Chapter 598: Eight‑Ring Key of Doors

Canyang Plane.

The blood-red sun that never sets hangs obliquely on the horizon, casting the endless desert in crimson; the ground is littered with mantis‑people corpses, their gigantic insect‑like bodies shattered into fragments by spells, and the air still reeks of burnt flesh.

Not a single one of the hundreds of mantis‑people in the tribe survived.

The crude wooden huts were also toppled by the spell's aftershock, and amid the corpses and ruins stood a human figure cloaked in black.

He holds a simple violet staff, his handsome face expressionless, his eyes pitch black and devoid of feeling.

It is Reslin.

Half a month after his resurrection, he spent two days perfecting the planar teleportation array inside the pyramid, then left Anse's tomb and hunted creatures in the Atas Desert.

Desert trolls, mantis‑people, ogres, halflings, sandworms, and countless other evil beings.

The natives of the Canyang Plane are almost all uncivilized races, or species that regressed into barbaric evil after the plane shattered; they cannot communicate, only a few worship weak or fallen deities, the vast majority are faithless, and to Reslin they are merely power sources.

Except when he encounters terrifying sandworms, Reslin can walk across unimpeded.

The biggest problem is that these evil creatures are too scattered.

The Atas Desert spans an area comparable to half an empire; according to Chief Dejiko of the Sun‑Chasing tribe, only a few million people survive, and such a sparse population scattered across the vast desert is hard to locate.

Fortunately, Reslin is a mage.

He has long mastered teleportation; with the dual affinity boost of the Key of Doors and Void Resonance, the teleport gate can reach beyond three hundred li, saving travel time.

He continuously teleports, searching for signs of life in the desert and then hunting.

Even after resurrection, Reslin fell to an eighteenth‑rank mage, but for mantis‑people and desert trolls that lack even a legend, it is tantamount to annihilation.

Hovering in midair, a seven‑ring void storm combined with a barrage of fireball spells slammed down, leaving few still standing.

These evil beings feel no remorse in killing.

After a dozen days of slaughter, he nearly wiped out all life within several hundred li of Anse's tomb, absorbing thousands of souls; the soul‑energy pool refilled, its charge exceeding seven hundred units.

Reslin opened his phone interface for a glance.

"Should be enough,"

He first poured in over a hundred units of charge, raising himself back to a nineteenth‑rank mage and reaching Legendary Peak. Mastering three Nine‑ring Techniques would allow him to ascend to Grand Mage.

However, the difficulty is great.

Reslin has not been far from becoming a Legendary High‑rank mage; the highest he could master is the Eight‑Ring Spell, yet he currently possesses only an Eight‑Ring Mirror Image, the others top out at seven rings.

Let alone advancing to nine rings, boosting any spell to eight rings consumes massive soul‑energy.

Moreover, some spells have no nine‑ring ceiling; for example, Mirror Image caps at eight rings.

Thus, not every spell can be used to break through to Grand Mage.

This also concerns his future magical path; he cannot choose recklessly. Reslin only has a few ideas and has not yet decided which Nine‑ring Techniques to upgrade. As a mage, each spell requires a model to be built first, demanding considerable time and effort, impossible to accomplish in the short term.

At present, there is only one way to quickly master an Eight‑Ring Spell.

That is to upgrade the "Key of Doors"!

Reslin selected the Key of Doors icon on his phone interface, pressed the upgrade button on the progress bar, and instantly the bar surged forward while the charge in the soul‑energy pool plummeted as if a gate had opened.

The Seven‑Ring Key of Doors is already a Legendary Element.

Raising it to eight rings consumes over a thousand units of charge. A few days ago he had already poured in five hundred units, pushing the bar halfway, and with the souls absorbed these days it is now roughly sufficient.

Soon, the soul‑energy pool was depleted again.

Another five hundred units were invested, finally pushing the progress bar to its end.

The Key of Doors icon began to flash.

Above the star‑studded sky reflected by the Lake of the Stars, the star representing the Key of Doors emitted an uncanny radiance; the Element runes blurred, resembling a semi‑transparent worm writhing, and the entire soul space trembled.

Other Elements in the starry sky flickered under the glow; aside from Wish Spell, the myriad stars swayed, seemingly yearning to keep their distance.

Reslin heard a garbled, incomprehensible whisper that made his head throb.

Since the Key of Doors reached seven rings, it has grown more mysterious; both upgrades produced inexplicable phenomena, and the whispers seemed to conceal an untouchable great terror.

A few seconds later, the Element runes of the Key of Doors stabilized, advancing to eight rings.

"Huh..."

Reslin let out a sigh of relief; it was finally over.

He opened his eyes and immediately sensed his transformation.

Without needing to explore or sense, the Elements of the Key of Doors emitted a flood of knowledge about time and space, instantly elevating his understanding of spacetime to an unimaginable height.

The last time the Key of Doors reached seven rings, it granted the All‑Seeing Eye.

This time, the Eight‑Ring Key of Doors bestows mastery over time and space; the soul undergoes indescribable alteration, and all space‑related spells on the World Tree are greatly amplified.

Blink, Random Door, Teleportation, Teleport Gate, Group Teleportation.

Their teleport distances have multiplied severalfold!

Moreover, the casting intervals have shrunk to near zero, allowing continuous unlimited use.

Additionally, his own spatial spells can directly pierce various sealing spells and arrays, such as Dimensional Anchor, Spatial Lock, and Confinement Ring; they no longer affect his teleportation spells.

Just on that basis, no one in the world can trap him anymore, and there is no forbidden zone he cannot teleport into!

Reslin carefully contemplated the spacetime knowledge in his mind.

The Eight‑Ring Key of Doors can also amplify time spells, such as "Time Stop," "Time Replication," and "Time Jump," but unfortunately time spells are the most elite, usually nine‑ring, and he knows none of them.

He can only wait until he masters them, then let the Key of Doors amplify them.

"Hm?"

Reslin felt a sudden stir in his mind.

He had witnessed the power of time spells firsthand; after Augulevi Master fell to become a Lich, he relied on time control to single‑handedly oppose seven Holy Soul wizards—a terrifying feat. Had the Black Robe Duke not also mastered time spells, the Supreme Council might already have collapsed.

Only time spells can counter time spells!

"I will also command time!"

Reslin immediately made a decision: he will break through to Grand Mage using the Nine‑Ring Time Spell.

The existence of the Key of Doors, even without the powerful staff from Time's End comparable to a divine artifact, should still be able to reach the level of Augulevi Master: the strike is Time Stop, and after casting the spell comes a time jump, never fighting enemies at normal temporal flow.

Time is the most powerful spell series, and constructing their spell models is the most difficult.

Reslin is confident he can achieve it.

However, for now he will first choose an Eight‑Ring Spell.

He activated the Key of Doors in the soul starry sky, and a dark, deep doorway opened before his eyes, emitting a chilling aura of terror.

Beyond the door there were billions of glimmers, as if countless light clusters merged and overlapped.

Having already reached Legendary Peak, Reslin could slightly observe the terrifying presence beyond the door, and his body, transformed by mysterious touch, seemed to share the same origin with whatever lay beyond; after a glance he found he was not backfired.

Then, he saw something indescribable.

Beneath the brilliance of countless light clusters, a fragment of a massive entity was exposed, resembling a wildly writhing mass of flesh with innumerable eyes, mouths, and tentacles; it did not seem to be a rational creature—each eye emitted eerie light, each tentacle frantically struck the void, and each huge mouth uttered indistinct murmurs.

"What is this thing?"

Reslin was stunned in his heart.

He had originally thought that beyond the door was a great being comparable to a deity, even higher than a deity, since it mastered the ultimate mysteries of space and time, could grant any desired spell, and might even embody the truth of magic.

But that fleeting glimpse made Reslin sense something was off.

He didn't have time to examine it closely; a strange beam of light shot out, striking his eye directly, reaching deep into his soul, bearing knowledge of a spell that erupted loudly in his mind.

Above the starry sky of the Lake of Stars, a bright new star was born.

Tim Kainen Disintegrate!

This is an Eight‑Ring Spell, also invented by TimKainanMaster like the Rending Sky Sword, commonly called "Greater Disintegrate". Its power and effect Reslin had witnessed firsthand during that Lich Great War when TimKainanMaster cast it; the spell stripped the Lich's protective spells and magical robe cleanly.

Greater Disintegrate is effective not only against the caster but also can break magical force fields.

Anything protected, item or creature sustained by magic, once hit by Greater Disintegrate, is practically naked. The Nine‑Ring Greater Disintegrate is said to even destroy divine artifacts.

This is a spell people both love and hate; once Disintegrate is unleashed, both friend and foe cry.

Reslin actually does not lack spells that break magic.

He has long mastered and adeptly uses spell dispelling, magic removal, and magic theft.

But the great task he is about to undertake requires the cooperation of Greater Disintegrate.

Reslin tried casting Disintegrate several times, quickly grasping its characteristics—casting time, cooldown, activation method, etc. —and spent a few hours applying casting techniques to master it fully. In the short term that's all he can do; faster casting or upgrades will have to wait.

But it's already sufficient.

Reslin raised his hand and performed the Seven‑Ring Teleportation.

He raised an eyebrow; this teleportation's range was three times longer than before, nearly five hundred li, and the casting time was cut to under five seconds, with the landing spot extremely precise—directly above the ruins of Anse Lingqin.

The entire casting process was as smooth as silk, as simple as drinking water.

Even Reslin himself was amazed.

He instantly teleported outside Anse Lingqin, and with a thought instantly opened a random door whose other side led straight into the pyramid interior, rendering the isolation array set inside the pyramid completely ineffective.

The random door's range also increased by more than three times, yet still activated instantly.

The scariest part was that there was no cooldown now.

Reslin exclaimed in awe, returned to the pyramid interior, and stood on the planar teleportation array to activate the formation.

This was a rune array he himself had laid out; every rune and incision was utterly familiar, yet now his understanding of the planar teleportation array had advanced, allowing him at a glance to spot many shortcomings, which could be refined to improve, shorten teleport time, reduce energy consumption, and make the process safer.

"Never mind, I'll come back later to revise."

A few seconds later, Reslin traversed the distant void and returned to Graham Morgan Castle.

The Extreme Warriors stationed outside the teleportation array recognized him, gave a slight nod, and after that Reslin teleported to the mechanical alchemy chamber of Jin Gang Fort.

On the outside training ground, Ouroin Master was still instructing swordsmanship.

Reslin did not join the mixing, but spent several hours in the mechanical alchemy chamber tinkering, making preparations; he returned to Graham Morgan late at night, without notifying anyone, opened a teleportation gate and vanished.

A teleportation gate opened in the wilderness several hundred li north of Mo Du.

Reslin stepped out and continued opening teleportation gates.

Heading north all the way.

In under five minutes, after repeatedly crossing teleportation gates, Reslin was nearly ten thousand li from Mo Du, having passed straight over the capital Nuosiruier and continued north into the Empire's Northern Great Plains.

The plains cover an area equivalent to five or six imperial provinces.

Most areas are barren and uninhabited; after two more teleports, Reslin appeared on the outskirts of a large city. He stood on a hillside dozens of li away, gazing ahead.

"Ulg City."

It is the center of the Northern Great Plains, dubbed "Capital of the Plains" and "Pearl of the Great Plains", with a permanent population over one million; with transient residents the number can double, making it a major city in the Empire.

Ulg City is the domain of Duke Hong Shi.

Reslin looked up at the sky; under the night veil, a massive floating city hung above the clouds, still brightly lit deep into the night, like a city that never sleeps.

ParrasFloatingCity!

"Hm…"

Reslin let out a hum from his nostrils.

According to Supreme Council regulations, once a Holy Soul Wizard is ennobled as a Duke, they may select a territory no larger than half a standard province, usually a major city or a bustling trade hub.

Duke Hong Shi chose Ulg City.

Before his time, the Northern Great Plains had few inhabitants, mostly centaurs, half‑orcs, or other races; Ulg was merely a small town of only tens of thousands, with mixed peoples. However, Ulg's location was excellent, situated slightly east of the plains' center at the confluence of two major rivers, a crossroads for trade routes from the Empire to Brantania and the Orc tribes.

Duke Hong Shi recognized Ulg's advantages and, in just a few dozen years, developed it into the largest city on the plains, also seizing the throat of the trade routes.

Afterwards, Ulg City grew larger and its population swelled, becoming the foundation of Duke Hong Shi's rise.

He used Ulg City as a hub, extending his influence across the entire Northern Great Plains.

Although his actual domain covered less than a tenth of the plains, in practice the whole Great Plains became his territory, and no one dared to defy him.

Duke Hong Shi controls the Great Prairie, and in a certain sense also expands the Empire's territory, so the Supreme Council tacitly approved their actions.

This vast territory has contributed incalculable massive wealth to Duke Hong Shi.

In just a few decades, they built the ParrasFloatingCity.

It is also the Empire's newest floating city, the largest among the seven floating cities, more than five times larger than Weizelan, and even from dozens of li away one can feel its grandeur and towering majesty.

And Reslin's purpose on this journey is to destroy it!

(End of chapter)