Seeing this scene unfold, Ciel's gaze fluctuated. He had already prepared himself for the possibility that the troll might attack him. After all, overcoming instinct was an extremely difficult thing, even for wizards. How many people lost themselves in the pursuit of power? How many people grovelled in the face of death and fear?

Human wizards with higher intelligence still acted this way, let alone trolls with low intelligence. But he truly hadn't expected this troll would rather break its own wrist than submit to instinctual commands to harm him. This made him take a deep breath. This creature that people scorned and despised unexpectedly possessed noble character surpassing many humans.

At this moment, the troll priest standing on the high platform showed sudden explosive fury in its eyes after being stunned. In its view, this troll had completely become a domesticated human servant, even following a young human wizard as king, willing to break its own wrist. How could the prophesied troll do such things?

For the troll priest who had spent its life wanting to lead the troll tribe to rise, this touched its deepest taboo. "How can descendants of the Fire God kneel before humans? How can they revere humans as king? You have betrayed your race!"

The troll priest spoke in clear, ancient tones. The next moment, it lightly tapped its staff on the ground and issued commands to the dozens of trolls around. "Kill that young human wizard. If there's resistance... kill that too!"

Hearing the priest's commands, other trolls turned their gazes toward him. They slowly rose, their massive shadows enveloping him. The trolls held thick wooden clubs, some even grasping more refined stone clubs! The troll beneath him watched these murderous kinsmen warily, constantly roaring to try to deter them.

But those trolls only faithfully carried out the priest's orders, step by step surrounding him and the troll. The next moment, clubs were raised and crashed down toward his position. Deafening sounds immediately rang out, clouds of dust shooting skyward.

The troll priest on the platform no longer focused on him. Its gaze was somewhat bewildered, as if not knowing where the entire Forbidden Forest troll tribe's future would lead. It had clearly consulted the centaurs multiple times, and they had given prophecies. When it saw the Troll King, the Unburnt, the Titan Giant inheritor, the Forbidden Forest troll tribe would begin an unprecedented rise, possibly even restoring ancestral glory.

But it had waited so many years. Even though Titan Giant blood flowing in its veins gave it a lifespan far exceeding ordinary trolls, it was approaching the end of its life. Why hadn't the prophesied being appeared? Could centaur prophecies be wrong?

Were troll tribes destined to remain begging beasts in the wilderness, with even their final inheritance vanishing?

Crack. Crack.

The troll priest gripped its staff, making teeth-grinding sounds. But just then, it suddenly frowned, hearing similar cracking sounds. "This direction is..."

The troll priest whirled around to see a scene that made even it widen its eyes. In the billowing dust, a small figure stood upright before numerous trolls. This young human wizard wasn't dead? Even several massive wooden clubs that should have struck his head were firmly held by two seemingly delicate arms.

No matter how hard the trolls exerted themselves, his figure remained immovable as a mountain! This sight stunned even the troll priest. It couldn't understand where such strength came from in that small frame!

But cold fury churned in the troll priest's eyes as it tapped its staff again, seemingly urging the trolls on. More and more trolls surged forward. The troll beneath him roared repeatedly, trying to stop them, but was struck down by a wooden club and fell to its knees.

He, who had been standing on its shoulders, landed steadily on the ground. His gaze turned cold. He turned to the troll still struggling to rise and rejoin the battle. "Fall back. Preserve yourself."

Seeing the troll's uncomprehending expression, a strange light flashed in his eyes. "Since you call me king, you must obey the king's commands. If I let my followers be harmed before me, how would I deserve the title of Troll King? Retreat!"

Under his angry rebuke, the troll finally backed away worriedly. He advanced rather than retreated, walking step by step toward the trolls. Today, his Legendary Life and Legendary Strength had reached incomparable levels, enough to briefly wrestle with the North Sea Kraken.

Even the North Sea Kraken thought he might possess Titan Giant blood. In close combat, even thick-skinned trolls were far inferior to him! He produced his Beater's bat, casually swinging it a few times, immediately creating howling winds.

Then he faced an oncoming troll head-on, meeting its swinging club not with evasion but with direct confrontation, delivering a powerful strike. When the two forces collided, the troll's palms burst open, blood spattering, while its arm made an audible crack as it dangled limply from the shoulder, clearly dislocated from the tremendous impact. The massive body collapsed to the ground.

He didn't even glance at it, continuing forward at an accelerating pace. One after another, trolls were felled by his overwhelming strength in single exchanges. Even with dozens of trolls here, none could stop him.

Moments later, he forcefully carved a path through the troll encirclement, directly facing the troll priest on the platform! Seeing this, the troll priest took a deep breath with some disappointment. "Descendants of the Titan Giants actually losing in strength to a human. You truly shame your ancestors."

The next moment, crackling sounds erupted from the troll priest's body as its hunched frame began straightening, muscles bulging with veins like cast iron! The next second, the troll priest charged at him with its staff. The rough, primitive aura coming toward him made him feel like a true Titan Giant from the Olympian mythological era was attacking him!

Indeed, the troll priest was an individual born among trolls with high-concentration Titan Giant blood. To put it simply, it was like the Dumbledore among trolls. In the strength trolls prided themselves on most, even aged, the troll priest far exceeded all trolls present.

This made him take a deep breath, but rather than fear, he felt anticipation. Today, few things could provide training effects for his Legendary Strength and Legendary Life. Even wrestling with the North Sea Kraken provided almost no training benefit. He wondered if this troll priest might bring some surprises.

Then, facing the troll priest's swinging staff, he stepped forward steadily, also swinging his bat in counterattack. Upon contact, a force several times greater than the trolls' came like an avalanche, making his palms ache and causing his grip to crack slightly, blood drops spattering.

But this minor injury was nothing to him, who had fought the North Sea Kraken until reefs were stained with blood... barely even a scratch. The next second, the wound completely healed under his powerful vitality. But his eyes now showed surprise.

The troll priest's brute strength wasn't stronger than the North Sea Kraken's... it was actually somewhat weaker. But in this collision with the troll priest, his several Legendary abilities... Legendary Life, Legendary Strength... suddenly blazed with extraordinary intensity. Their previously stagnant progress began slowly growing again.

This puzzled him. Did training effectiveness depend not just on attack strength but also on other factors? What was the difference between the North Sea Kraken and this troll priest? Thoughts flashed through his mind, finally settling on one thing. The troll priest truly possessed Titan Giant blood, inheriting some power from Titan Giants.

Even this bloodline's source was the famous Fire God. In other words, the troll priest's power was somehow related to the mythical tier. Could it be because of this? Thinking this, he looked at the troll priest before him, deep heat flashing in his gaze.

Combat opponents related to the mythical tier... the entire magical world probably couldn't find many. This was truly rare assistance for his Legendary Life and Legendary Strength. So after suffering losses and having his grip burst open, he became excited. He strode toward the troll priest again.

The troll priest frowned, not understanding what he intended, but since its strength exceeded his, it naturally wouldn't be polite. It swung its staff at him again. He didn't dodge, directly meeting it head-on. This time, the troll priest clearly held nothing back, bringing down its full-power strike.

He grunted, his arm numbing, his palm's centre becoming bloody and mangled. He suffered even greater losses than before. But his gaze grew increasingly excited, because under this strike, his two Legendary abilities... Legendary Life and Legendary Strength... blazed like they'd consumed some supreme tonic.

The growth amplitude exceeded any previous instance. This made him roar with joy, his gaze burning as he stared at the troll priest. "Again! Again!"

He seemed tireless, repeatedly stepping forward to assault the troll priest. Initially, the troll priest could steadily suppress him, but gradually it felt overwhelmed. It was old; it was weary. If it were young, it could definitely have taught this human a far greater lesson.

But soon, the troll priest lamenting its advanced age began looking horrified. It discovered something terrible. From earlier until now, after so many collisions plus breaking through the troll encirclement, not just any human... even trolls or giants should be exhausted.

Yet he showed no sign of fatigue. Even more, in each collision, his strength seemed to rise like a tide, slowly but steadily climbing! By now, after dozens of exchanges, the troll priest could barely suppress him in strength. Instead, exhaustion welling up from within made the troll priest begin gasping and retreating.

Looking at the small human form before it, the troll priest's eyes held both confusion and horror. It couldn't understand how a human body could reach this level of pure strength. Was it some body-modification magic or strength-enhancing potion?

Just then, excited shouts came from nearby trees. "Gronnak! Gronnak!"

The troll that came with him watched with worshipful eyes as he displayed his might. Seeing this, the troll priest's anger was indescribable. To it, this was nothing short of "Troll Treason". In fury, the troll priest completely stopped wanting to tangle with him.

After forcefully striking him back, instead of wielding its staff like a weapon, it waved it like a wand, tracing mysterious trajectories. Ancient, vast incantations flowed from its mouth, echoing through the Forbidden Forest. His expression grew serious. The troll priest was casting... powerful fire magic.

Even before it was released, he could feel scorching heat waves rushing toward him. Despite his extreme fire resistance, he didn't underestimate it. He immediately took out the Ice Crystal potion from Snape and drank it down. Then he involuntarily shivered, feeling like he'd swallowed extremely cold ice.

Even the heatwaves in the air now felt cool. He focused on the troll priest, especially its staff-waving movements and incantations. These gave him a very familiar feeling, as if he'd seen them somewhere.

Moments later, relying on his greatly improved memory after mastering Occlumency, he realised. It was the Ancient Weather Magic insight from harvesting the Whomping Willow. The scene he'd witnessed then was somewhat similar to this.

No wonder he'd felt the blurry figure's wand movements were completely different from what he'd seen... at the time, he'd only thought they were different casting gestures between ancient and modern magic. But now he realised that figure's size far exceeded humans.

What it held weren't the current thin wands but heavy staffs, or giant sceptres. Perhaps that figure was an Olympian-era Titan Giant! And this troll priest was most likely using ancient magic from Titan Giants! Thinking this, he dodged while carefully listening to the troll priest's incantations.

Indeed, these were spells composed of runic script. Truly ancient magic! His gaze blazed as he tried to discern something from the troll priest's movements. The troll priest also noticed his abnormality and sneered. "Trying to steal Titan Giant magic? Thief. Turn to ash here!"

Then it struck its staff. Immediately, flames surged like angry waves, seemingly about to engulf even the sky, rushing toward him in a mighty torrent. Seeing this, his eyes showed shock. This was his first time directly facing ancient magic's power. The scene was somewhat exaggeratedly grand.

There was no way to dodge. He even recalled Dumbledore's signature fire magic from the original Harry Potter... Fire Path. He wondered how it might compare to this ancient magic. Then he took a deep breath.

Looking at the surging flames, his gaze burnt even hotter than the fire. Earlier exchanges with the troll priest had brought great benefits. Now directly facing ancient magic... who knew how much progress his several Legendary abilities would gain!

The next moment, he was engulfed by the scorching flames. The Ice Crystal potion faithfully performed its function, forming magical protection around him that could isolate fire damage. However, through this protection, he could still feel scorching heatwaves constantly invading.

Obviously, this ancient magic's power exceeded the Ice Crystal potion's fire-resistance limits. Even the potion that could resist Fiendfyre couldn't completely block ancient magic's damage. But while feeling the heat, his face suddenly showed wild joy.

His Legendary Life ability was blazing with radiance. Simultaneously, his long-dormant Legendary Heat Resistance also burst with intense light. Its progress from Legendary to Mythical began advancing. His Legendary Drought Resistance was also glowing.

This flame could train three Legendary abilities simultaneously! And this growth rate far exceeded anything he had seen before... simply advancing by leaps and bounds. Each second's growth made him feel his blood boiling. A transformation was quietly occurring within him.

Moments later, the Ice Crystal potion's effectiveness was completely consumed by the fire magic. Scorching flames began directly burning his body. Though his fire resistance far exceeded ordinary people, his body now showed shocking burns under the flames. Tearing pain assaulted his mind.

But he remained unmoved in the fire, even using Occlumency under the severe pain to actively enter a flow state, blocking the agony coursing through his body. He focused entirely on the system panel. The Legendary abilities' radiance was brilliant and dazzling. The transformation continued.

Then something unexpected happened. Among the many Legendary abilities, Legendary Life, which had progressed furthest, suddenly seemed to hit a cliff after recent growth. It completely stagnated with no further progress.

As he frowned, wondering what was happening, the Legendary Life ability slowly extended a thin line, connecting his Legendary Heat Resistance and Legendary Drought Resistance. Seeing this, he looked amazed as a hypothesis formed.

"I've had a theory before. For an ability to advance from Legendary to Mythical might require multiple related Legendary abilities to stack. Enhanced blood production promoted both Legendary Life and Legendary Strength, proving my theory. Now Legendary Life's progress suddenly stagnated, but it's connecting Legendary Heat Resistance and Drought Resistance on the system panel. I can also feel my body is brewing a transformation. Could this be a life ascension during the long journey from Legendary to Mythical?"

He wasn't certain, but he could feel increasingly hot currents within his body. The transformation continued. The flames constantly burning his body and bringing pain were simultaneously an opportunity! But just as he endured pain, watching the system panel's anomalies while waiting for the transformation to complete, the surrounding flames began showing signs of weakening.

Sensing this, his eyes immediately showed dissatisfaction. His Legendary Life transformation was in progress... why was the fire weakening?

At this time, the troll priest had lowered its staff, looking exhausted. He had been engulfed in its ancient fire magic for a long time and had probably turned to ash. No need to maintain the ancient fire magic anymore. For it, this was an extremely tiring burden.

But just as the troll priest was about to turn away, a shocking voice came from the still-burning fire behind it. "That's it? This is what you call the Fire God's magic? That's pretty weak... I stood letting it burn me this long, and it's just... okay."

His mocking voice reached the troll priest's ears, making it barely believe what it heard. After being burnt by fire magic for so long, how was this human still alive? Was it the potion he drank earlier? But how could modern wizards' potions resist ancient fire magic?

No time to think further. His disrespect and mockery of the Fire God made the troll priest's recently subsided anger blaze again. It struck its staff again, another ancient fire magic surging forth. He immediately grunted but looked extremely satisfied.

On the panel, the thin line extending from Legendary Life connected more tightly with Legendary Heat Resistance and Legendary Drought Resistance. Even the three abilities' radiance seemed to blend together. Hot currents surged within him. This transformation was still brewing.

"Fire. Need more fire."

This thought surfaced in his mind as he continued provoking from within the flames. "Are you burning me or giving me a sauna? Fire God's descendant... this level? Still lukewarm... can you put in more effort?"

The troll priest gritted its teeth, unleashing one ancient fire magic after another. Though Harry Potter magic didn't consume so-called mana, such advanced magic was extraordinarily draining on stamina and spirit. In its current decrepit state, each ancient fire magic release brought deep exhaustion.

But what it couldn't understand was why he was still talking, why he was still alive. Until a thought flashed through its mind, making the troll priest suddenly freeze. The centaur prophecy told it that it would witness the arrival of the Troll King, the Unburnt, the Titan Giant inheritor.

That being would lead the troll tribe to rise. It had thought that being must be a troll, or at least a giant. But now, seeing him surviving in the roaring flames, the troll priest suddenly made connections. Troll King... indeed, trolls revered this young wizard as king. Unburnt... this young wizard indeed wasn't burnt to death by flames.

Could the prophecy refer to him?!

While the troll priest still found it hard to believe, in the roaring flames, his lips suddenly curved into a wild smile. The transformation's hot currents within him had reached their limit, bursting forth. Rolling heat flowed through every inch of flesh, seeming to ascend to higher life levels.

Simultaneously, on the system panel, the radiance of Legendary Life, Legendary Heat Resistance, and Legendary Drought Resistance completely merged. The ability section's text blurred. Then Legendary Heat Resistance and Legendary Drought Resistance disappeared.

As he stared in amazement, the Legendary Life text changed:

[Life Enhancement (Legendary Tier, Ascended Once)]

[...]

[Ascension Trait: Unburnt]