Ryan was full of confusion. Just yesterday she still carried a hint of warmth, yet after a single night Evelyn seemed like an entirely different person, cold to an unbelievable degree.

  "Evelyn, wait for me!"

  When Ryan came back to his senses, Evelyn had already walked far ahead.

  "Stay in your room and study magic properly. If you have questions regarding magic theory or anything else, you may come to me at any time."

  Evelyn did not turn her head. Her cool voice drifted over with the wind, like a heartless woman who pulled up her pants and left right after the deed, without the slightest attachment.

  Ryan scratched his head, unable to understand any of it, and simply stopped thinking about it.

  He returned to his room, closed the door, sat on the bed, and retrieved the breakthrough potion from Grimoire's storage space. He uncorked it and drank it in one gulp.

  The moment the potion entered his throat it dissolved, turning into a surge of pure and sharp magic that exploded inside him, rushing wildly through his meridians.

  【Detection shows that the host is about to advance. Activating magic concealment requires a cost of 5000 Origin Value. Proceed with payment?】

  Grimoire's voice rang out.

  "You charged me for this last time!" Ryan almost choked in anger, his magic already at the edge of erupting within him.

  【The last activation ended before the host completed advancement. The concealment has expired automatically and is non refundable】

  "You despicable thing! Fine! Do it! Activate it now!" Ryan was going crazy. The magic in his body was reaching its limit and nearly burst through his skin.

  【Magic concealment activated. Range one hundred meters. Wishing host a smooth advancement】

  Ryan no longer bothered arguing with Grimoire. He had no attention to spare. A violent stream of magic coursed through his entire body, as if it were ripping his meridians apart.

  A muffled boom erupted from within him. A wave of overwhelming magic nearly broke through his skin, but the concealment barrier immediately dissolved it, not letting even a trace escape.

  This was the magic concealment function of Grimoire. Without it, the disturbance caused by his advancement would have instantly alerted the three Elders, and then he would have been interrogated again.

  Having suppressed himself for too long, and with the potion's boost, he broke through one small tier and immediately surged toward the next bottleneck.

  Eighth tier Journeyman Mage!

  Late at night, snow and wind tapped against the window frames, while the magic concentration in the room continued to rise.

  Ninth tier Journeyman Mage!

  After reaching Ninth tier Journeyman Mage, Ryan did not stop. Instead, he gathered his mind and focused on compressing the semi liquid mass of magic within his magic core.

  He circulated Chaosforge Arcana, compressing and purifying the magic over and over again. Only when dawn approached did he finally refine the magic to its absolute limit.

  "Break!"

  A sharp light flashed in Ryan's eyes. His spirit force wrapped around the fully compressed magic and slammed toward the bottleneck of Senior Mage.

  A deafening explosion burst inside him. A surge of power far greater than his previous two advancements erupted, yet the concealment barrier devoured it instantly. Nothing leaked outside.

  At the moment the bottleneck shattered, the once solid mass of liquid magic burst apart, turning into countless fine streams of magic that merged into every muscle and every bone.

  This was the mark of a Senior Mage!

  To completely merge magic with the body, allowing every movement, every strike, to carry refined magic. True unity of mage and body.

  If Ryan wished, he could even fire magic instantly from any point of his body, his fingertips, his pores, striking by surprise and heavily injuring an enemy.

  As the Senior Mage level fully stabilized, his core secret art, Chaosforge Arcana, broke through its shackles as well, shattering the bottleneck that had bound him for so long.

  A series of crisp spatial fracturing sounds echoed through the room. The void before Ryan cracked apart inch by inch like a glass mirror, finally opening into a small, vortex-shaped rift.

  Beyond the rift churned endless chaotic arcane energy. The violent aura of raw world essence caused all ambient magic within the room to tremble.

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  The next second, the chaotic arcane energy within the rift seemed to be drawn by something. It gathered into a stream of pure power and slowly flowed toward Ryan's brow.

  Ryan dared not delay. He immediately activated Chaosforge Arcana, guiding the source energy into his body with all his strength.

  When the chaotic arcane energy touched his spiritual sea, he felt his bones emit deep, muffled pops, and his physical strength surged at a speed visible to the naked eye.

  The power in his arms swelled wildly, a sign of the fusion between the Chaos Overlord Physique's magic and physical strength.

  His Chaos Overlord Physique was now fully awakened. All that remained was for him to advance to High Mage.

  Once he pushed Chaosforge Arcana to the third layer, he would undergo a true metamorphosis, and the complete Chaos Overlord Physique would finally take shape.

  At that point, unless he encountered an Archmage, he was confident he could rely on the sheer toughness of the Chaos Overlord Physique, combined with the numerous secret arts inherited from his previous lives, to be unrivaled among all mages of the same major tier.

  All of this was within his expectations. After all, in his eighth life, he had walked the same magical path.

  If he could not achieve at least this much in this life, he would truly be a worthless failure.

  As the magic aura around Ryan continued to rise, the surrounding chaotic arcane energy nearly lost control, threatening to erupt violently from his body.

  Fortunately, the magic shielding barrier created by the Grimoire activated in time, swallowing the excess energy the moment it leaked out, preventing any trace from escaping to the outside world.

  At that moment, an unexpected change occurred. The sight before him made Ryan's pupils contract sharply as a powerful sense of danger surged through him. He immediately halted the circulation of Chaosforge Arcana in shock.

  "What is that!" Ryan stared into the depths of the chaotic void rift. Within it floated a blurry mass of light wrapped in dark-gold patterns. He gasped in disbelief and instantly severed the magic circuit of his secret art.

  The shattered rift before him began rapidly repairing itself the moment Chaosforge Arcana stopped.

  But before Ryan could feel relieved, another hair-raising sound of spatial cracking erupted, freezing him in place. He instinctively prepared to activate the Grimoire's emergency spatial teleportation to escape.

  A second sharp crack split the air,A chill crawled up Ryan's spine. He staggered backward in panic and slammed hard against the wall.

  A third crisp fracture rang out.

  The newly repaired void shattered once again.

  A strange object wrapped in dense chaotic energy shot toward Ryan's brow at a speed faster than sound, so fast he had no time to summon even a shred of magical defense.

  A tremendous impact slammed into his skull, snapping his head backward as if struck by an enchanted armor-piercing bolt.

  His legs buckled, and he crashed heavily to the floor, losing consciousness before he could even scream.

  ……

  At noon, sunlight filtered through the frost-patterned windows, falling across Ryan's pale face.

  Ryan groaned, clutching his throbbing forehead, and struggled to stand. Just as he tried to call out to the Grimoire, its shrill scream exploded inside his mind.

  【You hit the jackpot. You just won a colossal stroke of luck】

  "Shut up!" Ryan snapped. His head was still pounding from the impact of fainting, and the Grimoire's screech made his vision swim all over again.

  When the roaring inside his mind finally subsided a little, Ryan let out a shaky breath. Rubbing his swollen forehead, he asked the Grimoire,

  "What jackpot? Did you secretly use my Origin Value to draw some lottery? Did we win a grand prize of ten billion Origin Value?"

  【Although this reward cannot compare to ten billion Origin Value, its value for your magical path far surpasses that amount. Check your panel and you will understand】

  The Grimoire's tone was filled with excitement.

  Still full of suspicion, Ryan willed his attribute panel to appear.

  【Name: Ryan】

  【Magic Rank: First tier Senior Mage】

  【Mastered Spell: Chaosforge Arcana,…】

  【Arcane Arts: Magic Sword Domain Inheritance, Arcane Enchantment】

  【Held Items: Stellar Sword, Card of Supreme Luck, Soulweaver's Pendant, Random Magic Weapon Borrowing Card…】

  【Origin Value: 4657523】

  Ryan scanned each line carefully. Only when the Grimoire roared inside his mind did he finally notice the Arcane Enchantment.

  His head had been too foggy earlier, causing him to overlook such a crucial detail.

  "That came from the thing that shot into my forehead? And it is an Arcane Arts?"

  Ryan's pupils constricted as shock washed over his face.

  He had actually obtained an Arcane Arts for free?

  His luck was outright monstrous.

  Meanwhile, in a far distant place.

  "Where is my thing?"

  An elderly man clad in ancient mage robes, high level magic swirling around him, howled furiously into the endless chaotic void.

  His aged face twisted with rage.

  "I was one step away! Only one final step from fully integrating that Arcane Arts!"

  Just a moment ago, while he momentarily split his attention to fend off a chaotic current, the Arcane Arts he had spent ten thousand years searching for slipped away.

  By the time he reacted and searched again, it had already vanished without a trace.

  "Is becoming a god truly so difficult?" the old man muttered to himself, his fury mounting with every passing thought.

  Surging magic poured from his body, whipping the surrounding chaotic energies into a violent frenzy, yet it still failed to shake the formless void of chaos.

  So long as he obtained that thing as a catalyst, the God Ascension Altar he had forged with the labor of his entire life would finally be activated.

  "Ten thousand years of preparation, only missing this single catalyst. Just one step, only one step left!"

  His eyes were filled with blood as he descended into powerless fury.

  His roars echoed through the chaos, unable to travel far.

  His white hair whipped violently in the swirling currents.

  He rapidly wove one hand seal after another, releasing massive magic palm strikes filled with destructive energy.

  Each palm was several kilometers wide, capable of tearing open space.

  But when they landed upon the chaotic void, not even a ripple appeared.

  The old man's rage only intensified.

  His chest heaved violently, anger nearly burning away the last of his sanity.

  Suddenly, a hoarse, low roar reverberated from deep within the chaos.

  The sound carried a terrifying pressure unmistakably a provocation directed at him.

  The old man's expression changed instantly.

  All his fury vanished, replaced by raw fear.

  Without daring to hesitate, he poured all his power into tearing open a spatial passage and fled inside in a panic.

  Just as the passage was about to close, a sharp crack sounded.

  A new tear split open along the edge of the portal.

  A tentacle-like appendage, wrapped in black hellfire and shaped like a long whip, lashed out from within the rift.

  It struck the old man squarely across the back.

  He screamed in agony as he was flung forward, vomiting several mouthfuls of pitch black blood.

  His aura weakened drastically in an instant.