Just as Orf was overwhelmed by shock, the Skeleton Emperor’s massive sword came crashing down.
Some of the spectators instinctively closed their eyes, unable to bear the sight of the tragedy they believed was about to unfold.
However, to their surprise, the gruesome sce of blood and gore they had imagined never appeared.
A slder, pale hand—marked with intricate silver patterns—suddly extded and, without any grand display, effortlessly stopped the giant sword in its tracks.
Boom!
The momt they collided, a terrifying shockwave erupted, sweeping through the hall. Ctered a Luca, the g caved in, sding shattered rocks flying in all directions. Cracks spider-webbed across the stone floor, groaning under the immse pressure.
As the dust settled, a silver- figure emerged.
Luca’s expression was cold and indiffert, his long robe billowing. Silver runes crisscrossed his body, his hand glowing with a pearly light. With what seemed like a casual, weightless gesture, he had completely stopped the massive bronze sword, which was taller than a person. No matter how much force the Skeleton Emperor exerted, it couldn’t budge an inch!
“How is this possible?!” Countless people leaped to their feet, eyes wide in disbelief.
“His physical strgth alone is blocking an attack from a Lord-level monster?!”
“Impossible! I must be sleep-deprived… Yes, that must be it!”
“Hahaha, who would’ve thought our Southwind City would give rise to such a peerless gius!”
“Gius? This is crossing two tire major realms! This isn’t a gius—he’s a monster prodigy!”
…
The tire stadium erupted into chaos!
A Silver-grade combatant physically clashing against a Platinum-grade Lord-level monster—he had spanned two tire major grades!
If they hadn’t se it with their own eyes, they wouldn’t have believed it for a second!
“He actually withstood an attack from a Platinum-grade monster… Is this kid ev human?!” Fred’s eyes wided as he sucked in a breath of cold air.
In just one day, Luca had completely redefined Fred’s concept of what it meant to be a gius, again and again.
Kruse burst into hearty laughter, “With talt like his, he could easily stand among the top prodigies of Dawn City! Our academy really struck gold with this one!”
Melissa hesitated for a momt before saying, “The problem is, he’s here to apply for a teaching position… Ev if he passes the trial, he won’t be one of our academy’s studts.”
Hearing this, Kruse’s smile froze on his face.
He suddly remembered—Luca had never intded to be a studt at their academy in the first place.
No matter how extraordinary he was, he wouldn’t be represting their school.
Realizing this, Kruse felt as if he had just lost a fortune. He glanced over at Orf and couldn’t help but plead, “Principal, shouldn’t you try convincing Luca again? With his talt, making him a mere instructor would be such a waste!”
But Orf had no time for Kruse’s concerns right now.
His gaze was fixed on the image of Luca, whose tire body was covered in shimmering silver patterns. His heart churned like a stormy sea, and his eyes were filled with utter astonishmt.
“It really is a Superclass magic rune!” Orf marveled inwardly.
He was more than familiar with the aura and fluctuations of Superclass magic runes—there was no way he could be mistak!
The silvery magic runes on Luca’s body had to be a Superclass magic rune, and an exceptionally unique one at that. Otherwise, ev with a Superclass rune, it would be impossible for him to boost his strgth to such an extt in an instant.
“Today’s youth…” Orf’s gaze turned complex, filled with deep emotions. Ev though his expectations for Luca had already be sky-high, he hadn’t imagined that this young man, at merely the Silver grade, would have mastered a Superclass magic rune!
One must know that this was a realm countless Demonic Rune Mages could never hope to reach in their tire lifetimes!
And how old was Luca? Eighte? Ninete?
Thinking of the accomplishmts Luca might achieve in the future, Orf couldn’t help but feel his own age catching up to him.
He had some guesses about the origin of this magic rune as well.
After all, he knew almost everything that had happed in Riverfall City. If his guess was right, the magic rune on Luca’s body was likely drawn using the transcdt materials left behind by the King-level monster’s mirrored image.
The only thing that puzzled Orf was—who had inscribed this rune for Luca?
Could it be that there was a hidd Superclass practitioner in a small place like Emerald State whom he was unaware of?
As for the possibility that Luca had personally refined and inscribed the rune himself, that thought merely flashed through Orf’s mind before he dismissed it.
If a Demonic Rune Mage has ough talt and resources, possessing magic runes far exceeding those of their peers isn’t unheard of.
Orf ev knew of some prodigies from powerful factions who, despite not being Demonic Rune Mages, were born with several Superclass temporary runes inscribed on their bodies by powerful practitioners to hance their talts and strgth.
These temporary runes were known as “Companion Runes” and could sometimes remain with them for a lifetime.
As for the notion of a low-level Demonic Rune Mage inscribing a Superclass magic rune… that was pure nonsse. In the ts of thousands of years of Eternal Contint’s history, such a thing had never happed. So, Orf was more inclined to believe that Luca had simply stumbled upon some incredible opportunity.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t something he could easily inquire about. After all, everyone has their own secrets.
Meanwhile, in a corner of the audice seating—
Fratis gazed at the figure within the Trial Tower, her beautiful eyes filled with astonishmt.
“Is that… Luca?” She had just received word and rushed over, only to witness this awe-inspiring sce.
As a princess, Fratis had be sured by countless influtial figures and brilliant prodigies since childhood.
But at this momt, she suddly felt that compared to the young man before her, all those people were like fireflies in the presce of the bright moon—utterly incomparable. This was what true, unparalleled talt looked like. This was what it meant to be a true prodigy of the ages!
Gazing at the figure within the Trial Tower, standing there like a deity descded upon the mortal world, Fratis pressed a hand to her chest, her eyes shimmering, feeling as if her heartbeat had slowed half a beat.
Mother… I think I’m in love…
Luca’s display of strgth left not only the spectators outside in shock.
Inside the Trial Tower, the Skeleton Emperor was having an existtial crisis.
It couldn’t comprehd why the weakling of a boy in front of it had, in the blink of an eye, transformed into someone tirely differt—an aura of overwhelming power radiated from him, a power that made ev its very soul tremble.
At this momt, the Skeleton Emperor’s only thought was to flee. Gripping the bronze greatsword with both hands, the ghostly flames in its eyes flickered wildly. The sheer force it exerted caused its tire bony frame to creak and groan with piercing, grating sounds.
What astonished the Skeleton Emperor, however, was that no matter how much strgth it used, it couldn’t move the greatsword an inch. It was as if an iron vise had clamped down on the blade, making it utterly immovable, completely stuck in place!
“Scared now, you bastard?” Luca chuckled softly, but his eyes flashed with a cold light.
A layer of frost began to spread from Luca’s hand, quickly covering the bronze greatsword and spreading toward the Skeleton Emperor.
Ssing the immint danger, the Skeleton Emperor felt an intse foreboding. Seeing the frost creeping closer and closer, it had no choice but to abandon the greatsword, turning into a wisp of black smoke and retreating rapidly.
But there was no way Luca would let it escape so easily.
“Finish it,” he said calmly, his voice soft but brimming with murderous intt.
The momt Luca’s words fell, a blinding flash of icy light appeared behind the Skeleton Emperor.
4!
A glaring damage number floated up, and frost instantly covered half of its skeletal frame.
“Wh did this happ?!” The Skeleton Emperor’s body froze in shock, its hollow gaze turning backward in disbelief. Only th did it notice—somehow, behind it stood another figure that looked exactly like Luca.
The same long, silver- hair, the same cold, indiffert expression—without a hint of emotion. The only differce was that instead of a silver spear, this figure wielded a blue ice sword.
Ice Mirror Clone!
Before the Skeleton Emperor could react, the Ice Mirror Clone twisted its wrist, and the blue sword turned into a blur, striking down like a torrtial storm upon its bony form.
-6664! -687! -736! …
The whirling sword formed a blue tempest, completely veloping the Skeleton Emperor.
A series of damage numbers rose from its head, and in the blink of an eye, its tire body was riddled with gashes!
The black mist suring the Skeleton Emperor churned violtly as its health dropped at an alarming rate.
Ev more devastating, each of the clone’s attacks carried a freezing effect, making its movemts sluggish and its attempts to counterattack or escape exceedingly difficult.
Seeing that if this continued, it would be froz and controlled to death by Luca.
The Skeleton Emperor let out a piercing roar toward the sky.
Boom!!
A cloud of death ergy erupted from its body, and the powerful shockwave st Luca’s clone flying backward.
Gaining a brief momt of respite, the Skeleton Emperor took a deep breath, thinking of a way to escape.
But just th, a calm voice that filled it with dread suddly echoed through the hall.
“It’s over,” Luca stated calmly.
The Skeleton Emperor jerked its head a, only to see Luca—who hadn’t moved until now—slowly lift his hand.
In an instant, a terrifying surge of ice elemtal ergy gathered in the sky.
A colossal ice magic formation, spanning several hundred meters, materialized above the tire palace in the blink of an eye!
The temperature throughout the tire cemetery plummeted sharply, and snowflakes began to drift down from the darked sky.
“How… how is this possible…” The Skeleton Emperor looked up at the magic formation in the sky, its eyes filled with terror and disbelief!
Before it could finish its stce, Luca lightly pointed his Mithril Mage Spear at it.
The magic formation above the palace flared with a brilliant ice-blue light, and a thunderous dragon’s roar echoed from the formation!
“Roar!!!”
In the Skeleton Emperor’s horrified gaze, a massive, fearsome ice dragon—resembling a giant serpt—suddly burst forth from the formation!
The monstrous creature, stretching over a hundred meters long, descded upon it like a crashing comet!
Boom!!!
The deafing explosion reverberated throughout the tire cemetery, and an unbelievably powerful frost storm swept through the tire 0th-floor secret realm, with the black palace at its cter!
The dark clouds in the sky were blown apart by the raging storm. Snowflakes fluttered down as the extreme cold veloped everything, and the palace was rapidly covered in layers of ice and snow, spreading visibly fast across the tire cemetery.
Wh the devastating frost storm finally dissipated, the tire cemetery had transformed into a world of ice and snow!
High-level Ice Mage Skill: Winter Frost Dragon!
With that one strike, the tire Trial Tower trembled!
Frost began spreading rapidly from the 0th floor as its epicter, veloping the Trial Tower in layers of ice.
In just a few breaths’ time, under the stunned gazes of everyone watching, the tire Trial Tower was completely cased in ice!