Chapter 85: Advancement to 6th Ring
In the Extreme North, I am known as the Wasteland.
Richard waved his magic wand, engraving the final azure rune into the void.
With the completion of the rune system, a massive three-dimensional magic array suddenly shimmered into existence within the void.
Millions of runes were distributed over a ten-kilometer radius, making the space in this area more stable.
The promotion ceremony to the Sixth Circle is present in every school, each with its distinctive features.
As the final step in the evolution of non-civilized creatures, Sixth Level Creatures are also powerful in the Star Realm.
Creatures undergoing physique evolution, upon becoming Sixth Level Creatures, already have the ability to establish their own race. While those undergoing spiritual evolution, upon reaching this stage, can hardly be called any kind of creature; they are practically personifications of phenomena, embodiments of natural disasters.
Wizards were aware of this unique stage of Sixth Level Creatures long ago.
After the Wizard War ended, the leaders of the five schools conducted in-depth research on this level of ceremony.
Finally, they concluded that the process of advancing to a Sixth Level Creature is extremely unique, greatly affecting a creature's performance after reaching this stage.
This had never been seen in any previous promotions.
Simply put, advancing to the sixth level is akin to adding points.
The ceremony is equivalent to the point allocation plan.
If one attempts advancement purely based on intuition or unreliable information without thorough research, then the point allocation might as well be random.
But with adequate research, a creature can use the promotion ceremony to focus points on their desired aspects.
Richard, being a wizard of physique evolution, naturally chooses the Physique Crown ceremony for the promotion.
Though the Physique Crown ceremony is less refined compared to other schools' rituals, the emergence of previous civilization technologies compensates well for this shortcoming.
The promotion ceremony of the Shepherd Star Titan race filled in the missing parts of the Physique Crown ceremony.
It even improved the entire ritual significantly.
With the array setup complete, Richard began taking out the advancement items he needed from his pocket.
First was a piece of black flesh wrapped in a rune array, even with the sealing array, Richard could sense the manic vitality contained within this piece of flesh.
"The flesh of the Crawler, incorporating this into the ceremony materials, the dean is truly a genius."
The Crawler was a void wanderer captured by a wizard, appearing as a mass of pulsating black flesh with potent life energy, capable of devouring any nearby material.
The Physique Crown discovered it during the Fifth Circle, deeming it an excellent material.
Thus, using the power of the Alchemy Crown, it was sealed with the strength of a Five Rings Great Wizard.
Now, it is one of the material providers for the Physique School's promotion.
Suspending the Crawler's flesh mid-air, Richard continued taking out his advancement items.
The second item was a dragon claw.
This was unremarkably the front claw of a Five-headed Dragon King reared by the Physique Crown.
It is also a renewable resource.
Next, Richard retrieved a small whale sealed within a crystal ball.
Gazing at the crystal ball, Richard couldn't help but sigh, power is indeed wonderful.
With a rare creature like the Star Realm Whale, he didn't need to rely on luck and could directly requisition it from the council's warehouse.
As item after item was taken out, a pile of precious materials soon suspended around Richard.
These materials were either extremely rare, unattainable under normal circumstances, or monopolized by some wizard, and acquiring them depended entirely on their mood.
Without relying on the strong foundation of the Wizard Civilization, Richard might not have been able to gather these materials even after an epoch.
With the final advancement item taken out, Richard gave a casual wave, and the numerous items moved into their designated positions.
He flew into the air, to the very center of the three-dimensional magic array.
Like a power furnace, he energized the entire three-dimensional magic array.
Turbulent strength surged from within Richard, flowing through the energy conduits engraved in the space, instantaneously infusing the whole magic array.
Unlike spiritual evolution, advancing to the Sixth Circle through physique evolution requires little external energy and thus does not need the Earth Veins' functioning.
As energy filled the entire array, the massive magic array, spanning twenty kilometers in diameter, began to rotate.
Richard stood at the center of the array, his spiritual power runes continuously dissolving, with immense energy surging from within him into the vast magic array.
Within moments, all spiritual power runes dissolved completely.
But this time, Richard did not reconstruct a new Rule Body.
A mass of golden light flew to his side, and looking at this Titan Blood resembling amber, Richard gulped it down in one swallow.
Though Shepherd Star Titans are a dual-line evolving race, they have significant research in physique evolution due to their innate talents.
And their bloodline is considered the most perfect among the three great civilizations.
Richard had long abandoned his past fears of bloodline transformation; in this era, it's either progress or death.
As the Titan Blood merged, the Power of the Abyss within Richard suddenly began to operate autonomously.
Under the influence of the Power of the Abyss, the Titan Blood started to proliferate, turning into clusters of life information that began invading every cell of Richard.
A grand transformation at the cellular level was underway.
"Indeed, it was the Titans who forged the Abyss."
Feeling the changes across his tens of trillions of cells, Richard once again marveled at the strength of the previous civilization.
Their creations could birth civilizations.
It can be imagined, if the Supreme hadn't died so mysteriously, perhaps the Giant Dragons could have become a civilization like the Abyss.
With the invasion of the Titan life information, Richard's Life Core began to change.
Containing the entire Abyss Evolution Tree, the Life Core became as docile as a sheep after the Titan life information entered.
Under the effect of the Titan life information, the Life Core directly crumbled, transforming into starry fragments of life information, which then integrated with and attached to the Titan life information.
Soon, a Life Core based on Titan life information was born.
At this moment, the massive Promotion Magic Array seemed to receive some kind of signal and began to operate frantically.
Boom!
The massive energy reaction of the Magic Array was bound to cause changes in the celestial phenomena.
At this moment, thick clouds had gathered above the Array, with lightning moving like a herd of snakes through the clouds, yet they remained suspended without falling.
Richard chose to ascend in the Wizard World for a reason; as the Blessed of the Wizard World, he would be protected by it.
He could vaguely feel that the Civilization Devourer was definitely watching him at this moment.
Boom!
In the depths of the Endless Dimension, Richard's image was reflected in the Thousand Eyes of the Civilization Devourer.
Its tentacles constantly manipulated the Threads of Destiny, countless threads trembling under its weaving, all combining to form a massive tremor strong enough to shake the dominion of fate.
Buzz!
The vibrations of the Threads of Destiny spread like waves across the Net of Destiny.
All the Dominators searching for the Civilization Devourer perceived this fluctuation at this moment.
"That thing is shaking the Threads of Destiny again!" said a creature resembling a Scarecrow.
By its side, the black-robed Curse Crown suddenly looked at his right hand.
"Strange, why did Richard's Thread Of Destiny suddenly tremble? Could it be that his Thread Of Destiny is also being manipulated by that monster?
Or could it be..."
The Curse Crown's heart suddenly skipped a beat, a somewhat absurd thought flashed through his mind.
He shook his head, temporarily suppressing the thought in his heart.
He whispered to the Scarecrow Dominator beside him: "The more frenzied it becomes, the closer it is to death. I think that fated one is enhancing his strength again."
"Enhancing strength is good, with something like this around, no one can fight at ease."
Several straws flew from the body of the Scarecrow Dominator, and under the Power of Mystery, these straws wove into a complex grass knot.
A white paper was attached to the torso of the Scarecrow Dominator, on which a pitch-black eye was drawn.
The eye moved slightly at this moment, then spoke: "It has shown a flaw, Wizards, let's go."
...
Wizard World.
Richard's body had now expanded to a thousand meters.
The precious promotion items were currently being integrated into his body under the effect of the ritual Array.
As they completed merging, the once stable Life Core of Richard shattered again. Countless fragments of life information reorganized, while simultaneously, the shackles of Level 5 Creatures also broke at this moment.
Boom!
Intense energy vibrations emanated from Richard's body; without the Array, just these energy vibrations would be enough to shatter space.
The Fourth Level Rules that Richard had merged began to integrate into Richard's body and soul like the Abyss.
Upon reaching the Sixth Level, Rules were no longer tools but the instinct of life, a part of talent, and a part of the body!
The body of a Level 6 Creature would be a true Rule Body.
At this level, even if only a trace of a residual soul remained, given enough time, they could return to their peak!
The transformation of the flesh carried the transformation of the soul.
Accompanied by an illusory sound like an eggshell breaking, Richard felt his spirit suddenly leap to a mysterious level.
In this level, he saw countless lines.
These lines varied in length and thickness, intertwined in complex patterns, seemingly without any order.
But viewed from a high enough perspective, these lines all entwined around thicker, longer lines.
"What is this place?"
Richard looked at the scene in front of him, his heart filled with confusion.
But soon, a suffocating malice entered his perception.
In a moment of unexplainable impulse, he looked straight ahead, where a peculiar black line trembled continuously within his sight.
The lines around this line kept approaching it but were always shaken off, resembling a fish struggling on land.
And on this fish, Richard saw a line, a line that was thin yet incredibly resilient.
Upon seeing that line, fragmented images suddenly flashed before Richard's eyes.
The protagonist of the images was himself, yet he had no memory of the events taking place.
A thought suddenly surfaced in Richard's mind, and he finally realized what he was seeing.
"This is the Net of Destiny!"