Chapter 136: An Unusual Advancement

After Glandor returned to report on her mission, Mulan submitted an application to the royal palace the very next day. He made no additional requests, simply stating the scheduled time for his advancement.

Strictly speaking, this first advancement was arguably the most crucial, as it represented an evolution of one's life essence. Yet, Mulan approached it with absolute confidence.

At the Radiant Knight stage, the force of existence posed no problem whatsoever for Mulan. Altars, offerings, and various rituals probably could not even add a finishing touch, let alone serve any necessary purpose.

Therefore, on an evening close to the New Year, a rather secluded underground plaza within the Black Castle served as the venue for Mulan's advancement, requiring very little extra preparation.

This underground plaza spanned several hundred square meters. Massive pillars stood at regular intervals, while the walls, ceiling, and floor were all constructed from huge blocks of stone, their surfaces densely engraved with runic arts. In the inner-center area stood a circular stone platform.

This was a stabilized underground altar, though today Mulan certainly had no need for supreme offerings; he had simply chosen a suitable location to ensure a quiet environment where he could steadily achieve his world-shaping advancement in one continuous flow.

Nisheylir actually very much wanted to witness Mulan's advancement, but the process inherently carried a degree of danger. Combined with her status as queen, her presence was deemed inappropriate, so she could only dispatch trusted subordinates instead, among whom was Glandor.

Only one person came to the Black Castle just in case—a figure entirely shrouded in a red robe. Mulan knew her to be Sabastina, though their only prior interaction consisted of meeting a few times in the professor's office.

The underground plaza was semi-enclosed at the moment, though airflow with the outside world remained connected. The red-robed figure shrank into a corner, motionless like a sculpture draped in red fabric, her face completely obscured beneath the hood. Meanwhile, the Queen's entourage stood not far away, their shadows constantly flickering in the light of the torches mounted on the walls and pillars.

Glandor took out her pocket watch to check the time, then gazed once more at the altar a dozen meters away, where Mulan was continuously sketching and drawing on the stone platform with a chalk-like runic pen.

"Hiss, it's freezing. Why couldn't they make this place a bit warmer?"

Beside Glandor, several accompanying nobles crossed their arms and rubbed themselves, shivering so hard they kept puffing out white breaths. While stamping their feet repeatedly, they complained endlessly. Daring not to complain about the Queen and unwilling to offend Mulan, they could only find other factors to vent upon.

"Indeed, winter in Digo shouldn't be this cold, right?"
"It must be because of this plaza."

Mulan kept writing and drawing at the altar, weaving thousands of runes into an art form that ultimately formed a closed loop.

Mulan heard the nobles' remarks, but merely responded with a cold internal sneer. True, winter in Digo could not be considered exceptionally cold—at least, not for the nobility.

Having just completed the final symbol, the advancement runic array for the Radiant Knight path was now finished, and Mulan slowly stood up.

"Alright, it's about to begin."

Glandor issued a reminder and straightened her posture. The few nobles nearby also looked toward Mulan, who stood upright in the center of the altar.

Mulan cast a glance toward the edge of the plaza and gave a slight, polite bow in that direction.

"Thank you all for coming. I shall begin now, so as not to waste everyone's time."

With that, Mulan directly produced the Radiant Potion. The moment the glowing test tube appeared, he uncorked it and drank it down in one breath, without the slightest hesitation.

The next instant, luminous mist began to seep slowly from Mulan's eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. This was followed by the blood vessels beneath his skin emitting a fluorescent glow, and finally, a faint radiance enveloped both his skin and hair.

Mulan placed his right fist over his chest, slowly closed his eyes, and let out a voice that was slightly hoarse yet resonated through the entire underground plaza.

"Answer me."

Rumble...

Everyone present felt as though they were hearing the illusion of rolling thunder. Then, all the runes on the altar lit up completely, forming a ring of text that encircled Mulan.

Dust-like brilliance rose from the runes, gradually transforming into faint particles of light that orbited Mulan. The process grew faster and more violent, slowly turning into a swirling vortex of flowing light around him—narrow at the bottom and wide at the top—connecting the floor and ceiling of the dozen-meter-high plaza.

"Answer me, O Will of Radiance!"

Mulan's voice rang out once more, louder than before. The vortex of flowing light expanded outward continuously, nearly enveloping the entire underground plaza within the storm.

Mulan's will sank into his spiritual world, where he once again beheld the sun—a blazing sphere of fire in the sky emitting materialized rays of light, the dawn born of oath and conviction.

*I am the child of light, I am the star of hope. I shall descend upon the mortal realm, I shall master all things. Dawn is my bugle, the sun is my banner, the war drums beat and battle songs resound, the brilliance of dawn marches ever onward!*

All manner of light-forged entities materialized and transformed: longswords, lances, shields, armor, firearms, warhorses, hounds, raptors, banners, and finally, towering humanoid figures...

Roars and cries, slaughter and screams, the neighing of warhorses mixed with the explosions of gunpowder, followed by sounds that were at first chaotic and noisy, but gradually grew uniform.

"Thump thump thump thump... thump thump thump thump... thump thump thump thump..."

It was the sound of surging, passionate war drums, accompanied by an endless, hoarse roar.

"Cyrusas... Cyrusas... Cyrusas..."

The sounds left the few nobles startled and nervous, their eyes wide as they stared toward the altar. Even Glandor parted her lips slightly, while the red-robed figure from the Black Castle could no longer maintain her indifference. The shadow of her hood was illuminated by the radiance, revealing a face withered like a mummy, with a pair of socket-like eyes devoid of pupils staring fixedly at the altar.

This kind of advancement anomaly was far too divergent from ordinary circumstances.

"Are those voices shouting Cyrusas? What does that signify?"

Though Glandor was no ordinary person, this somewhat peculiar vocabulary lay outside her sphere of knowledge. She only knew for certain that it belonged to an ancient, mysterious language system—relic-level, obscure knowledge.

Sabastina's slightly hoarse voice sounded from beside her.

"This is an ancient mystical language that has been discovered relatively often, but it is extremely profound. Very few people are able to unearth anything of value within this system, so it gradually came to be classified as obscure. I just happen to have studied a portion of it..."

"Cyrusas, in the Quinas mystical language system, means: Warrior in Radiance."

The sound of war drums and roaring continued, intensifying further. Yet aside from the few male nobles, both Sabastina and Glandor knew that the primary impact was taking place on a spiritual level. Even though both women were well aware of this, they still inevitably found themselves drawn into the phenomenon.

Rumble, rumble, rumble...

Within the perception of consciousness, the earth trembled incessantly, as if the entire underground space were violently shaking.

Unable to hold on any longer, the few nobles broke down, crying out in panic.

"Run! This place is going to collapse!" "Let me out!"
"Help! Run for your lives!"

Several of them rushed toward the entrance of the underground plaza, but it had been sealed for the night. As they battered relentlessly against the heavy doors, the protective runic arts shielding the interior left those stationed outside entirely unaware of the situation within.

"Calm yourselves, these are not real!"
"No, it's collapsing!" "Open the door!"

Glandor's shouts blended with the nobles' screams, and everything in the underground plaza was swallowed by the brilliant light...

When the nobles regained consciousness, they were already lying inside the medical ward of the Black Castle, with Mulan and Glandor standing nearby.

"Ah, you're awake! My sincerest apologies; this was unexpected power radiation that caused mental strain to you all. Well, I believe Lady Glandor understands quite well that ordinary people facing such situations will exhibit instinctive self-preservation behavior. This has nothing to do with bravery, but rather wisdom."

"Indeed. It was also my misjudgment at the time; I should have evacuated immediately."

Glandor chimed in at the appropriate moment, cooperating with Mulan to protect the dignity of the nobles.

Mulan took two steps back, bowed slightly toward the row of hospital beds, and the occupants hurriedly responded with polite courtesies.

Once all of this was done, Mulan bid them farewell and departed alone.

Although tonight's advancement had few witnesses, it was destined to leave an indelible impression in the minds of those present. Sabastina, for instance, driven by the memory of the advancement spectacle, was already back in her quarters turning through reference materials without pause.

For Mulan, the protagonist of the event whose advancement had been an almost guaranteed success, that was already a thing of the past. His thoughts and focus were now entirely tied to another matter within the Black Castle: as a truly complete transcendent, he finally possessed the qualifications to set his eyes upon the "Holy Relic."