Ronan hovered in mid-air, above the large dueling platform formed by countless rune energy paths. The cool night breeze brushed past his cheeks, gently fluttering his robe, and he caught a faint scent of lilac drifting by. At the start of the second round, the originally four separate dueling platforms were recombined into one, with only one duel occurring at a time, naturally drawing all attention.
The merged platform was exceptionally large. Ronan stood not at the edge, but still about two kilometers from the wizards on the Crimson Tower's side of the spectator stands.
The voices of the observing wizards were distant, and under the night sky, the platform's area had an unusual sense of emptiness and silence.
Above, the light from the six "Dawn Suns" fell like spotlight beams, giving Ronan the feeling of being the main actor on a stage, surrounded by an audience waiting for his performance to begin.
"Click—"
Ronan suddenly felt one of the "spotlights" above him flicker abruptly.
He instinctively looked up, squinting at the six "Dawn Suns," but all he could feel was their constant majesty, vastness, and silence, with no anomaly occurring.
The fluctuation he sensed seemed to be just an illusion.
"What are you looking at?"
A calm voice came from directly ahead.
Ronan withdrew his gaze, looking towards the source of the voice.
In sight was a medium-built young man with short gray-green hair and a baby face, appearing to be in his early twenties.
The reality, however, was quite the opposite.
"Damien Ando."
Information about his opponent flashed through Ronan's mind.
The top genius of this generation in the Palace of Thorns, and also of the previous generation.
This young wizard named Damien was actually very close to the century mark in soul age, approximately thirty to forty years older than the average age of the wizards participating in this competition.
In a sense, he was a "senior," but since he hadn't truly surpassed a hundred years, he was still considered a "genius."
The older one gets, the deeper the accumulation in certain aspects can be—knowledge, experience, skills, spell proficiency, and so on. These are hidden strengths not reflected in the apparent mental power level.
This was bound to be a challenging opponent, and also the first third-level opponent Ronan had encountered so far.
"I heard you possess a powerful ancient bloodline, capable of suppressing the Ancient Inferno Blood of the Sakiels family from Molten Lake."
Damien, with his naturally innocent-looking face, smiled harmlessly, speaking to Ronan as if chatting with an old friend: "Quickly activate it, let me see it properly."
Ronan did not respond, merely reaching out with a calm expression to gently touch the blue diamond earring on his left earlobe.
Streams of blue light flew out from the earring, each representing a component of a magical equipment set.
Pauldrons, bracers, chest armor, leggings, boots...
A total of twelve pieces of magical equipment automatically donned Ronan's body, linking runes between them to form a thick ice crystal armor, with a cloak of light cascading down.
When the entire [Winter's Homeland] equipment set was fully donned, a beautifully intricate ice crystal iris pattern appeared faintly on Ronan's smooth and full forehead.
"Boom—"
A massive icy aura emanated from Ronan, stirring his snow-white hair, as a freezing field with a diameter of several dozen meters abruptly formed around him. Countless ice crystal snowflakes automatically coalesced within, falling endlessly.
After advancing to mid-second level, thanks to his mental power quality far surpassing his peers and the powerful mental power recovery effect of the [Clear Mind State], Ronan could finally fully don the entire set.
The fully activated [Winter's Homeland] equipment set provided an unprecedented tenfold enhancement in ice spell power!
In this state, Ronan was even stronger than typical peak late-second-level wizards, significantly closing the gap between him and Damien.
Damien, however, merely chuckled at Ronan's actions, a strange expression surfacing on his fair baby face.
"It seems you don't quite understand the third level."
With that, Damien extended his hands from beneath his green robe, fingers dancing rapidly as though playing an invisible instrument. Each fingertip released a large amount of golden-yellow powder, quickly dispersed by an invisible wind.
Ronan smelled an intense lilac scent, realizing the earlier scent had emanated from Damien.
Unfazed, Ronan raised a finger.
Numerous icy elements converged at his fingertip, forming a massive snow vortex, with shards of ice seemingly slicing through the void.
Second-level spell [Minor Blizzard]!
Under the [Winter's Homeland] set's boost, the gigantic snow vortex, strengthened by over tenfold, left a long frozen trail in the air, hurtling towards Damien.
Damien, however, merely tapped his brow, causing a bud-shaped rune to glow. Countless green light spots appeared behind him, swiftly coalescing into a giant swaying flower in full bloom.
The semi-phantom petals of the spell flower closed gently, stopping Ronan's snow vortex before Damien, then with a slight tremor, the fierce vortex shattered and exploded!
"Whoosh—"
The backdraft of snow and wind brushed Ronan's face, his eyes narrowing slightly, a faint glimmer flashing within.
Watching Gattuso and Orion's battle below, he simply noted their strength surpassed typical second-level wizards, but couldn't quite grasp how much stronger they were.
Now, standing as the opponent, he truly understood the vast gap between second and third levels.
Even with the powerful boost from [Winter's Homeland], his proficient [Minor Blizzard] couldn't harm Damien at all. A casual third-level defensive spell from the latter became an impenetrable barrier.
Ronan ceased further probing, raising a hand to make a gesture of drawing a sword from the void.
In an instant, countless dense, mysterious energies flowed from his open fingers.
Beneath the vast platform, a mysterious pattern resembling an icy hexagram appeared, generating a gigantic vortex, from which a massive twenty-meter-long pure white ice blade rapidly rose.
It was as if an ancient forbidden weapon emerged from a seal, carrying an aura of freezing and slicing all.
"One-stage domain resonance, [Ice Blade Art—Extreme Frozen Supreme Weapon]!"
Ronan's voice, augmented by the [Voice of Cold], seemed to echo from a millennial ice cavern, laced with soul-eroding coldness.
Enhanced by both [Winter's Homeland] and the "Aylis Ice Ring Necklace," his ice blade art was over ten times stronger than before.
The terrifying giant ice blade hovered before Ronan, who seemed to hold its hilt, slowly making a slashing motion toward Damien.
"Whoosh—"
The giant ice blade swept through the void, stirring up a frigid wind, leaving a large, clear blackened slash.
The wind tugged at Damien's robe, and his previously calm gaze seemed to slightly waver, yet he still showed no significant reaction.
"Thorn Vine Silk!"
Damien opened his hands, runic light glowing in his palms.
Instantly, the air filled with surging energy particles, and the golden-yellow powder he had dispersed around expanded and grew, forming large golden plants with white petals, crowding every corner of the platform.
The air was thick with the overpowering scent of lilacs, nearly dizzying.
Countless mysterious white flowers spewed golden threads from their stamens, which climbed heavenward like living creatures, quickly entwining the giant pure white ice blade.
The icy aura around the blade seemed ineffective against these threads. Though the terrifying sharpness could slice through them, more threads continuously wrapped around, endlessly.
In less than a breath, Ronan's giant ice blade was obstructed, its one-stage domain power seemingly disrupted by the seemingly fragile yet formidable threads.
Damien leisurely approached Ronan, unsurprised by the outcome. He raised a hand, and more threads grew, some darting toward Ronan, piercing the air with the speed of sharp, unparalleled arrows.
"Swish, swish, swish—"
Ronan retreated rapidly under the onslaught of golden threads, shifting his form. One thread, moving too fast to evade, pierced his shoulder.
Ronan's pupils contracted, noting the pierced area where the ice crystal shoulder guard cracked, affecting the core rune and dimming its glow.
"Is this the third level?"
"Just one thread can damage the [Winter's Homeland], which has never been breached at the second level?"
Thoughts churned in Ronan's mind as he took a deep breath, and then...
"Boom!"
A massive ice orb, filled with the essence of despair, and countless auroral deep blue beams erupted around him.
"One-stage domain resonance, [Despair Freeze—Unmatched Ice Orb]!"
"One-stage domain resonance, [Frost Ray—Ice Vein Prison]!"
Two immense domain energies burst forth, forcefully repelling the golden threads nearing his body.
At this moment, three types of domain energies fluctuated around Ronan, each reaching a one-stage resonance.
A stir of murmurs and commotion arose from the spectator stands.
This slight stir crescendoed as Ronan raised his hand in the next moment.
"[Multiple Mirror Light]! Triple Replication!"
"Boom!"
The [Multiple Mirror Light] sigil flashed, and in the vast arena, the original pure white ice blade, entangled by countless golden threads, suddenly broke free, splitting into three.
The other two one-stage resonance spells also split into three.
In an instant, three giant pure white ice blades, three ice orbs filled with boundless despair, and countless auroral veins encircled Ronan.
Ronan stood in mid-air, hair billowing, exuding unparalleled might, stealing the spotlight.
At this moment, not only did Damien as an opponent show a change in color, but many among the spectators also felt a significant shock and impact, with some even standing up in disbelief.
"This kid..."
On the Silver Ring side, Caroni and Archido were momentarily stunned by the sight.
"Three types of one-stage resonance domain power?
And is this the effect of a sigil?
Isn't this too monstrous?"
A second-level wizard comprehending a one-stage domain resonance would be considered impressive, but in this competition, gathering top geniuses from six factions, several could achieve this.
But comprehending three types at once, all reaching one-stage resonance, seemed a bit outrageous.
"To my knowledge, he also possesses another extraordinary domain power nearing two-stage resonance."
Caroni spoke softly, while Archido shook his head, muttering, "Monster."
While people below were shocked by Ronan's seemingly costless array of one-stage resonance domains, on the platform, the momentarily startled Damien had already recovered from his daze.
"Quantity doesn't compensate for the quality gap. If you had comprehended a two-stage now, you might stand a chance against me..."
Damien's eyes narrowed, runic patterns lighting up on his hands and cheeks.
"Bloodlust, Frenzy, Parasite... Nature's Protection!"
He raised his hands, golden light blooming between his arms, as an equally one-stage resonance extraordinary domain aura emanated from him.
On the platform, the golden threads temporarily pushed back by icy domain power quickly expanded, turning red, each now infused with intense domain energy.
Enhanced by several sigils and a one-stage resonance domain, the threads seemed transformed into "bloodthirsty serpents," each terrifyingly potent, effortlessly tearing through the air, causing a whirlwind of energy.
Countless threads surged toward Ronan, shattering several of his surrounding spells at a glance.
Ronan's expression remained unchanged as he made a grasping motion.
"Twenty-seven spell anchors, nine domains overlap, tundra domain."
"[Deep Freeze]!"
In an instant, all the spells around him, whether naturally summoned or mirrored, exploded simultaneously.
They transformed into purest icy energy, constructing an unprecedentedly terrifying domain field, rapidly expanding outward.
At this moment, the entire dueling platform and surrounding spectator areas shifted from late autumn to deep winter.
Indescribable terrifying cold spread from Ronan's body, freezing countless attacking bloodthirsty threads in mid-air.
It was as if everything froze.
The void, light, distance, time...
Centered on Ronan, nearly a two-kilometer radius turned into an independent ice crystal amber, with everything inside frozen.
"Clang—"
Within the amber, a clear metallic clang echoed, and a silver-white metal spear appeared in Ronan's hand. Propelled by his fingers, it pierced through layers of frost, shooting toward the motionless Damien ahead.
"Crack—"
Ronan heard the sound of ice breaking, sensing the powerful aura of a third-level wizard stirring within the cold.
His eyes flickered, and he immediately pursued the spear, preparing to deliver a thunderous strike to the about-to-break-free Damien.
But unexpectedly...
"Boom!"
Damien, enveloped in radiance, broke from the ice, rapidly retreating toward the edge of the platform.
Damien looked at Ronan from a distance, an inexplicable expression on his deceptively innocent face, deliberately feigning "shock and reluctance."
"I concede."
"Hmm?!"
Ronan's form halted, standing amidst the crisscrossing icy veins, holding his spear, hair flowing.
Beneath his seemingly calm face, his heart churned with waves of surprise and confusion.
Damien clearly still had strength...
Why did he deliberately lose to him?!.
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