Chapter 417 Success and Change

"Xueye, you succeeded." Mage Roman and the White-robed Cleric, who had received the news, arrived at the medicinal pool. They asked their daughters to leave, then removed Shaoke's robe and placed him in the pool for bathing. "Why did this ascension take so long?" Mage Roman asked as she joined him in the pool.

The mage smiled, then briefly explained the situation during his ascension. He closed his eyes and fell asleep, utterly exhausted and in need of rest.

"Is Xueye going to be alright?" the White-robed Cleric asked Mage Roman uncertainly.

"He'll be fine," Mage Roman replied after a moment's thought. "According to our family's records, some mages undergo strange changes when ascending to the Tenth Tier, greatly enhancing their power, often with unique effects." As she spoke, she stroked Shaoke's gaunt cheek and added, "Now we just have to wait for Xueye to wake up and see how many spells he ultimately gained." The female mage then joined the Cleric in massaging Shaoke.

The mage rested in the medicinal pool for three full days before emerging, his spirits much improved. The female mages were once again busy, as Shaoke had no immediate concerns; he only needed to identify the spells he had acquired.

Alone in the living room, Shaoke entered his meditation space. His ten-layered altar rotated slowly, with many cracks from the ascension already healed by the Cleric. He estimated it would take a year to fully repair, after which he could unleash the full power of a Ten-rank Spellcaster.

After a brief inspection of the altar, Shaoke focused on the complex magic scripts and structures etched into it. During his ascension, countless Spell Structures had been imprinted, but upon examination, he found they formed only three spells, all single-target attacks. He began to study them in detail.

Though he couldn't originally chant the magic scripts composing these spells, after the strange transformation, he could now recognize and pronounce them. He noticed they resembled the script on the horns of the Giant Beasts he had encountered, suggesting they dated from that era. The thought excited him.

Further study revealed that he couldn't yet use these spells; they required his full recovery. Even then, their use was heavily restricted. One reason was the lengthy incantation time, making spellcasting slow. This was because the magic scripts were far more powerful—hundreds of times stronger than the most powerful ancient scripts he currently knew.

Another reason was the spells' immense power. Shaoke estimated that casting one would consume half his mental strength and mana, and his altar would suffer damage from the sudden massive output. With this realization, he temporarily abandoned attempts to practice these spells and focused on repairing his altar.

Days passed. The female mages gradually became less busy, finding time to gather after dinner and discuss matters as they once had. With the Cleric's long-term treatment, Shaoke had completely repaired the cracks on his altar.

"Father, when will you cast the spells you've learned for us? I want to know how powerful a Tenth Tier Mage truly is," Moyu'er asked one evening after dinner, setting down her book.

She had not seen him cast any attack spells since his ascension, which made her very curious.

Before Shaoke could answer, the Cleric declined on his behalf. "Your father still needs time to consolidate before he can cast those spells. Besides, they're so powerful that casting them here would destroy our mage tower." She gestured for Moyu'er to bring Shaoke a glass of water, then continued copying books from the Roman Family.

Shaoke nodded at Moyu'er's curious look, confirming the Cleric's words. "You should also prepare. Sooner or later, you'll ascend to become powerful tenth-tier mages like me." The mage then thought of Hegel and instructed Moyu'er to prepare some items to send to him the next day, as a token of his fatherly care.

That night, after the Female Spellcasters had slept, Shaoke returned to his meditation space. The fully repaired altar floated in the void, slowly rotating. Tiny specks of light continuously flew in from the void, each one making the altar slightly more solid. He believed that given enough time, he could cast those Tenth-level Spells without damaging the altar. After observing for a while, he entered the altar's interior.

Perhaps due to the final mutation, the lowest layer of the altar had undergone a tremendous change. Not only were there strange magical plants, but also living creatures—not the dozen primitive beasts, but large species that had emerged within the space. The upper nine layers also contained some species, though they were mostly small insects, with no larger life forms yet evolved, as the space had existed only a short time and lacked the strange silver light mutation.

Shaoke knew that the appearance of various creatures in the altar was not just due to the mutation, but more importantly, because he had once infused many souls into his meditation space. Since the Eighth Tier, when he sent those souls into the altar, they had only now shown their power at the Tenth Tier.

He observed that these creatures and magical plants absorbed mental strength and mana from the altar. Upon their death, purified mental strength and mana were released, strengthening the Spellcaster. The animals' souls also grew somewhat stronger.

Through repeated cycles, strong souls were forcibly torn into fragments, which then inhabited small animals or plants. As the souls grew, their hosts grew larger. This cycle continued, increasing the soul power in the space, leading to more and larger animals, further enhancing his power.

After examining the altar's interior, Shaoke focused on the lowest layer, where a dozen monstrous beasts with thirteen horns roamed leisurely, hunting small animals or digging for exotic plant roots. He sensed the aura emanating from them.

After a while, he used a special method to tear off a fragment of his own soul and implanted it into the largest beast. This technique came from an underground ruin he had discovered. He had originally intended to place a soul fragment into any animal, but encountering these powerful Wild Beasts changed his plans, as the stronger the host, the greater the reward.

Once the soul fragment entered the beast, Shaoke felt he had become the thirteen-horned beast. Strange information flowed from the beast and was deeply etched into his memory, revealing some of the beast's origins. Though he couldn't yet use the knowledge due to his current strength, it could still serve as a reference to enhance his spellcasting abilities.

Emerging from his meditation space the next day, he found the female spellcasters had already eaten breakfast and were busy with their own tasks. They had left him some breakfast, saving him the trouble of preparing his own.

Perhaps because the soul fragment had just been implanted into the beast, Shaoke alternated between feeling like himself and like the beast, a confusing sensation that hindered his ability to do anything else. He abandoned all other work and devoted himself to understanding this change.

Over time, he gradually discovered some facts about these beasts. Nearly half of the light points absorbed by the altar were gathered into these beasts. The remaining half was divided, with a small portion distributed among all the plants and animals in the altar space, and the larger portion absorbed by the altar itself to reinforce it.