Wizard: I Can Refine Everything

Chapter 105: Chapter 5: Promotion to Wizard

The place for becoming a Wizard was an enclosed room, with neither windows nor doors, accessible only through teleportation.

The room wasn’t large, approximately twenty square meters, and seemed to be made of wood, as if directly carved out of the trunk of the World Tree.

The walls and floor of the room were covered in many patterns, and these patterns converged to form a complex design that was somewhat dizzying at first glance. Paired with the scattered runes amongst the design, the whole room resembled a three-dimensional Magic Array.

In the center of the room was a Crystal Ball. After using Spiritual Detection on it, Richard received a message.

It was the instructions for using the room.

“Rotate the Crystal Ball clockwise once and then meditate,” Richard glanced at the Crystal Ball, “Becoming a Wizard is that simple?”

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Having said that, Richard followed the instructions and rotated the Crystal Ball once.

Then, a faint ripple of Magic Power permeated Richard’s perception.

With the input of magic, the patterns in the room began to light up, and a surging life aura filled the entire room. In addition, an inexplicable fragrance seeped from the walls, instilling tranquility in anyone who smelled it.

“Incense?” Richard muttered to himself.

At the same time, Richard felt an extremely profound sensation.

He felt as though he had returned to his infancy, back into the arms of his mother, secure and comfortable.

Without any hesitation, Richard immediately began to meditate.

In the comforting and peaceful atmosphere, Richard quickly entered into a Meditation State.

But unlike ordinary Meditation States, this time Richard didn’t enter the Sea of Souls, but rather arrived in a void space.

In this space, the only light came from a distant, somewhat dim glowing orb.

Upon seeing this sphere, Richard instantly recognized what it was.

“Wizard World Origin… so this is what it looks like?”

Instinctively, Richard drew closer to the Wizard World Origin, much like an infant draws near their mother.

The Wizard World Origin seemed to sense his presence, this child, and thus a warm beam of light shot from the Origin, leisurely entering his forehead.

In an instant, Richard felt a gentle energy enter the depths of his soul, unlocking an invisible shackle.

After unlocking the shackle, that energy left a mark in the very depths of Richard’s soul.

It was a mark left by the Wizard World, signifying that Richard was recognized by the Wizard World.

After leaving the mark, Richard’s consciousness briefly blurred. It felt as if he had been diving and was suddenly pulled out from the water.

When he regained his senses, Richard found himself in a space devoid of any light.

At the same time, the walls of the room began to seep drops of resin-like viscous liquid, which flowed along the magical array’s patterns and eventually converged upon Richard, enveloping him as if he were encased in amber.

In the distant past, the two biggest challenges faced by Wizard Apprentices during their promotion were the Soul Darkness during the increase of spiritual power, and how to survive the physical exhaustion during the promotion process.

The transformation of a Wizard Apprentice into a Wizard required a long time, often measured in years. During this period, the Wizard Apprentice would remain in a vegetative state.

At this time, the Wizard Apprentice needed a plan that could protect them and also provide nutrition for their body.

And this amber was the solution prepared by the Tower of Truth.

Resin rich in Life Energy from the World Tree, blended with various ingredients, ensured that even if a Wizard Apprentice slept for a hundred years, they would still spring to life energetic as ever.

…

In the darkness, Richard gradually understood what Jolod meant by perseverance.

In this pitch-black space, with no points of reference and devoid of any sensation, Richard had no way to determine how long he had stayed there.

He also lacked any tools to pass the time.

It was outright torture.

In this space, the utterly bored Richard began recalling his memories, from his past life to his current existence, from experiences in his previous life to travels and tales in this life.

These memories became the only support preventing Richard from going mad.

He couldn’t sleep, for in this space Richard never felt fatigue, his mind always lucid, completely free of the need for sleep.

If he chose to force himself to sleep, it would spell his demise.

Once, twice, three times…

His memories, initially vague, gradually became clearer, until they played out before his eyes like a movie.

Over time, Richard could even recite each frame of this film from memory.

Boredom, tedium, then anger, madness, and finally, everything settled into tranquility.

After Richard had revisited his memories countless times, the darkness before him suddenly shattered.

The magnificent scenery of the Sea of Souls unfolded before Richard’s eyes.

The Soul Darkness had ended.

The magnificent starry sky awakened Richard’s numb heart, and in that moment, tears streamed down his face, his mouth open, yet unable to emit any sound.

He had even forgotten how to speak.

After a long while, Richard finally roused his instincts, murmuring to himself:

“Is it over?”

He could feel his body in the Sea of Souls constantly changing. To put it inappropriately, during his Apprentice days, Richard’s body in the Sea of Souls was like a plankton. But now, Richard had finally evolved from plankton to a small shrimp.

When his soul completed the transformation, Richard felt his body suddenly sink, as if falling into water, and the scenery before him changed as well.

It seemed he had come to a deep sea, surrounded by countless floating lights, and he himself was one of them.

Looking upward, the starry sky was still the same starry sky, but it had become somewhat distant from him.

“So I was just on the surface of the Sea of Souls before? Only now have I truly entered the Deep Sea of Souls,” Richard realized in sudden enlightenment.

Entering the Sea of Souls for the first time, Richard felt an incredible novelty all around.

The waters of the Sea of Souls continuously nourished Richard’s soul. He could feel his spiritual power strengthen with each minute he spent in the sea.

This speed far surpassed his meditation speed during his Apprentice days.

Richard attempted to move his body, but now, being a light point, he had neither hands nor legs, and moving like a human was impossible. So, he tried to use his spiritual power as propulsion, moving his body forward like a squid by jetting water.

In the Sea of Souls, Richard’s application of spiritual power became more wildly imaginative.

His spiritual power was continuously compressed by Richard until it reached a limit.

Richard locked onto a target—an adjacent light point—and fiercely released the amassed spiritual power.

In the next instant, Richard’s distance to the target light point abruptly closed.

“I did it!” Richard exclaimed somewhat excitedly.

As he made contact with the light point, he finally saw what it was—a wizard’s name written in Wizard Language.

“Maggie… It seems these light points are imprints left in the Sea of Souls by wizards,” Richard speculated.

To verify this hypothesis, Richard continuously made contact with multiple light points.

The contents of each light point varied, but all were symbols of sorts, which matched Richard’s speculation.

Richard continued his exploration and soon encountered a different scene.

There were creatures in the Sea of Souls!

He observed a creature moving in the Sea of Souls,

which, in its appearance, resembled a constantly twisting light strip, like a water snake swimming through the Sea of Souls.

“Is it hunting souls?” Richard hid behind a giant light point and cautiously observed the creature.

His state was peculiar now; perhaps due to his advancement, he found himself unable to terminate his meditation, only able to wait for it to end on its own.

While Richard was observing, a light point suddenly disintegrated.

The light snake, as if spotting food, swiftly swam towards the disintegrating light point and integrated its fragments into its body.

“Is it feeding on disintegrating imprints?”

Imprints left in the Sea of Souls by wizards generally do not disintegrate. If they do, it indicates that the wizard’s life has come to an end.

Richard watched for a while and noticed that the light snake showed no interest in intact imprints, only in those that were disintegrating.

This provided Richard some relief.

After all, the vicinity was filled with imprints left by wizards in the Sea of Souls. If there were dangerous beings hunting souls, the Great Wizards, even Truth Wizards would have taken action long ago.

Nonetheless, he remained cautious, using light points as cover and swiftly leaving the area. @@novelbin@@

After exploring the Sea of Souls for a while, Richard saw many light points of varying sizes and colors.

He guessed that the size of these light points represented the amount of spiritual power, bigger meaning more, smaller meaning less; the color indicated the age of the soul, brighter being younger, dimmer being older.

Souls also have ages.

According to wizard research, a creature’s soul can exist for up to ten thousand years without reaching Level 4.

Once it surpasses ten thousand years, the structure of the soul undergoes irreversible collapse.

This marks the limit of wizards’ life span.

For wizards, creating a body is exceedingly simple. Cloning Magic can easily replicate the most authentic bodies of wizards.

But no one is capable of restoring a collapsed soul.

After some time, Richard suddenly felt a pulling force.

His entire body involuntarily soared towards the surface of the Sea of Souls.

“Is it time?” Richard guessed.

The advanced Meditation Method could only maintain an eight-hour meditation, and judging from when he had entered the Sea of Souls, it seemed time should have elapsed.

But as Richard reached the surface of the Sea of Souls, he unexpectedly noticed a ripple wave through the otherwise silent Sea of Souls.

A white light burst from the depths of the Sea of Souls, breaking into smaller, feebler fragments during its flight.

“Is there a creature battling in the Sea of Souls? Or has the World Master left means of resurrection in the Sea of Souls?”

Many speculations flashed through Richard’s mind, but before he could discern their meaning, he saw the white light coming towards him.

In an instant, his consciousness returned to his body, accompanied by the white light.

“Caw caw caw… I, Ulysses, the Master of Crows, have escaped! Abyss scum, you’ll never catch me in this lifetime… What the heck!”