Chapter 116: Chapter 115: The Molten Fire Thirteen Star Ring Secret Technique

Sterling’s Dimensional Ring lay quietly in his palm, cool to the touch.

Ian didn’t immediately check the items inside, nor was he overcome with ecstatic relief.

He simply sat inside the stone house, listening to the faint hum of the Source Annihilation Array as it operated, and the sound of his own steady, almost mechanical, breathing.

He had his revenge.

That man—Sterling Vance, who had been so high and mighty in the Furnace encampment, whose single thought had forced him to flee for his life and nearly die in the Silent Death Mountain Range—was dead.

He had died by his Ice and Fire Spiral, in this unknown, black stone forest.

The elation he’d expected never came. Instead, a strange emptiness settled in his heart.

It was like punching a thick wad of cotton. After the muffled thud, only an empty echo remained.

"Ga?" Gaga poked its head out from the shadows, its mismatched gray and blue eyes filled with confusion.

It sensed Ian’s somber mood. "Ian, you won. Aren’t you happy, ga?"

Ian raised his hand and rubbed its small head, the smooth, cool feathers brushing against his fingertips.

"I’m happy," he said, his voice calm. "Just... a little tired."

It wasn’t physical exhaustion.

The enhancement from the Secondary Limit-Breaking Rock Bear Potion, combined with the properties of Earth Vein Resonance, made his physical recovery astonishingly fast.

It was a mental fatigue, a kind of dullness that set in after the sudden release from a tense, life-or-death battle.

The battle with Sterling seemed brief, but it was actually fraught with peril.

He had used nearly all of his trump cards: instant-cast dual-tasking, Secondary Limit-Breaking Shield control, the extreme application of his Ice and Fire Spiral...

Most crucially, there was Gaga’s Shadow Jump and the interference from its Omen Eye...

If any single part had gone wrong, the outcome could have been completely different.

Especially the explosion from the final collision between the Ice and Fire Spiral and the Molten Fire Ring.

If his Crystal Energy Barrier hadn’t reformed in time to protect his entire body, and if his powerful physique hadn’t been able to withstand the aftershock, he never would have gotten away with just minor tremors.

"Winning is what matters, ga!"

Gaga was straightforward. Its little eyes darted around before landing on the ring in Ian’s hand.

"Quick, see what goodies are inside! The ring from that Red Fireball Wizard has to be way fatter than the others!"

Ian smiled, dispelling the pointless emptiness in his heart.

’That’s right. Winning is what matters.’

’In this world, being alive and having killed the enemy who wanted to kill you is the greatest victory. Any other emotion is a luxury.’

He focused his mind, and his vaporized Spiritual Power flowed like a trickle of water, probing the ring.

With Sterling dead, the Spiritual Imprint on the ring was as fragile as a flickering candle in the wind, and he easily wiped it away.

The space inside was nearly twice as large as his Dimension Bag, about twenty cubic meters.

The first thing that met his "eyes" was a neat stack of Abyssal Crystals. There were over a hundred Tier Zero crystals and only three Tier One crystals, all glowing with a dim luster.

’As expected, he must have exchanged most of the crystals for Merit Points.’

Ian wasn’t surprised. For an Official Wizard on the front lines, Merit Points were far more useful than a random assortment of crystals.

He transferred the crystals to his own Dimension Bag and his gaze swept over the other items.

There were a few spare Shadow Moon Tower standard-issue Wizard Robes, some common potion ingredients, and a few regular potions for stabilizing Spiritual Power and restoring Magic Power. The quality was decent, but nothing special.

Only two items truly caught his attention.

A dark red book, warm to the touch, bound in the tanned hide of some unknown demon.

The cover bore no text or ornamentation, exuding an air of restrained gravity.

A sheet of parchment, its edges heavily worn and yellowed with age, was carefully folded beside the book.

Ian picked up the book first.

It was heavy in his hand. He opened it to the first page, and his eyes fell upon distorted Tua script written in some kind of ink that contained the Fire Element:

*Molten Fire Thirteen Star Ring Secret Technique*

His breath hitched.

As he continued to flip through, the opening pages detailed the complete Witchcraft Model for a Tier One Compound Witchcraft: the construction method for the "Molten Fire Ring."

This was no longer the relatively independent rune structure of an Apprentice’s spell, but a complex array formed from thirteen interlocking, mutually resonant fire runes. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Each rune had to be meticulously drawn with Spiritual Power, then made to resonate with a specific frequency and energy flow.

Only then could they fuse into that blazing white sun, more than ten meters in diameter, that radiated an aura of destruction.

"A Tier One Witchcraft, just as I thought," Ian murmured, a sharp glint in his eyes.

The book didn’t just record the standard model; it was also filled with Sterling’s own dense notes on improvements and annotations.

"...The standard ’Molten Fire Ring’ has a wide blast radius but lacks Penetration Power. Against opponents with powerful Energy Shields or defensive Talent Witchcraft, it’s often difficult to land a fatal blow."

"...Began experimenting with compressing the fireballs, condensing the thirteen fireballs to seventy percent of their original size. After fusion, the sun’s diameter was reduced to eight meters, but its core temperature and Penetration Power increased by nearly fifty percent..."

"...The rhythm of the fusion is key. In the twenty-third revised version, I advanced the resonance frequency of the third, seventh, and eleventh runes by 0.3 seconds. This can shorten the overall casting time by about a tenth, allowing one to seize the initiative in actual combat..."

"...Attempted to incorporate a trace of the ’magma’ characteristic. The residual high-temperature slag after the explosion can continuously burn the enemy’s wounds, hindering regeneration and energy recovery. The effect is significant, but it demands extremely high precision in Spiritual Power control..."

...

Ian flipped through the pages, stunned.

This was no "off-the-shelf" model from the exchange list—the kind that was publicly available and simplified countless times to be safe and versatile.

This was a unique Witchcraft that Sterling had painstakingly improved and customized based on his own Talent and combat style, stamping it with his personal mark!

It was more powerful, its characteristics more distinct, and its weaknesses more concealed. Of course, the demands on the caster were also far stricter.

’Just as I suspected, the core Witchcraft of any truly powerful First Tier Wizard is almost always "custom-made."’

’Generic models are just a foundation. How far you go and how high you climb after stepping onto that foundation depends on your own intelligence, hard work, and a bit of luck.’

"Molten Fire Ring..." Ian closed the book, rubbing the warm cover with the pad of his thumb.

’This is undoubtedly a powerful Attack Witchcraft, especially suited for frontal assaults and area denial.’

’The fact that Sterling could establish himself in the Shadow Moon Tower and even become a camp commander with this technique spoke volumes about its power.’

’This Witchcraft was an extremely valuable reference for him.’

’Not just for the construction concepts of its compound model, but more so for the understanding and control techniques for the essence of Fire Energy revealed in Sterling’s notes.’

This was all priceless experience, but he didn’t immerse himself in it just yet.

Ian carefully set aside the *Molten Fire Thirteen Star Ring Secret Technique* and picked up the yellowed parchment.

It was written in a familiar hand, with even more complex and esoteric runic diagrams, along with a list of material names that made one feel a scorching, wild heat just by looking at them.

The complete formula for the Heart of Magma Potion!