Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

"Boom!"

The earth trembled and shook, and a huge white shockwave erupted from the center of the battle, spreading outwards and causing large swathes of trees to fall.

Dago did not use any wizarding magic, relying solely on his physical strength to fight the giant ice serpent.

This battle was like two ancient, primordial beasts wrestling hand-to-hand, fighting fiercely and quickly leaving the surrounding forest in ruins.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"Bang!"

Dago and the Great Ice Serpent clashed head-on time and time again. Their fighting styles were extremely savage, a pure contest of physical strength, as well as a struggle for control over the ice-type energy particles in the air.

Even in his transformed state, Dago still holds the upper hand.

However, it must be said that the Great Ice Serpent truly lives up to its reputation as an ancient and exotic species; its growth rate is simply outrageous.

Dago only went to the Mirror Forest once, and the round trip took only a few days. Yet, the latter has already grown to the level of a mid-second-ring magical beast.

"boom--"

Dago blasted the massive ice serpent away with a single punch. His fist, enveloped in blazing flames, shattered the ice crystal scales on its body and drew blood from its flesh.

The latter roared in pain, but its ferocity intensified. Its bloodline seemed to be revitalized, and a powerful force surged within it. It immediately tried to pounce on Dago again.

Dago remained expressionless, squinted his eyes, and slowly gathered his strength.

When faced with such a wild and untamed ancient species, you have to beat it until it is completely afraid of you, until it is hurt and defeated, before you can truly subdue it.

This process might be a bit long for the Great Ice Serpent, which is still in a period of rapid growth, but... Dago has plenty of time and patience.

Dago took a deep breath, raised his arms, and mysterious, ancient energy flowed around him, causing the surrounding void to appear thick and distorted.

He was like a fully drawn bow, the power on the bowstring now accumulated to an incredible and terrifying level.

Finally, he threw a punch with all his might.

"boom!"

A deafening roar erupted, and a dense black light flashed across Dago's fist. A collapsing "black hole" appeared directly where his fist landed.

Immediately following, the compressed power exploded completely, leaving a bright, visible vacuum trail in the air, stretching forward at lightning speed like a meteor, and instantly striking the large ice serpent not far away.

The giant ice serpent, over fifty meters long and more than four meters thick, with a body so coiled it could almost encircle a small mountain, exploded at the head, leaving behind a cloud of ice crystal fragments mixed with crimson blood.

Then the entire massive snake body was thrown backward uncontrollably, flying hundreds of meters away.

"Boom!"

The giant ice serpent landed, sweeping a large, flat clearing in the dense primeval forest. It rolled around in a pathetic state, followed by mournful howls and roars.

Dago breathed heavily, feeling a sense of exhaustion he hadn't experienced in a long time.

The power of this punch was far beyond his imagination, but the energy it consumed was also unprecedented.

He completely broke free from the [Ice Flame Blue Demon Body] state, having consumed half of his stamina.

At this moment, Dago felt a surge of joy and anticipation.

The mainstream belief in the wizarding world is the pursuit of the immortality of the soul, while the physical body has always been looked down upon, or even despised.

Dago did not want to give up on any path of cultivation; he pursued both paths simultaneously.

He sighed, slowly calming his physical exhaustion.

Dago's face regained its composure, his gaze locked onto the shape of the giant ice serpent, and he approached it.

The moment he unleashed his full power, his battle with the giant ice serpent was over.

The giant ice serpent, which had taken a full-force punch head-on, was severely injured. A large piece of scale on the top of its enormous head was almost completely shattered, its skull was dented, and even its ice crystal horn, which was over a meter long, appeared dull and lackluster.

Seeing Dago approach, the giant ice serpent struggled to its feet, still facing him with its defiant attitude, but its eyes now held an undeniable hint of fear and horror.

It's estimated that with its naive little snake brain, it couldn't possibly understand why such a thin and tiny human body could repeatedly unleash terrifying power that exceeded its comprehension.

"This is a good start."

Dago caught the tremor in the eyes of the giant ice serpent.

Having fear is a good thing.

Fear accumulates little by little, until it surpasses the rebelliousness and arrogance in its bones, that is the day when Dago truly tames it.

In a sense, signing the "soul wager agreement" is a good thing for both Dago and the Great Ice Serpent.

There is always something chasing after Dago, which will not slow down his pace forward. The Great Ice Serpent, on the other hand, always has a goal to catch up with and try to surpass, and its growth rate will be far greater than that of its ordinary kin.

"It's a pity you didn't seize this opportunity."

Dago walked to the giant ice serpent, spread his five fingers towards its wound, and thin, sharp blue ice crystals shot out from Dago's fingertips, deeply piercing the giant ice serpent's flesh.

"The next time I give you a chance to challenge me, it won't be so easy. Every time you challenge me, be prepared to pay the price if you fail."

As its blood essence was extracted once more, the giant ice serpent hissed in pain, but offered no resistance.

It stared intently at Dago, its eyes seeming to hold even deeper resentment and obsession.

Dago met its gaze without flinching and calmly said, "If you are willing to formally acknowledge me as your master, I promise to purify your bloodline and give you the possibility of further reversion to your ancestral form."

As soon as Ronan uttered those words, the Great Ice Serpent's eyes froze, and then a look of hesitation, struggle, and inner conflict flashed within them.

Dago didn't bother with it anymore, took the blood, and turned to leave.

The Great Ice Serpent knew of the existence of the Blood Tree of the Imprisoning God, and Dago deliberately used this as a bargaining chip to lure it, launching a psychological attack to break it down, coupled with repeated physical suppression. It seems that the day when the Great Ice Serpent completely submits is not far off.

After dealing with the Great Ice Serpent, Dago was planning to return to Bernal's place.

Suddenly, a communication stone rippled from within the spatial ring.

Dago took it out to check and found that the message came from Undine.

His eyes flashed, and after reading the message on the communication stone, he immediately changed direction and hurriedly headed to Cletam City.

Undine summoned him to the front lines of the Mirror Forest ruins, which should also be coming to an end.

"I learned of your achievements from Carlos, the pillar of the second tallest tower. Dago, you are far more outstanding than I expected!"

Undine, with her long, slightly wavy hair flowing smoothly down to the carpet and an aura as radiant as the starry night and the bright moon, sat in the center of a huge bookshelf surrounded on three sides, looking at Dargo with a complex yet gratified gaze.

Dargo read not only admiration in Undine's eyes, but also a surprise and expectation that he could not understand.

"It seems your bloodline has been further stimulated, and you are actually able to suppress the bloodline of the Lava Brotherhood's Sargiers family."

Undine paused here, then solemnly warned Dagger, "From now on, never easily provide your bloodline to others for research, no matter how high the price they pay!"

Dago nodded. After listening to Undine's long list of instructions, she finally steered the conversation toward a topic that interested him.

"This exploration of the frontline area went even more smoothly than expected, and we obtained two Miracle-tier magical artifacts."

Two Miracle-Rank Magical Items?!

Dago was surprised.

A Miracle-tier silver staff appeared on the second line. I didn't expect that two would appear on the front line at once. It truly lives up to its reputation as the most core area.

Undine noticed Dargo's surprise and smiled wryly, "Actually, we unearthed far more than two, but we only managed to get two. The rest escaped. Magical artifacts that have developed their own spiritual consciousness are very difficult to tame, let alone space and mirror-type magical artifacts, which are best at escaping. To be honest, getting two in the end is already a pleasant surprise."

Dago couldn't help but ask, "Was that Miracle-tier artifact unearthed on the second excavation site ultimately captured?"

No.

Undine shook her head, and Dargo felt a slight sense of relief.

At this moment, he heard Undine say, "Besides that, we also found a complete spatial mirror magic inheritance, and a broken World Stone!"

When Dago heard the words "Complete Space Mirror Magic Inheritance", his heart skipped a beat.

When the Ancient Mirror Forest left, it took away the vast majority of its inherited knowledge. Before that, no complete magical inheritance had ever flowed out from the Mirror Forest. If his understanding is correct, this should be the first case to date.

It is also the only window through which all the wizards in the south can glimpse the mysteries of ancient space and mirror magic.

Before Dago could even feel a spark of interest, his expression turned somewhat strange and odd.

When Undine uttered the words "World Stone," Dargo clearly felt a mark on the back of his right hand twitch slightly.

After a slight hesitation, Dargo told Undine in detail about how he had accidentally obtained the marked brand in a waste liquid tank in a wizard's laboratory in the second line.

Undine made him extend his hand, carefully examined the markings on the back of Dargo's hand, and finally concluded that, "Dargo, what you have on your hand is the coordinate of a World Stone."

Dago was stunned when he heard the answer.

Undine then began to teach him about the "World Stone".

"...This world is not as simple as it seems. Besides the world we live in now, there are many other worlds that exist independently, and the World Stone is the bridge connecting the two worlds, the key to unlocking another world space."

Undine raised her hand and rubbed out two different colored, bubble-like orbs of light. She gently touched the two orbs with her finger, and light was generated, connecting the two orbs.

"But the way the World Stone opens the passage to another world is random, because any world other than this world is a completely unfamiliar and unknown existence to the wizard."

No one knows what kind of world awaits behind the door once the key turns and the passage opens. The process is fraught with risk; you might find yourself in a treasure trove of unlimited resources, or you might face endless calamities.

"As the inheritor of spatial magic, it is not surprising that Mirror Forest began researching World Stones early on and conducted experiments to explore otherworldly spaces, judging from the words 'forbidden' and 'failure' that you obtained in the laboratory, as well as this broken and ultimately abandoned World Stone."

I suspect that after the Ancient Mirror Forest opened the gate to another world, it probably had a rather unpleasant experience, which may explain why the Mirror Garden hastily moved away.

Undine's expression turned serious, her eyes flashing rapidly as she said, "A world that could force even a powerful place like the Ancient Mirror Forest to destroy its gates and abandon its home, the calamity behind that gate might be beyond everyone's imagination."

The information you provided is extremely important, Dago. Those people were even thinking about how to repair the Worldstone as quickly as possible.

I need to inform people about this as soon as possible.

Undine muttered to herself in a hurried tone for a while, and finally her gaze fell on the back of Dago's hand. She said, "What you got should be the spatial coordinates of that unknown calamity world. But don't be nervous. Without the World Stone, the coordinates are just coordinates and won't have any effect on you."

Don't worry about it; it will probably fade away on its own over time.

"By the way, don't tell anyone about these coordinates."

Some people in this world are so crazy and ambitious that you can't even imagine them...

Seeing Undine's solemn expression, Dago nodded solemnly as well.

He looked down at the back of his right hand, where a strange, arrow-like mark was faintly visible beneath the skin.

It's hard to imagine that this is actually half a key to unlocking an unknown world.

Such things seem somewhat distant to him now.

He lowered his hand and hid the back of his hand under his wide robe.

At this point, Undine began to tell him something else.