Translator: AnubisTL
Generally, the specific rule a wizard chooses to study upon advancing to the third-tier is their most private and core secret.
This choice determines the wizard's future development path, combat style, and ultimately, the limits of their entire wizarding career.
However, given Senior Viola's notoriously vile personality, there was no need to speculate about which rule she would select.
Without a doubt, Viola had chosen the "Pain" rule!
In the wizard world, this rule belongs to a relatively niche branch.
It's peculiar; when used purely for combat, its direct enhancement to fighting power is actually quite modest.
Especially against battle-hardened creatures with wills as unyielding as steel, the rule's effectiveness is further diminished.
Yet, when facing certain unique beings, this rule possesses an extraordinarily exaggerated auxiliary effect.
For example... the Living Flamefrost Plane before them.
Enemies born powerful, coexisting with the plane itself, and belonging to the elemental creature type may never have experienced the sensation of "pain" since their very creation.
Their existence embodies the rules and power themselves, overlooking the endless cycles of creation and destruction within the plane without ever empathizing with its inhabitants.
Conversely, when this powerful living plane first encountered sustained, soul-deep pain, it would undoubtedly suffer a tremendous impact.
Its combat rhythm would be disrupted, its power mobilization would become sluggish, and even its control over its own rules would develop vulnerabilities!
After understanding this, Jieming realized something else.
Master Augustine's order for the Wizard Camp to self-destruct wasn't merely to inflict heavy damage on the enemy.
It served a deeper purpose: to make the living plane experience primal pain for the first time.
Once that initial pain was felt, once a crack called "pain" had been etched into its impenetrable shell, Viola could use her law—like a maggot clinging to bone—to subject the living plane to ceaseless, unprecedented torment.
Jieming looked at Viola with astonishment, a hint of disbelief in his eyes.
He never imagined that this senior sister, who was only a third-tier wizard, could occupy such a crucial strategic position in a battle of this magnitude.
After grasping the situation, he couldn't help but grumble, "Senior Sister, if you have such an important mission, why are you slacking off here with me?"
Viola waved her hand dismissively. "Who said I was slacking off? I've been working hard the whole time, you know!"
After a pause, she explained, "The pain rule successfully affected the living plane from the very beginning. When it felt pain, its suffering became like a precise coordinate. As long as my mental power holds, I'll be able to lock onto that massive creature forever."
"No matter where I am, as long as I maintain the lock, I can continuously inflict pain on it. There's really no difference between being here and being in the command center."
As Jieming chatted with Viola, he kept a close eye on the battle unfolding on the holographic screen.
The clash between the two colossal entities continued unabated, each collision of energy sending tremors through the void.
The ship plane's main cannon, having cooled down after its previous salvo, completed its charging cycle once more.
A beam of destructive energy, thicker and more concentrated than before, tore through the void and struck the living plane's massive "magma maw" with pinpoint accuracy.
The terrifying energy erupted instantly, violently severing the surging lava flow and leaving a deep, charred wound that exposed bone on the creature's "lips."
Under the influence of the pain law, the living plane endured agony far greater than before.
Writhing in agony, the living plane unleashed an even more furious, silent roar.
Its crimson and azure eyes spun wildly, unleashing two distinct yet equally lethal elemental disasters. Like intertwined dragons, these forces crashed violently against the ship plane's shield.
The shield flickered violently, and the entire ship plane groaned under the strain. Countless wizards at their respective nodes frantically adjusted the magical formations, pouring every ounce of their energy into maintaining the shield's integrity.
As Jieming observed the data displayed on the holographic screen and the shifting dynamics on the battlefield, his expression grew increasingly grave.
Despite Viola's pain rule continuing to exert its effects, the ship plane seemed to be gradually and irreversibly losing ground.
The living plane's terrifying regenerative and adaptive capabilities were becoming increasingly apparent.
It was growing accustomed to the pain, even finding a new combat rhythm within it!
Its attacks became more ferocious and precise!
Viola, however, showed no surprise at this development, as if she had anticipated such progress.
Watching the battle on the screen, where the ship plane was being steadily overwhelmed, she calmly explained, "While pain is highly effective against such creatures, my current level is simply too low."
She sighed and continued, "For high-level creatures like these, if the applied rule power isn't strong enough, even if they're initially affected by the pain, they'll quickly adapt."
The advancement criteria for wizards aren't just requirements for promotion; they also define the upper limit of a wizard's power.
For a third-tier wizard to advance to the fourth tier, beyond mental power requirements, their rule mastery must reach 1%.
Conversely, regardless of a third-tier wizard's actual rule mastery, they can only manifest rule power approaching 1%.
This is an iron law of the wizard system, the very foundation of hierarchical division.
"So... you plan to advance to the fourth tier here?" Jieming asked, instantly understanding Viola's intentions.
"Yes and no," Viola replied, nodding then shaking her head.
Jieming swallowed hard, his gaze fixed on her expression. In her silver-gray eyes flickered an unprecedented, almost manic ambition and resolve.
She smiled softly, a smile tinged with excitement and a hint of madness that sent a chill down Jieming's spine.
"This time, I plan to advance directly to a sixth-tier wizard in one go!"
Jieming's pupils constricted sharply!
He could hardly believe his ears.
To advance from the third-tier, skipping both the fourth and fifth tiers, and ascend directly to the sixth-tier?!
Even though he had long anticipated that his senior sister was planning something ambitious, hearing her actual plan still left him stunned.
This was utterly fantastical!
"Impossible... wait..." Jieming instinctively wanted to object, but then something occurred to him, and he turned to Viola with astonishment. "You've already fully mastered the pain rule?!"
Viola didn't answer. Instead, she slowly withdrew a magic potion from her robes.
The potion radiated a brilliant, pure golden light, as if she were holding a miniature sun in her hand, its radiance dazzling.
Within the exquisite crystal vial, the golden liquid flowed languidly, seeming to contain the very secrets of the world.
As Viola gazed at the potion, a rare hint of helplessness flickered across her face, which usually wore a mocking, almost manic expression.
She murmured to herself, "All this for just this one vial... I've racked up over a thousand years of debt!"
Jieming recognized the potion instantly.
He had seen records of it in high-level databases.
It was... the Soul Ascension Potion.
Considered the most suitable magic potion in wizard civilization for enhancing mental power during advancement!
Its effects were extraordinarily potent. Without any side effects, it could forcefully "ascend" the user's soul to the next, or even the next-next, tier within a short period, allowing them to meet the mental power requirements for advancement.
Although the user's soul essence would revert to its original state after the potion's effects wore off, if they successfully advanced during that time, the soul ascension essence would be permanently retained, permanently expanding their mental power ceiling and potential!
Afterward, prolonged meditation would be sufficient to replenish the mental power gap created by the advancement.
This particular potion could support advancement up to the sixth-tier wizard level.
Theoretically, if Viola's comprehension of the Pain Rule was profound enough, it was indeed possible for her to use this potion to achieve a monumental leap from the third-tier to the sixth-tier in one go!
However, Jieming remained skeptical about Viola's ability to fully comprehend the Pain Rule ahead of schedule.
Understanding rules becomes exponentially more difficult as one progresses. Even geniuses require vast amounts of time for accumulation and sudden enlightenment.
Viola candidly admitted, "While I am indeed a pervert with a far deeper understanding of 'pain' than ordinary people, reaching the ultimate limits of the pain law is no easy feat."
She openly acknowledged that she had not yet fully grasped and mastered a small core portion of the pain law's fundamental principles.
"However..." Viola's tone shifted, her eyes gleaming with confidence. "This slight discrepancy is nothing to worry about."
Her gaze returned to the luminous screen, where the Living Flamefrost Plane writhed in agony, its roars echoing through the void.
"The reason lies within it!"
"Such a unique and powerful being, when subjected to pain, can conversely provide me with immense benefits!"
"For every increment of pain it suffers due to my rule, its colossal soul and inherent laws will feedback a sliver of entirely new understanding about the essence of 'pain,' deepening my comprehension of the pain law!"
"The stronger my rule becomes, the greater its suffering! The greater its suffering, the stronger my rule becomes!"
"This is a perfect circulation!"
In other words, Viola dared to contemplate a direct advancement to sixth-tier wizard status solely because she had encountered this rare and invaluable opportunity.
The living plane before her was both her enemy and her ultimate "nourishment" on her path to mastering the pain law!
(End of the Chapter)
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