Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

He had no intention of putting up a fight.

Raise your right hand and spread your five fingers.

Three beams of energy, each about the thickness of a thumb, burst forth from the palm.

Three beams of energy, each as thick as a thumb, tore through the lifeless air, spiraling and intertwining the instant they left the palm.

A thick, pale purple ray, accompanied by a piercing shriek, shot straight into the chest of the undead guard.

[Frost Ray] - Full Power Output!

Aim precisely at its chest cavity, at the still violently pulsating dark red star core.

But the guards reacted incredibly quickly.

Its severed left arm exploded violently, turning into dozens of pale bone spikes that spun and faced the rays.

Dark blue energy slurry flowed from the surface of the bone spurs, colliding violently with the pale purple beam of light.

Chi Chi Chi!

Extreme cold and scorching heat erupted simultaneously at the point of contact, instantly freezing and brittle the bone spurs, which then exploded into a shower of crystalline powder in the high temperature.

The pale purple beam was weakened by a third, but it still had enough power to shoot towards the star core.

Just then.

The stellar core guarding the chest cavity of the living skeleton suddenly contracted and then expanded outward.

hum!

A dark red energy shield appeared on its body. The beam of light struck the shield and exploded into a dazzling purple-red halo.

Within the halo, the shield could be vaguely seen twisting and deforming.

The [Entropy Change Domain] is now in effect!

The living skeleton guards' movements were noticeably delayed for a moment.

The dark red light on its polyhedral head began to flicker irregularly, as if the energy supply had suddenly become disordered.

"Gah!"

Gaga seized the opportunity and expanded its wingspan to its limit.

It opened its beak and let out a silent shriek.

Shadow Summoning!

The shadows around the hall seemed to come alive, writhing wildly and transforming into countless black tentacles that emerged from the ground, walls, and...

It even crawled out from under the corpse and tightly wrapped around the legs of the living skeleton guard.

[Shadow Binding]!

Although it could only trap it for less than two seconds, that was enough.

"Now!"

A golden light burst forth in Ian's eyes, and his right hand clenched into a fist, with a tiny black dot reappearing in his palm.

The black dot traced an almost invisible path in the air, instantly flying to the chest of the Living Corpse Guardian and precisely attaching itself to the surface of the dark red star core.

【Gravity Collapse Sphere】·Miniature Penetration Mode!

hum!

The space around the star's core began to collapse inward.

On the dark red crystal surface, cracks spread and deepened at a speed visible to the naked eye, while the viscous liquid inside surged wildly.

Trying to resist that destructive gravitational pull.

The Living Corpse Guardian let out a mournful roar, its bones and crystals trembling as it tried to break free from the shadow's restraints.

But it was too late.

Ian clenched his fists tightly.

"Collapse".

A silent command.

The black dots attached to the surface of the star core suddenly shrank inward.

It wasn't an explosion, but rather extreme compression, crushing, and annihilation!

Click!

A pitch-black hole the size of an egg appeared on the surface of the star's core.

Around the hole, dark red crystals cracked like shattered glass.

The cracks spread rapidly throughout the star's core, and then it collapsed inward!

"Hiss... Roar!!"

The final roar of the Living Corpse Guardian abruptly ceased.

Its stellar nucleus in its chest cavity was mercilessly swallowed by the black hole.

Next came the surrounding bones, crystals, and energy pathways...

The eight-meter-tall colossal statue collapsed inward from its chest cavity, as if being slowly devoured by an invisible giant mouth.

Three seconds later.

The black hole dissipated.

All that remained was a pool of dark blue, viscous liquid and scattered, pale bone fragments.

The living skeleton guards are utterly dead.

The entire process, from Ian pushing open the stone door to the end of the battle, took less than ten seconds.

The edge of the hall.

The two body-refining wizards from the Crimson Royal Court had their pupils shrink, their faces filled with disbelief.

They had fought the monster for nearly half an hour, paying a heavy price to barely manage to severely injure it.

But now...

Did that young man solve the problem with just one remote jamming attack and one targeted explosion?

"Level two...it's definitely level two witchcraft!"

The burly man stared intently at Ian, his voice hoarse.

"And it's instant-cast, and a combined-attribute area-of-effect monster... When did Shadowmoon Tower get this kind of monster?"

"Who cares what it is!"

Another body-refining wizard's eyes hardened, and he lowered his voice.

"He's just unleashed a powerful spell and is at his weakest point, besides... he's not the only one with a domain!"

The two exchanged a glance and then simultaneously sprang into action!

"kill!"

The burly man stomped his foot, and the ground exploded with spiderweb-like cracks.

His muscles were bulging all over his body, and dark red scales appeared on his skin. He shot towards Ian like a cannonball!

The other person formed a mudra with their hands and chanted obscure incantations.

A dark red halo spread out from beneath his feet, enveloping the entire hall.

[Blood Boil]? The prototype of a domain!

Creatures within this area will have their blood spontaneously boil and go out of control, eventually bursting from the inside!

"court death."

Ian's eyes were cold, and he didn't even move his feet.

He raised his right hand, fingers spread, aiming at the burly man charging at him.

But this time, it wasn't the Frost Ray that was fired.

Instead, they were thirty-six fine, pale gold threads!

【Crystallized Threads】·Soul Piercing!

The threads are as thin as hair and are almost invisible in dim light.

But they were as fast as lightning, covering a distance of thirty meters in an instant, and accurately piercing thirty-six vital points all over the strong man's body!

Between the eyebrows, throat, heart, spine, joints of the limbs...

Puff puff puff!

A series of piercing sounds rang out.

The burly man's forward momentum suddenly froze.

He looked down at the barely visible wounds on his body, each one oozing dark red blood.

"you……"

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out.

The crystallized threads, though they pierced through the physical body, actually penetrated the mind!

Thirty-six threads were frantically twisting and tearing apart deep within his consciousness!

Bang!

The burly man's head exploded, splattering red and white fluid all over the ground.

The headless corpse collapsed to the ground, twitched twice, and then fell silent.

The other body-refining wizard turned pale and turned to run away.

But Gaga was already blocking his way from behind.

With a gentle flap of its wings, the black raven froze the surrounding shadows, creating a black wall that blocked its path.

"No...don't kill me! I'm from the Crimson Court..."

The wizard retreated in terror, quickly conjuring a blood shield in his hand.

Ian didn't even let him finish speaking.

Raise your left hand, loosely clenching your fingers.

Another tiny black dot, the size of a grain of rice, appeared in the palm of my hand and shot out silently.

It suddenly expanded three meters above his head.

hum!

A gravitational field with a diameter of thirty meters crashed down.

The wizard felt as if a mountain was pressing down on him, and his bones made cracking sounds as if they couldn't bear the weight.

He fell to his knees, blood flowing from his seven orifices, and the blood shield in his hand crumbled inch by inch.

"Where is Bazar?" Ian walked up to him, his voice calm.

"I...I don't know..."

The wizard gritted his teeth, still trying to struggle.

Ian stopped talking nonsense.

He pointed with his right index finger, and a thin, pale purple beam of light pierced through his brow.

The energy of ice and fire erupted inside the skull, burning the brain into a paste.

The body fell to the ground.

In the Crimson Royal Court, two top-tier level one wizards perished.

Ian turned and looked at the other side of the hall.

The old man with the Silver Ring had already retreated to the corner. Although his face was calm, his hand holding the staff trembled slightly.

"I...I was just passing by..."

The old man managed to force a smile that was at least somewhat friendly.

"Your strength is astonishing, I admire you... I will leave now and will not disturb you!"

As he spoke, he slowly moved toward the stone gate, his eyes filled with vigilance and fear.

Ian looked at him for two seconds, then suddenly smiled.

The smile was faint, yet it sent chills down the old man's spine.

"You can leave."

Ian said calmly.

"But leave behind what you know about the 'Spark of Civilization'."

The old man's expression changed.

"I...I don't know anything about the spark of civilization..."

"Yeah?"

Ian raised his right hand, and a pale purple energy light once again appeared in his palm.

Cold sweat broke out on the old man's forehead as he gritted his teeth.

He pulled a palm-sized silver metal plate from his pocket and threw it over.

"This is all the scattered information the Silver Ring possesses... it's all in here!"

Ian caught the metal plate and scanned it with his mental energy.

It does contain some information about the Protoss ruins, but most of it is fragmented, and very little of it is actually useful.

"You can leave now."

He put away the metal plate and stopped looking at the old man.

The old man, as if granted a pardon, rushed out of the stone gate and disappeared into the depths of the passage.

The cackling bird landed back on Ian's shoulder, its small eyes fixed on the old man's back.

"Ian, are we just going to let him go like this? What if he goes back and reports back..."

"He will deliver the message."

Ian said calmly.

"But it's alright, the main force of the Silver Ring should be deeper inside right now, they don't have time to worry about us. Besides..."

He paused.

"The people of the Silver Ring cannot be killed indiscriminately; they... have Morning Star Wizards among them."

Ian still remembers the terrifying power displayed by "Endless Holy Light" during the Demon Hunter War.

He has too many secrets; I really don't want to attract the attention of such an important person.

I wouldn't do it even if there was the slightest possibility.

Gaga nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.

Ian said no more and walked to the remains of the Living Corpse Guardian.

In the dark blue, viscous liquid, a fist-sized, dark red crystal lay quietly.

The star core is extremely solid; his gravitational magic has not yet been able to destroy it.

But its surface is also covered with fine cracks, and a viscous liquid flows inside, exuding an aura of stars and decadence.

【Fallen Star Essence】.

The distorted product formed when the Protoss core was corrupted by the power of the Abyss after the death of Protoss warriors.

Ian carefully picked up the crystal; it was icy cold to the touch, feeling like congealed blood.

When one probes with their spiritual senses, they can feel two completely opposite energies clashing wildly within.

One is the pure and vast power of the stars, and the other is the chaotic and violent pollution of the abyss.

"It can be used to enhance the [Starry Sky Festival], or to refine high-level potions..."

He put away the Star Essence and scanned his surroundings.

On the walls of the hall, there are some blurry murals.

The image is badly damaged, but the content can still be vaguely discerned.

A group of humanoid creatures dressed in star-patterned robes knelt in worship around a giant, glowing crystal.

Inside the crystal, countless points of light flow, like a miniature starry sky.

In the next image, cracks appear on the surface of the crystal, and black mist seeps out from the cracks.

The kneeling Protoss began to twist and melt, eventually turning into pale skeletons.

"The Star Core Cultivation System... has been corrupted?"

Ian muttered to himself.

He walked up to the wall and reached out to touch the murals.

"The Star Core Cultivation System... has been corrupted?"

Ian muttered to himself.

He walked up to the wall and reached out to touch the murals.

A cool sensation reached my fingertips, along with a faint spiritual echo.

That was the despair and resentment of the Protoss in the moment of their death.

The 【Spirit Devouring】 property operates automatically, devouring and purifying negative emotions.

Ian withdrew his hand and looked away.

There are too many secrets about the ruins; he doesn't have time to delve into them now.

"Hehe, let's collect our loot, we should go."

"Okay!"

Black ravens excitedly flapped their wings and began rummaging through the carcasses on the ground.

The two body-refining wizards from the Crimson Royal Court didn't have much of value on them, only a few bottles of intermediate-level potions and some magic stones.

However, among the remains of the living skeletons guarding the area, there were a few relatively intact dark blue crystals containing faint stellar energy.

Ian put everything away and turned to walk towards the stone gate.

Before leaving the side hall, he looked back once.

The dark blue liquid in the center of the hall was slowly evaporating, emitting a putrid smell.

The murals on the wall appeared even more blurred in the dim light, like a forgotten nightmare.

"The Protoss..."

He murmured those three words, then left without looking back.

The stone door slowly closed behind him, sealing away death and secrets once again.

Footsteps sounded again in the passageway.

One person and one bird ventured deeper into the maze.

In the distance, the faint sounds of battle and inhuman roars could be heard.