Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

"Juventus..."

"Truly worthy of being... the only bloodline of His Majesty the Black Witch King..."

"The Tower of Knowledge, the Tower of Magic, the Tower of the Soul."

In the dark, silent, and truly void space, Dago slowly opened his eyes and thoroughly digested the Juventus video information that he had actively received in his mind.

He raised his head again, scrutinizing the three magnificent towers that exuded a terrifying aura with a more critical gaze.

His deep black eyes gleamed with rationality and contemplation.

"Are these three towers respectively corresponding to the three core factions of Spirit Mirror Lake—the Deep Sea, the Flame, and the Black Moon—as rumored in the outside world?"

Dago asked in a low voice in his mind.

"Ha, I thought that after so many years, these self-proclaimed leaders of the wizarding world, who claim to be at the forefront of truth, would be able to come up with some new and eye-catching methods when recruiting fresh blood."

"After all that, it turns out it's just the same old stuff from ancient times..."

Arazan's voice, a faint blend of disdain and nostalgia, echoed softly in Dago's ears.

"How so?"

Dago raised an eyebrow.

"In the ancient era, when truly powerful and profound wizarding schools recruited new inner disciples, they didn't look at the power of spells or elemental affinity. They only looked at one thing—the rank of the new member's true spirit!"

The golden ladybug that Arajan had transformed into fluttered its faintly glowing wings and danced leisurely before Dago, gliding past the phantom images of the three distant towers one by one.

"Only those who reach the fourth star of True Spirit rank or above have a slim chance, in the long future, to touch upon and advance to the unspeakable level of 'Twilight'."

"The hiring standards of most top schools of thought are based on this."

"If you can't even reach four stars? Sorry, that kind of trash doesn't even deserve to be absorbed by the school and waste resources."

The golden ladybug hovered in mid-air, its antennae trembling slightly: "If my experience hasn't been eroded by time, these three dilapidated towers before me should respectively test your wisdom, absolute combat strength, and most importantly, your soul aptitude."

"Once we have a comprehensive understanding of your true level in these three dimensions, those big shots hiding behind the scenes will be able to accurately predict and depict the upper limit of your rank when you condense your 'True Spirit' in the future."

"The rank of a True Spirit... is it really as crucial as you say?"

Dago crossed his arms and calmly asked in return.

"I've warned you countless times, kid."

Arajan's tone instantly turned cold, carrying a chilling, almost cruel realism. "The rank of your True Spirit directly determines the extent of your basic privileges when exploring the 'Hall of Truth,' much like the difference between a slave and a noble!"

"The higher your authority, the more vast and profound the cosmic knowledge you can actively retrieve or passively receive."

"This higher-dimensional knowledge directly determines how profound and powerful the fundamental runes you can create based on this when you attempt to advance to the Twilight Realm!"

"Even if you take a superficial view and only focus on immediate destructive power—the True Spirit rank—it still largely determines the lower and upper limits of a high-level wizard's combat ability!"

"Listen up, two wizards at the peak of the sixth ring, one a pitiful one-star true spirit, the other a legendary nine-star true spirit."

"When two people cast the same spell simultaneously, the scale of cosmic energy that a Nine-Star True Spirit can manipulate and draw upon will differ by a terrifying ten thousand times! That's the difference between a stream and a tsunami!"

Arajan sneered and continued his relentless attack: "Moreover, many powerful and earth-shattering forbidden spells have strict requirements on the caster's true spirit rank, and may even cause backlash from the laws."

"If your True Spirit rank isn't high enough, not only will you be unable to understand those incantations, you won't even be qualified to open that magic book and learn forbidden spells!"

Dago fell silent.

He silently digested this revolutionary high-level information. After a moment, he astutely grasped the core idea and asked, "So, what exactly is the basis for determining the star rating of a True Spirit?"

"The strict rules of the origin of the universe and the laws of nature."

The golden ladybug landed lightly on Dago's broad shoulder, its compound eyes gleaming. "This grand concept is still too profound and difficult for you, a frog in a well, to comprehend."

"Don't rush. Once you truly break through that membrane and enter the realm of miracles, you will naturally experience the fear of being watched by the laws."

Dago did not refute. His mind couldn't help but recall the several near-fatal encounters with the Fifth Ring Archmage throughout his life, where he had walked on thin ice.

Whether it was the high-ranking members of the Revival Society they encountered in the ruins, or the true spirit revealed by the fifth-circle wizard guard beside Tracy;

Or later, when facing the fifth-ring wizard Frmmingo, the projection of the true spirit avatar that the other descended contained, without exception, bright crystals that shimmered like dazzling stars.

Looking back now, Dago has a vague sense of understanding.

Perhaps the number of star crystals embedded in those true forms and projections represents their respective True Spirit rank, which they are so proud of!

"One last question, how many fixed ranks are there in total for True Spirits?"

Dago took a deep breath.

"Theoretically, the highest is nine stars, and these nine stars correspond to the nine major levels of the wizard civilization system."

Arajan patiently explained, "Of course, throughout history, there have been extraordinary examples of people who, by relying on the power of low-star true spirits, defied fate and achieved legendary status."

"But ultimately, those are extremely rare miracles, achieved by climbing over the corpses of billions. Among the Twilight-level old monsters I knew back then, the vast majority of them had a True Spirit rank...above the Seven Stars!"

Upon hearing this, Dago narrowed his deep black eyes slightly.

He raised his head, his gaze filled with fighting spirit as he surveyed the three magnificent towers before him, and spoke in a low voice, a hint of barely perceptible anticipation in his tone:

"Old man, based on your understanding of me, how many stars do you think my True Spirit rank would light up if tested now?"

Alazan let out a cryptic chuckle. "To be honest, although your start was as bad as a lump of mud, I'm also very curious to see what surprises you can bring to these three dilapidated towers."

Dago took a deep breath and no longer hesitated.

His gaze swept quickly between the three towers, weighing his options. In the end, he abandoned his preferred combat formation and chose the illusory and distorted Black Moon Tower on the far right, which represented a deep test of soul aptitude.

He took firm steps and slowly walked towards that unknown shadow.

After taking steady steps for several dozen meters, Dago keenly sensed an invisible but tenacious resistance, as tough as swamp, surging forward.

He frowned slightly, mobilized the hidden power within his body, and tried to increase the pressure of his steps forward.