Chapter 64 - 63: Training On Both Sides

Chapter 64: Chapter 63: Training On Both Sides

When the silver chimes of the Academy clock tower tolled midnight across Starlight Hill, Aegon opened his eyes inside the quiet Refining Room of the East Wing.

?All afternoon and evening, he had rested in deep meditation, allowing his exhausted spiritual sea to fully recover from scanning the 10,000 spatial nodes earlier that day.

?[ Soul Power: 22 / 22 (Nascent) ]

?Sitting cross-legged on the obsidian mat, Aegon reached into his coat pocket and took out five glowing High-Grade Mana Crystals from the batch he had won during the entrance exam, arranging them in a pentagon on the floor in front of him.

?Reconstructing a Third-Tier pill out of thin air had consumed 20 points of Soul Power. To materialize a Mythic-Era spatial artifact containing an independent pocket dimension, his 22 points might not be enough.

But, by using 10 High-Grade Mana Crystals as a physical energy catalyst, he could bridge the gap without risking a backlash.

?Summoning ATUM into his left hand and the Quill of Finality into his right, Aegon activated the [ Ring of the Focused Mind ].

?Instantly, the three-dimensional blueprint of the Dimensional Sage’s masterpiece unfolded across his mind’s eye.

?Dip.

?Pressing the golden nib of the quill against a fresh black page, Aegon began to draw.

?His hand moved like a phantom blur. One hundred spatial nodes, one thousand nodes, five thousand nodes, ten thousand nodes! Every gravity rune, spirit-gathering circuit, and phantom-projection array was inscribed onto the pitch-black parchment with microscopic perfection, completely free of the cracks and flaws left behind by the Calamity War five hundred years ago.

?Write the final law: Using the 10 High-Grade Mana Crystals as a vessel, forge the uncorrupted God’s Ring at one hundred percent Mythic-Era efficacy!

?BOOM!

?The moment the final rune was completed, the 10 High-Grade Mana Crystals on the floor shattered simultaneously into pure, blinding silver stardust!

?At the same time, all twenty-two points of Aegon’s Soul Power drained to zero in a single heartbeat.

Because of that, a wave of intense dizziness washed over his mind.

While the black pages of ATUM roared with a brilliant silver-violet spatial tempest that twisted the very light inside the room.

?Ding!

?[ Generation Complete! ]

?[ Item Generated: The God’s Ring (Flawless Mythic-Era Spatial Artifact) x1 ]

?[ Bound Owner: Aegon Noiré Delacroix ]

?[ Functions Unlocked: ]

[ 1. Gravity Domain (Adjustable: 1x to 50x Gravity) ]

[ 2. Spirit-Mist Sanctuary (300% Mana Cultivation Speed) ]

[ 3. Hall of Phantom Blades (Immortal Combat Simulation) ]

?The silver vortex collapsed inward, and a breathtaking ring of seamless star-platinum dropped quietly into Aegon’s palm.

?Set into the center of the band was a flawless, uncut diamond-shaped dimensional gem that looked as though it held a miniature swirling galaxy inside its depths.

When Aegon slipped the ring onto his right index finger, the platinum band resized itself automatically, turning completely invisible against his skin so that no outsider could ever detect its presence.

?"Let’s see what the Dimensional Sage left behind," Aegon murmured, channeling a wisp of consciousness into the invisible ring.

?Buzz!

?The Refining Room around him vanished in a flash of silver light.

?When Aegon’s boots touched solid ground a split second later, he found himself standing atop a vast, circular colosseum of white jade floating in the middle of an endless starry void.

?The air inside the pocket dimension was so thick with condensed world energy that it formed a knee-deep layer of luminous silver mist across the jade floor.

Every breath Aegon took sent a cool, refreshing current straight into his mana core, far surpassing the public meditation chambers of the Arcane Training Tower.

?At the center of the white jade colosseum stood three towering crystalline monoliths.

?Aegon walked up to the first monolith, which was engraved with ancient runes of weight and pressure.

With a single mental command, he adjusted the setting to 10x Gravity.

?Thud!

?Instantly, an invisible mountain pressed down on his shoulders, multiplying his body weight tenfold.

But, thanks to his 62 Strength and 65 Vitality from the Dragon-Marrow Pill, Aegon’s knees didn’t even bend as his muscles hummed under the heavy load.

?Next, he looked at the third monolith: the Hall of Phantom Blades.

?Stepping onto the central dueling circle, Aegon tapped the monolith and selected a combat projection: [ Peak Second-Circle Imperial Swordmaster ].

?Whoosh!

?The silver mist ten paces in front of him swirled violently, condensing into a tall, armored knight wielding a gleaming broadsword.

Although the figure had no face, the razor-sharp sword intent radiating from its blade was indistinguishable from a real veteran killer on the battlefield.

?"In here, even if my head is cut off, my real body won’t suffer a single scratch," Aegon said, a cold, fierce smile curving his lips as he drew the Flame Sword from his waist.

"Come on."

?With the flawless God’s Ring in his possession, Aegon entered a relentless cycle of training.

?By day, he attended Instructor Bella’s S-Class lectures alongside Aria, calmly absorbing every theoretical spell structure and runic treatise the Imperial Academy had to offer.

Whenever afternoon classes ended, while the other freshmen fought over slots in the crowded Arcane Training Tower, Aegon returned quietly to the East Wing of the Prime Villa.

?Every midnight, as soon as his Soul Power replenished, he used ATUM to duplicate another batch of High-Grade Mana Crystals or refine another Flawless Dragon-Marrow Pill until his physical body reached the absolute saturation point for that specific medicine.

?Then, for six straight hours every night, he stepped into the God’s Ring.

?Under 15x times, 20x times, and eventually 30x times normal gravity, Aegon fought life-and-death duels against phantom projections of Second-Circle and Third-Circle masters.

Dozens of times, the phantom blades pierced his chest or severed his throat inside the simulation, and dozens of times, Aegon reformed on the white jade floor a second later, immediately correcting the microscopic flaws in his footwork and parries.

At one point, he developed the [ Scorching Sun Sword Art ], a destructive sword style he created himself.

The sword art advanced at a inhuman pace, while his mana core drank greedily from the endless silver spirit mist and the duplicated High-Grade Mana Crystals.

?Meanwhile, as Aegon grew stronger in the quiet sanctuary of Starlight Hill, another figure was descending into madness in the dark underbelly of the capital.

?Three miles north of the Academy, beneath the rotting mausoleums of the Forsaken Royal Graveyard, lay a labyrinth of sealed underground catacombs where thousands of plague victims and executed war criminals had been buried centuries ago.

?Down in the deepest ossuary chamber, surrounded by mountains of blackened skulls, Veera sat shirtless in the center of a bubbling pool of foul, tar-like black liquid.

?"Aaargh!"