novelraw Chapter 527: The Qualification for a True Name
Chapter 527: The Qualification for a True Name
Chapter 527: The Qualification for a True Name
Jie Ming did not interrupt Black’s muttering, nor did he correct the gap between “winning and returning” that the other had assumed.
He did not even pay any attention to the matter of his own title.
After Viola’s reminder, Jie Ming felt that as long as it wasn’t something like “Coffin Carrying Guy” he could accept it.
Some things were too troublesome to explain.
Besides, he truly had only “returned alive.”
As for whether the opponent had withdrawn on their own initiative or fled in a sorry state, from the outcome, the difference was not great.
“Let’s talk about the title later,” Jie Ming interrupted Black’s increasingly absurd naming ideas, his tone carrying a hint of urgency. “We need to leave now. If that sixth-ring wizard adjusts his condition or calls in his colleagues to pursue us, it will be too late for us to escape.”
The excitement on Black’s face froze instantly, replaced by a look of solemn alertness.
“Right, right! If that sixth-ring wizard chases after us again…” He quickly came to his senses. “We’d be done for! Run, run!” Without another word, he immediately activated his presence-obscuring technique. His figure blurred like melting ink, rapidly fading and disappearing, leaving only a hurried spiritual transmission: “I think we’d better return to the camp and rest first.”
Jie Ming nodded slightly. Then, with a light pause beneath his feet, he activated the Great Void Step, turning his entire body into a subtle stream of light.
He followed closely behind Black’s nearly undetectable concealed trajectory, rushing at full speed toward the camp.
Tower of Annihilation Camp, Core Treatment Zone.
This was a vast underground space. Layer upon layer of defensive arrays and spatial anchoring spell structures completely isolated it from the battlefield outside. The dome flowed with pale green life energy, like an inverted galaxy, evenly sprinkling down onto hundreds of neatly arranged nutrient pods below.
One of the nutrient pods, originally displaying an “empty” status, suddenly filled with nutrient fluid.
To be precise, the transition from “completely empty” to “liquid overflowing with a human-shaped silhouette inside” had all intermediate processes directly erased.
The nutrient fluid churned. A pale hand reached out from beneath the surface and pressed against the inner wall of the pod lid.
Hiss…
The lid slid open silently. A black-robed wizard sat up from within.
The wet hood clung tightly to the side of his face. Large amounts of pale golden nutrient fluid poured down along the edges of his robe, forming small streams on the alloy floor.
His sudden appearance was like a stone dropped into calm water.
The alert arrays in the treatment room activated in response. Dozens of detection spells locked onto the nutrient pod’s position almost simultaneously.
Several construct healers that had been working immediately halted their operations, their head-mounted scanning arrays spinning at high speed.
A few fifth-ring wizards near the entrance even forced open their shields despite their bodies not having fully recovered, causing energy fluctuations to surge into chaos. Most of those lying here were wizards who had been heavily wounded on the front lines and withdrawn.
The most eye-catching were the specially made giant nutrient pods lined against the wall, their surfaces engraved with multiple layers of law-solidification patterns.
Through the semi-transparent lids, several human silhouettes could be vaguely seen floating inside.
That was the recuperation area for several seventh-ring wizards.
Most of them had suffered heavy injuries at the start of the war and remained in deep slumber even now, showing no reaction to external changes.
In the corner of the sixth-ring wizard zone, a slightly smaller nutrient pod.
Its lid suddenly opened automatically.
The wizard lying inside opened his eyes and slowly sat up.
His appearance looked rather horrifying.
The entire left half of his body, including the left half of his head, had completely vanished. The severed edge was covered by a layer of slowly growing black fluid that resembled living ink.
Yet his expression remained composed, as if losing half his body was a trivial matter.
This sixth-ring wizard with only the right half of his body left, upon clearly seeing the wet black-robed figure beside the nutrient pod, had his previously tense expression from the alert spells smooth out like flattened wrinkles and quickly relax.
He raised his remaining right hand and waved it casually.
It was the gesture for “one of our own, stand down the alert.”
The surrounding wizards, though still carrying traces of doubt in their eyes, ultimately withdrew their shields and detection spells.
The air in the treatment room returned to calm.
The black-robed wizard stepped out from the edge of the nutrient pod.
The instant his feet touched the ground, the remaining nutrient fluid on his body, the damaged robe, and even the slightly pale complexion from his unhealed heavy injuries… all these “incomplete treatment” states vanished completely in the same instant, like precisely erased ink strokes.
His black robe was restored to new, dry and neat. His complexion turned rosy, and his breathing became steady.
It was as if the heavily injured person who had just sat up from the nutrient pod had been nothing more than an illusion.
The sixth-ring wizard standing nearby glanced at the detection construct not far away and raised his chin with interest.
The construct immediately glided over obediently and projected the nutrient pod’s consumption record into the air.
A row of data scrolled rapidly.
“…Damn.” The half-bodied sixth-ring wizard whistled, his voice filled with undisguised astonishment. “Nutrient fluid consumption: one thousand seven hundred units at tertiary standard. Regenerative catalyst: eighty units. Soul stabilizer—my god, you even used three doses of this stuff?” He turned to look at the black-robed wizard, curiosity gleaming in his single eye. “Who the hell did you go out and fight to the death with, Imaginary?”
The black-robed wizard addressed as “Imaginary” did not answer immediately.
He first glanced at the other party’s miserable severed limbs, his brows furrowing slightly.
“Dark Raven. You actually ended up injured this badly.”
His tone was flat, but the surprise hidden within was obvious.
Dark Raven grinned upon hearing this, revealing森 white teeth.
He spread his remaining hand, shrugged his one-sided shoulder, and spoke in a tone as casual as chatting about daily life:
“Bad luck. Ran into one of the enemy’s seventh-ring old fogeys. Coming back alive counts as a win.”
He paused, then looked at Imaginary with interest. “On the other hand, you… tsk, I’ve never seen you lie down in a nutrient pod before. What, did you run into a seventh-ring as well?”
Imaginary remained silent for a moment.
“…Fifth-ring.”
Dark Raven’s smile froze on his face.
“Hah?”
“I encountered a fifth-ring wizard,” Imaginary repeated, his voice calm and showing no emotional fluctuation. “Not seventh-ring.”
Dark Raven’s single eye widened into a perfect circle, causing even the black fluid covering his severed limbs to ripple faintly from the spiritual disturbance.
“A fifth-ring wizard beat you into this state?!” His voice rose involuntarily. “Are you kidding me? You’re ‘Imaginary’! Even against an ordinary seventh-ring, you shouldn’t end up this miserable!”
It was well known that although the Imaginary Law was nothing special among eighth-ring wizards, its combat power was ridiculously exaggerated at the sixth and seventh rings. Given the nature of the Imaginary Law, Dark Raven’s statement was actually quite conservative. Imaginary could easily escape even if he encountered multiple seventh-ring wizards, let alone an ordinary one.
And in terms of combat strength, he was also outstanding among sixth-ring wizards.
More importantly, the very nature of the Imaginary Law meant that when facing wizards below his own rank, Imaginary’s combat power would appear abnormally exaggerated.
It was no exaggeration to say that an underpowered fifth-ring wizard would be directly slain by Imaginary’s Imaginary Law the instant they faced him.
They wouldn’t even have the slightest chance to resist!
Imaginary did not refute him.
He simply stood there quietly, allowing Dark Raven’s shocked gaze to sweep back and forth over him. After several seconds, he spoke softly:
“He is the one who dealt with Annihilation Hand.”
Dark Raven’s pupils contracted sharply.
“…That rumored fifth-ring.” His voice lowered, carrying an indescribable complexity. “So it’s true. That guy Annihilation Hand really fell at the hands of a fifth-ring wizard.”
Imaginary nodded.
“Pity,” he said, a trace of regret in his tone that even he himself had not noticed. “I still don’t know his name. If I get the chance to meet him next time, I’ll have to ask.”
“Name?” Dark Raven keenly caught the deeper meaning in Imaginary’s words, a sharp glint flashing in his single eye. “You mean… you think he’s qualified to possess a ‘True Name’?”
Imaginary glanced at him.
“He is only at the fifth ring right now,” Imaginary said calmly, as if merely stating a fact. “Yet he has already defeated two Title Wizards, including myself.”
The so-called Title Wizards were elite wizards of the same rank who, like Annihilation Hand or Imaginary, had completely abandoned their original names and used only codenames.
A True Name, naturally, referred to those “monsters” who had no need for codenames and retained their own names!
Imaginary did not continue.
But Dark Raven had already understood.
“True Name Wizard…” he murmured, his expression turning extremely complex. “A fifth-ring wizard already has the qualifications to aim for a True Name?”
“Isn’t that quite normal?” Imaginary said indifferently. “Don’t forget, he is only at the fifth ring.”
Dark Raven fell silent.
Yes, he was only at the fifth ring.
That word “only” was the most terrifying part of the entire sentence.
At the fifth ring, he had defeated Annihilation Hand—one of the elites among sixth-ring wizards.
At the fifth ring, he had forced Imaginary, a sixth-ring elite, to lie down in a nutrient pod.
Dark Raven suddenly let out a laugh. The smile carried self-mockery and the resigned understanding of someone who had been through it all.
“Speaking of which…” His voice sounded somewhat distant. “This kind of ‘the younger generation is truly formidable’ sigh used to be something I only heard from my mentor’s generation. Things like ‘the era has changed’ or ‘the young people these days are really something.’ I never expected that one day it would be my turn to say it.”
He lowered his head, looking at his own mutilated half-body.
“Those of us who managed to climb to the sixth ring—who among us wasn’t praised all the way as a ‘genius’ or ‘monster’?” His tone was light, yet carried a heavy weight. “And yet now, we’ve actually encountered a little guy who makes us sigh in admiration.”
Imaginary did not respond.
He simply stood there quietly. After a long time, he gave a gentle nod:
“The era is moving forward. If we old things don’t want to be crushed underfoot, we have to keep moving forward too.”