Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

"I admit I underestimated you!"

Chaplin narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze sweeping over Carl Paul, who was pale and looked terrified in the distance, before looking at Dago with a cold, chilling light in his eyes.

He possessed the strength of a mid-stage second-ring cultivator, and the spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from his body were even stronger than those of Karl Paul at his peak.

In terms of sheer mental strength, Chaplin, a mid-second-ring wizard, possesses mental power at least twenty times stronger than Dago, a late-first-ring wizard.

At this moment, he stood in front of Dago, and his terrifying mental field directly emptied all the non-earth elemental particles around Dago. His absolute icy domain, constructed by the superposition of his two soul seals, was somewhat suppressed and unable to lift its head when facing Chaplin's mental field alone.

The icy coldness dissipated as soon as it appeared in reality, making it impossible for it to condense and take shape.

The [Winter Star] replicated through the Soul Seal [Prism] is still fundamentally different from the [Winter Star] in his spiritual space. Just like an object reflected in a mirror, no matter how similar it looks to the original, the fake is still fake.

Dago understood this perfectly, so his confidence in challenging Chaplin wasn't based on the ice-type domain enhanced by the [Prism].

"No matter how you package waste, it's still waste!"

Chaplin spoke in a low voice, his eyes calmly fixed on Dago. A mysterious aura flowed from his body, and in an instant, a powerful and profound domain force field took shape.

"Fine, I'll take care of you myself."

Dago lightly twirled his ice sword, nodded to Chaplin in front of him, and said, "That's what I wanted to say too."

"Your stubbornness is just like Bernal's."

Chaplin spoke indifferently.

Dago couldn't help but laugh. "Anyone who didn't know better would think it was Bernal, not you, who got beaten down so many times back then!"

Chaplin's expression froze, and in the next instant, a surging, murderous intent erupted from his eyes.

"A sandstorm!"

Chaplin spoke coldly, and his terrifying mental power, befitting a mid-second-ring wizard, along with the domain power surrounding him, spread out simultaneously.

Instinctively, Dago raised his ice sword to parry, the blazing blue ice flames protecting him. When the mental force field and the domain force field enveloped him at the same time, Dago felt as if he were being directly hit by a violent sandstorm.

"Crunch, crunch~"

The Absolute Frost Domain released from him shattered under the strain. This was the most direct collision between domains. Dago's Absolute Frost Domain, formed by the superposition of the two sign [Winter Star], might be stronger than the domain power wielded by Chaplin.

However, the gap between his mental strength supporting the domain and the ice element he can currently control to display the domain's power is too great compared to his opponent's; this is a ruthless crushing defeat in terms of raw strength.

"A domain is a sharp sword, but how can you wield it without strength? Mental power is the true foundation of a wizard's power!"

Chaplin looked at Dago and sneered, "Didn't Bernal even tell you that?"

As he spoke, his eyes flashed, and large chunks of rock on the open ground of the plaza below quietly crumbled, turning into a large amount of brownish sand, which instantly swirled into the air and rushed towards Dago.

Dago swung his sword, and the raging, dark blue flames wrapped around the ice blade froze large gashes in the brown sand.

However, large amounts of sand continued to fall on Dago. In an instant, Dago's expression changed slightly. The sand that fell on him did not cause him any harm, but each grain seemed to weigh a million pounds, pressing heavily on his body and plunging him into an extremely heavy state.

It felt as if countless invisible ropes were pulling my whole body apart, making even a simple gesture like raising my hand many times more difficult than usual.

"It's painful, isn't it?"

Chaplin continued to manipulate the giant rocks into sand, sending them soaring into the sky and merging into the domain before hurtling towards Dago.

"This is my domain, the Sands of Ten Thousand Pounds. Even if you were to move your little finger, you would first need to overcome the full gravity exerted upon you by the Sands of Ten Thousand Pounds."

Dago remained expressionless, but continued to try to control the ice sword in his hand. However, more and more sand fell on him, like strange brown pythons coiling around and enveloping him.

Chaplin conjured a heavy and beautiful silver crystal longsword in his hand. He gently gripped the hilt with both hands and walked step by step toward Dago, who was entangled in countless tons of sand, with only his eyes exposed.

"This sword of mine will strike your face!"

Chaplin spoke calmly, and as he walked, the diagonal scar on his face seemed to come alive, twitching slightly.

"This is the mark of shame that Bernal left on me, and now I'm passing it on to you!"

He raised his heavy sword high, assuming a downward slashing motion, his eyes icy, and spoke each word with chilling precision.

A fierce look flashed across Chaplin's face. He gripped the heavy sword with both hands and slashed down hard at the humanoid sand pile in front of him.

The group of wizards watching below shook their heads, their faces filled with disappointment as they looked at Dago, who was encased in a cocoon of sand.

Wizards in the mid-second ring, especially those with a fourth-rank rating like Chaplin, have already comprehended the power of their domains and have reached an extremely high level in all aspects, including soul signs, combat talent, and spell understanding.

Once it unleashes its full power, the force it displays is like an overwhelming tidal wave, leaving people in despair. What good is a bright and dazzling new star?

The gap in hard power is there. Your most outstanding strength may only be able to match someone else's weakness, or you may even exceed it slightly, but when all aspects are considered, the result will only be being completely crushed!

The giant spider Abochild, hovering beside the battlefield, silently watched the scene, its eight jewel-like eyes gleaming slightly as it seemed to be contemplating whether to immediately halt the battle.

However, just as Chaplin's greatsword fell, and everyone thought the battle was about to end, and the unstoppable rising star Dargo would be left with a bloodied and battered appearance, his life cut short.

"Crackling sounds!!"

A sound like something was being rapidly burned and frozen could be heard.

"Um?!"

Chaplin, who was standing very close to the voice, showed a hint of surprise in his eyes, but did not stop his heavy sword. Just as the heavy sword was about to strike the head of the sand pile in front of him, a cluster of intense and thick ice flames suddenly sprang out from the brownish sand.

The sudden appearance of this cluster of blue flames was like cracking a fissure in a thick crust of sand, and the fissure expanded at an incredible speed.

"boom!"

An indescribable surge of cold air poured out from the sand shell, instantly leaving countless tangible frozen marks in the surrounding air.

The thick sand shell exploded into countless grains of sand, and in the rising dust, a slender figure bathed in a foot-long, ghostly blue flame was revealed.

The figure's flesh was covered in twisted blue patterns, its muscles bulged, and its whole body was engulfed in raging blue flames. The surrounding air collapsed and caved in, and the light was distorted beyond recognition. Even just seeing it with the naked eye gave people a strong sense of suffocating oppression.

Chaplin's heavy metal sword was being held between the figure's hands, a feat of catching a blade barehanded.