On the fifth day after the town was attacked, most of its residents had already fled. Only a small number of elderly, weak, sick, and disabled people who could not endure the long journey remained.
The forest outside the town had completely fallen into the hands of the Duskblood Council. No one dared approach it.
Ainak Wizard Academy had stationed a large number of hired wizards and defensive fortifications around the town's outskirts, holding back the Duskblood Council's advance.
The fields between the outskirts and the forest saw spell barrages every day, riddled with craters from magical bombardments.
That same day, Dago finally erased Vissel's mental imprint and opened his storage ring.
Inside a room at the Wizard Inn, Dago sat at the table, studying the large pile of items before him.
A large pile of Mid-Grade Magic Stones, a letter, a box, a bottle of silvery potion, and two exquisite robes.
The storage ring was far cleaner inside than Dago had imagined. He found no rune equipment or other miscellaneous items.
The rune space within the ring was considerably larger than a storage pouch, roughly five cubic meters in size.
Dago guessed this was related to Vissel having only recently advanced to an Advanced Third-Level Apprentice Wizard. He had likely traded away a large number of Mental Potions to improve his strength.
Still, the haul before him was enough to satisfy Dago. His five straight days of high-intensity work had not been in vain.
Setting aside everything inside the ring, the ring itself was already exceedingly valuable.
Dago planned to transfer the things from his empty storage pouch into the storage ring first, then give the pouch to Selena. After all, she would be his employee from now on, so he ought to treat her a little better.
His storage pouch was nearly empty. The miscellaneous belongings left behind by those Black-Robed Wizards had already been burned to ashes. Only the Ice Crystal Wand, beast-hide scroll, and Duskblood Council Insignia remained inside.
He had never been willing to burn the Duskblood Council Insignia or the beast-hide scroll. If he ever became a Black-Robed Wizard one day, he could use them to disguise himself as a wizard of the Duskblood Council.
After moving those three items into the storage ring, Dago opened the letter and began reading.
[My dear Vissel, may the ancestors of the Hyram Family bless you beneath the light of the Origin Moon.]
[Without further nonsense, if you have now become an Advanced Third-Level Apprentice Wizard, then our next task is to make you a Formal Wizard and contribute to the revival of the Hyram Family.]
[Believe me, becoming a Formal Wizard is a great step for any wizard, but also a dangerous one. You must make thorough preparations.]
[As you know, the wizarding world has always pursued the immortality of the soul, and the process of advancing toward that immortality is Soul Completion.]
[The first step to becoming a Formal Wizard is completing the Metamorphosis of your mental power and beginning Soul Completion at the Formal Wizard stage.]
[I have prepared a bottle of Spiritglow Potion for you. It is a precious magical potion from Emerald Life. I hope you will keep it safe.]
[You may drink it after completely completing the soul of the apprentice stage, when mental power can no longer affect the soul.]
[Remember, after drinking the Spiritglow Potion and undergoing mental power Metamorphosis, under no circumstances must you respond to any call from beyond the Mental Space. Your soul must remain silent.]
[My child Vissel, only after your mental power reaches the level of a Half-Step Formal Wizard may you open the box. Within lies the next step toward becoming a Formal Wizard.]
[P.S. Return to the Hyram Family after advancing to a Formal Wizard. There is no need to remain at Ainak Wizard Academy.]
When Dago read this, he froze slightly upon catching one particular term.
He picked up the beautifully packaged bottle of silvery potion whose effects he had not known, examining it over and over. An increasingly disbelieving expression appeared on his face.
This was an unexpected, sudden windfall that left him stunned.
"Spiritglow Potion? Vissel actually kept this without drinking it?!"
Dago murmured. Then his heart began pounding rapidly, racing for quite some time before gradually settling down.
Spiritglow Potion was a magical potion used for the Metamorphosis of an apprentice wizard's mental power. It could greatly increase the chances of mental power Metamorphosis and save an enormous amount of time.
For Apprentice Wizards, especially wandering wizard apprentices, it was simply too precious.
If old Mariko had possessed a bottle of Spiritglow Potion, he likely would not have spent nearly his entire life at the Apprentice Wizard stage.
This key that opened the gates to Formal Wizards had always been tightly controlled by major wizarding organizations. Even within an Academy, it was extremely difficult to obtain.
And this was merely the first step toward advancing to a Formal Wizard. There was an even more crucial step afterward, one that even a wizard like Raymond, with both experience and strength, found difficult to overcome.
The final sentence of the letter especially puzzled Dago. It seemed that during mental power Metamorphosis, one might encounter dangers from beyond the Mental Space.
Dago shook the bottle of pure silver potion. It was somewhat similar to the Mental Potions he brewed, except the one in his hand was purer. Yes, the difference was in its purity.
Without another word, he pulled out the stopper, tipped back his head, and drained it in one gulp, not leaving behind a single drop.
Given the current situation, every increase in strength was a safeguard for his life.
Dago frowned slightly and closed his eyes. A sharp pain stabbed through his forehead, and the image that emerged in his consciousness was the sphere of light hanging within the Mental Space and the churning black sea.
Though he was worried about the side effects of the Spiritglow Potion, there was likely no better way to rapidly increase his strength.
He focused completely on the changes in his Mental Space. A mercury-like substance suddenly appeared there and plunged straight into the sphere of light.
The sphere instantly swelled like a balloon hooked up to an air pump.
Its original diameter of just over ten meters continued expanding until it reached a hundred meters, only then gradually slowing. At that point, it had begun to resemble a blazing sun.
Countless gray-white wisps of Mental Mist were frantically drawn into it, continuously spinning and refining.
Large amounts of Mental Mist liquefied within the sphere, turning into streams, then droplets, their color gradually shifting from pale blue to deep blue.
By the time they neared Dago's Soul Body at the center of the sphere, they had completely transformed into tiny pale-purple crystalline particles.
The fine mental power crystals approached the brow of his Soul Body and instantly merged into it.
Dago felt an unprecedented sense of exquisite ascension, as though his soul were drifting above a dazzling, fantastical sea of clouds.
His Soul Body, curled up at the center of the sphere, could actually move. He also gained an entirely new perception of the Mental Space, as though he could see through the Mental Mist and gaze farther into the distance.
Just as he happily moved his Soul Body, a call that seemed to come from infinitely far beyond the Mental Space began tugging at his soul.
Dago's Soul Body paused, instinctively sensing it.
Above the black sea appeared an extremely vague, mirage-like scene. It was a Duskblood Sea made of writhing blood and chaotic energy.
A boundless dark-red blood mist floated above the Duskblood Sea. Countless twisted blood vessels churned within the mist, while eyeballs and shattered bones drifted over the sea.
At its core, he could vaguely see a giant mouth made of coagulated blood. It had no teeth, only layer upon layer of mucous folds. With every breath, it spewed a rain of blood reeking of rust.
Its mere existence made Dago's soul convulse and spasm. A piece of inexplicable information leaped directly into his consciousness.
The master of the Duskblood Sea, the "Blood Mother," the "Lord of Sutures," Blood-Filth Esog worshipped by the Duskblood Council.
Blood-Filth Esog seemed infinitely distant, yet also seemed very close to the Mental Space, constantly calling and drawing in his Soul Body.
A powerful urge arose within Dago's soul: approach it, embrace it, and become part of its body amid eternal pain and distortion.
That intense urge continually eroded his consciousness, leaving him muddled as the mirage-like image grew larger and clearer.
Just as his consciousness was being continuously drawn in by Blood-Filth Esog.
The blazing sun-like sphere suddenly shone brilliantly, scorching the image of the Duskblood Sea. Towering waves rose from the black sea as well, crashing against the image of the Duskblood Sea.
Under the double assault, Blood-Filth Esog extended countless dark-red tentacles from the blood mist. Their surfaces were covered in nail-like barbs, and their tips sometimes split into human fingers that clawed futilely at the image.
In the end, they were annihilated in space, leaving nothing behind.
Dago's Soul Body gradually regained its rationality, and only then did he realize how close he had come to disaster. Once Esog completely anchored his Soul Body, his entire Mental Space would likely have fused into the Duskblood Sea.
As his consciousness gradually calmed, Dago withdrew from the Mental Space and returned to reality.
Dago released his mental power. Deep-blue halos appeared in his eyes, speckled with tiny pale-purple points of light.
Unlike Mental Sight, where an Apprentice Wizard's mental power could see the energy particles of the real world and exert influence over them.
After Metamorphosis, his mental power could directly affect the real world.
For instance, levitation. The air beneath Dago's feet actually lifted him ten centimeters off the ground.
It was an entirely new experience, an entirely new power, even giving him the illusion that everything was under his control.
But after maintaining it for ten minutes, he could no longer hold on. With the quality of his current mental power, he could only affect an area within ten centimeters of his body.
Raymond, on the other hand, after decades of training, could already affect an area within one meter.
"What godlike power. No wonder ancient wizards were revered as gods."
Dago withdrew from that state and spoke slowly.
At present, he had only transformed a small amount of mental power at the Formal Wizard level. He did not dare imagine the sights awaiting him after fully advancing to a Formal Wizard.
Before you continue