Chapter 257: Promotion to Level 3 Wizard
Darkmoon Plane, Shadow City.
Suspended high in the sky, this enormous city was built entirely in black and white.
Its foundation consisted of an inverted pyramid of pale bones, while the city's buildings were uniformly jet black.
Yet, in the night, the buildings did not blend into the darkness. Instead, they emitted a faint, ghostly blue glow that distinguished them from the surrounding shadows, giving the entire city a chilling, eerie atmosphere.
At the city's center stood a black tower, its spire piercing the heavens like a lance, splitting the sky into two. Its imposing presence drew the eye irresistibly.
Yuxi had just stepped out of the tower when someone called out to him.
He turned to see Turaman, one of the few colleagues in the Dark Throne with whom he had a passable relationship and had cooperated a few times.
The term "friend" did not exist within the Dark Throne.
You were either competitors or collaborators.
And more often than not, it was the former.
"I heard you applied to Lord Wood to take charge of the Starlight Continent mission?" Turaman asked.
Yuxi nodded, his face emotionless. "So what?"
Turaman's eyes glinted as he smiled. "Nothing, just curious. Lord Wood has already sent several waves of operatives into the Starlight Continent, but they all disappeared without a trace, trapped there entirely. Recently, some intelligence finally came back, revealing the presence of a wizarding faction in the Starlight Continent. And not a weak one at that. Why would you want to wade into these troubled waters?"
Yuxi shot him a sidelong glance and said indifferently, "Don't lump me in with those incompetents. I won't repeat their mistakes."
Turaman, unbothered by the retort, smiled. "You are indeed more capable than those fools, but even for you, taking on the Starlight Continent will come at a steep cost. At the very least, your control over the Wolf Tide Plane will suffer greatly. What exactly did Lord Wood promise you to make you accept such a costly task?"
"That's what you really want to know, isn't it?" Yuxi's eyes gleamed with mockery.
"Indulge my curiosity."
After a moment of silence, Yuxi replied, "Fine. There's no harm in telling you. Lord Wood promised that if I can conquer the Starlight Continent and dedicate it to the Throne, he will propose my promotion to Robed Wizard to the Three Thrones."
"I thought as much."
Turaman took a deep breath, suppressing the surge of jealousy that threatened to consume him.
Becoming a Robed Wizard was the ultimate goal for most wizards at the lower echelons of the Dark Throne.
Achieving this rank meant escaping the status of the exploited and becoming one of the exploiters.
Years of enduring the exploitation of their superiors were all for the hope of someday joining the ranks of the oppressors.
That Yuxi had such an opportunity so soon stung deeply.
"It seems that the Dark Throne's battles in the Crescent Moon Plane and the Realm of Truth aren't going well, tying up much of their strength. Otherwise, Lord Wood wouldn't have made such an enticing promise to get you to spearhead the Starlight Continent campaign."
Turaman's veiled words betrayed his envy. Yuxi sneered inwardly but maintained a calm facade.
"Precisely. And that is why we have this opportunity. Don't we?"
"I advise you to conquer a plane for yourself if you get the chance. Controlling at least one plane is the minimum standard for becoming a Robed Wizard. Without meeting this criterion, you won't even qualify to grasp the opportunity when it presents itself."
Turaman's face twitched, and his hands clenched tightly within his sleeves.
Despite his irritation at Yuxi's thinly veiled condescension, he couldn't deny the truth of his words.
In any wizarding faction, wizards who controlled their own planes held greater status.
Even within the cutthroat hierarchy of the Dark Throne, this principle applied.
Without such control, even a Tier-3 Wizard couldn't ascend to the rank of Robed Wizard.
"Be careful. Any wizarding faction that can develop in a barren place like the Starlight Continent is bound to be formidable."
"Perhaps. But the so-called Star Alliance is merely riding on the advantage of the planar seal. Once that advantage is lost, crushing them will be effortless."
Seeing Turaman fall silent, Yuxi sneered inwardly, turned, and walked away.
With less than a year left before the Starlight Continent's planar seal would lift, he needed to hurry back and prepare.
Failure was not an option in this campaign, where his promotion to Robed Wizard was at stake.
He would conquer the Starlight Continent no matter the cost.
---
Starshine Era 2000, Starshine Wizard Tower.
On the top floor of the tower, Su Nan sat cross-legged beside the Elemental Pool, fully immersed in cultivation.
Within his sea of consciousness, the third talent crystal shimmered with radiant light.
As the final strand of spiritual energy filled the talent crystal model, completing the last missing segment, a dazzling brilliance erupted from the crystal's surface.
The third talent crystal was successfully constructed!
A wave of transcendence, as if rooted in his soul, surged from deep within.
Su Nan opened his eyes, his gaze glowing with divine light.
In an instant, the void behind him darkened, transforming into an infinite starry sky, where luminous stars streaked by like blazing comets.
The entire void trembled; countless minute fractures appeared momentarily before vanishing as the vision faded.
The chamber returned to normal, though residual energy rippled in the surrounding void.
Feeling the intense energy lingering in the air, Su Nan's face lit up with genuine joy.
The third talent crystal, Falling Star Rain, was complete.
This marked his advancement to Tier-3 Wizard!
His very essence had evolved once more.
And this was achieved in less than 600 years since his promotion to Tier-2 Wizard.
To ascend from Tier-2 to Tier-3 in just 570 years—this speed was extraordinary, rivaling even the legendary descendants of True Spirits.
"It's all thanks to the Spirit Orbs. Without them, it would've taken me another 700 or 800 years to reach this stage."
Su Nan's heart brimmed with satisfaction.
With his newfound strength as a Tier-3 Wizard, his confidence in opposing the Dark Throne grew significantly.
After relishing the breakthrough's euphoria, Su Nan turned his attention inward to examine his consciousness.
The three talent crystals formed a gleaming array, akin to the finest gems in existence.
Two were surrounded by innumerable smaller crystals, while the third was shrouded in ethereal mist, flickering in and out of view.
His sea of consciousness teemed with spiritual energy, leaving him almost intoxicated.
"Now, the next step is to refine this energy further."
Even as a Tier-3 Wizard, he would need to progress through the gaseous, liquid, and crystalline stages.
Only after crystallization could he attempt to condense a True Spirit, connect with the multiverse's laws, and wield the power of these laws.
Such a feat marked the ascension to True Spirit Wizard, a pinnacle few wizards ever achieved.
"True Spirit Wizard..."
Su Nan exhaled deeply.
Though seemingly just one step away, the gap between Tier-3 and True Spirit was vast, barring countless wizards from crossing it.
True Spirit Wizards stood as titanic forces within the multiverse, capable of slaying gods.
Yet, only a minuscule fraction of wizards ever reached this level.
Shaking his head, Su Nan dismissed the thought.
Before worrying about the True Spirit stage, he still had the liquid and crystalline milestones to overcome—each a monumental challenge requiring centuries of effort.
For now, his focus was on overcoming the immediate crisis.
"The Starshine Wizard Tower has been fully upgraded, and all preparations are complete."
Over the past year, besides his personal cultivation, Su Nan dedicated significant effort to upgrading the tower, completing the final stages of its development.
These upgrades included enhancing Core Spirit No. 3, completing the complement of Wizard-level puppets, and upgrading the Labyrinthine Energy Shield.
The Starshine Wizard Tower was now a genuine medium-tier Wizard Tower, and an enhanced version at that.
Its advancements were most apparent in the super-large Elemental Pool and the upgraded Labyrinthine Energy Shield.
If its long-range firepower and the overall strength of its puppet army could be further improved, Su Nan believed the Starshine Wizard Tower would be capable of standing toe-to-toe with a large-tier Wizard Tower.
"Once the Dark Throne's matter is settled, I must acquire the designs for plasma cannons and pulse cannons as soon as possible."
Having collected his thoughts, Su Nan left the control center and walked to the study.
Lize was engrossed in reviewing documents. Noticing Su Nan's arrival, she glanced up, her eyes lighting up with a hint of a smile.
She was about to speak but paused abruptly as she scrutinized Su Nan, her expression turning to shock.
"You've advanced to a Tier-3 Wizard?"
Su Nan smiled and nodded. "Just now."
Lize pursed her lips, taking a deep breath to suppress the surge of astonishment within her.
Though she had grown accustomed to Su Nan's constant surprises, this moment left her deeply shaken.
Su Nan had broken through to Tier-3 Wizard just 17 years after achieving Tier-2 crystallization. Constructing the third talent crystal in such a short span was practically unheard of.
Even with the assistance of fifty Spirit Orbs, the feat was extraordinary.
"Sometimes, I genuinely suspect you're a descendant of a True Spirit."
After a long silence, Lize sighed, voicing her thoughts.
Su Nan seated himself opposite her, smiling. "If I were a True Spirit descendant, I wouldn't need to worry about the Dark Throne's invasion—I'd just invoke my backing."
"Fair point," Lize said with a faint smile, clearly in a better mood.
The looming threat of the Dark Throne's invasion had weighed heavily on her mind, but Su Nan's breakthrough significantly alleviated that burden, allowing her to feel a rare sense of relief.
"You've come at the right time. Take a look at these documents."
With a wave of her hand, the files on the desk floated to Su Nan, landing gently before him.
A sweep of his mental energy revealed their contents: detailed records of the Star Alliance's military expansion over the past year. Everything aligned with the goals Su Nan and Lize had discussed previously.
The final document summarized the current combat strength of the Star Alliance.
In addition to the puppet army, the magitek knight corps, and the aerial fleets, it included the wizards, the Witch-Hunting Corps, Starshine Academy, the imperial military, and the dragons of Dragonwood.
As of now, the Star Alliance boasted 83 wizards, including five Tier-1 liquefied wizards.
However, there wasn't a single Tier-1 crystallized wizard.
Frankly, this wizard count ranked among the lowest of all wizarding factions.
The Star Alliance had been founded too recently, and the constraints of the Starlight Continent's environment had imposed severe debuffs, as Su Nan thought of it.
The fact that over eighty wizards had emerged at all was largely thanks to Su Nan's provision of abundant resources.
Fortunately, there was also the Witch-Hunting Corps, which had expanded to 730 units: 650 puppet tendrils and 80 secretive automata.
Including this force, the Star Alliance's wizard-level combat capabilities were no longer at the bottom of the rankings.
"Should the wizard apprentices from Starshine Academy be sent into battle?" Lize asked. "The Tier-1 and Tier-2 apprentices aside, the Tier-3 apprentices have significant combat potential and could participate in the war."
After some thought, Su Nan shook his head. "No, let them handle logistics."
While the wizards themselves were indispensable for battle, Su Nan preferred to reserve the apprentices for other purposes.
His vision for wizard apprentices had always been as a productive workforce, not a combat resource.
Especially the Tier-3 apprentices—they were the future wizards of the Star Alliance and its critical workforce. Sacrificing them as cannon fodder would be an unacceptable waste.
Puppets could be rebuilt, but losing too many Tier-3 apprentices would shake the very foundation of the Star Alliance.
"The imperial army can join the fight. As for Dragonwood, leave the dragonspawn out, but the dragons can go to the battlefield."
Dragonspawn were limited in number and wouldn't significantly enhance the Star Alliance's combat strength, while controlling them consumed a considerable amount of mental energy.
Moreover, heavy casualties among the dragonspawn would hinder future plans for expanding the draconic knight corps and nurturing more dragons.
This was a loss Su Nan wasn't willing to bear.
"The dragons will be controllable?"
"Yes." Lize smiled. "Your improved mental sigils work perfectly. All 17 Flamestorm Dragons have shown no resistance and are well-suited for war."
Su Nan nodded in satisfaction.
Dragons were natural-born forces of destruction. On the battlefield, their presence alone—whether through their aura or devastating breath attacks—was invaluable.
In terms of raw battlefield destruction, two or three wizards couldn't compare to a single dragon.
"Thank you for your hard work," Su Nan said, nodding to Lize.
Lize shook her head, saying nothing.
If the Dark Throne's upcoming offensive could be repelled, the Star Alliance could join the Wisdom Codex as an affiliate.
With the Wisdom Codex's backing, acquiring the materials she needed to reconstruct her physical body would become much simpler.
It wouldn't be long before she could
reclaim her human form.
Su Nan rose, his gaze distant as if piercing through the walls to the farthest horizon.
All preparations were complete. Now, it was just a matter of waiting for the planar seal to break.
By his calculations, it wouldn't be long.