Chapter 225: Time to Become a Silver Knight!

Nothing could remain hidden forever.

Luke instinctively glanced toward Theia again.

She still stood quietly, gazing at Blackstone City with calm curiosity.

She hadn’t moved an inch.

’System, Is this passive really that overpowered?’

The System answered after a brief pause.

[Hmm... It is powerful.]

[But it isn’t invincible.]

Luke quietly listened.

[Since Dream Sight is a passive ability. Its effectiveness decreases dramatically against beings of the same realm.]

[She can still sense their presence and dreams.]

[However, their deepest desires, secrets, and intentions become blurred.]

Luke nodded. That sounded much more reasonable.

The System continued.

[And naturally, it has no effect on beings of a higher realm.]

Luke nodded once more. That was simply common sense.

Even Origin Skills had limits.

Passive abilities. No matter how extraordinary, could never be truly omnipotent.

Though active abilities were different. Many of them could temporarily threaten or influence opponents above the user’s own realm.

Still.

’I wonder how much would it actually reveal against a Diamond Knight?’

That would have to be tested another day.

---

[⚡ ACTIVE ABILITIES]

1. [Can’t be seen]

2. [Can’t be seen]

3. [Can’t be seen]

4. [Can’t be seen]

[🌙 ULTIMATE ABILITY] - [Can’t be seen]

---

Luke stared blankly at the status panel.

Then.

"What the hell?" He couldn’t stop himself from blurting it out.

Every single ability was hidden.

Only—

*Can’t be seen.*

Luke was so focused on the screen that he completely forgot someone else was standing nearby.

"..."

Still a moment later. He felt a gaze upon him.

Looking up, he found Theia watching him with mild curiosity.

Apparently she had heard his outburst.

Luke immediately coughed awkwardly.

"Ahem." Then he smiled as naturally as possible.

"Nothing."

Theia simply inclined her head slightly before returning her attention to the surroundings.

She didn’t ask another question.

The System finally spoke.

[Ahem!]

[Luke.]

[Your rank is currently too low to view her abilities.]

Luke frowned.

"My rank?" He immediately became confused.

What rank? The rank of my Origin Skill?

That couldn’t be right.

His Nexus Titan was an SSS+ Origin.

It far surpassed Theia’s.

So there was no reason it should be unable to inspect her abilities.

Then only one possibility remained.

’You’re talking about my cultivation realm.’

Luke sighed helplessly.

Currently, he was only a Bronze Knight. That explanation actually made sense.

After all, every summon he had inspected before had been D-Rank or below.

Despite many of them possessing S-Rank Origin Skills. None had ever exceeded his realm by such an enormous margin.

Theia, however was a genuine B-Rank Arcane Core Mage.

Though Luke decided not to ask the System, when he would be able to see Theia’s abilities. If the answer turned out to be, "Reach B-Rank first," it would only discourage him.

’Still...’ He glanced at Theia again. Even her passive is already ridiculously powerful. Her active abilities, especially her Ultimate. they’re definitely going to be terrifying.

With that thought, Luke opened the Monthly Claim and selected Bronze Knight Tempering Potion without any hesitation.

’System, use today’s 1,000× Return.’

The System immediately processed his request.

During his long stay inside the Time Chamber, it had repeatedly warned him that the higher a cultivator’s realm became, the greater the amount of cultivation resources required. That wasn’t unique to ordinary cultivators—it applied to System rewards as well.

According to the System’s calculations, advancing from the beginning of Bronze Knight to the peak required exactly 1,000 Bronze Knight Tempering Potions.

Luke looked at that number, then at today’s 1,000× Return, and his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

’System.’

’This can’t be a coincidence.’

The required number and today’s multiplier matched perfectly, almost as if everything had been planned from the very beginning.

The System, however, remained completely silent.

Luke sighed helplessly.

’Whatever.’

Whether it was coincidence or not, there was no point dwelling on it.

The very next moment, 1,000 Bronze Knight Tempering Potions appeared inside Luke’s inventory.

Each potion was stored in a crystal vial, shimmering with a soft bronze glow.

After confirming everything was there, Luke glanced around.

The surrounding hills were already far enough from Blackstone.

Even if his breakthrough caused a disturbance, it wouldn’t affect the territory.

"This should be far enough." So a smile slowly spread across his face.

"Let’s break through here."

Standing a short distance away, Theia quietly watched him.

A hint of curiosity appeared in her emerald eyes.

Ever since arriving in Blackstone, she had noticed something unusual.

Her liege and almost everyone in the territory. Cultivated through methods she had never seen before.

Only the eleven mages within Blackstone followed a familiar path.

Naturally she became curious about Luke’s own cultivation.

Meanwhile.

The System suddenly remembered something.

’...Oh. I forgot to tell Luke about her memories.’

Unlike his lower-ranked summons. Theia hadn’t forgotten everything.

Luke’s previous summons had almost entirely lost the memories of their former lives, retaining only fragments in a few rare cases.

The System had explained long ago that every summon was a soul brought back after death.

However the stronger the summoned being had been in life. The more of their memories, personality, and habits they retained after being summoned.

And Theia, she came from an entirely different world.

Even a different reality.

A reality where the Knight cultivation system didn’t even exist.

As the System was thinking about this...

Luke turned toward her.

"Theia."

"I’ll be breaking through in a moment." He looked at her seriously.

"If anything unusual happens during my breakthrough, protect me."

"And if the disturbance becomes too great, conceal it... or suppress it."

Theia listened quietly before giving a graceful nod.

"As you wish, my liege."

Her expression remained as calm as ever.

Apparently, she didn’t think that her liege breakthrough could produce much of a disturbance. Because she felt the energy in Luke was way too low.

Luke noticed that subtle indifference and sighed inwardly.

She truly wasn’t like his previous summons.

The others would have accepted every order without a second thought.

Still... Luke wasn’t worried.

After all she was an Arcane Core Mage.

According to the System, the defining feature of this realm was the Arcane Core itself.

Rather than constructing every spell from scratch. An Arcane Core Mage could store completed spells directly inside their Arcane Core.

And that ability was absurd.

Take a tornado spell, for example.

Other mage would have to chant and construct the spell every single time.

Theia didn’t.

She could prepare thousands of tornado spells in advance, store them inside her Arcane Core.

Then release them one after another.

Or even...

All at once.

Just imagining thousands of city-destroying tornadoes descending upon a battlefield was enough to make Luke shiver.

Of course.

That was only one example.

Mages commanded different elements and spell types.

The true terror of an Arcane Core Mage was something he would learn little by little in the future.