Ring of Vishanti

There was nothing much to say about becoming a disciple. Salomon was deeply grateful that Old Mr. Ye had not rejected him for having a foreign face. Over the next few years, due to the Sorcerer Supreme's educational arrangements, Salomon's daily route was Kamar-Taj—the Hong Kong Sanctum—the boxing gym—the Hong Kong Sanctum—Kamar-Taj. He had to get up at dawn every day.

Salomon got along best with the Guardians of the Hong Kong Sanctum, and the reason was simple: food preferences. In their eyes, "foreign devils" did not eat beef offal, but Salomon could eat a huge bowl of it... Anyone who could eat was no bad person.

Salomon himself was amazed that he could return to the schedule he had kept as a student. Ever since he had started working, he would close his eyes after getting off work, and then it would be morning.

Being young was great.

But for a body that was still single-digit in age, the burden was rather heavy. Fortunately, the power of the Holy Marks was slowly taking effect. Salomon grew taller and stronger than children his age, and his reactions were faster as well. During this time, Master Gu Yi did not neglect Salomon's cultural education either. Language classes came one after another: Hebrew, Sanskrit, Greek, Old English, Celtic, and more. These were all languages required for reading Grimoires. Salomon bore pressures no child his age should have had to endure.

Salomon had seen the memories brought by the Holy Marks. Those great mages had also spent their apprentice years copying scrolls and attending classes, but what mage tower taught close combat? It was not as though he planned to become one of the Inner Sea World's magic warriors, fighting with a blade in one hand and spells in the other.

Then there was the nationality Baron Mordo had arranged for Salomon... Because of it, he had to avoid the United Kingdom's child welfare authorities. They had tried to find him an adoptive family and send him to school. Apparently, they had already contacted an old lady willing to adopt him.

But Salomon did not want that. He had finally entered the magical world, only to be sent to elementary school again?

Fortunately, the Sorcerer Supreme also believed in doing only what was necessary. After Salomon had undergone five full years of close-combat training, when he turned ten and the senior brothers at the boxing gym, who were several years older than him, could no longer beat him, the Sorcerer Supreme finally began arranging for him to study Kamar-Taj's Vishanti magic—Salomon had waited a long time for this day. He was not content with using nothing but tricks.

"I don't know whether you should undergo the trial," Master Gu Yi said in the meditation chamber. "But you also know how Kamar-Taj obtains magical power... You are different. You possess magical power from birth."

Ancient One did not want Salomon to become bound by a contract with the Vishanti as she had. This arrangement, in which the patrons provided magical power to spellcasters and the spellcasters served the patrons, could quickly improve the combat abilities of Kamar-Taj's mages, but anyone seeking to go further would be constrained by their patrons.

But that was understandable. Even the Vishanti could not control human desires. They greatly feared the emergence of a mage capable of bringing disaster upon Earth, so they could only cut off Kamar-Taj's potential for great power at its source. Ancient One had gained a small advantage, however. Since she had been the first person to sign a contract with the Vishanti, they had not imposed overly harsh terms upon her, leaving her tremendous room to grow.

Thus, Master Gu Yi had specially prepared something for Salomon—she held a silver ring set with a sapphire. The ring immediately drew his attention, not because of the gemstone, but because of the magic within it... It was like Sauron's One Ring...

"But the problem is that even your inborn magical power cannot compare to the Vishanti's endless energy... I can bear the backlash from the Vishanti's magic for you the first time, but besides this ring, there are two more. Only together can they completely control the Vishanti's magic." Master Gu Yi pushed the ring toward Salomon. "But after that, you must face the trials alone."

"I'll do it, Master." Salomon lowered his head and bowed to the Sorcerer Supreme. The moment he lowered his head, a mark appeared on Master Gu Yi's forehead, only to vanish again moments later.

"Begin. Put on this Ring of the Celestial Power," the Sorcerer Supreme said. Salomon nodded and carefully picked up the ring between the tips of his thumb and forefinger.

There was no strange sensation, no burning pain. Everything seemed utterly ordinary. Then Salomon put the ring on his right index finger. The ring, originally too large for a child, automatically shrank and tightly encircled his finger.

Master Gu Yi did not relax because of this. She swiftly extended her hand and unfolded the Mirror Dimension, enveloping all of Kamar-Taj on the mountainside within it.

"Thief!" A thunderous roar came from the sky. An enormous tiger's head appeared in the void, its eyes emitting blinding beams of light. Under Hoggoth's immense pressure, cracks continuously spread through the Sorcerer Supreme's Mirror Dimension.

"Thief! Where are you?!"

The mark on Master Gu Yi's forehead fully revealed itself, but no one besides Salomon could see it. Under the Sorcerer Supreme's protection, none of Kamar-Taj's mages noticed the Vishanti's wrath.

"Master..."

Salomon grew anxious. He did not know what price Master Gu Yi would have to pay. Although she had adopted him for her own purposes, the Sorcerer Supreme was still his teacher. Master Gu Yi did not respond. Salomon saw sweat continuously dripping from her, and all he could do was sit down, cross his legs as Kamar-Taj's basic lessons had taught him, and enter meditation.

He imagined ten rings of different colors within a dark space. Salomon did not deliberately arrange the positions of the ten rings; he simply placed them in a certain order from low to high.

He imagined the first ring, the lowest one, and imagined it glowing. This was self-hypnosis, and also a way to unfold the Holy Marks.

In his imagination, the ring gradually gave off four colors of light: orange-yellow, olive, reddish-brown, and black—of course, black meant no color at all. In the outside world, a surge of magical power rose from his body and finally condensed upon the ring.

The Sorcerer Supreme gradually found her pressure easing. This was not because the Vishanti's anger had abated, but because Salomon was slowly taming the magic within the ring. The unique magical properties brought by the Holy Marks continuously resisted the intense heat generated by the Vishanti's power. Without the Holy Marks, Salomon would have been roasted alive soon enough.

Hoggoth looked around but failed to find the thief who had stolen the Vishanti's magic, and grew even more irritable. Although He had become part of the Trinity, the Vishanti, He was still a big cat at heart—a magical big cat. He had plenty of patience, and when He noticed the magical fluctuations in the ring gradually disappearing, He gave up the search.

There were still two more rings. The thief would show up sooner or later.

The Sorcerer Supreme tiredly opened her eyes and watched Salomon awaken from meditation.

"How was it?" Master Gu Yi asked.

"I don't know, but... when I opened the first Holy Mark, the magic within the ring became tame." In truth, Salomon was somewhat bewildered as well. He had activated the Holy Mark only to resist the burning sensation caused by the ring, and he had also prepared himself for the incoming flood of memories—but it never came. This time, he could calmly examine those memories, slowly digesting and absorbing them, while his own magical power suppressed the Vishanti's ring.

"Then it seems I guessed correctly, Salomon," the Sorcerer Supreme said. "You really do possess the Ten Rings."

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