"Ding! Host's Spiritual Power has reached the critical threshold!"
Alongside the Chip's notification came the swelling sensation within his sea of consciousness. Only then did Leilin realize that not only had his Spiritual Power data reached a value of 399, but his sea of consciousness had also been completely filled with dark Spiritual Power crystals tinged with hints of crimson.
At the center of his sea of consciousness, Leilin's three-layered Spiritual Power core crystal radiated dazzling light.
"The effects of a bloodline combustion experiment are always strongest the first time, diminishing afterward!" Sensing the still-surging bloodline power within him, Leilin made his decision. "Chip, begin the Morning Star advancement!"
"Task established! Comprehensive monitoring of host data initiated. Morning Star derivation activated. Singularity construction commencing…"
Massive streams of data flowed before Leilin's eyes—all academic knowledge related to singularity construction. These were the closely guarded secrets of the Morning Star rank. Had he not killed a clone of the Blue Mountain King, Leilin would never have obtained them so easily.
"Snake Woman Phalange!"
Leilin turned his gaze to the other bloodline item—his greatest harvest from the Quicksand Ancient Fortress. Had he used it back then, he might have been able to leap directly past the liquefaction and crystallization thresholds, advancing straight to the peak of the Third-rank!
But Leilin was a patient man. He had forcibly restrained his impulses, using only the radiation emitted by the phalange to slowly mature his own bloodline.
The Snake Woman Phalange could have propelled him forward by leaps and bounds at that time, but compared to the boost it would provide during a Morning Star breakthrough, which mattered more? Was there even anything to consider?
Boom! The milky-white finger bone exploded into a wisp of ash, and a streak of light shot directly into Leilin's forehead.
Rumble! The moment the Snake Woman Phalange entered his body, it immediately triggered terrifying changes.
Within Leilin's sea of consciousness, a tremendous compressive force descended. Large quantities of Spiritual Power crystals began automatically condensing inward toward the central Spiritual Power core.
The terrifying pressure bore down on his Spiritual Power core, turning Leilin's face pale and sending his entire body into convulsions.
A
Under the crushing pressure of the massive Spiritual Power crystals, Leilin's core began emitting faint creaking sounds—a clear sign it was reaching its limits.
"Begin constructing the fourth-layer innate spell rune!" Leilin's eyes were bloodshot as he issued the command.
"Task established. Auxiliary operations commencing. Activating Atomic Microscope!" the Chip reported faithfully.
Leilin's own Spiritual Power core consisted of three layers in total. On the outermost layer were the runes of two First-level innate spells—Komoin Scales and Petrifying Gaze. On the layer within that sat the innate rune of a Second-level spell—Venomous Sac. Innermost was the third-layer nested crystal, bearing the rune of a Third-level innate spell—Terror Immobilization!
These three layers of runes were exquisitely beautiful, radiating a blood-red luster. Together they almost imperceptibly formed an arcane Wizard symbol—lacking only the very center point!
Now, at the center of the third-layer crystal, the fourth-layer crystal began slowly materializing.
Since Spiritual Power cores were nested structures, the more central the crystal, the smaller it became, and the finer the runes inscribed upon it. The difficulty of engraving grew exponentially.
By the time he reached the fourth-layer core crystal, it was only one-quarter the size of the first layer, yet he had to inscribe Fourth-level spell runes upon it without a single error. The demand on a Wizard's Spiritual Power control was, quite frankly, absurd.
"No wonder those attempting to advance to Fourth-rank always fail. Even with the Chip's assistance, this is still far too difficult…"
With the Chip's help and the Atomic Microscope activated, Leilin immediately began inscribing the innate rune recorded in the fourth layer of the Komoin Pupil onto the fourth-layer core crystal.
This was a choice every Warlock had to make. Only advanced Meditation Methods contained such perfectly matched innate spell templates at their core.
The inscription technique required in the spiritual world was infinitely more precise than micro-carving, and the difficulty demands were far greater. By the time Leilin completed the final stroke, he was on the verge of collapse.
With his sea of consciousness unstable and terrifying compressive forces raging around him, he had to complete the Fourth-level innate spell rune with absolute perfection. It was an immense challenge even for Leilin.
Hummmm!!!
The moment the innate spell was completed, his entire sea of consciousness trembled.
At its center, the Spiritual Power core crystal erupted with boundless radiance. Four layers of intricate runes arranged themselves in harmonious combination, like a work of exquisite art.
And when the very center point was finally filled in, the entire core crystal gave a violent tremble. In an instant, it seemed to have become tens of thousands of times more solid. The feeling that it might collapse under pressure vanished entirely.
"This rune?" Leilin gazed at the arcane symbol formed by the combination of all his innate spells—the rune representing everything he had accomplished thus far—and quickly ordered the Chip to record it.
Perfection! The very first impression upon seeing this rune was perfection.
The multitude of spell runes had combined into a single enormous Wizard symbol, flowing ceaselessly with a sense of three-dimensionality. From any angle, it radiated an impression of flawless completeness.
"Is this… my bloodline path?" Leilin murmured. In that instant, he nearly felt tears welling up in his eyes.
Whoosh!
The four-layered, perfected Spiritual Power core crystal suddenly collapsed inward, condensing into a single point that began spinning with tremendous speed—like a massive black hole, devouring everything around it.
The Spiritual Power crystals within his sea of consciousness rapidly compressed, pouring into the black hole.
"Singularity construction commencing! Initiating guidance mode!" The Chip's voice reached him.
Leilin began constructing his own singularity, following his own comprehension and the Chip's prompts.
Boom! The central point of Spiritual Power emitted an overwhelming attractive force. Not only Spiritual Power crystals—it eventually broke through the boundaries of his sea of consciousness, pulling in even more energy, flesh and blood, and even traces of his soul.
Crack!
Leilin's consciousness plunged into chaos. In that moment, it felt as though an eternity had passed—or perhaps it truly was eternal.
Only after the sound of shattering glass rang out did Leilin regain awareness.
His sea of consciousness was now utterly empty. At its core, there was only a single dark point of light—the Spiritual Power core crystal compressed millions of times over, its mass and density reaching terrifying levels. This was the singularity of a Morning Star Wizard!
The point of light pulsed, and Morning Star power—also called singularity power, or the soul power resulting from Spiritual Power purification—surged outward, flooding through Leilin's entire body.
From this moment forward, he had entered the realm of the Morning Star!!!
"Ding! Host's Komoin Pupil advanced Meditation Method has entered the Fourth Layer! Host has advanced to Fourth-rank Warlock!"
The Chip's voice rang out at that very moment.
"Host's Spiritual Power has undergone a qualitative transformation. Data is unstable. Re-collecting and matching…"
The Chip quickly responded. After a considerable period, it projected the latest data.
"Leilin Farell — Warlock, Fourth-rank. Bloodline: Komoin Giant Serpent (Perfect Form). Strength: 50. Agility: 45. Constitution: 65. Spirit: 503.7. Mana: 503 (Mana is synchronously determined by Spiritual Power). Soul Power: ???"
"Insufficient data on Soul Power. Display unavailable!"
Reading the Chip's output, Leilin stroked his chin and sank into thought.
After a Wizard advanced to Morning Star, their original Spiritual Power would undergo purification, producing a qualitative transformation into Soul Power—a higher order of power beyond Spiritual Power. But the Chip currently had very little data on Soul Power, insufficient to form a complete database, which was why it couldn't be displayed. For now, it could only be expressed in terms of Spiritual Power figures.
Once the Chip completed the Soul Power database in the future, it would be able to fully digitize Soul Power as well.
"Is the threshold for Morning Star a Spiritual Power of 500?" Leilin felt the terrifying energy within his singularity and let out a sigh. "Compared to the peak of Third-rank, that's a jump of nearly a hundred points. No wonder the chasm between Third-rank and Fourth-rank is as vast as the difference between heaven and earth!"
"Soul Power!" With a thought, a sliver of dark radiance appeared on his palm—the qualitatively transformed Spiritual Power from his singularity, a higher tier of power.
Wizards of Morning Star rank and above all wielded the power of the soul. Only at this stage could a Wizard truly be considered independent, walking their own path.
"In the ancient era, Wizards below Fourth-rank were all regarded as newcomers. The reason was precisely this!"
For a Wizard, the transitions from Third to Fourth-rank and from Sixth to Seventh-rank were both monumental thresholds. Leilin could not yet glimpse what lay beyond Seventh-rank, but he now fully understood the distinction between Third and Fourth-rank.
"Below Third-rank, Wizards primarily cultivate Spiritual Power. But at Fourth-rank and beyond—Morning Star, Luminous Moon, and Dawn Sun—Wizards inevitably touch upon the level of the soul, placing greater emphasis on drawing out the power within their own souls…"
Leilin couldn't help but gaze at his singularity. At the core of his sea of consciousness, that dark point of light spun ceaselessly, forming a vortex like a nebula. Countless energies were drawn in, purified, and circulated back out.
From now on, his soul would be condensed within the singularity, forming his True Spirit. And because the singularity provided protection, he would also possess tremendous resistance against many of the Spiritual Power and soul-based attacks he had encountered before.
The ultra-dense singularity served as the final defense of Leilin's True Spirit!
"My True Spirit…" Leilin's consciousness drifted back to that moment of advancement.
In that instant, he had seemed to witness the birth and death of the universe itself, as well as the rise and fall of the Komoin Giant Serpent race. In that moment, his soul had truly merged with his bloodline power, and he had become a genuine ancient Komoin Giant Serpent Warlock!