Chapter 146: Sky Mage

The demonic invasion had come to an end. All 185 demons were vanquished within the first floor, and not a single Valiant Spirit Warrior was lost.

Duke was quite satisfied with the outcome.

But what pleased him even more was the seamless connection between himself and the magical tower of Karazhan. Through the system control, he could virtually grasp every detail within the first and second floors. As long as he willed it, he could perceive every space within, as if his soul was detached from his body.

"Ah, what a wonderful feeling. If only I could control magic as delicately and powerfully as this, dominating every elemental force." Duke mused to himself.

Control every elemental force...

Wait a minute! Control every elemental force?

At this thought, Duke suddenly experienced an epiphany.

With the thought came action!

He slowly channeled arcane energy into his eyes at a pace his eyeballs could adapt to. Closing and then reopening his eyes, Duke was astonished to find himself witnessing a new world.

Unlike the basic materials that made up the world, this was a pure elemental world.

What met his gaze were dense walls that transformed into solid yellow earth elements, almost entirely motionless and in a near-solidified state.

In more open spaces, where air should flow, the situation was drastically different. Duke sensed wind elements, ethereal and elusive, drifting in the sky with almost no discernible pattern, accompanied by a hint of water elements. They merely followed the paths set by the earth elements, coursing through the long and narrow corridors.

With a sudden inspiration, Duke extended his hand, and a flame was instantly born in his palm.

In this elemental world, Duke clearly saw countless tiny points of light converging on his hand from all directions. The yellow light grew larger and brighter, eventually coalescing into a single mass.

Though it was just a small flame, Duke felt an immense sense of accomplishment. The mere sight of the fire element gave him the sensation of creating a new star. From the tiniest speck of light, it had gathered brightness millions or billions of times greater, ultimately forming a blinding radiance that was too intense for the naked eye.

Gently closing his palm, Duke reached out towards the surrounding earth elements.

A strange sound emanated.

Duke discovered he now had control over the earth elements. As he pinched, kneaded, and rolled with his fingers, the earth element in his palm underwent changes as if it were a lump of clay used to shape ceramics, bending to Duke's will.

Standing beside him, Khadgar stared in amazement as Duke manipulated the massive stone wall as if stirring dough from a distance. At that moment, Khadgar was rendered speechless.

In Khadgar's view, magical power was only suitable for destruction; how could it accomplish such a feat?

Duke paid no heed to Khadgar, still immersed in this rare experience.

In theory, manipulating the earth elements should have drained his power like a flood. Instead, he found that once he truly mastered the earth element, the power refined from it actually helped him further transform it.

This held true not only for earth elements but also for fire and water elements.

Duke easily extracted heat from the water elements, and massive ice spikes suddenly materialized above his head. Combining the extracted heat with the fire elements floating in the air, he instantly created dozens, if not hundreds, of fireballs of various sizes at his feet.

"What!?" Khadgar could hardly believe his eyes—Duke was simultaneously using both fire and frost magic. Weren't these two types of magic conflicting?

Either one used fire or frost; connecting to two opposing elemental planes at once was practically courting death.

Was Duke courting death?

No! Clearly not.

Right before Khadgar's eyes, Duke gently flicked his fingers, combining the ice lances and fireballs in a one-to-one ratio, creating a Frostfire Bolt imbued with both frost and fire powers.

He fired it lightly at the distant wall, and the Frostfire Bolt pierced the first barrier, leaving a scorch mark the size of a bowl. Then it pierced the second barrier, leaving a hole covered in frost. Finally, it exploded at the third wall, collapsing half of it.

That was not the end.

Although the first wall had been scorched by flames, it turned into an ice sculpture within a second and then shattered.

The second wall, on the other hand, exploded with molten lava-like flames from the frost marks.

Khadgar was utterly bewildered, "How is this possible..."

Duke didn't answer, but instead murmured to himself, "I understand now why the Earth Mages are called Earth Mages. It's because they are like something fixed to the earth, unable to move, only passively accepting the powers that drift around them. But Sky Mages are different; everything in the sky is theirs to use, to change, to create, and to destroy. Therefore, Sky Mages are the masters... of the entire sky!"

As the words 'masters' were spoken, Duke felt that his long-lost spiritual world seemed to have a spark of light in the dark chaos, where he couldn't find his way. That spark of light seemed to be the starfire of a raging inferno, dividing and multiplying ceaselessly, illuminating Duke's entire spiritual world in a matter of moments.

The endless light finally warmed up his entire spiritual world!

Brighter and hotter!

Then, the illusion of light in his spiritual world shattered, transforming into information that Duke could understand and the system sprites could accept.

Countless green lights and characters flashed on Duke's retina, eventually forming a single, striking line of green text.

"Congratulations, host! You have successfully advanced to Sky Mage!"

Duke suddenly realized that this was also part of the legacy Medivh had left for him. If he hadn't accepted Karazhan, he wouldn't have undertaken the spatial transformation. Without the spatial transformation, there wouldn't have been such a deep understanding of space.

Without this understanding, there would be no advancement for him.

This wasn't something any book could teach.

Only through personal experience and understanding could one master the power to rule over the elements of sky and earth after countless changes!

"Phew!" Duke exhaled a long breath.

At this moment, a system prompt suddenly popped up with a line of red text: "Your servant, Reginald Windsor, is in a near-death state!" (To be continued.)