“`
Time, like a flash of light, always flits by in an instant.
Four months had passed since Ivan returned from Moon Pincer Peninsula. During this time, he had expended a great deal of energy on Helen, at times making Justine and Pearney, who had adapted to life in the East Capital, feel somewhat neglected.
In truth, they were wronging him, as he had yet to truly see Helen’s face, let alone anything else.
Today, his efforts were finally about to bear fruit.
A testing chamber within Rapid Wood Tower had been designated as Helen’s promotion locale, with early preparations made. There was a slightly larger runes sorcery array dais, and atop it, a diminutive binding array dais.
As Helen was preparing to initiate her official sorcerer promotion, Ivan arrived, and Justine and Pearney appeared as well.
“Let’s begin, believe that you can do it,” Ivan reassured her as she looked toward him.
“Mhm,” Helen, still clad in armor, responded with a slight nod.
Undoubtedly she was fortunate, having a Level 3 Sorcerer as a mentor during her apprenticeship, tirelessly helping her simulate promotion issues and creating a tailored spell for her to act as a Level 1 Solidification Magic.
Yet, she was also unfortunate, being the first undead creature to attempt the path of a sorcerer.
Since there were no ancestral experiences to draw upon, once the promotion began, no one knew what might happen. Of course, Ivan didn’t know, hence he stayed close by her side, ready to protect and ensure a smooth sail.
“Arise!”
With a hoarse cry, the small array dais Helen sat upon was activated, and the Black Magic Wind Fire Bundle Array sprung to life.
In an instant, wind and fire emerged, streams of mental energy enveloping Helen like dark spikes.
The sorcerer promotion had officially started.
“All is going well.”
“Mhm, mhm, if nothing unexpected happens, Ivan will have another sorcerer disciple.”
Nearby, Pearney and Justine watched everything closely, whispering to each other as they saw everything proceeding as usual with the passage of time.
However, after half an hour, the testing chamber’s atmosphere changed dramatically, and a large amount of element energy swarmed in from all directions.
Different from the usual element energy one would see, this was a revolting energy, brimming with a chilling intent of death as if it could extinguish all that lived.
Ivan’s perception was different from the others; he sensed a strange vitality within the deathly aura.
But that wasn’t the point. The point was that the particles of undead energy had arrived too soon.
“What could be the reason?”
Ivan was baffled. Logically, even the fastest promotion from apprentice to sorcerer took three hours, but not even an hour had passed, and element particles had already appeared on a massive scale.
The congregation of element particles was supposed to be a good thing, but too soon and too much could bring other troubles, like unavoidable crushes of power and conflict.
Helen’s body might not withstand it.
As time ticked by, the swarming energy particles not only failed to diminish but their concentration actually continued to rise, rapidly coalescing into an Elemental Phenomenon, forming a skull with hollow eye sockets.
It was visible that numerous energy particles were drilling through the crevices in the armor and entering Helen’s body.
Before long, the armor began emitting a ‘crack’ sound of being pressed, as if overwhelmed.
Watching this scene unfold, Justine and Pearney couldn’t help but look toward Ivan, puzzled as to why he hadn’t intervened yet.
Realizing that continuing like this wouldn’t work, Ivan communicated with the sorcerer tower and manually isolated some of the undead particle influx to observe the subsequent effects.
Immediately, the skull diminished somewhat, but the particles continued drilling in, and the crackling sound from the armor didn’t stop.
With a soft clank, Helen’s helmet mask shattered to pieces and flew off, revealing a delicate and exquisite face, yet devoid of any color, giving off an eerie non-human aura at first glance.
Pain soon crossed Helen’s face.
“Never mind, I’ll lend you a hand.”
“`
Ivan shook his head, knowing well that Helen couldn’t hold on much longer, so it was indeed time for him to take real action.
After speaking, he stepped forward to the larger runes array dais in the center and began to adjust the Formation on the spot. Once he quickly completed the adjustments, he directly opened up the isolation of the sorcerer tower, allowing undead element particles to gather.
Following that, he activated the adjusted runes Formation.
On the array dais, an even more delicate Black Magic Fire began to burn, eventually transforming into fiery tendrils, which then split into finer filaments.
There were not only Black Magic Fire filaments but also the Formation drew on the surrounding undead energy particles, cleverly converting them into ghastly pale flames, which then turned into ghastly pale tendrils. However, their number was only a third of that of the Black Magic Fire filaments.
“Whoosh whoosh—”
The next second, all the tiny tendrils pierced through the armor and penetrated into Helen’s body, methodically and evenly spaced.
As the tendrils pierced her, Helen first furrowed her brow tightly, but soon relaxed, and the pained expression on her face began to ease.
Ivan nodded slightly, gratified that his efforts using part of the Black Magic Rebirth Cocoon Array’s method were not in vain.
At this moment, not far behind him, Justine and Pearney exchanged glances, both seeing the astonishment in each other’s eyes. The man’s methods were truly awe-inspiring.
“With such mastery in Enchantment, to say he is possessed by divine brilliance is not an exaggeration. The Enchantment Master truly lives up to his title,” Pearney, who understood Enchantment, knew even more about the amazement of its intricacies.
“Of course, when it comes to assisting apprentices in becoming sorcerers, Ivan is likely second to none in the entire sorcerer world,” Justine proclaimed proudly.
Hearing these somewhat exaggerated compliments, Pearney did not contest it. At that moment, she truly felt that what the other had said was true.
“Justine, with Ivan around, we could all become Level 2 Sorcerers, or even Level 3 Sorcerers.”
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“Hmm, I think so too.”
Leaving aside the two deeply moved women, under Ivan’s manipulation, Helen sat steadily in the center of the testing ground, with her advancement proceeding in an orderly manner.
The advancement continued for two hours and fifteen minutes, undead series particles entering Helen’s body in a surge-like manner, elevating her aura by a notch.
Finally, Helen became an official Undead Sorcerer.
“Ivan, you really are incredible.”
“Absolutely, Helen is lucky to have joined your tutelage. Given the circumstances just now, not to speak of a single advancement, even three or four attempts at Level 4 would likely have been unsuccessful.”
Justine and Pearney had been bursting with words to say, and as soon as the advancement ended, they bombarded Ivan with praise.
Ivan was just about to say something when a colorful force spontaneously appeared in mid-air, carrying with it an essence of mystery and profundity as if sacred light was shimmering within it.
The force split in two; half descended upon him and the other half towards Helen, who was still seated.
He felt a warm and comfortable sensation, as if undergoing a minor baptism, and suddenly noticed something out of the ordinary. The spiritual power in his mental ocean was being soothed; the fatigue from the Level 3 advancement was dissipating more quickly.
“Destiny?”
A word popped into Ivan’s mind. This wasn’t the first time he had received such power; the last time was when he was forging his second Secret Method Body Double. Back then, Jenny was still a stone person, and the power had been transmitted from her stone body.
Comparing the two occasions, this time’s power was clearly not as substantial as the last, but it felt more intimate and warming to him.
Suddenly, his pupils contracted a little as a new subject sprang up on the Academic Prodigy’s panel—[Witchcraft Civilization Studies]—an occurrence that hadn’t been seen in many years.
“It’s okay, no—this is a good thing, you don’t have to worry.” The colorful force arrived rapidly and departed just as quickly; Ivan snapped back to reality to see two faces filled with concern beside him.
“Just now—” The two felt somewhat relieved, and Pearney couldn’t help but ask.
“It’s probably related to the force that governs the world’s operations, something beyond our comprehension. You might as well pretend you didn’t see it,” Ivan said thoughtfully after pondering.
Seeing his serious tone, the two women quickly nodded, taking his words to heart.
Just then, a clanging sound not far away grabbed the attention of the three people, who involuntarily turned to look. They saw a sleek and exquisite figure standing amidst a heap of armor parts, her usually stern face showing an unusual look of embarrassment.
Who else could it be but Helen?
“Oh!”
Catching sight of the three looking over, Helen became even more flustered, but fortunately, she instinctively activated her Solidification Magic—Pale Heart, erecting a gloomy and ghastly white energy shield in front of her.