Ronan interrupted Benny’s reminiscences, questioning: "With such poor aptitude, how could you have advanced to Mist? Not to mention having been infinitely close to the Fifth Ring.."
Ronan had come through that threshold himself; he knew all too well its cruelty.
If Benny’s aptitude were truly as he described it, it should be worse than Ronan’s. The impurities in his soul, ignited by the God Burning Potion, would have been enough to turn him into ash.
In such a case, the one sitting in front of Ronan now should have been Fiona, holding Benny’s urn.
Facing Ronan’s skepticism, Benny remained calm, "The truth is exactly as I said. Honestly, I too have questioned why my soul aptitude was tested so poorly, yet I did not find it too difficult when passing through the threshold to become an Official Wizard..."
Ronan frowned and listened on, for Benny had no reason to lie to him.
"I... am struggling to survive every day, to keep Fiona alive."
"I keep getting stronger."
Benny said calmly, "But Fiona keeps dying."
About how Benny turned from a genius who had a disastrous start as a young wizard, to step by step becoming a renowned talent of the Seventh Magic Rings.
This process was streamlined with the simplest and plainest words by Benny.
He mostly shared the little bits and pieces between himself and his wife Fiona.
Ronan suddenly came to understand why Benny could make it this far and why he had offended so many people.
From his knightly background, Benny was a man of strong conviction.
He was also the person with the strongest conviction Ronan had ever met.
Certain obsessions of his had turned into a torch burning brightly, helping him burn through the thorns in his path, and scorching those who tried to get close, those who tried to stop him.
This kind of person is destined to make countless enemies.
The reason why Ronan is sitting here now is also that Benny’s torch is about to go out.
Benny’s story was long, and by the time he finished telling it, the bonfire in front of the two had completely lost its warmth.
Stepping out of the Mini Secret Realm Space, they saw daylight breaking through under the cascading waterfall, dawn spilling over, and the Silver Magic Ring in the distance slowly unfurling a light like never before, ready to greet the arrival of some grand ceremony.
"Are you coming with me?"
Ronan felt the moist air, the sense of "newness" that only came with sunrise, and asked Benny who was beside him.
Benny shook his head.
As he activated his Flying Ring, ready to ascend and leave, Benny’s voice suddenly came from behind.
Ronan turned around and saw Benny looking at him intently.
"Tell me again, have you really not grasped Level 1 Law Domain Resonance?"
Ronan thought for a moment and answered again: "It’s like... I haven’t truly mastered it."
Benny was stunned for a moment and asked again, "Then what is the third Soul Seal you’ve refined?"
Ronan smiled and turned toward the direction where the sunrise was beginning, the dawn light casting upon his smooth, delicate cheek, and reflecting a mirror-like shine from some barely visible rune patterns on his neck.
"I found it myself... and it is the most suitable Seal for me."
Having said that, his figure swiftly receded, leaving Benny alone standing by the waterfall, until he could no longer see Ronan’s departing figure.
Ronan strolled along the streets outside of the Seventh Magic Rings.
All the people around him were swarming towards the direction of the inner city, even though there were rune Arrays blocking the way.
The thick light from the Arrays twisted the air, making everything inside appear blurry.
However, there were still small Magic Airships rising swiftly into the sky, along with many more affordable rune hot air balloons, reaching an allowed height. Everyone on them, despite barely being able to see anything, was craning their necks desperately to peek inside.
"Lord Ronan! Over here!"
Suddenly, a joyous voice called out Ronan’s name.
Ronan looked toward the voice and saw Alida and Jacob from the Blueberry Inn squeezed onto a crowded hot air balloon, constantly calling out to him.
"Weren’t you saying you weren’t coming? I’m glad I saved a spot for you in advance!"
"Damn it, don’t push any further, a distinguished and true Wizard is about to join us!"
Alida, like an irritable little sheep, snarled and scuffled with those trying to squeeze into the space saved for Ronan.
But before she could secure a spot, Jacob tugged on her, gesturing for her to look in a certain direction.
Alida, dumbstruck, watched Ronan smile at her, then dive into the Array that only Magic Ring Wizards could enter, causing her to suddenly cover her mouth in shock.
"Ro.. Ronan, he’s already an Official member of the Magic Ring... is he going to participate in the competition today?!"
Before entering the Rune Formation, Ronan also saw the red-haired Wizard Quidi who he had dealt with for a while, standing on a small Magic Airship.
The other clearly saw him, too, but the two merely exchanged simple glances before moving on.
Ronan followed the flow of people walking towards the base of the silver-white Tower; most of them were wearing standardized Silver Robe of the Silver Magic Ring. Ronan’s Magic Robe had been damaged in a battle long ago and had not been mended or replaced due to his "frozen" privileges.
However, there were quite a few wizards without standardized robes like him, so he did not stand out that much. Typically, others who do not wear standardized robes do so because they have better ones as replacements, but Ronan did not.