Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

It's unclear how long Undine hasn't left the tower, or if she's just naturally a bit oblivious, but she didn't even know her wizard friend had been missing for a century, and thought he had simply lost contact with her.

In that case, Undine's letter of introduction was completely useless, and she would have to figure out how to handle things on her own, relying on the old pillar of support.

My current strength largely stems from utilizing the power of the unknown ancient pillars within the Sea of ​​Despair in my mental space. To some extent, my combat power is inflated and carries a great deal of uncontrollable risk.

Using the boundless power of emotions from the spirit world could lead to demonic corruption, so one must find a power to restrain the sea of ​​despair from polluting one's soul.

A large part of the purpose of coming to Ice Castle was to develop the ancient power within himself. According to the confidential information given to him by Undine, there was a wizarding family in Ice Castle who possessed the ability to control the ancient power of the spirit world.

After all, the Ice Palace successfully sealed away the greedy demon Mamentos, and the Ice Fortress inherited some of their technology.

Although the past in the Sea of ​​Despair within his mental space may be a past of severe injury or death, what he needs is the power of absolute safety.

Seeing that Dago had been sitting at the table in silence for a long time, the brown-haired wizard broker cautiously spoke up: "Sir, if you just want to restrict the old technology, you don't necessarily have to go through the Huntington family. We can do it just as well."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Dago's eyes flickered, and he looked up at the middle-aged man in front of him with a slightly surprised expression.

Seeing that Dago was interested, the wizard broker quickly began to introduce the situation.

After listening to his explanation, Dago realized that the Ice Castle's unique technology for controlling the old was actually completely different from what he had imagined.

Before coming to Ice Castle, Dago always thought that the so-called "Control of the Old Ones" was a very secret technology, firmly controlled by the major wizard families of Ice Castle. Ordinary people would have to pay a huge price to obtain it, or have the face of a miracle wizard like Undine.

As it turned out, the wizard broker revealed that the "restraint of ancient technology" was indeed firmly controlled by a few major wizard families. However, any wizard who came to Ice Castle and could afford magic stones could undergo bloodline modification to suppress the invasion of ancient powers from the spirit world.

Essentially, it's about fighting poison with poison, using the remnants of ancient demonic beasts' bloodline to restrain the invasion of the spirit world's ancient powers.

Almost every year, a large number of wizards specializing in ice magic come to Ice Castle to modify their physical bloodlines in order to increase their strength. Under the operation of the major wizard families in Ice Castle, this technology has long formed a complete and mature "service chain".

As for the so-called letter of introduction in Dago's possession, it was completely superfluous and dispensable.

"However, sir, your timing is unfortunate. Most of the ice-type magical beasts on the ice plains that are suitable for bloodline transplantation are hibernating this season. Each family doesn't have many slots available for modification. I need to find out if there are any vacancies first."

Ice Castle's wizard broker added.

Dago glanced at him and asked casually, "What's your name?"

"Quinn Peter".

The wizard broker answered quickly.

Dago casually tossed him a mid-grade magic stone, saying, "Hurry up, I don't want to wait too long."

Quinn Peter's wizard broker, beaming with delight, pocketed the magic stone given to him by Dago, nodding quickly and saying, "Don't worry, sir, you won't have to wait long." With that, he hurried away.

Indeed, Dago didn't have to wait long.

Dago had thought it would take at least a few days, but Quinn returned in the time it took to drink two cups of hot tea at the tavern.

He handed Dagger several sheets of neatly ironed parchment, on which some information was clearly listed in beautiful handwriting.

"On our Peter family's side, the only remaining second-ring slot is the Blue Claw Griffin, while the first-ring slots are the Six-Legged Ice Salamander, Frost Wolf, and Aran Ice Bat."

As Dago listened to Quinn's explanation, he flipped through the contents of the parchment.

Quinn introduced different magical beasts, representing different types of talents that could be obtained through bloodline modification technology. After looking at them all, Dago found that these so-called bloodline powers were basically "instant spell casting"—instantly casting the ice-type spell that the corresponding magical beast was best at.

The different types of talents are actually just different instant-cast ice spells.

For example, modifying the bloodline of the six-legged ice salamander allows one to instantly unleash Frost Torrent, comparable to a first-tier spell, while the bloodline of the Frost Wolf allows for the instant-cast "Explosive Ice Bomb".

The Aran Icebat possesses a bloodline trait that can be acquired by transplanting any magical beast: it increases a wizard's affinity for ice-type energy particles to a certain extent.

In other words, if Dago completes the bloodline modification, he will likely become an "ice-attribute energy affinity physique". Once the innate characteristics of the bloodline modification are exhausted, he will return to his original state.

The parchment also specifically points out that this technique will cause certain side effects, namely, regardless of whether the transplant is successful or not, it will cause a certain degree of pollution to mental and spiritual power.

After reading through the entire contents of the parchment, Dago frowned slightly. Not only did Ice Castle's bloodline transplantation technology not significantly improve strength, but it also had a host of limitations and side effects.

The contamination of mental energy and soul is a bit troublesome, but we can find a way to solve it later. The Mirror Forest Secret Realm is about to open, so it would be good to temporarily improve combat power. Moreover, Undine and Bernal both suggested that I come here, simply for this technology.

After thinking it over, Dago finally decided to give it a try. However, since he had decided to modify his bloodline, he naturally wanted to choose a good one.

The first-ring monsters were directly excluded by Dago, and the only choice for the second-ring monsters was the Blueclaw Griffin, which is a dual-elemental monster of ice and wind. Its innate spells are also dual-elemental mixed spells, which are not enough to restrain the power of the Old Pillars.

"Is there really no other choice for second-ring Warcraft?"

Dago put down the parchment and asked Quinn.

The latter shook his head. "At this time of year, the only Blueclaw Griffins that can be caught in the Ice Plains are these. If you're not in a hurry, you can wait three months. After three months, there will be more second-ring magical beasts to choose from."

Dago definitely can't wait three months.

Dago took out a high-grade magic stone and placed it in front of Quinn, calmly saying, "I believe you have a way. Help me inquire about the situation of other families."

Quinn quickly picked up the magic stone that Dago had placed on the table and stuffed it into his pocket. He glanced around, leaned closer to Dago, and whispered, "The other families are in similar situations to us. But I can ask a few individual wizards for you, sir."

"Can individual wizards also master this kind of technology?"

Dago was surprised.

Quinn explained, "The core knowledge of bloodline modification was originally shared by all wizard families in the entire Ice Fortress. Later, some families declined and their population dwindled, and now only one or two people remain in White Stone Fortress. These wizards do not need a lot of resources to support the operation of the entire family, and they will only occasionally accept one or two requests for bloodline modification. Therefore, they usually accumulate a lot of suitable ice-type magical beast bloodlines, which gives adults a much wider range of choices."

"Okay, you take care of it for me."

Quinn patted his chest and assured him that he had it covered.

What followed was another long waiting period, this time lasting a full month.

During this time, Ronan kept hearing news that wizards were carrying out bloodline modifications overseen by certain families, including a group of magic ring wizards who had come with him.

It is said that five people failed.

Dago had secretly observed his fellow warriors, and from their appearance alone, the wizards who had successfully undergone bloodline modification did not have any obvious characteristics.

The only difference from before is that the icy aura surrounding him is much stronger, making him more like a "genius wizard" with a single elemental affinity.

After completing the ceremony, the magic ring wizards quickly left the Ice Castle. Bloodline modification technology is expensive, and these people were probably willing to invest heavily in themselves in order to gain greater benefits from the upcoming opening of the Mirror Forest Secret Realm.

Meanwhile, Dago was still waiting patiently, and there was still no news from Quinn.