Li Ban felt absolutely nothing.
Nor did he feel any sense of déjà vu.
Whether it was this throne or that dim universe, it was all completely foreign to him.
This allowed Li Ban to breathe a sigh of relief.
Ever since he realized his transmigration came with its own cosmic galaxy, he had worried about waking up one day and no longer being himself.
"The scene reflected in the Self-Seeking Mirror might be an image of its previous owner. No wonder it was kept in the dark room of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion and sealed away with Sun-Obscuring Spirit Iron. This thing is not simple."
"Fortunately, I took it out in a world without spiritual rhinoceros."
Li Ban stopped looking and tossed the seemingly pretentious Self-Seeking Mirror back into his Cubic Space.
"I'll wait until I reach the Capital City and get my own Self-Seeking Mirror." Li Ban changed his plans, deciding not to rush into exploring this mirror with its unknown owner.
However, since his group in the Shadow World was nearing the Northern Base, he occasionally went over to check the situation.
He also told Nana that if a critical situation arose, she should shake his body hard and call his name. Barring any accidents, he would wake up immediately.
Nana agreed, but she made it clear that as long as they could handle things, they would not disturb his recuperation.
Recuperating was an excellent excuse, so Li Ban tacitly accepted it.
After waking up in the Wizard World, Li Ban once again ran to Priest Zhu Yao's carriage.
He had quickly mastered two spells. Although his success rate was not quite a hundred percent yet, all he needed next was constant practice.
Seeing this, Priest Zhu Yao decided to teach him a third spell.
"Before advancing to Star Glow, a Priest's divine soul hasn't been strengthened yet, so we generally don't learn too many spells. The more spells you learn, the easier it is for them to interfere with each other, muddying your thoughts and making it hard to focus. It might even cause your spellcasting to fail."
"So, although I have three relatively simple spells here, you can only choose one to learn for now. Take a look and see which one you prefer."
With that, Priest Zhu Yao tossed the water in her cup into the air.
The water droplets formed several characters in midair.
To be honest, Zhu Yao's water manipulation was incredibly impressive all on its own.
It was much like Zhai Liu's former ability, just an enhanced version.
However, this ability was not among the three simple spells Priest Zhu Yao offered.
Li Ban looked at the names of the three spells: Protection Spell, Flight Technique, and Spirit Stabilization Technique.
The first was a defensive spell that Li Ban really wanted—simply put, a protective shield.
Depending on the shifts in his intent, it could form shields of varying shapes and thicknesses.
Like the Terror Spell, it was easy to learn but hard to master.
The second was exactly what it sounded like: once learned, he could fly.
It was another movement ability Li Ban greatly desired. Compared to flying, Shrinking Ground to an Inch didn't seem quite as impressive.
However, Shrinking Ground to an Inch had advantages over the Flight Technique—for example, the ability to pass through isolated spaces.
The reason it could defy gravity was due to the support of spiritual rhinoceros. As long as one was willing to consume the spiritual rhinoceros inside their fragments, they could even fly in worlds without spiritual rhinoceros.
This was exactly what Lord Du had done.
But Li Ban believed that if Lord Du hadn't been in such a hurry to find something, a newly advanced Priest like him wouldn't have been so extravagant.
As for the final spell, Li Ban was actually the most familiar with it.
He had already used three items created by this spell.
Namely, the Plain Rings!
However, the third spell was also the hardest of the three Priest Zhu Yao offered.
"This spell is actually more suited for others. Especially when you belong to a faction, you use it to stabilize the spirits of the other spirit practitioners in your group. It can stabilize element abilities, or it can stabilize spell abilities. The latter is much harder, as it's equivalent to casting two spells at once. Furthermore, spirit stabilization can only fix abilities that you yourself possess."
At this point, Priest Zhu Yao shook her head and actively wiped away the third patch of water text.
"I don't recommend you learn this right now. The Myriad Ancient Pagoda has plenty of Priests who know the Spirit Stabilization Technique; they don't need you for it."
"Your primary goal should still be advancement. Once you hit a bottleneck someday, then you can think about contributing to the Myriad Ancient Pagoda."
Since Priest Zhu Yao had voluntarily eliminated one option for him, Li Ban naturally shifted his focus back to the first two spells.
This time, he didn't hesitate for long.
"I want to learn the Protection Spell."
The Flight Technique's capabilities overlapped with Shrinking Ground to an Inch, and when one's strength wasn't high enough, flying in the sky just made them an easy target.
Shrinking Ground to an Inch was much more covert and adaptable.
Even the secretive black-robed priest had used Shrinking Ground to an Inch to move rapidly.
"Just as I thought." Priest Zhu Yao waved her hand, dispersing all the water droplets. "Then listen closely. The Protection Spell has twenty-seven shifts of intent—"
Li Ban listened carefully, doing his best to memorize it all.
With his experience from the first two spells serving as a foundation, he had already grasped some tricks to learning spells.
A day later, Li Ban temporarily paused his studies on the new spell and returned to the Shadow World.
In the Shadow World, their group had finally arrived at the Northern Base.
They just ran into a tiny problem.
The Northern Base, which had originally been unmanned, had actually been occupied by a group of warriors from the Ash Alliance a month ago.
Moreover, they weren't very keen on letting Priest Zhong Ye's group move in.
The opposing side was defending the base, possessing a natural defensive advantage.
They had over a hundred and fifty people, nearly triple the number of Priest Zhong Ye's group.
Most importantly, everyone belonged to the Ash Alliance. In theory, they shouldn't be fighting to the death.
It wasn't that Priest Zhong Ye absolutely had to enter the base.
But the reader device Li Ban wanted was here, and they wanted to go inside to use it.
Yet they were still rejected by the other side.
And the Priest of the opposing group was a Cloud Hidden Priest, a full Tier higher than both Li Ban and Zhong Ye.
Li Ban stood up. "I'll go take a look."
Even though they were all part of the Ash Alliance, as long as people were involved, there would be conflicts of interest.
The other side had monopolized the Northern Base and refused to let them enter or use the machines inside. Ultimately, they were just afraid of their vested interests being compromised.
But as long as Li Ban could offer acceptable terms and make them willing to take a slight risk for the sake of a deal, everything was negotiable.
If there were other reasons, and the other side simply refused to yield the machine—at worst, they would just fight.
Li Ban certainly didn't consider himself a true member of the Ash Alliance.
Even if a Spirit Awakening Priest like him might not be able to defeat a Cloud Hidden Priest, he wasn't afraid of anyone in a battle of attrition.
Priest Zhong Ye's group had been resting in an abandoned building just outside the Northern Base.
Parts of the buildings here had been crushed by garbage falling from the rifts, but some low, sturdy structures had survived, turning the area into a temporary resting place for many passersby.
The moment Li Ban stepped out of their temporary camp, the other side's guards already had their eyes on him.
It was only out of consideration for their shared faction that they hadn't yet aimed their guns and cannons at him.
When Li Ban was fifty meters from the main gate, a slightly chubby middle-aged man clutching what looked like a handheld rocket launcher appeared on a second-floor platform.
"Friend, to avoid any misfires, if you have something to say, just say it from that distance."
Nana and two Alliance warriors were following Li Ban from a distance.
Even though Li Ban hadn't asked them to come protect him, they were still very worried for Priest Ban's safety.
Hearing the warning, Li Ban stopped in his tracks.
Just as a mocking sneer surfaced on the man's face, Li Ban suddenly took a step forward, instantly appearing less than half a meter away from him.
A rapier materialized in Li Ban's palm. As the man subconsciously raised his rocket launcher, Li Ban tapped it lightly with his blade.
Clatter!
The launcher in the man's hands vanished, reducing to a pile of parts scattered across the floor. All that remained was the carrying strap still hanging around his neck.
The man instantly froze in place.
His hands still maintained a gripping posture, but his palms were completely empty.
"This way, there won't be any misfires," Li Ban smiled. "May I see your Priest? After all, you probably wouldn't understand what I have to say."
Beads of sweat popped out on the man's forehead. His mouth twitched, and he only managed to regain control of his body with great difficulty.
"O-okay," he stammered out. "I'll go fetch the Priest."
"No need, I'm already here." Another man appeared at the entrance to the second-floor platform.
It was a handsome man dressed in a pure white robe.
Compared to the dilapidated, filthy wasteland aesthetic filled with the stench of heavy metals all around them, he appeared a bit too... holy.
Unlike Priest Zhu Yao's ethereal transcendence, the man standing before Li Ban gave off a somewhat pretentious vibe.
But that didn't matter. Li Ban knew how to put on an act, too.
The middle-aged man, frightened out of his wits by Li Ban, still insisted on standing between him and the white-robed man.
"This is... our leader, Priest Huangzhi," he introduced.
"Gu Lu, you can step back," Priest Huangzhi said.
Only then did the middle-aged man jog away.
"Hello, Priest Huangzhi, my name is Ban."
"Priest Ban," Priest Huangzhi turned sideways and made an inviting gesture. "Let's head somewhere more comfortable to talk."
The same people who had rejected them multiple times had suddenly become much easier to talk to.
"Alright, but I'll need to bring Priest Zhong Ye along as well."
The other man had clearly heard of Priest Zhong Ye's name. He paused in surprise for a moment, then readily agreed. "No problem. Just come in through the main gate. My men will guide you inside."
Li Ban nodded, and his figure vanished from right in front of Priest Huangzhi.
Priest Huangzhi slowly closed his mouth. Then, suddenly smiling, he shook his head. "Young people... they just love to show off."
With that said, he folded his arms, straightened his back, and slowly strolled back into the base.
Fifteen minutes later, Li Ban and Priest Zhong Ye met Priest Huangzhi once again in a small reception room.
In perfect synchrony, a valiant female warrior stood behind Priest Huangzhi, while the tall and fierce Luca stood behind Priest Zhong Ye.
Behind Li Ban, however... stood a completely out-of-element Nana.
Nana secretly tried to mimic the posture of the opposing female warrior, thinking to herself that no matter what, she couldn't embarrass Priest Ban.
Little did she know that in the eyes of the other side, she looked as frail and harmless as a tiny white rabbit.
Priest Huangzhi spoke first, and surprisingly, his first words were an apology.
"I apologize, it truly wasn't out of coldness during our previous negotiations. It's just that something happened recently, forcing me to raise my guard even against our allies."