Under the intertwining of numerous mysterious energies, layer upon layer of metal wrapped around Ronan, moving like a living entity, finally forming a suit of living metal armor that enveloped his entire body, leaving only his hair and eyes visible.
His face was covered by a black mask, with countless metal waves flowing like water, giving off a mysterious and eerie aura.
Once Ronan was fully enveloped by [Living Steel], a deep silver hue spread out from his face, quickly covering him entirely, turning him into a silver-gray figure. Complex and arcane patterns appeared on his mask, adding a touch of nobility to the mystery and eeriness.
Over three years, Ronan's height had grown from about 180 cm to 190 cm, making him tall and imposing among wizards. Now, "wearing" the living steel, he appeared even more formidable, like a towering silver-white metal monster over two meters tall.
With a flicker and a subtle ripple of spatial energy, Ronan appeared at the center of the mysterious garden.
"Shhh—"
Amidst the blooming lavender and geraniums, a twisted, transparent humanoid figure "arrived as expected."
Under the silver-white metal mask, Ronan's blue eyes rapidly expanded with countless white lines, and the eye pattern at his brow fully emerged.
In Ronan's eyes, the figure, moving at an incredible speed and barely perceptible to the naked eye or mental power, transformed into a mass of tightly wound, silver-white threads, resembling a rapidly rolling ball of silver yarn.
The "ball of yarn" rolled rapidly toward Ronan, but this time, instead of dodging, he stood his ground, slowly narrowing his eyes.
The twisted, transparent humanoid rushed at Ronan with great speed. When it entered within five meters of him, the [Eye of Truth] at his brow suddenly blazed with light, the pure white eye pattern almost leaping from his forehead.
Simultaneously, in his consciousness space, the third golden mental power crystal trembled slightly, its embedded soul rune humming continuously.
Strands of arcane silver-white light radiated from Ronan's eyes, with intense spatial energy rippling around him, momentarily overshadowing the metal spell's energy.
"Hiss—"
Ronan took a deep breath, and just as the twisted, transparent humanoid was about to reach him, he thrust his right hand forward, fingers splayed wide.
In an instant, the silver metal attached to him flowed like water, extending rapidly along his right arm and fingers, forming countless silver-white metal tendrils that wrapped around the twisted humanoid layer by layer.
Despite its momentum slowing, the humanoid's form was as sharp as a blade, continuously slicing through the metal tendrils obstructing its path.
As numerous metal tendrils snapped, Ronan's expression remained unchanged, his eyes gleaming as he muttered softly.
"[Stasis]!"
In his consciousness space, the soul rune within the third mental power crystal flickered again.
Threads of stasis-like energy emanated from Ronan, freezing the surrounding space as if filled with invisible glue, slowing airflow, light, and even time to a crawl.
Under this power, the twisted humanoid's movements slowed by dozens, even hundreds of times.
A terrifying force of escape surged from it, shattering the frozen void with "crackling" sounds, threatening to break through the stasis at any moment.
Ronan's expression remained calm as he stepped forward, appearing directly before the twisted humanoid.
His right hand shot forward, as layers of metal disintegrated with "crackling" sounds from his arm.
In an instant, the previously slender and sturdy right arm turned exceedingly robust, muscles colliding, veins bulging, with dark blue serpent-like scales appearing. His fingers expanded, fingertips turning pitch black, transforming into a monstrous arm that plunged into the humanoid's chest.
"Crack, crack, crack—"
Under the [Eye of Truth], the countless silver-white threads composing the twisted humanoid snapped under Ronan's hand.
Ronan "brutally" tore apart the "ball of yarn," his entire arm nearly submerged in the humanoid's body. Then, as if grabbing something, his expression shifted, and he rapidly withdrew his hand.
"Boom!"
With Ronan's retraction, the metal tendril-wrapped humanoid exploded, transforming into countless silver-white streams of energy, scattering and leaving pitch-black slashes in the void.
The living steel surrounding Ronan absorbed the brunt of the spatial energy flow but quickly shattered like fragile paper.
Yet Ronan remained unfazed, standing like a rock amidst the chaotic energy currents, allowing occasional streams to pass, leaving cuts on his body.
Within him, a glowing orb of life energy released vitality, quickly healing the wounds.
Throughout the process, his character panel's [Ascetic Body Tempering] master-level proficiency rapidly increased.
At that moment, Ronan's attention was entirely on what he held in his hand. His right arm had returned to normal, with a nearly solid silver orb tightly grasped in his slender, white fingers.
Ronan intently observed the orb, eyes flickering with brilliance.
As he had concluded countless times in the seclusion loft, the true exit of this mysterious garden wasn't in any corner of the garden.
The key to the next secret space was hidden within the guardian's twisted humanoid form!
"The spatial teleportation arrays scattered throughout the garden, with random movements and landing points, were merely a diversion. The so-called labyrinth of spatial arrays had no exit; every path was a dead end.
The real exit was right under the nose, simply overlooked each time."
This "under the lamp" puzzle wasn't inherently difficult; the real challenge was defeating the guardian humanoid and extracting the "key."
This being, whether an alchemical puppet or something else, possessed formidable spatial and mirror characteristics, with tremendous power, fearlessness, and lethal force, able to challenge even third-level wizards.
Even if the answer was revealed, breaking it to extract the "key" wasn't something ordinary wizards could achieve.
Ronan managed to "suppress and kill" it primarily due to the upgraded [Silverization] rune's special effects.
He spent three years in the seclusion loft, accumulating knowledge from over three thousand runes, barely enabling a preliminary analysis of several spatial runes and integrating "spatial teleportation" and "spatial stasis" effects into the [Silverization] rune.
Coupled with the extraordinary domain of [Living Steel] metal spells, along with his [Immaculate Body] and the physical prowess from the Ancient Frost Hydra bloodline...
In the brief moment of "stasis," he forcibly extracted the "key" from the humanoid.
This "key" was also the opponent's power core, hence the seemingly effortless visual effect.
Holding the silver orb, Ronan looked around.
If this was the "key"... his next task was to find the "door" to insert it into.
Suddenly, Ronan felt the orb in his hand trying to escape.
He instinctively tightened his grip, only to crush the orb, sending countless silver lights shooting from his fingers.
Before Ronan could frown, he realized something remained in his hand—
A rune with a mirror-like luster, the most beautiful, complex, and arcane rune Ronan had ever seen.
So the core was this...
Ronan blinked in surprise.
Soon, the mysterious rune in his hand shattered, reformed, and shattered again in a continuous cycle.
"A gif rune?!"
Ronan was "astonished"!
Compared to the runes he'd seen, this one was like a dynamic image compared to a static picture.
Clearly far more advanced, a level he'd never encountered.
However, before Ronan's astonishment could linger, he noticed the ground beneath and the surrounding space beginning to tremble, breaking the garden's tranquility.
Ronan stepped back a few paces, returning to his entry point, watching as the entire garden began collapsing at an alarming rate.
Black cracks appeared throughout the garden secret realm, like a beautiful mirror suddenly shattered.
The black fissures multiplied, then began to "fall away."
A "fragment" fell near Ronan, accompanied by an invisible ripple, causing him to instinctively step back, though the ripple brushed his cheek.
A sting followed.
Ronan lightly touched his left cheek, finding traces of blood on his fingers.
His eyes flickered as he reactivated the [Eye of Truth].
White light intertwined as Ronan squinted and looked up.
In his eyes, the collapsing garden secret realm presented another scene.
Countless arcs and lines were being stripped from a cohesive whole, the process radiating obscure ripples containing terrifying power.
The ripple that had "grazed" Ronan was a mere wisp, yet from afar, some left him in awe.
Ronan lowered his gaze to the "shattering" rune in his hand, his eyes reflecting deep emotion.
"This is... the power of spatial shattering!"
Only a spatial collapse could wield such formidable might.
He deeply realized the mysterious rune's extraordinary nature, and a bold idea emerged from his heart.
The thought made his heart race, his very blood nearly surging.
It was the overwhelming excitement of finding light after a long search in darkness.
For three years, Ronan had strived in the Ring's seclusion loft—attempting to integrate spatial intricacies into metal spells!
Without corresponding spatial spell legacies, this task was nearly impossible.
Yet, the space energy seed left by the dawn-level silver staff naturally "nurtured" his soul runes, enabling them to undergo wondrous transformations, laying the groundwork for spatial modifications, making it feasible.
Over three years, Ronan made significant strides in spatial modifications of soul runes.
The modified [Silverization] rune gained "short-range directional teleportation" and "brief spatial stasis" effects, significantly enhancing the metal spell's potency.
This was partly due to the [Shbiart's Silver Transformation] rune's relatively low rank, a second-level metal rare rune. Had it exceeded second-level, Ronan might not have succeeded.
So far, Ronan's optimization of the [Silverization] rune was ongoing, attempting to incorporate "spatial rift" rune effects.
This originated from the second-level silver comb artifact he acquired on the mysterious garden's vine table, its core spell rune.
The principle of "spatial rift" was to condense space energy into a "blade," using it to cause damage.
Spatial rift power was far more potent than physical, like metal spell-generated cutting power, one reason spatial spells surpassed elemental spells in strength.
This step was crucial for Ronan, as after advancing to second-level wizard, he felt metal spells' diminishing lethality.
As a first-level wizard, metal spells were his main battle spells, but after advancing, they mostly served as combat support.
The main issue was insufficient power, possibly related to the Silver Ring's inadequate metal spell legacies.
Ronan's metal spell system modifications aimed to address this shortcoming. If metal spells could incorporate spatial intricacies, the situation would change.
After three years, a [Silverization] rune altered beyond recognition barely proved his approach was feasible.
According to Ronan's plan, integrating the silver comb artifact's "spatial rift" into the [Silverization] rune would mark the initial completion of metal spell spatial modifications, meeting his expectations.
However, Ronan now discovered a more potent and suitable modification path for the current [Silverization] rune.
———"If... if I abandon 'spatial rift' and instead integrate the intricacies of 'spatial shatter' into the [Silverization] rune."
"Spatial shatter" intricacies were superior and more powerful than "spatial rift"!
The key point was—currently, the [Silverization] rune already had the 'spatial stasis' effect from the dawn-level silver staff.
When the "stasis" effect activated, the area covered became a whole, and using the "shatter" effect to break it further enhanced the power. The process was much smoother than Ronan's original plan!
"Stasis... Shatter"
At that moment, countless ideas and inspirations erupted in Ronan's mind like sparks.
His gaze alternated between the shattered rune in his hand and the collapsing garden scene.
Countless glimmers flickered in his eyes, while in his mind, something sprouted and grew like a seed.
Time passed, the duration unknown.
Suddenly, Ronan raised his hand, making a throwing gesture.
Beneath his robe, a brilliant silver light blossomed.
The silver metal, like a constantly writhing creature, was cast forth by Ronan, disappearing in flickers before coalescing into a massive disc at a certain point.
The flowing metal on the disc's surface solidified, exuding threads of stasis energy, causing the space around the metal disc to reflect light like a mirror.
Then, at the peak of accumulated stasis energy, everything silently shattered.
"Shatter!"
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—"
The shattered mirror-like metal disc fragmented into countless crescent-shaped shards, shooting in all directions, each fragment trailing bizarre and terrifying spell fluctuations, leaving countless black, jagged rifts in the void.
"Whoosh—"
Ronan exhaled, eyes blazing.
The scattered metal fragments reformed into liquid, living creatures, converging back towards him.
At this moment, in his consciousness space, a new soul rune shone brightly within the third mental power crystal.
"It's done!"
"After integrating 'teleportation,' 'stasis,' and 'shatter' spatial properties, the [Silverization] Living Steel's spell lethality has increased beyond measure... The spell's versatility in battle has also greatly expanded.
Far surpassing my initial expectations.
This move could be called—[Shattered Silver]!"
Ronan pondered briefly, "The current [Silverization] rune isn't aptly named anymore.
Describing it as [Spatial Silverization] is more fitting."
Full Name—[Ronan Damien's Spatial Silver Transformation]!
In Ronan's mind, a new rune name emerged naturally, accompanied by an overwhelming sense of achievement he'd never felt before.
For the first time in his life, he felt the joy of "creation."
On this vast wizarding land, another new rune was born from his hands.
It was the first rune he "created," though he stood on the shoulders of countless predecessors, merely "assembling and piecing together," yet it held immense significance for Ronan.
Unfortunately, this achievement and joy were unshared.
After a brief moment of exhilaration, Ronan's emotions gradually calmed. He continued contemplating the constantly shattering and reforming mysterious rune in his hand.
"This rune is too profound and arcane. I've only scratched the surface, with room for improvement and enhancement."
Moreover, Ronan noticed something.
The "spatial stasis" + "spatial shatter" combination wasn't limited to metal spell applications.
His other soul runes might also incorporate these traits.
Especially the [Tundra Frost] rune.
"The stronger and more stable the spatial structure, the more powerful the force of spatial shatter."
"Just like the sturdier the mirror, the sharper its shards when broken."
Ronan's first thought upon this spell principle was his domain of frost.
Two silverized second-level metals forming a "mirror" couldn't compare to a domain-constructed "mirror."
"What if, after constructing the domain of frost, I turned the entire domain into a 'mirror' and shattered it?"
Ronan's eyes gleamed, "What kind of terrifying spatial shatter power would that unleash?!"
He couldn't imagine.
But one day, he'd witness it firsthand.
Ronan was ready to start optimizing the [Tundra Frost] rune.
Opening the character panel, he found his power progress had indeed regressed slightly.
Solidified soul runes could be modified, but the result was akin to Ronan's current state—soul power decline, mental power reduction.
This action consumed significant soul power, causing temporary "weakening" of the soul.
This wasn't Ronan's first experience with this; in the Ring's seclusion loft, he'd repeatedly "revised" the solidified [Silverization] rune, each modification bringing a "weakening period," which simply required time to recover.
Ronan's soul power was already insufficient for the third-level wizard, and now it was even further.
Yet compared to future strength, this minor "side effect" was negligible.
Carefully storing the mysterious rune, Ronan looked up at the scene before him.
The once beautiful, tranquil little garden had completely vanished, leaving only a void of darkness.
There was no subsequent secret space beyond what Ronan imagined—a corridor or perhaps the living quarters of the garden's owner.
After the garden secret realm shattered, no additional space was generated; it was a completely independent secret space, now on the brink of collapse.
Its continued existence was due to a mysterious spatial force supporting the precarious space "shell."
——
A cluster of silver-white light.
Saturated with incomparably dense spatial energy.
Just like the silver light enveloping the mysterious shattering rune.
It hung quietly in the void's center, the sole source of light dispelling surrounding darkness.
Ronan's eyes flickered as he slowly approached the light cluster.
Upon reaching it, he saw what lay within and paused, eyes slightly widened.
"A key?!"
Ronan blinked, reaching out to grasp the entire light cluster.
He had thought the twisted humanoid contained the "key" to leave the garden labyrinth, but he was mistaken; it was merely a rune.
He had thought the garden labyrinth had no further layers.
Again, he seemed to be mistaken.
After the entire garden secret realm collapsed, a true "key" lay before him.
——
A silver key, its appearance not much different from a typical brass key for doors.
Palm-length, with a unique material resembling silver but more transparent, infused with indescribably dense spatial energy particles.
"This key is crafted from some kind of spatial attribute material!"
Ronan's expression was shocked.
Spatial energy attribute material!
Based on this alone, the "key" in his hand was already an incredibly precious treasure.
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