Luke could clearly sense that all vitality had been stripped from the Ancient One's body.
The strange corruption within her seemed to have completely stopped as well.
At that moment, the Resurrection Cross in her hand turned into light and merged into her body.
The lifeless corpse was once again filled with vitality.
The Ancient One slowly opened her eyes, her memory still fixed on the final moment before her death.
She had only one thought: it hurt.
The Finger of Death had affected her body, her soul, and even the mutated cells and energies within her.
That energy also carried a strong corrosive and infectious nature.
But now, under the effect of the Resurrection Cross, she had returned to her peak condition once more.
After briefly examining her state, she said in surprise, "I feel much better. Those terrifying, unknown influences were partially eliminated by your dark magic just now. However, the Resurrection Cross did not completely remove them."
Luke was not surprised. The Resurrection Cross only restored health to its maximum.
"Let's try again. This time, we'll use the Resurrection Ring."
The Resurrection Ring provided a full restoration of all status, which in theory should return her to a perfect state.
The influence from Eternity was an external negative factor, which should fall within the range of what the ring could remove.
The Ancient One hesitated slightly, mainly because the pain caused by the instant strike of the Finger of Death was beyond what ordinary people could endure.
But she was no ordinary person.
After a brief pause, she nodded in agreement.
Luke raised his hand once more and cast Finger of Death.
This time, he deliberately held back. If he had used full power, the Ancient One wouldn't have even been able to keep her body intact.
As expected, she died again.
This time, the Resurrection Ring took effect. A flash of light enveloped her, and all her conditions were fully restored and reset.
When she stood up again and sensed her condition, her expression became complicated.
Luke frowned. "What's wrong? Still no effect?"
"No, the effect is excellent. Extremely excellent. It not only removed all the negative influences in my body, but also erased the blessing of Eternity."
The Ancient One put on her usual smile, but it looked somewhat forced.
Her body was now completely healed, meaning she could live for a very long time again… but that was not what she had wanted.
Wasn't she supposed to keep dying and reviving repeatedly, pushing her limits until she attracted Death's attention and was taken away?
But now that she had fully recovered, how could she die at all?
"Thank you. I'm completely cured."
The Ancient One quietly removed the Resurrection Ring and handed it back to Luke. "This is a good item. Truly… very good."
After saying that, she prepared to leave.
Before she could go, Luke tossed the Horse Talisman back to her.
She initially intended to refuse, but Luke cut her off, telling her to spend some time studying acting in Hollywood because her performance had been far too obvious.
In reality, the Horse Talisman could also remove Eternity's "blessing," it just required time.
The momentary change in her expression when she first received it had not escaped Luke's notice.
Such a valuable asset needed proper maintenance.
The Ancient One left, having arrived with anticipation and departing in disappointment.
Luke paid no mind at all to the faint, almost teeth-gritting expression she wore.
The fully restored Ancient One could once again suppress evil spirits across the world, just as she had in the past.
Ever since encountering Eternity, she had feared that excessive use of magic would further worsen her condition. Aside from battles against dimensional demon gods, she had rarely taken action for over a century.
Most magical crises on Earth had been left to her disciples and followers, led by Mordo.
However, with Mordo and the others' abilities, they could only handle minor threats.
If they were to face someone like Alessa, who had established her own domain, even the Mirror Dimension would be ineffective.
Moreover, Kamar-Taj could not deal with everything.
According to their rules, only evil spirits and demons that actively caused large-scale destruction were considered priority targets.
A reclusive spirit like Alessa, who restrained lesser spirits and only targeted those who had wronged her in life, was actually classified as a "benign" entity.
As for Jason, he had remained at Crystal Lake for decades and was often sealed by ordinary people, so there was even less reason to intervene.
Of course, this was also due to Mordo and the others being too weak.
Now that the Ancient One had recovered, the situation on the magical side was bound to improve significantly.
At the very least, she was more reliable than Thor.
Luke glanced up at Thor, who was enthusiastically smashing everything in sight, and couldn't help shaking his head.
"Forget it. He may be a bit simple, but he can still clean up some trash. What more could I ask for?"
After watching for a while, Luke called Bumblebee and left.
Bumblebee was clearly in a great mood, playing "Feeling Good" as soon as they got into the car.
"Oh? You sound pretty happy. Got some good news to share?"
Bumblebee's proud voice came through the radio. "Another large group of Autobots is about to arrive on Earth."
"That's it?" Luke asked lazily, reclining in the driver's seat.
"There's also a small matter. I beat Ironhide, Jazz, and Ratchet, and fought Optimus Prime to a draw. I'm now the second strongest among the Autobots!"
Luke clicked his tongue. Someone's getting ahead of himself.
He wasn't even calling him "Leader" anymore, just Optimus Prime.
Is he going to start calling him "kid" or something in a few days?
Luke wasn't surprised at all that the Hellfire-enhanced Bumblebee could contend with Optimus Prime.
Even an ordinary iron chain, once enhanced, could easily kill the Four Elemental Demons.
Given Bumblebee's foundation, once empowered by Hellfire, he would only become stronger. It was even possible he had held back during his fight with Optimus Prime.
But that power was only temporary. As arrogant as Bumblebee had been last night, he would be just as miserable later.
No one was foolish. When you were on fire and when you weren't, you were practically two different beings.
In his normal form, Bumblebee was only about five meters tall, the smallest among them.
If he didn't know his limits, getting ganged up on would be inevitable.
Luke didn't bother to ruin Bumblebee's good mood. Since he finally had a chance to show off, Luke let him enjoy it.
When Luke arrived at school, Mikaela and Maria greeted him with bright smiles.
After casually sharing a kiss with each of them, ignoring the eyes around them, the three walked into the faculty building together.
It was the same relaxed routine as usual.
At noon, he played 'poker' on the rooftop with Maria, Airam, Mary Jane, and Mikaela.
At that moment, someone from the neighboring class came over.
It was Dave, the engineering student who possessed the Merlin's Dragon Ring, nicknamed "Crazy Dave."
Dave looked at Luke nervously. They used to address each other by name, but now…
His lips twitched before he finally spoke, "Luke… Your Excellency, hello."
Seeing his cautious expression, Luke didn't correct him and instead asked in surprise,
"You're back from training at Kamar-Taj? Have you already mastered all the magic?"
Dave scratched his head, looking a bit embarrassed.
"No, I'm too slow. So far, I've only learned basic spells like portals, magic whips, the Rings of Raggadorr, astral projection, the Shield of the Seraphim, and the Mirror Dimension. I was supposed to continue studying more advanced magic."
"But after the Sorcerer Supreme returned today, she told me to balance work and rest, and allowed me to come back to school and continue studying magic in my spare time."
"Oh, right. She also said my other teacher is about to appear, and that his magic suits me better."
Luke raised an eyebrow.
Good heavens, he hadn't expected this seemingly honest Dave to have such extraordinary magical talent.
After obtaining the Ancient One's template, Luke had gained a clear understanding of Kamar-Taj's magic system and its difficulty.
The simplest spell was the portal, which usually took an ordinary person several days just to master.
The Rings of Raggadorr and the Shield of the Seraphim already involved power tied to dimensional entities.
The latter was an advanced form of the former, already considered mid-level magic.
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