Departure

"Rustle, rustle—"

In his Mental Space, the third Soul Imprint made faint cracking sounds as it slowly grew.

The sound was not produced by friction in the Material Realm. It was the tearing of the Spirit World's dimensional fabric as tendrils of mental power forced it open while his soul took on substance.

For a Second-Ring Wizard to advance to the Third Circle, he had to forge a third Soul Imprint of his own. That required more Soul Force.

It was a process that defied nature, like forcing more water into a sealed iron barrel already filled to the brim without letting it burst.

For geniuses with exceptional aptitude, their "barrels" were naturally flexible. Taking this step was not difficult for them.

But Dago's aptitude was ordinary. The outer wall of his soul was hard and lacked elasticity, so he had to rely on external resources. He used the violent effects of potions to soften and corrode that barrier, then forcibly reforged it with mental power.

With the two potions before him—the savage force of Abyssal Howl and the extraordinary ability of Void Worm Molt to fuse with his soul—his Soul Force had grown five times during the Late Second Circle stage.

Each increase brought pain that pierced to the marrow and involuntary shudders. It was the path a lesser life had to tread to evolve into a higher one.

Under normal circumstances, that would have been enough to break through to the Third Circle.

But after two rounds of purification through the Gray Sun Meditation Method, Dago's mental power was at least ten times stronger than that of an ordinary Second-Ring Wizard, in both quality and quantity.

Simply put, his Soul Imprints were a full ten times "larger" than those of an ordinary Late Second-Circle Wizard!

That meant his