Chapter 159: Extraordinary Trait Awakened, Tier 2 Mage

Chapter 159 The Awakening of Extraordinary Traits, Second-Rank Mage

Li Wei had tried the crude advancement ritual he’d devised on his own.

Progress was slow.

He could only place his hopes now on the "Fire Spirit Rite" — the advancement ritual obtained from the Sett family.

He hoped it would hasten his awakening.

Yet, certain materials were still missing for the Fire Spirit Rite.

The most crucial among them was a second-rank fire elemental core.

A thought flickered in his mind.

Savis, Russell, and Bear Two had slain a second-rank fire elemental spirit before.

They must have acquired a second-rank fire elemental core.

Could he find a way to obtain it?

Alternatively, he might purchase one at the trading gathering. With so many mages present, acquiring a fire elemental core should not be difficult.

Besides the fire lotus blossom and the fire elemental core, the other materials required for the ritual were relatively easy to come by.

The fire lotus could be substituted—any grade-matched fire-aligned natural treasure would suffice.

But the fire elemental core was indispensable.

Without it, the advancement ritual could not proceed.

That very night, Li Wei hurried to the trading gathering.

"Do you have second-rank fire elemental cores?"

"Yes."

"How much?"

"One hundred and twenty gold coins per core."

"Tch… truly expensive!"

Hearing the price, Li Wei sucked in a sharp breath.

An ordinary second-rank monster core cost only fifty or sixty gold coins; this was double.

And fire elemental cores weren’t even as rare as those from rock beasts.

Such a high price could only mean they were in great demand across many domains.

Supply simply couldn’t keep up with demand.

Li Wei scoured the entire gathering, eventually spending three hundred and sixty gold coins to buy three second-rank fire elemental cores.

The core obtained by Savis and the others had been taken by Russell.

Russell was a fire-elemental mage—he needed the core too, whether for cultivation or spellcasting.

Fire elemental cores were excellent resources.

Fortunately, there were still others selling them at the gathering.

Then, Li Wei spent another thirty gold coins to acquire the remaining three sets of supplementary materials:

blood of a fire-aligned magical beast, firefly grass, high-purity hexagonal crystal, and ritual cloth.

When he stepped out of the Hall of Magic, only seventy-eight gold coins remained in his pocket.

Inside his spatial ring lay various treasures retrieved from the secret realm, still unsold.

For safety’s sake, he wasn’t in a rush to liquidate them.

Selling them now would be too conspicuous—too likely to expose him as the armored figure.

Back at the inn,

Li Wei worried that his first attempt at the advancement ritual might fail due to inexperience, wasting precious materials.

So he slipped into the dream world, where he would rehearse the ritual.

All required materials were replicated within the dream.

Following the ritual’s steps, Li Wei arranged each item upon the ritual cloth.

He sat at the center of the drawn ritual diagram, a crystal held in his mouth.

In his left hand, the second-rank fire elemental core; in his right, the fire lotus blossom.

The ritual began.

The firefly grass burst into flame with a soft whoosh.

Li Wei, prepared, did not flinch.

The flames ignited the blood of the fire-aligned beast upon the cloth.

The blood-drawn ritual patterns slowly caught fire, one after another.

When the entire pattern burned in full, Li Wei felt a strange resonance emanating from the core in his left hand and the lotus in his right.

The crystal in his mouth grew warm.

As the ritual demanded, he emptied his mind, surrendering entirely to the process.

He felt as though submerged in a warm ocean.

Wave after wave of warmth flowed into his body.

After the ritual succeeded in the dream, Li Wei performed the Fire Spirit Rite in reality.

By dawn the next day, it was over.

The fire elemental core had been drained, shattered.

The fire lotus withered.

Li Wei spat out the hexagonal crystal.

Its interior was webbed with red fissures—the traces left behind by passing fire energy.

The crystal had filtered out the fiercer, more violent currents of fire, shielding his body from harm.

He opened his eyes.

[Crystal Meditation Method (First-Rank Awakening)] 3421/10000

A look of delighted surprise lit his face.

"Extraordinary!"

No wonder it was called an advancement ritual.

It far surpassed his self-taught, makeshift method.

Yet, the cost of performing such a ritual once was steep indeed.

Each ceremony cost no less than two hundred gold coins.

His original method, though painstakingly slow and time-consuming, cost nothing at all.

Often, the things that cost no money are the most expensive—time is far more precious than gold.

Spending over six hundred gold coins to swiftly awaken a supernatural trait

was infinitely more advantageous than waiting an entire year to advance slowly.

One step ahead meant staying ahead forever!

After performing the Fire Spirit Ritual once, Li Wei began to grasp its true meaning.

It was essentially the same principle as the feeding method he had discovered on his own—

only this ritual was far more advanced.

The so-called "Fire Spirit" was the spirit of fire elementals.

Through a special ceremony, the Fire Spirit Ritual extracted the elemental spirit from a second-tier fire crystal core and fused it into the practitioner’s body.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Gu Ze knocked on the door. “Li Wei, are you cultivating?”

Li Wei opened the door. “Just finished. What is it, Master?”

Gu Ze said, “Luo Ta and I are heading back tomorrow. What about you?”

Li Wei thought for a moment. “I’ll stay two more days.”

He intended to break through to the second tier before returning to Maple City.

Better to be fully prepared—avoiding dangers along the way with insufficient strength.

Only when ready should one set forth.

Gu Ze nodded. “Alright then. We’ll go ahead. Be careful.”

“I have matters to attend to with Luo Ta, so I can’t keep you company.”

“Master, take care. May your journey be smooth.”

After seeing Gu Ze off,

Li Wei felt the weight of time pressing down upon him.

Three days remained until the end of the Mage Exchange Conference.

Determined, Li Wei held his second advancement ritual at noon.

By midnight, the second ritual concluded—materials worth over two hundred gold coins wasted.

【Crystal Meditation Technique (First Tier Awakening)】 6879/10000

“One more successful ritual, and I’ll awaken my second-tier supernatural trait—become a second-tier mage.”

Excitement surged within him.

Yet exhaustion clung to his mind like a shadow.

He rested through the night.

At dawn the next day, he began the third ritual.

Fortunately, the Fire Spirit Ritual imposed no time constraints—

otherwise, consecutive rituals would have been impossible.

That evening, as the sun sank low like flames, painting the horizon in crimson,

Gu Ze and Luo Ta had already departed.

Li Wei, absorbed in cultivation, hadn’t even seen them off.

The third ritual was complete.

Li Wei awakened his second-tier supernatural traits.

【Fire Elemental Body (Intermediate)】 (Elemental Awakening, Fire Spell Level +1, Faster Fire Spellcasting, Fire Spell Cost Halved)

【Mana Control (Intermediate)】 (Spiritual Awakening, Mana Control Level +1, Casting Level +1)

Testing them out, Li Wei gradually understood the power behind each trait.

Fire Spell Level +1 meant his fire spells gained an entire tier in potency.

A zero-tier *Small Fireball* now matched the power of a first-tier *Fireball*.

A first-tier *Fireball* now exploded with the force of a second-tier *Bursting Fireball*.

The increase dwarfed mere doubling—it was exponential.

A single tier gap in magic could mean spells several times, even tenfold stronger.

But the most terrifying part? The spell power increased while mana cost remained unchanged.

That was the ultimate advantage—the peak of dominance!

Anyone could cast a first-tier *Fireball*, but who could unleash hundreds consecutively without pause?

Now, Li Wei could.

(End of Chapter)