CHAPTER 60: ATTACK

Hearing that clicking sound, Richard didn’t even dare to blink.

Buzz!

Starlight burst out from the Star Wheel, shining so brightly that it outshone the sun, turning day into what looked like a radiant night.

The starlight only covered the area around the governor’s castle.

As it touched him, Richard could feel the overwhelming presence of Aether surrounding him.

He didn’t even need to close his eyes to connect with it. Even while moving, he could absorb it.

Of course, for him, the only Aether worth focusing on was Tier 3. He had no need to care about the rest.

At this moment, everyone began absorbing the Aether they could sense. Richard focused on Tier 3 Aether, and indeed, it was far easier. Though it still required a process, it didn’t take long. Richard could absorb one unit of Aether in less than a minute.

He glanced at Wren as he did so, because he could truly absorb Aether without even closing his eyes—the results would be the same.

But unlike him, Wren had shut his eyes, looking utterly focused and serious.

’Grace’s influence shouldn’t be that significant—it’s only Wren who affects me. If he weren’t here, I should be able to absorb Tier 3 Aether even faster,’ he thought.

This was already common knowledge: in one area—or even in an entire city—the fewer people absorbing Aether, the faster one could draw it in, like during the daytime.

On the other hand, the more people absorbing Aether at the same time, the slower one’s absorption would be, as the Aether was being contested and pulled in different directions.

No one complained about this; it was simply a law of nature.

Still, Richard couldn’t deny his dissatisfaction. His true competition for Aether was essentially only one person—Wren.

If the man were just anyone else, unrelated to him, Richard might have kept silent. But this was his clear enemy.

Richard felt he would be ashamed of himself if he couldn’t eliminate Wren from the competition.

"Hmm..."

He didn’t think long before making a decision—he launched a Mind Attack at him.

Their distance wasn’t too close, but neither was it too far.

In less than an instant, the Mind Attack struck Wren’s mind.

His eyes suddenly snapped open, shock and fear flashing within them.

"What is this?" He staggered to his feet, clutching his head with both hands, as if struck by a sudden, searing headache.

Chaotic, explosive energy burst from his body, scattering much of the Aether within him.

Though his voice was faint, how could others fail to sense the chaos in his aura?

"What’s happening to him?" Richard heard someone nearby mutter.

Right after that question, something strange emerged from Wren’s body—transparent, ghost-like figures one after another.

Some of them tried to attack Wren’s body, but being incorporeal, they couldn’t touch him.

Even so, Wren’s condition grew increasingly unstable.

"Ahhhh..." He suddenly screamed, clutching his head as he fell to the ground, rolling in agony, as though the attacks of those figures were striking directly at his soul.

Boom! Boom!

Aether exploded from Wren’s body one after another, leaving wounds across him.

"No—his Aether Will can’t control the Aether inside his body..." someone cried out upon seeing the violent eruptions.

Without Aether Will, a person should normally be fine. But for Magi in the Aether Will Realm who had over a thousand Aether within their bodies, the loss of their Aether Will meant some of their Aether could explode uncontrollably.

Even Richard, the instigator, was stunned.

A Mind Attack shouldn’t have had such an effect on Wren.

He should have been able to split his focus, resisting the Mind Attack while still cultivating, though of course it would have been difficult with his concentration divided.

And though he did resist the Mind Attack from overwhelming his mind, his power seemed to spiral into utter chaos.

"Hmph. Wren has been toying with human souls to create sinister tricks, using them to aid his cultivation and reach Tier 3 Aether. Rumor has it, there’s a wicked artifact inside him, imprisoning countless souls. Now, it seems he’s lost control of those souls, throwing everything into disorder," an old Magus not far from Richard remarked.

Richard turned his gaze toward him, listening intently to his words.

A young Magus beside the old one asked, "But hasn’t he been fine all this time, even if people said his power wasn’t fully stable? Why is his strength unraveling now?"

"I don’t know—maybe something happened. There are always huge risks in taking extreme measures. We can’t predict the exact cause," the old Magus replied.

Whoosh!

The governor suddenly appeared at Wren’s side.

He didn’t just appear—his power radiated outward, forming a cubic barrier that enveloped Wren.

The instant the governor appeared next to him, Richard withdrew his Mind Attack, fearing the man would detect it if it collided with his power.

But even though Richard stopped the Mind Attack, Wren’s condition didn’t stabilize. The chaos stemmed from his own power—Mind Attack was only the trigger.

The governor’s power enveloped Wren completely, suppressing him until everything in his body froze.

Whoosh!

The governor carried Wren away, vanishing in an instant.

Perhaps Wren’s problem was far more serious than it appeared, requiring immediate and dire assistance.

With Wren gone, Richard was stunned as he felt the Tier 3 Aether from the Star Wheel surging toward him—nearly tenfold—when he tried to absorb it.

His eyes shone brightly when he felt that, making him instantly stop thinking about Wren.

The man could only blame himself for relying on something bad to gain power that he shouldn’t be able to get.

’I should absorb as much as possible,’ he thought.

He was quite aware that in time, this Aether from the Star Wheel would eventually merge back into nature. That was why he could not waste time.

Now, it didn’t just take him less than a minute to absorb one Aether.

In that time, his Aether increased by ten.

Of course, the Aether Bottle also filled up and in a short time, it became full.