Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree

When the blue-green deep-sea glow was completely replaced by the darkness of the rock layers, the speed of the elevator truly increased.

Moments later, the internal structure of the silver-blue tower appeared again outside the crystal wall: the tall bookshelves of the library, the bustling people in the Teleportation Hall, the flames flickering in the Alchemy Laboratory...

These familiar scenes quickly flashed before his eyes, and then the elevator slowly came to a stop, and the crystal doors silently slid open.

Duke stepped out of the elevator, standing in a corridor on a certain level of the Six-Ring Tower headquarters.

Beneath his feet was a shiny silver-blue crystal floor, and above him was an arched ceiling engraved with complex runes. The air was filled with the clean scent unique to the Central Islands, a mix of ozone and old book pages.

Occasionally, witches and wizards in various robes hurried past in the corridor. No one cast him a second glance, nor did anyone realize that the young man who just emerged from the elevator had completed a life level leap in the depths of the World’s Navel.

The registration process for advancing to a Level 3 Mage was simpler than Duke expected, but far from casual.

The registrar was a Level 3 Mage from the Order and Enforcement Department, dressed in a smart dark gray uniform, sitting behind a desk carved from a single block of obsidian, with a semi-transparent spiritual power control panel suspended over the desk.

First, he verified Duke’s Six-Ring Badge to ensure his identity was correct, then used a specialized detection crystal to assess Duke’s power.

The moment the crystal neared the location of Duke’s Spiritual Sea, it lit up with a bright dark red glow, determining the rule type as Fire Attribute, with rule power fully meeting the standard of a Level 3 Junior Mage.

After passing the detection, the registrar’s expression noticeably softened.

He quickly input a few lines of information into the control panel, then pushed a registration confirmation letter to Duke’s Six-Ring Badge.

The confirmation letter outlined a series of changes after the promotion: the level officially changed from Level 2 Elemental Mage to Level 3 Junior Mage; the permission level of the Six-Ring Badge was correspondingly upgraded; and the deep library areas, advanced courses, and rare resource exchange permissions in the internal trading market, previously available only to Level 3 and above members, were all automatically unlocked.

The exchange discount for contribution points rose from the Level 2 standard to the Level 3 standard, meaning the same contribution points could now exchange for more items.

The dormitory in Zone 7 can be upgraded to a larger suite with higher energy concentration.

If holding a teaching or research position within the Six-Ring Tower, Level 3 Mages receive significantly higher class subsidies and research funding.

Additionally, as a newly promoted Level 3 Mage, he was entitled to freely select three advanced courses for Level 3 Mages over the next year, including but not limited to fundamental rule enlightenment, magic model and rule fusion, and comparative studies of plane rules.

Duke carefully read through the confirmation letter from beginning to end, ensured all terms were correct, and then left his spiritual power signature in the signature field.

The registrar retrieved the confirmation letter, completed the final archival operation in the system, then stood up and formally extended his hand to Duke.

Only at this moment did a slight smile appear on his otherwise businesslike face, as he said, "Congratulations on your promotion, Duke."

Duke shook his hand, expressed his thanks, and then turned and left the registration office.

The report to the Black Sail was even simpler. Duke sent a message to Lucas through the Black Sail Badge, attaching a copy of the promotion registration confirmation from the Six-Ring Tower.

Lucas’s reply came astonishingly quickly, returning a message within moments.

Duke was the one Lucas personally led into the fold back then, and now Duke was already a Level 3 Mage, while Lucas was still a Level 2 Mage.

This was partly because Lucas had too many affairs and couldn’t focus entirely on training, and also due to limitations in talent, resources, and other aspects.

Duke could progress so quickly and smoothly, not only due to luck but also owing to the Skill Tree he possessed, allowing him to overcome many hurdles that would stump ordinary mages.

Take, for instance, the most common problem of resources; unless one was a genius backed by factions like Vera, Leon, or Audric, most mages spent half a lifetime just gathering the resources needed for cultivation.

Returning to his dormitory in Zone 7, Duke wasted no time. In a flash of light and shadow, the next second, he was already standing on the grass of the Light God Court.

Fifteen thousand square kilometers of independent space spread out beneath his feet, the air filled with Light and Life Energy so dense it was almost liquid. With each breath, he could feel pure energy particles flowing into his lungs through his nostrils, then permeating the blood through the alveoli, coursing through his entire body along the magic circulation.

The Golden Tree beside the Spring of Life emitted a pale golden glow. The lake water lay calm as a mirror, reflecting the outline of the Golden Tree.

On the distant hills, dense forests covered the entire ridge, streams winding from the forest, flowing into the lake at the mountain’s base, with the lake’s surface reflecting the unique sky brightness of the Divine Court that was bright without a sun.

Farther away, the primitive ecological cycle system nurtured by the seeds he sowed, along with the World Tree Seed and the Spring of Life, was already quite mature. Herds of herbivores could be seen moving slowly across the plains, and occasionally small flying creatures flitted through the sky, their wings glistening with a faint golden hue in the halo.

Duke took a deep breath of the air in the Divine Court, clearing all distractions, then raised his right hand, palm facing up.

A supremely pure Flame Rule Power, a mass of dark red light silently burned in his palm.

The light ball was about the size of a fist, its color a deep dark red, identical to the glow of the Key of Molten Fire but more restrained and serene.

There was no heat leakage, the surrounding air was not heated, the grass blades were not scorched, and even the grass beneath the light ball remained fresh and green, merely glossed with a layer of dark red glow under its illumination.

The internal structure of the light ball was very simple, with only one rule vein circulating, its path completely matching the main trunk of the flame rule vein he had seen during the Rule Baptism.

He gently stretched that vein outward, and the light ball morphed into a thin, long dark red light filament, coiling twice around his fingers, then he retracted it back into his palm, restoring it to its original spherical shape.

The fluency of this manipulation far exceeded his expectations, not because his manipulation skills were extraordinary, but because the Flame Rules themselves had no resistance to his spiritual power.

His six-element high-level elemental affinity naturally gave him several more levels of affinity with the Flame Rules than ordinary Level 3 Junior Mages. The actual effects of Fire Rules in his hands during the Rule Enlightenment Stage would be significantly stronger.

The testing of rule empowerment begins next.

Duke chose the Level 1 Magic he was most familiar with as the test subject: Fireball Technique.

He had long reached the full level with this magic, the magic model etched in his Spiritual Sea to a level of familiarity approaching instinct.

Without rule empowerment, he activated the magic model with standard magic power, and a fist-sized fireball formed in his palm. The temperature, flight speed, and explosion radius were all the parameters of a standard Level 1 Fireball Technique.

Then he injected Flame Rule Power into the magic model, not to replace magic power, but to overlay rule power on the basis of magic power supply.

All the rune lines of the magic model lit up with dark red glow at the moment of the rule power injection, the originally orange-red fireball’s color deepening sharply under rule empowerment, from orange-red to dark red, then from dark red to a deep red approaching black, with an almost imperceptible white dot appearing in the core of the fireball.

Duke subsequently used the spell target he normally used for testing. Normally, this Level 2 Spell Target could withstand the bombardment of Level 2 Magic without trouble.

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