Chapter 521: Time-Type Spells!

Chapter 521: Time Magic!

Once Gu Siewei learned of the immense potential peril the demon seeds posed,

She dispatched her Valkyrie unit and the Frost Guards into the night to screen the city's populace.

They sought anyone who might harbor the latent danger of demonic corruption.

As long as a demon seed had yet to sprout and grow, its bearer remained entirely undetectable.

Only those whose seeds had already taken root and blossomed left any trace to be discovered.

The traits of a bearer were unmistakable, marked by a massive surge in strength over a short span.

Gu Siewei sat within the Glacial Jade Palace, rubbing her aching temples in sheer exhaustion.

Had the Frost Queen still been present, such matters would never have required this much grief.

The Frost Queen could have perceived every single bearer in a mere instant.

Gu Siewei cast a sidelong glance at the Frost Staff resting beside her.

She yearned for the day when she might possess power as vast as the Frost Queen's own.

While Gu Siewei endured the sleepless night searching for seed-bearers and the latently corrupted,

Levi had already slipped into the realm of dreams.

Within that dream world, he studied the ancient spell scroll gifted by the shaman of the Snow Bear Tribe.

"This is... the Lesser Chronomancy!"

Through careful study, Levi discovered that the tattered beast-skin scroll recorded a time-attribute spell called "Lesser Chronomancy."

It was the very first time he had ever encountered a spell of the temporal element.

The difficulty of mastering Lesser Chronomancy was also terrifyingly steep.

It nearly rivaled that of a Forbidden Curse.

According to the descriptions on the hide scroll, the creator of Lesser Chronomancy had been fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of a true Time Dragon.

From that encounter, they had comprehended and forged this miraculous magic.

Lesser Chronomancy possessed the power to accelerate the passage of time.

Though he knew not what use accelerating time might serve, it nonetheless touched upon the laws of time itself.

Lesser Chronomancy was absolute and exceedingly precious magic.

He simply could not fathom why it had been lost to history.

Perhaps the difficulty was simply too immense; save for its original creator, no one had been able to learn it.

Under Levi's relentless attempts, he finally pieced together the complete spell model for Lesser Chronomancy.

A fresh line of text materialized before his eyes.

Lesser Chronomancy (Beginner) 0/1000

Now, it was merely a matter of sheer effort.

No matter how difficult a spell might be, Levi could always grind his way through it.

After successfully casting Lesser Chronomancy for the first time, Levi stared at his surroundings in a daze.

It seemed... nothing at all had changed.

Had the casting failed?

Yet, his proficiency had indeed ticked upward by a single point.

Lesser Chronomancy (Beginner) 1/1000

For a time, Levi was entirely perplexed, unable to tell if the Lesser Chronomancy had actually taken effect.

Or perhaps, he needed to grind the spell to a certain level before its true power would manifest.

Unable to make heads or tails of it, the only thing Levi could do was keep grinding.

Perhaps once he reached the Mastery realm, some shift would occur within the Lesser Chronomancy.

Generally speaking, a spell transitioning from Beginner to Mastery would undergo a distinct transformation.

Levi looked forward to whatever change the Lesser Chronomancy would bring.

"Mm, Levi, what are you thinking about? You are daydreaming even while eating."

Gu Siewei set down her food and looked at Levi, who held his meal without eating, staring off into space.

Hearing her voice, Levi snapped back to reality and took a bite of the roasted meat in his hand.

Mumbling around the food, he said, "It is nothing, just that I encountered a few doubts while practicing my magic."

A look of curiosity crossed Gu Siewei's face; it was her first time seeing Levi bewildered by his cultivation.

She spoke up quickly, "Tell me about it. Perhaps I can offer you some inspiration."

Levi swallowed the meat in his mouth and replied, "It is really nothing. Just that I have been practicing a spell recently, and for some reason, even though the casting is clearly successful, it produces no effect at all."

He glanced at the table, where the grain of the wood coalesced into written words.

Lesser Chronomancy (Mastery) 23/2000

Lesser Chronomancy had already been ground to the Mastery rank.

Yet Levi had still failed to notice any change whatsoever.

He fell into a sudden state of confusion.

This was the very first time the proficiency panel had ever "failed" him.

The proficiency panel was the core reliance he depended on for survival, and its failure dealt a heavy blow to his confidence.

It left him inherently worried about what he would do if the panel became useless in the future.

Hearing this, Gu Siewei showed a look of surprise, propping her cheek with her index finger as she pondered, "There is actually such a thing?"

"The casting succeeds, yet it produces no effect at all?"

"I think either there is an inherent flaw in the spell itself, or the conditions for releasing the spell have not yet been fully met," Gu Siewei mused.

Levi pondered for a moment and asked, "What do you mean by the conditions for releasing the spell not being fully met?"

An inherent flaw in the spell itself was highly improbable.

Through his deductions, the spell model for Lesser Chronomancy had already been perfectly completed.

If there were an issue with the spell model, the very first step of constructing it would have failed.

The second possibility Gu Siewei mentioned intrigued Levi even more.

At Levi's words, Gu Siewei picked up a spoon and lightly tapped the rim of her porcelain bowl, producing a crisp, ringing sound.

She said, "It is much like when we practice spells; we only use mana to construct the spell model without actually releasing the magic fully."

"Though it lacks the step of elemental infilling, in a certain sense, the spell is already considered complete."

Hearing Gu Siewei's words, Levi recalled the time he had first learned the Lesser Fireball spell.

When he first learned the Minor Fireball Spell, he had no idea how to properly practice magic, and each time he would foolishly cast the complete spell outright.

As a result, he could only manage a few attempts in an entire day.

Later, he learned the correct method of magical training from Gu Ze’s words.

But after Li Wei obtained the Great Dreamwalking Art, he was able to freely cast spells for practice within his dreams, without any restrictions from mana limitations.

Thus, he completely forgot about that earlier method of training.

It was only after Gusewei reminded him that he finally recalled it.

Could it be that the Minor Time Spell also lacked some form of energy to fill it?

Just as elemental spells required magical elements to be filled in before they could truly be cast—did the Minor Time Spell require a similar kind of power?

Time element?

Li Wei wasn’t even sure such a thing existed.

Come to think of it, when it came to time-related matters, there was one force with which he was quite familiar.

The Power of Time!

During his time in the Time Secret Realm, Li Wei had indeed seen tangible manifestations of this power.

Could it be that the reason he couldn’t cast the Minor Time Spell was because he lacked the Power of Time?

But where on earth could he obtain such power?

Li Wei gave a helpless, bitter smile.

Now the problem was solved—but at the same time, a new one had been created.

And this new issue seemed even more difficult to resolve.

He had no clue what to do next. Should he return once again to the Frigid Abyss, seek out the Time Secret Realm, and see if he could somehow capture some of that temporal energy?

He shook his head inwardly—he didn’t hold much hope.

Even during the eight years he spent trapped inside the Time Secret Realm, he had tried everything possible.

Yet all efforts ended in failure.

No matter what means he used, nothing worked against the Power of Time.

Perhaps only by mastering the rules of time itself could one gain control over its power.

Li Wei turned toward Gusewei and smiled. “Thank you. You’ve helped me solve a big problem.”

Gusewei, spoon still in mouth, replied, “Don’t mention it—we’re friends, aren’t we? If you really want to thank me, why not come have lunch outside with me today?”

Hearing that, Li Wei looked slightly surprised, then paused briefly in thought.

He nodded. “Sure, I don’t have anything else planned today anyway.”

Gusewei waved her spoon excitedly. “Then it’s settled! And this time, you absolutely cannot stand me up!”

"Standing someone up"—it was a phrase she'd picked up from Li Wei himself.

Seeing her so happy, Li Wei felt somewhat taken aback.

When she mentioned him standing her up, he almost protested immediately—who had ever stood her up?

Then he remembered.

Right after coming out of seclusion, Gusewei had invited him to eat together, but it never happened.

Instead, he dragged her off to the back mountain to recklessly fire off a bunch of spells.

Clearly, Gusewei still harbored some lingering resentment about that incident.

She carefully dressed herself up, preparing for their noon date.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she couldn't help feeling something was still imperfect.

“Is this our first real date?”

With a touch of shyness, Gusewei wondered to herself.

“Ahhahaha… I finally broke through!”

Gu Ze strode proudly out of his room, brimming with confidence.

The moment he stepped outside, he saw Li Wei and Gusewei already getting ready to leave.

Overjoyed, he rushed over to share his happiness with them.

From being stuck as an apprentice mage unable to advance beyond the novice stage for ages, to now becoming a second-rank mage in just over a year—it was truly worth celebrating.

Upon hearing that Li Wei and Gusewei were going out for lunch, Gu Ze immediately asked to join them, wanting to celebrate together.

While Gu Ze was thrilled, Gusewei’s face fell.

What was supposed to be a date with Li Wei suddenly became a group outing with a third wheel—no less than her own brother.

And one she couldn’t possibly refuse.

Though seeing her brother genuinely happy, Gusewei didn’t want to dampen his mood either.

Reluctantly, she accepted the arrangement.

While shopping and dining, Li Wei noticed that Gusewei seemed distracted.

Even though she had suggested the outing, she appeared disinterested.

Li Wei found it puzzling.

Meanwhile, Gu Ze remained blissfully cheerful throughout, enjoying every bite and walking along happily.

After finishing their meal, the three prepared to return to the Ice Jade Palace.

BOOM!

A tremendous explosion echoed from outside the city walls, followed by violent ground tremors. Snow slid off rooftops, dumping a pile onto Gu Ze’s head.

Li Wei quickly shielded Gusewei from the falling snow above.

She glanced at him, eyes heavy with concern as she gazed toward the city gates.

“Could it be the corrupted beasts attacking again?” Gusewei asked worriedly.

Li Wei said simply, “Let’s go take a look.”

“Corrupted beasts? What are those things?”

Gu Ze brushed the snow from his head, utterly confused.

He hadn’t heard of such creatures before.

Without further explanation, both hurried straight to the city wall.

There, the Ice Guardians and Valkyries had already drawn their weapons, ready for battle.

Spotting Gusewei approaching, Shaniate—who was temporarily leading the Valkyries—hurried forward to greet her respectfully.

"Milord Mayor."

Seeing that Li Wei was also nearby, she hurriedly offered her greeting as well.

"Archmage Milady."

Gusevi nodded gently. "Mm, what is the situation outside?"

She leaned forward to peer over the city wall. Below, a layer of swirling ice and snow obscured everything, making it impossible to discern what was happening.

Shaniate had previously served as deputy commander of the Valkyrie corps.

Her strength was somewhat weaker than Monis's, and her professional rank was at the early sixth tier.

Hearing Gusevi's inquiry, she promptly responded...

(End of Chapter)