Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree

The might of Rule Power is far beyond anything any conventional Skill can compare to. Even a Level 3 Initial Stage Mage at the level of Rule Enlightenment, a casual strike empowered by Rules is something no Level 2 Peak Wizard can set side by side with—let alone the subsequent tiers of Rule Mastery, Rule Transformation, and Rule Spark. Every step is a qualitative leap.

Duke extended his Spiritual Power into that fiery-red branch and carefully felt out the structure within.

The inside of the branch was not solid; instead, like a real twig, it possessed a complex internal network of veins.

The arrangement of those veins was almost identical to the Flame Rules’ veins he had seen during the Rule Baptism—not the artificial constructs of a Magic Model, but the trajectory of the Rules themselves running in their natural state.

The Skill Tree had not forcibly twisted the Flame Rules into some form convenient for his understanding, but had directly projected the most fundamental form of the Flame Rules into the interior of the branch.

This meant that every time he raised his proficiency in Fire Rules, he was not learning some simplified Rule model, but directly comprehending the Flame Rules themselves.

This mode of comprehension was exactly the same as the feedback mechanism he used to receive when upgrading Skills: not passively accepting a flood of knowledge, but as if he had personally experienced countless cycles of Rule operation, with all the experience, techniques, and insights turned into instinct.

Duke once again carefully felt out the changes in his perception of Rule Power.

The Flame Rules were the clearest. Even without deliberately probing with his Spiritual Power, he could sense in the air that subtle relationship between Fire Elemental Particles and Flame Rules.

Those dark-red Rule veins were no longer vague afterimages that he had to exert himself to capture, but were like clear infrared spectral lines, woven through the space around him, ready to be invoked at any moment he so wished.

But the Rules of the other elements were not nearly as distinct.

Duke closed his eyes and calmed his Spirit, carefully sensing the Earth Element Rules for a while.

Between the Earth Elemental Particles and Earth Rules there likewise existed a link at the Rule level. He could vaguely sense the outlines of those Rules, but their clarity was far inferior to that of the Fire Attribute Rules.

If the Flame Rules in his perception were a bright lamp, then Earth Rules were a tightly shut door: he could feel there was light behind the door, could see the faint glow leaking from the cracks, but could not clearly see the light itself.

The Rules of the Water Attribute, Wind Attribute, Light Attribute, and Dark Attribute were in the same condition—he could sense their existence, but could not clearly distinguish their specific veins and trajectories as he could with the Flame Rules.

This was normal.

Within the cultivation system of the Wizard Plane, when a Level 3 Wizard advances, the Rule Key he uses to open the Gate of Rules determines which elemental line of Rules he will attain the most direct enlightenment upon.

The Rules of the other elements must then be gradually opened up through specialized cultivation, contemplation, or by using new Keys of Rules.

The reason Rule Keys are so precious is not only because they can help a Level 2 Mage advance to Level 3, but also because they remain useful after advancement.

Each Key of Rules represents a fast channel for comprehending a particular type of Rule Power, a scarce resource that Level 3 Wizards dream of throughout the entire Level 3 stage.

Ordinary Wizards, after advancing to Level 3, have limited time, energy, and Talent; most will choose only one or two kinds of Rules to delve into for focused cultivation.

Greedy bites cannot be chewed; rather than dabbled shallowly in five or six types of Rules, it is better to specialize in a single path and push a particular Rule all the way to the Rule Spark tier, only then having a chance to assault a Level 4 Divine Status.

Those Wizards who attempt to cultivate more than three types of Rules simultaneously are either so gifted they can disregard conventional constraints, or they end up giving up halfway on every Rule, ultimately getting stuck at Level 3 Middle Stage, never able to advance further.

But Duke’s situation was different from theirs.

He possessed Six-Element High-Level Affinity; his Affinity toward all six kinds of Elemental Particles far surpassed that of ordinary Wizards. This meant he had a natural bonus when sensing the Rules of any element.

More importantly, the Skill Tree had already incorporated Flame Rules into a quantifiable, upgradable Skill system.

This meant his cultivation of Rules no longer depended entirely on Talent and sudden enlightenment. Ten thousand points of proficiency might be a large number, but as long as the concept of proficiency existed, as long as a Skill Level System existed, there must exist upgrade paths that could be followed.

He could steadily push his Rule Enlightenment forward by grinding proficiency, and that was precisely the core value of the Skill Tree.

For Duke, Fire Attribute Rule Power was only a stepping stone, its purpose merely to first enter this tier.

He naturally would not be content with just this one type of Rule Power; next he would begin gradually expanding and strengthening his overall capabilities.

However, before that, Duke had not forgotten where he still was.

After successfully advancing to Level 3, he needed to report to Six-Ring Tower and Black Sail, and had to go through a series of procedures involving subsequent treatment upgrades, opening of permissions, and the like.

The process of returning from the seabed to the surface was quieter than when he went down.

It was still that elevator made entirely of silver-blue crystal, still that smooth black stone tile beneath his feet, still that soft glow above his head whose source was unknown.

But this time, Duke noticed some details he had previously overlooked.

As the elevator rose, the seabed’s fluorescent glow outside the crystal walls did not immediately vanish; instead, it faded at an extremely slow pace, as if the elevator were passing through layer upon layer of overlapping spatial folds, with the physical Rules between each fold changing by imperceptible degrees.

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