After Krian left, Black Attendant remained on guard outside Persily’s room. When Ye Chui’s enormous steel fist smashed down onto Krian, Black Attendant felt the faint tremor through the ground. A smile appeared on his aged face. He was certain this was the heavy blow Krian had dealt Ye Chui.
Excellent. Let Ye Chui die at Krian’s hands.
As a Phase Attendant of the Magic Association, he had long seen the hidden danger Ye Chui represented. Someone like that had to be eliminated before he fully rose to power. The current Ye Chui was already strong enough; they had to find a way to kill him now. Unfortunately, Persily was still too young and failed to recognise the importance of this. Just as the faint smile formed on his lips, the door suddenly opened. Persily stepped out, her expression grave.
Seeing her now, Black Attendant froze. Persily had applied the most fashionable make-up available in the imperial capital. Pale blue gemstone hair ornaments adorned her head, and she wore an expensive yet understated short dress. She no longer looked like the aloof Phase King Archmage; instead, she had become a pretty, adorable girl-next-door whose refreshing aura hit you the moment you saw her.
Black Attendant had practically raised Persily and seen many sides of her personality; he understood her better than anyone. Yet this was the first time he had ever seen her display the youthful beauty that belonged only to a young girl.
“Persily, you…” He instinctively assumed she had dressed up because Krian was coming, but then remembered that when she bought all those clothes earlier, she had no idea Krian would arrive. This beauty was for another man. That man… was Ye Chui?
“What is going on?” Persily had clearly felt the tremor too. She glanced around. “Where is Krian?”
“He went to kill Ye Chui,” Black Attendant replied calmly.
Persily’s face instantly filled with alarm. “This is bad!” She hurried towards the door.
Black Attendant felt helpless at her urgency. He followed while saying, “Young lady, Ye Chui’s existence will have a profound impact on the Magic Association and on your future position within it. You are a lofty Phase King. You and he can never be together. Just let it go. Let Krian eliminate that fellow. Afterwards you will also have something to tell the Association council.”
Persily, already at the door, turned back with a look of surprise. “Who said anything about being together with Ye Chui? And you have misunderstood one thing…”
Black Attendant was taken aback.
Then he heard Persily say, “I am not going to save Ye Chui. I am going to save that idiot Krian!”
“…”
…
The gigantic steel arm had been lifted away. Ye Chui flexed his wrist, and the weapons clattered to the ground in a great racket. Through his grimoire he sensed that Krian was still alive, so he walked curiously to the edge of the crater created by the arm.
At the bottom lay a wretched-looking Krian. Gone was any trace of his earlier arrogance that suggested he could single-handedly destroy the entire Random Name Magic Association. Yet fury still blazed on his face. One leg appeared broken. He propped himself up with his arms, trying to stand. When he saw Ye Chui above, he roared in rage, “You actually dared to strike me… My father is the Bell-Ringing Phase King Archmage! You dared to strike me…”
“Shall I call your father over to vent your anger for you?” Ye Chui mocked coldly. He utterly despised people who constantly brought up their family.
Krian saw nothing wrong with relying on his father. But his father was not here now; he could only depend on himself. Glaring at Ye Chui with hatred, he made a difficult decision. His right hand slowly drew a small black jade tablet from his robes.
A magical aura emanated from the tablet. An intricate magic array was carved upon it, glowing faintly.
Ye Chui’s brow furrowed. He sensed an extremely powerful presence from the tablet. It was not violent, yet it made his nerves tense instinctively. The aura felt similar to Persily’s, but far colder and more terrifying. Ye Chui recognised it almost instantly. This was something from a Phase King Archmage.
This jade tablet was the trump card given to Krian by his Phase King father!
Ye Chui’s power and influence were now far greater than a few months ago. He had the confidence and courage to challenge Phase King Archmages and the Church, but he would never underestimate the strength they wielded. The instant he felt the tablet’s aura, Ye Chui acted. He waved his right hand. Scattered longswords and greatswords around him trembled and rose into the air. At his will, they shot downwards in rapid succession, bang bang bang, filling the crater with a dense forest of blades until the bottom could barely be seen.
Yet Ye Chui’s frown deepened. Krian was not dead. His grimoire could still detect Krian’s life signs.
Just as he prepared his next attack, something changed. Streaks of lightning burst from the sword-filled crater. The bolts linked together into a dense net of electricity. The lightning formed a terrifying giant hand that reached for Ye Chui.
Ye Chui dissolved into bats and fled backwards. When he reformed, he saw the enormous blue lightning arm climb out of the crater. Its shape shifted and finally became humanoid.
A humanoid figure made of lightning.
Krian’s features could faintly be seen within.
“My father gave me a forbidden magic array tablet, 【Spring Warmth in Midwinter】. This array can briefly elevate my power… allowing me to step instantly into a higher realm. Right now, I am a Holy Archmage!” Krian’s voice, now incredibly hoarse, shouted.
Holy Archmage!
This was the great realm above ordinary archmage!
…
Archmages and swordsmen were the two mainstream cultivation paths in this world, and they shared many similarities.
The swordsman realms were: Swordsman, Swordmaster, and Swordsaint.
Because of the immense restrictions imposed by grimoire attributes, tiers, and comprehension, most people believed archmages had only one major realm. Only a few knew that breaking through the archmage realm led to becoming a Holy Archmage.
Even fewer could explain what the Holy Archmage realm truly entailed.
In truth, the archmage path corresponded directly to the swordsman path, also divided into three realms: Magic Scholar, Archmage, and Holy Archmage.
The Magic Scholar realm, however, was considered useless by most.
Magic Scholars were ordinary people who studied magical theory and fundamentals.
Talented children were taught magical principles and combat techniques from a young age. Before awakening their grimoire at sixteen, such individuals were called Magic Scholars, pure academic mages. Whether a Magic Scholar would successfully awaken a grimoire, however, was always uncertain.
Thousands of years ago, the continent had been dotted with Magic Scholar academies dedicated to teaching aspiring archmages advanced magical theory. Over time, because the probability of awakening was so low, countless people wasted years studying theory only for all their hopes to shatter on naming day at sixteen. All that foundational knowledge became useless.
Some academies went years without producing a single awakened archmage. Moreover, Magic Scholars possessed only theoretical knowledge and virtually no combat ability, making the path seem pointless. Many chose the more reliable swordsman route from childhood instead.
If they awakened at sixteen, they could simply relearn magic afterwards.
Under these circumstances, Magic Scholar academies gradually vanished from history, eventually evolving into the current Towers of Magic Books.
Without early exposure to profound theory and without sensing magical power and elemental forms from childhood, even awakened archmages rarely achieved high attainment later. Training as a swordsman also greatly affected internal magical power, so even if someone awakened afterwards, their strength as an archmage was pitiful.
Breaking through to the even stronger Holy Archmage realm became almost impossible.
The very term “Magic Scholar” had been nearly forgotten. Only a few noble families, royal houses, and the Magic Association still preserved the tradition of teaching magical knowledge before awakening, though they no longer used the title. In the Magic Association, they were called Magic Children. Persily had been raised as one such Magic Child to inherit a Phase King grimoire.
In short, for archmages: Magic Scholar corresponded to Swordsman, Archmage to Swordmaster, and Holy Archmage to Swordsaint.
For those choosing these paths, the swordsman route offered greater strength in the early stages. But once a Magic Scholar awakened as an archmage, they instantly gained power that crushed swordsmen and rivalled swordmasters. (Of course, with the disappearance of the Magic Scholar stage and its academies, most people now had no access to advanced theory before awakening, resulting in a situation where newly awakened archmages were on par with swordsmen of similar experience.)
In truth, thanks to his unique grimoire, Ye Chui had gained the ability to fight high-level archmages shortly after awakening. Apart from the grimoire’s special nature, his performance was not much stronger than archmages from thousands of years ago. His “magical principles” came from the television, films, anime, and games of his previous life.
Ye Chui had witnessed the terrifying power of a Swordsaint in the Sword Burial Ground. That realm allowed one to comprehend the rules of heaven and earth. Gordo there had touched the edge of the Swordsaint realm, becoming a half-step Swordsaint whose strength far surpassed Ye Chui at the time. Gordo had also told Ye Chui that on the Castro continent, the Swordsaint realm was suppressed by the Church; no one could achieve it here.
Yet the Holy Archmage realm faced no such restriction on the Castro continent.
…
Krian had now become a Holy Archmage.
His body had nearly transformed into pure lightning. This was the rule of lightning; he had fused completely with it.
In the instant Ye Chui registered his shock, Krian moved. He appeared before Ye Chui like a thunderbolt. Ye Chui dissolved into bats to evade, but several were still struck by lightning and turned to blood. The remaining bats coalesced back into Ye Chui mid-air. He swung his arm, summoning countless flying swords that soared upward and shot towards Krian.
Yet Krian made no attempt to defend. The swords passed straight through his body. Physical attacks were useless. He was now intangible lightning incarnate, possessing all the properties of electricity. How could a sword cut lightning?
“Forcing me to break through prematurely will leave enormous after-effects. Perhaps I will never reach the Holy Archmage realm again in this lifetime. Ye Chui, you made me use this trump card. Now you will bear the consequences. You have awakened the fury of thunder. I will toy with you slowly until you die!”
A hoarse, terrifying roar emerged from the crackling lightning, the sound itself like a heaven-splitting thunderclap. Krian charged at Ye Chui, his body a bolt of lightning that tore across the sky.
