Spiritglow Potion and the Letter

On the fifth day after the town was attacked, most of the residents had already fled. Only a small number of elderly, weak, sick, and disabled people who could not make the long journey remained.

The forest outside the town had completely fallen under the control of the Duskblood Council. No one dared approach it.

Ainak Wizard Academy had stationed large numbers of hired wizards and defensive fortifications around the outskirts of town to halt the Duskblood Council's advance.

The fields between the outskirts and the forest saw daily exchanges of spells, pocked with craters from magical bombardments.

It was also on this day that Dago finally erased Vissel's mental imprint and opened his storage ring.

Inside a room at the Wizard Inn, Dago sat at the table, examining the large pile of items before him.

A large number of Mid-Grade Magic Stones, a letter, a box, a bottle of silvery potion, and two exquisite robes.

The storage ring was much cleaner inside than Dago had imagined. There were no rune equipment or other miscellaneous items.

The runic space within the ring was much larger than a storage pouch, roughly five cubic meters in size.

Dago guessed it had something to do with Vissel having only recently advanced to an Advanced Third-Level Apprentice Wizard. He had likely traded for a large quantity of Mental Potions to increase his strength.

Still, this haul alone was enough to satisfy Dago. His five consecutive days of intense work had not been in vain.

Setting aside everything inside the ring, the ring itself was already extremely valuable.

Dago planned to move the items from his empty storage pouch into the storage ring first, then give the storage pouch to Selena. 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 items left behind by the Black-Robed Wizards had already been burned to ashes. Only the Ice Crystal Wand, the beast-hide scroll, and the Duskblood Council emblem remained inside.

He had never been willing to burn the Duskblood Council emblem 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 transferring those three items into the storage ring, Dago opened the letter and began to read.

[My dear Vissel, may the ancestors of the Hyram Family bless you beneath the radiance of the Origin Moon.]

[No more idle talk. 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 it is also a dangerous one. You must be thoroughly prepared.]

[As you know, the wizarding world has always pursued the immortality of the soul. The process of advancing toward soul immortality is Soul Completion.]

[The first step to becoming a Formal Wizard is to complete the Metamorphosis of your mental power and begin 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 keep it safe.]

[After fully completing the soul at the apprentice stage, when mental power can no longer affect the soul, you may drink it.]

[Remember this: after drinking the Spiritglow Potion and undergoing mental power Metamorphosis, never, ever respond to any call from beyond the Mental Space. You must keep your soul silent.]

[My child, Vissel, you may only open the box after your mental power reaches the level of a Half-Step Formal Wizard. The next step toward becoming a Formal Wizard lies within.]

[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 reached this part, he froze slightly after catching a particular term.

He picked up the exquisitely packaged bottle of silvery potion whose effects he had not known, studying it over and over. Disbelief gradually appeared on his face.

This was an unexpected, sudden surprise that left him stunned.

"Spiritglow Potion? Vissel actually kept this without drinking it?!"

Dago murmured. His heart immediately began to race, pounding wildly for quite some time before gradually calming 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 Mariko had possessed a bottle of Spiritglow Potion, he likely would not have spent nearly his entire life stuck at the Apprentice Wizard stage.

This key to opening the gates of Formal Wizards had always been tightly controlled by major wizard organizations. Even within an academy, it was extremely difficult to obtain.

And this was merely the first step toward becoming a Formal Wizard. There was an even more crucial step afterward, one that even a wizard as experienced and powerful as Raymond found difficult to overcome.

The final sentence of the letter especially puzzled Dago. It seemed that during mental power Metamorphosis, one might come into contact with dangers from beyond the Mental Space.

Dago shook the pure silver potion in the bottle. It was somewhat similar to the Mental Potions he brewed, except the one in his hand was purer—yes, the difference lay in its purity.

Without another word, he pulled out the stopper, raised his head, and drank it all in one gulp without leaving a single drop.

Given the current situation, every bit of increased strength was a safeguard for his life.

Dago closed his eyes with a slight frown. As an intense stab of pain shot through his forehead, the scene that emerged in his consciousness was the orb of light hanging in his Mental Space and the surging black sea.

Though he was worried about the Spiritglow Potion's side effects, there was probably no better way to rapidly increase his strength.

He focused entirely on the changes in his Mental Space. A mercury-like substance suddenly appeared there and plunged straight into the orb of light.

The orb instantly expanded like a balloon connected to an air pump.

Its diameter continuously swelled from just over ten meters to one hundred meters before gradually slowing. At that point, it had begun to resemble a great sun.

Countless gray-white strands of Mental Mist were madly drawn into it, endlessly spinning and refining.

Vast amounts of Mental Mist liquefied inside the orb, turning into streams and then droplets as their color steadily changed from pale blue to deep blue.

By the time they approached Dago's soul form at the center of the orb, they had completely turned into fine pale-purple crystalline powder.

The fine mental power crystal dust drifted toward the brow of his soul form and instantly merged into it.

Dago felt an unprecedented sense of exquisite sublimation, as though his soul were floating above a bizarre and dazzling sea of clouds.

His soul form, curled up at the center of the orb, could actually move. He had also gained an entirely new perception of the Mental Space, as though he could see through the Mental Mist into farther distances.

Just as he happily moved his soul form, a call that seemed to come from infinitely far beyond the Mental Space tugged at his soul.

Dago's soul form paused, instinctively sensing toward it.

Above the black sea appeared an extremely blurry mirage-like scene: a Duskblood Sea formed from writhing blood and chaotic energy.

An endless cloud of 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, a massive mouth formed from coagulated blood could vaguely be seen. It had no teeth, only layer upon layer of mucous folds, exhaling rust-scented blood rain with every breath.

Its mere existence made Dago's soul convulse, and a strange piece of information leaped directly into his consciousness.

The master of the Duskblood Sea, the Blood Mother, the Lord of Sutures, the Blood-Filth Esog worshipped by the Duskblood Council.

Blood-Filth Esog seemed infinitely far away, yet also seemed very close to the Mental Space, continuously calling and drawing in his soul form.

This gave Dago's soul an intense urge to approach it, embrace it, and become part of its body amid eternal pain and distortion.

That overwhelming urge continually eroded his consciousness, leaving him dazed as the mirage-like scene gradually grew larger and clearer.

Just as his consciousness was being endlessly drawn in by Blood-Filth Esog,

the great sun-like orb suddenly blazed with brilliant light, burning the image of the Duskblood Sea. The black sea surged with towering waves, battering that image as well.

Under the two-sided assault, Blood-Filth Esog extended countless dark-red tentacles from the blood mist. Their surfaces were covered in nail-like barbs, and their ends sometimes split into human fingers that grasped futilely within the vision.

In the end, it was annihilated within the space, leaving nothing behind.

Dago's soul form slowly regained its rationality. Only then did he realize how close he had come to disaster. If Esog had completely anchored his soul form, his entire Mental Space would likely have merged into the Duskblood Sea.

As his consciousness gradually settled, Dago withdrew from the Mental Space and returned to reality.

Dago released his mental power. Deep-blue halos appeared in his eyes, speckled with faint 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,

his transformed mental power could directly affect the real world.

For example, 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. It even gave him the illusion that everything was under his control.

But after maintaining it for ten minutes, he could no longer continue. 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 cultivating for decades, could already affect an area within one meter.

"Such godlike power. No wonder ancient wizards were revered as gods."

Dago withdrew from that state and said leisurely.

He had only converted a small amount of Formal Wizard-level mental power so far. He did not dare imagine what awaited him after fully advancing to a Formal Wizard.