Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

"roar--!!!!"

A powerful, deep, and majestic roar came from the depths of the earth.

A gigantic, terrifying dragon's head, covered in ancient frost scales, smashed violently through the ice and slowly rose up.

They all raised their heads and let out a deafening roar, then opened their gaping maws and bit down hard on the brightest red ball in the center.

[The Ancient Bite of the Desperate Winter Dragon]!

The deep blue, almost black, solid ice frantically solidified, and a huge black iceberg rose from the ground, completely suppressing and covering the violent, fiery red mass.

Inside the iceberg, countless forbidden magic arrays flickered and shone wildly.

However, Dago's heart sank slightly.

Even though he was completely sealed off by the extreme cold, he could still clearly sense that deep within the indestructible ancient iceberg, a blazing lava was still pulsating wildly.

The power of ice could not completely extinguish that indomitable flame; it was only a matter of time before the opponent tore through the iceberg and escaped.

We can't give him that chance!

Dago's eyes flashed with a cold light. After a moment's thought, his hands quickly formed hand seals once again.

This time, layers upon layers of frost poured back and gathered into his own body.

Large swathes of free energy surged from the void, condensing on Dago's body into a set of ancient, heavy ice crystal armor.

With a loose grip in his right hand, a streamlined ice crystal spear instantly materialized, its tip igniting with a ghostly blue [Ice Flame - Freeze-Dissolve].

At the same time, tiny, violent lightning bolts burst forth from the phantom on his body's surface; these were storm patterns etched into his flesh.

Finally, with a deafening roar, countless magma elements were forcibly extracted, and eight enormous eagle wings, cast from a mixture of gold and lava, unfolded majestically behind Dago.

Dago took a deep breath, feeling the extreme pain of his conscious body about to collapse.

He slowly raised the ice crystal spear, and the eight feathers on his back suddenly flapped, enveloping his entire body like a sharp sword.

At the very moment when his momentum reached its peak, Dago rose up from the ground!

In mid-air, he held guns in both hands, his waist bent like a full moon, and with a resolute dive, carrying earth-shattering kinetic energy, he plunged fiercely into the wildly pulsating crimson depths of the iceberg below.

Even without his powerful physique, his skills, honed through countless life-or-death close combats, were already etched into his soul!

Using my own body as a blade, I will tear apart all obstacles in my path!

"boom--!!!"

A dazzling golden meteor, carrying immense force, struck the earth!

The towering ancient iceberg was violently pierced through the moment of contact, and then exploded into pieces.

The terrifying shockwave transformed into a frost-covered white mist that filled most of the space, sweeping outwards.

After a long period of deathly silence.

As the thick fog gradually dissipated, the ravaged battlefield finally saw the light of day again.

A tall figure, holding a long spear and kneeling on one knee, appeared.

Dago slowly stood up.

He stood in a radial, rapidly cooling and freezing crater of magma, turning around to look back.

The entire battlefield was empty, as if it had been ravaged by some terrifying force, and the once invincible fire demon had been reduced to ashes.

The ice crystal spear in his hand exhausted its power and melted into ice water.

His tattered armor was also crumbling and peeling off piece by piece.

In the end, even Dago's body, which contained violent power, turned into scattered glimmers of light and dissipated into the air.

"call--"

After a strong feeling of weightlessness, my consciousness was abruptly pulled back to reality.

Dago gently twisted his neck, and his bones made a faint popping sound.

He smiled slightly as he regained control of the real body he had been separated from for so long.

Compared to the constraints of the consciousness space, he was ultimately more fascinated by the absolute sense of power that he could "truly grasp all great power in his palm and make it part of his own flesh and blood."

"You're back?"

A lazy voice, tinged with a faint smile, rang in my ears.

The golden ladybug that Arajan conjured drew a graceful arc before Dago, finally landing steadily on several bright red crystals in front of him.

One, two, three, four... five.

Dago glanced around and silently counted in his mind.

In the final stage of the spell test, he received a five-star rating.

"That's a pretty good result."

Arajan flicked his golden carapace.

"Is it just 'not bad'?"

"Heh, at least compared to your heaven-defying soul aptitude... it's not bad."

Arazan let out a hearty chuckle.

Dago ignored the other person's joke, lowered his eyes slightly, and quickly reviewed the situation in his mind.

With his spiritual cultivation suppressed by the trial rules and unable to utilize his physical strength, this "five-star rating" was indeed close to his limit.

Based on this calculation—

To reach a six-star rating, one would probably have to directly defeat a monster in the late stage of the fourth ring miracle; seven stars corresponds to the early stage of the fifth ring; eight stars is the mid-stage of the fifth ring; and as for nine stars? That would mean facing a terrifying existence in the late stage of the fifth ring!

Dago secretly calculated in his heart:

Even if I could unleash the [Double Conch Palace] without restraint, transform into the [Ancient Blue Demon Body], stack advanced [Cold Element], and equip the [Miracle Black Hole] blessed by the Isidore Armband...

Achieving a nine-star rating remains a difficult task.

The gap between them cannot be bridged simply by stacking skills.

He estimated that if he really wanted to achieve the myth of killing a late-stage fifth-ring cultivator at the third-ring stage, he would have to use the [Spirit Heart Amber] to squeeze the potential of his soul to the limit, perfectly carve the soul imprint, break through the existing constraints in his proficiency with [Elemental Resonance], and finally forcibly construct several more layers of the [Spiral Palace] within his body.

Only if all of the above almost abnormal prerequisites are met is there even a sliver of a possibility.

"It seems that the extremely high rating of six stars or above is tailor-made for monsters who possess ancient top-level inheritances or have heaven-defying innate bloodlines."

A figure subconsciously surfaced in Dago's mind.

As the "first generation" of Juventus, that man possessed an aura of a born god, unapproachable and unattainable.

Dago isn't really worried about the current results.

He was well aware of his weakness—all things considered, the time he had formally embarked on the path of cultivation was far too short.

He has only recently acquired top-tier inheritances that directly point to the origin, such as the Golden Law, the Spiritual Heart Amber, and the Primordial Star Meditation Method, and has not yet had time to explore their depths.

If given enough time to mature, even if he were to rely solely on his spellcasting ability, he would definitely be among the top geniuses on this continent.

As for physical strength...

This assessment is designed to test spellcasting ability within the framework of the rules.

If you rely on brute force to crush others, what's the difference between that and "cheating"?

Moreover, as his horizons broadened and his strength steadily improved, Dago now understood a cruel truth.

Why is it that the vast majority of wizards are unwilling to waste their precious time, energy, and scarce resources on training their bodies?

It's not just because the effort and reward are extremely disproportionate; a more fundamental reason lies in:

Once a wizard transcends the miracle stage and a true spirit is born within them, they can use the true spirit as a medium to completely "elementalize" their fragile flesh and blood body!

Dago recalled that moment during the Wizards' sweepstakes battle.

The bizarre state that Griman forcibly created using a miracle artifact.

The elementalized body can avoid most physical attacks and magical damage.

This is precisely the landmark gap that allows a fifth-ring wizard to absolutely crush a fourth-ring wizard!

Since no matter how much effort you put into the body, you will inevitably have to abandon the form and return to pure elementalization in the end, why waste your efforts in the early stages?

Given time, Dago will inevitably face this insurmountable hurdle as well.

In fact, D'Ago had thought about this issue deeply a long time ago.

If, on the day of his promotion, his prized [Blue Demon Body] truly clashes irreconcilably with the orthodox elementalization of the wizarding system, becoming incompatible...

Then he only has one answer.

He would not hesitate to give up the elementalization of the body that all wizards dream of.

Even if it means becoming an outcast, he will still be a true fifth-ring wizard, made entirely of flesh and blood!