At the stall, the items displayed were mostly related to magical beasts—beast pelts, bones, organs preserved in jars, carved bone and flesh artifacts, magical tools... even living creatures.
Ronan was asking about a strange creature kept in a transparent jar. It resembled a miniature piranha but had a pair of small, baby-like white feet, kicking around in the water, giving it a lively yet eerie appearance.
The stall owner was a pale-skinned, middle-aged wizard, a first-tier. He had a black mole the size of a green bean by his lips, with an aura that was cold and sinister, typical of wizards who were obsessed with blood and flesh alchemy, constantly dealing with corpses.
"You have a sharp eye, this 'Screaming Fish' is the result of twenty years of my research," the middle-aged wizard said, immediately flashing a smile as he began to enthusiastically explain.
Though Ronan had tried to keep a low profile, suppressing his second-tier wizard spiritual energy as much as possible, his youthful and handsome face, coupled with his naturally unique aura, was noticeable. Any wizard with a discerning eye could easily tell that he came from a large and powerful organization, and not just any organization, but one that only the elite members could possess such composed and confident demeanor.
With the Hramus Genius Seat competition approaching, many talented wizards from various factions in the South were out and about, and characters like Ronan had become somewhat familiar faces in the past year or so.
After receiving permission from the middle-aged wizard, Ronan extended his spiritual energy into the transparent jar.
Immediately, the "Screaming Fish" opened its mouth and emitted a piercing scream.
The invisible sound waves released by the scream spread across the water, pushing it away from the jar's walls, causing it to stick tightly to the sides. Ronan felt a slight disturbance in his spiritual energy and was somewhat surprised.
This Screaming Fish reminded him of a necromancy spell he had learned during his apprentice days—[Soul Shriek]. The two techniques were similar, both using a scream to produce sound waves that affected spiritual energy.
However, the power of the Screaming Fish was far greater than the zero-tier spell [Soul Shriek]. It had even managed to affect his own spiritual energy.
Though the effect was just a slight dizziness, it was worth noting that Ronan's spiritual power, after being purified twice, was far stronger than that of an average second-tier wizard in the late stages.
What surprised Ronan even more was that the sound wave attack of the Screaming Fish seemed to be targeted—it had no effect on the stall owner or any nearby wizards, only affecting Ronan.
Such a mysterious creature... Could it really have been researched by just a first-tier wandering wizard?
Ronan glanced up at the middle-aged wizard and asked, "How much are you selling this Screaming Fish for?"
The middle-aged wizard perked up, quickly listing a few prices. After hearing them, Ronan shook his head and responded, "I only have magic stones."
The middle-aged wizard looked a little disappointed but quickly replied, "Five thousand! Five thousand high-level magic stones, and the fish is yours."
"Not possible."
Ronan replied calmly, "Unless the cultivation technique for the Screaming Fish comes with it. The fish's scream is indeed effective, but if I'm not mistaken, it probably won't live long, right?"
He glanced at the now quiet fish, which appeared somewhat lethargic. Yet, his sensitivity to life energy allowed him to sense that after the scream, the energy in the fish's body had greatly diminished.
This was a creature that consumed its own life force in its scream.
The middle-aged wizard's expression shifted slightly, but he quickly sighed and said, "You saw through it... Two thousand. Two thousand high-level magic stones, and the fish is yours. But as for the cultivation technique, I'm afraid that's not possible. The technique is still incomplete."
"Three thousand."
Ronan interrupted the wizard's words, his expression calm, "Tell me where you found this creature. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. If you don't trust me, we can sign a contract."
The middle-aged wizard's face changed several times, but after a moment, he grabbed a piece of old beast hide from the corner of the stall, scribbled something on it, and handed it to Ronan.
Ronan paid the three thousand high-level magic stones without hesitation, putting the jar containing the Screaming Fish into his space ring. Before leaving, he glanced at the stall and casually picked up a small box containing a black beetle with a single horn. "What's this?" he asked the stall owner.
"I don't know."
The middle-aged wizard shook his head. "I found it in an abandoned ancient secret realm. I've been studying it for a year, and all I've figured out is that its secretion can be used for making some low-level potion. Maybe it's just a long-lived ordinary ancient insect. If you want it, take it."
"Thanks."
Ronan took the box with the horned beetle inside and said lightly, "I've always been interested in these little curios. It's certainly a specimen I didn't have."
The middle-aged wizard chuckled but didn't respond.
In the wizarding world, collecting rare insects wasn't considered a strange hobby.
After leaving the stall, Ronan received a reply from Grace:
"Princess Selena confessed that my soul is special, and the energy I emit is very helpful to her, helping her improve a certain ability."
Ronan looked at Grace's message, thought for a moment, and asked, "Has she asked you to do anything?"
"Only... Only..."
Before Grace could finish, the transmission was abruptly cut off.
Ronan was a bit surprised, but he didn't pay much attention, thinking that Grace had likely gotten busy with something else. For now, he was more interested in the two things he had just obtained.
"Selena..."
Grace stood in a room surrounded by bookshelves, nervously pulling at the hem of her robe.
In front of her stood a young woman in a wizard's gown with golden hair.
The woman was very young, extremely beautiful, with porcelain-like skin and lake-green eyes, exuding a noble and elegant aura.
"Who have you been talking to these past few days?"
The woman walked to Grace's desk and asked in a gentle tone, "Is it the boy who saved you at the Mechanical Heart? Looks like our Grace has really fallen in love..."
"No, no. He's just a friend," Grace hurriedly defended herself.
The woman laughed lightly but didn't press the issue, instead saying softly, "Grace, I'm a little tired. May I rest here for a while?"
"Of course," Grace replied quickly. She picked up a velvet blanket from the bed and spread it over the woman. She then lowered her head and gently rested her head on the woman's lap.
"Rest well, Grace."
The woman's hand glowed faintly with white light as she gently stroked Grace's cheek.
Grace's eyelids grew heavy, and soon she yawned and fell into a deep sleep in the woman's embrace.
After Grace fell asleep, the woman quickly adjusted her posture, closed her eyes, and a complex golden symbol appeared on her forehead.
Intense white light began to emanate from her body, slowly forming into an exquisite and luxurious armor.
"Ronan."
On her knees, Grace unconsciously mumbled a few words, rolling over to sleep more soundly.
As the white light continued to gather around the woman's body, the golden symbol on her forehead grew, and her aura deepened.
That night, Ronan set up a defensive and isolation rune array at the bottom of a secluded mountain hollow. Under the starlight, he took out the items he had obtained at the Sunset Gathering earlier that day.
The condition of the Screaming Fish was even worse than he had expected.
It was nearly floating half-dead at the surface of the water, its mouth wide open, as if it would die at any moment.
"This creature probably only screams once in its life, releasing all of its life potential at once?" Ronan mused.
No wonder the stall owner had agreed so easily—he would probably have sold it for even just a thousand high-level magic stones.
Ronan gently placed his finger on the transparent jar and slowly infused it with life energy from his life orb.
The nearly-dead fish began to revive, soon swimming again, though Ronan could tell this was just a temporary solution. The energy he had injected was already beginning to dissipate.
If he wanted to truly study this, he would need to find more creatures like it.
He unrolled the old beast hide the stall owner had given him, on which was scrawled the words "Green Ying Abyss."
He pulled out the map that Kosti had given him and found the "Green Ying Abyss" marked near the southwestern edge of the southern continent, not far from the Wind Harbor where old Wells and Venesia had gone.
"Perhaps I can find a chance to visit," Ronan thought to himself.
The Screaming Fish was a fascinating creature, one Ronan had never encountered before. It emitted a life aura at the level of a zero-tier magical beast, but its scream was powerful enough to affect the spiritual energy of second-tier wizards.
If he could understand how it produced the sound, combined with [Soul Shriek], it might lead to a powerful spiritual attack spell.
Of course, what Ronan was most interested in was the fish's ability to explode its life force in a single scream.
The [Immaculate Body] compression technique for life energy, which he had devised to achieve "Ancient Titan Transformation," was still a rough technique. With the increasing mastery of [Ascetic Body Forging], Ronan wanted to refine this technique further, believing it had great potential.
Especially after his body had undergone a second growth from merging with the "Ancient Frost Hydra's" bloodline.
"'Full Titan Transformation' is no longer the limit of my body, but right now I can only do it under sufficient external pressure," Ronan thought, gazing at his pale and slender hands under the starlight.
This was the hand of someone who could play the piano or harp, but with a thought, he could turn them into monstrous claws.
"My life compression technique is still too rough. As my life orb grows, it becomes harder to compress. My spiritual power is struggling to keep up, and this technique needs to be improved, or this ace will eventually be outdated."
After replenishing the life energy of the Screaming Fish, Ronan put it away and focused on the box with the mysterious black beetle.
He had actually been more interested in the beetle than the fish, and the fish had been an unexpected bonus.
Opening the box, Ronan placed the beetle on his right hand.
Under the moonlight, he closely examined the mysterious creature. With its single horn, shiny shell, and densely packed legs, it looked more like a dead insect or specimen, except for the occasional twitching of its legs.
Suddenly, grayish marks appeared on Ronan's hand, and the once still beetle began to emit a strong sense of agitation.
It moved, opening its shell and revealing its transparent wings, but Ronan's spiritual energy quickly held it in place.
Gradually, the beetle began secreting a translucent liquid from its abdomen. Ronan frowned, considering whether to clean it when the liquid was entirely absorbed by the gray marks on his hand.
The marks darkened, turning black, and began to squirm like a living organism.
After about an hour, the beetle finally quieted, and Ronan saw that his hand bore a series of strange, twisted symbols like tattoos.
"This..." Ronan thought, his eyes flickering. The symbols seemed familiar, linked to the world stone coordinates he'd gotten in the ancient mirror庭.
He realized that the coordinates might have been linked to another world, one full of terrifying energy. The images he had seen might have been from that world.
The Ancient Mirror庭 had banned experiments involving these coordinates for a reason, and now Ronan understood why. Even a glimpse of the energy from that world had nearly cost him everything.
"This is something that can't be shared. If others learn about these coordinates, they might go crazy," Ronan muttered under his breath, his expression serious.
But deep down, he feared that the Cult of the Ancient Sorcerers might already know.
Three days later, near a large lake, Ronan stood silently, watching the Ice Crystal Magic Serpent sink into the water.
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