Disdain, Initial Synchronization of Advanced Meditation

"Forbidden zone?"

Yajieding's lips curled when he heard the term.

"Jiaolang, are you saying there are apprentices over there who have mastered pseudo-first-circle wizardry?"

"I have to tell you something: our team has already killed two such apprentices."

"Their Divine Power Crystals are with the boss now. If we plunder more Divine Power Crystals, the boss will give us more Contribution Points after we get out."

Jiaolang swallowed, speaking with some difficulty. "Yajieding, I don't know whether there are apprentices over there who have mastered pseudo-first-circle wizardry."

"But there is definitely a freak over there who cannot be judged by common sense. He has set up countless magic arrays. Anyone who takes even one step inside will be burned to ashes."

Remembering the pillar of fire that had shot into the sky when another apprentice triggered the magic array a day ago, his heart trembled.

At the time, he had secretly sworn that he would never go near that place again for the rest of his life.

"Magic arrays? Hahahaha!"

Yajieding burst into laughter. "Jiaolang, even magic arrays set up by apprentices who have mastered pseudo-first-circle wizardry can only reach 0.9-circle power at most."

"Any wizard apprentice skilled in defense could go in and destroy them as they pleased."

"Come with me, Jiaolang. This opportunity is rare. If we don't take a gamble now, then when will we?"

"No, Yajieding. That freak's magic arrays are definitely first-circle in power." Jiaolang's face was filled with fear. "Believe me. Don't go!"

"Don't joke around, my friend." Yajieding's mouth twitched. "Since you aren't going, then forget it."

Yajieding did not believe a single word he said.

To set up a magic array with first-circle power, one had to master 1.3-circle wizardry.

Could an apprentice possibly master 1.3-circle wizardry?

At least, in his understanding, he had never heard of such an absurd apprentice-level spell.

If he had never heard of it, then it did not exist!

At that moment, Yajieding even suspected that Jiaolang did not want to see him prosper and was deliberately deceiving him because he did not want to see him rise.

Once prejudice took root, no amount of explanation could undo it.

Jiaolang continued trying to persuade him, only to receive cold looks in return.

Helpless, he could only watch as his best friend led a group of wizard apprentices toward that forbidden zone.

One hundred and twenty li away, at Lohr's secluded cultivation site.

"The meditation rune model and the Small Lava Eruption Spell model have finally achieved initial compatibility."

Lohr looked at the two models in his Sea of Consciousness, their patterns of elemental release and absorption gradually becoming aligned, and smiled in satisfaction.

At this point, his future path had taken shape and could no longer be changed.

Next, he only needed to deepen the connection and bring the absorption and release patterns of the two runes into complete synchronization.

"The magic arrays have been set up for two days. They should be close to dissipating on their own. Time to replenish them."

Lohr opened his eyes and looked over the magic arrays arranged around him.

The Adaptive Rock Barrier magic array closest to him had only a pale yellow light screen remaining, while the lava eruption magic array cluster outside was in somewhat better condition.

After all, unlike the Adaptive Rock Barrier magic array, they had not remained activated the entire time.

Even so, the unactivated lava eruption magic arrays were more than half as dim as when they had first been set up.

Their current power probably only remained at around 0.9 circles at most.

"Tsk, these fish really aren't cutting it. They only used up a little over twenty magic arrays in two days."

Lohr looked at the more than forty lava eruption magic arrays that remained intact, somewhat disappointed.

He had painstakingly set up so many magic arrays, yet fewer than half had been triggered.

Still, the activation of over twenty magic arrays had not been entirely without gains.

Divine Power Crystals lay scattered across the ground.

Lohr stepped out of the Adaptive Rock Barrier magic array, picked up seven or eight Divine Power Crystals, and weighed them in his hand.

"Only about thirteen grams altogether. So poor!"

He casually stuffed the Divine Power Crystals into his pocket, then began dispersing the magic array cluster that had already lost most of its energy.

About two minutes later, after completely dispersing the magic array cluster, he began setting it up again.

This time, he still planned to set up seventy lava eruption magic arrays.

Whether they would all be triggered or not, it was always good to be prepared.

About thirty minutes later, the new round of magic arrays was complete.

Lohr inspected them once, nodded in satisfaction, then set up an Adaptive Rock Barrier magic array a hundred meters from the center.

Afterward, he sat back down on the charred beast-hide rug and continued integrating and synchronizing the two spell models.

Half an hour later.

The wolf-shaped Bloodline Wizard apprentice Yajieding appeared outside the lava eruption magic array cluster with more than a hundred bizarre-looking Bloodline Wizard apprentices and over three hundred elemental wizard apprentices.

Looking at the magic array cluster that stretched for more than twenty li, Yajieding smiled disdainfully.

"Just how afraid of death is this person, to waste elemental energy setting up such a huge magic array cluster?"

"Pfft~ He probably has to spend half of every day maintaining this magic array cluster just to keep it intact!" A red-haired girl covered her mouth and laughed.

"I've seen people afraid of death, but this is the first time I've seen someone this afraid of it."

"This really is eye-opening."

The wizard apprentices all agreed with Yajieding and the red-haired girl, feeling as though their horizons had been broadened.

After letting everyone laugh for a while, Yajieding asked, "Who is willing to go up and test this magic array cluster?"

The most troublesome thing about magic array clusters was that they could not be triggered remotely with wizardry.

Someone who met the threshold set by the creator had to enter them before they could truly be activated.

"I'll go." A Bloodline Wizard apprentice in the form of a giant bear, roughly five meters tall, stepped forward.

"Good. Marek, go clear out these magic arrays. I'll be waiting to celebrate your victory." Yajieding smiled.

"Roar—"

Marek let out a great roar and charged into the magic arrays without hesitation.

His fur could withstand 0.9-circle wizardry head-on, so he did not take this magic array cluster seriously at all.

"Rumble—"

Three hundred meters after Marek stepped into a large lava eruption magic array, a blaze of scorching magma covering a radius of a thousand meters suddenly erupted.

"No, impossible! Ah—"

The instant the magma surged up, he suddenly discovered that the mimicry fur he had been so proud of was actually so vulnerable.

In less than a second, it was burned through by the scorching magma.

Then the magma engulfed his true body, corroding every part of him until nothing remained.

"How is this possible?" Yajieding stared at the scene before him, his mind completely blank as disbelief reached its peak.

Jiaolang had not lied to him. This magic array cluster truly possessed the power of first-circle wizardry.

Behind him, the group of wizard apprentices no longer laughed or chatted as they had before.

They all stood there blankly, engulfed in dead silence.

Magic arrays, first circle, apprentices.

No matter how hard they racked their brains, they had never imagined those three terms could be connected.