedent of danger arising from learning prophecy. At most, one simply fails to grasp the basics."

The duke nodded and turned to Anvis.

"In that case, give me your access nameplate."

Anvis took a metal plaque engraved with the image of an Icy Wind Crystal Bird from his ring, lifted it with Mana, and placed it on the Desktop before the duke.

The duke reached out and picked it up. The Emblem Ring on his finger flashed with a faint gleam of Mana as he lightly pressed it against the plaque's surface.

"Take it. I've granted you reading access to the School of Prophecy's texts."

The next day, the Chief Diviner bid the duke farewell.

She was preparing to set out on a long journey to the Magic Council headquarters, the Floating City of Aulassian, located deep within the distant Iter Kingdom Federation.

She intended to seek answers from her teacher, Brentz the Star Gazer, one of the Magic Council's three Speakers, and see whether she could obtain any remaining information from that shattered Crystal Ball.

After she left, Anvis happily immersed himself in the Grand Library, voraciously studying the newly unlocked magical knowledge of the School of Prophecy.

—Previously, those books had been kept separately in a corner of the library, with the entire bookshelf protected by powerful Seal magic.

Even Little Anvis, a Seventh Rank Magister in his previous life, had never been able to access those books. Although Anvis had greatly coveted them in this life, he had had no way to get his hands on them.

Now, he had finally obtained the authority to pass through that Seal.

Gurgle—→Recommendation tickets