“Peace be with you, esteemed Sorcerer Ivan.”
“Boss, your research has ended, the harvest this time must be quite significant, right?”
This day, within a spacious testing ground on the second floor of the tower, Ivan had summoned Thomas, Locke, Lilith, and others. Not far behind him, a runes sorcery array had been meticulously inscribed.
The formation was the ‘Black Magic Wind Fire Ritual Cocoon Array,’ but it was only a small part of it.
“Locke, step onto it and I will extract that Confinement Power from you,” Ivan pointed to the center of the runes sorcery array and said.
“Haha, I knew you had a way, boss.” Locke stepped into the center of the formation, his face overflowing with expectancy.
Watching this scene, Thomas was even more excited.
In that place of the Black God Society, he was an intermediate insect controller, possessing a much stronger Confinement Power within his body than Locke, and despite not being restricted in the slightest these days, he had not dared to take even a half step out of the tower.
Now, he finally saw the hope of unlocking his chains.
While Thomas was lost in his wild thoughts, Ivan activated the runes sorcery array. A black flame tinged with blood emerged, then coalesced into three flamelike tendrils.
“Boss, you’re not going to stick me with those, are you?”
“Keep quiet.”
Beneath Locke’s slightly puzzled gaze, the three flamelike tendrils further divided into countless thin strands as fine as silkworm threads, penetrating into Locke’s body precisely and evenly.
A searing, heart-corroding sensation was spawned.
Locke’s eyes bulged and sometimes whitened, gnashing his teeth in agonizing delight.
Because of Ivan’s command, he couldn’t shout out. The experience was so unique that it was almost once in a lifetime, so much so that he didn’t notice the diminishing Confinement Power within his body.
After a while, Ivan withdrew the fiery tendrils and ceased operating the runes sorcery array.
“Alright, move aside quickly, don’t take up my space.”
He chuckled at Locke, who hadn’t snapped out of it for a while; the fellow was numbed by the ordeal.
It was just like treating an illness – to remove it threads and all, naturally one must endure some pain. By compressing the entire process into a dozen minutes, the pain of drawing out the threads was compounded.
Furthermore, that force of Confinement had penetrated deep into the bone marrow and soul, and extracting it was akin to ripping those apart.
Hearing this, Locke involuntarily shivered, finally coming to his senses.
“Boss, you’ve set me up. Such pain, and you didn’t warn me in advance. Just now, I felt like I was being torn into tiny pieces, over and over, too many times to count.”
“Whether I told you or not makes no difference. To rid yourself of that disgusting power, you must undergo such a trial.”
Seeing him still unmoving, Ivan casually waved his hand, calling forth a gust of wind to send Locke to one side, then rolled the hesitating Silkworm Queen over.
The Silkworm Queen rolled on the spot, transforming into a beautiful, fat, jade-green bug, resplendent and crystalline.
“Ivan, be gentle.”
“Silkworm Queen, you’ve gotten fatter again.”
“That’s how I like it.”
Amid casual chatter, the Silkworm Queen was engulfed in the black and crimson fiery tendrils. Her glittering body trembled slightly, but compared to Locke, her tolerance was quite evidently superior.
In no time at all, the Silkworm Queen’s body adjusted to the change, feeling it somewhat similar to her past metamorphoses.
“Ivan, this feels like, like—-” the flames ceased, and as if having discovered something, the Silkworm Queen excitedly tried to convey something to Ivan but couldn’t articulate a reason.
“Does it feel like it could aid in your evolutionary metamorphosis?” Ivan of course knew what she wanted to say.
“Yes, yes, yes, I have that sensation,” the Silkworm Queen nodded incessantly.
“That’s your misconception. While the formation may assist in your evolution, many other factors are also involved. It’s not as simple as you think,” Ivan shook his head slightly without much explanation.
As the saying goes, ‘those who resemble me prosper, those who learn from me perish.’ Both the Black Magic Wind Fire Ritual and the Black Magic Wind Fire Ritual Cocoon Array involve insect metamorphosis, but they are most suited to himself alone.
Especially during the critical stage of advancing to Level 4, the likelihood of other creatures successfully copying this was indeed minuscule.
With the potential and comprehension of the Silkworm Queen, there certainly was no possibility.
“Alright.”
The Silkworm Queen was somewhat disappointed, but she was not the kind of insect to cause trouble unnecessarily.
Next, of course, it was Thomas’s turn.
“Ready?”
“Bring it on, Lord Ivan. I, Thomas, won’t make a peep or fidget at all.”
Thomas revealed his tightly wrapped black robe and masked scarf, showing that his face and neck skin had become insect pleated. His features were completely insectified, and apart from the sound of his voice, there wasn’t a hint of his human form left.
“Brother—-“
Lilith, standing to the side and witnessing this scene, couldn’t stop her tears from flowing. One could imagine the immense suffering her brother must have endured.
Thinking of something, she quickly covered her mouth tightly, afraid that making a noise would disturb her brother’s treatment.
Ivan ignored all this and once more smoothly activated the runes sorcery array, as more and denser flames shot into Thomas’s body, encasing him as if in a cocoon.
In just an instant, Thomas’s strange eyes nearly popped out of their sockets and his body showed an uncontrollable tendency to shake.
“Can’t handle it? Then let me help you.”
Ivan wasn’t particularly surprised by this; there was always a limit to human endurance, even for sorcerers.
He flicked his fingers a few times, and several green tendrils formed and then shot into Thomas’s body. With the strong intoxicating power of the wood element added, even the natural instinct to tremble was suppressed.
‘Tsk tsk, is the boss a born villain or what? Even denying Thomas that little bit of natural relief from his pain, the agony must be magnified.’
At this time, Locke was still sitting on the ground, taking everything in, and his body couldn’t help but shiver again.
However, he dared not say these words out loud. His boss was very scheming, setting traps without a sound, just like this unconventional treatment.
It wasn’t long before Locke saw Thomas fainting spectacularly, and then he heard his boss announce indifferently that Thomas’s treatment would continue once he awoke. If once wasn’t enough, then twice, and if twice wasn’t enough, then three times, until he was recovered.
The boss sure never went easy. Thomas was in for a treat this time.
Locke thought this to himself but looked up only to find the boss looking right at him, his expression suddenly stiffening. Surely it wasn’t his turn next.
“Silkworm Queen, please bring Sorcerer Randall here.” Ivan’s gaze swept past Locke and landed on the Silkworm Queen, as he instructed her while rolling Thomas aside.
A dozen or so seconds later, the Silkworm Queen brought the burly Randall, whose attention was immediately captivated by the unfamiliar Formation before him.
“Instructor, should I go first, or the Nine-Colored Bugs? The treatment will involve some stinging pain.”
“I’ll go first, please trouble you, Ivan.”
On hearing Ivan’s question, Randall handed over his insect nest to the Silkworm Queen and sat down on the sorcery array. He did not pay much heed to the prospect of stinging pain.
‘Sorcerer Randall, how brave!’
Under Locke’s intense gaze, after a short while, Randall also fainted spectacularly, his eyes unable to close.
Locke glanced subconsciously at his boss, only to see a thoughtful yet indifferent expression on his face, resembling that of a researcher who had just completed an experiment. Continue your saga on My Virtual Library Empire
“Locke, if you dare slander me in your heart again, don’t blame this sorcerer for sending you to the Black Magic Wind Fire Array once more.” Hearing the faint voice, Locke belatedly realized the boss was glaring at him.
His heart gave a thump; he almost forgot how closely connected he was with the boss, who could not be fooled by intense emotions.
“Heh heh, no slandering, how could I, boss.” Locke quickly waved his hands and explained with an awkward laugh, looking somewhat guilty.
The treatment continued for several days, and both Randall and Thomas were eventually freed from the Confinement Power inside them.
Correspondingly, their degree of insectification was without a doubt greatly alleviated.
During that period, fulfilling Locke’s earlier promise, Ivan helped Lilith become an official sorcerer with the Black Magic Wind Fire Array.
After the treatment was completed, the siblings left the tower, overflowing with gratitude. As for their whereabouts, Ivan didn’t inquire further.