Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

"boom!"

Golden light surged in like a tide, forcibly erasing all colors within sight with its domineering golden hue.

Before the hideous phantom of the Despairing Winter Dragon could even utter a mournful cry, it disintegrated into the most primordial energy particles the instant it made contact.

The swirling dark blue frost, like snowflakes splashed into lava, instantly vaporized.

The space seemed to be groaning, as if it could not withstand this force.

Dago retreated rapidly.

He carved two bottomless furrows into the enchanted rock beneath his feet.

On his right arm, the wounds that had been eroded to the bone by the force field of the miracle artifact were visibly writhing and intertwining with granulation tissue.

He squinted, his pupils contracting, trying to pierce through the blinding brilliance and glimpse the enemy's true face.

There was no human figure at the center of the light.

Only the blazing sun.

One.

Two.

Three...

Dago's breath hitched, and his heart felt as if it were being squeezed tightly by a cold, large hand.

The light spots reflected on his retina were frantically assaulting his bottom line of understanding of the truth about wizardry.

As the surging golden light receded like the tide, the arena had been transformed.

This place is no longer an arena for earthly gladiatorial combat, but the palace of the gods.

Michael floated in the air, his toes three inches off the ground—that was the boundary between gods and men.

She wore an ancient golden armor with openwork patterns, and her originally cold and beautiful face now only showed a divine indifference.

And around her was a breathtaking ring of stars.

That is the crystallization of the soul.

Each one emanated a terrifying aura powerful enough to crush the void.

Someone was silently counting while trembling.

"one two three……"

His voice grew increasingly hoarse until he reached that despairing number.

"ten?!"

After a deathly silence, the stands erupted in a deafening roar.

"How could there possibly be ten?!"

A veteran third-circle wizard from the south stood up in a fit of rage, knocking over a potion bottle beside him, the sound of shattering glass particularly jarring.

"The limit of the three rings is nine! This is an ironclad rule! It is the foundation of truth!"

"Could she have broken through the miracle barrier? No... something's wrong with her aura; she's still within the third ring realm!"

Common sense has been trampled on, and cognition has been overturned.

Countless faces were filled with horror, confusion, and an instinctive fear of the unknown forces.

If nine represents the ultimate, then ten represents perfection.

It is breaking free from constraints, it is defying fate.

Inside the Jade Court's compound, several young wizards dressed in fine clothes curled their lips into a mocking smile.

They looked at the panicked Southern natives around them with a sense of superiority in their eyes.

"A frog at the bottom of a well."

Fink flicked his nails, the sound soft yet precisely penetrating the eardrums of those around him. "Never even heard of the 'Wizards' Forbidden Zone,' yet you dare to discuss the truth?"

"That is the ultimate manifestation of talent, the ultimate blossoming of the potential deep within the soul."

The silver-haired witch's eyes were filled with fervor, as if she were gazing upon her faith. "Only geniuses who truly possess the qualities of a 'King' are qualified to step into that realm before miracles."

The tenth soul crystal.

It is not merely an accumulation of power, but a rehearsal for a leap in the level of life.

Having it means that after embarking on a journey of miracles, you will possess an invincible foundation that can crush those of the same level.

This is the real Michael.

This is the true prodigy of the Central Wizarding World, a high wall that inspires despair.

on the platform.

Michael gently raised his hand, and ten soul crystals slowly rotated above her head like satellites, showering her with golden light, as if crowning her.

"Now, do you see it clearly?"

Her voice was cool and detached, devoid of sarcasm, simply stating the facts with calm.

"This is the insurmountable barrier between you and me called 'talent'."

Dago did not speak.

He forcefully suppressed the dizziness surging in his mind, and deep within his eyes, a dark blue light flickered wildly.

escape?

No, we haven't lost yet.

As long as you're not dead, you haven't lost!

The air was slightly distorted.

Dago's figure suddenly faded and disappeared from the spot.

There is no casting animation; it's purely a matter of physical speed combined with spatial refraction.

however.

Michael didn't even lift an eyelid.

She simply raised her right hand casually, her slender fingers gently grasping at the air.

"Certainly."

Five golden halos flew from her fingertips, like five shooting stars streaking across the void.

There is no discernible pattern.

next moment.

"Bang!"

A dull thud sounded thirty meters to the left of where Dago had disappeared.

The void trembled, and a disheveled figure was forcibly forced out.

Dago.

At this moment, he appeared strange and humiliated.

Five halos, seemingly crafted from gilded metal, gripped his neck, wrists, and ankles respectively.

The golden ring contracted, digging deeply into the flesh, its runes flashing as it weighed a ton.

He was "nailed" in mid-air, like a prisoner awaiting punishment.

"Click click click—"

The black flesh-body magic runes around Dago surged wildly, and his muscle fibers bulged out like tightly twisted steel cables.

His bones were groaning as he tried to break free of his shackles with sheer brute force.

But the golden ring didn't budge; instead, it tightened even more, severing the blood vessel, and fresh blood dripped down the ring.

Michael treads on the void, and with each step she takes, a golden lotus flower blooms beneath her feet to support her battle boots.

She walked in step by step, her steps elegant and composed.

"it's useless."

She looked at Dago, who was still struggling desperately, and a hint of regret flashed in her eyes, but more than that, a condescending pity.

What I said before still stands.

"As long as you nod."

Michael stopped twenty meters away from Dago, the ten soul crystals behind her shining brightly, making her appear sacred and inviolable.

"The secrets to purifying spiritual power, the mysteries of venturing into the 'forbidden zone of wizards,' and even the legacy of Isidore that you've always dreamed of..."

She stretched out one hand, palm up, as if bestowing a favor.

"Obey me, follow me."

"Dago Heca, be my sword, be my shield."

"What I can give you is far more than you can imagine in this barren south."

lure.

Naked temptation.

For any wizard seeking truth, Michael's offer was enough to make them sell their souls.

The sound of countless people swallowing their saliva could be heard from outside the arena.

If it were them, they probably would have knelt down and kissed Michael's boots long ago.

But the only response she received was a crisp cracking sound of bone breaking.

"Snap!"

Dago broke the bones in his right wrist himself.

Using the gap caused by the misalignment of his bones, he frantically twisted his arms, trying to pull himself out of the gold ring.

The excruciating pain caused his facial muscles to twitch slightly, but his eyes shone with an alarming intensity.

It's like a lone wolf trapped in a cage, yet still wanting to bite the hunter's throat.

He couldn't hear Michael's words.

Or rather, he didn't bother to listen.

Strength obtained through begging is not true strength.

That's a dog leash.

The regret in Michael's eyes vanished instantly, replaced by a chilling coldness.

"Stubborn and obstinate."

She withdrew her hand, and countless golden lights began to weave and compress wildly in her palm.

A magnificent, extravagantly designed golden bow took shape amidst the light.

There were no arrows.

She gripped the bowstring with two fingers and slowly pulled it back.

hum-

The surrounding space began to collapse, and all the light was forcibly plundered by the bow.

A golden arrow of light, composed entirely of compressed high-energy particles, condensed on the bowstring.

The arrowhead pointed directly at Dago's heart.

"Thump!"

Outside the arena, countless wizards clutched their chests, their faces pale.

That's an illusion of heart resonance.

Even through the defensive barrier, they still felt a suffocating sense of impending death.

It was as if the arrow had not struck Dago, but rather the lives of all of them.

"This is……"

A miracle wizard's pupils constricted sharply. "The nascent form of rules?!"

Above Michael's head, golden lightning churned in the clouds, faintly outlining some mysterious symbols.

This is no ordinary third-circle spell.

This was a strike that touched the threshold of "miracle," triggering a resonance with the laws of heaven and earth.

Faced with this arrow, all defenses and physical bodies are as fragile as paper.

Dago stopped struggling.

The runes on the five golden rings shone brightly, suppressing him completely, making it impossible for him to move even a finger.

The feeling of being abandoned by the world and locked in by death overwhelmed his senses like a tidal wave.

"Then let me have it."

Michael drew the bowstring to its fullest extent, the bow creaking under the strain, and a terrifying energy surge caused the surrounding air to ignite.

She coldly looked down at that stubborn figure.

"Completely shatter your pathetic, laughable, and meaningless pride."

Let go.

collapse--!

The sound of the bowstring vibrating was like the death knell.

Golden lightning bolts rained down with the arrow, leaving only this single beam of light in the world.

A light that can penetrate and purify everything.

A certain death trap.

Everyone closed their eyes, unable to bear the sight of that genius's demise.

Except for Dago.

In the last thousandth of a second before the golden light obscured the view.

No one noticed that the gold ring binding his right hand was already covered with fine cracks due to his previous frenzied self-harm.

Under this immense pressure, the crack finally burst open.

"Snapped!"

The right hand is freed.

Dago neither blocked nor dodged.

As the devastating golden light descended upon him, his right hand, dripping with blood and broken bone fragments, pressed fiercely and recklessly against his left chest.

Five fingers, like hooks, pierced deeply into the flesh.

It was as if something more important than life itself was hidden there.

Twist it hard!

"Click click click—"

A tooth-grinding scraping sound rang out.

It didn't sound like flesh and blood being torn apart; it sounded more like a rusty iron door being forcibly pushed open, or like a key turning some ancient, forbidden lock.

An aura deeper than darkness and heavier than despair burst forth from the bloody hole in his chest.

Dago tilted his head back.

A ferocious and fanatical smile appeared on that face stained with blood and dust.

He stared directly at the golden light that was about to vaporize him, his lips moving slightly as he uttered a low, devilish whisper.

"Before you take me completely..."

"Help me win this one too!"

"The Overlord of the Sea of ​​Despair—"

"Behemoth!"