It felt so good to be close to the witch!

The captain of the guard was just a formal knight who had not yet stepped into the extraordinary realm, so he could not sense the power of the two. However, as a bronze three-star knight, he was different. From the crimson scale-armored girl, he felt an unparalleled sense of oppression. This feeling was far beyond what even Lord Jess had ever experienced.

Silver's pinnacle? Or gold?

The latter guess startled Reid. He couldn't imagine how a girl of that age could have achieved such strength.

As for the burly knight beside the girl, who looked extraordinary at first glance, in Red's perception, he was just an ordinary person. However, not only did he not relax after realizing this, but he became even more tense.

There are two possibilities for this situation. One is that the other party is indeed an ordinary person, and the other is that the other party's strength far exceeds the limits of his perception, thus creating a misperception.

Judging from the other person's physique and equipment alone, Red knew that the other person could not possibly be an ordinary person.

This is a knight who is far stronger than the girl with the crimson scales!

He quickly performed a knightly salute and said respectfully, "I am the captain of the knights of Blackrock Territory. May I ask how you two are addressed?"

Upon hearing Reid identify himself, Andrew frowned slightly.

The captain of the guard didn't know what the Purple Thorn Sword token represented, which wasn't surprising to him, nor would he blame him. However, as one of the nobles under the border duke, the lord of Blackstone Territory couldn't possibly be unaware of the token's meaning. And since he knew, the fact that he didn't come out to meet him made Andrew's expression somewhat somber.

The legendary knight was so powerful that even the slightest change in his emotions could cause Red to have difficulty breathing due to the emanating pressure.

"My lord...my master...my lord...is not in the manor..."

Suppressing the overwhelming pressure, Red gritted his teeth and spoke haltingly.

Upon hearing this, Andrew withdrew his dissipating battle aura and asked in a deep voice, "Where has Lord Roy gone?"

Roy Tulumber had only recently formally inherited the title of Lord, but after the Star Lake incident, Andrew had carefully reviewed the intelligence on not only Blackrock Territory but also several surrounding territories, and naturally knew the name of the Lord of Blackrock Territory.

The disappearance of the oppressive aura brought a huge sigh of relief to Reid. Large beads of sweat soaked through his undergarments beneath his armor, but in this state, he dared not wipe them away. He quickly bowed and replied:

"I'm sorry, sir, I don't know either."

"Lord Roy only told me that I was going out for a while, but I have no right to ask where I was going."

Upon hearing this, Andrew's expression softened.

He scanned the Blackrock Lord's mansion with his senses but did not find the presence of a second extraordinary knight.

In this situation, one can't really blame anyone else. After all, he and the young lady hadn't informed each other of their arrival in advance, so it's understandable that the other party wasn't there.

Andrew turned his gaze to the young lady beside him, awaiting her decision.

With her eyes slightly closed, as if sensing something, the crimson-scaled girl parted her lips slightly and said, "We'll wait here."

Wait?

Andrew naturally had no objection. He turned to look at Reid: "I am Andrew, a subordinate of the Duke. This is the Duke's daughter, Princess Fuma Soros."

"Arrange accommodations; we'll wait here for Lord Roy's return."

Upon hearing this, Red's pupils dilated slightly. Although he knew that the two must be of extraordinary status, he never imagined that the girl in the crimson scales was actually the Duke's youngest daughter.

Not daring to be negligent, he quickly and respectfully replied, "Your Highness Fuma, Lord Andrew, please follow me."

Led by Red, the crimson-scaled girl Fuma Thoros and Undermar stepped into the Blackrock Lords' mansion.

As she walked, Fuma, a girl clad in crimson scale armor, opened her eyes, and a glint of starlight flashed in her pupils.

……

Twisting, evolving, stretching...

The familiar, irregular, enormous black shadow momentarily brought the Shadow Witch Lilia's hazy consciousness back to normal.

Is this the Talent Evolution Space?

The thought, like the first spark ignited in the darkness, instantly brought Lilia to her senses.

How did I end up here? By the way, where's Lord Roy? Is he alright?

That terrifying dark gold female knight...

A jumble of thoughts flashed through her mind. Lilia took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

In her last memory, the Azure Horned Moon Wolf King's clone was killed, and she was severely injured and on the verge of death due to the backlash of the contract. But now, she feels that her body is perfectly healthy, without even the slightest sign of injury.

"It seems Lord Roy has succeeded."

The fact that he didn't die at the hands of that terrifying dark gold female knight means that after she fell into a coma, Lord Roy awakened the Moonlight Great Witch Cecilia from the lost ice coffin.

Lilia breathed a sigh of relief after deducing that Lord Roy was probably alright. Only then did she calm down and carefully observe her surroundings.

Lilia glanced around and finally settled her gaze on her outstretched hands.

"As expected, this is the talent evolution space..."

The familiar scene and the familiar atmosphere of the shadowy world confirmed Lilia's current surroundings.

After her initial doubts, she became excited.

Although she didn't understand why she was able to enter this place again, the prospect of undergoing another talent evolution was an unimaginable temptation for her, who desperately wanted to increase her strength.

After comparing her talent evolution with that of the Ice Witch Ais, Lilia clearly realized that her first talent evolution was undoubtedly a failure.

Miss Ais pulled the complete Bloodline Ice Sword from the Talent Evolution Space, but she only managed to gnaw off a fragment of the Shadow Step before she died...

The gap is too big.

Now that she has a chance to make amends, how could Lilia not be excited?

Her current strength has increased immeasurably since her last entry into the Talent Evolution Space, and she is now almost as strong as Miss Ais back then.

Lilia gritted her teeth. This time, no matter what, she was determined to reach the ninth level of the shadowy staircase.

Following the path of shadow forward, Lilia soon came into view of the magnificent and familiar shadow platform, and the throne and scepter atop it.

"call……"

After adjusting her mindset, Lilia decisively stepped onto the first step.

"Om..."

Heavy pressure descended from the sky. The pressure that was unbearable last time could be overcome this time with the support of the witch's magic at the pinnacle.

Sensing this, Lilia smiled and stepped onto the second step.

……

A hidden place.

Roy slowly opened his eyes, and a long breath escaped from his mouth and nose, forming a straight arrow of gas that flew several meters before slowly dissipating.

A warm, pale red glow flashed in Roy's eyes.

Feeling the surging battle qi within him, Roy was filled with excitement.

A full day has passed since the Ice Witch Ais awakened.

During this time, he immersed himself in the practice of breathing techniques.

With the support of silver-grade energy, his battle qi limit has increased at an astonishing rate, now reaching a terrifying 60!

This level of fighting spirit has already exceeded the limit of Silver Level Two and stepped into the threshold of Silver Level Three!

In just one day, his battle qi limit increased from 10, which was just breaking through to silver, to 60, which was just entering silver three-star. This dreamlike speed of improvement made even Roy feel a strong sense of unreality.

The higher purity of the battle qi brought a stronger physical tempering effect, and his physical strength also improved greatly along with the increase in battle qi.

If he could, Roy would love to cultivate his battle qi to the peak of the silver level, but the feeling of his battle qi being weak and unstable made him give up on this plan.

The feeling of emptiness in one's fighting spirit is a warning from the body.

It warned Roy that the sudden surge in fighting spirit was already becoming increasingly uncontrollable.

In this situation, the most important thing to do is to solidify the foundation as soon as possible and completely regain control of the battle aura.

The path to transcendence is like building a skyscraper. If the foundation is unstable, even if the skyscraper is eventually built, it will be nothing more than a castle in the air that will collapse with a strong wind.

To go far on the path to extraordinary achievements, a solid foundation is essential.

Having realized this, Roy, though regretful, had no choice but to stop practicing the breathing technique.

Compared to when he first entered the Silver rank, the battle qi and physique of the Silver rank three-star made Roy feel incredibly powerful, as if he could easily defeat him when he first broke through with a single move.

This sense of insubstantiation in power needs to be gradually smoothed out through actual combat and training.

It seems I need to find a real-world training opponent...

Roy thought to himself silently.

He was well aware of his weaknesses.

Although he now possesses the fighting spirit of a Silver Three-Star Knight and an even greater physique, his combat experience is far inferior to that of a Silver Knight, let alone a Bronze Knight.

Relying on his two great talents and using all his skills, he is no match for knights of the same rank. However, if he does not use his talents and fights purely with his fighting spirit and physique, he may not even be able to defeat a silver-level knight.

This situation is unacceptable to Roy, therefore, combat training must be put on the agenda as soon as possible.

Suddenly, a surprised voice rang out, interrupting Roy's wandering thoughts.

"Big sister, you're finally awake! Thank goodness! Waaah, you scared me to death..."

Vivian, the Witch of Light, sounded so surprised that her voice even trembled with a hint of tears at the end.

Roy immediately stood up and looked towards the bed.

The shadow witch Lilia, who had been lying quietly there, slowly opened her eyes.

A light deeper than the night itself shimmered in the depths of her pupils.

Familiar sights came into view, familiar scents filled her nostrils, and Lilia's hazy eyes quickly cleared. Following the direction of the sound, she turned her head and saw Vivian, her eyes glistening with tears, crying like a little cat, and also Roy, who was walking briskly from a distance, his eyes filled with intense joy.

She wanted to say something, but in the end, all her words came down to just one sentence.

"Sorry for making you worry."

……

After waking up with excitement and joy, and after listening to Roy recount the aftermath of the Star Lake incident, Lilia, who was holding the sleeping Vivian in her arms, softly recounted the entire process within the Talent Evolution Space.

"...After stepping onto the fourth step, the pressure suddenly increased. Fortunately, I had already grasped the secret of elementalization, and with that, I managed to climb to the eighth step with great difficulty."

"But by then, I had reached my limit. I knew that I could not possibly climb to the ninth floor by myself."

"While I was pondering, a thought suddenly struck me, and I tentatively summoned the shadow giant wolf Fenrir."

"With Fenrir's help, I finally reached the ninth floor and got a black bead that was placed there."