Chapter 1097: Sky Rank
Using mana to control the last flask filled with transparent solution, Leon slowly poured the fusion liquid toward that single drop of Beast God's Blood.
The fusion formed a thin, clear thread, drizzling onto the Beast God's Blood.
In an instant, wisps of blood mist dispersed. The drop of Beast God's Blood suspended in the stone vial gradually shrank. The transparent solution, upon entering the vial, transformed into a pale golden viscous liquid.
Once all the transparent solution had been poured out, the Beast God's Blood had completely vanished, leaving only some amber-tinted pale golden liquid in the stone vial.
Sensing these fluctuations, it was as if sudden insights into the rules of the world emerged, yet the rules themselves remained hazy, shrouded in a faint mist, tempting one to tear through the veil.
And the best way to tear through that mist, naturally, was to swallow this vial of pale golden potion.
Leon eyed the potion with a hint of apprehension. Even he, upon feeling those fluctuations, was tempted to swallow the potion immediately.
No wonder this potion is called the *Golden Temptation Potion*...
The power of rules—for a mage, it's the greatest temptation, more terrifying than any other lure in the world...
He opened his mouth and spat out a rune, imprinting it onto the stone vial and completely sealing the waves of energy emanating from within.
After successfully refining this Golden Temptation Potion, Leon didn't leave right away. Instead, he began to carefully reflect on the process just completed.
The process seemed simple, but aside from a creator skilled in alchemical potions, no one else could possibly assemble it.
The amount of alchemical knowledge and technique involved was enough to drive a grandmaster to despair. (In this world, 'sprites' are elemental spirits that embody magical forces, often seen in advanced alchemical reactions.)
It required not only expertise in alchemy, but also a deep understanding of runes, precise control over materials and operations, and even knowledge of magical artifact alchemy and alchemical arrays...
If this method were made public, there wouldn't be many alchemists who could pull it off. Most would despair at the complexity.
Taking the stone vial, Leon left the alchemy laboratory in a hurry, departing the demi-plane.
He'd encountered two orc powerhouses who had broken through to Sky Rank in succession, and neither belonged to the strongest tribes among the eight orc clans of the Blazeforge Realm. (In this world, Ninth-Rank Title Archmages are the highest level of human mages, just one step away from Sky Rank—a transformative magical rank.) If the lesser tribes had Sky Rank breakthroughs, there was no way the stronger ones hadn't produced their own...
How did these damned orcs manage to get so many Pseudo Sky Rank Beast mana crystals in such a short time? (These crystals are rare magical cores from high-level magical beasts and are used to fuel powerful spells and alchemical rituals.) That's the real question.
Although the number of Pseudo Sky Rank Beasts in the Blazeforge Battlefield is huge—almost every few dozen kilometers, there's bound to be one.
But there isn't just one orc tribe here. Besides several orc tribes, there are also ten human factions.
With so many people hunting Pseudo Sky Rank Beasts, gathering a hundred Pseudo Sky Rank Beast mana crystals means killing a hundred such beasts...
Leon is definitely the fastest hunter here. So far, he's only obtained fifty Pseudo Sky Rank Beast mana crystals.
These mana crystals come from both the mage corps' hunts and those handed over by Morgan. The actual number of beasts slain is just over forty.
In the whole Blazeforge Battlefield, there's no other faction that's hunted more Pseudo Sky Rank Beasts than him. So how did they get their mana crystals?
Leon had considered this issue before but couldn't figure it out. He had a hunch, though—by now, at least three or four orcs must have broken through to Sky Rank...
It’s even more likely that seven or eight orcs have already broken through to Sky Rank...
Thinking of that number sent a chill down Leon’s spine. Seven or eight Sky Rank orcs wielding transcendent power—any human faction that encounters them would be crushed to death...
Leon nodded and handed the *Golden Temptation Potion* to Rafael.
Rafael's face was full of excitement, and his voice trembled as he spoke—his emotions barely contained.
"Archmage Merlin, you're out! Did you succeed?"
Morgan waved his hand, feigning generosity.
"No problem, Lord Rafael. Just take the potion—don't keep us waiting."
"Archmage Merlin, how did it go? Was everything smooth?"
Leon nodded.
"It was successful enough. I’ve concocted a potion that humans can take—the effect is similar to orcs directly fusing with Beast God's Blood, but it only completes the final step of transformation. It doesn’t enhance bloodline power..."
Before either of them could speak, Leon had already decided the fate of the Golden Temptation Potion.
"Morgan, you understand the situation. Both you and Lord Rafael are peak Ninth-Rank Title Archmages, just one step away from Sky Rank. Whoever takes this potion will break through to Sky Rank.
We need to unite. Only by surviving the coming crisis together can we hope to protect ourselves. Survival comes first.
Lord Rafael is an expert in alchemical arrays. Once he breaks through to Sky Rank, with the power of those arrays, any one of us who encounters a Sky Rank orc can rely on him to help us escape.
Even if we run into two Sky Rank orcs, he can still get us out safely..."
Leon had carefully considered it before deciding to let Rafael take the Golden Temptation Potion first. It had already been agreed that Leon would decide who got the potion.
But before Leon could finish, Morgan waved his hand nonchalantly.
"It's fine. Let Lord Rafael take it first. Once we've collected enough mana crystals, we can exchange for more Beast God's Blood. The number of Pseudo Sky Rank Beasts showing up outside has increased, and in some places, after a hunt, another one pops up soon after.
Our speed of collecting mana crystals will improve, and on the human side, there are more powerhouses just one step away from Sky Rank than among the orcs.
Those damned orcs—even if they have enough Beast God's Blood, there can't be more than ten who can fuse and break through to Sky Rank.
We have quite the advantage. At this rate, in less than a month, I’ll have the Henry Family collect a hundred mana crystals..."
Leon nodded and handed the Golden Temptation Potion to Rafael.
Rafael's face was full of excitement, his voice trembling as he spoke.
"Archmage Merlin, you and Lord Morgan put up a lot of mana crystals for this. I’ll pay you back as soon as possible, with a fifth as interest."
Morgan waved his hand, pretending to be generous.
"No problem, Lord Rafael. Just take the potion quickly."
The wind elements formed countless pale cyan, translucent sprites—a swarm of tiny elemental spirits circled Rafael, singing hymns of praise.
Rafael’s body slowly floated upward, countless runes infused with the aura of rules swirling around him. Each rune pulsed with unique power.
Especially as those runes spun, every slight shift revealed a completely different rune. They seemed three-dimensional, yet when you looked, it was impossible to tell they were three-dimensional at all.
Leon’s gaze was fixed on those runes.
Rule runes—the advanced form of runes!
Each rule rune contained the power and transformation of at least ten ordinary runes. This is something only Sky Rank powerhouses can begin to master.
Runes fused into rule runes—when two runes merge, multiple new variations arise. Each added rune multiplies the changes exponentially; the more runes, the greater the difficulty.
Sky Rank powerhouses possess unique defensive techniques—fusion shields, mana shields, elemental shields, and rune shields can all merge into one. The strongest of these is the rule rune shield.
You must comprehend at least a hundred rule runes to support a rule rune shield.
A newly ascended First-Rank Sky Rank powerhouse is worlds apart from a Second-Rank Sky Rank mage—all because of the rule rune shield.
Seeing those rule runes, Leon realized they were fragments of rules from the Beast God's Blood—the most crucial factor in completing the final transformation.
These fragments of rules allow mages to quickly grasp Sky Rank power, rapidly master transcendent strength, and complete the final transformation with ease.
To master transcendent power is to become a Sky Rank powerhouse!
Rafael was enveloped in a dense array of rule runes, his aura growing ever stronger as transcendent power slowly spread outward.
Soon, after those rule runes fused into Rafael's body, a blurry demi-plane phantom suddenly appeared behind him.
Those rule runes began merging into the phantom of the demi-plane, which rapidly became clearer.
It was like using Sky Rank power to directly open up a demi-plane—far faster than slowly mastering transcendent power and gradually carving out a demi-plane.
Suddenly, seven-colored light appeared in the sky, and a golden pillar of light shot up from Rafael, merging with the rainbow glow above.
At last, the rainbow glow faded, leaving only a single cyan light.
In an instant, all elements except wind were repelled from Rafael’s surroundings. Endless wind elements seemed to rejoice, gathering around him.
The wind elements formed countless pale cyan, translucent sprites—a swarm of tiny spirits circled Rafael, singing hymns of praise.
For a moment, Rafael seemed to become the center of the world.
Transcendent power surged, trying to spread outward, when suddenly a powerful pressure appeared around Rafael.
It was as if the whole world pressed down on Rafael, forcing the scattered transcendent power back into his body.
The strange phenomenon in the sky seemed to be wiped away in an instant by a pair of invisible hands.
The cyan sprites vanished, and Rafael slowly drifted down from midair, eyes closed...