287: Chapter 287 Advancement: Fourth Ring Wizard!

After spending half a day, Nie Ning finally memorized the modification plan for the array diagram and various matters needing attention.

Immediately afterward, he couldn't wait to return to his laboratory in reality.

It must be said that this was a massive help to Nie Ning.

It also proved from another perspective that one person's wisdom is limited; collective brainstorming was his way forward.

With his own train of thought and knowledge reserves, he wouldn't have been able to come up with such a good plan even if he went bald from thinking.

'It's a pity Heloise isn't here, otherwise she would be very interested in this...'

In the laboratory, Nie Ning took a deep breath, discarded those irrelevant stray thoughts, and focused his attention back on the runic array diagram on the table.

Over the next three days, Nie Ning spent his time adding his original Runic Formula to it.

After a series of experiments, he finally confirmed that this plan was indeed feasible; at the very least, it ran without any issues.

However, there was one thing Qian Ning hadn't mentioned, or rather, hadn't expected at all: Nie Ning's crazy idea.

This diagram was designed with the array as the core, rather than witchcraft as the core.

It wasn't just a matter of the runic array diagram; one used various materials as the main body, while the other used the body and the Spiritual Sea of Consciousness as the carrier.

These were two completely different concepts.

Qian Ning never imagined Nie Ning's method of advancement would be so bizarre.

Looking at the form of the array diagram, it didn't look like a witchcraft brand at all; he only assumed Nie Ning needed to create some kind of energy conversion device...

...

Once everything was ready, Nie Ning began his path to advancement.

Sitting in the cultivation room, Nie Ning spent half an hour just to calm his excited heart.

As usual, it started with a promotion potion, its massive medicinal power quickly affecting Nie Ning's Spiritual Power.

This advancement was completely different from previous ones.

In the past, Nie Ning's branding of witchcraft had been very bumpy, and his current strength was entirely dependent on luck.

But this time, he was full of confidence in the witchcraft he needed to brand; he only needed to follow the steps to naturally step into the fourth rank.

Everything went as envisioned, even more smoothly than Nie Ning had expected.

The only difficulty was the relative hardship of carving those special runes.

With the enhancement of Power of Corruption, the branded formula operated normally, and no accidents occurred.

When Nie Ning carved the final rune and withdrew his Power of Corruption, the runic array diagram in his consciousness sea flashed with a white luster.

Operating normally!

At this moment, the Elemental Power in the cultivation room fluctuated violently, and a majestic magic power surged within Nie Ning's body.

Nie Ning could feel his crystal core beginning to compress energy.

Simultaneously, a suction force was born within Nie Ning's body, frantically absorbing the surrounding Elemental Power.

The Spirit Gathering Array beneath him flickered incessantly, and an elemental tide rose in the small Elemental Pool under the house, as a massive amount of Elemental Power poured into Nie Ning's body.

Under the baptism of Elemental Power, the crystal core became purer, and the magic power within it became more refined.

...

Time passed bit by bit, and in the blink of an eye, it was already the evening of the second day.

The multicolored Elemental Power in the room converged into Nie Ning's body.

Once everything settled down, Nie Ning let out a long breath, a sharp light flashing in his slowly opening eyes.

At this moment, Nie Ning felt refreshed, and the surging magic power in his body felt as powerful as a spring.

Nie Ning pinched his own face to finally confirm it wasn't an illusion.

The advancement was so easy, without any obstacles, as smooth as water flowing into a channel.

"It seems all that time spent preparing really wasn't in vain."

A smile appeared on Nie Ning's face.

If he hadn't refined the god-forbidden ring earlier, he probably would have hastily completed the advancement long ago.

Based on his accumulation at the time, some unexpected trouble likely would have occurred during advancement, and whether he could succeed would have depended on luck.

[Class: Sky Knight (Peak), Fourth-Ring Wizard (Initial)]

[Talent: Supernatural Adaptability]

[Bloodline: ??? (Not Activated)]

[Derived Traits: Strange Beast Body, Elemental Spring, Power of the Tribe, Advanced Self-Healing (Corrupted), Power of a Hundred Beasts (Corrupted), Super-grade Mental Power Amplification, Thought Acceleration, Malice Perception, Intermediate Shapeshifting, Advanced Chaos Affinity, Advanced Life Force Affinity]

[Derived Skills: ..., Assisting Evil, Advanced Chaos Manipulation (Corrupted), Advanced Life Force Manipulation, Light Break Impact, Explosive Fireball, Ice Shackles, Crimson Flame Fire Feather, Light-Shadow Slash, Storm Tornado, Ice Explosion Ring, Cold Wave Invasion, Forbidden Domain of Living Beings, Light-Shadow Fox Spirit Avatar]

[Cultivation Methods: ..., Blood Sun Qi Circulation Method, Spirit Dream Phantom Sound Method, Stairway to Godhood]

[Branded Witchcraft: Exquisite Ten-Element Illusion Extinction Array Map]

[Skills: ... Blood Burst Technique (Great Success), Ice Blue Wing Technique (Great Success), Earth Spirit Puppet (Great Success), Vine Entanglement (Great Success), Rainstorm Condensation Technique (Great Success), Blood Cloud Escape (Great Success)]

Nie Ning felt his magic power; its operation was perfectly normal, with no abnormalities.

Immediately, Nie Ning activated the Exquisite Ten-Element Illusion Extinction Array Map in his Spiritual Sea of Consciousness.

But something strange happened; the magic power in Nie Ning's body seemed to stagnate, its circulation speed crawling like a snail.

Nie Ning froze for a moment and checked the Exquisite Ten-Element Illusion Extinction Array Map in his mind.

"It shouldn't be... there's no problem... why can't I use it?"

Feeling that something was off, Nie Ning stopped driving the Exquisite Ten-Element Illusion Extinction Array Map.

At that moment, his magic power returned to normal. With a lift of his hand, lightning flickered continuously in his palm; he could still use spells.

Nie Ning's expression instantly turned ugly.

Could there be a problem with the Runic Formula?

But he had already tested it using the energy from the Elemental Pool at that time, and the operation of the Runic Formula had no issues.

Logically speaking, this kind of situation shouldn't occur.

If it truly couldn't be used, like some electrical hardware, it should cause short circuits or other abnormal conditions.

Recalling the scene at the time, he had not only successfully condensed the eight-fold elemental fusion energy but also managed to forcibly interfere with the spell's Runic Formula, giving the spell the characteristics of the eight-fold elemental fusion power.

If it wouldn't work, he never would have branded such a Runic Formula, and it would have been difficult to break through to the fourth rank so smoothly.

"Perhaps there's a problem with those high-level runes Qian Ning gave me?"

Nie Ning fell into deep thought.

As an area he didn't understand well, this was the most likely possibility.

But they had no grievances; there was no reason for the other party to mess with him.

Besides, even excluding the high-level runes, the remaining Runic Formula should theoretically work.

Would the other party spend so much effort to modify the array diagram so perfectly just to spite him?

"I didn't actually run into a psychopath, did I..."

Nie Ning scratched his head with both hands, feeling his scalp go numb.

In his view, the strength of the person behind Qian Ning was definitely not low—at least fifth rank or above, possibly even a sixth-rank wizard.

If it were just a matter of hindering his advancement, Nie Ning would have accepted it and just retaliated later.

But now the problem was huge: relying on an unusable array, he had successfully advanced!

...