Dazzling lightning engulfed the lightning rod. The human-faced monster created by the power of the Delia Island temple bore the brunt of it.
Even though it had prepared special countermeasures against ancient weather magic, under nature's awesome power, that meagre resistance was as fragile as bubbles, with no ability to resist at all.
The human-faced monster vanished without a trace under the brilliant lightning.
Even from within the temple on Delia Island came a cry of agonised pain: "Ciel Sprout!!!"
The being in the temple roared Ciel's name with such concentrated hatred that all the waters of rivers and seas couldn't wash it away.
After all, it truly couldn't understand—stealing a bit of power, only to end up getting struck by lightning together? Was this some kind of illness? This was definitely an illness!
After this lightning strike, all the magical power it had accumulated through such lengthy ritual preparations was completely depleted. Calling it a massive loss wouldn't even begin to describe it.
Even worse, the natural will contained in the lightning was far too restraining. Even though it had only remotely transmitted power through its connection to the mutant human-faced luminous mushrooms, the natural will in the lightning still followed that mystical connection, bringing intense burning agony.
This damage was even more severe than losing so much power. "At least another decade of slumber will be needed to recover from this injury. Damn, damn little badger—harming others without benefiting himself."
But now, no matter how much fury and resentment filled its heart, there was nowhere to vent it. After all, in its view, Ciel must have already become charcoal or been completely pulverised. That was lightning—even in ancient times, it commanded the awe of Titan giants revered as gods.
Though Ciel could use ancient weather magic, it could see at a glance that this was merely opportunistic trickery, obtaining natural will to drive lightning through other means. In ancient times, others had used such opportunistic methods for ancient weather magic, but they were all fakes, utterly different from the natural will truly contained in lightning.
Whether one had endured real lightning was the true watershed of ancient weather magic. Even in the Olympian age, this was a divine taboo—only naturally exceptional god-kings could touch it.
Ciel Sprout was merely a small wizard living in an era of declining magic. How could he possibly reach this realm?
Rather than continuing to focus on this boy, it was better to sleep early and recover from this injury. As for the chess piece left in the outside world, though regrettable, it could only be set aside temporarily.
Then the temple doors slowly closed, and the black-robed figure wearing the Transfiguration Master's badge retreated into the temple. The Quintapeds that had gathered around the temple in worship also dispersed.
Meanwhile, on Sprout Island beneath the lightning rod, a human-shaped form as black as charcoal lay there. If not for the faint beating in its chest, anyone would sense no life remaining in this body.
But moments later, something incredible happened. This charcoal's breathing began slowly strengthening. The heartbeat from its chest gradually became powerful. Vigorous life force began reviving throughout the body with each heartbeat.
Like tender shoots growing from parched earth, accompanied by an itching sensation worse than being simultaneously bitten by ten thousand ants, bright red flesh broke through the tight, blackened, carbonised surface layer.
But Ciel, looking utterly wretched, couldn't help laughing—his voice revealing exhilaration.
Though when deciding to implement this plan, he'd been completely confident he wouldn't be killed by lightning; when truly facing natural lightning, that overwhelming power that seemed to crush everything still left him with lingering fear even in retrospect.
No wonder even in mythology, only the most powerful gods could touch lightning's power. Terrifying—truly terrifying.
But when his gaze fell on his system panel, Ciel couldn't suppress the pleased curve of his lips. After this lightning strike, the natural will filling his body was at least a hundred times more concentrated than before.
Even though his ancient weather magic still lacked methods for subsequent runic improvements, just the surge of natural will alone made the ancient weather magic text now shine with radiance far beyond its previous silver lustre—golden and platinum light intertwined!
Ciel took a breath. Near-platinum-level ancient weather magic—one could imagine how magnificent its power would be. Except for legendary power, this was probably his strongest attack method currently. Even several diamond-level magics would be far inferior!
And if Ciel could obtain subsequent runic configurations, platinum level would probably be easily achievable. By then, in terms of pure magical power, except for magic cast by top-tier wizards like Dumbledore, Voldemort, and Grindelwald, most magic in the magical world probably wouldn't measure up to such ancient magic!
Besides the surge in ancient weather magic mastery, the system panel held another pleasant surprise—his Legendary Life, which had progressed extremely slowly after ascension, now shone noticeably brighter than before after experiencing this lightning strike.
Ciel's eyes sparkled, even entertaining a bold idea. If lightning could be used as a means to temper Legendary Life, perhaps the seemingly unreachable second ascension wouldn't be so distant after all.
But remembering the lightning's power he'd just experienced, his excitement immediately dimmed. Without Thunderbird potion, using lightning to temper Legendary Life would be too risky. But thunderbird potion required thunderbird eyes—even a potions master like Snape only had one in his collection, showing how precious they were. Finding substitutes would probably be quite difficult.
Therefore, Ciel could only shake his head and give up. Later, he'd see if he could find magical herbs with similar effects—then perhaps he could try.
Finally, Ciel gently waved his wand, gathering the ash produced by the clash between natural will and temple power. This contained ancient, pure magic that could greatly lower the threshold for cultivating ancient plants or those awakened with ancient plant magic.
Last time after obtaining ancient ash, he had successfully completed the introductory step of grafting Whomping Willow branches, amazing even Professor Sprout.
This time, thanks to the being in the Delia Island temple transmitting massive curse magic, the ancient ash produced after the clash far exceeded before—more than ten times as much! For experimental ancient plant cultivation, this would probably last him a very long time.
Carefully collecting this ash, Ciel showed satisfaction. These ashes' value to him was no less than his ancient weather magic improvement. In summary, this wave was hugely profitable!
After confirming no gains were missed, Ciel stepped out from under the lightning rod. Seeing his unharmed figure, the trolls who had been waiting nearby showed even more fanatical reverence.
The lightning they'd just witnessed from afar had filled them with blood-deep, instinctive fear—their hair had even crackled. Undoubtedly, the slightest contact meant certain death. Yet their king had emerged unharmed from the lightning, even radiating a more vigorous, powerful life force?
The trolls let out excited roars of "Groonk! Groonk!" Troll Priest Sirius's fanaticism even exceeded these simple-minded trolls. Inheriting some Titan giant blood with fragmentary memories, when it witnessed Ciel emerging safely from lightning while filled with natural will, even its blood seemed to boil.
Scenes and memories about lightning, along with ancestral awe, revived within it. From these memories, Sirius understood one thing—lightning was magic even its great ancestor Hephaestus couldn't master. In a sense, this symbolised the God-King's authority!
In the Olympian age, there had been such a rumour: whoever could control lightning would become the next God-King! But until the Olympian age ended, no such being had appeared. Lightning remained the God-King's prerogative.
But now, Sirius's heart raced violently. The scene its ancestors never witnessed appeared before its eyes. According to that ancient rumour, the new God-King might very well be this young wizard before it!
Sirius's excitement was beyond words. The centaur's prophecy seemed true—this Troll King would lead the troll clan to restore ancient glory!
In the ocean, the massive Kraken also revealed itself in the storm. Also inheriting some Titan giant blood, it felt the same sensation. It had long been puzzled by Ciel's blood concentration—such terrifying power at this age was almost unbelievable.
But now Kraken understood. Ciel's bloodline was likely not ordinary Titan blood, but the bloodline of a former God-King—God-King potential! What reason was there to doubt? Every God-King was chosen by fate, destined to stand at an era's peak. Even in this age of declining magic, a chosen God-King could still achieve miracles.
Kraken was thoroughly convinced by Ciel—submission to a future God-King was no shame! Even the proud Titan blood within it seemed to bow in reverence to the God-King.
Just then, Ciel suddenly felt something strange. Through his mental eye, he could sense extremely weak but substantial golden threads extending toward him from both Troll Priest Sirius and Kraken.
When these faith-like golden threads touched him, his brow itched with slight stinging, as if something was being branded there. When he focused to examine it, he discovered something remarkable—within his mental world, his mental eye contained a very faint lightning mark floating within it.
This left him stunned, unable to understand what caused such changes. He instinctively looked at his system panel, hoping to see if it was reflected there.
The next moment, the light that met his eyes left his mind completely blank. On his system panel, besides the Patronus Charm flickering with mythical radiance, another dim, blurred text with the same radiance had appeared.
Ciel could vaguely make out the content: [God-King Authority]!
He was completely dumbfounded. After a long while, his violently racing heartbeat gradually calmed, and a hypothesis formed in his mind.
"The being in the Delia Island temple seemed shocked by my ancient weather magic, constantly demanding to know where I obtained such magic. In mythological legends, whether Greek or Norse mythology, those who control lightning are either God-Kings or God-King successors."
"Could it be that surviving lightning bombardment satisfied certain mysterious conditions, plus the reverent worship of Sirius and Kraken—two special beings with Titan blood—that I gained this so-called God-King Authority?"
He couldn't be certain of this hypothesis, but regardless, the system panel wouldn't deceive him. He definitely had gained a mythical-level ability.
However it came about, what mattered was what God-King Authority could do. His gaze fell on the lightning mark in his mental eye. Since this lightning mark representing God-King Authority was branded on his mental eye, it likely required mental power to activate.
Ciel carefully maintained Occlumency while cautiously using his mental energy to try touching the lightning-shaped mark. But approaching the mark, he immediately felt a familiar sensation—like using his mythical Patronus Charm.
Pressure—mountain-like pressure descended, but this time almost entirely on his mind. Simultaneously, a vague, distant but extremely grand voice echoed in his mental space, using nearly identical language to what he'd heard when triggering Demeter's oracle.
But he had no mind for prophecies now. The immense pressure on his spirit made his face instantly pale, his vision darkening. Had he not been quite cautious, only trying to approach rather than directly trigger the mark, his mental world might have completely collapsed.
After a long while, he barely recovered some awareness from the buzzing tinnitus, gasping heavily. Using the Patronus Charm, though pressuring, was manageable through his Legendary Life. But this God-King Authority placed all pressure on the mind. Though his mental power far exceeded that of ordinary young wizards, it was clearly far from sufficient to invoke even a fraction of God-King Authority.
He shook his head, abandoning further exploration. "It seems I'll need greatly enhanced mental power before having any foundation to explore God-King Authority's uses. Otherwise, rashly exploring mythical abilities might get me killed—that would be truly laughable."
But enhancing mental power wasn't too difficult for him. Looking toward Delia Island, the large patch of Alihotsy he'd previously planted, whose reward had mental-strengthening effects, especially the fine varieties from the Malfoys reaching bronze level, would soon be ready for harvest. This should provide him with a tremendous mental transformation.
"Also, this God-King Authority contains that ancient, powerful language. The previously triggered Demeter oracle did too. Could many mythical abilities involve such language? If so, magical linguistics deserves attention too."
But he soon shook his head, temporarily setting aside these plans. These were future concerns. Compared to these unreachable mythical explorations, the most important thing now was using ancient ash to steadily gain achievable rewards.
Ciel immediately returned to Hogwarts. In the greenhouse, without his summons, Shadow emerged from a corner as if smelling something delicious, looking expectantly at him with its shadows wagging like a puppy's tail.
He didn't hold back, taking out part of the ancient ash he'd obtained. Shadow immediately acted like it had been starving, countless shadows writhing as it hungrily absorbed the ash's magic.
During this process, Ciel continuously watched the reward orb above Shadow. He could see that under the ancient ash's magical influence, the reward orb that hadn't grown noticeably for so long began expanding at a visible rate.
Every minute, every second, the reward orb became more full, like heavy fruit. After a while, Shadow contentedly "burped", completely sated, and its reward orb had expanded to the limit!
Ciel took a deep breath, his eyes showing burning intensity.
Shadow, awakened with ancient shadow magic and developing for so long, was finally about to mature!