Chapter 159: The Secret of Advancement (3/3)

The Hall of Truth was the highest core region of the floating city, functioning essentially as its brain.

The mythallar core of the entire floating city, as well as the central energy hub, extended outward from the Hall of Truth.

Various institutional branches of the Mage Association headquarters were also housed within the Hall of Truth.

Ironically, the logistics agencies serving the entire floating city were the ones located on the surface level of the floating city.

After going through several registration procedures, and even having to produce his mage badge and that mithral microchip, Arthur was finally cleared by the spellguards.

This was also the first time Arthur had undergone close-range inspection by the spellguards.

After passing the checkpoint, Arthur still looked back with a curious expression at the spellguards with their resolute faces.

"No need to be curious. You will become one of them eventually," Antinua said.

"Me?"

Arthur had just stepped into the alchemical elevator with Antinua, and he looked somewhat surprised upon hearing her words.

"Mentor, you also advanced into the 'Spellguard' class?" Arthur asked.

"What do you think?"

Before Arthur could continue pressing, the alchemical elevator had already reached the lowest level.

Watching the two adamantine gates slowly open, Arthur stepped out and casually sighed at the sheer extravagance.

Next, the two walked down a narrow, gloomy corridor. The entire path was bathed in a dim magical aura, devoid of the perpetual light fixtures most commonly found throughout the floating city.

By the time Arthur became a 3rd-level wizard, he had already mastered the 2nd-level spell, *Perpetual Light*.

It only required sprinkling fifty gold pieces worth of ruby powder onto the corresponding object and casting the *Perpetual Light* spell upon the target.

The item would then burn with a heatless yet eternally enduring flame, which would not be extinguished even in the absence of oxygen.

Therefore, lighting fixtures of this kind were the most abundant things in the floating city.

This was also the first time Arthur had witnessed such a dim corridor in the floating city, damp to the point where green moss grew even in the corners, glowing like clusters of green light spots.

"Open flames are not permitted along this path," Antinua explained. "Otherwise, it will attract special attacks."

"Because of the Morlin Stele?" Arthur recalled the connection between the Morlin Stele and the Elemental Plane of Fire.

"Not quite. All abnormal powers were purged from the Morlin Stele long ago. It is simply that something is sealed beneath the floor of this corridor."

Listening to Antinua's words, Arthur could not help but admire the sheer audacity of the Mage Association.

As expected, anything deemed truly dangerous had to be sealed right under their own noses.

Just like the Final Scroll, which was suppressed at the very bottom of the Obelisk.

Even when Arthur wanted to go there, Antinua could only bring him through the back door because the formal entry procedures and rituals were far too complex.

"Mentor, why are we coming to see the stele this time?" Arthur finally asked.

Before this, when Antinua had kicked him into the dark ages of antiquity and he had taken a stroll before returning, Antinua had been extremely mysterious throughout the entire process and had not told him much.

Now that they were about to reach the hidden location of the Morlin Stele, Arthur could finally no longer contain his curiosity and asked.

"Let that mage explain it to you when we arrive," Antinua said simply.

In the end, after walking for nearly ten full minutes, the two of them finally passed through that corridor. Unusually, Antinua did not use any magic along the way.

"Identification." Two guards clad entirely in pitch-black full plate armor barred their path.

Arthur had not expected there to be another inspection at this stage.

Moreover, he had never seen anyone wearing such full plate armor in the floating city before, so he could not help feeling extremely curious, continuously observing the three figures ahead. He simply felt that the atmosphere was far too cold.

Mages generally considered wearing armor a taboo, as the arcane spell failure chance would break one's heart, even with mithral alloys.

At this moment, Antinua directly drew a piece of parchment edged with thin gold leaf from her pocket and handed it over.

From behind the two armored guards, a mage draped in a heavy hood extended a hand, took the identification document, and carefully examined it before nodding to let them pass.

"That mage's hand looks unnaturally withered and skeletal," Arthur whispered.

"If a lich, an undead creature, is willing to show you a withered hand at all, you should consider yourself lucky," Antinua said.

Arthur's eyes widened instantly.

A lich!

As spellcasters among undead creatures, liches possessed a resounding reputation across Eana. As long as their phylacteries remained intact, they could resurrect within a short time even if destroyed.

Therefore, liches often served as the ultimate behind-the-scenes bosses among the heroes of Eana.

Wasn't it true, however, that most liches belonged to the evil alignment?

As if guessing Arthur's thoughts, Antinua explained, "While there are arch-liches of good alignment among the lich population, the one you just saw is indeed a Lawful Evil lich. It lost a bet, so it has to guard the floating city here for a hundred years."

Only then did Arthur understand. No wonder the guards at the previous checkpoints, no matter how stern, would actively show respect to Antinua, while this checkpoint was freezing cold—it turned out to be an unfeeling lich.

Thinking of this, Arthur could not help looking forward to the Morlin Stele ahead.

No matter how one looked at it, it certainly wouldn't be ordinary.

Shortly after, Arthur followed Antinua into a hemispherical hall. At least ten-odd people were standing in various corners of the room, raising their heads to sweep a glance at the two of them before continuing with their respective tasks.

Meanwhile, the Morlin Stele, which Arthur had previously seen in the dark age, still stood right in the middle of the hall, yet not a single trace could be seen upon its surface.

Where was the writing Antinua had mentioned?

Three meters in front of the stele sat a stone stool made of seemingly identical material.

Could it be that he was supposed to sit there?

At this moment, the leading mage in charge of the hall stepped forward, slightly bowing in greeting to Antinua. "Milady, it has been a long time."

Antinua gave a light wave of her hand and pointed at Arthur. "Let him go through the test, and by the way, explain it to him."

The mage smiled at Arthur, revealing rows of white teeth. "Let me introduce myself. Hill, person in charge of the Morlin Stele Awakening Ritual."

"Awakening Ritual?" Arthur could not help asking.

Mage Hill immediately understood that Antinua had not explained much to Arthur beforehand, so he laughed heartily and said, "The advanced class awakening ritual, of course."

"But I haven't reached level 5 yet?" Arthur asked with a hint of doubt.

Although he quite liked pursuing advancement routes, no matter how he looked at it, it shouldn't be any worse than waiting until wizard level 5 to acquire a regular feat.

"Rest assured, Master Midsummer. Indeed, generally speaking, only after reaching level 5 as core seeds of the floating city are individuals arranged to come here for the awakening ritual, which guarantees at least a seventy percent probability of successfully awakening an advanced class."

"However, there are quite a few individuals like you—the core among the cores—who ultimately enjoy special treatment. For instance, you might travel outside for long periods, and once you reach the threshold for leveling up, you might easily promote directly into your base class, thereby missing the opportunity to advance into a prestige class."

"Therefore, the floating city also permits granting you access to advanced class content in advance, so that you can successfully promote to an advanced class even while traveling outside."

Upon hearing this, Arthur finally understood.

As it turned out, coming to this place for the class awakening ritual wasn't something everyone got to experience.

"So how do we awaken?" Arthur asked.

Mage Hill lowered his head slightly and looked at Arthur. "It's very simple. You just need to sit on that stone stool, and we will initiate the ritual, stimulating the energy to allow you to begin communicating with this Morlin Stele."

"Then the stele will absorb your consciousness, making you feel as though you are undergoing a test within a certain space. As long as you pass the test, the stele will arrange a suitable advanced class for you."

Hearing this, Arthur figured it wasn't too complicated and nodded.

Suddenly, Antinua communicated directly into his mind using "Telepathic Bond."

Though Arthur didn't understand why Antinua hadn't mentioned this from the beginning and had to wait until they arrived here to speak quietly via magic, he still accepted her connection request.

"Later on, if that stele gives you a hard time, just repeat what you saw when you traveled back to the past to it," Antinua said in a flat tone.

Arthur didn't react for a moment.

Repeat it to the stele?

"Hmph, this stele has always boasted to me that when it was first born, it had the ultimate truths of magic inscribed upon its body, and it was only later when Ernest met it that he relied on the contents of the stele to become the most powerful mage."

Arthur immediately reacted. "Wait, isn't it completely blank right now?"

"It claimed that Ernest didn't want anyone else to ever become as powerful a mage as he was, which was why he deliberately erased the contents of the stele."

Upon hearing this, Arthur curled his lips in amusement. This stele was far too fond of boasting; it really considered itself the Final Stele.

"Since you saw him during the archaic dark era, when it gives you a hard time and refuses to grant you an advancement, you can bring this up to mock it. Naturally, it won't give you a hard time anymore."

"The reason this stele has a seventy percent awakening success rate is because it can barely stand the sight of those seventy percent. Even if you fall within that seventy percent, you will still be battered and mentally drained by its mischievous methods."

"Therefore, many mages in the floating city who advanced through this stele harbor a trauma toward it."

Only then did Arthur understand why Antinua had gone to such great lengths to let him travel back in time to witness the Morlin Stele before it had ever met Ernest.

It turned out to be a way for him to establish an unbreakable friendship with the stele beforehand.

With this thought, Arthur smiled at the stele, walked over slowly, and sat down upon the identical stone stool in front of it.

"Begin!" Mage Hill shouted loudly at that moment.

Immediately, the seven surrounding mages sat at the seven core positions of the magic array, cooperating to link the hubs of the entire stele ritual array.

As the triggers, each of them offered up their own spell slots to serve as fuel for the array.

[Adventurer Midsummer, commencing connection with the core of the "Morlin Stele".]

Countless lights and shadows flashed across Arthur's eyes for an instant, as if the entire earth were being stripped away and the surrounding space began to twist and deform.

In the end, everything was swallowed by darkness.

A beam of light descended straight down from the dome, bathing his entire body in warmth.

"Respected big brother, which advanced class would you like, please?"

Wait, something seemed wrong with the script?