Chapter 134 The Flame Zone

Casting skills honed by consistent and arduous trainings pulled Ricky to bring about an overwhelming victory against his famed enemies, Andrew and Ivan. They were by no means of weak stature; far from it, in fact, as they were hailed gifted in the field of magic. It was only unfortunate that they had faced an individual gushing with an unforeseeable amount of potential and talent, thus securing them a crushing defeat before Ricky's mercy. The great achievement earned Ricky the promised reward of the Magic Spirit Stone and the start of his legend spreading all over the Casting City.

People of young and old marveled with eyes full of wonder upon hearing the tales of his accomplishments. Clearly driven with awe upon the news of his unrivaled strength, storytellers had begun singing odes of his adventures while taverns overflowed with numerous citizens who spoke of nothing but his venerated being.

His mysterious Pounding Skill became the main topic of the public's conversation. Furthermore, his acquisition of the Magic Spirit Stone spurred his reputation to quickly gain the title of a genius casting master.

The rising popularity magnetized curiosity and loathing to trail after Ricky's form wherever he went. As long as he continued to walk out of the Casting Guild, he was bound to a fate of gazes observing his every move. It would not be a surprise if he were to attract the attention of big organizations at some point, especially the ones who fostered malicious intents for him. He had an item that was deeply coveted, after all. Some men hired by elite families and groups were sure to come for him.

Privacy was a necessity that he no longer had; before long, Ricky's identity had been laid out in the open.

It became known that he was a disciple from the Snow Sect that possessed an incomplete spiritual meridian. A miracle to most, perhaps, given his formidable prowess that would have been deemed as a talk of mere fiction before.

Masses believed that Ricky must have gained an outwardly experience. Theories of him being instructed by an innate spirit or him receiving a rare magical treasure became their explanation for his burst of progress within such a short period of time. However, they had no basis to prove their musings, so they had only regressed into harboring an unquenchable thirst for more information regarding the fascinating life of Ricky.

It was an outcome that garnered varying forces to camp outside the house of the Casting Guild. Countless had grown greedy for additional knowledge on the man, and had opted to use their influence to even bribe some disciples of the guild for reliable data on him.

Soon, the inside network of the Casting Guild consisted of differing groups doing an undercover study of the celebrated figure. It was no exaggeration to say that Ricky was now living under everyone's prying eyes.

...

A huddled group consisting of Ricky, Kayla and Elder Alexander, resided in the elder's room as they engaged in a discussion on Ricky's current predicament.

"Ricky, a lot of people are watching you closely outside. As you've probably noticed, some of them have strong backgrounds to be proud of, but you're clearly not afraid of them at all!" Elder Alexander said with a slight smile while he looked at Ricky meaningfully. No one would doubt a notable person if they were to grow afraid of their safety, but Ricky still wore an expression of calmness in response to his dilemma.

"Yes, Elder Alex. I know what they're doing, but I also can't burst into tears because of the fear they're imposing on me," he replied humbly.

"Why not? It's not shameful to cry," Kayla interrupted, her soft tone providing Ricky some sense of comfort. He nodded in acknowledgement and offered a grin of his own to her. She had already stopped from talking to him with malice laced in her voice; a sign that she had grown to lessen her dislike for him as opposed to the past.

"So, what do you plan to do next? You can't be as relaxed as before, with those malevolent guys hangin

ody for his intention on refining the Magic Spirit Stone. He had to start on it as soon as possible, given that it was an item that attracted the teeming envy of all. Prolonging the attainment of its power would be detrimental for him; he had to deplete it of its energy until it became an ordinary, useless stone, or else he would have to deal with the increasing trouble.

"All of you want the Magic Spirit Stone. Fine, you can all just keep waiting! It will all end up in vain in the end anyway," Ricky reproached as he simultaneously initiated the Devouring Skill.

To his surprise, his spiritual meridian responded strongly the second he commenced the Devouring Skill. Powerful energy emerged from it and engulfed the Magic Spirit Stone in its embrace until it sucked it completely.

In a staggering epiphany, he felt that the Magic Spirit Stone had successfully been devoured inside him.

"God, this is incredible! It seems like my new spiritual meridian likes the stone a lot," he praised in awe. He had plotted to refine the stone to transfer its purified power to his spiritual meridian. As per the usual, he had already envisaged the miserable process he would undoubtedly be put through, but his spiritual meridian had remarkably consumed it by itself. The startling operation had saved him from spending his time and energy in enduring the unbearable pain.

The phenomenon caused his spiritual meridian to change afresh. A huge area appeared at the second segment of it, mimicking the spaciousness of the Devourer Zone.

His mind integrated into the chasm and was greeted with a scenery of pure, scalding fire.

It frolicked around the zone. The strong heat emanating from the element danced cruelly as it projected its scorching attacks to anything standing on its path. Luckily for Ricky, as the owner of the zone, these flames would not affect him. In other words, he was immunized to the flames in his body.

Crimson runes emerged one by one amongst the sea of blaze and floated in the air.

"Seems like I'm going to gain another Supreme Skill!" Ricky shouted, rejoicing and thrilled at the sight of the runes. He had gained one of the nine Supreme Skills, which was the Devouring Skill, when the Devourer Zone had manifested before. Ever since then, he had believed that the nine Supreme Skills followed the same pattern of presentation.

"Hum, this fire space… I'll just call you the Flame Zone for now!" he hummed, flaunting a broad smile while he wandered around the zone in examination of the welcomed landscape.

At the same time, he practiced with the aim of reaching the sixth grade of Blood Purification.

Until two days later, Elder Alexander came back.