Wizard Bloodline.

Chapter 476 The Holy Blood Tree, Youth, Breakthrough of the Eternal Coffin

“The sunken passage has no specific exit; it only has cracks created by the changing and folding of space.”

Most spatial rifts exist for only a very short time, fleeting and ephemeral. Finding a safe and suitable place to leave requires not only luck, but also patience, Damian.

Hearing the aged and peaceful voice echoing in his mind, the handsome young man said nothing more, but simply closed his eyes and entered a meditative state.

The handsome young man before us is none other than Ronan, who has been in the sunken tunnel for two years.

Even though he had made sufficient mental preparations, Ronan did not expect that he would stay in the spatial passage leading to the lower continent for two whole years, and still had not found a way out.

After entering the sunken tunnel for some time, he realized that the situation was far more complicated than he had imagined, and the significance of the sealing restriction on the Sunken Eye—it was a form of indirect protection for low-level wizards.

Inside the tunnel, the wizard not only faces monsters that may appear from different worlds and dimensions, but also the problem of how to escape the tunnel.

Because space is constantly changing, even if you keep moving, you may not be moving in the intended direction.

It may rise, it may sink, it may fall, it may keep going in circles, it may be infinitely close to where you want to go, or it may have already drifted to a place beyond the world.
Only wizards of level seven or higher can accurately locate themselves in this environment and find and open a way out of the passage.

Ronan drifted aimlessly in the sinking tunnel for nearly two years until two months ago, when his soul power grew and nourished Arajan, who awoke from his slumber, finally giving him a glimmer of hope to leave.

The dark metal base drifted slowly through the passageway, propelled by the spatial turbulence. Ronan's eyes were closed, and his powerful spiritual energy surged out of his body in waves, forming an invisible yet heavy field around him.

Within the field, one after another, collapsing "singularities" appear, where light converges, like a nascent star field that is about to take shape.

After two years of continuous soul projection into dreams, Ronan's soul power cultivation has gradually approached the late stage of level five, and his proficiency in the [Ancient Star Meditation Method] has successfully broken through the master level of one thousand points.

Because of the [Sensing Stars] effect, he can sometimes clearly perceive the existence of a certain area of ​​the starry sky.

When the summons from the Golden Land were intermittent and barely perceptible, the Ancient Star Meditation Technique's connection to the "Ancient Stars" became the most reliable means of guiding him as he wandered through the tunnel.

Like a traveler lost in the sea and desert, relying on looking up at the stars to find their way.

At some point, Ronan suddenly opened his eyes, exiting his meditative state.

His robe on the right side flipped up, vaguely revealing well-proportioned and streamlined arm muscles. Intense star veins surged on his arm, eventually forming a deep purple star ring worn on his arm.

"【Forbidden. Black Hole】!"

As Ronan pointed his finger, boundless forbidden energy surged forward, and at the point of his consciousness, a gigantic and distorted pitch-black sun silently appeared.

It exploded with a deafening roar, and the terrifying aftershocks of energy were forcibly calmed down by the omnipresent spatial forces around it.

Then another great sun was born, followed by another shattering, smoothing, and regeneration.
One after another, the suns flickered like lamplight in the passageway, and slowly, more and more spells appeared in Ronan's hands.

Ice magic inherited from the ancient Frost Whale and Ice Emperor, golden fire magic from Spirit Maya, spatial magic from the Minotaur, and dark magic from Sagadi's Corpse Accumulation Technique.
Ronan continued casting spells until his mental energy was depleted and fell below a certain limit before finally stopping.

This was his daily routine, and he spent his long and tedious days wandering in the tunnel in this way.

Thanks to his arduous training during this period, his proficiency in his major spells has increased rapidly. Among them, the spell he has devoted the most effort to, [Forbidden Black Hole], has already broken through the Grandmaster level with a proficiency of 500 points.

Compared to two years ago, Vaillant has also made a qualitative leap.

"For the second magic rune, after two years, I've only grasped about one-tenth of it; the progress is slower than I expected."

As Ronan recovered his mental energy, he looked at his right palm.

The second magic rune he chose corresponds to the Magic Touch on the palm. According to his plan, it should take him four to six years to fully comprehend this rune.

But at the current pace, it would take a full twenty years to achieve this.

This timeframe far exceeds the time it took Ronan to comprehend his first Archmage rune when he was a level 3 Wizard.

Logically speaking, his current soul power is more than a hundred times greater than it was back then, and his comprehension has greatly improved, so the process should be simpler and take less time. However, the situation is exactly the opposite.

Ronan carefully recalled the process of comprehending his first Archmage rune and felt that the problem might lie in the missing Archmage set pieces.

"Within the space of the Magic Control Armlet, besides the core Magic Control runes, there are countless other additional runes."
Looking back now, those additional runes were probably meant to assist the inheritor in comprehending the magic runes.

For Ronan, both then and now, a single rune is far too profound and mysterious. The numerous additional runes are like "analytical annotations" that break down and analyze the corresponding runes to help the inheritor comprehend them.

Now that the Imperial Armor Set is damaged, all these "analysis annotations" are gone, making it naturally difficult for Ronan to "tough it out".

"To accelerate my comprehension, I can only continue to improve my soul power cultivation and my expertise in runic literature."
There was no other way.

Ronan shook his head, silently greeting Arajan in his mind, before entering the misty space.

Compared to other wizards who attempt to traverse the Sunken Eye, Ronan's other significant advantage is that he carries the Mist Space with him.

The continuous supply of resources from the misty space meant he didn't have to worry about his daily food and drink needs, and he could also enter the misty space to rest when he felt mentally exhausted.

However, the time cannot be too long, otherwise even with Arahant's protection, the "Mirror of the Void" that remains in place is easily swept away by the spatial turbulence in the passageway and loses its original direction.

Compared to a few years ago, everything in the Misty Space is now completely on track.

The barbarian and elven people who lived in the misty space experienced a sharp decline in their numbers during their first year there, perhaps due to the challenges of adapting to a new environment. Some of the older members died.

Then, in the second year, after everyone successfully transformed into Holy Blood Families, the number began to gradually increase again, and now the total number has exceeded 2,500.

And under the deliberate control of their leader Iris, they gradually began to split into two tribes: the barbarians and the elves.

The former live in grasslands, while the latter have moved into forest areas that are beginning to take shape.

As a "faith" shared by both races, the Sacred Blood Tree, nourished by its more than 2,500 followers, rapidly entered a stage of high-speed growth that was difficult for even Ronan to detect.

In Benigo's words, it belongs to the "youth stage" of the Sacred Blood Tree!
"call--"

Ronan's true form entered the misty space.

Standing at the very top of the misty space and looking down, one can see that the area of ​​the misty space has now roughly doubled in size.

The entire area consists of grasslands inhabited by barbarians, forests inhabited by elves, and a barren mountain range that is "growing".

At the center, surrounded by three major regions, shrouded in a thick mist, the canopy of the Holy Blood Tree extends like a giant umbrella, obscuring the sky. Through a gap in the mist lies a vast lake. This lake, continuously created day and night by the countless water elementals summoned from the Elemental Pool, is known as the "Lake of Holy Blood" among the barbarian and elven tribes. Whenever the moonlight falls, ethereal songs rise from the lake—the songs of Arrietty and Bebe.

Whenever the two major tribes had any important ceremonies, they would hold them on the shore of the lake.

The prototype of a nation based on the most primitive faith is already taking shape.

Ronan stood high in the misty space, gazing into the distance.

After a large number of high walls of mist were unlocked within the misty space, from his current location, he could vaguely see the outline of what looked like a small gray island in the far distance.

Ronan secretly guessed that it might be the back of the "Mirror of the Void," the location of the Minotaur's endless labyrinth.

If his guess comes true, and the two spaces are indeed connected one day, then the gray mist island where the labyrinth is located could serve as a place of exile similar to the forsaken and forbidden places of the gods.

Withdrawing his gaze, Ronan slowly descended. The branches of the Holy Blood Tree, which almost connected to the dome, swayed and made a tinkling sound to welcome his arrival.

The mist below parted automatically, revealing Ronan the incredibly thick roots of the Holy Blood Tree, resembling giant pythons coiled around it.

These tree roots not only take root in the ground, but also penetrate deep into the void, constantly drawing nutrients from unknown territories to support their growth.

A low growl of a monster came from afar. Soon after, the mist broke through, and a huge ice field lizard rushed towards him, its body undulating.

The hard ground surged beneath the earth lizard like a tide, and soon it reached Ronan's side.

A tall, imposing figure leaped off the back of the earth lizard, quickly knelt at Ronan's feet, and respectfully kissed the ground.

"Owner."

Ronan gently stroked Iris's head and nodded slightly.

Several years have passed, and after her bloodline has been purified several times by the Holy Blood Tree, Iris's loyalty to Ronan has reached a very high level.

The gradually awakened goblin bloodline endowed Iris with increasing intelligence, which allowed him to not only fulfill his duty as the "representative of the Holy Blood" assigned by Ronan, but also slowly take over some of the research work that originally belonged to Benigo.

Ronan saw no trace of anyone at the base of the Holy Blood Tree, whose roots twisted like a palace. He knew that Costi, Arrietty, and Dodor III usually preferred to stay with the barbarian and elf tribes. This area, which had completely returned to its desolate state, was increasingly resembling a solemn and dignified "holy land".

Unseen ripples rose in the void, as if something enormous was silently drifting by.

Ronan reached out and hugged the "Guardian of the Holy Land," a conscious snake that only he could see. Sensing its active state, he took a small amount of its brain fluid and then let it move freely.

With a stable supply of lucid snake venom, Ronan's soul purity has remained excellent despite years of continuous reincarnations and dreams, and he no longer needs to worry about soul aftereffects.

After collecting the brain fluid, Ronan slowly walked towards the base of the Holy Blood Tree, with Iris following closely behind.

Finally, Ronan stopped in front of a large, old laboratory table.

Ronan reached out and gently wiped the lab bench, looking at the dust remaining on his fingertips, and asked in a low voice, "Any news about Benigo lately?"

Iris, standing behind him, replied respectfully, "Lord Benigol sent a message through the Sacred Tree a month ago."

After saying this, Iris offered a leaf of holy blood with both hands.

Ronan took the palm-sized leaf, which resembled a maple leaf or a ruby, and saw that some golden rays on the surface of the leaf were constantly wriggling like worms.

His lips moved slightly, and he uttered a few awkward incantation syllables.

Before long, the golden worms slowly coalesced into two words—"Breakthrough".

Ronan's eyes flickered slightly. He casually put the leaf down, looked up at the oldest and thickest root of the Holy Blood Tree not far away, and silently pondered its unknown direction deep in the void.

"breakthrough?
Has Benego's "Coffin of Immortality" project finally made a substantial breakthrough?

He didn't know, and couldn't contact Ban Nigo.

A year ago, thanks to the support of its many followers, the Holy Blood Tree suddenly entered its current "adolescent stage" and gained the ability to take root in the void.

On a day when Ronan was not in the Misty Space, Benigo was inexplicably "sent" to another place by the Holy Blood Tree.

Or to be precise.

He himself went to some unknown place through the Holy Blood Tree.

Before leaving, he took with him the ice coffin containing Fiona, all his research materials related to the "Eternal Coffin," and left a note for Ronan, informing him that he had finally found a glimmer of hope to realize the "Eternal Coffin" project.

Ronan didn't know where Benigo had gone, only that Benigo was still alive, and perhaps doing quite well.

He was finally able to begin the work he had always wanted to do, and would occasionally send messages back through the Blood Tree to "report that he was safe and sound" to Ronan.

However, the messages sent back by Benigo, after being translated through multiple dimensions and the Tree of Blood, could only express fragments each time. Just like now, the specific meaning could only be guessed and deduced by Ronan himself.

"Keep an eye on things for me."

Ronan instructed Iris, "If anything serious happens, remember to let me know immediately."

"Yes."

Iris nodded.

"There's one more thing, Master."

Iris took out a gold ring and began to report to Ronan in a low voice.

This is the golden ring that Ronan asked him to help find clues about the secrets of a certain golden-eared goblin's treasure vault. After studying it for so long, Iris has finally made some progress.

As Ronan listened to Iris's account, he spread his mental energy to locate Curtis and the others in the misty space.

In recent years, Kirsty has been in good condition within the Misty Space, and Ronan can sense that the trauma in her soul is gradually healing itself.

(End of this chapter)