Seven days later, in the secret chamber beneath the castle.

Ian had personally arranged the secret chamber. Its walls were inscribed with silvery-white Runes that, upon closer inspection, seemed to be flowing slowly.

In the center of the floor, a circular Array three meters in diameter had been drawn with dark red Refined Gold Powder.

The Array’s lines were complex, with ancient Runes representing stability, containment, and transformation nested in the center.

Latour sat cross-legged in the very center of the Array, his upper body bare.

After seven days of medicinal baths and conditioning with Magic Potions, his once lean body had filled out noticeably.

His eyes were closed and his breathing was steady and deep, but his hands, folded on his knees, were slightly tensed, the veins on their backs faintly visible.

Ian stood at the edge of the Array, silent.

Even Gaga on his shoulder was uncharacteristically quiet, its gaze fixed on the center of the Array.

Time passed, bit by bit.

Under the guidance of Ian’s Spiritual Power, the Magic Power in the air seeped into the Array, strand by strand.

The dark red Refined Gold Powder began to glow faintly, the light spreading from the edge toward the center.

Finally, the entire Array lit up, emitting a low hum.

The air in the secret chamber grew thick and scorching.

Ian raised a hand, levitating two Crystal Tubes above Latour’s head.

One was the violet Dream Potion, and the other was the Limit-Breaking Edition of the Rock Bear Potion, a Dark Gold Liquid.

"Father, remember the process I told you about."

Ian’s voice pierced through the Array, reaching Latour’s ears with perfect clarity.

Latour didn’t open his eyes, merely nodding.

With a flick of his finger, Ian precisely guided the two Potions into Latour’s mouth.

Latour’s body trembled slightly, then his breathing suddenly grew ragged and his brows furrowed tightly.

The muscles in his face began to twitch uncontrollably, as if he were enduring some immense pain, or perhaps living through an intensely real nightmare.

Then, an even more startling change began.

On the surface of his skin, faint, light-brown, illusory patterns resembling the fur of a Demon Bear began to appear.

At first, they were just blurry spots, but soon, as if alive, they began to connect with one another.

They outlined complex, dark patterns that resembled rifts in rock strata, or perhaps the hide of some giant beast.

Ian’s gaze was focused.

This was different from when he had taken it himself, which had directly summoned the phantom of the Earth Vein Melting Core Giant Beast.

It seemed the trace of high-level bloodline information contained within the Limit-Breaking Potion required a "guide" or "resonance" to be fully activated.

’It seems only I can draw out the bloodline seal of the Earth Vein Melting Core Giant Beast.’

Within the Array, the most critical moment had arrived.

Ian’s gaze was intent, his Spiritual Power like the most precise of scalpels as he adjusted the flow of Energy within the Array.

He had to ensure the Potion’s violent potency was released and transformed within his father’s body in an orderly fashion, rather than instantly blowing apart his mortal form.

Fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. Maintaining such delicate control was no small burden for him, either.

"Ugh..."

Latour let out a suppressed grunt. His body convulsed violently, then went rigid.

His bare skin quickly turned red and hot. His bones made a grinding, overburdened sound, and his muscle fibers frantically tore apart, reorganized, and expanded!

A fierce and profound aura, as heavy as the Earth itself, began to rise from Latour’s body, growing stronger and stronger.

The aura surged, climbing higher and higher!

The aura of a Basic Level Apprentice was instantly overwhelmed, then Middle Level Apprentice, High Level Apprentice... it continued to climb.

Mixed within the aura was the savage wildness of a peak Demon Bear, yet it wasn’t entirely the aura of a Rock Armor Demon Bear—it was more like an advanced version.

Inside the secret chamber, the temperature shot up, and the air began to warp.

On the floor, the Array flared with brilliant light, struggling with all its might to stabilize the turbulent, rampaging Energy.

Ian was completely focused, his ten fingers flying as he constantly fine-tuned the positions of the levitating Magic Stones, mending the Array’s minor instabilities.

Every fluctuation in the tide of Energy made his heart clench.

Time seemed to pass both slowly and quickly at once.

After an unknown amount of time, the wildly fluctuating aura around Latour rose to a certain peak before it finally began to stabilize, gradually growing calm.

The aura of a mortal had vanished completely, replaced by an Extraordinary fluctuation that carried a heavy, substantial quality and vigorous life.

Ian observed it for a moment. Although Latour’s strength and aura were not yet on par with a true Level One Wizard, he had already stepped into that Domain in terms of his life-level and pure Power.

The light from the Array suddenly retracted, and all auras and phenomena subsided.

Latour was still sitting there, but he was a completely different person.

He opened his eyes, and two sharp glints of light flashed through the secret chamber before vanishing.

The roots of his once graying hair now showed hints of a deep brown.

More importantly, his gaze was no longer that of a sharp and steady Mortal Knight. Instead, it held a new quality...

a confidence born of looking down upon others, and a trace of the indifference that came with newly born, Extraordinary life.

He slowly rose to his feet.

"CRACK, CRACK, POP..."

A series of crisp, explosive cracks echoed from his bones, filled with a sense of power.

He clenched his fist, and the air itself seemed to let out a soft pop.

"This Power..."

He looked down at his hands. The skin on his palms had returned to its normal color.

But upon closer inspection, a very faint, Dark Gold luster, as smooth and warm as jade, seemed to flow just beneath the skin.

With a single thought, he issued the first command to the strange and formidable Power within his body.

HUMMM...

A heavy, condensed sense of power surged from his heart, flowing like viscous lava to his right fist in an instant.

In a flash, the skin of his entire right fist and forearm was covered in a Dark Gold sheen.

It looked like hard, frosted Rock, and was extremely dense.

This was the metallization of Rock!

No hesitation, no running start.

Latour faced the stone wall and simply thrust his right fist forward.

The movement wasn’t fast, even a little slow, but it carried an unstoppable Will.

"THUD!"

A deep, muffled boom erupted.

The entire secret chamber trembled slightly, and dust trickled down from above.

Where the fist had struck, a deep imprint of a fist had appeared, his arm sunk in halfway to the elbow.

The edges of the fist imprint were smooth, without the slightest hint of radial cracks.

The hard Obsidian had turned into soft "mud" at the moment of contact.

This was the most direct expression of "Earth Power"—heavy, condensed, and capable of changing the form of matter.

Latour retracted his fist, staring at the smooth, embedded imprint.

An unprecedented, fiery light erupted in his eyes!

He unclenched his fist. The Dark Gold luster slowly faded, and his forearm returned to normal.

Then, without stopping, he took a deep breath and focused a portion of his attention on his feet.

Then, he tentatively took a step forward.

His foot landed.

An extremely faint ripple of Energy spread out from the sole of his shoe, covering the ground in a radius of less than a meter.

There was no tremor. It was more as if the Stone Slab beneath his foot had formed some deeper "resonance" with him.

His step was silent, but his stance felt more stable than ever before.

He felt as if his feet and the ground were one, and that any impact would be instantly discharged into the Earth beneath him.

He tried jogging a few quick steps, turning, and stopping abruptly.

With every movement, he was so steady he seemed inhuman, rooted to the spot where he landed!

This was a characteristic of Earth Vein Resonance, an instinct formed after his bloodline Awakening.

Earth Affinity and a stable foundation!