Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 481 The Decline Before Advancing to the Second Ring

The True Sight Crystal displayed the face of the Great Wizard Sura. Clearly, the Great Wizard Sura had previously pressed his face against the True Sight Crystal and whispered something. "Is Locke watching this crystal?"

"I've been feeling increasingly fearful and uneasy lately. I feel like I'm missing something. As my magical pressure keeps assaulting my soul, my advancement is now imperative."

"But the more this is the case, the more uneasy I become. I always feel that there is a hostile gaze watching me from a corner I can't see."

The great wizard Sura clutched his hair, seemingly enduring immense mental anguish. "I suspect my paranoia has worsened to the point of causing hallucinations."

Locke perceived through the True Sight Crystal that there were two reasons why Grand Wizard Sura was in so much pain.

Firstly, the magic of the prophetic school was interfering with the great wizard Sura, trying to weaken his condition and his mind.

However, even if this prophetic magic could gather the fortune of the entire mage plane, it absolutely could not have such a severe impact on a transcendent being, let alone a wizard who had reached the limit of a transcendent being.

The second reason is the most important one.

That is, after the Great Wizard Sura's soul reached its limit, his magical power continued to impact his soul, and his soul had been severely weakened.

For those who reach their limits, strength is no longer an accessory on the path to truth, but a heavy burden.

Like a three-year-old child wearing a heavy crown, if he is not careful, he will fall, and the crown will pierce his throat, crush his skull, cut his skin, and kill him.

The power of the great wizard Sura had far exceeded the limits that his soul could withstand. Under the suppression of that power, his soul became extremely fragile and was in danger of collapsing at any time. As a result, even the mentally resilient great wizard Sura began to waver due to the weakening of his soul.

Furthermore, under the influence of that prophetic magic, the great wizard Sura began to seriously doubt himself.

Locke frowned. "Something's not right."

"If Grand Wizard Sura wants to advance to the second ring in this state, he has already lost more than half of his chance before he even succeeds."

"Once power reaches its limit, does further growth only become a burden? If so, then no matter who it is, their condition before advancing to the second ring will not be good. After all, humans have both material and spiritual attributes. If the power of the soul is damaged, the personality will naturally be damaged as well. If the personality is damaged, all choices will be wrong, and one will be a step behind others."

“Normally, this kind of thing would be fine, but it just happened at a crucial moment when I was advancing to the second ring.”

"In other words, before advancing to the second-circle wizard level, a wizard's power will decrease instead of increase, entering a period of decline."

Locke immediately realized that the immense difficulty of advancing to the second ring was different from advancing through the three smaller levels of the first ring stage.

Advancing through these three minor levels was a rapid and triumphant process, a continuous accumulation of strength and a steady upward climb.

However, wizards are often not in good condition when advancing to the second ring. Even their most prized wisdom can be affected as their soul reaches its limit.

The wizard needs to overcome the greatest difficulty when he is in his worst condition, which is completely different from the previous breakthrough logic.

This shows just how dangerous the risk of surpassing the leader twice is.

That would be the second time he had surpassed the limits of his own race's soul, reaching a level of magical pressure that was impossible for an individual to achieve, possessing magical pressure comparable to a natural phenomenon. Of course, the situation of Grand Wizard Sura was particularly serious, because before his advancement, he had used the Dark Cave Scorpion Woman to absorb the magical tide and gather it into his soul, which further aggravated this phenomenon, resulting in his soul being covered with cracks as seen from the True Sight Crystal.

Within the True Sight Crystal, Grand Wizard Sura commanded his thirty-two Archmages to search for the demons. Through these thirty-two native Archmages, each capable of casting various elemental spells of the First Ring of the Evocation School and possessing 'domains,' they continuously annihilated the demon race, narrowing down the range of demonic energy, and finally pinpointed the demon race's location.

Below a volcanic crater, the twisted earth energy was giving birth to a magma-like egg.

The golden magma egg's shell was covered with lava cracks, and droplets of magma fell one after another, instantly burning up thick smoke as they landed on the rocks.

The great wizard Sura thrust a silver dart with bloodline patterns directly into the eggshell.

In the scene, the High Wizard Sura was overjoyed. His previously calm demeanor, now cracked by the turmoil in his soul, could no longer contain his happiness. "Uriel, in the end, I have won."

"I won in the end."

"I won!"

"Your egg, which is meant to give birth to the ultimate demon, is only about 99% complete. What a pity. You were just one step away from giving birth to the body of a second-ring demon. That would have been your masterpiece as a cybernetic master. Twisting the earth's elements, condensing the child of the fallen earth, reversing the cycle of life energy, cutting off the flow between life and death, placing the twisted earth between life and death, making it the underworld you envisioned as a place to collect all the wronged souls. That is the true purpose of your creation of the demon race of the twisted earth."

The demonic energy behind the egg materialized, forming the shape of a middle-aged man. "Sura, have you read my article published in *Spiral*?"

High Wizard Sura couldn't suppress the corners of his mouth. "I've read every single article, every single word. I was happy for you forging your own path, then fear, then anger, and then all of that has transformed into the joy I feel now."

"Without the demon race, and finally no one to interfere, I can attract the attention of the world's power."

"And this embryo of your ultimate demon can be used by me." The great wizard Sura brushed his right hand over the embryo with the dart stuck in it, and immediately streams of bloodline energy essence gathered into his body.

"Although it's true that no matter how much I strengthen my body now, it's difficult to increase my potential, as long as I can absorb the bloodline energy of you, the ultimate demon, it should be able to alleviate my symptoms."

"I got off easy."

Yuriel chuckled softly. "It's hard to believe that someone as cunning as you can be so candid now. Don't get too excited, Sura. Such high spirits don't indicate your strength. On the contrary, they are proof of your weakness."

High Wizard Sura coldly observed his demonic energy. "Uriel, I have already won. Between you and me, whatever our past grievances may be, are no longer important."

"While I don't want to kill you yet, take your soul and leave this body."

"This is my last act of mercy towards you."

Uriel looked at the Grand Wizard Sura with icy eyes. "Have you forgotten something?"

"Ok?"

(End of this chapter)