CHAPTER 171: LOST POWER

"Lady Darkness, you can't sense me anymore, can you?"

Wang Yu glanced at the avatar of the Lady of the Night, who was seated beside Avia.

"Indeed. The mental realm I once had access to has vanished. I can no longer locate you the way I used to, nor sense your mindscape."

The Lady of the Night nodded in confirmation. It was clear that Wang Yu could no longer receive power from her the way he once did. His divine spells were now unusable.

Sighing, Wang Yu returned to his mindscape. He opened his eyes—the once vast and clear lake had disappeared, leaving only endless darkness and silence. The only thing that remained was his old, weathered doorframe.

He looked up, expecting to see the river of stars that once stretched across the sky of his mindscape, and instead finding nothing. The frenzied whispers of the void and its projection in the minds of wizards—Wang Yu could no longer sense any of it.

Wang Yu glanced around at the endless darkness, trying to perceive something, anything. Avia was meditating beside him. Previously, while he had the key, he had been able to see the mental domains of other wizards reflected upon the lake and even exert some level of influence over them.

But now, even though Avia was within two meters of him, he couldn't sense her mental domain at all—the massive castle that far surpassed his own dilapidated doorframe in grandeur.

All that remained around him was emptiness. His mindscape now seemed isolated from those around him.

"All my methods of using the void, even my ability to communicate with it, must have relied on the key that Roland left behind. Now that the key is gone, I have absolutely no connection to the void anymore—no wizardry talent at all."

Wang Yu took a deep breath. The moment he shattered the key of his mindscape with his fist, he had lost all his wizardry.

Bloodburn Drive, which required synergy among three disparate energies for overwhelming effect, was now unusable. His berserk state, which relied solely on void energy—likewise. This wasn't just a minor setback. It was a massive blow to his strength.

The Tree of the Night, which represented the Lady of the Night's power, was also beyond his reach. Losing access to his divine spells and his lifeline to the Lady of the Night meant that, despite his newfound knowledge, his trip to the Grand Library had weakened him significantly.

"Fortunately, I didn't built my foundation upon the void. My physical body is still the core of my strength."

Clenching his fists, Wang Yu eyed his arms. They were solid and muscular; he had never wavered in his training as a knight. Though losing wizardry had severely weakened him, he would be able to make up for it given enough time.

"But if I'm no longer a wizard at all, what's with this mindscape? And my ripples..."

Wang Yu quickly pushed aside the frustration caused by his loss of power and turned his attention to new questions.

Despite the loss of his wizardry, he still had access to his mindscape. It was a patch of darkness, to be sure, but...

This wasn't normal. Mindscapes were unique to wizards. Even magicians didn't have access to this kind of space, though meditation was a large part of their training. And knights didn't tend to meditate at all.

According to existing theories, a mindscape was the projection of wizardry within the void. In other words, those who weren't wizards shouldn't have mindscapes at all. At most, they could strengthen their soul or hone their mental energy—but not enter their own mindscape.

So what exactly was this pitch-black mindscape of his? He patted the old doorframe standing within his mindscape. That too was a mystery, but it seemed to be the source of his ripple ability.

It was definitely distinct from Roland's key—it belonged to him, and only him. Wang Yu could sense it in his very being.

"So does this space exist because of you?"

He stared at the doorframe for a long time, rubbing his chin, but still couldn't make sense of it. His transmigration from Earth remained a mystery to him. If he couldn't figure it out now, he could only wait and hope that the answer would reveal itself in time.

"In any case, this was really unlucky for me. Losing my wizardry and being unable to use Bloodburn Drive means my strength is down to about seventy percent of what it was. Plus, I can no longer communicate directly with the Lady of the Night. Maybe it's time for me to step down as the Archbishop of the Church of Nightfall."

Wang Yu pursed his lips and withdrew from his mindscape. He set aside the mystery of his altered mindscape for now—what mattered was the one thing he had actually gained from the Grand Library.

"Though I don't know why the library considered this technique the closest thing to latent ability among knights' secret arts, there must be something unique to it. I should experiment with it properly."

Material Shaping was a special application of fighting spirit that was somewhat different from an ordinary knight's secret art. This was his only reward from the Grand Library that had the chance of providing him with a tangible boost in power.

"It's a very interesting way to use fighting spirit. At the very least, I've never thought of applying it like this before..."

Following the technique described in the Material Shaping manual, Wang Yu shaped his fighting spirit and then used his ripples to transfer it into the wooden table before him.

Though he hadn't used much fighting spirit, its structured form meant that it applied a peculiar effect upon striking the table. Though Wang Yu had attempted to use Material Shaping with his own blood in the library before, the sensation of effortlessly reshaping a wooden table into a sword was still remarkable.

In a matter of seconds, part of the wooden table was molded into a longsword, one that looked almost like standard military make. Wang Yu picked it up and examined its properties.

It was lighter than a metal sword, but still sharp. It was able to prick his skin despite his passive knight-level strengthening.

He then tested its durability and found it unexpectedly strong. It was almost comparable to an iron sword, though somewhat less flexible.

As his muscles tensed, he applied more and more force on the sword until it snapped in two with a crack, a sound entirely distinct from when metal broke.

"It's functional, but not as good as a forged metal sword. Still, it seems that swords shaped from different materials retain the properties of their source. This wooden sword, for instance, is lighter than a metal one."

As he examined the fragments of the sword, Wang Yu realized the key difference between Material Shaping and Blood Tempest.

Unlike Blood Tempest, which shaped blood by constructing a framework of fighting spirit within it, Material Shaping fundamentally altered the material itself. Even without further input of fighting spirit, the transformed material retained its enhanced properties.

The broken wooden sword on the table did not revert back to its original form.

"This really is similar to latent ability—the kind that bends reality like wizardry or generates immense destructive power like magic. Material Shaping carries hints of that principle. Fighting spirit might be more profound than I thought."

Wang Yu continued to think. Fighting spirit really was quite special, wasn't it?. While it mostly served to enhance a knight's strength, when structured in specific formations—as a secret art of a potential—it could exhibit even more unique properties.

Inspired, Wang Yu attempted to shape a sword from the air. Using his ripples, he embedded fighting spirit into the surrounding atmosphere as he attempted to solidify it.

"Hm... It failed."

At first, he felt a strange solid texture forming around his palm, like the hilt of a sword.

However, when he tried to grip it, all the fighting spirit he had released collapsed due to the lack of a stable medium.

The barely-formed hilt of air dissipated instantly when he applied even the slightest amount of force to it.

"I was too hasty. Trying to shape a longsword from something harder to mold than wood before mastering the technique was bound to fail."

Failure wasn't a surprise. Solid materials were indeed the easiest to shape into a sword, followed by liquids, while gases and more abstract substances posed the greatest challenge.

"I wonder if I could shape fire, void energy, or mana into a longsword as well. If so, this ability is truly formidable—it does seem to have the characteristic of a potential. I hope this helps me awaken my potential sooner. That would at least make up for the drastic decline in my strength after losing my wizardry."

Wang Yu picked up the broken wooden longsword from the table and placed it back into the indentation left on the wooden surface caused by the missing material he had used for shaping the sword. On instinct, he attempted to channel his wizardry to restore the wood.

It wasn't until he felt his mental energy fluctuate that he snapped back to reality. He could no longer use wizardry.

Wang Yu sighed, chuckling helplessly. Without wizardry, even simple tasks had suddenly become troublesome.

But just as he was about to move on, his ripples detected a fluctuation of void energy. Under its influence, the broken longsword he had placed back in the indentation seamlessly merged back into the wooden table.

Looking up, he met Avia's gaze from across the table. As expected, she had quietly helped restore the table.

"Thank you." Wang Yu gave her a thumbs-up.

Avia returned his smile and gave him a look. "Wang Yu, let's take some time to go outside, enjoy the scenery, or maybe even wander about the capital like last time. We need to relax a little."

Wang Yu blinked, slightly surprised. Was she worried he might fall into despair after losing his wizardry?

There was no need for that. Wang Yu had never been the type to dwell on setbacks. His mindset was solid—he never let himself fall into despair.

"We don't need to, do we?" Wang Yu smiled back at her.

"Even if we don't go out, it's very important to me that we at least have a good meal. Consider it a request on my part, alright?"

Avia's attitude was unexpectedly firm.

Wang Yu looked at Avia for a moment, something stirring in his heart.

"Alright. I'll listen to you."