Chapter 241 Traveling Wizard

The robed man was filled with confusion.

Earlier in the tavern, he had only used a single spell, yet the Star Alliance had detected and tracked him down.

Could it be that the Star Alliance had some means of sensing energy particle fluctuations across a large area in Falling Star City?

His thoughts raced as he considered how to escape his current predicament.

However, the two young women in front of him gave him no chance to ponder. Seeing his silence, they attacked without hesitation.

A sea of dazzling silver rays erupted, surging toward him like a tidal wave.

The piercing sound of the air being sliced apart shattered the stillness of the forest night.

The robed man flickered out of sight, reappearing a hundred meters away.

Yet the silver rays turned midair, relentlessly pursuing him.

With a swift motion, he drew a complex rune in the air and pushed it forward. The rune shot forth and collided with the incoming silver rays, detonating in a violent explosion. The resulting shockwave and flames tore the silver rays apart.

Before he could catch his breath, two longswords closed in from either side.

The two women had already reached him!

"Blink spell!"

The robed man was taken aback.

These two women had just used the same third-circle spell he had. Were they also wizards?

This suspicion was soon confirmed during the ensuing battle.

As he watched them cast one third-circle spell after another, the robed man's heart was filled with disbelief.

The only oddity was their innate ability—the silver rays—which seemed somewhat weaker than expected.

But regardless, these two women undoubtedly possessed wizard-level power.

Realizing this, the robed man dared not hold back and unleashed his innate ability.

Black threads began emanating from his body, spreading rapidly in all directions.

In an instant, the surrounding forest, within a radius of four or five hundred meters, seemed to be dyed black by an inky darkness, like ink spilled into clear water.

In mere moments, everything around him was plunged into an impenetrable darkness, deeper than the night itself.

The two women were instantly engulfed by the darkness.

Even their dark vision couldn't penetrate this strange blackness, forcing them to extend their mental energy to locate the robed man.

But the darkness seemed to impede even mental energy, allowing it to extend only five or six meters before being blocked.

Without hesitation, the women shot into the air, attempting to escape the area of darkness.

However, the darkness suddenly writhed.

It was as if countless beasts hidden within the shadows had silently pounced upon them from all directions.

In mere moments, the two women were struck by hundreds of attacks. Their protective force fields from their Rings of Warding were shattered almost instantly.

Fortunately, they quickly enveloped themselves in magical runic armor, shielding themselves from further harm.

Taking advantage of their entrapment, the robed man began retreating silently.

He had no intention of completely offending the Star Alliance, recognizing it as a powerful wizard faction. Thus, he refrained from fatal blows, only stalling the two women to buy time for his escape.

But as he flew two hundred meters away using a levitation spell, he abruptly halted, his expression beneath the mask tinged with confusion.

Emerging from the forest shadows were more identical young women, encircling him from all directions.

Shockingly, each of them was identical to the two he had fought earlier—same faces, height, and figures, down to every minute detail.

Even the sense of danger they exuded was exactly the same!

The robed man froze, unmoving.

At this point, even a fool could deduce the truth.

These women, including the two he had fought earlier, weren't human. They were constructs.

Wizard-level constructs!

Realizing this, the robed man gave up any thoughts of resistance.

A wizard faction capable of creating so many wizard-level constructs was beyond anything a traveling wizard like him could contend with.

Coupled with their ability to sense energy particle fluctuations, he knew escape was impossible as long as he remained in this plane.

If so, surrender seemed the only viable option.

"I surrender," he sighed, raising his voice in resignation, his mind filled with helplessness and confusion.

When had such a powerful wizard faction emerged in the multiverse?

And why had he never heard of them before?

---

At the Starshine Wizard Tower, in the top-tier control center.

Su Nan sat cross-legged beside an elemental pool, eyes closed, holding an elemental core as he absorbed divine energy with focused precision.

Years of cultivation had brought his mental refinement to the brink of a breakthrough.

As over ten standard units of divine energy were gradually assimilated, the barrier was finally overcome.

Deep within his mental sea, the gaseous mental energy swirling around his innate crystals suddenly froze. Then, like condensation, it transformed into countless tiny droplets, falling like rain.

In no time, the gaseous mist vanished entirely, replaced by a stream of crystal-clear liquid encircling the innate crystals.

The liquid shimmered like a silver river, its gentle flow accompanied by an almost melodic sound.

"It's done!"

Su Nan opened his eyes, joy flashing in them.

After over two centuries, he had finally reached the liquidification stage of the second tier!

"Advancing to the second tier is much harder than the first."

He took a deep breath, calming his excitement, and began sensing the changes in his body.

The higher a wizard's level, the harder the progress. But every breakthrough brought substantial increases in power.

A liquidification-stage second-tier wizard could easily crush a gasification-stage second-tier wizard, even one with two advanced innate crystals.

Advanced innate crystals only made a wizard exceptional among their peers or unrivaled within their tier; they didn't enable tier-crossing battles.

Of course, Su Nan's synthesized super innate crystals were an exception.

Now, even without using engraved gems, magical tools, or alchemical marks, he could rival a crystallization-stage second-tier wizard and likely win.

With all his trump cards, he wouldn't fear even a gasification-stage third-tier wizard.

"Breaking through to crystallization-stage second tier won't be easy, though."

Initially, Su Nan had hoped to reach the third tier before the planar seal lifted. But he soon realized he had underestimated the difficulty of advancing from the second to the third tier.

Even reaching the liquidification stage of the second tier had taken over two centuries. Advancing to the crystallization stage would take even longer.

With only 300 years left before the invasion of the Throne of Darkness, reaching the third tier was an impossible task.

Even advancing to the crystallization stage of the second tier was far from guaranteed.

Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible.

However, the energy particle concentration of the Starshine Continent had steadily increased. According to the Eye of the Stars, it was now about 1.6 times denser than when Su Nan first became a wizard.

Additionally, the Star Alliance's wizard population had grown, reaching 18 first-tier wizards to date.

This number was still increasing, meaning more "tools" to collect elemental dust for him. Consequently, the divine energy he could absorb would steadily grow.

With these factors, reaching the crystallization stage within 300 years, while challenging, was not entirely out of reach.

"Of course, if it were that easy to advance, third-tier wizards wouldn't be so rare."

A third-tier wizard, even in major wizard factions like the Deep Blue Alliance or Wisdom Codex, was undoubtedly a high-ranking figure.

In smaller factions like the Starfall Society, they would be a core leader or even the head.

Such individuals were rare across the vast multiverse.

Shaking off extraneous thoughts, Su Nan stood up, left the elemental pool, and teleported to his workshop.

With his breakthrough, his engraved gems, magical tools, and alchemical marks could all be further enhanced.

Starting with engraved gems, he determined through experimentation that he could now synthesize up to 60 units.

Without suitable test subjects, he could only conduct basic testing, ultimately estimating that a single gem could severely injure a gasification-stage second-tier wizard.

The cost per gem had risen to nearly 16,000 gold coins, but given their power, they remained remarkably cost-effective.

""Too bad using engraved gems requires a lot of mental energy. Otherwise, equipping every Tendril Puppet and Secret Automaton with one would increase their combat power several times over," Su Nan thought with some regret.

Even for gems with an amplification factor of 30, Tendril Puppets and Secret Automatons couldn't handle them.

The consequence of forcing their use would result in self-damage, potentially hurting the user more than the enemy.

Wait!

A sudden idea flashed through Su Nan's mind.

If self-damage wasn't a concern, couldn't the engraved gems be forcibly activated?

For example, equipping each Tendril Puppet and Secret Automaton with one engraved gem, then detonating the gem directly against an enemy when faced with an unstoppable foe or inescapable situation?

That seemed plausible.

The thought sparked Su Nan's interest. He decided to include this idea in his upcoming research projects. Ideally, he could modify the gems to ensure that the damage from self-detonation would focus more on enemies rather than being wasted on destroying the puppet itself.

After addressing the engraved gem issue, Su Nan moved on to enhancing his magical tools.

This was straightforward: he crafted new versions of Forbidden Zone and Black Thunder, then synthesized them into even more powerful second-tier tools.

Although he already had the innate ability Absolute Forbidden Zone, he didn't abandon Forbidden Zone entirely.

After all, magical tools didn't consume mental energy and could still play a significant role in battles.

The last item on his list for enhancement was the Alchemical Marks.

Even after advancing to the second-tier liquidification stage, Su Nan's mental energy and physical body couldn't handle a third mark. So, he focused on strengthening Talent Specialization and Mental Reservoir instead.

After completing these tasks, Su Nan left the workshop, ready to return to his training. However, he received a message from Lize.

"Another planar invader?"

Su Nan was taken aback and immediately headed to the detention area, where Lize was waiting.

"What's going on?"

Lize explained, "The monitoring network in Falling Star City detected unregistered energy particle fluctuations. The enforcement team was dispatched to investigate and discovered that the individual was likely a formal wizard. Once the report reached me, I immediately mobilized the nearest Witch-Hunting Corps squad to apprehend them. It turned out they were indeed a wizard."

The Witch-Hunting Corps was a newly established puppet army composed entirely of Tendril Puppets and Secret Automatons, an idea proposed by Su Nan.

Since its primary purpose was to counter invading wizards in the future, it was aptly named the Witch-Hunting Corps.

Though still in its infancy, with only about 100 constructs, it was already the Star Alliance's most powerful elite force.

"What's the background of this individual?" Su Nan raised an eyebrow.

"He claims to be a traveling wizard. While exploring the Shadow Plane, he was attacked by a Nightshade Worm. During his escape, he accidentally arrived here."

Traveling wizard?

Su Nan's expression shifted.

Traveling wizards weren't a profession or a race but rather a term for a specific group of wizards.

While most wizards formed or joined factions to gather resources more efficiently, exceptions always existed.

Some wizards detested constraints and were passionate about exploring different planes, seeking the thrill and unpredictability of adventure.

These wizards were typically quite strong, possessing various methods for interplanar travel, and they spent most of their time either exploring planes or traveling to new ones.

The former traveler Su Nan had encountered would likely become a traveling wizard upon reaching wizard rank.

"Does he not know how he arrived here?"

Lize nodded. "According to him, the situation was too dire at the time. Something likely went wrong during the process, causing him to inadvertently teleport from the Shadow Plane to this place."

Su Nan's eyes glimmered.

The Shadow Plane was a highly unusual plane.

There was no sun, moon, or stars—its sky was perpetually overcast.

It was devoid of human inhabitants, populated instead by various bizarre shadow creatures, many of which were beings transformed by the plane's unique properties.

Examples included Nightmare Beasts, Shadow Horses, Twisted Treants, and Nightshade Worms.

Even wizards would gradually be assimilated into the plane, ultimately losing their sanity and transforming into instinct-driven shadow beings if they remained there too long.

Notably, the Shadow Plane wasn't a material plane like the Starshine Continent but rather an Outer Plane, similar to the elemental planes.

Outer Planes had thinner barriers to material planes, making planar traversal significantly easier.

It was likely this characteristic that allowed the traveling wizard to breach the Starshine Continent's planar barrier.

This incident also indicated that the Starshine Continent's planar barrier was now mostly restored, and the seal was gradually being lifted, enabling such low-probability events to occur.

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