On Sprout Island, countless orbs surged toward Ciel like a tsunami, submerging him completely. Simultaneously, the system panel continuously refreshed notifications:
[You have cultivated Protean Fruit to maturity.]
[You receive the reward: Endurance Enhancement (Iron Level)]
Accompanied by waterfall like notification refreshes, dazzling light burst from the system panel. Endurance Enhancement appeared on the system panel, instantly crossing Iron, Bronze, and Silver stages in succession. Within moments, it was already shining with Golden lustre.
At this rate, advancing to Platinum would be effortless, perhaps even approaching Diamond level! While Endurance Enhancement rapidly soared, he only glanced at it briefly before focusing firmly on Legendary Life and Legendary Strength.
Because after gaining Endurance Enhancement, these two legendary abilities seemed affected as well, their radiance becoming more intense! This delighted him, proving Endurance Enhancement was indeed another puzzle piece for Legendary Life and Legendary Strength's path to Mythical level!
However, since Legendary Life had already sublimated once, though still far from Mythical level, it had completed one qualitative leap; abilities that could enhance it had greatly reduced effectiveness. Its lustre only brightened slightly compared to before.
But Legendary Strength, which hadn't experienced its first sublimation, blazed with particularly fierce light. Then, as if reaching a bottleneck, no matter how rich Endurance Enhancement's lustre became, Legendary Strength's radiance stopped growing.
But this made his joy even more intense. Previously, he had seen similar phenomena with Legendary Life; this meant Legendary Strength had also reached the sublimation threshold, accumulating power for transformation!
He held his breath, staring intently at the system panel. Now, under the influx of countless reward orbs, Endurance Enhancement's golden radiance had become Platinum level. Though reward orb effectiveness was significantly reduced, many still flowed toward him.
[Endurance Enhancement (Platinum, approaching diamond)]
Platinum lustre grew increasingly rich until scattered diamond brilliance gradually appeared. He took a deep breath, feeling life level transformation brewing throughout his limbs and body.
His breathing became much longer than before. Between each breath, blood flowed continuously, his already robust body seemingly becoming tireless. Especially between muscles and bones, new tissue seemed to grow, covering flesh and constantly providing energy.
This made him feel like he could continuously unleash peak strength. Previously, though his power was formidable, his strongest moments were during bursts, inevitably followed by temporary strength decline. But now, he could almost continuously maintain peak explosive force! Moreover, his power ceiling had also improved significantly.
However, he still showed dissatisfaction with this change. The last reward orb from Protean Fruit had merged into his body. The scattered diamond brilliance on Endurance Enhancement increased slightly, but ultimately, Iron level reward orbs were too weakened for Diamond advancement.
Endurance Enhancement still had a considerable distance to Diamond level. His Legendary Strength remained stuck in the transformation phase; though Endurance Enhancement's promotional effects continued, it wasn't enough for completed sublimation!
He exhaled turbid air, his palm slightly tightening. Each sublimation of legendary abilities brought changes far exceeding previous qualitative transformations. This was evident from Legendary Life's sublimation, which brought him enormous benefits, directly elevating his survival capabilities.
But Legendary Life mainly manifested in survival. Legendary Strength could become his strongest combat trump card; among all his combat abilities, it was closest to Dumbledore, Voldemort, and Grindelwald's level.
If it could complete sublimation, this ability might contend with top tier wizards at critical moments, even achieving reversal. But now, there remained a seemingly unbridgeable distance to sublimation.
He gritted his teeth, recalling the scene that enabled Legendary Life's sublimation. That time he had used Troll Priest Sirius's ancient fire magic to temper himself. Extreme tempering provided power for sublimation.
Now, to make Legendary Strength cross the final distance and complete sublimation probably required equally powerful pressure and tempering. His thoughts flashed rapidly.
Today, few existences could pressure him in terms of strength. Troll Priest Sirius barely qualified, but its pressure wasn't great enough. Crucially, Sirius was too aged; he had many uses for it, hoping its already feeble life flame could burn two more years.
Besides Sirius, the only existence he could think of for tempering himself and completing sublimation was the North Sea Kraken. In terms of strength, the North Sea Kraken remained the strongest existence he had encountered. Even the current him couldn't truly match the North Sea Kraken in pure force.
With this thought, he leaped into the sea, reaching a trench near Sprout Island. Eyes lit up one by one as the North Sea Kraken awakened from slumber.
Regarding his intent, it paused: "Little wizard, do you want to wrestle with me again?"
Then the North Sea Kraken snorted, not particularly surprised. In its view, he possessed a physical body impossible in this era, probably of the Titan Giant bloodline. Recently, the Troll Priest he brought to Sprout Island further confirmed this.
Titan Giants were naturally combative; him inheriting their bloodline and being restless was normal. For it, this was exercise and a leisure activity. After all, in today's magical world, even creatures like dragons would be easily hunted by the North Sea Kraken. Having something that required slight effort was quite rare.
So the North Sea Kraken prepared to surface and wrestle with him as before. But his next request truly made the North Sea Kraken narrow its eyes: "You mean you want to wrestle with me underwater?"
It looked seriously at him: "Hey, little wizard, do you think because you could temporarily contend with me on shores and reefs before, that was my full strength? Perhaps you don't realise, only underwater, especially in such deep seas, can my power fully manifest. Previously, you faced less than thirty percent of my true strength!"
But hearing this, he felt the Legendary Strength transformation nearly completely stagnating within him, his face showing fervent expression instead. Greater pressure meant greater power driving transformation.
His mind increasingly understood what the successive sublimations from the Legendary to the Mythical level meant. Like Heracles in Greek mythology, experiencing twelve impossible trials to become the great god of strength.
Even without mentioning Greek mythology, just in the modern magical world, Voldemort endured soul splitting pain and performed multiple dark magic transformations on his body to become stronger. The suffering during this process was indescribable.
Such cruelty earned peak magical world power. Dumbledore and Grindelwald, though brilliantly talented, were the only ones who knew the pain and tempering behind their genius. The mythical path was full of thorns.
Without unimaginably cruel tempering, how could one complete sublimation? How could one approach myth?
He looked at the North Sea Kraken with a determined gaze: "Come."
The next moment, the North Sea Kraken wasted no words. In the pitch black deep sea, the massive creature stirred towering undercurrents, striking toward him. It was one of the North Sea Kraken's tentacles!
Before truly approaching him, he already felt intense oppression. The North Sea Kraken indeed hadn't lied. In deep seas, the North Sea Kraken at full power truly deserved being an ocean apex predator surviving from ancient times. This was many times stronger than the force previously felt on shores and reefs!
But facing such oppression, his eyes blazed with fervour. Underwater Enhancement had triggered; the water was also his domain, with surrounding currents helping him.
Taking a deep breath, he threw a punch with power exceeding his previous peak toward the North Sea Kraken's striking tentacle. The next second, cracking sounds rang continuously. His arm flesh exploded, bones densely covered with cracks under tremendous impact.
It looked truly horrific. Even his internal organs felt violent impact, with metallic sweetness rising in his throat. And this still hadn't completely blocked the North Sea Kraken's attack momentum. That tentacle continued striking toward him.
He seemed not to feel the intense pain from his arm. He continued punching, consecutive punches! On the system panel, Endurance Enhancement flickered with light. Each punch maintained peak force without any reduction.
Even within his body, the previously nearly stagnant Legendary Strength transformation progress reignited like flames, burning freely under this pain and tremendous pressure!
After over ten consecutive punches, the North Sea Kraken's strike was finally forcibly halted by him. But his arms, despite constant repair by sublimated Legendary Life, still showed white bone like cotton stuffing from tattered dolls.
However, the North Sea Kraken was quite surprised. Based on its previous wrestling experience with him, it thought this strike was completely unblockable for him. Unexpectedly, he managed it?
But this was just one of its tentacles; the North Sea Kraken had many more. It looked at him: "Do you recognise the gap now? On shore, I can still play with you somewhat. But underwater, in wrestling, you have no chance. By the way, though the Titan Giant bloodline is extremely rare, in the Olympian era, Titan Giants mated with almost all species. Though now, ocean creatures with the Titan Giant bloodline have almost all perished. But we North Sea Kraken are an exception; I also retain a faint Titan Giant bloodline. To truly wrestle with me, at least wait until you're an adult and the Titan Giant bloodline displays full power..."
He interrupted the North Sea Kraken with blazing eyes: "Kraken, you're quite talkative today. Forgot when you fled in panic before, when I broke so many of your tentacles? Now giving you a chance to vent, you're still so wordy. No wonder you nearly got caught by Lady Hufflepuff to be raised as Hogwarts ingredients."
His words struck a nerve in the North Sea Kraken, which suddenly roared in the deep sea: "Little wizard, I'm truly angry now. You brought this on yourself!"
Then the North Sea Kraken hesitated no more. Another tentacle, stirring turbulent undercurrents, struck toward him. He raised both arms, his entire body's strength erupting like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, blocking this tentacle carrying incomparable force.
Upon contact, his barely recovered arms were again splattered with blood and cracked bones. This wasn't over. His entire body was also smashed into the deep sea floor under this unmatched tremendous force, heavily crashing onto the rocky seabed.
Then, when he struggled with great effort, his legs exploding with blood mist to gradually move this tentacle away, what appeared before him were more tentacles arriving in succession.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Continuous violent vibrations, like earthquakes, spread across the seabed. Even the trolls and Eugene on Sprout Island felt something unusual. Something terrible seemed to be happening beneath the sea. Even surface waves surged more violently.
They looked towards beneath the sea surface. Even the carefree trolls now felt worried: "King..."
But whether they or house elf Eugene lacked the ability to enter deep seas. Troll Priest Sirius held its staff, silently praying. Over these days, it had become increasingly certain that the being from prophecy who would lead trolls back to their peak was him.
Moreover, the centaur prophecy was incomplete. After telling Sirius about a Troll King's appearance, the centaur leader had exclaimed further, saying this great being leading the troll rise would completely change this era.
But this latter content was unclear; the centaur leader's originally black mane visibly greyed. That winter, the centaur leader's life flame died in ice and snow.
Sirius understood this was because the centaur leader prophesied something too extraordinary, unable to bear the prophecy's cost. But the centaur leader could even prophesy magical world war outcomes through star signs. What events would a prophecy it couldn't bear foretell?
Sirius believed he, bearing this prophecy, would never die at such a time.
Meanwhile, in the deep seabed, countless sediments were carried by undercurrents, making the already pitch black seabed even murkier. But the North Sea Kraken's countless eyes stared intently into the sediment, showing irrepressible shock and amazement.
It was certain that within the sediment, after being continuously struck by its tentacles, his figure still held firm. Moreover, with each collision, though his strength was still crushed by the deep sea North Sea Kraken, the Kraken could feel his body was like a volcano about to erupt, accumulating explosive power.
Once that power was released, even it felt waves of palpitation. "This kid, what exactly is his background? Just having the Titan Giant bloodline can achieve this? Could he be some Titan Giant offspring who lived until now through time magic?"
As the North Sea Kraken wandered, seabed sediment currents gradually dispersed, his figure becoming clearer. His current state was truly unbearable to witness. Nearly half his body had exploded flesh, exposing white bones. Many bones were also covered with cracks. Calling him a nearly shattered doll wouldn't be excessive.
Even for Legendary Life, these injuries were serious. Recovery speed couldn't match destruction speed. But even so, half his facial flesh was gone, exposing white teeth and facial bones. Yet he was smiling. He was actually still smiling.
Because on the system panel, Legendary Life was brightening. After sublimation, ordinary tempering had long lost its effect on Legendary Life. But this time, the North Sea Kraken's terrifying power continuously striking like forging hammers could still forge out "impurities" in his life. Legendary Life improved slightly.
But the greatest change was Legendary Strength. This ability's text had become somewhat blurred, as if new text was being born from it. The entire ability was advancing to another level.
He could also feel that within his body, Legendary Strength's transformation was nearing completion. Sublimation was about to finish completely. His life level would rise another notch. Just needed this final push.
The pressure from North Sea Kraken wasn't enough! He looked at the North Sea Kraken: "Kraken, are you sure you're not holding back? Is this little strength all you have? Add more force!"
The North Sea Kraken fell silent. It already understood why he wanted to wrestle underwater, to use its pressure and tempering for transformation? Kraken's mind recalled secrets about the Olympian era told by its ancestors.
That was the magical world's most brilliant era. On Mount Olympus, Titan Giants controlled the world, supremely glorious, worshipped as deities. From mountain foot to peak was a distance countless people and races couldn't cross in generations.
Yet some beings could complete this distance through unimaginably harsh tempering, even joining the pantheon, feasting with Titan Giants in the same hall. Even Titan Giants greatly admired such existences.
His figure seemed to overlap with heard legends. The North Sea Kraken's gaze grew serious.
The next moment, it spoke: "Little wizard, perhaps you'll become a remarkable being. Surpassing the Four Founders, even matching former Olympian Titan Giants. So now, don't die."
Then blood red lines appeared on the North Sea Kraken, threading through every tentacle. As these crimson lines emerged, ancient, powerful magic also emanated.
Subsequently, deep sounds echoed across the seabed: "Laguz. Thurisaz. Hagalaz. L, Th, H..."
He took a deep breath, his expression growing serious. As the North Sea Kraken said, it also inherited faint Titan Giant bloodline. This was ancient magic also from the bloodline?!
Then seawater around him began rotating and churning. Something incredible happened. A massive whirlpool was born on the seabed, enveloping him within.
His expression showed shock. Every minute, every second, he could feel enormous water flows carrying incomparable force impacting him. As if being whipped by North Sea Kraken tentacles from all directions.
Though he possessed Underwater Enhancement ability, like birds that could soar in air but still break wings facing violent typhoons, the Platinum level Underwater Enhancement faced such violent whirlpools that its water flow control was truly negligible.
His wounds exploded open again. Surrounding water flows seemed like blades, taking away his flesh. Water turned red, even mixed with scattered white bone powder.
Current him wasn't just being hammered omnidirectionally, but simultaneously suffering pain comparable to death by a thousand cuts. At this moment, he truly felt he had approached his real limit. His body swayed precariously. Vision seemed gradually darkening.
But within his body, flames still burnt. On the system panel, Legendary Strength's lustre flickered bright and dim. Each flicker brought him closer to transformative sublimation, squeezing out more strength to stabilise his body.
He didn't know how long he persisted. Maybe one minute. Maybe three minutes. He felt like a century had passed. Until the next second. Legendary Strength disappeared from the system panel. New text appeared instead. Legendary radiance, bright and dazzling.
[Strength Enhancement (Legendary Level, Sublimated Once)]
[Sublimation Trait: Unyielding Strength]