The bright moonlight spilled onto the churning sea of clouds, and three massive grey-blue airships glided slowly above, their large dark shadows casting onto the sea-like cloud surfaces, undulating with the mist, as if they were demons.
"Ancient Tree Heart..."
In a dimly lit room aboard the slightly smaller airship on the left,
Colin slowly opened his eyes and murmured with moving lips.
Since returning in the afternoon, and now with nightfall upon him, he had been studying the Ancient Tree Heart.
In the strictest sense, witchcraft like the Ancient Tree Heart has no rank, but because its minimum usage requirement is a First Rank Junior Wizard, it is also classified as Lower Magic of the First Rank.
Besides minimal usage requirements, the criteria for classifying the rank of witchcraft also depend on the might of the magic when cast.
As for quality, there is no fixed standard of judgment... or rather, there are too many criteria.
For example, the Attack Witchcraft he currently mastered, Summon Fire Element, is considered excellent quality as determined by the Supreme Council.
Usually, only witchcraft evaluated by the Supreme Council or a designated member of a School would have a quality rating attached to it.
From what he had previously seen in the literature, back when Summon Fire Element was a genuine summoning of the Fire Element, the quality was only rated as good.
Nowadays, Summon Fire Element has shifted to cultivating Fire Elements, and even though the potency hasn't increased much, the quality has been raised...
Therefore, it is not to say that witchcraft of poor quality are unusable; quality is only for reference and should not be the basis for choosing witchcraft.
Colin pondered in silence, then with a thought, he summoned the Golden Paper.
If he had the assistance of Superbrain, such as with the Ancient Tree Heart, he could have grasped the basics in just an afternoon.
But now, the symbol of the Ancient Tree Heart did not appear on the Golden Paper.
The reason was nothing else.
Colin sighed slowly.
Compared to other Wizards, he had practiced for too short a time, and his knowledge was still lacking. Any witchcraft requires an extensive amount of preliminary knowledge to learn and master.
Previously, when he learned Summon Fire Element and Mechanical Mind, his existing knowledge was sufficient.
But now, as he learned the Ancient Tree Heart, he was missing a key piece of knowledge needed to fully comprehend the witchcraft.
Even the Golden Paper couldn't help with this.
After all, although the Golden Paper's effects are potent—guaranteeing improvement in practice—
he had discovered its major limitation, or rather, prerequisite, after prolonged use back on Blackstone Island.
This prerequisite is that the practice must be recognized by the Golden Paper.
If it is not considered practice, then naturally, there will be no progress.
It's like driving a car; whether you drive well or poorly, you still have to actually drive the car for it to count as driving.
Lacking a key piece of knowledge, he was like someone who didn't know how to start the engine, and with the car unable to move, his attempts could not be considered practicing, let alone training.
Colin slowly stood up and stretched his arms.
The crucial knowledge he lacked, which had been obtained from Lillian along with the Ancient Tree Heart that day, didn't warrant too much concern; it just required some additional study time.
He had been studying just moments ago.
Additionally, with Superbrain to aid him, acquiring this knowledge shouldn't take long.
Mastering a piece of knowledge, although not as difficult as mastering a witchcraft, usually takes more time due to the greater volume of content involved.
Without Superbrain, it could take him two to three months, or even half a year, to fully master it.
But now, he estimated that by the time the airship reached its destination, he would have a decent grasp of it.
'But I can't keep going on like this.'
In the dim room, Colin's gaze flickered.
Just as his mentor Atbolde had said, now that he had reached the First Rank Wizard stage, it was time to start thinking about his future path, the complementary configurations of witchcraft, and so on.
Even with Superbrain and Golden Paper, his energy was still finite.
Witchcraft are protective skills, and Rank is the essence of cultivation; they complement each other and neither is inherently more important.
But if one had to choose a primary focus, it would undoubtedly be Rank.
The reason was nothing else but lifespan.
If he continued to learn any witchcraft that came his way, it could delay his cultivation progress and be detrimental to his ascent to the pinnacle.
Furthermore, usually, the choice of witchcraft is based around a Wizard's Talent.
But for Colin, his Talent was quite versatile, not limited to matching with certain types of witchcraft or being incompatible with others.
'It's time to make use of the power of the Golden Paper and begin researching my own witchcraft...' Colin silently reflected.
"No renowned Wizard uses witchcraft created by someone else."
Atbolde's admonishing words still echoed in his ears.
Thinking thus, a pale white glow emerged around him, a sign of the Steel Temperature Resistance Field manifesting.
Colin began practicing witchcraft.
Just like that, three days passed in the blink of an eye.
In the room, Colin slowly opened his eyes. With a thought, the Golden Paper slowly appeared in front of him.
Name: Colin Leonard
Rank: Skipped.
Meditation Method: Skipped
Breathing Skill: Sunlight Breathing Technique (Golden); Yili Breathing Method I↑ (100/100)
Witchcraft: Zero Level Tricks: Skipped; Zero Level Witchcraft: Arrow Shooting Skill... Purification Evil Power (Golden); Detect Life... Detect Magic Power... Soaring Technique... Silence Technique... Trace Erasure...↑ (100/100); First Rank Witchcraft: Steel Temperature Resistance Field I (61/100); Fireball Technique III (0/100); Summon Fire Element (18/100); Mechanical Mind (63/100)
Exotic Skill: Anando's Dice (4/100)
Skill: Skipped
Talent: Strong Life I (4/100)
True Talent: Superbrain (0/100)
Limit Breaking Point: 0
With the aid of Superbrain, the progression of his witchcraft had accelerated so much that it felt like he was on the fast track compared to before.
In just three days, all the Zeroth Rank Witchcraft he had previously purchased had reached one hundred percent and was ready for Limit Breaking.
Not only that, he had also brought the progress of his long-neglected Yili Breathing Method to the limit.
Moreover, what was noteworthy was that the Fireball Technique, which had been limit-broken three times, and the Steel Temperature Resistance Field, which had been limit-broken once, were automatically categorized as First Rank Witchcraft by the Golden Paper.
Exhaling a breath of turbid air, Colin confidently took out a Magic Stone and began the Limit Breaking.
A few minutes later.
The characters on the Golden Paper refreshed once again.
All of the Zeroth Rank Witchcraft, except for the Trace Erasure, had been elevated to First Rank Limit Breaking, while the Trace Erasure became golden.
The potential for Limit Breaking of this witchcraft was lower than he had imagined.
But that wasn't a big deal.
After the Trace Erasure had been limit-broken to gold, on the Golden Paper, another witchcraft—Traceless—corresponded with it, and a new line of characters slowly emerged in the column for First Rank Witchcraft.
Unnamed First Rank Witchcraft (0/100).
Colin pondered for a moment, then with a thought, the black characters rapidly changed to—Trace Erasure (0/100)
This new witchcraft inherited the effects of Traceless and Trace Erasure, able to eliminate odors, blur the traces of witchcraft use, and the fluctuations of Magic Power.
As for its potency.
It obviously reached the First Rank level, though he wasn't sure what the specific Rank would be...
As he had this thought, the section for witchcraft on the Golden Paper slowly changed.
Three sub-items gradually branched off at the position for First Rank Witchcraft.
First Rank Lower Witchcraft, First Rank Middle Witchcraft, First Rank Upper Witchcraft.
As expected, the original four First Rank Witchcraft were all categorized as First Rank Lower Witchcraft.
But the newly merged witchcraft—Trace Erasure—was actually categorized as First Rank Middle Witchcraft!
Colin couldn't help but show his surprise and instinctively tried to cast Trace Erasure.
Whoosh!
The glow of witchcraft flashed by.
Colin silently felt that the casting process was very smooth, without any delay.
Most crucially...
Not a single bit of pressure came from the Spirit Sea, and the Magic Sea remained abundant!
He, a First Rank Junior Wizard, had cast a First Rank Middle Witchcraft as smoothly as if it were a First Rank Lower Witchcraft!!
It wasn't surprising that he could cast it; although casting across Ranks was difficult, many Wizards could manage to do it.
But it was so effortless that, without close attention, he would have thought he had not done any cross-Rank casting at all...
It went without saying that this must have something to do with the Golden Paper.
Colin briefly pondered and privately speculated:
'Could it be that the witchcraft limit-broken with the Golden Paper are tailor-made based on myself, hence the lower consumption and requirements for me?'
After quietly speculating for a while, he gathered his thoughts and continued to the next step.
On the Golden Paper, apart from the Zero Level Witchcraft, the Yili Breathing Method had also successfully undergone Limit Breaking.
And, as expected, it was golden.
At this moment, it had merged with the original Sunlight Breathing Technique to form a new Breathing Skill.
Colin slowly stood up, ready to try out the newly emerged Breathing Skill.