94: Chapter 94 Another Miracle

Seizing this opportunity, Ronan immediately poured all of his Spiritual Power into the "Scorching Ray".

This was his strongest attack, the only one with a chance of breaking the Academy President's protective shield.

He was betting all of his Spiritual Power. Regardless of success or failure, he would revert to a state of Spiritual Power exhaustion.

It wasn't that he didn't want to reserve some Spiritual Power for a follow-up reaction, but the "Scorching Ray" had always subtly interfered with his control over the amount of Spiritual Power he could channel.

Ronan couldn't precisely control the exact quantity of Spiritual Power he input into the "Scorching Ray"'s magic construct.

Especially when he poured in more Spiritual Power, the stronger the urge became to pour all of it into the magic construct.

This meant that if he wanted to unleash the Ray's maximum power, he had to invest all of his Spiritual Power into it.

He only gradually became aware of this after his Spiritual Power had grown stronger.

He thought this was likely a negative side effect of the wish.

After all, the "Scorching Ray," obtained through his wish, was somewhat special compared to other spells.

The last time he had poured all his Spiritual Power into the "Scorching Ray" was back in the Underground Plaza.

But now, aside from using his unstable divine spark, Ronan had no other choice. This was his final attempt.

Empowered by his current total Spiritual Power, the "Scorching Ray" not only doubled in range and increased massively in power, but the edges of its originally incandescent light were faintly tinged with a deep crimson.

Ronan had to use this Ray to break through three layers of defense within the limited time.

The first layer was the blood-colored cage before him. Given the current beam's diameter, it was impossible to bypass the cage and attack; part of it would inevitably be blocked right in front of him.

He didn't know how strong the defense of this so-called "blood pact" cage was————

From the Academy President's words, Ronan learned this should be a Ring-tier Magic.

He only hoped this so-called Ring-tier Magic wasn't designed for confinement and defense; otherwise, the Ray might struggle to even break through this first layer.

The second layer was the same as the first: another blood-colored cage.

It was just on the Academy President's side, so the Ray actually needed to break through two blood-colored cages.

And the third layer was the crucial protective shield.

This magic, transformed from an energy shield into a dome, had astonishing defensive power.

Before this, all of Ronan's attacks had been defended against one by one.

Even attacks with the "Scorching Ray" would devolve into a mutual power-draining contest.

But this was unacceptable to Ronan.

He wasn't afraid of his Spiritual Power being outlasted, but his opponent possessed vast reserves of Life Energy—namely, Arabella and the others.

A battle of attrition would essentially be consuming their Life Energy.

Therefore, Ronan had no choice but to take the risk and make this attempt; perhaps there was still a chance for a turnaround.

The impact on the Academy President's soul from the detonated Soul Seed wouldn't last long.

Ronan acted decisively, immediately firing the Ray, which had been condensed into an energy sphere in his hand, directly at the Academy President.

In an instant.

An exceptionally thick Ray instantly shattered the two blood-colored cages and struck the protective shield in front of the Academy President.

The blood-colored cages' sturdiness was limited, making Ronan secretly sigh in relief.

As for the protective shield, he had little confidence.

He feared that the shield's shattering might affect the extraction of Arabella's Life Energy.

However, the moment the Ray blasted against the protective shield, the weight in his heart finally lifted completely.

The protective shield shattered into pieces in an instant, directly pierced through by the Ray.

Simultaneously, the Academy President, whose consciousness had not yet returned, was also struck by the Ray, his entire body disintegrating instantly.

Success!

A throbbing pain filled Ronan's head, a symptom of Spiritual Power exhaustion.

The culprit had been eliminated; he felt immense joy.

He immediately began practicing the Starry Sky Meditation Method, striving to recover his Spiritual Power.

But at that moment, he noticed the blood-colored cage in front of him was rapidly repairing itself.

In a flash, not only the one before him, but also the one on the Academy President's side returned to its original state.

Ronan's expression changed; he was about to escape before the cage fully closed.

However, before he could act, he froze in place.

He saw, within the blood-colored cage on the other side, thick blood continuously gathering, gradually forming a familiar figure.

The Academy President actually possessed the same regenerative ability as the Blood Duke.

Not only that, due to Ronan's attack, he was directly freed from the effects of the soul impact.

The Academy President returned to normal in the blink of an eye, looking at Ronan with an expression of curiosity.

"I never imagined you still had such a move," the Academy President praised without stint. "It seems I still underestimated you."

"However, I presume your tricks are almost used up. Now————"

Looking at the blood-colored cage before him, the Academy President shouted loudly, "'blood pact' activate!"

Instantly, Ronan felt his body connect to something.

"I choose to exchange my Life Energy for the opponent's Spiritual Power."

As soon as the Academy President finished speaking, Ronan felt a surge of powerful Life Energy flow into his body from the point of connection.

At the same time, the bit of Spiritual Power he had just recovered was completely drained.

This draining was continuous, not a one-time depletion.

Ronan felt his head being hammered incessantly and couldn't help but roar in pain.

His Spiritual Power was already exhausted. Facing this violent extraction, his soul was also affected, showing faint signs of instability.

The divine spark at his soul's core was powerless against this phenomenon, showing no reaction.

He tried to use the Panel to let his soul escape to the Temple Space but found he couldn't do that either.

So, after losing Spiritual Power, the soul was affected this severely, unable to even activate his cheat.

Agony tormented him.

This was the content of the blood pact the Academy President had chosen specifically for Ronan after discovering he had exhausted all his Spiritual Power.

"Yes, that's it—suffer————" The Academy President watched Ronan's agonized state with a look of intoxication.

"I wish, at the cost of 1 point of wish power, to immediately recover my Spiritual Power."

[Wish Granted!]

[wish power Reserves -1]

Ronan instantly felt clarity in his mind and vision.

His Spiritual Power instantly recovered to its optimal state. The extraction force could no longer shake his soul, only painlessly drawing minuscule amounts of Spiritual Power.

The previous phenomenon of soul instability also ceased. He could now use any ability.

However, Ronan remained solemn.

He knew the big moment was coming.

[wish power Reserves: 0]

[Divine Spark Essence about to dissipate. Self-Preservation Mode activated. Miracle Descends!]

Instantly, the surrounding environment was replaced by darkness and void.

Ronan's soul left his body, rapidly moving away from the surface along an unknown passage, ascending continuously until it reached the heavens above.

In a daze, he found himself in the Temple Space, seated upon the Supreme Throne.

Beneath his feet were layers of steps formed from countless condensed Dimensions.

At that moment, at the very bottom step stood the Academy President, his face full of curiosity.

Finding himself suddenly in an unfamiliar environment, the Academy President showed no excessive panic.

He carefully observed his surroundings, seeing only endless darkness and void.

Above him was a staircase leading to the sky.

The staircase seemed to traverse countless Dimensions, connecting to a magnificent temple, reaching all the way to a Supreme Throne at its end.

Seated upon the throne was an existence of such greatness.

The Academy President fearfully averted his gaze, lowering his head in respect.

"Have I received divine mercy?" he pondered inwardly.

Sitting on the throne, Ronan saw a Panel appear before his eyes, prompting:

[Bestow a Miracle?]

This was the wish-granting function targeting the Academy President. Ronan immediately clicked [Yes].

Simultaneously, a semi-transparent Panel also appeared before the Academy President's eyes.

The Panel displayed numerous mysterious characters, forming text he was most familiar with: "The Supreme Being's Bestowal grants you one wish."

"Just as I thought."

The Academy President was ecstatic but still Strive controlled his expression, not wanting to be disrespectful to the deity due to losing composure.

As the President of the Arcane Arts Society, he had some knowledge of extremely esoteric information.

Among this, content related to deities had always been passed down as top-secret by certain individuals.

The Academy President had once learned about the concept of divine mercy.

It was said that long ago, deities walked the earth and would often bestow mercy upon different races.

Mercy could directly help the recipient fulfill a wish, hence it was also called a miracle.

The deity bestows the miracle, the mortal makes the wish, and thus the wish is fulfilled.

That was the process.

The Academy President never expected he would encounter it himself.

Looking at the Panel floating before him, he thought for a long time before tentatively making a wish: "I wish for immortality."

Immediately, the Panel information changed rapidly, displaying a line of text: "Insufficient wish power. Wish cannot be fulfilled."

As expected————

The Academy President was further convinced of his thoughts.

The mercy, or miracle, bestowed by the deity determined the upper limit of the wish based on the wisher's own conditions.

This aligned with the descriptions of wish-making in the records.

The Academy President immediately changed his strategy.

Although he didn't know how much wish power he possessed, he knew one should make a wish according to the amount of wish power available.

Thus, he began to determine how much wish power he had by testing the difficulty of the wishes he made.

"I wish to increase my lifespan by three hundred years."

"Insufficient wish power. Wish cannot be fulfilled."

"I wish to increase my lifespan by two hundred and fifty years."

"Insufficient wish power. Wish cannot be fulfilled."

"I wish to increase my lifespan by two hundred years."

The prompt on the Panel suddenly changed: "Pay the price?"

Delight flashed in the Academy President's eyes, but he immediately and without hesitation chose [No].

One should not fulfill a wish by paying a price, as greed could lead to unpredictable consequences.

The records had emphasized this point, and the Academy President was well aware.

"I wish to increase my lifespan by one hundred and ninety-nine years."

At that moment, an analysis of the Academy President's wish also appeared before Ronan's eyes.

Wish Analysis [1. Wish subject clear]

[2. Numerical precision complete]

[3. Native wish power sufficient]

[Allow wish to be granted?]