"I feel wonderful! A high-grade Meditation Method — whether it's Spiritual Power recovery or the degree of condensation — is nothing like the simplified version I had before…"
Ailin stood up and asked Merlin another question.
"But what about the leakage of my aura? If someone from the same school discovers it, I'll definitely be isolated and interrogated…"
"Haha… don't worry. The Wizard Ring I forged can conceal aura and simulate Spiritual Power fluctuations. With your current strength, even a formal Wizard wouldn't be able to detect anything!"
Merlin looked quite confident.
"Really?" Ailin's eyes lit up.
"Of course. Have you forgotten who I am? Besides, this is a magical artifact — a magical artifact, do you understand? Right now your strength is still too weak; otherwise you could unlock even more of the Wizard Ring's power…"
"I'm not entirely sure, but I think I've heard of them."
Ailin scratched his head. "What should I do next?"
"Keep killing enemies! Accumulate merit! I checked the Contribution Board yesterday — that potion for compressing Spiritual Power would be extremely useful for you. You have to get your hands on it!"
"Understood!" Ailin clenched his fist, his eyes burning with determination. "That bastard, and the Poderrick Family — I will come back for them!!!"
……
Without realizing it, two months had passed.
Outside Dorenn City, the fighting had escalated further. Dark Elves reinforcements had arrived in force, setting up camp and forming a stretch of encampments that spanned dozens of miles.
At the center of the camp stood several golden tents, and the auras emanating from within were enough to make even Leilin frown.
With proper command, the Dark Beasts and Elves fought at a level several tiers above before, plunging Dorenn City into a desperate struggle and inflicting heavy casualties among the rank-and-file.
Fortunately, these expendable troops were backed by the Dark Extreme Eastern Domain's seemingly endless supply, so the city held on.
Under this crushing pressure, the atmosphere inside Dorenn City grew heavier by the day, a premonition of a great battle looming over everyone's heart.
By now, Ailin had made a small name for himself. He'd beaten several apprentices sent by the same school to harass him until they were bleeding from head to foot, earning himself a modest reputation.
And following the Wizard world's rule that strength reigns supreme, his quarters had been relocated.
The new room was bright and clean, considerably more spacious than before.
Right now, Ailin sat cross-legged on bedsheets with blue stripes. Beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down his face. Through the black ring, Leilin was closely monitoring the situation.
This was the first time Ailin, having switched to the Holy Light Candlewick, was using the peculiar Spiritual Power generated by the Holy Light Candlewick to probe the tides of fate.
Leilin was very interested in this as well, commanding the Chip to continuously collect data for future reference.
Naturally, the version of the Holy Light Candlewick that Ailin practiced was not the original complete version the Chip had provided. It had been further modified by Leilin and the Chip, with numerous backdoors and control programs inserted.
"Here it comes!"
Leilin smiled. An inexplicable fluctuation appeared before his eyes.
Immediately, a series of images were captured by the ring.
On the city wall, Ailin waved his hand and launched a fireball. A massive wild boar tumbled backward. Seeing this, a smile appeared on his face.
But at that moment — something changed! From among the beast horde that had supposedly retreated, a giant black monkey suddenly rose into the air. The monkey had three eyes, and from the centermost one, a beam of red light shot forth.
An energy fluctuation on par with a formal Wizard erupted from the monkey's body.
Ailin couldn't dodge in time, and his body was torn to shreds!
These images flickered in rapid succession before Leilin's eyes, though they were somewhat blurry and not entirely continuous.
"So that's how it is. If nothing changes, Ailin will die three days from now during a siege?" Leilin rubbed his chin.
"Meditation Method information intercepted. Allow passage?" the Chip's mechanical voice intoned.
"Yes!" The moment Leilin gave his answer, Ailin's body on the bed shuddered. Both his eyes lost focus entirely, rolling back to show only white, as though he had glimpsed something horrifying.
The Holy Light Candlewick, after Leilin's added backdoors and control programs, had become slightly different from its original form.
Moreover, through these hidden measures working in tandem with the ring's semi-intelligent program, every prophecy Ailin made was intercepted and routed through Leilin first.
Only after Leilin gave his approval would those fragments of the future be transmitted to Ailin's mind.
Beyond mere interception, Leilin could even delete or alter these fragments and their information — meaning that whenever he wished, he could lead Ailin to entirely false conclusions.
After all, when dealing with an apprentice whose cultivation granted foresight, Leilin felt it was wise to exercise caution.
Otherwise, if the other party prophesied his entire scheme, what would be the point of playing the game?
Of course, right now Ailin's level of practice was still quite shallow. At most he could only foresee events at the apprentice tier; he had absolutely no sense of anything involving Leilin.
Even if he advanced to a formal Wizard, Leilin's head start meant he would never notice a thing.