Above the mage

Chapter 305 [Spell Fixation]

The ocean is golden and sparkling.

This is a magnificent scene unlike anything ever seen on the snowfield, a sight that the Zhenbing people, and indeed all the people of the North, have never seen or even dreamed of.

The permafrost tundra seems to be inherently synonymous with desolation and coldness.

The word "harvest" is completely foreign to this place.

But now, this very scene is unfolding right before their eyes.

So much so that, at first glance, everyone's reaction was that they were still asleep and living in a dream.

Everyone stared wide-eyed and gaped, feeling parched and even struggling to breathe.

The dark mass of people seemed to be frozen in time.

Under everyone's gaze, Sunafa took a small step forward, stood beside God, and then waved gently.

The ice-blooded mages who formed the human wall immediately understood.

An invisible ghostly hand floated out, swept across the front of the wheat field, plucked handfuls of heavy Northwest Barley No. 1, and then, under everyone's watchful eyes, scattered them among the onlookers.

The golden wheat grains shimmered with an alluring luster under the sunlight, looking no different from ordinary gold at that moment.

As soon as it was scattered into the crowd, it immediately caused a sensation.

Everyone stretched out their hands, vying to catch the precious grains of wheat.

They shakily put the wheat grains into their mouths, many without even peeling off the husks, seemingly unconcerned about the prickly texture.

The rich aroma of wheat instantly filled my mouth, accompanied by a gentle warmth that flowed throughout my body.

"It really is barley. It smells so good." Someone murmured to themselves, their voice filled with disbelief and joy.

"Barley can now be grown in our northern borderlands."

"Is this for real?" More and more people were repeating this question.

At that moment, Sunefa spoke again.

Her cool voice, though not loud, clearly penetrated the entire venue and reached everyone's ears.

"This is Northwest Barley No. 1, a grain that our King Gaode brought to the North, to Zhenbing, and to everyone."

"Someone is coming from the top of the mountain."

"He will ensure that the children of the Ice Age will no longer suffer from hunger."

"With his help, Zhenbing will surely be gloriously revived!"

"All people of Zhenbing, all descendants of the Ice Bloodline, we have waited far too long for this day. From your ancestors, from your great-great-grandfathers, they have been waiting for this day to come, waiting for our King to arrive. They did not live to see it, but you have."

"Our king has arrived."

"Believe in Him, welcome Him, follow Him."

"We are willing to give our lives to faithfully follow our King!"

For a moment, everyone seemed to forget to breathe, and there was a full ten seconds of silence after Sunefa's voice fell.

What kind of scene would it be if tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of people, were simultaneously silent for ten seconds, their breathing so faint as to be imperceptible?

Many people probably cannot imagine such a scene.

Such a large crowd, without any external coercion, was able to consciously maintain silence for such a long time.

Everyone stared intently at Gao De on the ice rink.

Their eyes reflected their faith in and respect for the leader.

Those burning, sincere gazes made Gao De feel a prickling sensation, and he even had the urge to turn around and run away.

But he endured it, gritting his teeth, standing motionless, while inwardly sighing with admiration:

Sunefa usually seems like a typical "ruthless but taciturn person," but once she opens her mouth, her ability to incite others rivals that of a charlatan.

Finally, after a long silence of ten seconds.

At the very front row, a member of the Zhenbing tribe knelt down, kneeling on both knees.

"My King! Goodness!" he cried out in the most devout tone.

Like dominoes, as the first person knelt down, the other Zhenbing clan members, as if enlightened, also knelt down in unison.

Everyone was shouting with bloodshot eyes.

The miracle appeared before them, and whether they had believed in or not the prophecies left by the War Mother Oretia, they all knelt down devoutly and shouted.

Some people were even moved to tears.

We weep because we see hope, we weep because we think of our loved ones who starved to death, we weep because we are moved.

At this moment, Gaode is synonymous with holiness and solemnity.

Watching this scene, Gao De felt an indescribable sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

It's hard for someone who hasn't experienced firsthand the feeling of being completely trusted by the people to understand.

This is the power of faith and spirit.

It was only then that he suddenly realized:

This harvest festival not only strengthens the Zhenbing people's sense of belonging to the tribe, but also increases their sense of identity with the Zhenbing tribe.

Taking advantage of the crowd's high spirits, Gao De loudly proclaimed:

"This is just the beginning; let's celebrate this glorious start!"

Enjoy your day!

A huge brazier standing next to the ice platform was blazing with a vibrant fire.

With a bang, the flame core soared high into the sky.

The brazier was fully lit, igniting the atmosphere at the scene.

The last time it was this lively was at Ancient Frost Mouth, during the ancient Iceborn ritual spells held in Sunafal.

This time, there was no ceremony, just a simple celebration!

The celebrations lasted all morning, but their impact lingered.

Phoenix was filled with a joyful and excited atmosphere.

City Hall, Gaode's office.

The midday sun streamed through the window, casting a golden glow over the woman's silver hair.

Her eyes gleamed with a deep blue light, brighter than the purest sapphire, and she leaned gracefully against the door.

"You've given me quite a surprise." Gao De looked up, his gaze sweeping over the other person's face and figure, and felt his heart skip a beat.

Sunafa's speech at the harvest festival celebration was not given to him beforehand.

“Many of your people do not truly know you,” Sunefa said. “Their knowledge of you comes from prophecy.”

"Okay." Gao De certainly wouldn't blame Sunefa for this.

"I heard that our king is preparing to leave the North?" Sunefa asked softly again.

Gao De nodded. "Yes, let's leave for now."

He then gave Sunefa a detailed explanation of Yoggathhira's "Astral Teleportation" ability and his own considerations.

Clearly, the reasons he gave prevented Sunefa from raising any objections.

"Can astral teleportation only be used by one person?" Sunefa asked, frowning slightly.

"At least for now," Gao De affirmed.

"Can we switch to someone else? Like me," Sunafa said calmly, her blue eyes revealing little emotion as she looked at Gao De. "With my strength, I'd be safer and able to bring back more."

She has always been a straightforward woman who dislikes pretense and beating around the bush.

Gao De spread his hands, saying helplessly, "Yogathira is my bond artifact, which is why it was able to imprint the power of astral teleportation onto me."

"If it were you, you could walk, but coming back would be a walk back on your own."

"The outside world is so vast, and the astral teleportation ability of Yugathira is completely random. If you're unlucky, it might even teleport you to Midgard or Terra."

"If we really run into that, it's not just a question of how long it will take to get back, but whether we can even get back at all."

The North is located at the northernmost and most remote corner of the Nora continent. If one is teleported to one of the other two continents, returning would almost require traversing the entire plane, either horizontally or vertically.

"The Zhenbing tribe cannot be without its War Mother."

Sunafa lowered her head and remained silent for a while, then raised her head to look directly at God, her expression extremely serious. "The Zhenbing tribe cannot be without their king."

"Don't worry, I have the astral teleportation ability granted by Yugathira. Even if I encounter danger, as long as I have ten seconds, I can activate astral teleportation and return to Valar Bay."

"Ten seconds."

"There can't be no risk at all, right? There's no such thing as a free lunch. Compared to the potential gains, this risk is negligible," Gao De affirmed.

This is an absolutely true statement, and Sunefa did not refute it.

"My king, you are too young. Why don't you wait another year or two?" she said softly.

"You're not much older than me, so why are you talking to me like that?" Gao De thought to himself. After all, Sunafa's actual age was not even twenty, and according to his mental age, he was even older—he was already 22 before he transmigrated.

However, Gao De also knew that what Sunefa meant by those words was that his strength was too weak, so she was really worried about him.

"Don't worry, I'm not weak in the first ring either, and I'll bring [North Wind] with me," Gao De said calmly.

Given Gao De's insistence, Sunaifa naturally could not stop his will.

"Alright," Sunefa said after considering her words, then gently reminded him, "My king, even with the [North Wind], it's best not to easily confront a high-level mage."

"My situation is ultimately an isolated case, and I only managed to do it with the help of [Blizzard] and [Breath of the Wild]." She was referring to her crossing the ring to kill Ryan.

"The suppression of low-level mages by high-level mages is comprehensive."

"Besides the differences in basic abilities such as mana and mental strength, the new specializations that can be awakened, and the high-level spells that can be mastered, a mage will also undergo a transformation in their very essence with each level they advance."

"This kind of transformation at the level of life is also a form of suppression."

Sunefa was unusually "rambling," and what she was talking about was something Gaode was very interested in, so he listened attentively: "What exactly is metamorphosis?"

"A first-ring mage possesses the ability of 'precise perception,' which allows them to intuitively and accurately perceive their own state."

Gao De nodded slightly.

This ability may not seem to help combat power much, but in reality, it allows for precise perception of one's own state, which, in another sense, also enables one to better utilize one's combat power.

Its effect on combat power is implicit, but it does exist.

Sunafa continued, "Second-circle mages gain the ability of 'elementalized bodies.' The magic power within their bodies radiates to their bodies, allowing them to choose an element to strengthen their physical bodies, which is called elementalization, thereby gaining resistance to the corresponding element."

The ability to "transform the physical body into an element" has a very direct impact on combat power.

In layman's terms, it means increased magic resistance, but only for certain elements.

"The changes for a third-ring mage are not significant. They can now choose two more elements to transform their physical body into an elemental form, giving them a total of three types of elemental spell resistance."

Alright, magic resistance *3.

"As for the Fourth Ring Road, that's the watershed."

"In the world of mages, only after a mage reaches the fourth ring level can they be considered to have truly entered the ranks of high-ring mages."

"A very important reason is that after becoming a fourth-circle mage, the brain will be highly developed. At this time, the mage will break through human limits and no longer need to rest."

"No more need for rest?" If the "elemental physical body" was still within Gao De's understanding, then the fact that he didn't need to rest was completely beyond his comprehension and incomprehensible.

Sleep is a key element in maintaining normal physiological functions of the human body.

"That's what they say, but the essence is that when the brain is highly developed, most physiological activities no longer require the full use of the brain."

"In this situation, the brain is like two people dividing up the work, one of them is actively working while the other is sleeping and resting, and so on."

"Only when faced with certain high-intensity tasks will two people work together."

"This ability allows a fourth-circle mage to remain conscious indefinitely," Sunefa explained.

"I see." Gao De tapped the table lightly with his fingertips, but his mind wandered to something else inappropriately—if there were mages in his previous life, what was 996? 007 was the ultimate.

In this case, it is actually equivalent to extending lifespan in disguise.

Before becoming a fourth-circle mage, a person needs at least 6-9 hours of rest every day. After advancing to the fourth-circle mage level, the time saved from rest is equivalent to an extended lifespan, which is absolutely true.

"What about the Five Rings Mage?" Now that Sunefa had brought it up, Gao De's interest was piqued, and he asked again.

Although there are no fifth-ring mages in the Zhenbing tribe, there must have been some in the past, so they should know something about it.

"A fifth-ring mage's soul is powerful enough to connect to a soul domain and gain its power. Some mages also refer to their soul domain as their domain." Sunafa didn't go into too much detail about fifth-ring mages, but she did reveal another piece of information.

"The Fifth Ring is actually a watershed moment for Iceborn mages."

"Before the Fifth Ring, the strength of us Iceborn mages was not much different from that of mages outside the city. In fact, Iceborn mages were even stronger because most of the spells we could awaken were combat spells, while mages outside the city often learned many utility spells. This made them more well-rounded than us, but at the same time, their combat strength was slightly inferior to ours."

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

That makes sense.

"But once we got to the Fifth Ring Road, the situation was reversed."

"Why?" Gao De was incredibly surprised when he first heard this explanation.

"Because of [Spell Permanence]," Sunefa said.

"【Spell Stabilization】is also a functional spell created by external mages, but its functionality is so powerful that it can reverse the original strength and weakness of a mage with just this one spell."

"This is a functional spell that can fix certain spells, making their duration permanent."

"This means that once a mage masters the [Spell Permanence] spell, they can permanently use spells that are helpful in combat and daily life, thereby saving them a lot of mana and casting time."

"This is especially important for spells that require maintaining their effects for extended periods, such as defensive spells, environmental control spells, healing spells, and support spells."

"The most basic ones are [Language Proficiency], [Magic Detection], and [Dark Vision]. In terms of combat, it's [Increase Resistance], [Magic Fang], and so on."

"A mage who has mastered the [Spell Fixity] spell will only die in fair battles and will no longer be harmed by assassination, poison, or anything else."

"Because of its unparalleled importance, this spell is also regarded as a treasure among secret traditions, and its value far exceeds that of ordinary spells."

"Any mage organization that possesses the spell formula for the [Spell Constantity] keeps it incredibly secret, and would never easily divulge it. It can be said to be one of the most expensive pieces of knowledge."

"Therefore, even in the outside world, not all fifth-circle mages can come into contact with and learn this spell, let alone in the North."

(End of this chapter)