Nascent Soul Rebirth: Starting as a Wizard

The translucent pale blue magic shield surrounding the hull rubbed and squeezed violently against the invisible barrier, bursting out a series of crackling, teeth-grinding, eerie blue arcs of electricity, as well as visible spatial ripples that spread like water!

Outside the porthole, the flowing sea of ​​clouds, after violently twisting, stretching, and shattering, was like a curtain being suddenly torn open, revealing what lay hidden behind it—a sight powerful enough to leave any first-time witness stunned and utterly captivated.

Sky Island! The true face of Emerald Wizarding Academy!

What first conquered, or even violently invaded, all the senses was the immense concentration of magical energy that made the soul instinctively tremble!

The air here no longer seemed to be a gas, but rather a viscous, flowing "magic slurry" full of active energy factors.

With each breath, it is no longer just an exchange of oxygen, but also a clear feeling of countless active magical particles rushing into the body through the nasal cavity, pores, and even mental perception, spontaneously stimulating and stirring every ripple of the mental field.

Compared to the thin and inert energy environment of Emerald City below, the purity, abundance, and activity of the energy here are more than ten times higher!

Simply being here could probably increase the efficiency of a low-level apprentice's mental strength growth by several times.

Immediately afterwards, the visual impact, like an invisible giant hammer, slammed into the cognitive barriers of every newcomer.

Below, Emerald Island has been transformed into an exquisite yet tiny miniature sand table model, quietly embedded on the boundless azure velvet sea, its edges surrounded by delicate white waves, appearing serene and distant.

And above, all around, and even to the very edge where the view is blocked by the arc-shaped barrier—

It is the earth! It is a real, illogical, vast land suspended in the sky above an eternal sea of ​​clouds!

Its vastness and grandeur surpass the limits of words.

Judging by its size, it is at least fifty times larger than Emerald Island below, or even more!

It is neither a regular circle nor a square; its edges are steep, bottomless cliffs that inspire awe.

The land was relentlessly battered, lifted, and surrounded by the eternally surging, thick, milky-white magma-like sea of ​​clouds, as if it were the spine of a primordial behemoth struggling out of an ancient abyss.

On land, the diversity of topography and the strangeness of weather phenomena far exceed imagination:

Looking into the distance, snow-capped peaks, like cold, sharp swords, pierce through the low-hanging clouds, their summits reflecting dazzling sunlight devoid of any warmth.

Nearby, the mountains stretch endlessly, like the folds and bones of the earth, covered with thick, dark green, almost black forests, the deep green so rich it seems to exude magic.

Strange phosphorescent lights, sometimes appearing as ghostly blue, purple, or pale green, flicker intermittently in the forest, accompanied by faint, eerie cries that are neither those of beasts nor birds.

A mighty river, like a silver dragon breaking free of its restraints, roared forth from the depths of the mountains, rushing and flowing into numerous lakes of varying sizes, their waters displaying strange and mysterious colors—

Some are a deep blue like the purest sapphire, while others are a purplish-red like venom, a dark green like jade, or an abyss-black.

The open plains were neatly divided into countless orderly blocks by an almost obsessive planning force, using visible energy fences or magical imprints.

Some are planted with uniform, slightly glowing exotic crops, while others are like exposed scars, undergoing large-scale excavation or construction.

But this suspended "sky garden" is by no means a peaceful and serene sanctuary.

The most shocking sight, shattering the scholarly atmosphere associated with the word "academy," is the colossal sorcery artifacts, exuding an aura of oppression and destruction, that are scattered throughout the strategic strongholds and resource nodes of this floating continent.

And the sheer scale of unnatural labor that was so immense it was chilling:

On the edge of the floating continent, there are giant basalt platforms that peek out from the sea of ​​clouds, the most precipitous terrain, the naturally formed choke points, and the specially reinforced promontory.

Dozens of war fortresses, seemingly from the depths of hell, stand majestically.

These are no ordinary castles; they are entirely cast from a composite material that shimmers with a cold metallic luster and a heavy, rocky texture.

With its sharp lines and distinct angles, the design exudes a ferocious sense of mechanics that abandons all aesthetics and is born solely for efficient killing, like dozens of steel beasts crouching in the clouds, ready to pounce on their prey at any moment.

The surface of the fortress is covered with a dense array of three-dimensional defensive runes and thick energy conduits, so intricate that they would drive a low-level wizard crazy at a glance. These runes are deeply embedded in the material like the neural network and blood vessels of a living creature.

As a massive "heart" throbbed within the fortress, it flickered with eerie blue, dark red, or ghastly green light, continuously emitting a low, threatening magical hum, like the snoring of a colossal beast.

Large, multi-mounted magical turrets, their barrels engraved with destructive runes, emerged menacingly from their honeycomb-shaped firing ports.

Some pointed warily at the endless void and sea of ​​clouds outside the barrier, while others turned unsettlingly, coldly overlooking certain areas within the continent.

Occasionally, one can see the heavy gates at the bottom of the fortress suddenly open amidst steam and magical light, releasing formations of small, high-speed reconnaissance constructs.

Shaped like metal hummingbirds or bats, or as assault shuttles carrying fully armed combat wizards, they trail colorful tail flames, like fierce worker bees leaving their nests, disappearing into the sea of ​​clouds or heading into the distance.

In some open-pit mines, large quarries, sprawling workshop complexes, energy core arrays, and the outer defensive perimeter of those war fortresses, there are silent, mechanical, and terrifyingly large armies of slaves, like worker ants.

Their numbers, roughly estimated at hundreds of thousands, were all dressed in uniform, rough, and uninspired gray-brown woven uniforms, their movements almost eerily synchronized.

Like puppets controlled by invisible threads, their eyes are mostly empty and numb, devoid of the brilliance and vitality that life should have.

The composition of this "army" is alarming: it is almost entirely composed of non-human races—

Hill behemoths with skin as rough as weathered granite, bulging muscles, and towering heights of three meters, yet with dull eyes and metal collars around their necks inscribed with heavy runes of enslavement, are assigned to the most arduous mining and heavy-duty transport teams.

The short, stocky goblins, with their nimble hands and feet and innate sensitivity to mineral pulsations, worked in groups, operating rudimentary magical tools to perform initial ore screening and tunnel excavation amidst the whipping and cursing of their overseers.

You can even see some powerful monsters that have been tamed and are wearing special anti-magic shackles and rune bridles—such as the "Iron Beast of the Mountain" that is covered in scales and is good at digging.

Or they could be “rock-eating worms” that can spew acid to soften rocks—driven to perform certain dangerous or specific tasks.

The overseer is a wizard apprentice or alchemical puppet dressed in uniform dark red leather armor, wearing an enchanted short staff and a rapier, with an expression as cold as a stone sculpture.

Their sharp eyes are like those of hawks, and the tip of their short staffs can unleash punitive lightning or spiritual lashes that cause painful spasms at any moment.

The entire scene was efficient, cold, and silent. Apart from the sounds of mechanical collisions and friction, there was a chilling order that completely objectified and instrumentalized vibrant life.

It clashes with the "pursuit of knowledge" atmosphere that academies should have, yet it forms a strange and harmonious complement to the existence of those war fortresses.

The Emerald Wizarding Academy's buildings are by no means the romantic, pointed castles and ancient corridors covered in vines that one might imagine.

They are located in the relatively flat area in the south-central part of the continent, where the energy flow is most abundant. Following the complex direction of the earth's veins and the distribution of energy nodes, they form a vast and organic magical architectural complex.

The towering mage towers are not scattered here and there, but rather distributed in clusters and sequences, with different materials used for their construction:

There is the "Morning Light Stone" tower, which is as white as jade and seems to absorb and store sunlight; and the "Shadow Steel" tower, which is as black as midnight and constantly emits a faint suction force that pulls the surrounding shadows.

There is the "Crystal Observatory," which is carved entirely from a single, massive piece of magical crystal, its interior shimmering with light and runes that seem to move like living beings.

There are also "Storm Summoning Towers" that resemble giant, growing metal ferns and whose branches are entwined with leaping electric arcs.

At the tips of these towers, without exception, float enormous, slowly spinning arcane core crystals, multifaceted geometric rune arrays, or elemental condensation orbs.

It continuously extracts, purifies, and regulates the immense magical power from the rich energy environment of Sky Island, and then transmits it to various regions through an invisible energy network.

A vast, palatial building complex—comprising a library, a multi-purpose teaching hall, an elemental resonance hall, and an alchemy experimental center, among others.

The buildings are not simply connected by roads, but rather by a three-dimensional transportation network woven together by arched sky bridges spanning the sky, spiraling and rising suspended stone steps, and even short-distance directional transport platforms with fixed routes.

Many building facades are not inanimate objects; they are covered with glowing magical moss that can automatically adjust light and absorb harmful energy particles, or with trailing wisps of fluorescent "stardew vines" that can purify the air and emit a calming fragrance.

However, among these seemingly "academic" buildings, there are equally impressive practical facilities interspersed without any attempt to conceal them:

Like a giant beast lying in wait, the warehouse cluster is constantly loading and unloading cargo by transport ships, humming day and night, with runes flowing on its surface, and a comprehensive magic workshop emitting strange smoke of various colors and emitting dull impacts or shrieks.

And a giant ecological enclosure, separated by high walls and powerful barriers, housing all sorts of strange and dangerous magical creatures.

Air traffic was so busy it bordered on chaos, with various types of official and private airships, as well as a large number of people riding magic brooms, flying carpets, and creatures such as griffins and wyverns.

Even wizards riding even rarer flying mounts like the Stormwing or Shadow Steed transformed into streaks of multicolored light.

They rapidly traverse the seemingly random but actually restrictive airspace, creating a dynamic scene full of vitality and danger.