Chapter 670: Chapter 418: Overwhelming Power
"Third Rank Wizard?" Carl was stunned, his gaze instinctively wanting to look towards Nickler at the front.
How could it be a Third Rank Wizard—wasn’t this different from what he had imagined?
But soon, he collected himself, controlling his drifting gaze to return it to Nois, a fine cold sweat breaking out on his back.
Nois didn’t seem to notice his perturbation, simply calling for Colin.
Colin walked slowly up to the high stage, turning to face the Council members with a calm expression.
His advancement to the Third Rank had occurred yesterday, to be precise, last night.
He had been close to advancing during these past few days and, after returning from Nois’s place two days ago, he had continuously meditated, finally succeeding in pushing his Wizard Level to 100/100 that dawn.
Then, after spending half a day adjusting his state, he had arrived at the Quiet Room of the hall in the evening to begin breaking through to the Third Rank, achieving it late at night.
Nois knew about this event the moment it happened; in fact, shortly after Colin had entered the Quiet Room, he had waited outside.
Even though Colin had mentioned that he would be advancing these few days, he was still somewhat surprised.
Even among the Pureblood Families, it was hard to find a genius like Colin who could advance to the Third Rank Wizard in such a short time!
Even those few exceptional cases who grew up in drastically different environments and received different educations compared to Colin.
"What’s wrong, Carl, are you going to cancel the duel? If you want to cancel, there’s still time."
Nois continued, his words directed at Carl, but his gaze was on Nickler.
The latter, with his profound Kung Fu, managed not to show the slightest abnormality on his face.
Carl, upon hearing Nois’s inquiry, hesitated as he stood up.
According to the plan, Colin was supposed to just be a Second Rank Advanced Wizard. Dueling him would naturally demonstrate a dominating stance, and with all the Council members having eyes to see, led by Nickler’s vote, it was almost certain that Colin’s induction as a Council member would be delayed.
As long as Colin’s induction was delayed, without the official status of a Council member, for Nickler, he would just be a regular Second Rank Advanced Wizard, which would open up many possible manipulations.
But now... Colin had suddenly advanced to a Third Rank Wizard?
"Continue the duel."
As Carl was indecisively wavering, Nickler’s voice appeared in his mind out of thin air.
"He may have just advanced to a Third Rank Wizard, but don’t be afraid."
Hearing this, Carl felt somewhat reassured and looked up to continue speaking to Nois:
"Lord Nois, I choose to continue with the duel."
He was stuck between a rock and a hard place; if he were to sit back meekly now, not only would he offend Nois, but Nickler would also not let him off easily!
"Very well, then let’s follow the rules."
The last smile disappeared from Nois’s face; he no longer looked at Nickler but merely gazed at the Wizards and spoke blandly.
...
"Quick! Is the southeast corner’s restriction checked?"
High above in the sky, on a floating bowl-shaped Dueling Platform, a Wizard responsible for planning and setting up the investiture ceremony was frantically checking this long-unused Duel Field.
The rest of the Council members sat in the audience, Nois standing far apart on the Dueling Platform with Colin and Carl, waiting for the Duel Field to be ready.
Carl, his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart, was focusing on preparing.
As a Third Rank Intermediate Wizard, he felt confident in handling a newly advanced Third Rank Wizard.
A newly advanced Third Rank Wizard probably found it extremely difficult even to perform a soul out-of-body experience, not to mention freely manipulating surrounding Magic Power, and perhaps Colin hadn’t even learned any Third Rank witchcraft yet.
Carl was never worried about being unable to defeat Colin; what troubled him was how to defeat Colin cleanly and clearly to demonstrate his weakness.
If Colin were really just a Second Rank Advanced as initially thought, then it would be an easy task, relying solely on spiritual power to give Colin a hard time!
Now, he had to think carefully about how to attack.
What Carl didn’t know was that the last Third Rank Wizard who had thought this way now had grass three meters tall on his grave...
"Do your best, don’t worry about any life-threatening danger." Nois whispered to Colin standing beside him.
"Carl is a Third Rank Intermediate Wizard, and now that you have advanced to the Third Rank, as long as you don’t perform too poorly later, the investiture ceremony will proceed as usual."
Colin nodded.
It wasn’t surprising Nois thought this way—after all, the Third Rank Wizard Colin had previously defeated, Xize, was just a weakened Soul Body.
Though at that time, he was only a Second Rank Advanced, even if Xize had exerted his true strength, it was only the beginning of the Third Rank.
In contrast, Carl was not just any Middle Third Rank but also a Supreme Council Member, not to mention one of the top combatants at his level.
So even though Colin had now advanced to a Third Rank Wizard, not many of the present Council members believed he could defeat Carl, a Third Rank Intermediate Wizard.
However, this duel wasn’t necessarily about winning for Colin, as long as he could demonstrate his capabilities.
As long as he could display the ability to shoulder the responsibilities of a Council member, losing wouldn’t affect the proceeding of the investiture ceremony.
The Council members quietly waited, the atmosphere unexpectedly tense, causing the Wizards preparing the Duel Field to quicken their movements involuntarily, the leading organizer Wizard running back and forth, not daring to stop even for a moment.