Chapter 235: Embedding and Success

At the Fifth Tier, the meditation space could barely handle the Ancient Magic Script. So, during his first real attempt, Shaoke failed dozens of times before finding some sense of it. Finally, relying on the condensation techniques provided by the Death Mage Corps, he managed to condense nearly a hundred phrases in the Ancient Magic Script. He figured it would take him over ten times longer than Mage Yisier, and the sentences had dozens more meanings.

After the mage used a special Meditation Method, the sentences formed by the Magic Script quickly merged into the altar and began to rotate slowly within it. However, because the altar was still too small, Shaoke couldn't see the details inside. He'd have to wait until the altar regained its original shape to examine it.

After meditating to recover, Shaoke stopped working. As long as he got all the Magic Script sentences into the altar before it reached its growth limit, there would be no problem. Though waiting too long would reduce the effects, Shaoke decided to stop for now, as hunger kept gnawing at him.

He quickly wolfed down some pre-prepared food, rested briefly, and then continued his work. Now, he needed to embed the sentences made of Ancient Magic Script into the altar in his mana space. Luckily, after practicing in his mental space, he managed it pretty easily with some special techniques, allowing the altar to absorb them.

When nearly a hundred sentences had entered the altar, Shaoke couldn't keep going. The long condensation of the script and the constant shaking of the newly formed space had drained his energy. Only then did he remember to take the medicine to stop his body from weakening from the promotion. At this point, his promotion work was essentially complete, though some follow-up tasks remained—tasks he neither had the energy nor the inclination to do while resting.

This time, Shaoke slept for nearly a full day. After straightening his robe, he left the secret chamber, feeling weak. A Fourth Tier mage guarding the chamber watched Shaoke leave with envy. This weird mage had become pretty well-known to him over the past few days. Even if he didn't fully get what a Death Mage meant, he knew Shaoke could kill mages above his rank—and that was a fact.

The Six-pointed Star Magic Array in his eyes, which he couldn't hide for now, didn't bother him. Shaoke just pulled his cloak tighter and walked alone through the night to his camp.

The camp, which once housed a hundred mages, now held only a dozen. These mages, like Shaoke, were reclusive and rarely spoke, though they often practiced spells here.

Shaoke's return quickly drew the attention of the other mages. They emerged from their tents and stood silently along his path. Following tradition, some stepped forward to offer their blessings. Since Shaoke had become a Sixth Tier mage, the lower-ranked mages blessed him and received his blessings in return. This complex ritual brought a sense of comfort to the mages still lingering here. It was the first large gathering they'd had in nearly seven or eight years. Here, they were a forgotten group—no orders, no other mages seeking them out for conversation. Only the soldiers delivering meals, materials, and medicine occasionally appeared.

Everything ended. After bidding farewell to the few remaining mages, Shaoke returned to his room. The idea of a banquet or celebration was deliberately avoided by all the mages here. These dozen or so had no interest in holding even the smallest feast to mark Shaoke's promotion.

"I still remember when you advanced to the Fifth Tier," a middle-aged mage who had received and given blessings said softly as he was about to leave. "Back then, all the mages in the team celebrated your promotion. Now, only we—the forgotten ones—are here to bless you." He sighed quietly and turned back to his room.

Shaoke recognized this mage; he had been the commander of their small mage team. Watching the middle-aged mage leave, Shaoke noticed his graying hair and slightly stooped posture. He recalled how spirited the commander had been when directing battles. "Our choice wasn't wrong—at least, that's how I see it now. If you regret today's decision, you can always return to the Blizzard Legion! They're desperate for mages and won't refuse you," Shaoke called out loudly to the former commander.

That night, in the silent camp, Shaoke's voice carried far. "What's a little temporary loneliness? Which powerful mage hasn't endured long solitude to earn the chance for repeated promotions?" After saying this, he returned to his room and lay down to sleep. Whether his words would help that mage, he couldn't tell.

The next morning, Shaoke woke and began meditating. Now that his promotion was complete, his meditation space could withstand the impact of the medicine. After taking it, he started meditating. Scattered mental light points were condensed into light bands through meditation, though a small portion was absorbed by the altar as they passed. Each absorbed band caused the altar to grow slightly, but the growth was very slow. Shaoke estimated it would take half a year for the altar to fully regain its original size.

Only then could he truly be considered a Sixth Tier mage.

After a successful promotion, he not only needed to meditate to restore the altar's size but also had to perform other tasks. For example, using mental threads to connect the altar to the Six-pointed Star Magic Array and attuning to the faint special fluctuations still emanating. More importantly, he had to condense the languages he knew into special forms using mana or mental power and integrate them into the altar. This task had to be completed before the altar stopped growing; otherwise, he would lose the ability to incorporate those words. This technique wasn't known to every mage—only those from the Death Mage Corps possessed it.

By using this technique, when casting spells later with the magic words embedded in the altar, the spellcaster could reduce consumption. The most noticeable effect was shortening some syllables, though this could only be applied once per spell's incantation. However, it could overlap with other spellcasting techniques.

Shaoke's first step was to condense modern Magic Script. With his experience in condensing Ancient Magic Script, handling the simpler modern version was much easier. Following the records in the books, he embedded the words into the altar one by one in order. This was the most time-consuming task, as condensing Magic Script within the meditation space easily caused turbulence.

Half a year passed quickly for a mage immersed in cultivation. By the time winter arrived, Shaoke, who had been training in the military camp, had nearly completed all post-promotion work. He embedded three or five spells into the Six-pointed Star Magic Array. This time, he not only learned a Fifth Tier mental attack spell but also embedded the Sixth Tier Death Gaze and Disintegration Structure into the array. Finally, he had the capacity to learn one more embeddable spell: the Eternal Eye, which only Sixth Tier mages could embed.

This time, Shaoke was fortunate to successfully embed the Eternal Eye into the array, unlike his failed attempt with the 'Mage's Will' spell at the Fifth Tier. The Eternal Eye, when used, could see through all wards and traps in spellbooks. By injecting mental power or mana, it could also relatively easily dismantle those traps. Although its application was narrow, for Shaoke, who had decided to leave the military, becoming a wandering mage would give him many opportunities to use it.

He also attempted to embed other spells but failed after several tries, making him lament the difficulty of these embeddable spells.

Silver light and the threads connecting the two spaces reappeared only after the altar stopped recovering. Although the threads still connected to the two Six-pointed Star Magic Arrays, the silver light merged into the altar, now filled with various Magic Scripts. With the appearance of these threads, the altar in his mental space turned a pale purple. Fortunately, Shaoke had anticipated this and wasn't alarmed.

The altar, nearly twice the size of the Six-pointed Star Magic Array, rotated slowly in sync with it. Different Magic Scripts flickered faintly on the altar's crystal surface. Light bands of mental power or mana collided within the altar, slowly merging over time until they formed a single beam of light. This process was extremely slow, as meditation couldn't influence what happened inside the altar.