Cornflower Witch

Chapter 189 The Transformation of Life

Inside the academy office, Cerrofi examined the spell models submitted by the two women and had them each demonstrate them.

“Good, they all did a great job, especially Hilti.” Cerrop nodded.

"It seems you've mastered the basics of runes." The two girls smiled at each other.

"Your next goal is to consolidate your current abilities and prepare for entering the third tier."

"So early?" Sophitina was slightly surprised.

“Not early.” Cerrofi shook his head and then stood up.

"The third stage is the first major hurdle that extraordinary individuals face. Many people spend their entire lives stuck here, unable to make any progress."

"Unlike the past, which only required accumulating the power of the elemental aspect to improve the ability card, stepping into the third stage is equivalent to creating a path in a place where there is no path at all."

He went to one side of the room, took out a scroll, unrolled it, and hung it on the wall. The scroll depicted the fate chart of living beings with retro and intricate patterns.

"A destiny with three phases surrounding it is the foundation of all life, ensuring its stable continuation, but also a kind of constraint, limiting further breakthroughs and upward progress."

"Entering the third tier means that on the original destiny chart, a brand new slot is slowly opened up from scratch and coordinated to accommodate it. This is the path created by the fairies in the Fifth Era, which was later popularized to all living beings."

“Before this, many beings have tried different methods to reach the third tier.” He turned around and introduced to the two of them.

"You should have heard of the legend of the three-headed dog of purgatory. This monster with three heads is a legend from the Fourth Era, the 'Star Beast Era'."

"The 'Star-Gazing Beasts' of that time were baptized by information and knowledge from another world, and gradually awakened their intelligence. They did not know how to break through the limitations of the third tier, so they could only grow their bodies violently, devour food, and accumulate the amount until their destiny was strong enough to expand their destiny plate and reveal the positions of the six ability cards."

"Of course, knowledge from other worlds also brings about many crazy things. For example, the same species, the 'Star-gazing Beasts,' will try to merge with each other, linking their Destiny Cards together to form a single monster."

"In that era, you could see many 'multi-headed monsters' and 'fusion monsters,' such as the three-headed dog of purgatory, the nine-headed sea serpent, the eight-legged giant horse, the chimera, a monster that was a fusion of a lion, a goat, and a snake, and a monster with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion, and so on."

"Even now, there is still a legend of a 'fusion ritual' that allows low-level monsters to fuse together and advance to become stronger."

"The advancement method pioneered by Fairy Chronicle was originally called 'transformation'. The 'core card' created in this way is like a silkworm cocoon or cicada molting, protecting the destiny card and becoming its strongest armor and weapon. It is the shell of destiny, as well as the evaluation and impression of you by the outside world."

"Later, we concretized this evaluation and impression into 'profession' and 'job title,' which represent your current achievements and experience."

"Rank not only gives you power, it also represents your lifestyle, and in turn it shapes your character and beliefs, like a 'cocoon' melting away the worms inside and transforming you into a completely new individual."

The scholar's explanation, progressing from simple to complex, explained step by step how history unfolded and the differences in how it progressed in the past and present, which deeply moved the two and gave them many thoughts.

“When life is weak, it will instinctively seek the protection of its body. Similarly, in the first four stages, life also needs to condense a certain ‘class’ to demonstrate its value and advantages in order to gain a chance to survive. As for the ‘complete freedom of life’ that some people expect, that is probably only achievable by seventh-level life.” Cerrofi explained the process of advancement as if a large tree were slowly growing.

After the class ended, Sylvia and Sophitina left side by side, discussing their advanced training along the way.

"I have chosen the same path as my father, to be a scholar of the 'Mystic' nature. The core card I need to build is the 'Scroll of Profound Knowledge.' This requires me to learn and master a great deal of knowledge, and to integrate and understand this knowledge to build a systematic understanding of the world. In this way, I can find the source and answer in the 'Scroll of Profound Knowledge' when I face any problems in the future."

"The advancement of scholars is generally slow, like a trickle of water, requiring the accumulation of knowledge and experience. But the advantage is that it is relatively stable, without much danger, and consumes fewer resources." "Is Tiya going to choose the path of 'gardener'? I heard that the 'Four Seasons Alliance's' garden advancement method requires a large amount of rare resources to build the garden's ecological cycle."

“Yes, I’ve heard about it too.” Hiltiya nodded.

Her current goal remains to become a 'gardener', but she won't give up on the 'Radiant Moon' aspect either, just that it's less important to her.

"The Four Seasons Alliance's 'Spring Garden' can create a stable environment like spring all year round, used to cultivate delicate plants; the 'Summer Garden' can provide intense energy, used to cultivate plants with extremely high requirements for nutrients and energy; the 'Autumn Garden' can be used to cultivate plants that specialize in fruiting, greatly increasing yields; and the 'Winter Garden' can provide an extreme environment, used to cultivate rare plants with eccentric personalities."

"Tiya, which one are you going to choose?"

“It’s probably ‘Autumn Garden’,” the girl said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Autumn? I thought you would choose 'Spring Garden' given your personality."

“I don’t dislike spring, but my personality is more inclined towards the carefree and serene autumn,” Hiltia blinked and explained with a smile.

She possesses the purity of spring, the passion of summer, the freedom of autumn, and the tranquility of winter. Except for the passion of summer, she rarely exhibits these personality traits. She shares some of the others, but she is more practical and prefers fruit to flowers.

Time passed slowly, and only two months remained until Hiltiya left the Radiant Plains.

……

'Wolf Wilderness'

Under the gloomy sky, wild grasses covered the land, and the gray-white wolfberry grass swayed in the wind, stretching to the horizon.

On the desolate land, a giant wolf was fighting a young man in front of it. Deep wounds that exposed bone were visible in its flying mane, while the young man's clothes were also soaked in blood, and the hilts of the knives he held in his hands were covered in sticky blood.

Agren stared intently at the other person, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.

He roared and leaped forward again, his figure blurring through the cold wind as he dodged the giant wolf's fangs. He then narrowly grabbed the wolf's mane, using the momentum to twist his body, flipping it onto his back. With a flick of his wrist, he plunged his blade into the wolf's neck, drawing out a large amount of blood.

The blood sprayed out steaming hot, and then the blade became hot, turning as red as a branding iron, constantly steaming and igniting crimson flames.

Then the giant wolf suddenly flipped over, throwing Agren away, and then swung its giant claws to grab him down, biting his body and piercing his shoulder bone with its fangs.

At this critical moment, Agren used both hands to pry open the giant wolf's upper and lower jaws, preventing it from closing.

If those sharp teeth were to interlock, they would surely tear his body apart, and this would be his last chance to survive.

"Ahhh—" Agren's muscles bulged, and hot blood circulated in his body. At this moment, he stimulated the 'Blood Rhythm' nature to the extreme, and puffs of white smoke rose from his body.

And so, his arms trembled as he held on to the giant wolf's jaws for nearly ten minutes. During this time, the giant wolf kept shaking, trying to tear him apart. Then, due to blood loss, he slowly weakened.

Minutes later, the giant wolf died, and a blood-stained figure slowly rose from its carcass. He used a knife to cut off the giant wolf's head, stripped to the waist, and dragged the giant wolf's head into the distance. The black and red bloodstains that flowed along the way slowly dried under the desolate blue sky.

(End of this chapter)