Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

Dago hovered in mid-air, his feet no longer on simple soil or rocks, but on a vast realm woven together by countless intricate rune energy paths.

These light paths, like still-pulsating blood vessels, transported a terrifyingly vast magical power, forcibly stitching together the originally four independent arenas into an ultimate stage large enough to accommodate the battle of war behemoths.

As the curtain rose on the second round of the competition, this four-in-one arena became the sole focus of the world, naturally attracting all eyes.

This area is unusually large, even somewhat empty.

Dago stood in a position that wasn't exactly on the edge, but even so, there was still a straight-line distance of two kilometers between him and the wizards in the spectator seats belonging to the Dark Crystal Cult directly opposite him.

At this distance, even those viewers with eagle eyes would only see a blurry black dot at the edge of their field of vision.

The surrounding noise was diluted by the vast spatial distance, and the whispers, exclamations, and even malicious curses of the watching wizards were all silenced.

By the time the noise reached Dago's ears, it had become distant and distorted, as if he were listening to the commotion on the shore through a thick film of water.

This unusual emptiness and silence gave Dargo the illusion that he was abandoned on a deserted island at the end of the world.

Or perhaps they stood in the center of the courtroom on trial day.

Above their heads, six artificial light sources, known as the "Days of Miracles," hung high in the sky.

They weren't warm; instead, they emitted a cold, solemn white light, which descended downwards.

Like a tangible spotlight, it locked Dargo's figure firmly in the center of the stage.

He was like a protagonist about to perform a one-man show, forcibly pushed to the front of the stage, while countless pairs of greedy, scrutinizing, and expectant eyes lurked in the pitch-black night, waiting for him to shed his blood on the spot.

The spectators' necks are always stretched out as if lifted by an invisible hand, and these wizards today are probably the same.

"Clatter—"

An extremely subtle, almost illusory sound gently tugged at the depths of Dago's senses.

Suddenly, Dago felt a spotlight flash above his head.

This flickering is not due to an unstable light source, but rather more like... a grander will, blinking as it gazes upon this place.

He subconsciously looked up, squinting at the six "Days of Miracles," his gaze piercing through the blinding white light as he tried to decipher the truth behind them.

However, apart from its usual majesty, vastness, breadth, and silence, he captured nothing else.

The light remained constant, and the runes continued to operate on their predetermined paths, with no physical evidence of any abnormality.

The fluctuations he had just felt seemed to be just an illusion.

However, some high-ranking wizards outside the arena interpreted this scene in a completely different way.

"Did he notice?"

High in the stands, a glint of light flashed in the cloudy eyes of a withered old wizard.

He whispered to the person beside him, "The energy circuit of 'Day of Miracles' was undergoing a minor adjustment every hour. The frequency fluctuations were so subtle that even a third-ring wizard would have difficulty detecting them without deliberately scanning with their mental power. This Dargo... he actually looked up just on instinct?"

"Not only that," a middle-aged witch in a magnificent robe beside her frowned slightly, her folding fan lightly covering her mouth, "look at his eyes. There's no fear, no doubt, only a kind of 'scrutiny.' He's scrutinizing the structure of the 'Day of Miracles'..."

This is definitely not the composure a second-ring wizard should have.

Could it be that he has already seen through the energy flow of the arena's light path and is looking for an opportunity to utilize the power of the environment? This young man is cunning and not to be underestimated.

Meanwhile, several young apprentices in the Dark Crystal Cult seats looked astonished, as if they had discovered a new continent.

"Look! Dago is defying the 'rules'!" an apprentice exclaimed in a low voice. "He's telling everyone with his eyes that even the 'Sun of Miracles' overhead can't suppress his spiritual intuition! He's so arrogant, but also so terrifying... Is this the man who can suppress the blood of the Balrog?"

Little did Dagger know that his subconscious head tilt had been interpreted by the audience as a brilliant psychological drama of "understanding the rules and defying authority."

He simply found it a bit too bright and looked away.

Just then, a calm yet extremely penetrating voice came from two kilometers directly in front of him and reached his ears without any obstruction.

"What are you looking at?"

The voice was completely devoid of any warmth or hostility; it contained neither provocative anger nor the tension of impending battle. It was as natural as a neighbor asking you in the morning if you'd eaten.

Dago withdrew his gaze from the sky, leveled his eyes, and looked in the direction from which the sound came.

What came into view was a seemingly unremarkable opponent.

He was a young man of medium build, with messy short gray-green hair and a typical harmless baby face. He looked to be only in his early twenties.

If you didn't look at the robe he was wearing, embroidered with water ripples, just by his appearance, most people would probably think he was just a clueless apprentice who had just graduated from the academy.

However, in this wizarding world full of lies and pretense, appearance is often the most deceptive thing.

The truth is quite the opposite.

"Yadal Eugene"

The name came to mind, accompanied by a series of incredibly detailed information.

The Water Palace is the undisputed number one genius of this generation.

You could even say that he was practically the greatest genius of the previous generation.

Because this young wizard named Yadar's actual soul age is very close to the threshold of one hundred years old.

He was probably thirty to forty years older than the average age of the wizards participating in this competition.

In the mortal world, this is the difference between grandfather and grandson; but in the wizarding world, it represents the accumulated knowledge and experience of an entire generation.

In a sense, he can be considered a "senior," but since he is not actually over a hundred years old, he is still considered a "genius."

Age, in the wizard's path, represents the most terrifying wealth.

The older one gets, the deeper one's accumulation in certain areas may become, such as knowledge, experience, methods, and proficiency in spells.

These are all hidden strengths that cannot be discerned from the surface level of mental power.

That means more experimental data, a larger knowledge base, and insidious methods honed through countless brushes with death.

This is bound to be a tough opponent, and also the first opponent of the third ring level that Dago has encountered so far.

"I've heard that you possess powerful ancient bloodlines, even capable of suppressing the ancient fire demon blood of the Lava Brotherhood's Sargiel family."

With his naturally baby-faced appearance, Yadar's smile is innocent and harmless, like chatting with an old friend.

With his hands behind his back, he strolled leisurely through the void for a couple of steps, then said to Dago, "Hurry up and activate it, let me have a good look at it."

That tone sounded like an elder mentoring a younger person, but it was actually full of condescending arrogance and probing.

He was using words to pressure Dago, trying to disrupt Dago's mindset before the fight even began, to induce Dago to reveal all his cards and fall into his rhythm.

However, Dargo's reaction was completely unexpected by everyone.

Dago didn't respond, but calmly reached out and gently touched the blue diamond earring on his left earlobe.

He showed no anger, no rebuttal, and not even a flicker of emotion in his expression.

He was like a bottomless pool of stagnant water, silently swallowing the stones that Yadar threw in.

"He's ignoring Yadar!" The audience erupted again. "Faced with the intimidation of a third-ring wizard, he didn't even bother to reply? What kind of confidence is this, or what kind of arrogance?"

“No, you don’t understand,” a seemingly profound wizard analyzed, a pipe in his hand. “Dago is ‘building up his power.’ He’s telling Yadar that your verbal attacks are ineffective against me, and that your presence cannot shake my will.”

He's using silence to build his own psychological defenses! This is true mastery of strategy!

Just as the audience was making wild guesses, the sky and earth in the center of the arena changed color.

"Buzz—"

Streaks of blue light flew out from the earring, accompanied by a deep humming sound.

The streams of light were not chaotic, but rather like sentient fish, with each stream representing a component of a magic item set.

Shoulder armor, wrist guards, breastplate, leg guards, boots...

A total of ten magical artifacts, like sophisticated mechanical devices, automatically donned onto Dago's body.

The runes interlocked, producing a crisp "crack" sound, like the cracking of a glacier.

In an instant, a heavy and magnificent set of ice crystal armor completely enveloped Dago, solidifying into a thick ice crystal armor, with a waterfall of light draped down.

Once the entire [Eternal Night Frostmark] artifact set was donned, a stunningly beautiful ice crystal iris pattern appeared on Dago's smooth, full forehead, subtly revealed.

It exudes an ancient and noble aura, as if it were the coronation mark of some winter king.

"boom--"

A massive, icy aura emanated from Dago, whipping his long hair; the aura was incredibly intense.

So much so that even the air two kilometers away was instantly frozen, emitting a deafening crackling sound.

A frigid force field, tens of meters in diameter, suddenly formed around him, within which countless ice crystals and snowflakes automatically condensed.

They do not follow the rules of gravity, but instead slowly rotate around Dago, falling down endlessly.

"My God! That's a magic item set! And it's... fully activated?!" In the audience of the Dark Crystal Cult, someone couldn't help but stand up, their voice trembling.

"How is this possible? That's the infamous 'Mana Black Hole' artifact set! Even a third-ring early-stage wizard couldn't maintain full power while fighting! How could he, a second-ring mid-stage wizard, possibly support it?!"

"Looking at his mental energy fluctuations... how can they be so stable? It's as if... as if this kind of exertion is as simple as breathing for him?"

"This is terrifying... He doesn't take Yadar seriously at all! He immediately activated his strongest defensive stance, which is a declaration—I'm utterly fearless of your attacks!"

In reality, Dago simply felt that wearing his best gear made him feel safer when facing opponents in the third ring.

After advancing to the mid-stage of the second ring, thanks to his superior mental strength compared to his peers, as well as the powerful mental strength recovery effect of [Winter's Silence], Dago was finally able to wear the entire set.

The fully activated [Eternal Night Frost Mark] artifact set brings an unprecedented tenfold increase in the power of ice magic!

In this state, every snowflake around Dago is enough to cut through steel; every gust of cold air is enough to crack rocks.

In this state, Dago is even stronger than a typical late-stage second-ring wizard, greatly bridging the gap between him and Yadar.

Yadar simply smiled at Dago's actions, a puzzled look appearing on his fair, doll-like face.

He showed no panic or surprise, but rather an expression that was a mixture of pity, mockery, and a certain unfathomable depth.

He shook his head slightly, as if looking at a child wielding a wooden sword, thinking himself invincible.

"It seems you don't know much about Third Ring Wizards."