Chapter 189

The Spirit-Ascension Water, which Master Rachel had originally estimated would take three days at the fastest and a week at the latest to obtain, was something Gao De had to wait for until the 20th of the Fog-Frost Month before he was finally notified to go and collect it.

"It was supposed to take a week at most, but there were some unexpected complications."

Commissioner Rachel explained as she handed the Spirit-Ascension Water to Gao De:

"Over at the border, it seems some movements from the Holy Empire were detected. The Royal Capital has been tense about this for the past ten days or so, so they haven't had the heart to attend to approving the academy's applications."

"The Holy Empire?" Gao De frowned subconsciously upon hearing this.

After a year of study at the Sairisi Academy, he was no longer the ignorant "country bumpkin" he once was; he clearly understood what this implied.

"It should just be that some individual mages from the Holy Empire's legions happened to be passing by. The border reconnaissance mages were too nervous after discovering them and reported it directly."

Commissioner Rachel spread her hands and said, "After all, this is the Holy Empire; one can never be too nervous."

"However, the Royal Capital lifted the alert two weeks after it was sounded."

"It should have been a false alarm."

"No matter how you look at it, Saint Xi En is one of the duchies located quite far from the Holy Empire's border."

"Even if the Holy Empire were truly preparing to expand its influence toward the borders of the Jin Quehua Dynasty, the first target shouldn't be Saint Xi En."

"There are still several duchies separating Saint Xi En from the Holy Empire."

It was precisely for this reason that the alert could be lifted so quickly.

No matter how you look at it, even if the Holy Empire were taking action, the Duchy of Saint Xi En would not be the first to bear the brunt of it.

Gao De, who had taken the course "Geography and War Geography of the Nolan Continent," held the same opinion. He nodded in agreement, stopped thinking about it, and took the Spirit-Ascension Water from Commissioner Rachel's hand.

Cultivation Building, registration counter.

The staff member here today was a young female mage wearing the academy uniform; it looked like she had taken on an academy task to "work and study."

Gao De handed over his identity badge along with the application form given by He Xi.

"Help me open a third-rank cultivation room."

The female mage, who hadn't been paying much attention, was suddenly jolted, a look of surprise appearing on her face.

"A third-rank cultivation room?" she confirmed.

"Yes," Gao De nodded, "the application form is here."

The female mage took the application form and glanced at it; the reason written on it was: Ring Ascension.

No wonder. She suddenly realized.

After checking the application form and taking Gao De's identity badge, the female mage flipped through the booklet. After arranging the cultivation room for Gao De, she said, "Room 3 on the fourth floor. Once you go in, just swipe your identity badge to activate the magic node array."

Gao De nodded slightly, then followed the stairs to ascend for the first time to the fourth floor of the cultivation building, which belonged only to high-circle mages.

He found his Room 3 cultivation room and skillfully activated the magic node array.

The magic power concentration in the cultivation room immediately soared at a speed visible to the naked eye, stopping only when it reached the threshold of 1034.

In the small cultivation room, the magic power was so dense it was already visible to the naked eye.

Gao De decisively sat cross-legged and took out the Spirit-Ascension Water.

The Spirit-Ascension Water medicinal liquid was dark red and as viscous as magma.

Gao De's gaze sharpened, and he opened the medicine bottle directly.

Although the medicinal liquid of the Spirit-Ascension Water was very intense in color, its scent was very faint, nearly non-existent.

He took a deep breath, brought the bottle to his lips, tilted his head back, and gulped it down.

The viscous liquid did not get stuck in the bottle and flowed directly into Gao De's mouth.

A cool and slippery texture, just like jelly, quickly filled Gao De's mouth.

It then slid down his throat and into his stomach.

A moment later, the viscous Spirit-Ascension Water erupted in Gao De's stomach like magma.

The cool sensation instantly turned into scorching heat, drilling into every one of Gao De's blood vessels.

Gao De knew this was the medicinal power of the Spirit-Ascension Water helping him carry out the first stage of ring ascension: cleansing the bloodline and increasing life vitality.

The powerful medicinal force flowed through his blood vessels to his entire body.

Under the influence of the medicinal power, Gao De's body seemed to turn into a furnace, and his blood sounded like boiling water, bubbling away.

His body twitched involuntarily due to the high temperature. Gao De's entire skin was burned red at this moment, and water vapor constantly steamed out from the pores all over his body.

These were the impure factors in his blood, which were now being expelled from his body.

The entire process lasted about a quarter of an hour.

Except for the intense high temperature that was somewhat hard to endure, everything went very smoothly.

Gao De was only fourteen years old this year, which was the time when his blood energy was at its most vigorous, the golden period for advancing to a first-circle mage.

Even without the assistance of the Spirit-Ascension Water, it would have been difficult for him to fail the first stage of ring ascension.

The powerful medicinal force of the Spirit-Ascension Water was not consumed much in the first stage.

Soon, they gathered again, turning into a surging torrent of heat that rushed directly into Gao De's lower abdomen.

That was where his magic power resided.

After the influx of the heat, the magic power within Gao De's body instantly lost its calm; it actually formed a magic power vortex and began to spin violently.

And every time this vortex spun three hundred times, a drop of clear liquid magic power would seep out from the very bottom of the magic power vortex.

The dense magic power in the cultivation room, like clouds and mist, was guided into Gao De's body, constantly replenishing that magic power vortex.

A second drop of liquid magic power began to condense.

Followed by the third drop... the fourth drop... the fifth drop.

Soon, Gao De had condensed the twenty drops of liquid magic power required for ring ascension.

He could clearly feel a sense of fullness and weight in his lower abdomen where the magic power was stored.

This indicated that the liquid magic power had reached his limit at the current stage and could not be increased further for the time being.

Under the dual assistance of the Spirit-Ascension Water and the third-rank cultivation room, the liquefaction of magic power was also exceptionally smooth, and no accidents occurred.

Gao De had no mind to rejoice; instead, he pushed forward in one go.

The medicinal power of the Spirit-Ascension Water left his lower abdomen and continued to flow, heading straight toward Gao De's mind.

Boom! A loud noise echoed in his head, his crown instantly became clear, and his thinking became active at this moment.

Countless thoughts surged out, chaotic but clear.

A feeling of déjà vu surged into Gao De's heart.

—When he soaked in the water of the soul's deep sea, he had also experienced this process.

That's right, cleansing and sublimating the soul—isn't that just eliminating distracting thoughts from mental power? But this time, it was even more so.

Gao De's thinking became increasingly transparent.

Gradually, he experienced feelings completely different from the past.

Gao De realized that his perception had been elevated to an incredible realm.

It was as if everything in the world had become clear.

Most importantly, he could now accurately perceive the total amount of mental power he possessed.

100.

This was the starting standard mental power value for a first-circle mage.

Just like a heaven-sent inspiration, when Gao De tried to depict the strength of his mental power, this number emerged from his perception.

And this was the sign that the third stage of ring ascension was complete: "Precise Perception."

Because he had soaked in the water of the soul's deep sea and cleansed his soul once, this step was much simpler than Gao De had imagined, even smoother than the previous two steps.

The medicinal power of the Spirit-Ascension Water only needed a gentle push to allow Gao De to easily eliminate the distracting thoughts in his mental power, as if it were a matter of course.

And this stage, in reality, should be the most difficult of the four steps of ring ascension.

Because generally speaking, most mage apprentices' progress in guided magic cultivation is faster than their meditation technique.

Therefore, when they ascend rings, their magic power has long reached the limit of the apprentice stage and is already smooth and satisfactory.

But their mental power has only just broken through to a third-rank mage apprentice, and the foundation is more or less unstable.

Three of the four steps of ring ascension have been completed, leaving only the last step.

Opening the first-circle star sea! (End of chapter)