White light fell into the black earth.
At that moment.
The magic around the experimental field felt as if it were being gently pressed down by something invisible.
A circle of faint white light, centered on Lin Ling, slowly expanded outward.
The light was very thin.
Thin enough to look like a layer of transparent gauze.
It draped over the experimental field, shrouding that small patch of black earth within it.
The air grew still.
The detection crystals by Phelan’s hand lit up simultaneously.
One.
Two.
Three.
The pale blue light within the crystals flickered violently, as if attempting to read a type of magic change they had never encountered before.
Phelan’s gaze narrowed slightly.
“It has taken form.”
Baroque frowned.
“Can it hold?”
Almost the instant he spoke, the dense magic outside the experimental field began to press against the white light.
This was high-concentration magic that had accumulated in the soil and air of the demon territories for hundreds of years.
Heavy.
Viscous.
Like an invisible tide.
In the past, the demons had set up countless barriers.
Magic circles, sealing arts, stasis barriers, ore absorption arrays.
They could all take form initially.
But they would quickly be crushed by the surrounding magic.
There was too much magic.
So much that it was like an entire ocean trying to pour its water into a tiny cup.
The cup would naturally shatter.
Therefore, Baroque did not believe Lin Ling’s so-called “Holy Light Stasis” could last long.
Even if she was a Hero from another world.
Even if she had indeed made a seedling lift its leaf yesterday.
Something the demons had failed at for hundreds of years couldn't suddenly become simple just because she said, “I want to try.”
Baroque crossed his arms and said in a deep voice:
“Ten breaths at most.”
Phelan did not refute him.
He simply stared at the detection crystals.
Aliviel remained silent as well.
The smile on Cecil’s face had faded considerably.
Niya nervously gripped the hem of her skirt, her breathing becoming shallow.
Ivelia stood not far away, her dark red eyes quietly watching that patch of white light.
One breath.
Two breaths.
Three breaths.
The surrounding magic surged forward.
The pale white light vibrated gently.
Lin Ling crouched on the ground, her brow furrowing slightly.
“Ugh.”
She could feel the pressure.
It was as if she had truly pressed a bucket down into the ocean.
The water outside was frantically squeezing against the walls of the bucket.
If the walls were too thin, they would be crushed.
If she didn't control it well, Holy Light Stasis would be swept away by the surrounding magic, just like the demons' past barriers.
However, Lin Ling soon discovered something strange.
The Holy Light Stasis didn't break.
Not only did it not break.
It seemed to be—
Eating.
“Eh?”
Lin Ling blinked.
At the white edge, the light membrane that had been vibrating under the pressure suddenly seemed to find some kind of balance.
The surrounding magic didn't directly crash through it.
Instead, it was being absorbed bit by bit.
The overly dense, pale blue magic was being taken in by the white light membrane and gradually integrated into itself.
The white light, which had been thin as gauze, actually became slightly more stable.
The pen in Phelan’s hand stopped.
For the first time, his voice carried clear surprise.
“It is absorbing external magic.”
Baroque snapped his head around.
“What?”
Phelan stared at the detection crystals.
“Holy Light Stasis was not crushed by the surrounding magic.”
“On the contrary, it is absorbing the impacting magic to reinforce its own structure.”
Baroque’s expression changed.
“How is that possible?”
Cecil said in a low voice:
“The demons' past barriers were crushed by magic, but Holy Light Stasis is using the incoming magic as repair material?”
Phelan was silent for a moment.
“Based on the results, yes.”
The air fell silent.
Everyone looked at Lin Ling.
As for Lin Ling herself, she was crouching on the ground, looking at the white light beneath her palm with a subtle expression.
“This skill...”
“It could actually be used like this?”
When she played the game before transmigrating, Holy Light Stasis was just a wicked debuff skill that affected both friends and foes.
But in this world, it seemed to have changed.
Or perhaps it hadn't changed.
Rather, the magic environment of this world was too unique.
The surrounding magic concentration was ridiculously high. While Holy Light Stasis suppressed the flow of magic, it also absorbed part of the magic hitting its boundaries to maintain its own stability.
In other words.
The higher the magic environment.
The less likely it was to be crushed.
Lin Ling was silent for a while.
Then she spoke slowly:
“Well, I’ll be.”
“You’re actually a glutton.”
Everyone: “...”
Aliviel rubbed her forehead.
“At a time like this, can’t you say something more like a Saintess?”
Lin Ling said solemnly:
“This is a miracle created by the great Miss Saintess for the sake of soft bread.”
“Please do not disturb.”
Phelan looked down and wrote a line on his recording board.
——Holy Light Stasis can absorb external magic to maintain stability.
——Caster’s evaluation: A miracle created by the great? Miss Saintess for the sake of soft bread (likely the primary motivator for the subject's actions).
Lin Ling immediately looked up.
“Lord Phelan!”
“You don't need to record that last part!”
Phelan said calmly:
“Recording original quotes helps reconstruct the caster's train of thought.”
“That’s not a train of thought!”
“That’s a joke!”
“Jokes can also reflect one's way of cognition.”
Lin Ling: “...”
She turned to look at Ivelia.
“Lord Demon King, you demons are truly terrifying.”
Ivelia looked at her.
“Continue.”
Lin Ling: “...”
Fine.
The Demon King is even more terrifying.
She took a deep breath and looked back down at the experimental field.
The Holy Light Stasis had stabilized.
The small patch of land shrouded in white light was visibly lighter in color than its surroundings.
It wasn't fully restored.
But the murky black had faded.
The magic concentration in the air, which had been so dense it made one's chest feel tight, had also dropped.
Lin Ling could clearly feel it.
This small area had truly been temporarily separated from the ocean of magic outside.
The bucket had been dipped.
Next was to drain the water inside the bucket.
She raised her other hand and gently pressed it against the soil.
“Out.”
Pale blue magic emerged from the soil.
It was smoother than yesterday.
Because this time, the external magic didn't immediately surge in to fill the void.
The experimental field, suppressed by Holy Light Stasis, was like a small, isolated body of water.
When Lin Ling extracted the internal magic, the surroundings would no longer immediately refill.
One point.
Two points.
More and more magic particles rose from the black earth, flowing along her fingertips and into her body.
Phelan’s detection crystals began to flash violently.
“The internal magic concentration is dropping rapidly.”
Niya’s eyes widened.
“It’s really dropping...”
Baroque didn't speak.
He stared intently at that patch of land.
Yesterday’s experiment had only made a seedling lift one leaf.
But today.
The entire small experimental field within the barrier was undergoing a change.
The black soil was gradually becoming lighter.
The murky blue light deposited in the cracks of the earth was being pulled away.
The viscous magic in the air became thinner.
The seedlings that had been drooping their leaves began to sway gently.
Lin Ling felt the magic within her body increase rapidly.
Her massive mana bar was receiving the magic flowing in from the outside.
But this time, it was different from yesterday.
Yesterday, she had simply absorbed the magic into her body.
Like pouring water into a lake.
But the lake already had a vast amount of water.
“Ugh.”
Lin Ling frowned.
It was a bit much.
Her body began to feel a bloated sensation from the excessive magic.
It felt like she had drunk twenty extra-large iced sodas.
She instinctively wanted to discharge the excess magic.
But this was the experimental field.
She couldn't just release it randomly.
If she released the magic directly back into the soil, wouldn't that be the same as pouring back what she had just extracted?
Lin Ling gritted her teeth.
“No.”
“I need to find somewhere to put this.”
She looked down at her palm.
The pale blue magic extracted from the soil was swirling near her hand.
What if, instead of absorbing it into her body, she temporarily compressed it outside?
Like...
Squeezing a bunch of water into a ball?
A scene suddenly flashed through Lin Ling’s mind.
“Everyone, lend me your strength! Raise your hands and gather your energy to create a massive energy bomb...”
“If I compress the magic, will it turn into something like a Spirit Bomb from Dragon Ball?”
Lin Ling was silent for a moment.
“Is this idea a bit dangerous?”
She said it, but her hand was already trying it.
The pale blue magic gathered above her palm.
At first, it was just a mist of light.
Then it slowly became a vortex.
Then, she compressed it bit by bit.
Phelan suddenly looked up.
“Wait.”
Baroque also noticed something was wrong.
“What is she doing?”
Aliviel’s expression shifted.
“Lin Ling?”
Lin Ling stared at the light ball gradually forming above her palm, her voice a bit strained.
“I’m... handling the excess magic.”
Cecil narrowed his eyes.
“You call that handling?”
That pale blue sphere of light was becoming brighter and brighter.
Tiny arcs of electricity jumped unstablely across its surface.
The surrounding air emitted a low hum.
It looked very beautiful.
And very dangerous.
Like a magic star that could explode at any moment.
Phelan said in a deep voice:
“That is an energy mass formed by the forced aggregation of magic within this field.”
“If the structure collapses, at least this entire area will be destroyed in the blast.”
Niya’s face instantly went pale.
“Miss Saintess!”
Lin Ling also froze.
“Ex-explode?”
Phelan spoke very quickly.
“You are forcibly compressing high-concentration magic.”
“There is no external stabilizing structure.”
“No guiding circuits.”
“No release direction.”
“It is currently an energy sphere in a critical state.”
Lin Ling looked down at the light ball above her palm.
The ball was still vibrating gently.
As if to say:
Hello.
I am very dangerous.
Lin Ling swallowed hard.
“Um.”
“If I throw it away right now...”
Baroque snapped angrily:
“Are you trying to blow up the residents around the Demon King’s Castle?!”
Lin Ling immediately said:
“I was only proposing a theoretical possibility!”
She looked at the increasingly unstable light ball above her palm, cold sweat breaking out on her forehead.
The problem now was.
She couldn't keep holding this thing.
She couldn't throw it in the experimental field.
And she couldn't absorb it back.
It was as if she had worked hard to craft a hazardous item, only to find she didn't have a trash can.
“What do I do, what do I do, what do I do...”
Lin Ling’s eyes began to dart around.
Suddenly, the feeling of Holy Light Stasis from earlier flashed through her mind.
Suppress magic flow.
Make magic quiet.
Make it slow down.
What if she applied that effect to the surface of the energy ball?
Cover this unstable magic ball with a weakened version of Holy Light Stasis.
Like putting a lid on a pot that was about to explode.
Wait.
That metaphor sounded even more dangerous.
It should be—
Like adding a shell to the magic that was running wild.
Lin Ling immediately began to try.
She carefully separated a wisp of pale white light and wrapped it around the outer layer of that pale blue magic ball.
As soon as the white light membrane covered it, the originally restless magic ball immediately quieted down a bit.
The electrical arcs on the surface decreased.
The humming sound also lowered.
Phelan’s pupils shrank slightly.
“She is using Holy Light Stasis to stabilize the magic aggregate.”
Aliviel said in a low voice:
“Can she succeed?”
Phelan did not answer.
Because he didn't know either.
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