Chapter 735: Chapter 710: Level 2 Elemental Mage

The process of Elementalization, amidst this hellish torment, was continuing at a slow yet steadfast pace.

It’s as if the extreme pressure had instead become the best forge.

His body at times transformed into flames, at times solidified into hard rock, at times was enveloped by water, and at times surrounded by a gentle breeze, with light and dark subtly flowing underneath, maintaining the most fundamental balance and stability.

The disturbances of the whispers also changed with the deepening of his Elementalization and his strong-willed resistance.

Sometimes they became sharper and more urgent, as if angered by the prey’s stubbornness; sometimes they became gentle and seductive, weaving false visions of endless knowledge or power; sometimes they directly transformed into mental attacks, trying to shake his Crystal Core.

Duke held his mind steady, turning all the whispers, all the pain, all the interference into fuel, and cast them into the furnace named Will.

He no longer thought about success or failure, no longer cared about the past or future, and even temporarily forgot himself.

In this dual hell of body and soul, time lost its significance.

There was only the roar of energy, the scream of whispers, and the forward-moving light of the leap in the essence of life, inch by determined inch.

He was like the only unsinkable reef in a stormy sea, letting the chaotic energy and wicked whispers crash and batter, yet himself becoming harder and more solid at a slow, unstoppable pace.

As time passed, the six Energy Wells surrounding the chamber, whose originally surging, heart-stopping energy output finally began to show signs of decline. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Like six dragons continuously drained of Life Force, the light and fluctuations they emitted visibly weakened.

In the southern Bright Energy Well, the tower’s restrained saturated fluorescence had dimmed by more than half, the vortex on top of the tower spun slowly and feebly, and the radiant flow gushing out shrank from the initial blazing pillar of light to a relatively gentle stream of light.

In the northern Dark Attribute Energy Well, the dim light flowing on the surface of the black diamond-shaped crystal cluster weakened, the internal vortex that swallowed light reduced its speed, and the shadow tide pouring out became thin, like an arrow at the end of its flight.

In the southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest, the wind, earth, water, and fire standard Energy Wells, the cyan, yellow, blue, and red lights on the cylindrical devices also noticeably dimmed, the intensity and stability of their energy output declined, and the humming sound became low and intermittent.

The stifling oppressive feeling of the six elemental energies filling the chamber was rapidly dissipating as the Energy Wells burned out like an oil lamp running dry.

But this was not a precursor to failure; quite the opposite, it signified that the frenzied primordial balance baptism of the six extremes had exhausted most of the necessary fuel, and was entering the final wrapping-up and stabilizing stage.

The figure of Duke sitting cross-legged at the center of the Witch Array no longer bore the previous look of painful distortion and bleeding from the seven orifices.

The violent energy fluctuations calmed down, and those evil, bizarre, unknown whispers also seemed to weaken and dissipate with the loss of continuous energy impact as a medium or attraction, leaving only a faint cold resonance in the Spiritual Sea, endured through stubborn resistance.

On the surface of his body, there was no longer the frantic flickering of various lights, replaced by a warm, restrained, and peculiar luster, like a fine jade yet faintly emanating a metallic texture.

The veins under his skin returned to a calm blue, but upon close inspection, there seemed to be extremely faint, stellar-like multicolored light points corresponding to the six attributes gently flowing within.

His breathing became extremely slow and long; between each breath, the residual free energy in the chamber seemed to ripple slightly, as if he had become a highly efficient Elemental gathering and dispersing core himself.

The leap in Life Level was nearly complete.

Ascending to a Level 2 Elemental Mage did not entail turning oneself into a purely Elemental Life, which is usually a characteristic of some extreme paths or special races.

Instead, it’s about elevating the essence of life to a new height through energy baptism, granting the physical body the ability to freely convert between the flesh form and specific elemental forms.

Its foundation of life remained the unique Duke, who fused the characteristics of the six elements, rather than any single Elemental Spirit.

This meant that in a normal state, he was still a flesh and blood being who could enjoy the various senses and conveniences of life, possessing strong Life Force and growth potential.

And once his Heart Thought moved, any part or even the entirety of his body could instantly transform into pure flames, solid rock, flowing water, howling wind, brilliant light, or deep darkness, thereby almost immune to pure physical attacks and possessing high resistance to element damage of the same origin, and even capable of partial absorption and transformation.

More importantly, ordinary single-attribute Elemental Mages, though they have outstanding advantages in one aspect, are also easily countered by targeted attributes or restricted by special means.

But Duke, with his six attributes of elemental affinity and mastery, fundamentally compensated for this fatal flaw.

He could switch or mix the most advantageous elemental forms at any time according to the opponent and combat situation, making targeted countermeasures extremely difficult, achieving tactical flexibility and survivability at an unimaginably high level for the same rank.

As the six Energy Wells completely depleted, their last strands of pure energy merged into Duke’s gradually complete, new circulatory system. The subtle interval in which the alternation and stabilization of his old and new life forms were about to complete.