Above the mage!

Chapter 542 Rapid Progress (Part 3)

The entire process of upgrading the rings in "The Secret of Zhenbing" is not much different in form from Gaode's first promotion, but the intensity is significantly different:

The last time I advanced one level, the misty mana vortex would condense into a drop of liquid mana every three hundred rotations.

As for this time, the liquid mana of "The Secret of True Ice" requires the mana vortex to rotate five hundred times before a single drop can be produced.

Such frequent rotations place far greater demands on the precise control of mental energy, the continuous consumption of physical strength, and even the speed of magic supply than before.

But Gao De is a second-ring mage, so this level of energy consumption is more than enough to carry him.

Soon, the twenty drops of icy blue liquid mana required for advancing one level had condensed beneath the mana pool.

Just like twenty tiny, suspended ice beads, they formed a striking color contrast with the emerald green wood magic crystals floating above the mana pool.

The next moment, a gentle yet pure, inexplicable power surged from the void into Gao De's mind.

This is a "perk" for mages when they are promoted, specifically used to cleanse their spiritual power and elevate their soul, thereby increasing the strength of their spiritual power.

However, this benefit is nothing compared to his already high mental strength of 299.

So it didn't really produce any real feeling; it just flickered in my mind and then disappeared without a trace.

However, it's not entirely useless.

The progress was roughly that the price was pushed from 299 to 299.1, which is better than nothing.

The final step of ascending to the next ring, "opening up a new ring of magical starry sky," is something that Gaode doesn't need to worry about at all.

His magical star sea had already been opened during his first advancement, so it can be completely skipped.

Thus, the cultivation method of "Zhenbing Secret Transmission" officially entered the realm of the first environment.

Each specialty is unique, and Gaode awakened its "adaptive" ability during its initial promotion.

Even if one acquires another cultivation method that reaches the first level, it is impossible to awaken any new specializations; there are no loopholes to exploit.

What he gains by expending extra energy and time is an additional amount of magical power and a stronger mental strength than that of an ordinary mage, as well as the extra abilities granted by the second cultivation method, "The Secret Transmission of Zhenbing".

The first skill in "True Ice Secrets" is "Freezing".

This refers to the method by which Iceborn mages enhance their Iceborn bloodline through Ice Marrow, thereby rapidly increasing their mage rank. It is also the foundational method of the Iceborn mage system.

Logically speaking, this upgrade of the "True Ice Secret Manual" should have ended here.

But Gaode is different.

He is of the Pure Ice bloodline, and is currently the only pure Iceblood in the entire Northern Territory besides Sunefa.

The Zhenbing bloodline will fully awaken when advancing to the first-ring mage.

Just today!

Without any preamble, Gao De's long-dormant Zhenbing bloodline suddenly awakened and erupted completely.

A chilling power, far more powerful than the vortex of magic, surged from the depths of his bloodline, instantly engulfing his limbs and bones.

This power is neither magical nor spiritual, but purely the "power of bloodline origin".

Wherever it passed, every inch of Gaode's flesh and blood trembled, every meridian was enveloped in cold air, and even his soul seemed to be tempered by ice, becoming more and more resilient.

Gao De remained in a cross-legged meditation posture, his eyes closed, but fine ice crystals began to condense in the air around him.

A pale blue aura of magical energy lingered around his body, and the color gradually faded, becoming translucent and sharp, eventually turning into an almost transparent color.

Gao De's body temperature dropped sharply.

His bones, muscles, and blood vessels seemed to be permeated and strengthened by countless tiny ice crystals, becoming different from before.

This is not the most significant change; it's merely an appetizer to awaken the Zhenbing bloodline.

The next moment, Gao De suddenly felt a slight tingling sensation under his skin, as if countless ice threads were wandering around his blood vessels.

Immediately afterwards, a layer of mysterious silver-white patterns first emerged from his collarbone, like a living ice totem, slowly flowing down his neck, arms, and waist.

The lines of this secret pattern are delicate yet full of mystery and power; each line is as if it were carved by the most skilled master.

A visible chill permeated the surface, even causing the surrounding air to distort slightly from the cold.

They lingered on Gaode's skin for about three breaths, as if completing some kind of branding ritual, before slowly disappearing beneath the skin.

The disappearance of the secret runes is merely a concealment, not a dissipation.

The moment the secret runes disappeared, Gao De clearly sensed that the ice elemental energy in the surrounding environment, as if it had suddenly found a home, was actively surging towards his body at an extremely steady and dense speed.

It is no longer the "absorption" that required deliberate guidance in the past, but rather the "active inflow" like all rivers flowing into the same stream.

The moment these ice elements touched his skin, they were captured and absorbed by the hidden patterns within his body.

They then transformed into pure energy, automatically flowing into his mana pool, propelling his progress in cultivating the "Secret Transmission of Perfect Ice" at an astonishing pace.

He didn't even actively activate the cultivation method, yet the progress bar of the "True Ice Secret Transmission" was jumping at a speed visible to the naked eye.

This speed is more than three times faster than his own cultivation efficiency.

This is the extraordinary nature of the Zhenbing bloodline.

This allows bloodline holders to automatically absorb ice elements from the environment without arduous training, simply by relying on the secret runes inherent in their bloodline, thus achieving rapid advancement in their mage level.

The name "Zhenbing Secret Pattern" appeared automatically in Gaode's mind like a brand.

Accompanying the name is an even more surging torrent of knowledge.

Countless techniques for using ice elemental magic flooded his mind like a burst dam.

He instantly "learned" how to adjust the frequency of his mana output to make the ice spikes split as they flew out, covering a wider attack range; he also learned how to use the moisture in the air to increase the power of ice elemental spells.
These skills are something that ordinary monks cannot master without decades of experience.

But at this moment, they were like a sudden enlightenment, directly entering Gaode's mind.

Every detail was crystal clear, as if he had been born with these skills and could never forget them.

The entire process of knowledge transfer takes only a moment.

When the last point about ice elemental magic was covered, Gao De's understanding of ice magic far surpassed that of other mages.

But the gifts of bloodline go far beyond knowledge, and continue to this day.

In Gao De's mana pool, the icy blue liquid mana, now enveloped by the power of the Zhenbing bloodline, began to spin wildly.

With each rotation, the liquid magic deepened in color and became more solidified.

The originally clear liquid gradually transformed into a colloidal solid.

When the rotation stopped, the twenty drops of magic power had turned into twenty translucent "ice beads".

This is no longer ordinary liquid mana, but a higher level of "pure ice mana".

Gao De could clearly sense that the ice energy contained in the True Ice Mana was several times more concentrated than that of the previous liquid mana.

The liquid mana cultivated by the "Secret Transmission of True Ice" itself has a power amplification effect on ice elemental spells, increasing their power by 20%.

At this moment, the power of the True Ice Mana can increase the power of ice spells by 50%. This is also a major reason why Sunafa is able to defeat enemies of higher levels and overcome those of lower levels.

Before Gao De could fully appreciate the wonders of Zhenbing's magic, several silver beams suddenly shot out from his blood, like arrows released from a bow, heading straight for his magical star sea.

Gao De's heart skipped a beat.

Iceborn mages have always relied on the power of their bloodline to control magic.

At this moment, he has advanced one level, and it is only natural that he will awaken the corresponding spell.

Although Gaode has mastered more than fifty first-level spells, most of them overlap with the spells that a first-level Iceborn mage can awaken.

However, the sheer number of spells meant that some still slipped through the net.
Therefore, Gao De still obtained three first-level spells that he had not mastered before.

【Frostbolt】(Evocation), 【Ice Bolt】(Evocation), 【Armor of Aegis】(Protection).

【Frost Arrow】is similar to the trick 【Fire Arrow】, and it can also inflict the "Slow" effect on the target.

【Ice Bullet】 is the ice element version of 【Magic Missile】.

As for the [Armor of Aegasis], it covers the body and equipment with a layer of frost to resist damage.

With the enhancement of the True Ice magic, the power of these three spells is extremely terrifying.

Just when Gao De thought the bloodline awakening was over, a beam of extremely cold silver-white light suddenly flew out from his blood.

This light was more condensed than the previous silver light, carrying an ancient and pure aura.

Once it entered the sea of ​​magical stars, it was like a master craftsman, rapidly drawing in the surrounding magical stars, weaving and adding to them in an extremely complex trajectory.

In the blink of an eye, a beautiful spell model, completely different from the others, took shape in the center of the starry sea.

"Ice magic!" Gao De suddenly realized.

The Pure Ice spell, which can only be awakened by those with the Pure Ice bloodline, is an exclusive spell that other mages cannot master even if they obtain the spell recipe.

【Ice Butterfly [Ice Spell]】(Prophecy, 1st Ring):

You create a faintly glowing ice butterfly in a visible, unoccupied space.

The Ice Butterfly exists for the duration (eight hours), but it will disappear if you teleport or travel to another plane of existence.

When the Ice Butterfly exists, you name an important landmark, such as a city, mountain, castle, or battlefield, as long as the location is in the same plane of existence as you and someone has visited it in history and marked it on a map. When you move toward the Ice Butterfly, it will move away from you in the direction of the landmark at the same speed as you, always at a distance of 1.5 meters from you.

If the landmark does not exist on any map, this spell will not work.

If you don't move towards the Ice Butterfly, it will remain in your sight until you do.

As the last glimmer of silver light faded from the sea of ​​magical stars, Gao De finally slowly opened his eyes.

The lingering icy blue halo in his eyes gradually dissipated like ripples, replaced by the clarity of the past.

But a barely perceptible chill crept into the depths of his eyes.

That is the mark of Zhenbing's bloodline.

All the abnormalities had disappeared, and his body temperature had returned to normal.

However, Gao De looked down at his right hand, snapped his fingers lightly, and a frost flower appeared on his fingertip.

This frost flower is entirely white, with a faint icy blue sheen at the edges of its petals.

Each petal's veins are so clear they resemble a meticulously crafted work of art, and a faint, ethereal chill lingers on its surface.

It was not cast through any spell, nor did it draw upon the True Ice mana in the mana pool, nor did it trigger any spell model.

It was purely a product of Gaode's instinctive control over the ice elements in the surrounding environment, which reached its limit and was naturally condensed.

This is the hidden power bestowed upon him by the Zhenbing bloodline: the ability to control the ice element, as well as resistance to cold and ice elemental spells.

Unfortunately, most of this bonus is covered by the [Intermediate Ice Protection Body] – the two are not additive, but rather the maximum value of the ability's upper limit is taken.

But regardless, the other benefits brought by the awakening of the Zhenbing bloodline were enough to invigorate Gao De's spirits.

Next, he no longer needed to worry about the "Secret Transmission of Zhenbing" and could refocus all his attention on the main cultivation method, the "Qingmu Longevity Scripture".

Although the "Secret Transmission of True Ice" and the True Ice bloodline are powerful, the infinite potential and possibility of progress of Yugathira are unmatched by any other bloodline or cultivation method.

At least that's how Gaode sees it.

Another goal of this trip back to the North has finally been achieved.

The progress in magic is equally encouraging.

Through his efforts over this period of time, he has already constructed nine second-circle spell models.

This progress is actually a bit slow for Gaode, mainly because he has focused more on learning runes.

Drawing basic runes is extremely mentally taxing.

This results in a somewhat limited amount of mental energy left to construct spell models.

Of course, this slowness is only in comparison to his own past performance; in reality, his achievements over the past month have already reached a speed that is unimaginable to ordinary people.

Gao De has plenty of time to return to the North this time, so he's not in a hurry and can complete all his planned objectives in an orderly manner before heading to the Plantagenet Kingdom.

Over the past month, Ibu has been eating and drinking well, and with Gord constantly feeding him, both his control over astral energy and his relationship with Gord have stabilized.

With his secluded training in "The Secret of True Ice" coming to an end, Gao De pondered for a moment and decided to leave Flora Forest and return to Phoenix.

After all, the cultivation of the "Green Wood Longevity Scripture" still relies heavily on the abundant magical power provided by high-level spiritual lands.

Currently, only Phoenix's core spiritual land can meet this requirement.

At least for now, the spiritual land that Yugathira has created is barely enough to plant trees, let alone enough for his cultivation.

Having made up his mind, Gao De immediately set off with Ibrahimovic.

After returning to Phoenix, he continued to take the Bone and Blood Thorn Elixir to aid his cultivation.

However, this time he devoted more energy to building the spell model.

So, just twenty days later, Gao De had completely digested the magical potion he had drunk.

A total of nineteen brand-new second-circle spell models were successfully constructed over a period of more than two months.

This allowed Gao De to break through the number of second-circle spells he possessed to a staggering twenty-eight.

This is certainly not something that Gaode can satisfy.

But at least it's enough to support him in the upcoming military mage duel competition.

In this level of magical duel, the level and variety of spells have a significant impact on the outcome.

Even if his strength far surpasses that of his peers, if he still relies on first-ring spells in battle, he will find it difficult to guarantee absolute victory against the endless stream of second-ring spells from his opponents.

(End of this chapter)