2403 Reaching the Realm of Masters

Looking at the system notification, Shi Feng immediately chose to enter the Sacred Magic Temple's second floor.

Immediately, a threefold magic array appeared beneath Shi Feng's feet, and his body instantly turned into a streak of light that shot through the corridor heavily studded with magic arrays.

When Shi Feng opened his eyes again, he was standing inside a majestic hall.

The hall looked grand and dazzling, with 12 statues of Gods supporting its ceiling. As if they were alive, these statues radiated a boundless life aura as well as a faint trace of Divine Might that felt as if a boulder was weighing down on Shi Feng.

What a powerful Divine Might! If a Tier 2 player were to come here, they wouldn't even be able to move. Shi Feng was astonished as he looked at the statues inside the hall. Just walking was already extremely taxing for him. A Tier 2 player would most likely collapse as soon as they arrived in the hall.

Subjected to the Divine Might here, he could feel his Concentration getting depleted. Players wouldn't be able to remain in this place for long periods.

Just as Shi Feng was wondering why there was such a setup in the Sacred Magic Temple's second floor, the walls around him started parting, revealing a total of three corridors. Every one of these corridors led toward a separate hall filled with various scrolls. At the center of each of these separate halls was a tome made entirely out of gold.

Magic array designs! Shi Feng's breathing accelerated when he saw the golden tomes.

These magic array designs weren't just any ordinary designs but Advanced Magic Array Designs, something rarely found even in the various kingdoms and empires of God's Domain.

It should be known that even the Divine Beast's Descent Magic Array—one of Zero Wing's current trump cards—was only an Intermediate Magic Array. An Advanced Magic Array would be a treasure that could protect the Guild from imminent peril. Meanwhile, based on the Mana the golden tomes radiated, Shi Feng was certain that they were Advanced Magic Array Designs. However, due to his distance from the tomes, he couldn’t tell what kind of Advanced Magic Array the designs were for.

The moment Shi Feng started toward one of the three corridors, nine magic arrays suddenly appeared in each of them. A test?

After seeing these magic arrays, Shi Feng more or less understood how the Sacred Magic Temple's second floor operated.

Of the nine magic arrays that had appeared in each corridor, each one was stronger than the one before. Moreover, the magic arrays in each corridor differed in strength.

The first magic array set up in the easiest corridor was an Intermediate Magic Array, while the more difficult corridor had an Advanced Magic Array, and the most difficult corridor had a Master Magic Array. Players were most likely required to decode these magic arrays in order to reach the hall at the end of each corridor.

However, since just being in the hall sapped a player's Concentration. Shi Feng estimated that he could remain here for only six or seven hours—and this was because he possessed an Advanced Bloodline. An ordinary Tier 3 player would last four or five hours at best.

In other words, Shi Feng had to decode the magic arrays within seven hours. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to reach the hall at the end of the corridor.

As for destroying the magic arrays, that was utterly impossible.

Due to the pressure from the 12 statues, even a Tier 4 player couldn't exert sufficient strength to destroy the magic arrays protecting the corridors, much less a Tier 3 player like Shi Feng. Only Tier 5 players would be capable of such a feat. However, it would still be a long time before Tier 5 players started appearing in the game.

Shi Feng couldn't rely on external tools, either. The moment he entered the hall, only his Epic Spatial Bag remained usable. The system had locked everything else.

My time is limited, so I have no choice but to take the simplest path. After giving the matter some thought, Shi Feng decided to go for the corridor protected by the Intermediate Magic Array.

However, despite the easiest corridor starting with only an Intermediate Magic Array, the first magic array itself was by no means simple. It definitely ranked above average among Intermediate Magic Arrays. Even an ordinary Intermediate Magician would need a lot of time to decode it.

However, for Shi Feng, who was only half a step from becoming a Master Magician, decoding it was a simple task. In the end, he spent only two minutes on it.

The second magic array was at least 20% more complex than the first. Shi Feng spent three minutes on it.

The third magic array was similarly an Intermediate Magic Array, but it ranked at the top among Intermediate Magic Arrays. Shi Feng required nearly five minutes to decode it.

Upon reaching the fourth magic array, he could not help but frown.

The fourth is already an Advanced Magic Array? Shi Feng was startled as he studied the Advanced Magic Array.

Although the Advanced Magic Array before him was a very simple one, even the simplest of Advanced Magic Arrays was a lot more complex than the strongest Intermediate Magic Array. Meanwhile, if the fourth magic array in his path was already an Advanced Magic Array, he did not dare imagine what kind of magic array awaited him further on.

However, despite his thoughts, Shi Feng did not stop decoding the magic array and succeeded 12 minutes later.

Fortunately, the fifth magic array was not as difficult as he imagined it would be. It was still an ordinary Advanced Magic Array, only slightly more complex. He spent 15 minutes decoding this magic array.

The sixth magic array reached the standard of mid-level Advanced Magic Arrays, requiring nearly 20 minutes to decode it.

The seventh magic array was an upper-level Advanced Magic Array. At this standard, a newly minted Advanced Magician would need one or two hours to decode it. Shi Feng, though, spent only 30 minutes.

The difficulty increased to the peak-level standard by the eighth magic array. Shi Feng found this Advanced Magic Array a little tricky. However, after struggling for an hour, he still managed to decode it.

A Master Magic Array?! When Shi Feng arrived before the ninth magic array and sensed the concentration of Mana within it, he felt the urge to curse out loud.

There was a qualitative difference between Master Magic Arrays and Advanced Magic Arrays. Not only was a Master Magic Array far more complex, but decoding it also required multitasking. Specifically, one would have to control multiple streams of Mana simultaneously; players needed to have extraordinary control over Mana to accomplish this feat.

However, as only one magic array remained between him and the hall, Shi Feng still decided to give decoding the Master Magic Array a try.

The Master Magic Array before him was very basic. Hence, it was not entirely impossible for a half-step Master Magician like Shi Feng to challenge it. He merely needed to control three separate flows of Mana simultaneously. The difficult part was that he had to control each Mana flow at a different speed in order to decode the magic array's three sections simultaneously. If he failed to do so, then the decoding process would miscarry.

After taking a deep breath, Shi Feng started carefully controlling the Mana flow of the three sections, making sure that the output was neither too strong nor too weak. This level of Mana control was definitely beyond Tier 2 players.

On his first attempt, the decoding process failed because the output for two sections was too high. His second attempt went awry, as he had lowered the output for the two aforementioned sections by too much. The difficulty of adjusting the output to a suitable level was many times greater than trying to thread a needle.

However, after repeated attempts, Shi Feng started to grasp the appropriate way of manipulating the Master Magic Array's Mana. The method was similar to how he controlled the Mana inside his Mana Body. In fact, as he tried to decode the Master Magic Array, he also learned to exert greater control over the Mana flow inside his Mana Body, thereby increasing the efficiency of his Mana usage.

Following which, time passed by rapidly. Shi Feng's spirit weakened. Contrary to expectations, however, his focus did not falter in the slightest but grew increasingly more acute. His brain activity also continuously increased. He even forgot how to control his own body, his mind treating the Mana inside the Master Magic Array as his own limbs instead.

In the next moment, three streams of Mana flowed across the Master Magic Array at three different speeds. The stream that had moved too quickly on Shi Feng's last attempt was a touch slower now, while the stream that had moved too slowly had accelerated slightly.

When the three streams of Mana had filled up the final pattern in their respective sections of the magic array, all three actually arrived at the magic array's center at exactly the same time.

"I did it!" Shi Feng could not help shouting in excitement.

The moment all three streams of Mana came into contact with each other, the magic array before him released a dazzling light.

A moment later, the sound of a system notification entered Shi Feng's ears.

System: Congratulations! You have become a Master Magician.
RECENTLY UPDATES