Chapter 566: Waking Up After a Long Dream (2)

Third Person’s POV

Erius could have found out that himself, but remembering his grandfather’s rebuke and warning, he didn’t dare extend his soul sense towards Ethan again.

Elis stepped beside him and carefully examined Ethan once again before replying seriously,

"He should be at the peak of the Elemental Sea Mage Realm."

The moment Erius heard this answer, disdain immediately flashed through his cloudy blue eyes.

After all, he himself had already become a Crystal Formation Mage at merely twenty-five years of age.

Within the entire Ice Emperor City, he was considered the youngest person in this era to ever reach that realm.

Because of his monstrous talent, Erius rarely viewed anyone of his generation as a worthy rival.

Only Arlene barely qualified in his eyes, and even she was still three years younger than him while remaining stuck within the Elemental Sea Realm.

Looking at Ethan once again, Erius spoke with growing disappointment,

"What kind of mystery could an Elemental Sea Mage possibly possess that would benefit me in any meaningful way?"

His eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"From what I observed, he carries no storage rings or hidden treasures upon him, so I can already eliminate the possibility that he possesses some ancient inheritance or artifact."

Slowly, his expression grew colder as he continued his analysis,

"So the only remaining possibility is that his bloodline or family background must be extraordinary."

He crossed his arms while speaking thoughtfully, as if he knew everything and nothing could escape his perception,

"Most likely, his clan or lineage stood on the brink of destruction in some ancient era and sealed their heir within this mysterious coffin before hiding him inside that frozen region where even experienced adventurers would hesitate to venture.

That means that the coffin must be a temporal artifact, making it the most precious object that we captured from this expedition."

But remembering the fact that his grandfather had silently stored the icy coffin in his own storage ring, Erius decided to ask him later on, and the more he spoke, the more convinced he became of his own reasoning.

At the same time, disappointment visibly surfaced on his face.

In the next moment, his expression turned completely disinterested.

"You stay here and guard him, Elis."

He waved his hand dismissively.

"Your existence is not meant to be shown publicly within the academy anyway, so you are the most suitable person for this task."

Then he sighed irritably.

"I am returning to the academy.

This entire ambush and interception turned out to be a complete waste, other than the fact that I managed to teach that arrogant girl a good lesson this time."

With that, Erius turned and exited through the large blue door of the chamber, leaving Elis alone within the room, together with the unconscious Ethan.

Elis quietly watched the door close behind him, and a knowing expression slowly appeared on her face.

Then, after several minutes of silence had passed, she suddenly sneered softly before letting out a mocking laugh filled with disdain.

"What an idiot..."

Her beautiful green eyes narrowed coldly.

"He considers himself intelligent, yet he is shallow enough to only look at what rests upon the surface."

Even though no one else remained there to hear her words, Elis openly mocked Erius without restraint because deep within her heart, she truly looked down upon him.

Erius’s arrogance and self-confidence had blinded him completely.

He had failed to notice or ignored the cautiousness and seriousness Ivan displayed toward Ethan from beginning to end.

Instead, he had only focused on Ethan’s visible ascension realm and outward appearance.

But Elis was not foolish like him.

Slowly, she walked toward Ethan once more.

Just like Ivan earlier, she carefully began examining Ethan’s body from head to toe using only mana while maintaining an unusually serious expression.

Her fingers lightly brushed across his crystallized skin while strands of green mana spread carefully around him for inspection.

All this while, she remained completely unaware that Ethan’s consciousness, which had long wandered through an endless frozen land of darkness and death, had suddenly begun awakening silently from deep within his icy slumber.

Outside in the luxurious royal chamber, Elis continued to inspect Ethan carefully for a long time after Erius left, and she was left with nothing to do.

But after many minutes passed, she still failed to discover anything truly extraordinary about him other than one strange and unsettling thing, and it was the fact that his body was unbelievably hard.

The sensation beneath her mana did not resemble the flesh of a living human at all.

Instead, it felt more like some ancient statue carved from enchanted ice stone and left buried beneath frozen mountains for centuries.

Even when she subtly increased the pressure of her mana while examining him, his crystallized flesh did not soften or yield even slightly.

Like humans, elves also mostly specialized in magic, magical weapons, and elemental affinity.

Body strengthening paths of divine ascension were extremely rare among elves because their constitutions simply were not suited for such brutal and crude refinement methods. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

As a result, Elis slowly came to the conclusion that this strange condition of Ethan’s body must have been caused by remaining sealed inside that mysterious temporal ice coffin for far too long.

In her mind, the prolonged exposure to that strange cold energy had probably transformed his body into this crystallized state over time.

And naturally, she assumed that once he awakened fully, his body would slowly return to normal.

Meanwhile, deep within Ethan’s soul space, an entirely different situation was unfolding silently.

For the past year, Ethan’s soul had remained shackled beneath the terrifying Hexweave Spider Curse that had been personally cast by the Dark Emperor of Abyssal Dominion Empire himself.

The curse runes had spread throughout his soul and body like endless webs as they continuously suppressed and drained him while trapping his consciousness inside an endless frozen darkness.

However, the miraculous cold generated by the Frost Soul Orchid, together with the horrifying cold environment beneath the Twin Fang Mountains, had gradually accomplished something even powerful experts would have struggled to achieve.