A thousand years later.
Green slowly opened his eyes in a cave buried beneath the Bone Land. No ripples of power emanated from him, no aura of a higher life-form, no dazzling multicolored runes of the Self-Sealing Art—not even the natural power that belonged to wizards.
At this moment, Green seemed like the most ordinary human in the Wizard World, without the slightest trace of aura leaking out.
If such a sight returned to the Wizard World, it would likely stir up a towering uproar among the higher wizards!
For this was the complete self-sealing state pursued by many True Spirit Wizards and Endless Dominators after they failed to find the path to the peak of Rank Eight and settled for the next best thing.
Combined with actively lowering one's level of life and power, it reduced consumption to the bare minimum, approaching the so-called eternal immortality seen in the eyes of lower-level creatures.
And this was complete control over one's own power!
"Indeed, how wondrous. An entirely new sensation."
Other than True Spirit Wizards, no lower wizard had ever pursued this state as a form of power. Instead, some passively evolving creatures from otherworldly realms often regarded such complete control as the ultimate pursuit.
For precisely that reason, some otherworldly World Lords and Endless Dominators often possessed far longer lifespans than wizards.
Of course, many wizards had comparatively short lives for numerous reasons: soul damage from failed advancements, forcibly restorative potions, Soul Magic sacrifices, bursts of potential, and so on.
Rustle, rustle.
Green crawled out from beneath the skeletal earth and saw the Flame-Soul Myriad-Headed Bird, like a towering mountain. Its nine hundred and ninety-nine heads hung limply as it curled into a ball, snoring, "Huff... huff..."
Whenever a Time Storm arrived, the Flame-Soul Myriad-Headed Bird would shrink and