Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

From the crack in the center of the cocoon, the swirling dark red hue stared intently at Ian.

Ian could feel a cold, greedy will, filled with boundless rage, locking onto him.

No, it locked the void anchor in his dimensional ring.

"hiss……"

Countless overlapping inhuman screams exploded directly in Ian's mind.

The main tentacle shot out suddenly, like a black lightning bolt, straight at Ian's face.

It was so fast that it left afterimages.

Ian's pupils contracted sharply.

There's no escaping it!

The [Ring of Layered Peaks] on his left wrist shone brightly, and three layers of light shields instantly stacked in front of him.

At the same time, the Crystal Energy Barrier was fully activated, and all seventy-two floating crystal guardians were recalled, forming a second layer of shield behind the light shield.

"Caw!" It squealed and pounced off Ian's shoulder, flapping its wings and glaring at the tentacles with all its might with [Ominous Eye].

The movement of the whiskers paused slightly.

Just this one meal.

Ian had already taken out the last Black Hole Potion with his right hand and was holding it in his hand.

He didn't throw it out immediately; the black hole potion's range was too small, and even if it exploded the tentacles, it might not be able to damage the core.

The tentacles paused for less than half a breath before breaking free from the interference of [Eye of Calamity] and continuing to stab.

"Pfft pfft pfft!"

The three-layered [Ring of Overlapping Peaks] light shield was pierced through like paper.

The tentacles slammed into the crystal guardian's shield.

"Snap, snap!"

The Crystal Guardian Shield shook violently, and its surface cracked with spiderweb-like patterns.

The improved version of the Crystal Energy Barrier, which broke through the limits twice, along with seventy-two floating crystal guardians, managed to withstand the attack.

The split at the tip of the tentacle was less than half a meter from Ian's face.

Ian could even smell the stench emanating from inside, a mixture of blood and decay.

His eyes were icy. "You really think I can't hurt you?"

He extended his right index finger, and with a point of purple-white, compressed, cold light at the tip, he stabbed it fiercely toward the side of the tentacle.

[Frost Ray - Ice and Fire Spiral], ultimate damage output!

"laugh!"

The icy light pierced the tentacles, and the two energies of extreme cold and intense heat clashed, annihilated, and exploded wildly inside the tentacles!

Its whiskers trembled violently, emitting a sharp hiss.

The area hit was instantly frozen on the outside, covered with a thick layer of white frost.

The inside, however, was sizzling from the high temperature, emitting a burnt black smoke.

The tentacles were struck by the ice-fire spiral and convulsed violently.

The stench of burning and ice shards gushed from the wound, and the thing hissed as it withdrew, wriggling at the entrance of the hole like a wounded python.

Ian gasped for breath, his chest burning with pain.

That attack just now consumed 30% of his mental energy, cracked most of the crystal barrier, and shattered 32 floating crystal guards.

He was all alone in the cave.

The waves of silk threads didn't surge forward anymore; instead, they began to recede, one by one being drawn back into the cocoon.

The human face outlines on the surface of the cocoon began to wriggle faster, their mouths opening and closing, emitting a buzzing sound.

Ian stared at the cocoon.

That thing... was also staring at him.

It wasn't with the eyes, but in a more direct way, like countless needles pricking the skin, cold, sticky, and carrying the pressure of a level two crystallized wizard.

He discovered that he couldn't move his body.

It wasn't that he was frozen in place; it was his intuition that told him that if he tried to escape, the main tentacle would pierce his back in the next second.

It quacked and landed back on his shoulder, its feathers bristling, its little eyes staring intently at the cocoon.

"Ian...it's got its eye on you, huh?"

"I know."

Ian took a vial of mental recovery potion from his dimensional ring, uncorked it, and poured it into his mouth.

A cool sensation rushed to my head, and the shattered crystal began to slowly reassemble.

He loosely clenched his right hand, and a gravity-collapsed sphere slowly took shape in his palm. At the tip of his left index finger, a cold purple-white light shone again.

"Hehe, we really can't win this time, let's run away."

Second-level crystallization is a whole realm short; relying on potions and witchcraft to fight it head-on is a dead end.

But are we just going to stand there and wait to die?

Ian's eyes flashed with anger, and he was about to deliver a full-force attack and then run away.

The crack in the center of the cocoon suddenly widened.

The swirling dark red inside resembled thickened blood porridge, bubbling and bubbling.

Then, a dark red light shot out from the crack.

The light twisted and wove in the air, turning into lines of distorted abyssal text.

It was densely packed, spread out like a spider web.

Beside the text was a picture: a blurry human figure wrapped in silk threads, with outstretched arms and a glowing crystal embedded in its chest.

Ian's pupils contracted.

This is... a contract?

After months of meditating and exploiting loopholes, he could barely understand the meaning of words.

[With the last will of the Soul Weaver civilization... a pact of bondage is forged...]

[Offer your soul's imprint...become a node in the woven network...share immortality...]

[Refuse... to devour...]

Below is a long, unsettling array of runes, with an empty space at the core.

It was clearly intended for Ian to fill in the mental imprint.

A mandatory soul contract.

Once you sign, you become a "node" in this monstrous thing, and your life and death are no longer in your own hands.

If you don't sign, you'll die right now.

Ian stared at the contract, his mind racing.

"This scene... seems familiar."

He had previously encountered a forced contract when he absorbed the Eye of the Gaze.

Finally, the panel directly swallowed the core of that thing and transformed it into pure spiritual energy.

"This contract is also something at the soul level, so the panel should also be..."

Before he could finish thinking, the contract text suddenly shone brightly, as if it had come to life, and drilled towards his brow!

"Caw!" it squealed, trying to block with its wings.

But the light was too fast, instantly disappearing into Ian's forehead.

Ian froze.

My mind went blank for a moment, as if countless needles were piercing me at the same time.

Then, he "saw"... a constantly flashing image.

In a vast plaza, countless humans, each with an extra eye, prostrated themselves on the ground, worshipping an enormous silk cocoon in the sky…

【Soul Weaving... Soul Weaving...】

Immortality... eternal life...

Frenzy, chaos, countless voices overlapping and babbling, surged into his consciousness like a tide.

The will of the people... should not fade away...

[Fusion... Immortality...]

[Hungry...so hungry...]

The voice contained lamentation, madness, despair, and a cold, mechanical quality.

Then, the sounds suddenly paused.

Ian's consciousness was hazy; he only felt the power surging into his consciousness the instant it touched a certain being deep within his spiritual sea.

froze.

The next second, all the murmurs turned into terrified screams.

What is this...?

I saw it... haha... true immortality...

【Ah...no!!!】

The sound stopped abruptly.

Ian's vision went black for a moment, then suddenly brightened.

He "saw" those pale golden specks of light in his mental sea explode with a bang.

Like a giant net, it completely enveloped the dark red contract light.

The light struggled frantically in the net, making a "sizzling" corrosive sound, but it was no use.

The golden net tightens, and the light is crushed and purified bit by bit...

Finally, it transformed into a fist-sized ball of pure, crystal-like spiritual energy, which quietly floated in the center of the spiritual sea.

The whole process took less than three breaths.

From the cocoon's side came an extremely mournful roar.

It was no ordinary sound; it was the final lament of a soul dissipating.

The entire cave began to collapse, with rocks falling down with a "crash".

The facial outlines on the surface of the cocoon exploded simultaneously, turning into a blood mist. The silk threads broke and withered one by one, like burnt hair, turning into ashes and falling down.

The dark red "ancient will crystal" in the center of the cocoon was exposed.

It's about the size of a fist, its surface covered with vein-like patterns, pulsating wildly, its color darkening with each pulsation.

From within the crystal, a fragmented echo, the last vestige of an ancient civilization, resounded.

The Path of Soul Weaving... has failed...

Collective will... should not touch the abyss...

Those who come after... must not repeat the same mistakes...

The sound grew weaker and weaker until it disappeared completely.

The crystal cracked in two with a "snap".

It fell to the ground and shattered into pieces, turning into ashes.

The last bit of information shot out like a streak of light, "whoosh," towards Ian and disappeared into his brow.

Ian didn't dodge, and he couldn't dodge either.

The stream of light entered the body, rushing directly into the sea of ​​consciousness, colliding with the source of spiritual energy from before.

The two orbs of light merged, rotated, and finally stabilized.

It transformed into a crystal the size of a fingernail, with silver threads slowly flowing across its surface, and floated at the core of the mind's sea.

At the same time, a flood of information rushed into Ian's mind like a burst dam.

【Phase Weaving Soul Technique】!

The ancient Soul Weaver civilization developed the ultimate secret method in pursuit of immortality.

It's not about splitting your soul, but about "weaving" a soul projection in another world, growing in sync, with double the time and double the rewards...

However, there are also a host of limitations and risks.

Contractual shackles, energy consumption, phase contamination, existence exposure...

There was so much information that Ian's head was starting to feel bloated.

He shook his head, forcing himself to calm down.

The cave is still collapsing, and more and more stones are falling from above. If we don't leave soon, we'll be buried here.

He rushed to the altar.

The altar had cracked open, and the void anchor stones on it were scattered all over the ground.

With a sweep of his left hand, Ian collected the remaining twenty-three anchor stones into his dimensional ring.

Adding to the previous five pieces, there are a total of twenty-eight pieces, enough to build a more robust Abyss Altar.

At the center of the altar, beneath the black stone pillar, lies a palm-sized fragment of a stone slab.

Ian took it out and glanced at it.

The surface was covered with dense runes and patterns, which were fragments of the [Abyss Binding Ritual].

The Soul Weaving Civilization uses this ritual to communicate with other worlds and strengthen its origin with the [Phase Soul Weaving Technique].

His face lit up with joy. "Good stuff!"

This ritual will not only enhance his knowledge of the Abyss Altar, but also give him more confidence when dealing with beings from other worlds in the future.

He carefully collected the stone slab fragments and then glanced at the remains of the cocoon.

The silk threads had all withered, revealing shriveled, twisted skeletons layered upon each other.

They were all crammed together, like flattened garbage cubes, indistinguishable from one another.

This is what the Soulweaver civilization looked like in its final form.

Ian looked away, no longer glancing at him.

"Gaga, let's go!"

"Here it comes!"

Caw cawed and flapped its wings, following behind him.

A man and a crow rushed out of the stone gate and ran wildly along the path they had come from.

Behind them, the cave collapsed completely, and the rumbling sound chased after them like muffled thunder.

After running for about ten minutes, a light appeared ahead... it was the exit of the underground palace.

Ian rushed out, the blinding sunlight making him squint.

Outside was a desolate wasteland, with sparse, withered grass growing in the wind, which carried dust and the smell of blood.

At the entrance to the underground palace, more than a dozen corpses lay scattered about.

Some were crimson, some belonged to the Withered Council, and others to smaller factions. Judging by their wounds, some had been drained dry by the threads, while others had been killed in a fierce battle.

Hogan and Catherine aren't here; they've probably already run far away.

Ian took a breath and sat down behind a boulder.

The squeaky bird landed on his shoulder, its little belly bobbing up and down.

"I'm exhausted... That thing scared me to death..."

Ian didn't speak, but closed his eyes and focused inward.

In the sea of ​​consciousness, the silver crystal floated quietly, its surface with flowing lines, as if it were alive.

With a thought, the crystal glowed slightly.

A line of information popped into my mind.

Phase Weaving (Not Activated)

[Activation Requirements: 1. Construct a complete Abyss Altar; 2. Sign a contract with an intelligent life form from another world; 3. Provide the coordinates of the "Initial Loom"; 4. Pay contract rewards (periodically)]

[Current number of Soulweaveable Forms: 1]

[Warning: Maintaining the phase portal requires continuous mental energy consumption. Otherworldly rules may inversely erode the main soul. Please use with caution.]

Ian opened his eyes and exhaled.

Make big!

I'm currently reading Chapter 197 of the novel "Cola Novel," the Phase Weaving Soul Technique, and I'm completely engrossed in it.