End Of The Magic Era

by Stayrr

The world that nurtured the civilization which reached the pinnacle of magic was on the verge of destruction. The last survivor transmigrated to the past, when the magic civilization started growing, as countless mages were still fumbling their ways through the thorny paths of magic knowledge. He, who came from the end of the magic era, aim to reach the pinnacle of magic.

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Read End of the Magic Era - Chapter 225 - Magic Iron Forge online free - Light Novel Full

Chapter 225: Magic Iron Forge

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

"Spatial crack?" Suyass had also noticed. In the face of a dangerous, hidden trap like that, the newly advanced Archmage also didn't dare to be careless. He cast True Sight, and his expression became grave. "There are seven spatial cracks, how could they have gathered like that?"

"It probably didn't happen naturally." After the last two encounters with the puppets, Lin Yun had already made some mental preparations for the strange laboratory. Although the seven spatial cracks were treacherous, they weren't threatening enough to make Lin Yun worry.

A few magic runes had already appeared as the two were chatting, and the seven spatial cracks were marked one by one. This was to make it easier on Solomon and Fran. Their mastery of True Sight wasn't as good as Suyass' ability with it, and they didn't have Lin Yun's abnormal Magic Array, so they could only rely on the magic runes released by the other two to guide their path.

With their help, moving through the hall wasn't a big issue. Soon, the party of four crossed the pitch-black hallway and started climbing the stairs leading to the second floor. They didn't meet any real danger on the way, although there occasionally were a few trap arrays, which were cracked by Suyass.

The space in the stone tower's interior had clearly been expanded by an array. On the outside, it seemed to be only a hundred meters tall, but the second floor was an extremely wide expanse. There were as many as five libraries covering over several hundred meters of space, along with the discarded workshops on both sides and the various laboratory storerooms. Altogether, the entire 2nd floor was almost as big as the Victorious Return Street.

Unfortunately, the second floor had clearly been deserted for many years. Whether it was the libraries or the workshops, everything was covered in dust and spider webs. The four of them spent a lot of effort scouring the area to get a few intact books and materials from these places. And the laboratory storerooms were even worse. They were all empty, only filled with dust.

"How could Vaughn be so stingy…" Their gains were far too poor… How could the laboratory of an Artisan look like that? Solomon couldn't accept it.

"This isn't Vaughn being stingy…" Lin Yun wasn't surprised.

From the Maze Array to the two encounters with the puppets, and now these absolutely empty storerooms… Lin Yun had already made some conjectures about the situation of the laboratory, but it was inconvenient to talk about his guesses before having a confirmation.

"Okay, stop complaining and let's check the 3rd floor. I feel that there will be a great surprise on the 3rd floor…"

"Do you really think so?" Solomon had a dubious expression on his face. It wasn't that he didn't believe Lin Yun, but after seeing the empty first two floors, how could he have any expectations for the 3rd floor?

As a result, Solomon was gobsmacked when the party of four reached the top of the next flight of stairs.

"Where… Where is this?"

The 3rd floor was an entire workshop. In the center was a huge Magic Iron Forge, while several dozen workshops were producing different parts, forming an assembly line with the Magic Iron Forge as their core. There was an alchemy puppet at each post. Some were welding, some were assembling, and some were monitoring.

This was definitely a huge workshop used to produce puppets. Moreover, the scale was huge, far greater than anything the four had ever seen. If such a huge workshop was running at full production, it might be able to manufacture a huge puppet legion in a single night.

Unfortunately…

The huge Magic Iron Forge didn't let off a single spark, as the assembly line had already stopped. The puppets had already used their last bits of mana.

The huge workshop had already been shut down.

"Now we know why the 2nd floor was completely empty…"

"This scale is so frightening. If production were reinstated, would it make enough puppets to attack Thousand Sails City?" Solomon was stunned, and just seeing a workshop of this size frightened him.

"Three of Thousand Sails City still wouldn't be able to resist."

While the two talked, Fran suddenly looked like he was suffering. "I… I'm feeling a bit dizzy…"

"What's going on?" Suyass suddenly frowned. Although he wasn't fond of this fellow disciple, they were both from the Mercury Tower. Seeing Fran like this, Suyass immediately became nervous. After carefully checking on him, he sighed in relief. "It's not that severe, it might just be that you aren't able to stand the radiation of that magic metal. You should look for a place to rest and stay away from the Magic Iron Forge."

"Ah…" Fran nodded. As he left, the other three could clearly see him dragging his feet as he staggered along his way.

"Master Fran needs to strengthen his body…" Lin Yun smiled as he said that after seeing Fran leave.

"Yeah…" Suyass helplessly shook his head. Fran had already left, so they could speak boldly about him. "When he was young, Fran clashed with the Merlin Family a few times. He was severely injured during one of the clashes and never truly recovered. The effects of his injury still resurface from time to time, and because of this, he would always be very hostile with the Merlin Family. Merlin, I apologize on Fran's behalf if he did anything to offend you, but please don't lower yourself to his level…"

"Haha, this is a trivial matter…" Lin Yun smiled while gazing at Fran's back and thinking about the irony of that statement…

Eventually, Lin Yun turned back to the other two. "We can see the size of this workshop. If I'm not wrong, the materials from the 2nd floor's storerooms should be here. It would be better to split up again and see what we can harvest, don't you think?"

"Okay, like before, let's gather here in an hour."

"Very well, let's do it as before…."

Solomon did as he said, a few minutes after they went their separate ways, the 9th Rank High Mage once again returned to Lin Yun's side and was welcomed by Lin Yun rolling his eyes at him. Solomon straightforwardly said, "Like earlier, you pick what you'd like and I'll take the scraps…"

"You are very stubborn…"

"Don't think I don't know why you wanted to get rid of Suyass that fast, you definitely found something!" After cooperating with him for a few times, Solomon already had a good understanding of Merlin. Solomon knew that regardless of the circumstances, as long as he followed that young Great Mage, even if he only got the scraps, his harvest would far exceed what he would have gotten otherwise.

"Then you definitely guessed wrong this time…"

"Impossible!"

"Really. This time, I plan on following Master Fran."

"Fran?" Solomon looked suspiciously at Lin Yun. "Fran didn't go rest?"

"No, did you believe those words? An esteemed 5th Rank High Mage being unable to bear the radiation of magic metals? I think this is only an excuse used to deceive Suyass, but I didn't expect even you to get deceived…"As the two were talking, Fran was already getting further away.

After leaving the other three, the anguished expression had disappeared from Fran's face. His steps were also more lively. He was following the assembly lines towards the center of the workshop.

'Hmpf, Mafa Merlin…' As he got closer and closer to the Magic Iron Forge, the smile on his face grew wider and wider.

Before, in order to ask for help from the Mercury Tower, Fran wrote a letter to Nolan. In the letter, he mentioned that he had found some information that suggested that this place might be Vaughn's laboratory. When reading the letter, Nolan and Karon had both felt that this had been a pretext used by Fran.

Only Fran himself knew.

He had truly conducted some research about it.

But that had been a long time ago, when he was still a mere Great Alchemist, and it had been a coincidence. He had obtained some partially incomplete information.

The author of the notes had once participated in the construction of the stone tower. It was just that everyone was killed after the tower was completed. The incomplete notes managed to circulate before landing in Fran's hands.

Thus, Fran understood some secrets of the stone tower…

The problem was that finding a never-before-seen stone tower was easier said than done. Fran only studied it for a while when he initially got the information, but then forgot about it.

He hadn't expected that this expedition would lead him to find the stone tower by entering Vaughn's laboratory, let alone that the stone tower would be the actual laboratory itself. At this time, Fran started paying attention to his surroundings and was shocked to find out that everything was exactly as it had been described in the notes…

That discovery made Fran feel overjoyed.

But Fran felt the need to be prudent here. When discovering this shocking fact, he didn't tell anyone and only endured as they went through the first two floors. When they reached the 3rd floor, Fran knew that he had to find a chance to move on his own. Because the most important thing written on the notes was regarding the 3rd floor of the stone tower…

That's why he feigned being dizzy as an excuse.

But unfortunately, he didn't know…

He wasn't the only one that had seen these notes…

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Chapter 226: Crystal Scales

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

"Well, Fran has already left us in the dust, so why aren't you in a hurry to chase after him?" Solomon, who was following Lin Yun's lead, was the one who seemed more anxious, and he kept telling him to hurry.

"What do you mean, chase? He can't escape…" Lin Yun wasn't the least bit worried as he slowly followed Fran's trail by sensing the residual mana fluctuations.

In fact, if not for Solomon urging him to, Lin Yun wouldn't even have bothered to track the mana fluctuations since he already knew where he was going.

There wasn't much information about the Four Seasons Canyon in that library in the future, so Lin Yun was as unfamiliar with everything here as Suyass and the others.

But it was different after entering the stone tower, especially after entering the stone tower's 3rd floor. It was then that Lin Yun had a feeling of deja vu, and after thinking about it remembered some information he had read, notes linked to the stone tower's construction. It was mentioned in those notes that Vaughn's set of Spiritual Magic Tools were put in the center of the huge workshop to keep the workshop operating. That set of Spiritual Magic Tools was known as the Crystal Scales.

The huge Magic Iron Forge was an anthill-like workshop, with assembly lines crisscrossing all around. Lin Yun believed that no alchemy workshop bigger than this existed. When he saw the 3rd floor and finally linked it to the notes for sure, he was rather stunned.

But Lin Yun clearly remembered that the information had come from the Mercury Tower.

And Fran pretended to be dizzy so he could excuse himself.

Since the situation unfolded like that, how could Lin Yun not know what Fran was planning?

After following the tracks, they discovered that Fran indeed hadn't gone to look for a place to rest and instead was sneaking toward the Magic Iron Forge in the center.

After all, the notes mentioned that the Crystal Scales were in the center of the forge.

After confirming this, Lin Yun no longer needed to keep following the tracks. He already had a pretty good guess of what Fran wanted to do, what he could do, and even how he could do it.

Ten minutes later, Fran was in the center of the Magic Iron Forge. After looking all around him and confirming that no one was following him, he finally fished out a wrinkled note from his pocket and started chanting the incantation written upon it.

Following Fran's incantation, a white smoke slowly rose up from under his feet. It was pretty faint at first, but it quickly became thicker and thicker before finally condensing into an aged face before Fran's eyes.

"Human, did you call me?"

"Are… Are you Sir Griffin?" Fran was startled and subconsciously took a few steps back as he asked the pale face, "The incarnation of the Crystal Scales?"

"I didn't expect someone to remember my name after so many years. Indeed, I am Griffin, the incarnation of the Crystal Scales. Human, why did you wake me from my slumber?"

"Great, Sir Griffin, I am called Fran, a Master Alchemist from the Mercury Tower. I learnt of your existence from an ancient document and piously and humbly came here hoping to obtain your power. Ah, I know that it takes a lot of mana to help you recover your freedom and I prepared a lot of mana crystals. As long as you are willing, I'll use these mana crystals to help you regain your freedom!"

"Ah?" The face condensed from smoke suddenly burst into laughter. "Human, you want me to serve you?"

"Ye-Yes!" Fran took one step back before summoning his courage and fishing out a bag from his pocket. The bag was filled with shiny, flickering mana crystals. The lowest one was at the 10th level while the highest one was even level 20. "As long as you agree, these mana crystals will be yours!"

"Haha, Human, what did you say your name was?"

"I am Fran."

"Good, Fran, you want me to serve you? Fine."

"Sir Griffin, you are agreeing?" Fran looked earnestly at the smoke.

"Let me see…" The smoke suddenly coiled close, doing a circle around him before merging back into an old face. "Not bad, 5th Rank High Mage and the Time Hand Magic Conducting Rune. This kind of strength is worthy of my service. But Fran, if you want me to serve you, you have to pay the price…"

"Of course, of course, Sir Griffin, I am willing to pay the price!" Hearing this, Fran's eyes shone. He didn't even ask what the price was and immediately agreed.

'These are the Crystal Scales… The Crystal Scales that even Teacher Nolan incessantly praised.' It was said that whoever controlled this set of three Spiritual Magic Tools would have the power of an Archmage and even their alchemy level would be forcibly pushed to the Artisan realm. At that time, his strength might even be able to close in towards that of his teacher, Nolan. 'What Karon? What Suyass? They would all have to look up to me! And as for that insignificant Mafa Merlin… I'll only need one finger to crush him!'

"Good, Human, sign this contract and I'll serve you." The smoky face chanted an incantation and the hazy smoke condensed into a contract written in Nesser.

"Contract?" Fran was suddenly brought back down to earth as he took the contract in his hands and carefully read it before calming down.

That contract wasn't that demanding…

Overall, the contract maintained the equal status of both sides, and although he could borrow the power of the Crystal Scales, he couldn't put too many restrictions on the other party. Naturally, it was also the same the other way around. Whenever he needed the power from the Crystal Scales, he would also have to give the Crystal Scales mana crystals in exchange.

It was a contract of equals.

An exchange of power for mana crystals.

"What? Not willing?"

"No, no…" Fran was already daydreaming about the power he was about to obtain. He became a bit confused when the Crystal Scales pressed him to answer. As he was rushed, he didn't focus on those details anymore… He only slightly hesitated before making his decision." I am willing. I'll sign immediately!"

After saying that, Fran bit his finger and used his blood to sign his name on the contract.

Just as he completed it, the face exploded back into smoke and disappeared into the contract.

"Sir Griffin?" Fran was startled. But before he could recover, he saw a magic staff and two rings appearing from the hazy smoke.

"Are these… are these the Crystal Scales?" The Spiritual Magic Staff and the ring emitted powerful mana fluctuations, leaving Fran stunned on the spot. After no less than a minute, Fran finally extended his hand and gently touched the floating magic staff.

Then, he felt a surge of power rushing into his body. Moreover, even though that power was surging ferociously, it wasn't uncomfortable. It felt as if that power was his own. That unprecedented feeling of power made him unable to stop himself and he immediately grabbed the magic staff and put the two rings on his fingers.

'Sure enough, it is the power of an Archmage…' Fran tightly grasped the magic staff and brimmed with newly found self-confidence. The extreme power made him feel as if he could sweep away any opponents that he might ever face.

Fran was feeling as if he had been reborn.

With the Crystal Scales in his possession, even if Karon was his opponent, no one would know who would end up being the victor. As for Suyass, who always berated him, only 70% of his power would be enough to easily defeat him.

This feeling was very euphoric.

Fran stood amidst the hazy smoke as he carefully checked the set of Crystal Scales and felt the power coursing through him. After a long time, he burst into elated laughter.

"Mafa Merlin, wait for me…"

Fran was completed immersed in the thrill of the powerup and hadn't noticed that Lin Yun and Solomon were already watching him.

"Merlin, you don't want to make a move before he sees us?" Solomon was burning with anxiousness when he saw Fran getting hold of that set of Spiritual Tools and his mana fluctuations reaching the level of an Archmage… Moreover, he seemed even stronger than Suyass now. At the thought of Fran getting revenge, Solomon couldn't help urging Lin Yun again.

"When did I say that I wanted to make a move?" Lin Yun looked at Solomon, feeling baffled. He cast a Haste spell as he added, "We don't have time to thank Fran, we have to move quickly because we have something important to do…"

"Ah?" Solomon's chin almost hit the floor. He watched Lin Yun for a long time before stammering, "Yo-you… You tracked Fran for so long in order to watch him get the Crystal Scales?"

"Of course, if he didn't take the Crystal Scales away, how could I dare look for that thing? Did you think that old fellow in the Crystal Scales was truly slumbering? I'll tell you, that old thing was fishing, luring Fran like an unwary fish. Just watch, Fran is going to be crying soon…"

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Chapter 227: Alchemic Mana Whirlpool

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

"What's going on Merlin?"

"There is no time to explain, hurry up, stop wasting time. We won't have a chance once Fran recovers to his senses…"

After saying that, he didn't wait for Solomon's reaction and roused his speed to the limit as he rushed through the cobweb-like assembly line, relying on the cover of the manufacturing workshop to quickly circumvent the elated Fran and rush towards the northern part of the alchemy workshop.

A few minutes later, Lin Yun was inside a huge warehouse.

This ought to had been the warehouse handling rejected products. All kinds of damaged components were scattered around. Dozens of discarded puppets were laying in the corners, even more magic materials haphazardly dispersed on the ground. It felt as if the two walked into a garbage dump.

Dust, rust, trash, the warehouse air even felt stuffy. Solomon pinched his nose as he coughed heavily.

"Shit, this filthy place was what you were looking for?"

"High Mage Solomon, don't make a conclusion so quickly…" Lin Yun answered while looking through a pile of trash.

Lin Yun looked patient and focused as he moved from one pile of trash to another in high spirits. It felt as if he couldn't get tired of this.

"Merlin, I greatly admire you…"

"Yeah, yeah…" Lin Yun smirked, thinking, 'If you experienced that era you would also happily dig through the trash…'

"Found it!" Just as Lin Yun was about to start inwardly cursing, a glimmer within the trash pile elicited a smile on Lin Yun's face. He rushed over to grab that thing before wiping off the dust with his sleeve, revealing a few thumb sized metal balls.

These metal balls were actually soft to the touch and regardless what shape he squeezed them to, they would regain their original appearance once he let go, a perfect round ball. They were still emitting some glimmers in this pitch black trash warehouse.

"Merlin, what did you find?" Solomon came over to Lin Yun's side, but after studying one of the balls for a long time, he couldn't understand what these metal balls were used for.

"Don't look down on these metal balls…" Lin Yun cleaned the metal balls clear while answering Solomon, "They are Vaughn's greatest invention."

"Ah?" Solomon was startled and almost let go of that metal ball, "Vaughn's greatest invention isn't the Hexagram Star?"

"What Hexagram Star…" Lin Yun snorted, "You aren't an alchemist, the Hexagram Star has no worth to you, but these metal balls can increase your fighting strength…"

"What… What are these things?"

"This thing is an Alchemic Mana Whirlpool." Lin Yun held one metal ball in his hand, "That's no ordinary magic metal, this is Mithril. It is only produced in the 40th and lower layers of the Abyss. It is the material able to contain the most mana in Noscent. Vaughn spent decades to forge it into six Alchemic Mana Whirlpools…"

"Alchemic Mana Whirlpool?"

"To put it simply, they are alchemy items used to act as a Mana Whirlpool. If you can merge with the six Alchemic Mana Whirlpools, it would be like having six extra Mana Whirlpools. Think about it, what kind of concept is six Mana Whirlpools?"

"…" Cold sweat trickled down Solomon's back.

What kind of concept was six Mana Whirlpools…

Let alone six, just one extra Mana Whirlpool would be heaven defying!

An ordinary 9th Rank High Mage like Solomon would have his power doubled! There would be no need to fight others, he could just scare them to death.

"How amazing…" With the six Alchemic Mana Whirlpools, Lin Yun's face displayed a rare sincere smile. To him, these six metal balls were the most precious things in the tower. In contrast, everything he got before was just worthless. Even the Crystal Scales were far too inferior compared to these metal balls…

The set of Crystal Scales indeed had the might of a True Spirit Magic Tool while also strengthening magic and alchemy. As a result Fran had the power of an Archmage and Artisan now… But that power didn't belong to Fran.

Lin Yun knew about the Crystal Scales tools set.

Even if Fran was currently elated, it wouldn't be long before his only feeling would be despair.

But these six Alchemic Mana Whirlpools were completely different. Once merged, they would be considered one's own power and each of them could double the power of a mage!

Thus, saying that these metal balls were Vaughn's greatest invention wasn't an exaggeration.

Unfortunately, Vaughn himself hadn't realized that during his life. After being crafted, these metals balls were unable to be merged with and so these six Alchemic Mana Whirlpools were no longer a priority, even ending up in the warehouse for failures.

But when Vaughn became older, the research on the six Alchemic Mana Whirlpool was restarted. He spent a few dozen years on it before solving the merging issue. By then Vaughn was already too old and could no longer leave Crystal Island. In the end, he could only put the result of his research into notes and put them inside what would later be known as his tomb.

Years later, the Ivory Tower seized Vaughn's treasury and found numerous notes within. Among which were the notes about the Alchemic Mana Whirlpool. But strangely, the Ivory Tower still came out empty-handed even after sending four teams to the Four Seasons Canyon, thus, the Alchemic Mana Whirlpools became an unsolved mystery.

When reading those notes, Lin Yun never expected that one day he would be able to enter the Four Seasons Canyon and find those six Alchemic Mana Whirlpools in the failure warehouse.

"So fortunate…" Lin Yun sighed while handing two metal balls to Solomon, "Here, according to our previous agreement, I'll take four and you can get two. But I suggest you to only merge with one and keep the remaining one for Solon. That thing is very taxing and has very heavy requirements. One should be your limit."

"Okay, I understand." Solomon was very self-aware. One Alchemic Mana Whirlpool could double his mana, that kind of mana increase wasn't something an ordinary person could bear.

"Find a place to do the merging. This stone tower is dangerous, having more mana would be safer…" After saying that, Lin Yun put away one Alchemic Mana Whirlpool, keeping three in his hand.

Lin Yun estimated that three should be his limit.

As for the remaining one, he would keep it for William.

Lin Yun had thought about this. He currently had three trusted subordinates: Faleau, William and Xiuban. Faleau would focus on the Gilded Rose and wouldn't spend too much energy on the field of magic, and there was no need to mention Xiuban… As a Draconic Beastman, the source of his casting ability came from his bloodline, he hadn't formed any Mana Whirlpool. Giving him the Alchemic Mana Whirlpool would be wasting it. William was the only one left and the most worthy of merging with the metal ball.

William currently had the strength of a 9th Rank Great Mage and could become a High Mage anytime. Once he fused with the Alchemic Mana Whirlpool, his strength would double and with the power of the Crimson Heart, he wouldn't fall behind a 5th Rank High Mage.

The two found a deserted corner of the warehouse, and just as they were about to proceed with the merging, Lin Yun heard a light sound.

"Ah?" Lin Yun was suddenly startled and cast a Light, suddenly illuminating most of the warehouse.

The light was followed by a magic ray flying towards Lin Yun.

"Fuck…" Lin Yun quickly reacted and erected an Ice Fire Shield, just in time to block the attack, allowing him to see what attacked him. A broken puppet…

That broken puppet was now laying in a corner of the warehouse, its arms already dismantled and most of its arrays damaged. Only the Frost Ray array on its forehead was still intact.

And precisely that intact array was the origin of the sudden attack!

This was outrageous!

In such a state, it still looked for trouble!

Lin Yun's hand quickly moved and a few Wind Blades were sent over. Only a few whistling sounds could be heard echoing as the few Wind Blades suddenly flew towards the puppet's forehead. The only intact array was instantly destroyed by the wave of Lin Yun's hand.

After doing this, Lin Yun still had some annoyance to vent and cast a Flame Spear towards the puppet's mana source.

But after casting, he was surprised to discover that after being pierced by the Flame Spear, the mana source didn't show any signs of exploding. Even the weakest mana source would have mana flow within, how could there not be a single spark after being skewered by a Flame Spear?

'How could it be like this?'

That Flame Spear was just stuck on the corpse, there was no reaction…

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'What is going on?' Lin Yun was surprised and crouched to examine that destroyed puppet.

The result of his inspection showed that the puppet had been severely damaged and the mana source had been exhausted for a very long time. The mechanisms had also been seriously damaged and 80% of the puppet's arrays were non-operational. Based on common sense, such a puppet shouldn't be able to move, let alone sneak attack someone…

This discovery made Lin Yun frown.

'What…?'

'How could a trashed puppet perform a sneak attack? Could it be… Possession?'

"Merlin! Watch out!" Solomon yelled at Lin Yun, who was lost in thought.

A sharp sound echoed suddenly. Lin Yun didn't even turn his head before a new Flame Spear was thrown out and nailed the creepily laughing puppet on the wall.

Lin Yun didn't relax after dealing with the sneak attack of the puppet, because just as the puppet was nailed to the wall, cracking sounds echoed from every corner of the warehouse…

"Fuck…" Lin Yun cursed.

This was indeed possession.

And it was mass possession!

Under the magical light, he could clearly see several dozen of scraped puppets swaying over from various corners of the room.

These puppets had all been thrown away due to mana source exhaustion, major malfunctions, or array damage. They shouldn't be able to work under normal circumstances. But under the possession, their arrays were filled with radiance and their mechanisms were set in motion just like normal puppets.

"It's really a fucking ghost…" At this time, Lin Yun couldn't deal with it and directly turned into raging flames before pouncing towards the closest batch of puppets.

"Boom, boom, boom…"

Lin Yun let out three Flame Bursts and the closest puppet didn't even have time to react before it was turned into pieces by the onslaught of spells.

To be honest, this wasn't the most efficient way…

Any mage with some understanding of puppets would know that the most efficient way was to attack the mana source. Just like the Flame Spear Lin Yun had cast earlier. One simple hit could thoroughly destroy the mana source, turning even the most powerful puppet into a pile of scraps.

But Lin Yun knew that these puppets simply couldn't be judged by common sense. They could move with damaged mechanisms, they could cast with damaged arrays, and exhausted mana sources meant nothing to them.

There was only one way to deal with these possessed puppets, completely destroy them.

After the first puppet was destroyed by the three Flame Bursts, Lin Yun didn't even take the time to breathe before ferociously piercing through the area with the most puppets. Lin Yun then displayed a casting style that was entirely different from his usual self.

Usually, Lin Yun's casting style was all about efficiency, if he could make do with one Wind Blade to cut an enemy throat, he wouldn't use two.

But Lin Yun had now given up on this kind of efficient casting style, at the present moment he was using a bursting style. It felt as if he was trying to Flame Burst the entire stone tower.

This kind of casting style was very burdening. Even Lin Yun had to keep his Magic Arrays working at full speed to make every spell burst with the greatest might.

Fortunately, there was still Solomon.

Although Solomon couldn't guarantee that each of his spell burst out with their greatest might like Lin Yun, he still displayed the power of a 9th Rank High Mage. Although 6th Tier spells couldn't be described as heaven defying, they were still quite powerful.

With Lin Yun under Elemental Incarnation holding down several dozen puppets, Solomon could comfortably cast spells. He was just like a fort, raining down spell after spell on these puppets.

The battle lasted for no less than ten minutes.

Ten minutes later, Solomon used a Flame Dragon Blast and destroyed the last two puppets. No puppets remained intact in the entire warehouse after the fight, everything had turned into true scraps. Several dozen puppets had been torn into pieces under the joint efforts of the duo.

"I'm exhausted…" After confirming that the last puppet had been destroyed, Solomon sat down, gasping for air.

But Lin Yun didn't plan to rest.

After Solomon's final Flame Dragon Blast, Lin Yun cast a few Mage Eyes to check every corner of the warehouse.

"Merlin, what are you looking for?"

"The mastermind…" Lin Yun bluntly answered.

"What mastermind…"

"You didn't feel the strangeness of these puppets? They were clearly damaged and deformed, yet they suddenly became active and their fighting power was even a bit stronger than intact puppets…" Lin Yun controlled the Mage Eyes while explaining to Solomon.

"Eh?"

As he explained, Lin Yun suddenly felt the connection to a Mage Eye being severed.

'What happened?' Lin Yun was doubtful as he sent another Mage Eye over. But this time Lin Yun had meticulously added a thin Mana Shield around the Mage Eye to make it survive longer.

It was unknown whether it was due to the Mana Shield, but that Mage Eye did make it further than the previous one.

But what Lin Yun saw made him freeze.

In the corner was an intact puppet…

Of course, it was "intact" when compared to the other puppets.

To be more precise, it wasn't torn to pieces…

At the moment, this still "intact" puppet quietly laid in a corner of the warehouse. Lin Yun suspiciously looked over, and it only took one glance for him to become deathly pale.

It wasn't that the puppet was frightening.

In fact, there was nothing special about the puppet, there was some evident damage rendering the mana source to be unusable, and the mechanisms were completely torn open. The frame was apparently cast from Magic Iron, and the color of that framework seemed deeper than the usual Magic Iron, possibly due to having been out of service for so long.

The only difference was that the previous puppets had ended up here due to an issue during their manufacture, while this one had clearly went through a fierce battle. The frame was riddled with scars and the mana source was melted. Lin Yun could imagine how desperate that final fight must have been.

Originally, that puppet had seven arrays carved onto it, but they had already been destroyed by some horrifying magic power. Only a third of one of the array's mana patterns remained on the puppet's body.

But this third was enough to make Lin Yun pale.

Because Lin Yun discovered that he couldn't understand that array!

What kind of concept was that?

Although Lin Yun was only a Master Alchemist, when it came to judgement and knowledge in the field of arrays, even Artisans like Osul and Nolan were far inferior to him.

Lin Yun came from 30,000 years in the future, a time when alchemy had already advanced to an unimaginable degree, to the point of creating a wonder like the Shelter Tower. Although Lin Yun didn't regard himself as someone at the peak of the alchemy field, he was far superior to the alchemists of this era.

But Lin Yun had now found an array that even he couldn't understand!

And the most frightening part was that although the array had stopped functioning, he could still feel a huge power brewing within. That kind of power even made Lin Yun feel as if he wasn't able to resist.

This was a first for Lin Yun.

Even when he was confronted with that True Spirit array in the depths of the Four Seasons Canyon, Lin Yun didn't get that feeling.

"Heaven Rank…" The pale Lin Yun stood there for a few minutes, before finally saying, "Heaven Rank puppet…"

Unfortunately, that Heaven Rank puppet was already destroyed, and only a damaged Heaven Rank array remained, as well as a seriously damaged magic system. Even if it could be restored, the power it would display would only be on par with the Crystal Scales.

'Hold on, puppet?' Just as he was feeling regretful, a thought flashed in Lin Yun's mind, 'Puppet? The Dark Sage's puppet?'

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Chapter 229: Is There Still Someone Alive?

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

That sudden thought shocked Lin Yun.

After carefully considering it, he felt that this might be possible.

The number of Heaven Rank puppets that had appeared in Noscent's history could be counted on two hands, and three of them had come from the Dark Sage. These three Heaven Rank puppets ended up in Vaughn's hands, but they never appeared again after the latter's death.

'Could this be one of them?'

Lin Yun crouched to check on that trashed puppet. It was truly a Heaven Rank array, but it was too badly damaged. Only some external connectors remained, as well as a few of the most basic functional modules.

There was also the frame.

Lin Yun quickly fished out a glass bottle from his pocket and gently poured a drop of black reagent onto the frame. A red area the size of a thumb appeared where it landed.

"Ember Magic Iron!" Lin Yun clearly recognized it. No wonder he felt that this puppet's frame looked like it was made of a deeper Magic Iron, it turned out to be Ember Magic Iron.

It was rumored that only the deepest layers of the Abyss could produce Ember Magic Iron. This was a kind of semi-natural magic metal. Ember Magic Iron would come into being when an ordinary Magic Iron Vein underwent the process of being burnt in the Abyssal Flames for thousands of years. Once the entire vein was burnt to ashes, a bit of its essence would be left behind, and this was known as Ember Magic Iron.

The production of Ember Magic Iron was horrendously inefficient, as a Magic Iron Vein would produce, at most, a piece the size of a fist.

But its rarity wasn't the only shocking part. Ember Magic Iron had extremely high defensive capabilities. It could protect from almost all Heaven Rank spells and physical injuries. Having armor made out of Ember Magic Iron was like having an undying body.

Furthermore, it was also surprisingly flexible, and casting the frame of a puppet with Ember Magic Iron would allow it to be as flexible as a human.

Lin Yun remembered that during the end of the Plane Colonization Era, the Ruler of the Night, who became a Saint Alchemist through his puppeteering, was always followed around by a Sword Saint. In that era, that duo was unequalled. One Heaven Rank Mage and one Sword Saint swept through all enemies.

But the strange thing was that this Heaven Rank Sword Saint never showed his true identity, and no one knew his real name. People only knew that the Heaven Rank Sword Saint would only silently stand behind the Ruler of the Night. Only when he made a move would people feel the power of the Heaven Rank powerhouse.

People had speculated about the true identity of that Sword Saint for a long time…

Up until a few centuries later, when the Ruler of the Night fell into the Abyss. An Archmage found his remains by coincidence, the remains of a puppet. People then became aware that the nameless Sword Saint had been nothing but a puppet.

And the frame of that puppet had been cast from Ember Magic Iron.

The entire alchemy scene was stirred after this discovery, and all alchemists frantically looked for Ember Magic Iron. They were all eager to create a perfect frame out of the precious material to continue the legend of the Ruler of the Night.

It could be seen from this how powerful puppets made out of Ember Magic Iron were. They were very similar to humans and they could use any martial skills and spells.

Noscent's alchemists always called Ember Magic Iron the living magic metal.

'It does look like one of Vaughn's three Heaven Rank puppets…' After confirming that the frame was made out of Ember Magic Iron, Lin Yun was already certain that this was a puppet inherited from the Dark Sage.

In those years, the Dark Sage entered an Abyssal Gate and only returned ten years later, covered in dust. During those ten years, the Dark Sage walked through many layers of the Abyss, killing one Demon Lord after the other. It was already an open secret that he held a good amount of Ember Magic Iron. It was said that Charles the Emperor's body armor was forged from the Dark Sage's Ember Magic Iron.

'But how could an esteemed Heaven Rank puppet be here in this condition?' Lin Yun's mind was filled with countless questions.

An Ember Magic Iron Frame and less than half of a Heaven Rank array, these two alone were enough to confirm the identity of the puppet. This was a genuine Heaven Rank puppet.

The question was…

'Why was the Heaven Rank puppet broken? Did it fight another Heaven Rank powerhouse? Did Vaughn truly have a Heaven Rank guest visit him in the Four Seasons Canyon?

'But why did someone come here? For profit?'

This wasn't too logical. Very few things could attract the attention of Heaven Rank powerhouses. Vaughn's laboratory sounded very great, but it would be a lot less appealing to those that had already reached Heaven Rank. And let alone Heaven Rank powerhouses, even someone like Star Sage Jouyi might not be that interested if someone dragged him to Vaughn's laboratory.

'But if not for profit, then why? Could it be that there is a secret hidden here besides the various magic materials and the set of Crystal Scales?'

Lin Yun thought deeply on the subject, but he couldn't come up with an answer. Thus, he only shook his head and focused on the Heaven Rank puppet once again.

The extent of damage suffered by the Heaven Rank puppet was truly shocking, to the point that even the skeleton cast out of Ember Magic Iron was irreparable. This was the metal known to protect against Heaven Rank spells! For it to be damaged to that degree, the fight must have been earth-shattering.

'Unfortunate…" Such a good Heaven Rank puppet, yet damaged beyond repair. Lin Yun felt that this was quite a pity.

Only the control center located in the head was still intact. Lin Yun thought about it for a moment before taking out a level 20 mana crystal from his pocket and embedding it in the mana source and then using some tools to restore a few mana circuits to temporarily link the control center and the mana source.

Lin Yun only wanted to try fixing the control center at first to check if he could make the Heaven Rank puppet recover some functions.

But he didn't expect that part of the array to suddenly shine after he inserted the level 20 mana crystal.

Lin Yun then saw the eyes of the puppet opening.

'Fuck…' Lin Yun was scared stiff. That was a Heaven Rank puppet! Even if it couldn't completely revive, just regaining a tenth of its power would be enough to instantly kill him and Solomon.

Lin Yun almost subconsciously jumped back while simultaneously casting the Ice Fire Shield, his hand quickly grabbing and opening the Book of Death. He was about to cast an Ultimate Spell when he suddenly heard the puppet talk.

"Is there still someone alive?"

"…" Lin Yun almost choked.

'Fuck, there are two people standing in front of you, yet you're still asking if anyone is alive? What are you trying to do?'

And at that time, Lin Yun found out that he had only scared himself. Although the puppet had opened its eyes and mouth, it was only due to the control center being resupplied with mana. The truly threatening mechanical systems had already melted away. Let alone a level 20 mana crystal, even if he specially repaired it, he still wouldn't be able to restore the mechanical system.

Moreover, a level 20 mana crystal wasn't nearly enough to sustain the needs of a Heaven Rank puppet.

He had panicked for nothing.

'Scaring people to death…' Lin Yun angrily scattered his Ice Fire Shield while putting the Book of Death back into his pocket.

"Is there still someone alive?" the puppet repeated.

"Alive, alive. Don't you see the two living people in front of you?" Thinking how he'd been scared by a scrapped puppet made Lin Yun rage out of shame.

But as if the puppet couldn't hear him, it repeated the same question. "Is there still someone alive?"

"What is going on?" Lin Yun felt rather bemused.

Sure enough…

"Is there still someone alive?"

"…" Lin Yun realized that this puppet would only repeat that sentence.

'Wait, that's not… Could this be… The Dark Sage was the one to ask that sentence?'

Lin Yun himself was an alchemist. Although he hadn't reached the level of the Dark Sage, he wasn't unfamiliar with puppeteering. How could Lin Yun not understand that the puppet was most likely repeating that sentence because it had been implanted by the creator of the Heaven Rank puppet?

In other words…

That question was most likely asked by the Dark Sage himself…

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Chapter 230: No Path Forward

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

'But why did the Dark Sage leave such a question behind? "Is there still someone alive?" The Dark Sage's question was too broad… If you had fallen for ten thousand years, would it matter to you if people were still alive?

'That question is too brainless. Why would it matter if someone was still alive? What is the point of asking repeatedly…'

"Is there still someone alive?" The puppet had repeated the same question for an unknown number of times.

"You are still not done…" Lin Yun softly cursed. He planned on severing the supply of mana, but just as he reached out, he froze…

'Is there still someone alive… Is there still someone alive…'

Lin Yun suddenly paled.

"Merlin… Merlin…" Solomon had been watching awkwardly for a long time. He didn't want to interfere earlier, but after Lin Yun's face turned deathly pale, he anxiously called his name a few times. After a while, he still hadn't received a response, so he raised his voice. "Merlin, what's going on?"

"Oh, nothing…" Lin Yun was roused by Solomon's voice and subconsciously shook his head. But he could feel that his robe was soaked with cold sweat.

Lin Yun had suddenly become aware that the meaning of the puppet's sentence wasn't too broad, and neither was it brainless…. it was just that the question was asked in the wrong time period…

What if that question was asked 30,000 years later?

Gales, raging flames, deserts, meteorites, the destruction of Noscent, the despair of Heiss City. Everything he had forgotten once again appeared in his mind. Lin Yun subconsciously shook his head, trying put everything to the back of his mind, but he found out that he was unable to.

"Is there…"

"Shut up!" Lin Yun cruelly cut off the mana supply as the puppet was about to repeat its question again.

But that sentence kept echoing in Lin Yun's mind…

'"Is there still someone alive? Is there still someone alive?'

'Is there still someone alive in Noscent in 30,000 years?'

"Merlin…" Solomon looked strangely at Lin Yun and commented, "You don't seem to be in a good state…"

"It's nothing, I just recalled something."

"…Oh right, what about that puppet? Why would it keep asking 'Is there still someone alive?' over and over again?"

"That sentence should have been asked by the creator…"

"Is there something wrong with the creator? What would knowing if anyone was still alive have to do with him…?"

"Haha…" Hearing Solomon's complaints finally let Lin Yun put aside the shadows within his heart, allowing him to focus on how to bring the puppet back.

That was a Heaven Rank puppet… just the Ember Magic Iron frame itself was invaluable. The entire framework was worth over a hundred spirit mana crystals. This would be the most wealth Lin Yun had obtained after entering Vaughn's laboratory, and that was without mentioning the partly damaged array.

Although less than half remained, it was still a Heaven Rank array. The value of the research couldn't be estimated.

And even though the current Lin Yun was completely unable to restore it, that didn't mean that he wouldn't be able to in the future. Perhaps when Lin Yun became a Saint Alchemist, he would be able to reproduce those seven arrays. At that time, he would be like the Ruler of the Night, walking with a Sword Saint bodyguard.

'But… How should I bring it back…'

The spatial ring Lin Yun held came from the High Mage in the Bone Plane. It was only an Inheritance Spatial Ring. There was no problem using it to store various kind of ores and books, but it definitely wouldn't be able to store a Heaven Rank puppet.

That was something of the Extraordinary Realm. Even if less than half of one of the seven Heaven Rank arrays remained, it still wasn't something an Inheritance Spatial Ring could handle. Just a bit of power leaking would be enough to explode the ring!

"Do I have to carry it back myself?" Lin Yun got a headache. This was the first time he ran into such circumstances. The wealth was there, but he was having trouble figuring out how to bring it back.

It seemed that he should get a better spatial item after this expedition.

Returning was definitely going to be a pain.

Although the Ember Magic Iron wasn't one of the heaviest metals, a complete frame, along with various components, made the puppet far heavier than an adult. It would take a while if he had to carry it back to the carriage.

'Right, if I can't carry it, I have to be creative…' As Lin Yun was getting a bit annoyed, he suddenly noticed the various parts on the ground. 'Right, it doesn't matter if I can't fix it, I can still assemble it. Shouldn't it be able to move if I reassemble it?

'In any case, that Heaven Rank puppet had already been damaged beyond recognition. If I add a few arms and then rebuild the control center and mechanical system, it will become a completely new puppet once a mana source is plugged in. Whether in terms of functions or power, they'll both be far inferior to the Heaven Rank puppet, but that doesn't matter. I only need to get it to work so that I can get it back to Thousand Sails City… This is the best way.'

Lin Yun might have still been worried about the parts if he'd found it anywhere else, but this warehouse had so many discarded puppets. The components available here were enough to assemble ten puppets, so he'd just have to put in the time.

Having made his decision, Lin Yun started working on it.

He had a deep understanding of assembling puppets, so it only took him a few minutes to install two arms with the parts on hand. He kept a human shape for the puppet, and he now had to deal with the arrays.

Normally, Lin Yun would re-draw the arrays and build a new control center for it.

But when Lin Yun saw the remains of the array, he had another idea in mind.

There were plenty of connectors remaining on that part of the Heaven Rank Array… Why not he use these connectors?

That would be a lot easier than rebuilding the control center.

Thus, Lin Yun altered his plan and started studying the array. He was researching how to exploit these completely intact connectors, yet his hand didn't stop moving as he drew one array after the other and connected them to the remains of the Heaven Rank array, gradually forming a complete control center.

In the end, it was still the level 20 mana crystal.

The level 20 mana crystal was embedded in the mana source, and following Lin Yun's control rune, a completely new puppet smoothly became operational.

"There is no path forward, no future, no hope…"

But.

Just as the puppet became functional, it started talking.

"Ah?" Lin Yun was startled. "So… Solomon, did you hear that?"

"I heard… What no path forward? Trying to scare us…"

"Eh…" Lin Yun couldn't be as calm and collected as Solomon, because Lin Yun knew who the true creator of the puppet was. It was the greatest puppet master in history, Charles The Emperor's teacher, the Grave Digger of the Silver Era, Dark Sage Igor. If that person wanted to scare others, they would have no choice but to value his words.

Moreover, these words made Lin Yun realize that the Dark Sage didn't only leave the one sentence behind. Because of the excessive damage suffered by the Heaven Rank puppet, he had only been able to hear the first sentence, and due to him using the Heaven Rank array's connector, he now managed to hear the second sentence.

Was there more?

What did the Dark Sage want to say?

Lin Yun couldn't figure it out…

He only felt that the Dark Sage wanted to convey something very important…

But unfortunately, now wasn't the time to research this. After thinking about it, Lin Yun cut off the mana supply again and severed the connection to the Heaven Rank array. He spent another ten minutes building the control center and mechanical system, guaranteeing that the puppet was completely not dependant on the Heaven Rank array.

After he finished, Lin Yun rebooted the puppet.

Sure enough, the puppet remained silent this time.

It only followed Lin Yun and Solomon through Lin Yun's control runes. They headed back towards the Magic Iron Furnace and soon grouped back up with Suyass and Fran.

When they saw the two people, Lin Yun noticed that Fran was brimming with confidence. He wasn't avoiding his gaze like before, and Lin Yun knew that this was due to the Crystal Scales.

After obtaining the Crystal Scales, Fran was already confident that he could crush the two of them, and the confidence made him look like a completely different person.

'Smile while you can…' Lin Yun pretended to not notice his attitude as he inwardly mused, 'Fran naively signed the contract without even checking how evil the Crystal Scales are…'

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Chapter 231: Thunderbird Flock

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

"How was it? Did you two get a good harvest?" Suyass seemed quite pleased with himself, likely because he had gotten some good stuff.

"Haha, so-so." Lin Yun chuckled but didn't elaborate. He only glanced at the distant Fran. Ever since he signed the contract with the Crystal Scales, Fran had become quite different. The mana fluctuations of the 5th Rank High Mage had been ordinary before, but now, Lin Yun could feel a surge of mana fluctuations, just like an unending tide…

Lin Yun knew that this was the power granted to him by the Crystal Scales.

Although Fran was only a 5th Rank High Mage, with the Crystal Scales equipped, he could display the power of an Archmage anytime. His power was at least five times greater than before.

The leap in strength gave Fran boundless confidence.

He was completely different from before, no longer acting meek in front of Lin Yun, and instead, he was now proudly smiling.

"Well, Mafa Merlin, Solomon, you two are ten minutes late. You can leave the nonsense for later, let's first go to the 4th floor. That's the most important part of the stone tower." Fran bluntly criticized the two energetically.

Lin Yun and Solomon didn't say anything in reply, but Suyass frowned as he looked at Fran, his gaze carrying apparent dissatisfaction.

But Fran was too conceited now, so how could he care about Suyass' dissatisfaction?

The group of four found a path leading to the 4th floor at the edge of the Magic Iron Forge. They could see how distorted the space in the stone tower was, as the path to the 4th floor took no less than an hour to traverse.

Both sides of the path were filled with metal cages. It was unknown what these metal cages had once held, but they were now empty. On the way, they saw a few hundred cages, some of which were especially huge, and there were even some shocking residual mana fluctuations left.

"This should be where Vaughn kept magic beasts locked up…" Solomon wasn't unfamiliar with these kinds of metal cages as the master of the Sage Tower. In fact, whether it was the Sage Tower or the Cloud Tower, they both had areas specialized for imprisoning magic beasts.

"Yes, this should be a place used for experiments…" Lin Yun nodded. It wasn't strange for an alchemist like Vaughn to do some experimentation on magic beasts. After all, it was even rumored that the Dark Sage himself had once captured a Demon Lord to complete an experiment.

"What… What about the magic beasts?" Solomon suddenly froze and gulped. Everyone knew that the magic beasts used for experiments were usually well-watched. But the hundreds of metal cages were all empty…

For this to happen meant that a large number of magic beasts had escaped.

Thus, the question was… Where had they fled to?

There had been no signs of magic beasts in the first three floors…

Moreover, with the eight flying puppets patrolling around the tower, even flying magic beasts might not necessarily be able to escape. The was only one possibility left…

And as he thought of it, Solomon looked up.

Indeed. The 4th floor was the only place the magic beasts could have gone to.

"It's fine, it's fine. Vaughn was only an Archmage, even if he caught a few magic beasts for experimentation, they wouldn't be too powerful." Solomon could only comfort himself like this.

"That isn't certain…" But Lin Yun bluntly poured cold water over him. Although Vaughn only had the strength of an Archmage, one shouldn't forget that he had inherited the legacy of the Dark Sage. The three Heaven Rank puppets were almost unequalled in that era. Numerous Heaven Rank powerhouses had no choice but to bow their heads in front of Vaughn. Not many magic beasts would be able to escape if he wanted to catch one.

As the two discussed, Fran bluntly reprimanded, "What's the point of saying that? There is no trace of any magic beasts. You are spineless, if you are afraid you can stay here while Suyass and I go to the 4th floor."

"Haha…" Lin Yun only chuckled again. Fran wanted to put on a show. Let alone magic beasts escaping, even if a Demon Lord escaped, he would have used that opportunity to put him down.

After walking for an hour, the path that felt endless to the group of four finally reached its end.

'Worthy of Vaughn…' Lin Yun inwardly sighed when he finally stepped onto the 4th floor of the stone tower. The final Artisan of the 3rd Dynasty had truly reached an outrageous level in the field of alchemy and spent a great amount of effort on this stone tower.

This was proven by the scenery in front of them.

Blue sky, white clouds, forests, rivers, mountains…

Everything felt like the real world!

Standing there, who would have thought that this was merely a place inside the stone tower?

All this was even enough to stun Lin Yun, to the point that he felt somewhat doubtful. Was Vaughn really only an Artisan? After all, world creation belonged to the domain of Saint Alchemists.

"There is movement ahead…" As Lin Yun sighed in admiration, Suyass cast a Mage Eye and quickly sent it to the forest. A short moment after, the Archmage looked amazed. "It's Lys and all the others!"

"Ah?" Suyass' words startled Lin Yun.

He originally thought that the Fortune Box had sent Lys and the others to different locations in the laboratory, but he hadn't expected them to all be teleported to the 4th floor.

Surprised, Lin Yun cast a Mage Eye of his own.

Sure enough, the other members of the joint exploration team were about a kilometer ahead, in the forest. Lin Yun looked around and saw Lys, Badrack, Xiuban, William, and the others.

It's just that the sixteen of them weren't in a very optimistic position.

To be more precise, they were caught in a dangerous battle.

They were fighting over a hundred Thunderbirds.

Moreover, the birds were each at least level 20 and seemed to be going wild as they assailed the group. The wings of the leading Thunderbird were ten meters long when stretched out, and it looked like a golden cloud when diving down. For magic beasts like Thunderbirds, the higher level they were, the bigger they would be. Lin Yun estimated that this Thunderbird was already level 25…

Along with its hundred subordinates, that battle could only be described as frightening. Lightning could be seen spreading for a few hundred meters. The team had gathered together as closely as possible, relying on Sasu's shield and the Runic Shield jointly cast by the few High Mages to keep the group of Thunderbirds at bay.

But counterattacking was impossible.

Lin Yun estimated that the way it was going, they would only last five more minutes. At that point, the High Mages would suffer from mana exhaustion and the Runic Shield would dissipate. Sasu's shield wouldn't be enough to hold back those frightening Thunderbirds.

"Let's help them as fast as possible." Suyass cast Flight as he said that. He turned into a sharp arrow, piercing towards the forest.

Lin Yun and Solomon used Elemental Incarnation and arrived in the forest after a few Flame Flashes.

The fight was already at its most critical juncture when the group of four entered the forest. Two of the High Mages had already suffered from mana exhaustion, causing a good part of the Runic Shield to start cracking. A few Thunderbirds rushed down and the intense current in their claws made a mess of the formation.

Suyass fortunately arrived on time.

He cast a Freeze spell at the flock of birds, turning three of the Thunderbirds that had rushed in into ice statues. Suyass didn't waste time and quickly cast an Elemental Shield before rushing to engage the biggest Thunderbird.

He was rather straightforward, planning to have the greatest effect by dealing with the leader of the Thunderbirds.

But the Alpha Thunderbird was level 25, and when it saw Suyass rush over, it didn't even try to avoid him. It unfolded its ten-meters-long wings and a berserk electrical current was discharged.

One was a newly advanced Archmage, and the other was a level 25 Alpha Thunderbird. When they clashed, only a burst of electrical current and scattering magic runes could be seen.

Lin Yun and Solomon rushed over at this time. They didn't say anything to the others before quickly filling the spots of the two High Mages and mending the cracks of the Runic Shield.

But Lin Yun and Solomon were much stronger than the two High Mages they were replacing, so with the addition of Suyass pinning down the Alpha Thunderbird, the battle was well on its way to being turned around. Not only was the Runic Shield mended, but the joint exploration team was now able to counterattack.

"Merlin, how come you are here?" Lys finally had enough leeway to ask.

"We just walked up from the 1st floor of the stone tower."

"What?" But they hadn't expected that such a mundane answer would make Lys cry out in alarm. "This isn't Gaugass?"

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Chapter 232: One Day and Three Months

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

"Gaugass?" Lin Yun froze. 'What is Lys talking about? Why did he mention Gaugass?' At first, Lin Yun thought that Lys made a mistake and jokingly said, "Leader Lys, Gaugass is a few thousand kilometers from the Four Seasons Canyon."

But he didn't expect that these words would make Lys flinch, his gaze empty, as if he had seen true horrors. He stared at Lin Yun in shock for a few seconds, not even looking at the Thunderbirds pouncing over. Lin Yun helped him maintain his side of the shield, but Lys didn't even notice and asked with a shuddering voice, "Mer… Merlin, this really isn't Gaugass…?"

"Leader Lys, this is truly not Gaugass…" Lin Yun realized that Lys was being serious.

'What happened? Lys doesn't look clear-headed… How could he think that this was Gaugass, the land of the battlemages? That place is several thousand kilometers away. No matter how formidable the Fortune Box was, it couldn't teleport over ten people across such an incredible distance. Could they have had such a different experience? Different to the point that they thought they were in Gaugass?'

"How could it not be Gaugass… How… How could this be?" While Lin Yun was mulling it over, Lys was still stunned.

"Leader Lys, this is truly not Gaugass."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, it truly isn't…" Lin Yun sighed and finally was forced to believe that Lys truly considered this place Gaugass. He was doubtful as he asked, "Leader Lys, I think there must have been some issues, can you recall what happened after everyone scattered? Where did you guys go?"

"We… After we got separated, we entered an underground castle and met a large swarm of Lava Spiders. Fortunately, these Lava Spiders weren't too powerful so we managed to escape…"

"Lava Spiders?" Lin Yun now understood why Lys kept thinking that this was Gaugass. It was because Lava Spiders were part of the fauna of Gaugass. The Gaugass Battlemages had been fighting the Lava Spiders for over a thousand years. Every year, a large number of Gaugass Battlemages would die in the fights against Lava Spiders.

But Gaugass wasn't the only place with Lava Spiders.

In Noscent, there were hundreds of large and small volcanoes, and each of them could be inhabited by Lava Spiders, so why did they think that this place was Gaugass?

As Lin Yun thought about it, Lys continued, "At first, we didn't figure out that this was Gaugass, but after walking for several days, we found out that we would regularly lose our way, so Badrack started drawing a map. During the next month, we had to fight dozens of battles, and Badrack's map…"

"Hold on, a month?" Lin Yun felt that this wasn't right… Several days? A month?

Lin Yun clearly remembered having been separated from the others less than a day ago, so how could they have been here for a month already?

Lin Yun felt that the problem was rather serious…

"Yes, a month. What is it?" Lys looked at Lin Yun in bemusement. He then continued, "A month later, Badrack had finished enough of his map for us to realize that we were in the middle of Gaugass, and thus, after some discussion, we decided to head southwest. We wanted to return to Okland first… and that was two months ago…"

"No way…" This wasn't just a bit serious. According to Lys, they had been on the road for three months, and furthermore, they had been in Gaugass for three months. What did that mean?

"Merlin… What… What's wrong?"

"Nothing…" Lin Yun shook his head, "I just feel that there must be something strange going on, Leader Lys…"

"What is it?"

"First of all, this is definitely not Gaugass. Sir Suyass and High Mage Solomon can testify to that, they can also confirm that we are on the 4th floor of a stone tower. Moreover, we didn't separate three months ago…"

"Not three months ago?" Lys was confused. "Then… How long?"

"A day…"

"Impossible!" Lys almost jumped up on the spot. 'How could this be, I clearly remember every detail of the past three months, how could it have been a day?'

"Well, Leader Lys, we can deal with the details later, let's first deal with these Thunderbirds…"

After the discussion, the two directed their focus back onto the battlefield. At this time, they had already managed to regain the advantage. Suyass was controlling the Alpha Thunderbird in the sky while Lin Yun, Solomon, and Fran, who were still full of power, joined the fight and reversed the situation.

The joint exploration team quickly counterattacked and casualties quickly piled up within the flock of Thunderbirds.

The outcome was already decided.

After Solomon shot two Thunderbirds, Lin Yun's attention moved away from the main battlefield as he began to pay attention to the other battle in the sky.

The fight between Suyass and the Alpha Thunderbird had already reached its climax, and no clear victor was emerging. Although Suyass had overbearing power, the sky was still the main field of the Alpha Thunderbird. By relying on its nature and its flying ability, the Thunderbird remained equally matched with Suyass. When Lin Yun saw the situation, he knew that if no one intervened, Suyass' fight could drag on for at least 30 minutes.

30 minutes was too long…

Lin Yun thought for a moment before pouring mana into the Lava Dominator to activate its Flight ability. He cast an Ice Fire Shield before ascending, only leaving behind a blue and red afterimage.

"Merlin, cover me…" When Suyass saw Lin Yun joining him, he knew that the outcome of the battle had already been decided. As an Archmage, handling a magic beast below level 30 should definitely be a piece of cake. The only problem was much more familiar with flying. It was too fast and too nimble. He would suffer if he was caught off guard.

But Merlin had already come to his aid. With the strength of that young Great Mage, covering for him would be no issue. As long as he could buy ten seconds of time, Suyass would be able to completely suppress that Alpha Thunderbird. He would have no problem killing it in one shot then.

But he hadn't expected Merlin to not hear him. The latter flew like a meteor towards the belly of the Alpha Thunderbird.

"Merlin! Watch out!" Suyass was startled when he saw that. This was far too rash. Although the belly was the weak point of Thunderbirds, it was also the most dangerous part. This was a sentient magic beast whose instincts far surpassed ordinary humans. It would naturally know to protect its vitals, and Merlin's flying speed with his magic tool was truly inferior to a Flight Spell. Flying so close to its belly was like delivering himself to the Alpha Thunderbird's claws.

Sure enough, just as Suyass warned him, the Alpha Thunderbird's long wings spread ferociously in the sky as two sharp claws used the momentum to fiercely slash down.

'Shit…'

Suyass felt terrible. The Alpha Thunderbird's reaction was so fast that even Suyass was surprised by it. The pair of sharp claws were rushed at the young Great Mage's flight path. When the lightning fell, the young mage would be unable to dodge.

Sure enough, just as Suyass thought about it, the pair of claws almost sealed the youth's fate. Wind howled as Lin Yun barely managed to dodge the attack. Then, the Thunderbird shook before a thousand feathers were shaken off.

In a flash, these flickering feathers turned into boundless lightning bolts, covering the sky in an instant, like a huge net ready to swallow Lin Yun within.

"Shit!" Suyass cursed.

That young Great Mage's strength was definitely amazing, and he had already shocked him multiples times. Unfortunately, he was only a young Great Mage… His greatest fault was that he was too rash and impulsive. That was a level 25 magic beast, how could he rush towards it like that?

They obviously already had the upper hand.

As long as Lin Yun helped restrain it for a bit, Suyass would have been able to easily finish it off. There would have been no problem, so why had he acted so rashly?

Unfortunately, it was already too late. The earth-shattering lightning had already surrounded him, and even if Suyass could reach Heaven Rank, he still wouldn't be able to save him.

All Suyass could do was to prepare some spells, hoping the young Great Mage would somehow survive.

If he could survive the wave of lightning, Suyass would use his first spells to give him some time.

But even if he survived, he would most likely be critically injured.

It was certain to be the case, as the attacks from the Alpha Thunderbird were too ferocious. Even he, as an Archmage, was not certain he could endure that attack directly, let alone a young Great Mage that was not even twenty.

Suyass was in deep thoughts as he was finishing up his casting. Just as the storm of lightning burst out, Suyass heard a wail, before seeing a huge silhouette fall down from the sky.

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Chapter 233: Treasury

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

Suyass was startled by this wail and the lapse in his concentration almost caused his casting to fail. After barely managing to finish his incantation, just before he released his spell, a loud rumble echoed our as the Alpha Thunderbird crashed into the ground.

For a few moments, not a sound could be heard in that entire world.

The battle was thus ended. Under the counterattack of the joint exploration team, the flock of Thunderbirds that had lost their alpha became headless chickens. The fighters constantly harried the birds with hit and run attacks while a few High Mages and Spirit Archers shot four Thunderbirds with a wave of fire. Immediately after, the joint exploration team kept consolidating their advantage and this battle also drew to a close. After a few minutes, of the hundred Thunderbirds, only one or two luckily escaped.

"Sir Suyass…" Lin Yun flew over and stopped right beside Suyass and told him, "I talked to Leader Lys, it seems that the situation is a lot more complicated than we thought…"

"Eh? Eh?…" Suyass let out a few grunts of confusion before he dared to look Lin Yun in the eyes.

Because Suyass suddenly felt like the young Great Mage in front of him had become quite unfamiliar to him.

He finally understood why Karon had talked to him for such a long time that night and tried to dissuade him from looking for trouble.

At that time, Suyass had thought that Karon was worried he would injure Merlin and draw the ire of the Star Sage, and the resulting punishment from his teacher Nolan.

But now, Suyass understood clearly. Karon was worried about him. He wasn't worried about the aftermath of injuring Merlin, he was worried about him not even being able to harm Merlin…

An esteemed Archmage being unable to injure a 9th Rank Great Mage… Suyass would have never believed Karon if he had directly stated it, but now, Suyass was also convinced.

Because just now, he had seen that 9th Rank Great Mage shooting down the level 25 Alpha Thunderbird. The power he had burst with was simply shocking!

From this alone, Suyass could see that this young Great Mage's true strength far surpassed the bounds of his rank. He hadn't thought that it was to such an extent. In the joint exploration team, only Suyass clearly understood what just happened.

Thunderbirds were spirits of thunder and lightning, and each of their feathers was filled with that power. Especially after reaching level 25, the boundless electrical power within their bloodline would awaken and each feather would be able to turn into lightning. When several hundred such feathers were converted at once, even an Archmage like Suyass would have no choice but to avoid the attack.

But that young Great Mage actually welcomed the lightning as it struck out at him. At that time, Suyass had truly thought that this young Great Mage was finished. But he hadn't expected that in that split second, the young mage would be able to find a small gap within the boundless lightning before rushing through it. When he saw that, Suyass was stunned silly. How terrifying was his control? After all, that young Great Mage wasn't using Flight, he was using an imprecise Magic Tool for that function.

How could Suyass not know the difference between flight granted by a Magic Tool and the Flight spell?

One was a spell crafted from one's own mana and thus completely under the user's control, while the other was the power of a Magic Tool. They were on two different levels. It could be said that a mage that could decently control a Flight Magic Tool could reach the same degree of nimbleness as a flying magic beast when using the Flight spell.

Moreover, Lin Yun's control was far from being merely "decent"…

Suyass had clearly seen him threading the needle and evading all the danger… Even if Suyass himself had been in such a position, he wouldn't have been able to grasp the opportunity to exploit that gap, yet Merlin did while using a Magic Tool.

What kind of concept was that?

This was a level of control Suyass had never imagined.

And then he saw the ball of flames…

If the precise control shown by the young mage had made Suyass feel shocked, then the flames he summoned made him feel dread.

The power of the flames was definitely comparable to that of an Archmage. It gently flowed into the body of the Alpha Thunderbird before exploding, entering from the belly and escaping from its back. In that split second only one thought appeared in Suyass' mind: 'True Spirit Magic Tool, that was definitely a True Spirit Magic Tool.'

Its power was too frightening…

After the fight ended, Suyass asked himself, 'If I were in that bird's position instead, could I survive that blow?'

The conclusion made Suyass dejected. 'I couldn't… I truly couldn't…'

He then thought about what had happened earlier in the camp. If not for Karon's sudden arrival…

Just thinking about it made Suyass feel cold and clammy.

Suyass felt quite dejected. He had thought that he was the strongest member of the entire expedition, so he had always acted as the leader. Even after the four of them got separated from the rest of the group, he kept directing the others around because he truly felt that it was the duty that came with power.

But thinking back on it, Suyass felt his face starting to burn up.

That huge gap made Suyass feel like he had been dancing like a clown. He believed himself to be unbeatable, but in the end, it had all been a joke.

"Sir Suyass!" At this time, the power of the Lava Dominator had been exhausted and Lin Yun had already landed and converged with Lys' group. After exchanging a few simple sentences, he noticed that Suyass was still in the same place, daydreaming, so he tried calling his name.

"Ah…" Lin Yun's shout woke Suyass. He subconsciously shook his head to put this chaotic train of thought to the back of his mind before slowly descending.

When Suyass landed, Lin Yun was already discussing with the others. Everyone had some understanding of the current situation and they were now sharing their ideas and opinions.

"What's going on, Great Mage Merlin…"

"It's like this Sir Suyass…" Lin Yun then repeated information that he had gleaned from Lys earlier.

At first, Suyass still seemed preoccupied with something else, but the more he heard, the more serious his expression became, especially when he heard that Lys' group had already been in this place for three months.

"This is a Time Cage!"

"Indeed…" Lin Yun nodded. He already knew of the Time Cage Suyass had mentioned. It was said that those who reached the peak of the Saint Alchemist realm could use arrays to alter space and time. These kinds of arrays were known as Time Cages.

But Time Cages were already legends. Even 30,000 years in the future, they were barely mentioned in a few books he had seen, so despite his great wealth of knowledge, Lin Yun didn't know the specifics of what a Time Cage truly was.

But everything Lys said was in accordance with the principles of a Time Cage. It was like everyone was locked in a crack in time. This was a gap in the river of time, where the passage of time was completely different from the outside. One year inside might be a day outside, but it was also possible for it to be the other way around.

It might be static, or it might change unpredictably…

In short, anything could happen in a Time Cage.

But why was there a Time Cage at all?

This was the question that Lin Yun truly cared about. After all, a Time Cage wasn't something a Saint Alchemist could casually set up. This was already touching upon the most basic Laws of this world. Without a suitable reason, who would spend a lot of time and resources to set up a Time Cage?

Moreover, Lin Yun knew…

Although the Time Cage had "cage" in its name, it wasn't a true cage. 30,000 years later, Time Cages were also known as Time Barriers. The different time flow made it so that any force used against Time Barriers would dissipate within the river of time. This property made it impossible for external forces to break through from the outside.

Lin Yun clearly remembered that the Shelter Tower's defensive system used a Time Cage as its core.

But the Shelter Tower was covering an entire city, it was Noscent's final hope.

Then… What was this Time Cage protecting?

'Could there be something important buried in this fake Gaugass world?'

"Great Mage Merlin… Great Mage Merlin…" Suyass had been waiting next to him for a response for a long time without saying anything.

"Sorry, I just remembered something."

"Great Mage Merlin, what do you think we should do?"

The others didn't react particularly to Suyass' words, but Solomon and Lys, who both paid attention to details, turned to look closer at Suyass.

Although they weren't as strong as Suyass, they had been in Thousand Sails City for a few dozen years, and they weren't easy to deal with. Hearing Suyass' words, they felt that something was off. Thinking about it carefully, they found that Suyass' attitude was different.

After all, Suyass was an Archmage. Even though he was a lot friendlier after Karon's appearance, he still exuded the pride and aloofness of an Archmage even though he tried to conceal it. It clearly showed when Suyass made a decision; he wouldn't consult with anyone and would act as if following his lead was a matter of course.

Why? Because he was an Archmage.

The world of magic was strict about ranks.

Suyass normally wouldn't have used such a tone and politely asked Mafa Merlin for his advice.

How could this be?

Why did an Archmage like Suyass suddenly act so polite with Merlin?

The two looked at him for a bit before exchanging glances with each other.

"We should walk south…" After saying these words, Lin Yun looked towards the north with a trace of reluctance.

Mountains could be seen spreading through the north for hundreds of kilometers. Lin Yun used his Magic Array to do a simple analysis and found out that 90% of the power of the Time Cage was concentrated among those mountains.

Lin Yun was almost certain that the secret that the Time Cage was protecting was somewhere in that northern mountain range.

Lin Yun remembered that the mountain range in northern Gaugass would shock all of Noscent 10,000 years later.

Unfortunately, Lin Yun knew that when that happened, Archmages were completely annihilated. Even a few of the weaker Heaven Mages fell. With his current strength, he wouldn't have the opportunity to explore that secret.

He could only leave for now.

And the further the better.

"South?" Suyass froze. Lin Yun had needed his Magic Arrays to analyze the place where the power of the Time Cage converged, but that didn't mean that Suyass wouldn't be able to notice anything.

Thus, Suyass was stumped when he heard Lin Yun's words.

"Yeah, let's go south…" Lin Yun didn't explain and only nodded.

Suyass opened his mouth and closed it a few times looking like a fish. But after seeing Lin Yun's expression, the Archmage felt less and less sure. Before now, Suyass might have just insisted on heading north.

But he didn't dare to now.

"Okay…" After a moment of silence, Suyass nodded reluctantly.

After they agreed on the decision, the joint exploration team restarted their journey. They went through the dense forest and followed the Harrison River south. The journey wasn't peaceful, as they would meet some magic beasts from time to time, but now that the group had reunited, they were much more powerful. Some of the weaker magic beasts were crushed instantly, while the more powerful ones only lasted a few attacks.

The trip was more taxing on the mind than on the body.

The Harrison River ended in Nolun, which meant that the Harrison River would eventually lead them out of Gaugass.

But when the party of twenty reached the end of the river, they only saw a gentle light flickering. The surging water was pouring down into the gentle light, not leaking a single drop.

Suyass did a simple magical check before stating, "This is a Teleportation Gate."

But even Suyass didn't know if they should enter this Teleportation Gate.

Even an idiot would know that it was best to avoid entering an unknown Teleportation Gate, because they wouldn't know where it led.

Naturally, the circumstances of the group were a bit special.

At least for the moment, it felt like the Teleportation Gate was the only exit they had. If they walked in, they might be sent to a terrifying place, but if they didn't enter, they would definitely remain in this damned place. It wasn't easy to choose between the two.

"I'll go first." After thinking about it for a while, Lin Yun went in without discussing with the others.

Because Lin Yun knew that even some other accursed place would be better than remaining in a Time Cage. Even if the flow of time seemed normal to them, who would dare guarantee that the flow of time would always remain normal? What if it suddenly sped up a thousand times? They couldn't stay there.

Lin Yun was already prepared for the worst when he entered the Teleportation Gate, so that he wouldn't be surprised even if he stepped into the Abyss.

But, when the surroundings stopped twisting and settled down, Lin Yun found out that he had entered a treasury.

"No way…" Lin Yun was dumbstruck as he looked around. This was simply an alchemy paradise. All kinds of magic materials were piled up like mountains, and even with Lin Yun's knowledge and experience, he was almost blinded on the spot.

'This… Could this be Vaughn's collection?' Suyass suddenly came out of the Teleportation Gate, and when he noticed the magic materials, he had the same shocked expression as Lin Yun.

Of these two, one was from the holy land of alchemy, the Mercury Tower, and had seen countless magic materials throughout his life, while the other one was from 30,000 years in the future, and although he hadn't seen such magic materials with his own eyes, he had read countless illustrated handbooks and references, and the breadth of his knowledge was extremely vast.

It was natural for these two to be so shocked when facing such a collection.

The treasury was ten meters high and at least a kilometer across. It was paved with moonstone and ivory rocks, and over a hundred chests were piled up on both sides. Each of those was filled with more magic materials.

If these magic materials were exchanged for golds, then there would be enough to buy Thousand Sails City ten times over…

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Chapter 234: The Power of the Crystal Scales

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

More and more people came out of the portal. After Lin Yun and Suyass arrived, William, Xiuban, and Solomon appeared. They were then followed by Lys, Badrack, Sauss, and the others… It took about ten minutes before all twenty members of the joint exploration team reached the treasury.

Their expressions were all exactly the same. They were all stunned by the many chests of loot and the piles of magic materials. They all looked around like starving beasts looking at prey…

The atmosphere was too frightening.

"Merlin… Could… could you buy the entire Thousand Sails City with this?" Solomon stuttered.

"At least ten of it…"

Solomon held his breath.

"Worthy of Vaughn, worthy of Vaughn…" Lys rubbed his hands together, feeling excited and also relieved.

He had been feeling a lot of pressure for this whole trip.

The nine forces of Thousand Sails City had come out at full strength, an unprecedented event. As the organizer, Lys was under pressure that others couldn't imagine. Fortunately, this huge treasury was more than enough to vindicate his original recommendation.

But even though Lys was excited, he couldn't ignore his previous agreement with Lin Yun. He was rubbing his hands energetically, but he first said, "Merlin, according to our previous agreement, you have loot priority when it comes to magic materials, it's time…"

Although Lin Yun hadn't cracked many arrays, he had saved the group many times. When they entered the Maze Array, if Lin Yun hadn't mentioned that they were going in circles in the body of the Void Python, no one would have noticed that they were pacing back and forth on the verge of death.

It could be said that Lin Yun deserved a double share of the loot or more, not just the right to choose first.

A few leaders parroted Lys' words.

"Right, right, Merlin, you go first, you go first…"

But, while everyone else was speaking in unison, one inharmonious voice interrupted.

"Hold on!" Fran was obviously the one that wasn't satisfied.

In the current joint exploration team, even the Archmage Suyass wouldn't object to Lin Yun having loot priority. Only Fran would object at this time.

"High Mage Fran, what are you trying to do?" Lys' tone was extremely cold. After all, he had a pretty good relationship with Fran before the exploration, or else he wouldn't have introduced Lin Yun to Fran during the first meeting.

But that introduction had gone all wrong.

And now, the relationship between the two had changed dramatically. Lys felt that Fran was becoming more and more unfamiliar to him, and sometimes he even doubted whether he had truly known Fran before.

"I'm not trying to do anything, but Lys, everyone knows the value of that batch of magic materials. You can't decide the owner of such wealth with just a few sentences, can you?"

"What do you mean a few sentences? Everyone, including yourself, Fran, already agreed that Merlin was in charge of cracking arrays. In exchange, he would gain the first pick of magic materials. If you had any opinion about it, you should have said it then. You didn't speak up then, yet you don't agree now, I naturally have to ask you what you are trying to do, Fran!" Since things had reached this stage, Lys was very blunt.

"Haha, I agreed?" Unfortunately, Fran was decided on setting himself against them. With such a huge batch of magic materials, the difference between the one who would pick first and the one who would pick last could easily amount to ten million golds. Faced with such a huge potential disparity, how could the shameless Fran put his reputation before the valuable magic materials?

"Lys, try to remember, did I ever say that I agreed? From the beginning, it was your group from Thousand Sails City talking among yourselves. Did you ever care about Suyass' opinion or mine?"

"You…" Lys was so angry that he was almost at the point of spitting blood. Fran indeed never had said that he agreed. The problem was that Merlin's loot priority had already been decided before they arrived. Even after knowing this, Fran still joined the exploration team. This was already a default condition of joining. Saying that he had never agreed was utterly shameless.

The problem was that Lys truly couldn't say anything to the shameless Fran…

"What? Did you people from Thousand Sails City think our Mercury Tower is easy to bully?" Fran complacently asked when he saw Lys' expression.

"Fran, you shouldn't say that much." At this time, even Suyass couldn't keep watching from the side. But in Suyass' position, he had no reason to lessen his chance to get a larger share, so he only gave Fran a reminder before falling silent again.

"It's like this, Mafa Merlin, don't say that I didn't give you a chance." Fran proudly looked at Lin Yun before calmly continuing, "You originally asked for loot priority if you cracked the arrays, so I'll give you a chance…"

"Hmm?"

"Take a closer look. There is an uncracked array in this treasury. I'll give you a fair chance, if you can break that array before I do, I'll acknowledge your right to the loot priority. But if you break that array after me, then that loot priority comes to me…"

Fran finally exposed his real goal.

"Fran, you are counting your chickens before they hatch…" Lys sneered. "Merlin, you don't need to bother dealing with him. Your loot priority is something we all acknowledge. Fran doesn't represent everyone…"

"It's okay, Leader Lys." Lin Yun smiled at Lys before walking out from the group. "High Mage Fran, after you."

"Haha, you should find out what kind of array it is first…" Fran laughed proudly. If it had been before, Fran might have still rushed to try to get a head start, but he didn't see a need for it now. After obtaining the loyalty from the Crystal Scales, no one understood the treasury more than he did.

He had a clear understanding of that array. Now, with the help of the Crystal Scales, he had the alchemy knowledge of an Artisan. In time, he would use that knowledge to make Lin Yun embrace his defeat.

Mafa Merlin might still be looking for the array by the time Fran himself was able to finish cracking it.

"Alright then…" Lin Yun shook his head. "But, High Mage Fran, I hope that you don't regret it…"

"Me, regret it? Truly funny…"

"I hope so…" With that, Lin Yun ignored Fran and directly fished out a bottle of Melting Snow Ink before walking through the narrow passage in the middle of the treasury.

"Mafa Merlin, you should hurry up and look for the array…" Fran was smiling as he saw Lin Yun walking. He provoked him while rousing the power of the Crystal Scales…

"Ah?" At this time, Suyass felt something strange. As an Archmage, he was the most sensitive to changes in mana fluctuations. Just as Fran roused the power of the Crystal Scales, Suyass noticed that the mana fluctuations in the surroundings were becoming abnormal.

And as Fran's mana fluctuations grew fiercer, even Lys felt something wrong…

The mana fluctuations emitted by Fran were no longer those of a 5th Rank High Mage. At first, it seemed like only 6th Rank or 7th Rank, but soon, these fluctuations reached 8th Rank and showed signs of reaching 9th Rank.

'What's going on?' Lys was baffled. This was no joke. The mana fluctuations reached a level comparable to Solomon's. Compared to the previous Fran, it felt like two different people.

And it didn't stop there.

They were still growing stronger, and soon, they were just a step away from the Archmage realm.

'How could this be!' Lys didn't dare to believe what was happening. Fran had just been a 5th Rank High Mage, yet now, he had power on par with Solomon.

Moreover…

The rising power of the mana fluctuations showed no signs of stopping.

Lys suddenly had an ominous premonition.

'Don't tell me… Archmage?'

Just as Lys thought about it, the mana fluctuations within Fran's body broke through the limit and he instantly reached the Archmage realm! 'Heavens…' His face turned deathly white. 'Archmage, he… Archmage…! No wonder Fran showed such confidence! Turns out he already grasped the power of an Archmage…

'Over, it's all over.'

Although Merlin's strength was deep and unfathomable, he was only a 9th Rank Great Mage. How could he compete with an Archmage?

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It truly was the power of an Archmage.

Lys stood there in a daze, panicking.

Lys was a Master Alchemist, so how could he not know the importance of having high levels of magic power when cracking arrays? It could be said that when two alchemists of similar rank faced the same array, the intensity of one's mana would decide the final outcome of the contest.

Especially in this situation where one was a 9th Rank Great Mage and the other was an Archmage.

They simply didn't have the same starting line.

The advantages of an Archmage were too great. Insight, knowledge, experience… They far surpassed a 9th Rank Great Mage… Not to mention, an Archmage's understanding of laws wasn't something a Great Mage could imagine. Any of these advantages would be enough to change the outcome.

Moreover, this was assuming that they were competing with an ordinary array.

If it was a maze-type or illusion-type array, the gap between them would be unimaginably wide. A gap of two ranks was like a death sentence to a Great Mage. The Archmage could effortlessly deal with them.

At first, Lys hadn't quite understood why Fran had offered to compete with Merlin. After all, even Suyass, whose alchemy skill far surpassed Fran's, had no choice but to humbly concede. Why did Fran became so bold?

But Lys now understood.

It turned out that Fran had already reached the Archmage realm…

"Fran, you hid yourself quite well…" Lys squeezed those words out.

There was no suspense in this alchemy competition. Fran would have to be an idiot if he couldn't win.

The fact that he had proposed such an unfair competition made Lys feel utterly disgusted with Fran.

No, it wasn't just Lys.

At this time, everyone in the exploration team was looking at Fran.

There normally would have been nothing wrong with hiding his true power. After all, no one wanted to show all their cards.

But Fran was too excessive this time.

The joint exploration team had gone through a lot. From the flock of Thunderbirds till now, they had pushed through so many challenging fights, yet Fran had kept hiding among them without revealing his true strength despite Merlin and Suyass charging ahead to do their best.

And now, Fran finally revealed his strength, but for no other reason than to fight over the spoils with Merlin.

"Regardless of who cracks the array first, we, the Silver Moon Mercenaries, will only recognize the previous agreement." Sasu was the first to speak out.

It was also a bit strange.

At first, when the Gilded Rose was only a third-rate alchemy shop, the leader of that top mercenary group decided to ally with the Gilded Rose over a Ghost Potion. At the time, many people had said that a pie fell out of the sky for the Gilded Rose.

But the events that followed showed that the truly lucky ones were the Silver Moon Mercenary Group.

It was the same now. Facing Fran, who had just revealed his strength as an Archmage, Sasu didn't even have to think about it as he stood with Lin Yun. Others tended to be unable to comprehend why every time Lin Yun was in trouble, he would stand with him.

"Our Flash Arrow Mercenary Group is the same."

"Same for our Viper Nest."

"You can add our Black Horn Auction House too."

"You can count on the Sage Tower."In an instant, of the eight major forces of Thousand Sails City gathered, seven of them already declared their intention to stand with Lin Yun. The only remaining one was the Elder High Mage of the Monchi Family. After a bit of hesitation, he finally clenched his teeth and weakly raised his hand to indicate that he stood together with the other seven forces.

To be honest, that Elder of the Monchi Family was very willing to see Merlin suffer, but the problem was that he couldn't afford to do so right now. Solan had named a few magic materials, and if Merlin had loot priority, the Merlin Family could still thicken their faces and negotiate with him. However, if they fell into the hands of the Mercury Tower, then the reputation of the Monchi Family would be useless. Even if Solan used the Black Tower's reputation, the Mercury Tower was unlikely to show them any respect.

Not to mention that the seven forces of Thousand Sails City were already backing the Gilded Rose. If the Monchi Family didn't stand with them, then what place would they have in the future?

"Haha…" At this time, Fran had already finished fusing with the Crystal Scales. The feeling of boundless power immersed him in a kind of intoxicating pleasure. He swept his gaze over everyone standing in front of him before exposing a sinister smile. "You want to provoke an Archmage?"

"Fran, what are you trying to do!?" Lys frowned.

"I'm not trying anything…" Fran smirked as he shook his head. "But Lys, you should be clear about this… Can you guys handle the fury of an Archmage?"

"Are you threatening us?"

"Indeed, I'm threatening you. But Lys, you should understand that Mafa Merlin has already agreed to this competition. You didn't oppose it before, but now that the outcome has been decided, you want to change it. Do you think the Mercury Tower is that easy to bully? Lys, don't take the Mercury Tower's leniency as weakness. You guys are gathering to cheat me out of my victory? Hmpf, Let's see if you are able. There are two Archmages from the Mercury Tower here, can the rest of you provoke the Mercury Tower?"

"Sir Suyass…" As Lys was feeling stumped, his eyes fell onto Suyass. At such a critical juncture, Suyass was definitely the key. The nine forces of Thousand Sails City didn't fear Fran as long as they worked together. But it would be very different if Suyass joined.

However…

When Lys looked over, Suyass averted his gaze.

"…" Lys' heart sank. Suyass didn't need to say anything, as his attitude was clear.

"Sir Suyass…" Lys anxiously called his name again, hoping that this Archmage who had been cooperating with them on the way would say a few words to defuse the situation.

But Lys was once again disappointed.

After staying silent for a long time, Suyass lowered his head and muttered, "The war in the Golden Forest Plane is raging."

The war of the Golden Forest Plane being in a critical state meant that the consumption of the puppet legion was very large. It also meant that the Mercury Tower greatly needed these magic materials.

After saying this, Suyass raised his head and looked at Lys apologetically…

These words that went against his true feelings were the hardest he'd had to say in his life.

Suyass loathed Fran's abhorrent practices.

But even if he hated it, he had priorities. These magic materials were too important to the Mercury Tower. They would greatly expand and empower the puppet legion. Suyass was confident that the Golden Forest Plane could be settled half a year sooner if they could have their pick here.

And settling the plane half a year earlier meant that the Mercury Tower would have fewer casualties and suffer less damage.

In Suyass' position, everything was for the good of the Mercury Tower, even if the benefits of the Mercury Tower came from the despicable actions of Fran.

But Suyass wouldn't explain all that.

After obtaining Suyass' support, Fran's arrogance reached a whole new level.

"Good, the outcome has already been decided. If you don't want to draw the ire of two Archmages, you should hurry and get out of the way. Don't disturb me when I'm choosing materials."

"Well, High Mage Fran, aren't you announcing the outcome too soon?" Lin Yun, who had been busying himself, took the time to turn and say something.

"Haha, Mafa Merlin, there is no use in pretending…" Fran didn't seem to care, as this competition held no suspense to him. "You blindly searched there for such a long time, but have you found the position of the array? You can't even locate the array, the most basic step, yet you still dare to boast shamelessly about cracking arrays? I would have been angered to death if I were your teacher…"

"…" Lin Yun scratched his cheeks before looking at Fran in surprise. "No way, High Mage Fran, you thought I was still looking for the array?"

"Stop trying to deceive people," Fran sneered. "There is no harm in telling you, the array is under my feet. I already completed a rough analysis and it will be broken in ten minutes. If you are interested, you can come over and watch…"

"Ten minutes is too long. In fact, if you are interested, you can come here to check the results of the cracking…"

"Nice try, but I'm standing on the array…" Fran's expression was full of ridicule. The Crystal Scales had told him that the array was just below him, so no matter how brilliant Mafa Merlin was, he couldn't have cracked it without even seeing it.

"I obviously know that the array is under your feet, but High Mage Fran, have you never heard of the Mirror Image skill?"

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Chapter 236: Hell Gate

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

"Hahahaha, Mirror Image? Mafa Merlin, you are truly funny…" Fran had been sneering before, but he burst into loud laughter when he heard those words, pointing at Lin Yun and holding his belly with the other hand.

What was the Mirror Image skill?

In many cases, alchemists would need to duplicate arrays for experiment or research purposes. When that happened, they would use the Mirror Image skill because it didn't require the array to have been analyzed and didn't require much of the alchemist. It was like copying the whole array onto a blank slate.

This was a skill that every alchemist needed.

Fran himself was a peak Master Alchemist, and with the boost from the Crystal Scales, he had entered the realm of Artisans, so how could he not have heard of the Mirror Image skill?

The thing was…

'He hasn't even touched the array, so how could he use Mirror Image? It looks like he overworked his brain, or he wouldn't have said something so ridiculous…'

"Okay, Mafa Merlin, you can leave this kind of joke for later, you don't have much time left…" After saying that, Fran took one step forward and fished out a bottle of Melting Snow Ink and a quill.

Indeed, Fran felt that it was time to end this charade.

But…

Just as Fran opened the bottle of Melting Snow Ink, he felt some strange mana coming from the array below him.

"What's going on?" Fran froze. For a moment, he thought that he had inadvertently activated the array, and was about to rouse the Crystal Scales to analyze the array…

But he hadn't expected that before he could even draw out the power, the array would burst out with earth-shattering mana fluctuations…

"How… How could this be?" Fran subconsciously took two steps back, his face pale in incomprehension. 'What's happening? I was standing on the array, how could it have been triggered? …This is simply impossible.

'The Crystal Scales' incarnation obviously said that this array had to be triggered by mana. I didn't use the slightest wisp of mana, so how could it have been triggered?'

Fran stood there in a daze, looking at the faintly visible dark red lines, an unfathomable expression on his face.

"Didn't I tell you? Mirror Image…" Lin Yun shook his head and used his quill to spread the Melting Snow Ink. In a blink, an isolation array formed from seventeen white lines had been completed, and it suppressed the mana fluctuations.

Lin Yun didn't stop after drawing the isolation array. All kinds of arrays started materializing. In a short time, Lin Yun had already drawn out a dozen arrays.

These arrays were lesser arrays, but Lin Yun drew them quickly one after the other, and they formed an extremely complicated array. The power of each array wasn't very considerable, but they were all very efficient, and when they were combined together, they formed a complex network, firmly suppressing the mana fluctuations that had been on the verge of bursting out.

At this time, Fran finally understood…

Mafa Merlin had been drawing arrays all along. There were only a few dozen meters between them, but as each array was written, a strange change appeared in the array under his feet.

It felt sort of like a puppeteer controlling a puppet with a thread.

'Mirror Image! It really is Mirror Image! Only the Mirror Image skill could be used to crack an array from dozens of meters away… But how could this have happened? Merlin never touched the array, how could he have set up a Mirror Image? What did he mirror?

'Could it be… Mafa Merlin found that array when he first entered and dealt with it then, digging a hole for me to jump in? …No way.

'He only got in a minute before me, and furthermore, Mafa Merlin is only a Master Alchemist. Even if he had entered the Artisan realm, he wouldn't have been able to find and crack the array in such a short time. If Mafa Merlin had such power, then he would have just exerted it and taken all the materials for himself.'

As he thought of this, Fran calmed down.

'That's right, I haven't lost yet!'

"So what if you used a Mirror Image, in an array-cracking duel, the first one to start isn't necessarily the winner!" Fran was completely confident after saying that.

Because he suddenly recalled…

The Crystal Scales' incarnation had said that this array wasn't an ordinary array.

The last step was crucial!

This helped Fran regain his smug smile. He dipped his quill in the Melting Snow Ink and started also trying to crack the array.

Although his opponent had started first, the confident smile remained on Fran's face. The quill in his hand was moving in a stable and efficient manner, neither slow nor fast. Mirror Image or not, that didn't even matter. This competition was a matter of strength.

He was an Archmage and an Artisan with the help of the Crystal Scales, placing him high above everyone else present.

Even if Mafa Merlin used the Mirror Image skill, could it make the difference when it came to who would crack the array first?

Would he, an Artisan, lose to a Master Alchemist?

Because the last step of the array was a contest of power… As an Archmage, his advantage was too great.

The two of them focused all their efforts into breaking the array and already showed their hands. Everyone could see two identical arrays, one under each of them, both filled with the exact same red-patterned lines.

It now looked as if Lin Yun had made more progress…

But Fran's pace was also shocking. He started minutes after Lin Yun, but in a short twenty minutes, they were almost at the same stage. Since the main body of the array was visible to everyone, they all knew that what happened next would decide the outcome of the competition.

The two were competing to see who would crack the core of the array because whoever completed that step first would have an unquestionable advantage. Unless they made a mistake afterward, the final outcome would be set in stone at that point.

Lin Yun attacked the core of the array first…

Just like before, he used a large number of lesser arrays to cover the entire array like a net. His quill was moving at a shocking speed, leaving traces of Melting Snow Ink behind.

Fran's cracking method was different. It wasn't fast or slow, but very efficient. He would carefully reflect on each patterned line, and after accurately calculating each node, he would use his quill to sway the foundations of the entire array.

Time slowly passed as their progress remained rather similar.

All the onlookers were watching with worry.

Especially William, Lys, Solomon, and Sosu. They were the closest to Lin Yun and they all subconsciously held their breaths, their hands clenched into fists.

Lin Yun and Fran put down their quills almost at the same time.

Two red lights suddenly soared, quickly followed by two red doors opening within the treasury. Nothing came out of the gates, but the mana fluctuations emitted made everyone shake.

"Hell… Hell Gates?" Lys reacted first, turning pale as he looked at the two red gates. "Those arrays… are Hell Arrays?"

"Indeed, Lys, you do have some knowledge. Now watch, only by breaking the Hellish Core of the Hell Array can one truly crack the array. Now you know why I told you that the outcome was already decided, Mafa Merlin. You are a very good alchemist, but unfortunately, you aren't as powerful as you are brilliant in the field of alchemy. Charging into a Hell Gate as a 9th Rank Great Mage is no different from killing yourself. There is still time to admit defeat. Although you'll lose the loot priority, you'll keep your life."

"Merlin…" Even Lys didn't dare to refute Fran's words. He could only look at Lin Yun with worry.

A Hell Gate was no joke. No one knew how many powerful hellish creatures would reside within. Even an Archmage wouldn't dare to say that he could escape unscathed. Although Merlin was very powerful, breaking into a Hell Gate was no different from courting death.

"High Mage Fran, you should worry about yourself. Don't celebrate too early…" Lin Yun walked into the Hell Gate after saying those words.

"Haha, we shall see who is celebrating early!" Fran coldly snorted before disappearing.

The Hell Gate was indeed dangerous even for Archmages, but he wasn't an ordinary Archmage.

What was a trifling Hell Gate when he possessed the Crystal Scales?

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Chapter 237: Cheater

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

The treasury suddenly reeked with a strong smell of blood after the two entered the Hell Gates. Roars and snarls echoed alongside the surging mana fluctuations, and from the flickering light of the Hell Gates, everyone saw the sinister Hellish creatures within. Devils made of flames and blood, young monsters spurting thick smoke from their mouths, ugly and sinister Yakshas.

All they could see was a sea of Evil Spirits and Ghouls. No one knew which corner of Hell those Hell Gates were linked to, but just by seeing these creatures, everyone knew that this wouldn't be a simple battle. Even the lowest Evil Spirit was at least level 20. But now, there were dozens of them, not to mention the scattered juvenile monsters and Yakshas, as well as Cerberus and Hell Horses appearing. Even an Archmage might not be able to survive in those conditions.

But no one could tell the exact situation within the two Hell Gates, so they could only worry outside, waiting for the outcome.

Time passed, seeming extremely slow to the others. None of the twenty members of the joint exploration team said anything. Nothing could be heard besides their breaths and heartbeats.

They were all waiting anxiously.

They didn't know how long they had been waiting, it could have been one hour, or maybe two.

But this stifling wait made them lose their minds. Lys was the first to find out that one of the Hell Gates suddenly flickered.

Then, he froze.

He felt a sinking feeling in his heart.

Fran walked out of the Hell Gate…

'It's over, it's Fran. After Fran became an Archmage, Lin Yun could no longer compete with him. Even with his unfathomable power, when faced with a genuine Archmage, he truly couldn't win.'

Although he had already prepared himself to some extent, seeing Fran walking out of the Hell Gate by himself was very disappointing.

'Fran indeed won…'

Fran was the final victor of the struggle over loot priority. It was the first time he felt so powerful after becoming a Master Alchemist.

After forcibly shaking his head, Lys slowly walked forward.

But just as Lys was about to speak, the other Hell Gate flickered.

It was followed by Lin Yun walking out of the Hell Gate while cutting a sorry figure.

"High Mage Fran, you let me win."

"Ah?" When Lys heard that, his mind shook. 'What was this? Didn't Fran come out of the Hell Gate?

'Hold on… There must be something wrong…' Lys composed himself before raising his eyes to look at Fran. At that time, Lys suddenly realized that Fran didn't look too good. Fran had left the Hell Gate first, and even if he didn't say anything to ridicule everyone, he would still have had the arrogant smile of a victor.

But Fran's face was ashen.

Especially after Merlin left the Hell Gate and thanked Fran for "letting him win", Fran acted just like a cat whose tail was being stepped on as he stood straight and shouted, "Mafa Merlin, you cheater!"

"High Mage Fran, you can't speak nonsense. You are accusing me of cheating in front of so many people?" Lin Yun coldly snorted.

"If you say you didn't cheat, then why was there no Hell Core in my Hell Gate?" The pale Fran stood there, pointing at Lin Yun with one finger while shaking.

Lys finally understood a bit of what had happened from this exchange.

It turned out that Fran, who left the Hell Gate first, hadn't actually destroyed it. It seemed that Fran never found the Hell Core after entering the Hell Gate. In other words, Fran went on a wild goose chase.

But…

How could a Hell Gate have no core?

As a Master Alchemist, although Lys hadn't grasped Hell Gates, he still had some understanding of Artisan rank arrays.

The so-called Hell Gate actually borrowed the force of an array to cut out an area of Hell, and the creatures within that area would become the guards of the array's source. And this was all accomplished through the Hell Core. To some degree, the Hell Core was both a mana source and the actual core of the array.

Even an Apprentice Alchemist who just started treading on that path knew something as basic as the fact that a Hell Array would stop functioning without its Hell Core.

How could Fran fail to find it?

Lys wasn't the only one with that question, because Fran also wanted to understand.

Thus, Fran promptly decided, "No way, this didn't count!"When these words came out, let alone Lin Yun and Lys, the entire joint exploration team was shocked. At that time, everyone looked at Fran with contempt, and William even let out a derisive snort.

It was to the point that even Suyass' face creased into a frown.

'This is truly tarnishing our reputation…'

An esteemed disciple of the Mercury Tower refused to acknowledge that he had lost a wager in front of everyone. If this came out, the Mercury Tower's reputation would be completely trashed by Fran's actions.

"If I say that it doesn't count, then it doesn't count!" Fran didn't care about the others' gazes. He only opening his two reddened eyes like a mad gambler. He waved both hands about while loudly yelling, "Mafa Merlin, you must have used a trick. Otherwise, how could there be no Hell Core within the Hell Gate?"

"High Mage Fran is being a bit excessive…" Lin Yun scratched his nose as he looked at Fran for a bit before looking at Suyass. He couldn't understand… They were both Nolan's disciples and both came from the Mercury Tower, so how could there be such a huge gap between them?

Although Suyass was excessively arrogant and was willing to be unscrupulous for the benefit of the Mercury Tower, there was one quality about him worth praising, which was that he knew how to accept a loss.

Fran was the perfect opposite.

"You know the truth, Mafa Merlin. I already decided on my magic materials! Since you don't want to abide by the rules and you resorted to cheating in the Hell Gate, then it wouldn't be strange for me not to abide by the rules either!" Fran could no longer retreat. The battle he had thought he would easily win had actually been lost.

But he refused to give up on those magic materials.

So Fran had only one choice left.

Just as he finished his words, Fran started incanting and displayed the true power of an Archmage. All the mana in the surroundings was ferociously drawn in, making everyone feel stifled. Fran then raised his magic staff, and a pair of icy and hot halos were spinning towards Lin Yun.

"Fran! You dare!" Lys was the first to react, his magic staff already on the move as a Runic Shield formed.

But…

How could his Runic Shield contend with the power of an Archmage? Even though Lys had been famous for decades and could stand shoulder to shoulder with Solomon in Thousand Sails City, he was still weak in front of an Archmage.

The icy and hot halos knocked against the Runic Shield just as it appeared. Only an explosion was heard as Lys was directly sent flying, knocking against a dozen of chests filled with magic materials and spilling quite a few of them. Lys was buried under them.

"Lys! You dare to make a move against me!?" Fran sneered after the failure of the twin element halo. With a flourish of his magic staff, an irresistible power appeared within the pile of magic materials before tightly winding around Lys.

Then, Lys slowly floated out of the pile, slowly rising into the air. He wanted to struggle, to fight for air, but now that he couldn't break away from that unseen frightening magic power, he felt as if a large, unseen hand was tightly grasping his neck.

"I still wanted to consider our previous friendship…" Fran was like a whole new person now. After restraining his old friend, cruelty and excitement formed in his eyes.

"But I didn't expect that you would act against me on Mafa Merlin's behalf. Very good, very good. Since that's the case, I don't have to remain lenient. You are dead to me now…" Fran's grasp on his magic staff slowly tightened, and the mana constricting Lys also increased.

Fran knew that there was only one ending at this point.

He was already standing on the opposite side of the rest of the joint exploration team. Now, all he could do was to use his power to make the country bumpkins of Thousand Sails City learn that they must never provoke an Archmage. Even the leader of Thousand Sails City's Alchemist Guild would pay the price with his life.

"Ah?" But, after a few seconds, Fran felt something wrong.

He had already increased the mana output to the limit, so how could Lys still be alive?

No, he wasn't just alive… Lys' situation seemed to be getting better and better. He was no longer struggling and his breathing settling down.

'What is happening?'

The first reaction Fran had was to think, 'Could there be an issue with the Crystal Scales? Has my Archmage level power left me? No way, this is impossible.'

Fran immediately denied that conjecture, because he could clearly feel that his power was still within the Archmage boundary. That unprecedented feeling of power was no different from before.

'But why… Why hasn't Lys died?'

Bang!

While Fran was hesitating indecisively, a ball of flames began to grow within his line of sight. 'Fuck, Flame Burst!' Fran was startled out of his bewilderment. At this time, he looked up and saw that Lys was no longer entangled. Still not understanding what had happened, he cast an Elemental Shield.

That was the signature defensive spell of an Archmage. It was made of the four elements, and whether an attack was physical or magical, close or long range, its defensive ability was top-notch compared to the Runic Shield of an Archmage. The latter was just like a child's toy in comparison.

But Fran hadn't thought that a nearly unbreakable spell like the Elemental Shield would actually be as fragile as a piece of paper in front of that Flame Burst. Fran didn't even comprehend what was happening when the Flame Burst passed through the Elemental Shield.

Then, it heavily smashed into Fran's chest.

It was too different from the icy and hot halos that hit Lys just before.

As the dazzling flames blossomed, Fran felt like a kite with its string broken as he was sent flying back a few dozen meters, still slightly burning.

"I told you, High Mage Fran, you are being a bit excessive.

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This sudden change shocked everyone.

From Suyass to Lys, from William to Xiuban, everyone in the joint exploration team stared blankly when they saw Fran get sent flying like a broken kite before crashing heavily with a bang that echoed in everyone's heart.

"This…" No one thought that the one sent hurtling away would be the Archmage, Fran! He had the power of an Archmage, and even Lys, a 9th Rank High Mage, was unable to retaliate!

But now, his Elemental Shield was pierced by a Flame Burst…

And the one to let off that Flame Burst was a 9th Rank Great Mage!

What was happening?

This incongruous sight was too shocking. It was already beyond what could be attributed to carelessness or underestimating the enemy.

The gap between the two was too shockingly huge. It wouldn't be exaggerating to say that even if an Archmage just stood there without retaliating, it would be very difficult for a Great Mage to injure him. Just the mana alone was hundreds to a thousand times better, let alone since Fran had used the Elemental Shield spell. Just how did this happen?

This wasn't logical at all…

Yet no one expected something even more illogical to follow up!

Lin Yun moved just as Fran was knocked off his feet.

He moved like lightning. With the Haste boosted by the Magic Arrays, Lin Yun's speed was pushed to its limits and everyone only heard a soft sound echoing before Fran fell to the ground, with Lin Yun standing in front of him.

"You…" Fran was on his back, but he didn't have time to get up. When he noticed Lin Yun standing before him, he was so shocked that he didn't dare to meet his eyes. That Flame Burst had just pierced through the Elemental Shield like punching through a piece of paper. He didn't get up and just cast a Counterspell.

This was no joke.

An Archmage still had a fleshy body… without the protection of his Elemental Shield, he could still be killed by a 9th Rank Great Mage.

And his opponent just broke through his defenses.

Fran's reaction could be considered extremely quick, casting Counterspell right after his crash landing.

Unfortunately, he was still too slow.

Fran didn't even have time to launch his Counterspell before he felt a pain in his chest. A dazzling white light exploded on his chest, followed by uninterrupted sounds of impacts as one white light after the other kept striking his chest.

Fran knew that these were Arcane Missiles.

It didn't actually do him much harm. It was a 1st Tier spell, after all, and with his current level of strength, he could use the power of the fused runes to cast a spell with only a gesture or transfer a huge amount of mana anytime. Although the Arcane Missiles were endless, most of them were blocked by the mana Fran released and few of them actually hurt him.

But to Fran, the repetitive sound of the Arcane Missiles truly sounded like slaps, making him feel very embarrassed. Not only was an Archmage's Elemental Shield pierced by a Flame Burst, but he was also still being stepped on as a flurry of Arcane Missiles kept falling onto him.

It wouldn't be fun if news of his predicament spread!

But there was nothing he could do…

Fran truly felt that he couldn't make it out. He obviously held the power of an Archmage, but he was being beaten by a 9th Rank Great Mage. This was incredibly awkward, and it was driving him crazy.

To be honest, his opponent wasn't even casting very quickly. As the owner of the Time Hand Magic Conducting Rune, he still wouldn't put Lin Yun's current casting speed in his eyes.

But now, Fran was backed into a corner by this kind of unhurried yet brisk casting speed.

Indeed, Lin Yun wasn't casting spells very quickly right now, but he was being very precise and effective, as if he had already calculated exactly how everything would turn out. Each of his spells would break Fran's rhythm, and he even forced Fran to interrupt his casting four times in a row.

What kind of concept was that?

Even for an Archmage powerhouse, rashly cancelling a spell while still casting it was very dangerous. In fact, this wasn't just a matter of wasting mana; each spell cancelling could lead to magical backlash. It could be said that unless necessary, no mage was willing to cancel the casting of a spell.

But each time he was forced to do it, it was very necessary.

The first time was just as the Elemental Shield disappeared. Fran was fighting to get the initiative and wanted to use a quick Burst spell to get the upper hand back. He planned to fire it right when his opponent's mana sharply gathered for the next spell so that the gathered mana would detonate and hit Merlin with the backlash. Yet, right when he had his Burst spell ready, the other side just happened to make a critical mistake. The Elemental Burst that originally would have gathered a sudden surge of mana before firing was delayed by a few seconds, making the mana swell slowly instead, and throwing a wrench in Fran's plan…

Thus, Fran fell into a very awkward situation.

He either had to interrupt his spell, or he would have to just cast his relatively weak spell directly and try to overcome the Elemental Burst in a contest of strength.

The problem was that Fran actually knew of the formidable might of Elemental Burst.

Although it wasn't like that previous illogically powerful Flame Burst that could pierce through barriers, that power was definitely not something a 9th Rank Great Mage could produce. It was hardly an exaggeration to say that without an Elemental Shield to defend him, even an Archmage would seriously suffer from that Elemental Burst.

Thus, Fran had no choice but to cancel his Burst and recover as much mana from the spell as he could before condensing it into a Runic Shield to resist the Elemental Burst.

There was nothing else he could do because a Runic Shield was far inferior to an Elemental Shield. If he wanted to use it to resist an Elemental Burst, Fran would have to draw as much mana as he could out of the spell he had been ready to cast.

This was too embarrassing.

After managing to find an opportunity to counterattack, Fran was forced to spit blood because of the other side's mistake. At this time, Fran really wanted to ask, 'Who do you think is paying for your mistake?'

However…

After similar situations kept appearing, once, twice, thrice… Fran felt like something was wrong.

'Is Mafa Merlin doing it on purpose? No, No way…'

How could a 9th rank Great Mage possess such an incredible ability? Let alone a 9th Rank Great Mage, even Suyass and Karon, who had become Archmages before him, couldn't cast spells in such a sinister manner. Perhaps only his unfathomable teacher, Nolan, could pull off something like that on purpose.

But wasn't this too coincidental?

One time, two times, three, four, five, six… Could there be such a series of coincidences in this world?

Unfortunately, there was no time for Fran to think about it properly. After having to cancel several spells in a row, Fran was at a huge disadvantage. While constantly being forced into using defensive spells, Fran couldn't find any way to counterattack.

An esteemed Archmage was being thoroughly suppressed by a 9th Rank Great Mage, and he wasn't able to retaliate at all.

That scene made everyone in the exploration team watch in shock.

"Solomon, can you guess who will win in the end…?" Lys had already been freed from Fran's binding, and his injury had been healed. He was standing next to Solomon, watching while inquiring.

"I can't…" Solomon shook his head.

"Also…" When these words came out, Lys felt that his question was rather dumb. Although Solomon was Thousand Sails City's most powerful High Mage, that battle had clearly surpassed what he could analyze. Even if Merlin was a 9th Rank Great Mage, the power he displayed had already reached that of peak High Mage.

And that was only the raw power.

The most frightening part about Merlin was that his fine control over his mana and his spells could only be described as unfathomable. This surpassed the limit of casting altogether. Let alone a 9th Rank Great Mage, it would be terrifying even coming from a 9th Rank High Mage. Not to mention, Fran might not have been able to see it carefully, but Lys clearly saw what happened.

Merlin had a firm grasp on the rhythm of the battle through his shocking insight and control!

The only thing Lys couldn't see for sure was the final outcome of the battle.

Obviously, it currently looked as if Merlin had an overwhelming advantage. But the fact that Fran was an Archmage shouldn't be ignored. He was one of the existences at the peak of the magic world. There were over 10 ranks of difference between them. Under ordinary circumstances, there would be no need to fight to declare the outcome.

But Merlin going all-out greatly pleased Lys.

'Enough, it truly was enough…'

This battle proved that Merlin had the strength to contend against an Archmage. Even if he now suffered a defeat at the hands of Fran or Suyass, they would still have to consider Merlin's reaction when picking magic materials.

Naturally, there was a voice echoing within Lys.

'What if he can win…'

But this could only be said in his heart. Lys knew that there was some luck involved for a fight to reach this stage. Merlin had completely relied on that weird Flame Burst to break the Elemental Shield and take the upper hand.

But even if Merlin didn't say anything about it, Lys knew that this definitely wasn't something he could use again right now. Otherwise, Merlin wouldn't still be fighting with Fran, he would have just cast a few of those Flame Bursts to finish the fight.

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Of course, Lys was very pleased with Lin Yun's performance.

After all, Fran was a genuine Archmage.

"Merlin never takes risks…" While Lys was lost in his thoughts, Solomon unhurriedly mentioned this.

"Hmm?" Lys paused as he thought about this. 'Yes, Merlin never took risks…'

He carefully considered what he had seen, and realized that this truly had been the case ever since he had first come into contact with that young Great Mage due to the hearing over the Hope Potion a few months ago.

Everything that young Great Mage said, every matter he brought up, all of it seemed absurd, but later on, everyone would always find out that the decision had been made after careful consideration. He was rarely seen taking risks, and it was even more unlikely for him to do something out of desperation.

'Would it be the same this time?'

The fight was still ongoing, and the two sides remained in the same posture, one attacking, one defending. All that had changed was that Fran had gotten up from the ground.

But the experienced mages in the joint exploration team such as Suyass, Solomon, and Lys all knew that this battle had already entered its most dangerous stretch.

Although the young Great Mage had remained on the offensive this whole time and seemed to have the advantage, he was actually walking on a tightrope. One mistake could make him fall into a bottomless abyss. Fran was an Archmage, so if he found the opportunity to counterattack, with the crushing differential in power, he would easily tear his opponent to shreds.

In reality, Fran was also waiting for it.

To Fran, the course of this battle had been quite unexpected…

That sudden Flame Burst completely ruined Fran's rhythm, and it also ruined any semblance of reputation Fran had left, forcing him into acting like a passive punching bag.

But Fran believed that this situation would only be temporary.

As an Archmage, how could he be suppressed by a 9th Rank Great Mage? Every single one of an Archmage's moves would be imbued with formidable mana. A Great Mage wouldn't be able to resist some casually released mana from an Archmage… It was a crushing power.

He only had to endure for now.

As long as the other side eventually made a mistake, he would be able to reverse the tide of the battle and return everything he had endured with interest.

Fran couldn't help sneering as he thought, 'Mafa Merlin, you are truly naive, do you really think that you can contend with an Archmage without that special Flame Burst? This frantic attempt to suppress my spells is ridiculous.

'You are only a 9th Rank Great Mage, yet you want to defeat an Archmage with that power? You are dreaming! How much mana do you have left? How many spells can you cast? Even if you luckily managed to suppress me momentarily, how long will you be able to keep it up for?'

'So what if you can suppress me for thirty seconds? So what if you have the upper hand for a minute? As soon as you make a single mistake, I'll tear you apart. You don't have any chance to win this battle unless you can suppress me from start to finish so that I can't even cast a spell the whole time.

'But is that even possible? Could a 9th Rank Great Mage ever be able to keep suppressing an Archmage? Let alone you, even Suyass wouldn't be able to with such a difference in power.'

Thus, Fran remained calm amidst the continuous bombardment of spells. He kept protecting himself while patiently waiting for his opportunity, a sneer on his face.

But that sneer gradually faded.

Because for some reason, the attacks weren't letting up.

Three minutes had already, passed yet the other side had yet to make a mistake. He was like a machine, accurate and efficient. All his spells seemed to have come from a textbook, making it impossible for anyone to find a loophole.

This felt very uncomfortable.

Fran clearly saw that that the other side didn't try to burst him down; he only used basic spells and didn't even use metamagic.

But these common spells kept coming one after the other, giving Fran no room to breathe. He felt as if he had fallen into a swamp, and the more he struggled, the deeper he sank.

Fran started panicking.

'What's going on? I definitely reached the Archmage realm and that guy is clearly only a 9th Rank Great Mage, so why does this battle feel so difficult? …Will I lose?' A sudden thought flashed through Fran's mind.

This was the first time it even occurred to him that he could lose this battle.

Fran was scared by this thought.

'How can I lose!?'

He never thought this could happen, he had never considered this a battle.

Who would describe a fight between an Archmage and a Great Mage as a battle?

But now, Fran had suddenly discovered that he might really lose.

Because that battle had already entered a rhythm that Fran couldn't break. The impeccable continuous suppression wasn't letting up, and it didn't give him any chance. This was no longer Fran waiting for the other side making a mistake in his offense, but rather Merlin waiting for Fran to make a mistake in his defense.

'What can I do?' Fran suddenly lost his nerve. He wouldn't be able to handle the consequences of losing that battle.

It wouldn't just be the loss of the loot priority.

This also involved the only thing Fran relied on, the Crystal Scales.

It was hardly an exaggeration to say that if Fran lost this battle, he might lose everything!

'No way, I can't let this continue!'

At this time, Fran no longer had the patience to wait for his opponent to make a mistake, and thus, he started gathering all his mana to burst out in a last-ditch effort.

But…

But Fran forgot that haste makes waste. For a mage, a hectic mind was the worst enemy.

Fran left a hole in his defenses when he gathered his power to attack. The Elemental Shield that he had managed to recast was about to disappear, but he didn't spend any mana making a Runic Shield to fill the gap, just so he could burst faster.

He was trying his luck. He thought that the other side wouldn't notice such a small gap, giving him enough time to attack.

But in the end, Fran was mistaken once again.

Right when the Elemental Shield disappeared, a flame appeared in Lin Yun's palm. It was finger-sized and was burning neither fiercely nor brightly, yet Suyass let out an alarmed cry the instant that flame appeared.

Because he recognized that flame. It was the flame Merlin had used in the forest to kill the Alpha Thunderbird.

Unfortunately, Suyass cry of alarm came too late.

That flame was already flying over before Fran could even launch an attack. It instantly transformed into a brilliant flame, and just like a whip, it fiercely lashed at Fran.

"Merlin!" Suyass reacted quickly. After his alarmed cry, Suyass had already started casting an Ice Wall around Fran, trying to protect him.

Ice Wall was a 6th Tier spell famous for its defensive power.

But the dazzling flame was only hindered by the Ice Wall for a mere moment before sweeping over Fran's body.

"Aaah!" Fran screamed as he was once again sent flying.

No one dared to talk… Or breathe in the treasury.

Time seemed to be frozen.

A loud "bang" could be heard as Fran landed with a heavy crash. After a while, Fran spat a mouthful of blood. He struggled, trying to get up, but he kept falling back on the ground.

It wasn't a Flame Burst this time.

It was the work of the Upper Rank Flame Spirit, a power close to the Archmage rank. It could kill an Alpha Thunderbird when unleashed, let alone Fran.

Without the protection from the Elemental Shield or Runic Shield, Fran only managed to survive due to the Ice Wall that Suyass had formed.

That Ice Wall had absorbed at least half of the Upper Rank Flame Spirit's force by cutting its momentum, while Fran took the rest of the damage head-on.

But even so, Fran nearly lost his life.

His robe had already been shredded by the berserk mana fluctuations and pieces were hanging down Fran's body. Blood and dust made him look rather pitiful. His right shoulder and arm were hanging down powerlessly, almost crippled.

"High Mage Fran…" Lin Yun slowly walked through the dust and smoke towards Fran. He felt around in his pocket and fished out two Hell Cores. "Do you still feel like calling me a cheater?"

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Chapter 240: Pleading

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

"Two… Two Hell Cores?" Fran blankly looked at the two Hell Cores with his pale face, while Suyass was mirroring his expression.

Two Hell Cores!

There could only be one Hell Core behind a Hell gate. This was common knowledge to all alchemists. No matter how formidable an alchemist was, no matter how deep his understanding of alchemy was, this was something that was immutable.

No alchemist could make two Hell Cores coexist within a Hell Gate. This was a basic fact inherent to the structure of a Hell Gate. Hell Gates would directly collapse if this structure was changed, and a large number of creatures would then come pouring into Noscent, creating a disaster.

But Merlin was clearly holding two Hell Cores.

What did that mean?

Could it be that the Hell Core that Fran couldn't find was in Merlin's hands?

This thought made Suyass feel a chill.

This was too frightening if it was true.

The two Hell Cores in Merlin's hands meant that Merlin already went through the second Hell Gate without anyone noticing and wordlessly snatched away the second Hell Core.

Suyass was too afraid to think of the difficulty involved.

Although Suyass had never personally met one of the creatures behind the Hell Gates, it was mentioned in all kinds of sources that even an Archmage might not come out unscathed after facing the creatures within. Fran's appearance was the best proof. He had the power of an Archmage, yet he was injured before he could find the Hell Core, yet Merlin crossed the two Hell Gates in such a short time and snatched both Hell Cores.

His strength was unfathomable.

"High Mage Fran, I already told you twice… You are being too excessive…" Lin Yun stood in front of Fran and put the two Hell Cores back in his pocket. A large amount of mana gathered within the Elemental Amber at the tip of his magic staff.

"Merlin!" Suyass was startled by this action. With his keen sense of magic, how could he not feel the mana gathering on his magic staff and targeting Fran!?

'This is bad.'

Fran was half-dead, and he couldn't muster up any decent defensive spells. He would definitely die if that power burst out at him.

"What?" Lin Yun held his magic staff, maintaining the power he'd gathered as he glanced at Suyass with a faint smile. "Suyass, do you plan to stop me?"

"Merlin…" Suyass hurriedly called his name, planning to try to persuade him, but he suddenly realized something wrong with the way Merlin had addressed him…

That young Great Mage had always respectfully referred to him as "Sir" when talking to him before, even when the two of them had bet their arms.

But that "Sir" was omitted now.

Suyass hadn't noticed it at first, but he understood that this signified a change in attitude.

He knew that this young Great Mage was dissatisfied with him.

Indeed, although he hadn't clearly stated his position earlier during the quarrel between Fran and the joint exploration team, his words showed that he had stood on Fran's side.

Moreover, he had cast an Ice Wall to protect Fran.

This wasn't something trivial. He had directly interfered in the one-on-one fight between them and had clearly shown who he was siding with. This could already be seen as a provocation against another mage.

These thoughts made Suyass sweat.

The words he had planned to say were swallowed back. After mumbling for a bit, Suyass stiffly smiled. "It's a misunderstanding, it's a misunderstanding, Merlin, I truly didn't intend to stop you…"

"Eh?" Lin Yun looked at Suyass with an enigmatic smile. "I'm a bit confused, if you don't want to stop me, then what was that Ice Wall for?"

"This…" Suyass' heart tightened. 'Sure enough, it was because of that Ice Wall…' He couldn't help forcing a smile when he thought about that.

Fran's conduct was indeed terrible, especially today. He was completely unscrupulous in order to get loot priority, not caring about his own reputation or the Mercury Tower's. If it had been some stranger, Suyass wouldn't even bother to look at them, let alone cast an Ice Wall to save them.

The problem was that Fran wasn't someone else… Fran came from the Mercury Tower just like him.

How could he just watch him being burnt to death?

He couldn't help making a move…

But Suyass knew that no matter how reasonable this was, it wouldn't matter to that young Great Mage. Why would he care about Fran's fate? He wasn't from the Mercury Tower.

At any other time, Suyass could have used his power as an Archmage to get Fran out of this situation, and even if that batch of magic materials couldn't be taken away, Suyass would have still been able to save Fran.

But the battle just now, as well as the two Hell Cores, made Suyass cross this idea out.

Suyass was already convinced that this young Great Mage's strength was at the Archmage level, and he also had that strange and unfathomable flame. Even if he personally acted, he probably wouldn't do much better than Fran had.

Not to mention that the joint exploration team also had two peak High Mages as well as the experienced veterans, Sasu and Badrack. The strength of both sides had already been inverted. He could only save Fran by convincing the young Great Mage.

As he thought of that, Suyass humbled himself.

"Merlin, can you, for my sake… For the sake of my teacher Nolan, give a chance to Fran?" At first, Suyass only wanted to use his own reputation, but he remembered that he didn't have any in front of that young Great Mage, so he changed his sentence and added his teacher.

"Haha…"

Lin Yun chuckled grimly. Suyass felt pained when he heard that. With that young Great Mage's character, he didn't need to say anything. This chuckle already showed his resolve. Even if Fran didn't die this time, he would suffer tremendously at the very least.

But Suyass had no other choice, he could only make an appeal for Fran. "Merlin…"

"Okay, Sir Suyass, you don't have to say any more." Lin Yun helplessly shook his head and addressed Suyass as "Sir" once more. But the mana gathered within the Elemental Amber showed no sign of dissipating. "You are helping your fellow disciple, this is something I can understand. But Fran shouldn't have made a move against Leader Lys. Leader Lys has helped me quite a bit, and he is someone I respect."

"I will apologize to Leader Lys on Fran's behalf."

"Leader Lys doesn't need an apology."

"Then… Then I'll make Fran compensate Leader Lys for his loss!"

"Oh?" Lin Yun didn't refuse this time, but he didn't agree either. He only smiled at Suyass, waiting for him to elaborate on the compensation.

"Leader Lys, I know that you always wanted the set of Artisan notes inherited by the Mercury Tower for generations. I can make the call to lend those to you. Moreover, your Alchemist Guild can obtain three slots to send people to study at the Mercury Tower every year. Apart from this, I can also represent the Mercury Tower to gift our earnings from this joint exploration to the Alchemist Guild and the Gilded Rose. Does Leader Lys accept this show of good faith?"

Each and every one of these generous conditions had been something Leader Lys had long been yearning for. In a normal situation, even if he had been beaten until he was on the verge of death, Lys would have unhesitatingly agreed, let alone just being lightly wounded by Fran.

But Lys could clearly see what had happened. These generous conditions had been won for him by the young Great Mage. He didn't have the power to agree with or reject these conditions… Only the young Great Mage had the right to make the call. Thus, despite hearing these generous conditions, Lys resisted his urge to nod and gave an inquiring look at Lin Yun instead. "Merlin, you see…"

"Leader Lys, this is the Mercury Tower's compensation for you, if you feel that those terms are good, then you can agree."

"It's good, it's good…" Hearing this, Lys promptly nodded. "It's a deal then."

"Thank you, Leader Lys." Hearing that Lys was willing to accept the deal, Suyass relaxed. "Merlin, what are your conditions?"

"Don't worry Sir Suyass, I still need some things from Fran…" After Lin Yun said that, he scattered the mana he had accumulated, but at the same time, the flame that had alarmed Suyass so much before once again floated within Lin Yun's hand.

"What things!?" Suyass' heart sank when he saw that flame, and he hurriedly exclaimed in panic, but he was too late.

That flame gently swayed and transformed into two blazing rays that crossed each other.

Then, Fran's blood-curdling scream pierced the air. Everyone watched as Fran's two ring fingers were cut by the rays of flames.

"No… No… You can't take them away, Mafa Merlin, you can't take them away!" Fran almost went crazy after his ring fingers were cut off and pounced towards Lin Yun. But unfortunately, he was seriously injured and couldn't even cast a decent spell.

Moreover, his two ring fingers had been cut off, which meant that Fran lost the power of the Crystal Scales and only had the power of his Time Hand and the normal power of a 5th Rank High Mage.

He wasn't Lin Yun's match as an Archmage, let alone now that he returned to his original level of power. Lin Yun didn't even spare him a glance. He only waved his Spiritual Magic Staff and erected an Ice Wall between them, leaving Fran shouting on the other side of the wall. Lin Yun ignored him and only paid attention to the two rings, as well as the staff that Fran had dropped.

'The power of the Crystal Scales is indeed amazing…" Lin Yun felt a surge of power when he got his hands on the set of three items. If Lin Yun could grasp this power, he would be able to control the power of an Archmage, just as Fran had.

But unfortunately, that power wasn't that easy to control.

Moreover, as far as Lin Yun was concerned, the true function of the Crystal Scales wasn't to increase one's strength.

In this era, only Lin Yun knew that the true form of the Crystal Scales was that of a key.

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Chapter 241: Heaven Enlightening Plane

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

Lin Yun didn't have a deep understanding of Vaughn's laboratory. After all, this laboratory was far less famous compared to the treasury on Crystal Island. Lin Yun only remembered some rough details, such as the Crystal Scales, a small treasure trove filled with magic materials, as well as the six abandoned Alchemic Mana Whirlpools. He wasn't too sure what else there was.

But when Lin Yun entered the stone tower, he personally saw Fran fusing with the Crystal Scales. It was at that time that he finally recalled that this wasn't just a treasure trove with the Crystal Scales inside. The most important thing here was a path, a Planar Path.

And it was different from the other Planar Path Lin Yun knew about.

This Planar Path had never truly appeared in Noscent's history. Even the Ivory Tower, which had left the notes, never went through this Planar Path.

In those years, the Ivory Tower set up an expedition to the Crystal Island, and after defeating numerous powerful enemies, they finally seized the Vaughn Treasury. The large quantity of resources and deep techniques helped the Ivory Tower's strength take a leap before letting them take a place among the greatest forces of Noscent.

After seizing Vaughn Treasury, the Ivory Tower kept exploring for twenty more years. One of their Heaven Mages made an unexpected discovery while exploring the area.

That Heaven Mage found some notes Vaughn had left in his treasury. It was written among the notes that Vaughn had found an extremely fertile plane. The description of that plane was quite exaggerated and shocked the entire Ivory Tower. If everything in the notes was true, then that plane was at least ten times more fertile than the Bone Plane!

This was no laughing matter…

Half of the reason the Ivory Tower had been able to rise up was the Bone Plane. At this time, a plane that was likely ten times better than the Bone Plane was mentioned… How could the Ivory Tower let it slip by?

After some intense deliberation, the Ivory Tower got to work and began seeking the trail of that mysterious plane. This took fifty years, and during these fifty years, the Ivory Tower overturned all the ruins and vestiges related to Vaughn.

But they only found some scattered clues.

The only thing they had been able to ascertain was that the key to opening that mysterious plane was a set of Spiritual Magic Tools.

At that time, the Ivory Tower was at its peak, so let alone an insignificant Spiritual Magic Tool set, they could even get a set of True Spirit Magic Tools if needed. At that time, the Ivory Tower posted a bounty with a reward that made even Heaven Mages crazily look for them.

The result only came a few hundred years later.

Those three young Mages who had mistakenly entered the Bone Plane had already reached the top of the Ivory Tower and an entire era had already passed. It was then that news of what they were looking for finally reached the Ivory Tower.

The Ivory Tower was still formidable then.

They used the weight of their full power and unsurprisingly, that set of Spiritual Magic Tools landed in their hands. Heaven Mage Bane personally acted and easily suppressed the Crystal Scales' Incarnation.

In the next decade, Bane spent all his time trying to understand the secrets of the Crystal Scales.

Days passed, and for an entire ten years, Bane did not step out of the Ivory Tower.

When he finally did, something strange came to light.

It turned out that Bane's power hadn't improved the slightest bit, and had actually fallen by one whole rank. That was one entire rank of the Heaven realm. When he suppressed the Crystal Scales' Incarnation, Bane was already a 9th Rank Heaven Mage, but ten years later, Bane walked out of the Ivory Tower as an 8th Rank Heaven Mage.

What frightened others was when they found out that the power of the Crystal Scales seemed to have greatly improved. When it first fell into Bane's hands, it was only a set of Spiritual Magic Tools, but ten years later, it had become a True Spirit Magic Tool set!

This discovery shocked the entire Ivory Tower overnight.

At that time, Bane helplessly told everyone that during these ten years, his mana was constantly being absorbed by the Crystal Scales and that he simply couldn't stop that absorption. During the early years, he could still rely on long periods of meditation to keep up with the rate at which his mana was being absorbed, but in the next few years, the Crystal Scales grew stronger and stronger as they absorbed more and more mana and the fragile equilibrium was broken. His power fell down from that of a 9th Rank Heaven Mage to 8th Rank Heaven Mage, which was when he finally gave up on cracking its secrets.

And thus, a difficult problem was put in front of the Ivory Tower.

Either they could keep trying to find that mysterious plane using the Crystal Scales, or they could try their best to save Bane.

The Ivory Tower quickly made their decision, and they spared no efforts to try to save Bane.

The Crystal Scales ended up being broken and the Magic Tool Incarnation was thoroughly destroyed, freeing Bane from this trouble.

But at the same time, the Ivory Tower forever lost the opportunity to enter that mysterious plane.

The story should have ended there.

But there was one more thing. Although the Crystal Scales had been completely destroyed, many of the Ivory Tower's mages kept looking for clues to enter that mysterious plane, and they managed to find a lot more clues after a dozen years.

Finally, the Ivory Tower had determined the location of the Planar Path. It was in one of Vaughn's laboratories, and the distinctive feature of that laboratory was very obvious. It was a stone tower dedicated to puppet production!

This was also why Lin Yun wasn't envious when Fran acquired the Crystal Scales. He only inwardly smirked.

Fran couldn't imagine how evil the Crystal Scales were. Let alone Fran, even a peak Heaven Mage like Bane, an all-conquering existence holding the Book of Death, had lost a full rank to it, a rank in the Heaven realm.

If Bane ended up like that, then what about an insignificant Fran?

Lin Yun even dared to say that if he really let Fran bring back the Crystal Scales, he wouldn't last a month before being sucked dry, and at that time, let alone Suyass, even Nolan would be unable to help him.

The Crystal Scales were definitely powerful.

Lin Yun knew of numerous Magic Tools, but only the Crystal Scales were that formidable. After all, Fran was only a 5th Rank High Mage, but he forcibly reached the Archmage realm as well as the Artisan realm in the field of alchemy just by possessing them.

Lin Yun had never seen such frightening power amplification in his life.

If it were another Magic Tool, he would unhesitantly give up on the mysterious plane. Even though that mysterious plane was described as incredibly fertile and full of valuables, Lin Yun was never fond of the things he couldn't completely grasp.

In contrast, the Crystal Scales, which could increase his power substantially, truly interested Lin Yun.

It was a pity, then, that the Crystal Scales were too evil. Lin Yun wouldn't be able to control them.

Thus, Lin Yun only hesitated for an instant before quickly making his decision.

He put the two rings on his ring fingers and held the magic staff covered in mysterious runes with both hands. He then felt power surging through his body.

'Human, do you want to become the new master of the Crystal Scales? I can give you endless power, I can give you endless wealth, I can give you…' An enticing voice began to echo in the depths of Lin Yun's mind.

'Shut up!' Lin Yun knew that this was the Crystal Scales' Incarnation. But it chose a different approach than when it deceived Fran. This time, the Crystal Scales chose temptation.

Unfortunately, he was someone who had read about Bane's misfortune.

Otherwise, he might have been tempted by that evil Magic Tool Incarnation.

After coldly snorting, Lin Yun started pouring mana into the Crystal Scales, and under the surge of mana, the two rings started flickering with fascinating lights. While the staff seemed to remain dark, the joint exploration team could feel the power being gathered within it.

Mysterious and abstruse characters were spat out from Lin Yun's mouth. These were the results of Bane's ten years of research. These characters formed a deep and cryptic incantation. As Lin Yun chanted the incantation, his voice started reverberating louder and louder as the lights from the rings grew increasingly more dazzling. At the same time, the power gathering within the magic staff was poured out like a flood.

'Open for me!' Lin Yun ended his incantation with the mysterious character from the Book of Death. The light from the two rings instantly darkened while the originally dark magic staff suddenly blossomed with an incomparably dazzling radiance, illuminating the entire treasure trove.

Then, everyone watched as Lin Yun gently raised the staff, before softly slashing down through nothingness.

And a Planar Path was opened.

This Planar Path was completely different from any of the Planar Paths Lin Yun had opened before. The space all around was distorted to the extreme, and even the Planar Path itself seemed to be fluctuating, as if it could disappear anytime.

The extremely powerful mana fluctuations coming from the entrance of the Planar Path were even more frightening.

'The Ivory Tower didn't spend those hundred years in vain…' Lin Yun stood at the entrance of the Planar Path, feeling a bit apprehensive as he felt the huge amount of mana coming from within.

At this time, Lin Yun was already certain that this plane was definitely at least ten times more fertile than the Bone Plane.

After all, those mana fluctuations were very intense despite coming from the other side of the Planar Path. From its name, a Planar Path sounded like it should connect two planes very closely, but in reality, it was a long passage linking two different spaces. The distance between the two places could be described as endless. How powerful did these mana fluctuations have to be to spread from such a distant place?

'Hold on…' While Lin Yun was feeling apprehensive, a golden light attracted his attention from the ripples of the Planar Path.

If one didn't pay attention, they wouldn't notice that golden light within that distorted space.

Lin Yun had managed to see it, and he instantly recognized it.

'No way…' This discovery stunned Lin Yun, and he stood there speechless.

"What is it, Merlin?" Solomon, who was next to him, noticed his strange reaction.

He had a great understanding of that young Great Mage, and it could be said that Solomon had never seen anyone or anything that could make this young Great Mage show such an expression.

But now, that young Great Mage was standing there gaping, shock written all over his face.

"Nothing…" Lin Yun shook his head before regaining his calm.

Only Lin Yun knew of the storm raging in his heart.

Because Lin Yun had found out that this Planar Path might be leading to the Heaven Enlightening Plane.

What was the Heaven Enlightening Plane?

In the void, amidst the countless planes, it was the extreme, the end and the beginning. The Heaven Enlightening Plane was the origin of everything, and it was also the final destination of everything. In Noscent's many years of history, countless races rose and countless races fell. But regardless of the race, they all mentioned the existence of the Heaven Enlightening Plane in their legends. This was a plane that had became divine and was often known to people as the Divine Plane or as the Mythical Plane.

Moreover, the legends of every race described this as a golden plane. Every race stubbornly believed that the Heaven Enlightening Plane was a mythical world and that anyone who entered it would obtain endless power and eternal life. Some race even regarded the Heaven Enlightening Plane as the plane of Deities.

But that was proved to be ridiculous years later.

At the peak of the magic era, over two dozen Gods died, including the Haiba Dragon God, who had been revered by the royal family of the 3rd Dynasty. In that era, killing Gods wasn't impossible, yet they still found that the Heaven Enlightening Plane was far, far out of reach.

That was the origin and the end of everything, it was the world's ultimate land.

But unfortunately, whether it was a God Plane or a Mythical Plane, that mysterious plane that appeared in countless legends never truly appeared. They could only catch a shadow of that plane through those grotesque legends.

Lin Yun knew that in Noscent's long history, the ones closest to the Heaven Enlightening Plane were the group of bright stars that shone in the peak of the magic era, those Heaven Rank powerhouses that appeared in large numbers. The Deities that used to be omnipotent, the nightmarish Demon Lords from the Abyss, they all fell one after the other when facing powerhouses like Sandro the Sovereign of Death, Charles the Conqueror, and Martin the Sky Knight.

At that time, there had been a Heaven Rank powerhouse who was said to have caught a trace of the Heaven Enlightening Plane as he travelled through the void between planes.

That discovery shocked the entirety of Noscent and stirred countless powerhouses into action. They all rushed towards the void hoping to see it, hoping to set foot into the land of the beginning and the end.

Unfortunately, no one succeeded.

A large number of powerhouses fell in the void, but the legendary Heaven Enlightening Plane still remained a legend.

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Chapter 242: Corpse

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

Lin Yun remembered the common feature used to describe the Planar Path leading to Heaven Enlightening Plane in all the sources, which was a thread overflowing with a golden aura. Lin Yun slowly crouched down next to the Planar Path and stared at that thread.

This time, Lin Yun didn't use the Magic Array to analyze it. Instead, he looked through his pocket and fished out a bottle of Angel Potion.

He opened the bottle and placed it near the golden aura. The potion instantly started boiling while an intense aura of life filled the treasure trove.

'Sure enough, it is the Heaven Enlightening Plane…" Lin Yun was already more than 90% sure that this Planar Path was leading to the plane everyone yearned for.

Only the golden aura from the Heaven Enlightening Plane contained such intense mana as well as such a strong aura of life.

It could be seen from that bottle of Angel Potion. The structure of the Angel Potion Lin Yun crafted was far stabler than what an ordinary alchemist could make, yet such a stable potion instantly became greatly agitated. And this could only happen in one case, which was if high-intensity mana was poured into it; only that could cause fluctuations in the structure of the Angel Potion and make it flare up.

And with that, along with the strong aura of life, Lin Yun could more or less acknowledge the existence of the Heaven Enlightening Plane.

After figuring this out, LIn Yun couldn't help sighing. 'I truly didn't think that the Planar Path to the famous yet unseen Heaven Enlightening Plane would appear in underground ruins in the Four Seasons Canyon.

"Merlin, where does this Planar Path lead?" As Lin Yun was immersed in his thoughts, Solomon and Lys couldn't help feeling curious.

They were already getting used to the situation.

Since they entered the treasury trove, strange things kept happening. First was the appearance of the large hoard of magic materials, followed by Fran entering the Archmage Realm, before he was incinerated by the 9th Rank Great Mage Merlin. And just after all this happened, the young Great Mage used Fran's set of Magic Tools to open a Planar Path.

It was as if a brand new world spread in front of everyone.

Solomon and Lys could be considered extremely knowledgeable, but these strange things happening one after the other made the two peak High Mages of Thousand Sails City rather curious.

"This Planar Path…" Lin Yun thought for a moment before continuing, "This Planar Path leads to a mythical plane. A grain of sand or a drop of water from that place could be considered a priceless treasure in Noscent…"

"…" Solomon and Lys couldn't help looking at each other while holding their breaths when they heard Lin Yun's exaggerated description.

They had a very good understanding of that young Great Mage. The Gilded Rose was already monopolizing Thousand Sails City's alchemy market and had amassed an enormous amount of wealth in less than a year. It probably wouldn't be inaccurate to consider him the wealthiest person in Thousand Sails City.

But now, the richest youth in Thousand Sails City was saying that the value of that plane far surpassed what they could imagine.

Moreover…

From the young Great Mage's serious expression, the two guessed that the value of the plane might far surpass the value of those priceless magic materials filling the treasure trove.

It took a while for the two to recover.

It felt as if they had been casually walking down a street when a pile of golds suddenly appeared in front of them. This was incredible… They had originally thought that these magic materials had been the greatest reward from the expedition, but they didn't expect to find an even more valuable plane.

Thinking of this, their eyes couldn't help shining.

"However…"

Lin Yun's next sentence was akin to pouring cold water on their faces. "That mythical plane is also filled with unimaginable dangers…"

"Who is afraid of dangers?" Solomon said disapprovingly when he heard that. "Wasn't Vaughn's laboratory filled with dangers? Didn't we still make it here?"

"No, High Mage Solomon, that place is different. No matter how dangerous this laboratory was, it was only a place left by an Artisan. The strongest thing here would be Heaven rank at most, but the plane behind that Planar Path has never been seen before. No one know what dangers awaits us."

"Maybe there will be no dangers."

"Haha, High Mage Solomon, you should come and stand here." Lin Yun beckoned to Solomon. When Solomon reached Lin Yun with a baffled expression, Lin Yun told him, "Try to feel the mana fluctuations here…"

"Eh?" Solomon was surprised, but he listened to Lin Yun and started sensing the mana fluctuations with a heavy heart.

Then, that peak High Mage's complexion worsened.

"Heavens…" Near the Planar Path's entrance, the dense mana fluctuations had already surpassed what Solomon had imagined from Lin Yun's warnings. They were far too terrible. Solomon couldn't even understand how there could be a power that could still leave such shocking mana fluctuations after crossing a long distance and passing through a spatial distortion.

Solomon then knew that he had said something stupid.

A plane that had such power… Even if it was empty, it definitely wasn't a place a High Mage could casually set foot on. And it wouldn't be too far off to say that a snowflake carried by a breeze in such a place could easily destroy a Great Mage. That was no laughing matter, a power of that level was too shocking.

Solomon finally understood why that young Great Mage said that this was a mythical plane.

Because surely only omnipotent Gods could reside on such a formidable plane.

Solomon was unable to say anything for a moment, and after no less than a minute, he managed to ask Lin Yun with a deathly pale face. "Merlin, what… What kind of plane is this?"

"You can call it the Mythical Plane."

"Then we… we…" Solomon no longer dared to talk about the dangers. It could no longer be described as merely dangerous. Walking in a higher plane like this was akin to walking on the edge of a blade or swimming through lava. Hoping to be able to come back in one piece was already very optimistic.

"Everyone decide for yourself. The wealth of that plane far surpasses what you can imagine. Just as I said, a drop of water or a speck of sand would become a priceless treasure in Noscent. But at the same time, the dangers far surpass what you could think of. One moment of carelessness and even an Archmage would easily fall."

The treasure trove fell silent after Lin Yun's words.

The twenty members of the joint exploration all sank into deep contemplation. This was a very difficult choice. On one side was endless wealth, and on the other was very likely death. Even William, Solomon, and Lys, those who trusted Lin Yun the most, didn't dare to make their decisions right away.

"I shall withdraw." The first to withdraw was that Elder of the Monchi Family. The Monchi Family could be said to be the one exerting the least effort in this joint exploration. They would most likely receive the smallest share after returning to Thousand Sails City. Since that was the case, why would they bother braving such dangers?

Naturally, that Elder had some darker thoughts and schemes in mind.

Such as…

'Since the plane behind that Planar Path is so dangerous, then wouldn't my Monchi Family be able to keep everything here if the others all fell?'

Naturally, he only dared to think about such matters privately.

"I'll also withdraw…" To everyone's surprise, Sauss was the second one to demur.

After all, Sauss was the leader of Thousand Sails City's strongest underground power, and he was famous for being adventurous. When he was still a more roguish fellow, he even dared to stab a guard of Thousand Sails City. No one thought that he would have so little courage a few dozen years later.

But Lin Yun smiled as he looked at Sauss.

Because Lin Yun knew that after the Viper Nest obtained the Magic Spring Potion, they had accelerated their expansion and would soon approach the temple of the Haiba Dragon God. How could Sauss take risks when he was about to strike it rich anyways?

"Merlin, what are your plans?" Solomon asked after a difficult struggle.

Lin Yun thought for a moment. "If there is nothing unexpected, I will go in and take a look. After all, it is a never-before-seen plane. Even if I can't get any benefits inside, being able to leave some coordinate markers would be good, and maybe when there is another useful opportunity…"

"Then I'll go with you."

"So will I."

"Cousin, I'll follow you."

Many people answered once Lin Yun shared his decision. Solomon, Lys, William… Even the Draconic Beastman that only interested in saving his own neck reacted after hearing Lin Yun. He sullenly asked, "Sir Merlin, can you cancel my contract before heading towards your death?"

"What are you saying?"

"Err… I'll follow you inside…" The Draconic Beastman wept as he watched the people that were still hesitating, his heart filled with jealousy. 'You should be content with your own situations. You still have the choice to go or not to go, while I don't even have the right to choose…'

The joint exploration team quickly split into two groups.

There were a total of eight people unwilling to enter the Planar Path. Besides that Elder from the Monchi Family and Sauss, there was also Cadgar, who had always had good relations with Lin Yun.

The rest of Lin Yun's closer acquaintances were willing to take the risk him.

Solomon, Lys, William, Xiuban, Sasu… And to everyone's surprise, the two from the Mercury Tower, Suyass and Fran, actually chose to join in. When the two expressed their opinions, even Lin Yun was startled. There was no issue with Suyass, but what about Fran? Two of his fingers had been cut off, so where did he get such courage?

In fact, this confusion was due to Lin Yun not fully understanding the Mercury Tower.

Fran had always been a bit marginalized in the Mercury Tower. This time, he had rushed to his own doom and had two fingers cut off. Eventually, Suyass had to pay a huge price to save his life. After returning, Fran was bound to suffer a very strict punishment. Even if Nolan didn't say anything, Suyass would definitely have him suffer the consequences.

Now, the only opportunity Fran had was this newly opened Planar Path. If he luckily obtained some benefits, it would count as a great contribution. Even just quietly recording that mysterious plane's coordinates and bringing them back to the Mercury Tower would be enough to make up for the mistake he had just made.

Unfortunately…

Fran still hadn't understood that this "Mythical Plane" was different from any plane he'd ever known about.

The biggest difference was the key.

A plane on the level of the Heaven Enlightening Plane wasn't a plane that could be opened by just any power. Even the Crystal Scales Lin Yun had used could only open it once. Afterwards, they would lose their power and turn into ordinary objects.

Naturally, this was something only Lin Yun knew.

Only he knew that the two rings he wore and the magic staff he held no longer had any wisps of mana within. The whole set of heaven-defying Magic Tools had now become an ordinary item.

In other words, he only had one opportunity to enter the Heaven Enlightening Plane. Even if Fran recorded the coordinates, he wouldn't have the opportunity to return.

Unless Fran could find another key to open the Heaven Enlightening Plane.

Soon, Lin Yun's group was ready and only left behind those eight people unwilling to take the risk. However, they also had their own mission. They were in charge of sorting the magic materials and distributing them according to the agreement and then subdividing them based on everyone's contribution.

In any case, they were all from Thousand Sails City. They weren't worried about others stuffing their pockets because they could always gang up on the thieving ones.

Naturally…

This wouldn't be the same if Lin Yun's group wasn't able to survive that mysterious plane.

Lin Yun entered first. After all, the ones who decided to take the risk had been 99% convinced to go because of him.

Just as he entered the Planar Path, Lin Yun could immediately tell that this mysterious and incomprehensible plane was different from any he had seen before. The Planar Path was too long.

Lin Yun advanced for three minutes and still didn't see the end.

Planar Paths were used to distort space. Regardless of how far a plane was, after the Planar Path distorted the space between them, it would be within reach and he should be able to arrive there nearly instantly. But now, Lin Yun had already walked down the Planar Path for a full three minutes. This meant that the Heaven Enlightening Plane's distance from Noscent was unimaginable.

After another three minutes, Lin Yun caught sight of a faint light.

Then, that light grew brighter and brighter. It started like a firefly, but it soon looked like the sun rising from the east. Even Lin Yun was amazed as light started blooming in front of him and it felt as if that Planar Path was illuminated by the light of day!

Lin Yun subconsciously raised his hand to cover his eyes.

But he froze just as he raised his right hand.

"This…" At this time, Lin Yun simply didn't dare to believe in his own eyes because he found a corpse at his feet!

Lin Yun stood stock still in shock. This was too freaky. Lin Yun never imagined that he would meet a withered body halfway through the Planar Path.

'What is this?' Lin Yun stood there for a long time, before cautiously crouching down to examine the withered corpse. The corpse was just next to his feet. He had missed it before because of the light, but after shielding his eyes, he had suddenly noticed it.

That corpse seemed to belong to a Human Mage because of the black robe wrapped around it. Although there weren't any fierce mana fluctuation coming from that corpse, Lin Yun, as a Master Alchemist, could clearly see that this robe had once been a True Spirit Magic Tool.

But something had happened over the course of time, and the Incarnation had already dissipated. Its mana was also exhausted, so it was only an ordinary mage robe at this point.

After seeing this, Lin Yun was more and more curious about the identity of that corpse.

After all, a True Spirit Magic Tool wasn't something that could casually be obtained.

Star Sage Jouyi had high status and was very powerful, but even then, it would be really hard for him to take out a True Spirit Magic Tool.

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Chapter 243: Silver Moon Elves

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

Only the unconventional Master Alchemist and Great Mage Lin Yun, whose only worry was which treasure trove to dig, had no issue taking out a True Spirit Magic Tool.

Any other Great Mage wouldn't have dared to think about it.

A True Spirit Magic Tool had the power of an Archmage. Even a Magic Apprentice could at least stand up to an Archmage if they had one of these. The Upper Rank Flame Spirit was a good example, its power scaring even Suyass.

Who in Thousand Sails City had a True Spirit Magic Tool, apart from Lin Yun? The powerful Solomon, the learned Lys, the rich Cadgar, could they even possess a True Spirit Magic Tool?

Even the Cloud Tower, as one of the two strongest forces of mages in the kingdom, only had two or three True Spirit Magic Tools. Lin Yun had to crack the Fanrusen Formula to borrow the Black Death Rune. That wasn't a simple job. After being busy for a few days, he spent an all-nighter to crack the core spell matrices.

From this, it could be seen how much importance the Cloud Tower attached to the Black Death Rune.

It could be said that in Noscent's history, nobody insignificant ever managed to control a True Spirit Magic Tool. The weakest ones were at the Archmage realm and could definitely be considered powerhouses.

And as he thought of this, Lin Yun was even more curious about the identity of that corpse.

But…

As Lin Yun wanted to keep checking the corpse to find more clues, he discovered that the trail was cut off.

At first, Lin Yun wanted to use the Magic Array to analyze the remaining mana fluctuations on the corpse, but he quickly discovered that this corpse didn't have the slightest mana fluctuations.

'What is this?' That discovery immediately stunned Lin Yun. 'How could an Archmage powerhouse not leave any remnants of mana fluctuations after death? That's illogical…'

The Mage stage was about condensing the Mana Whirlpool, the Great Mage Stage was about condensing the Magic Conducting Runes, the High Mage Stage was about merging the nine Magic Conducting Runes into one and fusing with it. From that stage, it was no longer as simple as transferring mana. At that time, the power would come from the High Mage himself. In that realm, High Mages were no longer dependent on the environment and could even resist the suppression of some Laws.

As for the Archmage stage, it was something else altogether. Archmages were on another level of existence. Even after death, an archmage's mana wouldn't decay as long as their body didn't decay either.

Thus, Lin Yun felt strange…

'Why? The corpse hasn't completely decayed, so why are there no signs of the remnants of mana?'

If not for the True Spirit Magic Robe, Lin Yun wouldn't have believed that the person that died there was an Archmage, as this was simply unbelievable.

'How could it be?' Lin Yun thought about it and couldn't find a reasonable explanation. 'Did I make a mistake, was he someone like me, already possessing a True Spirit Magic Tool before reaching the Archmage realm?'

But this conjecture was suddenly invalidated.

Because Lin Yun turned the body and found another True Spirit Magic Tool under the corpse.

Two True Spirit Magic Tools!

Cold sweat trickled down Lin Yun's back.

A powerhouse that possessed two True Spirit Magic Tools… If he was comparable to Suyass when he was alive, then he would definitely have the qualifications to challenge Star Sage Jouyi!

That was power close to the Heaven realm.

How great was the Heaven realm? Even during the peak of the Magic Era, the Heaven realm represented the top of Noscent, it already represented the highest level of mages, the peak of mana control, the peak of magical power. When compared to Heaven mages, powerhouses such as the Sovereign of Death and the Sky Knight could only be said to have a more profound understanding of Laws. When it came to pure power, they weren't much stronger than Heaven Mages.

But someone that had at least been infinitely close to that realm ended up on this Planar Path.

No matter how hard Lin Yun thought, he couldn't understand what had happened, why there would be a corpse like this on a Planar Path.

Lin Yun then spent almost half an hour examining that corpse, but he didn't find anything worth his attention.

In the end, Lin Yun had no choice but to shake his head before standing up and telling the group of people waiting behind him, "Let's go…"

They then restarted their very long walk.

But because of the corpse they had found before, the mood of the whole group was quite stifling. No one talked on the way, leaving behind an eerie silence.

Until half an hour later.

The group kept pressing forward under that dazzling light, and what awaited them ahead was a vast expanse of white, as if they had sunk into an ocean of light. There seemed to be no end to it.

"Merlin, Merlin, look, quick…" Half an hour later, Badrack exclaimed in surprise.

That 9th Rank Divine Archer had innately outstanding vision. He had the best eyesight in the group when magic and special abilities were taken out of the picture. Especially in that sea of light, the only one that could still see normally was Badrack.

"Hmm?" Lin Yun was surprised by Badrack's reaction and cast True Sight. Under the protection of the spell, his sight could pierce through the dazzling light. He followed Badrack's finger and couldn't help exclaiming in surprise.

"No way…"

"Merlin, what's going on?" Solomon sounded a bit worried.

"Look there…" Lin Yun didn't answer and only pointed forward.

"Let me see." Solomon also cast True Sight, before being stunned.

A dozen bodies lay about a kilometer in front of them, thin and frail, with mysterious and gorgeous natural mana patterns. They looked beautiful as if they had been carved out of Moonstone, but seemed almost ethereal. Those… were the corpses of Silver Moon Elves!

Silver Moon Elves were one of the four pure-blooded Elven races.

Several dozen millennia before, Charles the Emperor destroyed the Throne of Life and dropped the curtain on the Silver Era. The last pure-blooded Elves and Dragons left Noscent and sailed the Jade Boat to the endless void. No pure-blooded Elf was ever seen in Noscent again since then.

Nowadays, only the Gold Elves and the Silver Elves remained in Noscent. They weren't pure-blooded Elves, though. In the distant Silver Era, the Gold Elves and the Silver Elves were only the servants of the pure-blooded Elves, and their status at the time wasn't any higher than that of the other races.

The greatest difference between them was the presence of mysterious and gorgeous natural mana patterns on their bodies.

If the power of the Dragons came from their bloodlines, then the power of the Silver Moon Elves came from their natural mana patterns. These mana patterns gave the Silver Moon Elves extraordinary power at birth. They were natural mages and would have the power of a Great Mage from the day they were born. They would normally reach the realm of High Mages at adulthood. In other words, the lowest of the lowest soldiers of the Nesser Dynasty's magic corps were High Mages at the very least.

Fortunately, these magic corps were few in number.

Even during the peak of the Nesser Dynasty, the magic corps didn't have more than five thousands soldiers.

But even so, it was terrible.

After all, given that the lowest were at the High Mage rank, the ones high up in the military ladder… Which of them wasn't an Archmage or a Heaven Mage?

Not to mention that they were allied to Dragons.

In the present day, the power of the Nesser Dynasty would be enough to sink the world in despair.

It was an irresistible power.

Many people were still curious… How did Charles the Emperor destroy the Throne of Life? How did he end such a formidable dynasty?

But unfortunately, the 3rd Dynasty was already buried in the ground. Countless valuable materials had already been buried in the sands of time. After ten thousand years, could the offspring of the 3rd Dynasty still remember how Charles, their deceased ancestor, achieved such a feat?

"How could it be like this?" A while later, Lin Yun frowned and stood up.

'It's just like before…'

No mana fluctuations could be found coming from the corpses of the dozen Silver Moon Elves. Lin Yun could only estimate from their natural mana patterns that they hadn't been low in status when they were alive. They might even have been quite high up in the military ladder. In other words, they might have been Archmages or Heaven Mages…

This discovery made Lin Yun remain silent for a very long time.

The Human mage that had two True Spirit Magic Tools had already stunned Lin Yun, but Lin Yun hadn't expected that a mere half an hour later, he would find corpses that he suspected to be Archmages and Heaven Mages.

'What terrible place is hidden behind that Planar Path?'

But before Lin Yun could recover from the shock brought about by those corpses, a huge monster in the distance made cold sweat trickle down Lin Yun's back.

"Dragon!"

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Chapter 244: Green Dragon

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

It was a colossus the size of a small mountain with scales sparkling like beryl and a huge and powerful body. It was an Adult Green Dragon lying on the Planar Path. Even though it was a few hundred meters away, Lin Yun could still feel enormous pressure from being near it.

"Heavens…" Lin Yun held his breath as he wiped the sweat trickling down his forehead.

In the legends, during the Silver Era, the pure-blooded Elves ruled the earth while the Chromatic Dragons ruled the sky. That was the Dynasty of Elves and Dragons. But after Charles the Emperor shattered that throne, both the Elves and the Dragons sailed the Jade Boat to leave to the void.

But the Chromatic Dragons were different from the pure-blooded Elves. They had many descendants still living in Noscent, and many legends would contain the shadow of Chromatic Dragons.

But that was only in legends.

In fact, the Chromatic Dragons stood at the top of the food chain in Noscent, representing tyrannical power. In all legends and epics, Chromatic Dragons were the ultimate existences. Many people believed that the Chromatic Dragons were the descendants of the Haiba Dragon God who was born along with Noscent.

Every Chromatic Dragon was a Heaven Rank existence and could easily destroy cities and nations. They weren't beings that humans could fight against.

Let alone Chromatic Dragons, even a common Dragon would have the power of an Archmage, and that Bone Dragon in the Bone Plane was only the remains of a Dragon that had died countless years ago and turned into an Undead under the influence of the undead energy.

But such an Undead lifeform could still force Lin Yun to use the Book of Death.

If Lin Yun hadn't fused the Sage Chapter to activate the Book of Death and obtain the ability to open a Planar Path, he would no longer be among the living.

And what stood in front of them was a Green Dragon!

One of the five types of Chromatic Dragons!

Lin Yun was feeling feverish.

Green Dragons weren't easy to deal with.

They were also known as Jade Dragons and were guardians of nature and order, existences on the side of good amidst the Chromatic Dragons.

But one shouldn't overlook that the nature and order that Green Dragons and Elves guarded was absolute order and nature. In their eyes, Humans were destroyers of nature and order. If they woke up that Green Dragon, they would be welcomed with a Dragon Breath.

'Hmm, but something is wrong…' As Lin Yun grew apprehensive, a sudden thought came to his mind.

Not a single lifeform they had met on the Planar Path had been alive.

The Human was dead.

The pure-blooded Elves were corpses.

'Then… Is that Green Dragon also dead?'

As that idea sprung in his mind, Lin Yun cast a Detect Life spell.

This was the most suitable spell for the situation. As a guardian of nature and order, the Green Dragon would scatter a large amount of life energy, so that Detect Life spell should react even a few hundred meters away.

'Eh…' Amazement appeared on Lin Yun's face when he cast it. 'Not a single wisp of life energy…'

Lin Yun finally calmed down. He cast a few buffs on himself to prepare for any eventuality while walking towards that behemoth.

There was still no reaction from his Detect Life spell when Lin Yun reached the body of the Green Dragon. At that time, Lin Yun was certain that this Green Dragon was dead.

No, it wasn't just dead…

Besides not having a single bit of life aura left, that Green Dragon's corpse was also devoid of mana fluctuations. At that time, the look on Lin Yun's face was a bit off.

This was all a bit too illogical.

On their way, they had already seen the corpses of three different races: a Human, pure-blooded Elves, and a Green Dragon. These corpses had one thing in common, which was a complete lack of mana fluctuations.

In other words, no power was left in these corpses.

This was very strange because these three races had completely different sources of power.

The power of Human mages came from their Mana Whirlpools, the power of the pure-blooded Elves came from their natural mana patterns, and the power of the Dragons came from their bloodlines. Even if they met an unforeseen event after dying, it shouldn't look like this, where not a single trace was left.

'Could there be something strange in this Planar Path that could absorb power like the Crystal Scales? No way…' Lin Yun couldn't help feeling a bit scared, and he subconsciously examined his surroundings.

It felt wrong.

Lin Yun could clearly feel that his mana had seen no changes. It was exactly the same as when he first entered and showed no signs of being absorbed.

Moreover…

One Human Mage, a dozen pure-blooded Elves, and one Green Dragon… How did they die here? What terrible thing was hidden behind that Planar Path, why were they unable to resist and left dead here like nobodies?

After all, regardless of whether it was that Human holding two True Spirit Magic Tools, those dozen pure-blooded Elves that were Archmages or Heaven Mages, or that Green Dragon that was Heaven Rank at the very least, they were all very formidable existences. Even if they were around at the peak of the Magic Era, ten thousand years in the future, their deaths would create quite a stir.

'How come no information about this spread out? This isn't just one or two… It's over a dozen…

'The death of so many formidable existences, how come there was no information about it?'

Lin Yun kept thinking and thinking, posing numerous questions to himself, but they all went unanswered. At this time, Lin Yun couldn't help forcing a smile. Besides curiosity towards the Heaven Enlightening Plane, he felt some awe.

He felt that this might be a place that mortals truly couldn't set foot in.

The rest of the group waited patiently for a while, and when they heard that this Green Dragon was dead, they became very excited. They all knew that a Dragon was like a huge treasure, especially a high ranked Chromatic Dragons like the Green Dragon. Its entire body was a treasure. Even one drop of blood or one scale would be very precious.

The group immediately started discussing among themselves about how they should divide that Green Dragon.

But unfortunately for them, halfway through their conversation, Lin Yun interrupted them.

In fact, Lin Yun didn't say anything.

He just casually cast a Wind Blade.

That Wind Blade easily cut through the Green Dragon's abdomen, and the sparkling beryl-like scales that were comparable to the defense of True Spirit Magic Tools were unable to resist the simple spell.

The group was stunned.

"Shit, a waste of time…" Solomon indignantly cursed.

They clearly saw that the corpse was unable to handle a Wind Blade. Those "precious" magic materials wouldn't sell well even as decorations… It had to be a fake of some sort.

"Haha…" Lin Yun chuckled before walking on ahead.

But there were still questions in Lin Yun's mind.

The path ahead was very long…

As the white light grew more and more dazzling, Lin Yun could feel an incomparable power coming from it. But that power was offset by the distortion of the Planar Path. In other words, they were all protected by the Planar Path. Otherwise, just a wisp of that white light would be enough to instantly kill half of their group.

They would still meet one or two corpses on the path here or there, Humans, Elves, Beastmen, Dwarves, and even some Undead… On the way, Lin Yun saw corpses of nearly all of Noscent's intelligent races, and they all had the same thing in common. Not a wisp of power was left in their bodies.

Time had already lost its meaning, and Lin Yun even forgot how long they had been walking for…

It might have been a day, maybe two…

Yet another new corpse appeared before them when Lin Yun began to think that they had become lost on the Planar Path.

But that corpse was different from the others.

That corpse was standing.

He was holding a long magic staff in his right hand and was holding a huge gem in his left hand. These were two True Spirit Magic Tools that had lost their power. Lin Yun had already become numb to seeing those depleted True Spirit Magic Tools on the way, as he had found no less than ten of them. It was to the point that Lin Yun was wondering whether Noscent's True Spirit Magic Tools had all been lost on this Planar Path.

But the True Spirit Magic Tools weren't the important part.

The truly important part was that Lin Yun recognized that corpse!

White beard, white hair, an aged appearance. He looked like an ordinary old man, but his eyes were covered by a piece of black cloth.

"Sky Eyes Oliver…" Lin Yun didn't even need to remove that black cloth. He knew that there would be a pair of sky blue eyes underneath.

He could recognize him from his distinct style of attire.

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Chapter 245: Ascian Runes

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

Sky Eyes Oliver was one of the most legendary Heaven Rank Mages from the middle of the 3rd Dynasty, and his influence impacted the entire era.

The Mage Eye that almost every mage mastered these days had been the masterpiece of that Heaven Mage. Oliver was called Sky Eyes because of his unique eyes mentioned in all kinds of legends from the 3rd Dynasty.

It was said that his sky blue eyes could see through the fabric of reality, through the fog of time, and even follow the path of fate. In his heyday, Oliver was the most powerful Astrologian of the empire, and even the emperor himself would act like a student in front of Oliver.

But in his later years, Oliver was very unfortunate.

Many people thought that because of seeing such things while only having a mortal body, Oliver suffered from the judgement of fate. By the age of eighty, Oliver had already gone insane. He would shut himself in his tower, crazily researching Ascian Runes and would spend years without leaving his tower. Even if he occasionally stepped out, he didn't look like a human, more like a ghost. He didn't have the same grace he had in the past and would crazily mutter, "Run! Run! He is approaching…"

At first, many people asked him who that "he" was.

But soon, people found out that this kind of question would agitate Oliver even more. A crazy Heaven Mage was simply a disaster to the empire. It triggered huge disturbances every time. One time, Oliver almost killed the emperor on the spot.

Fortunately, the three Court Mages acted and kept the irrational Oliver under control.

The emperor took into account the great contributions that Oliver had brought to the empire and didn't punish the Sky Eyes Mage that had fallen to madness. He sent some people to escort Oliver back to his tower and then had his three Court Mages seal the tower.

This disguised imprisonment lasted for a hundred years.

During that century, Oliver didn't try to leave his tower. Someone would visit him from time to time, but they didn't find any differences. Oliver was crazily researching information about the Ascian Dynasty while mumbling.

"Run! Run! He is approaching…"

But this time, no one asked him for any clarification…

After an entire century, Oliver still remained in that state of madness. As years passed, people already forgot about Oliver's existence. Up until a century later, when the new emperor succeeded the throne and suddenly wanted to see the Sky Eyes that shook the empire.

Under the protection of the three Court Mages, the emperor stepped into Oliver's tower.

There, they found out that Oliver had gone missing.

This had been world-shaking news at the time. How frightening was a crazy Heaven Mage? The three Court Mages had seen it with their own eyes. The empire got ready as if they were preparing to fight an overwhelming enemy, and flyers spread through the empire as they started looking for traces of Oliver.

But…

Oliver seemed to have vanished. The empire searched for a decade but didn't find any trace of him.

Years slowly passed…

Ultimately, Oliver's disappearance became the unsolved mystery of the empire, and Sky Eyes Oliver never reappeared in the countless years following the destruction of the empire…

'That…' Lin Yun didn't think that he would find Sky Eyes Oliver here after countless years.

At this time, Lin Yun didn't even know how he should react.

'How could it be Oliver? But… The Astrology Magic Staff in the right hand, and the Divining Stone in the left… There is only one person in Noscent that held these two True Spirit Magic Tools, Sky Eyes Oliver…'

Lin Yun didn't even need to remove that black cloth.

Because he knew that this black cloth was covering the vaunted Sky Eyes that could see through the fabric of reality, through the fog of time, and even follow the path of fate.

Lin Yun stood there just looking at the body for no less than ten minutes.

Finally, Lin Yun suddenly recalled that he should confirm Oliver's death.

Naturally, that confirmation wasn't really necessary.

As Lin Yun expected, that Heaven Rank Mage had already died a long time ago, just like the previous powerhouses that they had met on the path. Although his corpse hadn't decayed, there was no trace of power remaining.

At this point, Lin Yun slowly regained his calm.

'Looks like just as people conjectured, Sky Eyes Oliver set foot on an unknown Planar Path after escaping the tower… But the plane that it led to was a bit…' After Lin Yun calmed down, he was finally able to think about it a bit more. 'Oliver was quite unfortunate in the end… The esteemed Sky Eyes, the number one Astrologian of the empire, met such misfortune in his later years… After luckily escaping from his hundred years of imprisonment, he arrived in such a strange Planar Path…'

At this time, Lin Yun's began to feel more anxious than before.

Because the danger of this Planar Path was far higher than he could have imagined.

On the way, Lin Yun had seen corpses belonging to all the intelligent races, and each corpse had been a powerful and famous person before their death, but none of the corpses had brought him as much pressure as Oliver.

After all, Oliver was a legendary figure that Lin Yun knew a lot about. Sky Eyes Oliver had left behind countless legends, and the Mage Eye he had personally created was used by almost every mage. He was a legendary figure that had influenced an entire era.

But now, this legend's corpse was motionless in front of him, dead for countless years just like the others.

And this was all because Oliver set foot on that Planar Path.

And of course, what was most frightening was that Lin Yun was now also walking on that Planar Path.

Just thinking about it made Lin Yun feel a chill.

'Should we retreat?' This thought flashed in his mind.

But it was immediately rejected.

Because the risk of retreating wouldn't necessarily be less than what they'd face by continuing.

Although Planar Paths sounded like they'd be direct, in reality, Planar Paths were incomparably complex mazes. The space within was completely distorted. There would be no issue with following the path, but if they messed up with the route, they would immediately be lost in the maze and would have to rely on luck to be able to get out.

"Eh?" Just then, some traces at Oliver's feet came to Lin Yun's attention. 'Strange. This is…'

It looked like some bloodstains made from many droplets that had dried long ago and turned dark brown.

Lin Yun didn't care at first, assuming that Sky Eyes Oliver had fought a very frightening battle and that these bloodstains had been left during the fight.

But after carefully studying them, he discovered that this wasn't the case.

Although the droplets of blood seemed inconspicuous, after some careful examination, he noticed that they were scattered too evenly, it didn't look like they spilled out normally. Moreover, they seemed to be forming an inverted character.

'Wait…' Lin Yun froze. 'Those really are characters written in blood… They're Ascian Runes!'

It was rumored to be the first type of runes born in Noscent. The Ascian Runes had been created by the distant Gods, marking the start of Noscent's growth of knowledge, and the true start of the Golden Era.

But the Ascian Dynasty was far too distant.

Distant to the point that many people believed that whether it was the Ascian Dynasty or the ancient Gods, they were all myths and had never truly existed. Even now, many scholars insisted on calling the Golden Era the Mythological Era, an era that only existed in myths and legends.

The Ascian Runes that had been born in such an era had already been lost in the river of time. Even Lin Yun, who had extensive knowledge on all matter of subjects and had read some documents pertaining to the Ascian Runes, didn't know more than thirty Ascian Runes…

After studying the Ascian Runes for a long time, he only managed to make out a few characters.

"Run… He… Destroy… No path…"

Ascian Runes had mysterious power, and just translating these several characters almost exhausted Lin Yun. After doing all this, Lin Yun sat down on the ground, thinking while breathing heavily.

'If I'm not wrong, the first part was the sentence Oliver kept repeating after going mad… "Run! Run! He is coming!"'

This sentence had been very famous in the 3rd Dynasty, and many people used it with ridicule. But Lin Yun didn't dare to think so now.

Lin Yun knew some things about Ascian Runes, such as how harsh the requirements to use Ascian Runes were. Let alone a crazy man, even an ordinary Heaven Mage might not necessarily be able to properly use Ascian Runes. That was knowledge from the Ancient Gods, the source of all of Noscent's knowledge.

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Chapter 246: End of the Path

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

If that Oliver was crazy, then there were no normal people left in Noscent.

Lin Yun even felt that Oliver was probably the one who went the deepest in his study of the Ascian Runes in the entire history of Noscent. He couldn't imagine how Sky Eyes conducted his research during that century of imprisonment. How did he manage to attain such amazing achievements on the Ascian Runes?

After all, from these bloody characters, it could be seen that Oliver could use the Ascian Runes effortlessly, as if he were an Ancient God.

But Oliver was definitely not an Ancient God.

Otherwise, those three Court Mages wouldn't have been able to stop him from slaying the emperor, let alone managing to imprison him in a tower for a hundred years, even if the Court Mages were Heaven Mages.

At that time, Lin Yun was already convinced.

Oliver was completely clear-headed when he wrote those Ascian Runes with blood.

So, the problem remained…

Lin Yun could understand some characters with difficulty, but he couldn't understand those few sentences. 'What "destruction", What does he mean, "no path"? What were the circumstances when Oliver used his blood to write these Ascian Runes? Hold on, no path, no path…'

Lin thought… and suddenly felt numb.

That Heaven Rank puppet he had found in the warehouse earlier seemed to have said something similar.

'There is no path forward…'

'Yes, it was that sentence.'

'There is no path forward!'

'Oh, and it did say something else beforehand.'

'Is there still someone alive?'

These sentences added together had sounded very baffling, but what was unexpected was that one of those sentences would appear on that Planar Path, and that the one to leave those words was the famous Sky Eyes Oliver.

Lin Yun couldn't help brooding over it.

As he thought about it, he fished out a blank piece of paper and a quickly and copied the Ascian Runes onto it. Although he couldn't translate them at the moment, he would be able to research them after returning. If one month wasn't enough, he would spend two, and if two didn't suffice, he would spend a year on it. Even if it ended up taking him ten years, Lin Yun was determined to translate these Ascian characters.

Because Lin Yun already felt that whether it was repairing the Heaven Rank puppet or translating these Ascian Runes, both would help him reach that world-shaking secret.

Lin Yun was still unable to imagine how incredible that secret was, but he was convinced that this secret would definitely be huge.

Lin Yun spent some time copying those Ascian Runes.

After spending all that time, Lin Yun carefully went around Oliver's corpse and led the group forward. Lin Yun always felt some indescribable reverence to that Astrologian of the 3rd Dynasty, even if Oliver had died countless years ago.

It was a bit strange.

After Oliver, there were no more corpses on the Planar Path. As he led the group forward, Lin Yun didn't see anything strange, to the point that Lin Yun even wondered if everything he had seen before was only an illusion.

The only difference was that the light ahead was brighter, and the Planar Path's spatial structure just began to become unstable. There were a few times where Lin Yun even felt a formidable force about to struggle free of its bindings. Lin Yun knew that this was the frightening power that the Planar Path could no longer suppress. If that force was freed, the dozens of them on the Planar Path, the numerous corpses, and even the Planar Path itself… all of it would turn to dust.

This was the most dangerous part of the Planar Path.

At the same time, it was the closest location to their destination.

Gales, rainstorms, thunder and lightning, all kinds of different scenery started appearing, and Lin Yun knew that these were visions coming from the huge force being suppressed by the Planar Path.

"Everyone, careful!" After giving the warning, Lin Yun roused his mana to resist these frighteningly powerful visions.

Time ticked by, and the group could only be described as moving at a snail pace as each step was becoming increasingly more difficult under the battering of the elements. They didn't know how much time passed under this painful torture before the boundless light suddenly burst open.

Feeling dazzled, Lin Yun seemed to have heard an explosion, yet it also felt as if he hadn't heard anything at all.

Then everything cleared up.

"Finally…" Lin Yun stood there in a daze. At his foot were flickering stars and an endless void, while above his head was a whirlpool slowly rotating. Lin Yun remembered it from Prince Barov's tomb. When he had touched the Eyes of Reincarnation and watched as heaven and earth formed, he saw that huge whirlpool. It was the beginning of everything, and also the end of everything.

Ahead was a vast and boundless void stretching as far as eyes could see. An endless amount of mana came from the void, and even though it had been suppressed by the Planar Path, it made Lin Yun feel an irresistible pressure.

This was the legendary Heaven Enlightening Plane, also known as the Mythical Plane.

But…

The plane that only existed in legend didn't have the described golden aura flowing. They couldn't even feel the aura of life. They only saw desolation and decay. It made Lin Yun recall that Demiplane that lacked the four elements.

'It's the same feeling…'

The entire plane was deathly silent, the air was no longer flowing, life no longer existed, and even time seemed to be frozen. Only endless nothingness could be seen. The Mythical Plane was empty and deathly silent, it was already dead.

'How could this be…' Lin Yun stood there in a daze, looking towards the boundless void with a foolish expression on his face. 'How could the Mythical Plane look like this? How come there is nothing in the Heaven Enlightening Plane besides boundless mana?

'No, no, even the boundless mana is carrying an aura of death.'

Lin Yun tried to absorb a wisp of mana so that he could analyze it with the Magic Array, before paling and rousing his Magic Arrays to remove the wisp of mana.

This attempt alone made Lin Yun suffer a heavy loss.

This mana was the most powerful mana Lin Yun had seen in his life. Just a wisp of it was comparable to a spirit mana crystal. If Lin Yun could freely meditate here, he might be able to reach the Archmage realm within a few days.

But unfortunately…

This mana couldn't be used.

Lin Yun felt a strange property coming from that wisp of mana just as he absorbed it. It couldn't rotate when it entered the Magic Arrays, feeling almost like a corpse blocking the Magic Arrays.

The Magic Arrays were Lin Yun's foundation. If they couldn't be activated, then Lin Yun's magic path would be severed. In that split second, Lin Yun truly felt fear as he went all-out to extract that wisp of mana that endangered his Magic Arrays.

Thankfully, Lin Yun was successful.

His Magic Array didn't get damaged, but forcibly extracting that wisp of mana greatly injured his body.

Just one wisp could force Lin Yun into a worse state than if he had been fighting an Archmage.

After that lesson, Lin Yun didn't relax and drank a Health Potion, partly treating his injuries while remaining vigilant. He quickly roused his Magic Arrays to observe and analyze the boundless void.

'Hmm?' After some time, Lin Yun noticed some strange mana fluctuations. These mana fluctuations came from the Crystal Scales that Lin Yun possessed.

Lin Yun had already suppressed the Incarnation of the Crystal Scales, and since then, the Spiritual Magic Tool set was only silently activated. Besides maintaining the Planar Path, it hadn't spread any mana fluctuations of its own.

He hadn't thought that after going through the very long Planar Path and reaching the Heaven Enlightening Plane, the Crystal Scales would suddenly start emitting such strange mana fluctuations.

When he noticed these mana fluctuations, Lin Yun subconsciously used his Magic Arrays. The Crystal Scales that had lost their Incarnation was instinctively operating and Lin Yun was able to easily catch those faint mana fluctuations without using any strength.

Then…

Lin Yun suddenly felt a large amount of information coming from these mana fluctuations. Lin Yun was still alert at first, rousing his Magic Arrays to carefully filter through the information, afraid of falling into a treacherous trap.

After all, the Crystal Scales didn't have a good reputation.

But soon, Lin Yun realized that this stream of information wasn't coming from the Magic Tool Incarnation but rather from the Crystal Scales themselves.

The Magic Tools didn't have consciousness by themselves. No matter how treacherous or malicious the incarnation was, once suppressed, the Magic Tool could only act on instinct.

Thus, Lin Yun sped up the reception of the information.

After a dozen minutes, Lin Yun finally comprehended it.

'It's actually the way to manipulate the Planar Path…' Lin Yun hadn't thought that the information conveyed by the Crystal Scales would turn out to be this.

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Chapter 247: Keep It

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

If the Heaven Enlightening Plane was like a sea, that Planar Path would be akin to an ark upon which Lin Yun sailed towards the center of the Heaven Enlightening Plane.

At this time, Lin Yun truly understood the importance of the Crystal Scales.

This was completely different from what he had thought before. The Crystal Scales weren't just the key to opening the Planar Path, they were also the control mechanism for the entire Planar Path.

If not for the Crystal Scales, the journey would have ended there. Lin Yun had already experienced how frightening the mana from the vast void was. Just carelessly absorbing one wisp of it had nearly been enough to ruin his life. Only two outcomes would await them if they moved forward and walked in that endless void.

One was to drift in the void forever.

And the other was to instantly be turned into ashes.

'Turns out it's like this…' Lin Yun understood why the Crystal Scales had remained in the stone tower.

He had already seen the power of the Crystal Scales.

A Spiritual Magic Tool set that could let Fran reach the Archmage realm and possess the power of an Artisan… That was a heaven-defying existence. Even Vaughn, as the final Artisan of the empire, had unimaginable status. But Lin Yun was convinced that besides those three puppets, he wouldn't be able to find any Magic Tools on par with that set.

With the custom of the 3rd Dynasty to bury possessions alongside their dead, why weren't the Crystal Scales buried in Crystal Island, but instead in the distant Four Seasons Canyon?

Lin Yun had always been curious about that.

But he now understood. Vaughn put the Crystal Scales there in order to give people the chance to open the Planar Path and enter the Heaven Enlightening Plane.

This wasn't a coincidence.

This had all been planned when Vaughn was still alive.

But after figuring this out, Lin Yun didn't have a feeling of sudden enlightenment. Rather, more and more questions appeared in his mind.

Such as, 'Why did Vaughn plan this…'

Or, 'What happened on the Planar Path in the end…'

And many others.

One question after another spiralled around in Lin Yun's mind, making him feel as if he had sunk into a swamp. The more he struggled, the deeper he sank. The more he raked his brain, the more questions he'd think of.

"Merlin, Merlin…" As Lin Yun was entranced, Solomon's voice came from behind.

"What is it, High Mage Solomon." Lin Yun didn't feel angry at having his thoughts interrupted, he only turned and asked politely.

"This… You… Don't you…?" Solomon asked with one hand hidden behind his back. There were some signs of struggle on his face at first, but then, he steeled himself and took out a scroll.

"Eh?" Lin Yun was surprised. He looked at the scroll and saw that it was a Meditation Law Set.

The set was comprised of nine formulas. Lin Yun carefully looked at them and noticed that three of them were based on astrology. This was enough for Lin Yun to understand that this Meditation Law Set was most likely Sky Eyes Oliver's Splendid Starry Sky.

Solomon was quite fortunate. The Splendid Starry Sky would be a top-quality Meditation Law Set in the current Andlusa Kingdom. It was more than enough to be treated as a core Meditation Law in the Sage Tower.

But what did it mean for Solomon to take out the Splendid Starry Sky?

Lin Yun froze before reacting.

'Is Solomon asking if I want it?'

"Eh… High Mage Solomon…" Lin Yun didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this time. Although the Splendid Starry Sky was an inheritance from Sky Eyes Oliver, nine-formula Meditation Law Sets weren't regarded as much in the future. Only those who had just become mages would use this kind of Meditation Law Set as a foundation.

Any decent mage would be practicing a ten-formula Meditation Law Set, let alone someone like Lin Yun.

He had several dozen Meditation Law Sets in mind. Never mind nine formulas or ten formulas, Lin Yun had three of the most famous fourteen-formula Meditation Law Sets!

Otherwise, Lin Yun wouldn't have casually thrown out a few Meditation Law Sets during the Magic Hand's gathering.

Furthermore…

Lin Yun had yet to choose his core Meditation Law Set.

No one knew this besides Lin Yun himself.

This included Jouyi, Solomon, William and all the people close to him. None of them knew that the young mage who had attained such shocking achievements had yet to pick a Meditation Law Set.

If such news was known, many, many people would be scared to death.

Everyone knew that a core Meditation Law Set was as important to a mage as a Magic Conducting Rune. It was akin to choosing one's future path, and almost every mage would choose their own core Meditation Law Set when they stepped into the Great Mage realm.

The sooner it was chosen, the sooner the foundation would be set in stone and the easier the path forward would be.

This was something that every mage knew. In all of Noscent, perhaps only a few Great Mages could be like Lin Yun, about to enter the High Mage realm without having chosen their core Meditation Law Set yet.

And it wasn't just a matter of simplifying things…

The most important part was that it would influence their future achievements. Without the guidance of a Meditation Law Set, a mage's path would remain indecisive and would touch upon every domain, but they wouldn't become extraordinary in any of them. This was the most common problem with those types of mages.

But naturally, Lin Yun had his reasons for delaying the choosing of his Meditation Law Set.

He had always been waiting for himself to enter the High Mage realm to start using the sixteen-formula Meditation Law Set. It was a set that completely toppled the current magic system's understanding of Meditation Law Sets.

But the requirements were very harsh.

Even with Lin Yun's strength, he only dared to attempt using it after entering the High Mage realm.

There wasn't any way to try it earlier, as the requirements were truly too severe. Although Lin Yun stood at the peak of the Great Mage realm and could defeat Archmages with the help of Magic Tools or his Flame Spirit, he still wasn't confident in being able to use that Meditation Law Set.

For the sake of this Meditation Law Set, Lin Yun had already endured for a very long time and hadn't even considered ones. Let alone the Splendid Starry Sky, even the Ivory Tower's famous Boundless Nature didn't interest Lin Yun.

Naturally, these words couldn't be said to Solomon.

Thus, Lin Yun only gave Solomon a strange look. "You should keep it…"

"Keep it?" A few simple words actually made Solomon shake. That 9th Rank High Mage even reached out his hand to touch Lin Yun's forehead. "Merlin, do you have a fever?"

"What fever?"

"Did I not explain properly? I found this Meditation Law Set on Oliver's body…" Solomon gulped as he made sure the young mage understood.

"I know, Splendid Starry Sky…"

"You… You know?" Solomon's eyes shook. He stood there in a daze, looking at Lin Yun lifelessly. After a minute, that 9th Rank High Mage scolded, "Damn, you know about it and you're still letting me keep it?"

"I…"

"You what, you clearly saw that this was Splendid Starry Sky, a nine-formula set. More importantly, it is Sky Eyes Oliver's inheritance. Getting the inheritance means that you might be able to reach Oliver's heights! That's Sky Eyes Oliver! Do you not understand!?"

"I understand, I understand…" Lin Yun was getting a headache.

"You understand… You understand and you still want me to keep it? Am I that kind of cheap person to you? You are the one who opened the Planar Path. You found the corpse of Sky Eyes Oliver, this Meditation Law Set should definitely be yours. What do you mean I should keep it?"

"The thing is… I truly don't need it," Lin Yun complained, "It's only a Meditation Law Set, you don't need to react like that…"

"You are making me angry…"

"High Mage Solomon, can I take a look?" When William saw Solomon stomping in fury, he got curious and drew closer.

Solomon was generous and handed the scroll to William as he told him with a voice still tinged in anger, "You should urge your cousin…"

"No problem…" William took the scroll with a smile, but after looking at it, a frown appeared on his face. After a long time, he returned the scroll with a puzzled expression. "It's fine, it's just a Meditation Law Set…"

"You guys…"

"Okay, okay, High Mage Solomon, rein in your anger. How about we go walk over there? My younger cousin was pondering over something, let's not bother him any longer," William suggested before leading him over.

William hadn't put that Meditation Law Set in his eyes at all.

It only had nine formulas.

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Chapter 248: Going, Not Going

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

That Crimson Heart Meditation Law Set his younger cousin had given him had ten formulas, and furthermore, when he gave it to him, Lin Yun had repeatedly warned him that he shouldn't use the Crimson Heart as a core Meditation Formula. Lin Yun also told him that once he had completely mastered the Crimson Heart, he would give him a more formidable Meditation Law Set, and only then could he choose his core Meditation Law.

In contrast, what was a Meditation Law Set with only nine formulas?

In William's eyes, Solomon was only looking to start a fight. 'My cousin said you could keep it, so keep it, why stomp your feet like a child… A 9th Rank High Mage like yourself losing your composure because of such a formula… What about your reputation?'

It wasn't strange for William Merlin to think this way.

After all, he was only a Great Mage.

He had only been a 5th Rank Great Mage when he left Okland for Thousand Sails City, and he hadn't seen that many Meditation Law Sets before.

He did know that the more formula there were, the better the Meditation Law Set.

But how good could it be?

William truly couldn't understand. The Crimson Heart Meditation Law Set that he was currently using had ten formulas. William only knew that this set was very powerful, but he had very little idea about others.

He had never considered how powerful or great it might be compared to others.

Thus, William truly couldn't understand when he saw Solomon's flustered appearance. 'It's just a nine-formula set, why would it cause such a great reaction?'

William even felt that this old man had stayed too long in the small Thousand Sails City and had never been outside of it, had never seen the world. If he told this High Mage that his own Meditation Law Set had ten formulas, how would he react?

'Hold on… This isn't right…'

William thought about it before suddenly realizing where his thinking had gone astray.

That old man who had been staying in Thousand Sails City wasn't someone who had never seen the world.

That old man's teacher was Star Sage Jouyi!

'Could it be that Meditation Law Sets with nine formulas are truly that powerful?'

William couldn't help fidgeting a bit when that thought came to his mind.

"Err, High Mage Solomon, may I ask, how many formulas does your Cloud Tower's core Meditation Law Set possess?"

"What are you asking for?" Solomon suddenly glanced warily at William. But he then recalled that he was Merlin's older cousin, and from the way Merlin didn't seem to care about the Splendid Starry Sky, William shouldn't be lacking Meditation Law Sets of his own. He relaxed a bit as he thought of that, so he responded, "Nine formulas, just like the Splendid Starry Sky…"

"Then…" William heard that and realized. He managed to calm down and gulped before hesitantly asking, "If… If there were a ten-formula Meditation Law Set… Then…"

"Ten formulas? Haha, that would be the number one Meditation Law Set of the entire Andlusa Kingdom!" Solomon answered, grinned broadly.

"…" William became breathless.

'The number one Meditation Law Set of the entire Andlusa Kingdom! I am studying the number one Meditation Law Set of the kingdom! And there's still more!?"

William felt as if he had been struck by lightning as that thought echoed like thunder. He stood there in a daze, his eyes unfocused, mumbling under his breath, "Number one Meditation Law Set, number one Meditation Law Set, number one Meditation Law Set…"

"Did something happen?" Solomon couldn't help feeling strange as William didn't answer for a long time.

"Eh, nothing, nothing…" After being asked by Solomon, William recovered from his shock. He casually dodged Solomon's question before leaving with a sluggish expression, not caring about Solomon's reaction.

"What's wrong…"

William was in no state to answer. This genius of the Merlin Family was immersed in the shock brought to him by the Crimson Heart.

When he just started learning the Crimson Heart, William had once thought to himself that the Meditation Law Set seemed quite powerful. After a short few months, he had become a 9th Rank Great Mage from his starting point as a 5th Rank Great Mage.

William remembered that his younger cousin had told him that he shouldn't be too absorbed in the effects brought by the Crimson Heart because this Meditation Law Set had flaws. Ten formulas were too few and couldn't fully evolve the Crimson Heart. The only reason he gave him this Meditation Law Set was as a foundation. Once he mastered the Crimson Heart, his cousin would teach him a Meditation Law Set that could fully evolve the Crimson Heart, and only then could he choose a core Meditation Law Set.

At the time, William truly hadn't thought that the flawed Meditation Law Set his cousin had talked about would be that formidable.

And yet it was assessed as number one in the entire Andlusa Kingdom by Solomon.

William truly didn't know what to think now. How formidable was the Meditation Law Set that his cousin was planning to give him next?

As he thought of that, William turned and looked at Merlin with reverence.

He felt that he truly couldn't understand this younger cousin. He thought he knew him well enough, but now that he looked back, William felt that his cousin was shrouded in more mysteries than ever before.

'Fortunately, fortunately… Fortunately, I went to Thousand Sails City, fortunately, I chose to cooperate with my younger cousin…'

Although he was known as one of the geniuses of the Merlin Family, ranked number five among the younger generation, what did he amount to in the end?

His future in the Merlin Family had already been decided. He would never be able to compete with Leon Merlin for the Patriarch position. His path would end at being sent to a territory to manage it while looking up at the high and mighty patriarch.

But now.

William believed that as long as he was given some time, he would definitely be able to compete for the patriarch position. What about Leon? William had the number one Meditation Law Set, his future seemed boundless. He would only need a few years before being able to surpass this older cousin that he had always been forced to look up to, and then he would be able to look down at him instead.

If he had the help of his younger cousin, the position of patriarch would be within reach. Who in the entire Merlin Family could rival this younger cousin?

Naturally…

William was also thinking of something else.

If he gave up on the patriarch position and focused on following that younger cousin, perhaps he would have the opportunity to leave his name in the annals of history.

"Everyone, we might encounter some danger." Lin Yun finished deliberating just as William was growing restless. He stood back against the void and told the entire group, "In short, we will cross the entire plane. What this journey entails, I myself do not know…"

"Crossing the entire plane?" Suyass was startled. As one of the strongest of the Mercury Tower, Suyass had already been in planar expeditions a dozen times in the past ten years. Some were already under the control of the Mercury Tower, while some were still being explored.

But one thing was certain. He wouldn't dare to suggest crossing an entire plane even for the ones that were already under the control of the Mercury Tower.

A plane was an entire world of its own, especially one like this, which was like an endless void as far as the eye could see. There was no end, no boundary, and it would be very difficult to make others believe that they could cross it.

"Yes, crossing the entire plane." Lin Yun looked at Suyass before repeating it again. He continued, "I believe everyone is already aware that this is a plane higher than Noscent, it surpasses any known plane. Even an Archmage would be like an ant after entering it. A gust, a drizzle, even a grain of sand might possibly tear us apart. Thus, I'm asking everyone here. Those who want to come with me, I'll welcome, but I'll not make things difficult for those who don't want to join me."

"Moreover…" After pausing there for a moment, Lin Yun added, "This trip is very dangerous, so I think we should make some small changes to the joint exploration team's loot distribution."

"Go ahead, Merlin."

"I suggest that the harvest of this trip shouldn't be counted as part of the joint exploration team's harvest. In other words, if you come with me, no matter what you gain during your trip, it'll be your own. Naturally, if you are unwilling to follow me, you won't have a share. What does everyone think?"

"I agree."

"It seems fair."

"I agree with Merlin's proposal."Lin Yun's suggestion was widely accepted. In reality, the distribution system the joint exploration team had used before was already unsuitable for this place. And the people present were all Lin Yun's staunch supporters apart from Fran and Suyass. Being able to get more rewards on the trip was something they would try to refute.

Lin Yun's expression grew more serious when he saw that everyone was rushing to agree because he knew that they all wanted to get the biggest harvest during this trip. In other words, everyone wanted to follow him deeper into the Heaven Enlightening Plane.

But the dangers of the Heaven Enlightening Plane weren't ordinary.

In fact, if it weren't for him wanting to clear up those questions, Lin Yun would never be willing to risk entering the Heaven Enlightening Plane now.

Thus, Lin Yun had no other choice but to emphasize once more.

"I'll repeat once again, the danger of this journey is greater than you could have ever imagined. Everyone had better think about it and make a clear decision. I definitely won't force anyone, and you can immediately return if you wish… Except Xiuban!"

"Why can't I!?" The Draconic Beastman immediately interjected.

As for the why…

"Xiuban, we have a contract…"

"…" The Draconic Beastman felt like crying. 'If I had known earlier that it would end up like this, I would have resisted that Ghost Wolf and wouldn't have signed that damn contract. How am I supposed to survive if we keep going to these dangerous places all the time?'

'Fuck, I'm only a Draconic Beastman, I'm not a real Dragon!'

Although the bitter face of the Draconic Beastman was very laughable, no one could laugh at this time because they finally understood.

Whether it was Lys, Solomon, Fran, or Suyass, they all understood from that young Great Mage's words that this time, even he was uncertain of their success.

Otherwise, Merlin wouldn't have said these words, given his temperament.

This was like telling everyone that he wasn't confident in this adventure but that he was willing to take the risk for some special reasons. But it would be best to not go if they weren't confident enough.

Many people started hesitating this time.

They all came here because they trusted the young Great Mage, believing that he would be able to deal with all the problems. But now, even Merlin himself wasn't confident. What awaited them ahead might truly send them to their deaths.

'What should I do? Should I not go?' they thought.

Everyone was considering whether or not they should take this risk. That boundless void might be hiding some incredible wealth, or it might be hiding their doom. What to choose was completely up to each of them.

"I'll go!" Before long, a voice came out of the crowd.

The first one turned out to be William!

To be honest, although everyone had experienced the same long journey, whether it was Lys or Badrack, they didn't have a good impression of that young genius from the Merlin Family.

He was too crafty…

On the way, William had been extremely crafty, hiding during the fights while waiting for everyone else to deal with the dangers first. He had been marked as a disgrace alongside that Draconic Beastman. One crafty and one cowardly, such a pair of weirdos.

If not for Lin Yun, these two would have already been kicked out of the joint exploration team.

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It was because of Merlin.

Everyone in the exploration team was aware that the one who contributed the most wasn't the Archmage, Suyass, and neither was it the leader, Lys. The one who contributed the most was the young Great Mage who joined the team with his two subordinates and had the loot priority on all magic materials.

Fran hadn't been the only one to complain. At first, a few of the leaders of Thousand Sails City's forces also disapproved. However, they hadn't insisted on it because the Gilded Rose was formidable and no one dared to offend that young Great Mage. Even if they didn't agree, they consoled themselves, thinking that at least they would get to improve their relationships with the Gilded Rose.

But as the expedition got further and further, everyone could see that letting the young Great Mage have loot priority wasn't unfair.

He saved the joint exploration team multiple times from being wiped out when they were besieged by beasts and Thunderbirds.

At that time, their attitudes had already changed, from initially suffering in silence to willingly accepting it, or else there wouldn't have been so many people standing alongside Lin Yun against Fran when the latter wanted to take the magic materials by force.

It was also because of those that Xiuban and William, these two deadweights, had been tolerated by everyone. Otherwise, they would have been kicked out long ago.

No one had expected that at such a critical time, the first to step forward would actually be William.

Their gazes converged on William, to see whether it was truly the crafty deadweight.

This was too illogical.

Merlin had already made clear that this trip was extremely deadly, that even an Archmage might fall instantly. He even said that it might be better for them to not go, apart from Xiuban.

According to William's nature, he shouldn't even think of going there.

They all wondered if he had been hit on the head, and if he had properly heard what his cousin had said.

"Cousin, I'll follow you." William's behavior defied their expectations. He came out from the crowd with an exceptionally resolute expression.

"You had best reconsider, this is very dangerous this time. I truly cannot guarantee your safety…"

"I thought about it clearly." William's determination wasn't swayed by Lin Yun's persuasion. This crafty young mage was determined to follow Lin Yun across that plane.

This surprised even Lin Yun.

After looking at WIlliam for a while, Lin Yun helplessly shook his head. "Okay, then be careful."

"I will." William's expression seemed extremely calm.

In the entire exploration team, only William knew why he was taking this risk.

William definitely wouldn't have chosen to go just a few minutes ago.

That mysterious plane was too dangerous, and anyone that went could die, so how could William dare to go…

But it was very different now.

Because William had felt that the most fortunate moment of his life was meeting that cousin in Thousand Sails City.

In a short few months, he had already become a 9th Rank Great Mage, just one step away from the High Mage Realm he had been yearning for.

This was like a dream to William Merlin.

No, this was even more outrageous than a dream.

In the past, he would have only dared to dream of becoming a High Mage before turning forty.

But now, he was still a long way from forty, yet he was already about to enter the High Mage Realm. This was all due to this cousin.

Furthermore, there was also the Crimson Heart.

The shock William felt when he learned about the Crimson Heart was too great.

What Solomon assessed as the number one Meditation Law Set of the kingdom was only used as a foundation by his cousin… This was a terrifying thought.

If the Crimson Heart was just a foundation, then how formidable would the core Meditation Law Set that his cousin was planning to give him be?

That Crimson Heart made William realize that the most important thing he had to do in his life was to follow the footsteps of his younger cousin.

No matter where he went, regardless of what he did, he only needed to follow behind him.

Even if he had to follow him through a dangerous and mysterious plane.

These were William's true thoughts.

Naturally, Lin Yun didn't know about it.

After nodding and accepting William's determination, he looked at everyone else one by one. They had already made their decisions and the group was divided in two once again.

"We will return." To Lin Yun's surprise, Suyass and Fran also chose to follow… Well, Fran had already lost the right to make a decision and only followed Suyass.

"Oh?"

"Merlin, I know that Fran's actions were terrible. I'll tell Teacher everything after returning, and Teacher will naturally punish him. I only hope that this matter doesn't affect your relationship with the Mercury Tower. In order to express our sincerity, we will cross this mysterious plane with you and we will give up on anything we find along the way and give it to the Gilded Rose."

Hearing Suyass' words, Fran opened his mouth, wanting to disagree. But Suyass wasn't as polite as before and directly glared at him, making Fran shut his mouth.

"Haha…" Lin Yun smiled. "Fran is Fran, the Mercury Tower is the Mercury Tower. I can still differentiate them."

"Thank you." Suyass sighed in relief. Although the young Great Mage didn't make a direct statement, he had still shown his attitude, and this was enough for Suyass.

After Suyass and Fran, it was Solomon and Lys.

These two were the ones who supported Lin Yun the most. Suyass and Fran had already made their choice, so these two didn't want to fall behind.

But after them, no one else said a word.

They couldn't be blamed for demurring. That mysterious plane's power exceeded their imaginations. They were at most on par with High Mages, and they would be nothing more than ants if they entered. They could easily be burnt to ashes as soon as they went any further.

It might have been different if they were ordinary people, but these people were leaders of major forces and had hundreds of subordinates. They had a lot on their shoulders and didn't dare to take the risk of following the young mage.

"Alright, we will split up here. I already repositioned the Planar Path, as long as everyone follows it back, you'll be able to return to Noscent within three hours."

"Well… Merlin, be careful."

After watching that group of people leave, Lin Yun chanted a spell and the surrounding space started twisting. The visible mana fluctuations began wreaking havoc in the void. It looked like heavenly power.

Lin Yun didn't even look at it before chanting a long incantation. Each character carried a mysterious power, and each sentence seemed to be able to control the world. An explosion was heard as the last character left Lin Yun's mouth.

Then, the Planar Path was ruptured!

Yes, the endless Planar Path ruptured, and the few of them remained there on some sort of island amidst the void.

"Merlin, this.." Lys' expression changed. The Planar Path rupturing also meant that they didn't have a way back.

"Rest assured, I already prepared the way back for everyone, but it's not suitable for opening right now…"

"But… but…" Lys didn't feel too reassured after hearing Lin Yun's explanation. After mumbling for a bit, he clenched his teeth and said, "But there is no need to rupture the Planar Path… Isn't it better to have one more way out?

"It can't be helped, Leader Lys. We can only cross that mysterious plane if we rupture the Planar Path…"

"Ah?" Lys was stunned.

But before he could ask for clarification, Lin Yun already cast a spell and the small island they stood on was already plunging into the endless void.

"That part of the Planar Path will become our ark to cross the plane!" Lin Yun explained no further as he started controlling this part of the Planar Path with his mind.

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Chapter 250: Discovery In The Void

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

Lin Yun had now realized that the Crystal Scales were far stronger than he had imagined.

He even felt that the true power of the Crystal Scales belonged to the True Spirit realm.

Yes, in Lin Yun's eyes, with the Crystal Scales being that formidable, it wouldn't be wrong to consider it a True Spirit Magic Tool Set, or a completely formed Heaven Magic Tool.

Lin Yun used the control method he had obtained earlier to make the Planar Path move through the void.

At the same time, the surrounding space started distorting crazily.

Afterwards, those distortions started combining, the process taking about five seconds before Lin Yun felt his body relaxing. The attacks of the strange mana within the endless void disappeared in an instant as if they had only been hallucinations.

Of course, Lin Yun knew that he hadn't hallucinated.

From his experience at the end of the world, Lin Yun had gained an incomparably sharp mana sense. He couldn't feel those mana fluctuations now because he had been operating the Crystal Scales. The surroundings of the piece of the Planar Path were distorted, isolating all the mana fluctuations from the outside, nullifying the assault of that strange mana.

This was the Heaven Enlightening Plane, after all.

Its power far surpassed what anyone could think of… Even though it looked like something had happened to the Heaven Enlightening Plane, making the plane seem dead, its power far surpassed the power in Noscent. Even a wisp of mana from this place could easily kill an Archmage, but this Planar Path Fragment was actually isolated from the Heaven Enlightening Plane due to the power of the Crystal Scales.

This wasn't something that just any True Spirit Magic Tool could do…

'But the Crystal Scales are obviously Spiritual Magic Tools. Even together they would only amount to a True Spirit Magic Tool…'

When he fought Fran, he had relied on the Upper Rank Flame Spirit to win and had used the Magic Arrays to suppress the Crystal Scales' Incarnation.

It had been far powerful than it was right now.

'So, the Crystal Scales are special in the fact that their true might can only be shown when linked with the Planar Path?'

The Crystal Scales' true power showed after he stepped on the Planar Path, after all.

But there was something that couldn't be explained. 'Who made such a monstrous Magic Tool? And what was the purpose?'

As Lin Yun was lost in his thoughts, the Planar Path Fragment continued drifting through the void.

The Planar Path Fragment travelled through the void like a meteor, though seeming slow and steady. But Lin Yun, who was in control, knew that although the travel speed was steady, it was by no means slow.

It looked like it was drifting along at a speed of no more than a kilometer per minute, but in reality, the Planar Path Fragment was relying on the spatial distortions and folds to move at least 500 kilometers in an instant.

Endless void, endless darkness…

The entire Heaven Enlightening Plane was thoroughly dead. Lin Yun didn't sense a single breath of life. Time and space seemed to be frozen in this dead plane. The Planar Path Fragment seemed to be the only place harboring life in the entire plane.

There was no light, no sound… The world remained deathly quiet.

At the start, the Planar Path Fragment was full of vitality. Solomon was curious about everything and kept asking questions, while William kept asking for guidance as he wanted Lin Yun to teach him the next Meditation Law Set. As for the Draconic Beastman, he kept complaining the whole time. He complained that Lin Yun shouldn't have brought him on such a dangerous journey. Although Suyass and Fran didn't say anything, they couldn't help curiously looking at this new world…

But…

As hours passed, everyone gradually calmed down. Darkness spread wherever they looked, and there were no voices or light. They were only surrounded by limitless desolation, making everyone feel a bit dreary.

They all became impatient. Solomon couldn't help pacing, William was researching his Crimson Heart, and Xiuban was almost weeping from anxiety. As for Fran and Suyass, they burst into a fierce quarrel, which was ended by a fierce slap from Suyass.

But Lin Yun wasn't paying attention to any of them. Whether it was the pacing Solomon or the studying William, or even the fierce quarrel, it was as if they had never existed in Lin Yun's eyes. He stood there the whole time like a stone statue.

The journey seemed to be endless.

Who knew how long it took before the restless group gradually calmed down?

But the peace that they settled into was more of a numbing silence. No one said anything as they all stood there, their eyes blankly fixed ahead, looking into the endless void.

The most frightening thing about travelling through this endless void was the eternal silence.

Everything was dull and kept repeating. Whenever they opened their eyes, they would only see nothingness. There was nothing, no end, no limit. Time and space already lost meaning in this journey. One second would stretch for a year. This kind of torture was enough to make anyone not determined enough go crazy.

Of those present, the worst one in that respect was Xiuban. Very few people could compare to him in terms of how little willpower he had. At this moment, he looked like a dead fish on the verge of collapse.

No one was talking. They had sunk into complete silence, but this kind of silence was the most dangerous.

Someone might soon shriek as they sank into madness.

But…

Lin Yun still didn't say anything. He was still calmly standing there as if nothing there mattered to him.

Hour after hour passed and their gazes grew increasingly more unfocused.

"Pay attention! There is something in front," Lin Yun suddenly said, apparently no longer pretending to be a statue.

Lin Yun's voice was very soft, and no one would have heard him if they weren't paying attention.

But they all stood up, their blank looks disappearing, and the Draconic Beastman was even jittery as he jumped to Lin Yun. "Something? What? Where?"

"It's coming." Lin Yun didn't look at him as he grabbed the Magic Staff of the Crystal Scales with one hand while taking the Book of Death from his pocket with the other hand.

Under the infusion of mana, the Book of Death instantly opened to the page of the Ultimate Spells. With one thought, Lin Yun's Ultimate Spells would be able to burst with shocking power.

These were Lin Yun's greatest trump cards.

Lin Yun would rarely use the Book of Death in the past because he knew that if he used all his cards, it would be hard to make a comeback if the situation became even more disadvantageous.

But Lin Yun couldn't worry about that now.

No one amongst them understood the Heaven Enlightening Plane more than he did. It was the most legendary plane in Noscent's countless years of history. The legends and myths had been deeply engraved in his heart.

No matter how alert and vigilant he was towards such a plane, it would never be too much.

"Come on!" A light finally appeared in this endless void, and it expanded at a shocking rate.

Only now did everyone realize that the speed of the Planar Path Fragment was incredibly shocking. That dot-sized light had flickered into the side of a mountain in less than three seconds.

Then, everyone saw it.

The flickering golden light was like a creature made out of molten gold. Its countless gorgeous scales seemed like an illusion. Its fierce head and sharp claws were brimming with wildness and power.

And the most frightening part was that it had three heads!

"Heavens!" Solomon and Suyass exclaimed at the same time.

It was a Dragon!

A Three-Headed Golden Dragon!

The most noble of the Chromatic Dragons…

Golden Dragons represented boundless power and supreme status. Even in the distant Nesser Dynasty, Golden Dragons were natural rulers. They weren't like the Green Dragons who controlled the power of nature, and they also weren't like Silver Dragons, who were proficient in all magical knowledge. They only had power, enough to tear the sky and shatter the earth.

And this Dragon had three heads!

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Chapter 251: Cemetery

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

It was rumored that the power of a Three-Headed Golden Dragon could rival the Ancient Gods.

There had only been three Three-Headed Golden Dragons in Noscent's history, and they had been the supreme existences among the Chromatic Dragons. Their power was far more superior than what any human could have imagined. One breath could destroy a city and wipe out a race.

Even at the end of the Nesser Dynasty, no Three-Headed Golden Dragon had fallen. When facing the unmatched Charles the Emperor and his powerful subordinates, the three Three-Headed Golden Dragons still managed to tear the void and flee with the remaining Chromatic Dragons to an unknown plane.

It could be said that the Three-Headed Dragons were already legends in Noscent, they were true unparalleled existences. There were even some legends saying that if a Golden Dragon had three heads, it meant that it had stepped into the Eternal Realm.

Of course, legends were just legends. It was unclear whether Three-Headed Golden Dragons were truly eternal.

But one thing was certain, the Three-Headed Golden Dragons could rival Ancient Gods.

And now, an existence on par with an Ancient God was floating amidst the void, not one breath of life in its body, its radiance and power already lost in the river of time.

Indeed, this was a Three-Headed Golden Dragon's corpse.

Lin Yun had seen plenty of corpses on the way. Archmages, Heaven Mages, Elves, Chromatic Dragons… But Lin Yun never imagined to see the corpse of such a powerful existence.

That existence could be said to be able to match a God, there is no force present in Noscent capable of killing it.

How could such a powerful existence fall?

Lin Yun was stunned.

'Wait…' Before Lin Yun could even recover, a shadow rushed over from the void.

'Could it be…'

Lin Yun stood there with a blank expression. He was looking at the shadow floating over and even forgot to control the Planar Path Fragment.

Fortunately, he didn't need to control the Planar Path at the moment as it only calmly floated in the void, waiting for the shadow to arrive.

It drew closer and closer.

As it approached, Lin Yun could see that the shadow had the same dimension as the Golden Dragon, sporting the size of a small hill in the boundless void. As the shadow came ever closer, Lin Yun was able to make out a silhouette.

That was a giant over one hundred meters tall. His lofty and majestic body drifted through the void, motionless as if it had sank in an eternal sleep.

'No way…' Lin Yun couldn't react this time. He was looking in front of him with wide eyes while gasping, speechless.

'That's an Ancient God!'

One of the creatures born alongside the world, appearing when heaven and earth were created. They had the most profound knowledge and the strongest power. They were the start of the world and its original rulers.

In the very old Golden Era, the Gods had created the glorious Ascian Dynasty, bringing about a civilization that could only be described as miraculous. That was the most famous and fascinating period of Noscent, an era of legends.

Unfortunately, in the blank period before the start of the Nesser Dynasty, the glorious Ascian Dynasty fell to its end, as if every god had disappeared overnight, only leaving behind the vast Noscent world. Each major race rose one after the other before the Elves and the Dragons ended up sitting on the Throne of Life.

But…

Even the prideful Elves and Dragons didn't dare to say that their Nesser Dynasty could rival the Ascian Dynasty.

Indeed, Three-Headed Golden Dragons were truly unparalleled existences, but that was in the Nesser Dynasty.

The Ancient Gods had already thoroughly disappeared then and the Three-Headed Golden Dragons had no rivals.

Before the Nesser Dynasty, the Ancient Gods were the ultimate existences!

Lin Yun was completely stunned as he watched that scene.

A Three-Headed Golden Dragon's corpse, an Ancient God's corpse…

'What the hell is going on in the Heaven Enlightening Plane?'

'Did a war happen?'

'A war between the Ancient Gods and the Chromatic Dragons?'

There might be no other way to explain the situation. Whether it was the Three-Headed Golden Dragon or the Ancient God, they were both almost unkillable existences, Lin Yun wouldn't believe that someone else killed them. This kind of power was above Noscent. If it truly existed…

The most plausible explanation was that a war happened.

But what about the Heaven Enlightening Plane?

'Why does the whole Heaven Enlightening Plane seem to be dead? This is too different from the legends. In the legends, the Heaven Enlightening Plane was overflowing with golden aura, it was a true Mythical Plane, so why is it deathly quiet now, why is it a boundless void?'

'Could it be because of that war?'

'But that doesn't seem possible…'

Lin Yun came from the end of the world, he was the one who understood the most how much power was needed to completely destroy a world.

The future Noscent was still far less powerful than this plane, but it had also experienced the peak of the Magic Era, where countless powerhouses including Charles the Conqueror and Sovereign of Death Sandro fought. The might of these powerhouses was already close to the Three-Headed Golden Dragons and the Ancient Gods. They fought countless times in Noscent, so why didn't they end up destroying Noscent?

Let alone Noscent…

Even lesser planes such as the Bone Plane would rarely be shattered. These planes could handle a lot more than they seemed to. After all, even lesser planes were still full-fledged worlds, and worlds weren't that easy to destroy.

"Merlin, you… Look!" While Lin Yun was pondering, Solomon suddenly exclaimed.

At this time, the 9th Rank High Mage was in shock. He was looking towards the void with dread.

"What is it?" Lin Yun looked over curiously, before his face suddenly paled.

After flying through the void for such a long time, the Planar Path Fragment had now reached a graveyard.

One corpse next to another.

There were too many of them to count.

The boundless void spreading before them was like a huge cemetery, it was filled with the aura of death, and there was no lack of Chromatic Dragon's corpses, as well as Elves, Ancient Gods, Humans, Beastmen, Angels, Demons,… Lin Yun could see every single race that had once lived in Noscent.

They spread far and wide, every corpse slowly floating in the void. They had been outstanding powerhouses during their lives, but now, they didn't have neither any power nor any aura of life left in their bodies.

Some of these corpses were in good condition, some were badly damaged…

Although they were motionless and far away, Lin Yun could still guess at the bitter struggle that had happened there. Shards of broken weapons and armors were spread everywhere in that field of death, and after observing them some more, Lin Yun had discovered that all these weapons and armors had been of the utmost quality, they were all Splendid Magic Tools at the very least.

At this time, Lin Yun clearly understood.

Why the Heaven Enlightening Plane was different from the legends.

It could be understood from this horrifying cemetery. Thousands upon thousands of corpses, every single one having shocking power, and even legendary existences such as Chromatic Dragons, pure-blooded Elves, and Ancient Gods were intermixed in the fray. A fight between all these unfathomable figures might truly be able to destroy the Heaven Enlightening Plane.

That was already too much for a world to handle.

'I truly didn't think that the Heaven Enlightening Plane would be hiding such a shocking secret…' Lin Yun stood there, in a daze, looking at that frightening cemetery in some sort of trance.

Lin Yun knew that he should be already leaving.

Just seeing these countless corpses and this horrifying cemetery was enough to understand they had to avoid this place.

Lin Yun thought for a bit before pouring two entirely different types of magic power into the Crystal Scales.

In a flash, the two rings he wore blossomed with a blue and a red light.

The huge power started converging onto that magic staff. Under the conflict of elements, the originally stable Crystal Scales chaotically shook.

Such a conflict was absolutely mortal to a Magic Tool.

If careless, it would lead to the Magic Tool being destroyed.

But what Lin Yun wanted to do now was precisely destroying the Crystal Scales.

From the previous mana fluctuations, Lin Yun already knew that destroying the Crystal Scales was the only way to return.

But just as Lin Yun was about to destroy the Crystal Scales to initiate the return trip, a silhouette flew out of the Planar Path Fragment.

"Xiuban, what are you doing!" Lin Yun was startled. There was no time left, the Draconic Beastman had already rushed out of the protection of the Planar Path and was pouncing towards that Three-Headed Golden Dragon's corpse.

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Chapter 252: A Drop of Dragon Blood

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

"What…"

The Draconic Beastman issued a loud scream after leaving the protection of the Planar Path Fragment. He was like a dozing drunkard being suddenly woken up and struggling wildly. Unfortunately, he was no longer protected.

"Fuck…" Lin Yun swore angrily.

But he still stopped pouring mana into the Crystal Scales.

As Lin Yun cut the flow of mana, the Crystal Scales that were on the verge of bursting managed to stabilize and the Planar Path Fragment no longer shook, the surrounding spatial distortions also gradually recovered. At the same time, Lin Yun cast a Vine spell and sent the arm-thick vine through the void towards the Draconic Beastman.

Then the Vine curled around Xiuban's body and Lin Yun felt the Vine becoming more heavy as other side was struggling and screeching, "Help… Help…"

"Hmph…" Seeing the Vine curled around the body of the Draconic Beastman, Lin Yun sighed in relief and controlled the Vine to pull him back as he shouted, "Are you crazy!"

"Hold on, Sir, please free me…" But Lin Yun hadn't expected that just as the Vine pulled Xiuban back, the latter unexpectedly started struggling again.

It looked like he wanted to break free from the Vine's binding.

"What's the matter?" Lin Yun was stunned.

"Sir, look, look, over there…"At this time, the Draconic Beastman didn't know how to explain, so he just kept struggling while pointing ahead of him.

"Ah?" Lin Yun followed the Draconic Beastman's finger and caught sight of a particular corpse.

That was the body of a Three-Headed Golden Dragon.

As one of the peak existences of Noscent, the Three-Headed Golden Dragon's scales still flickered with a dazzling golden light even after being dead for so many years. Although it had lost its life and power and was merely floating in the void, Lin Yun could still feel its might and majesty.

But…

Why was the Draconic Beastman desperately struggling to rush over?

If him leaving the protection of the Planar Path Fragment earlier could be considered as an accident, then why was he struggling so much now that Lin Yun had gotten hold of him with the Vine and was pulling him back towards the safety of the Planar Path Fragment? Why was he trying to get to the Three-Headed Golden Dragon's corpse with all his might?

If felt as if he found that corpse very attractive.

'Could it be…' As he thought of a possibility, Lin Yun's heart couldn't help being moved.

He didn't say anything and directly controlled the Planar Path Fragment and quickly moved it to the corpse of the Three-Headed Golden Dragon.

Even under the protection of the Planar Path Fragment, Lin Yun could clearly feel a frightening power in the surroundings as they drew closer to the Three-Headed Golden Dragon.

'Sure enough!'

Lin Yun understood.

There was a bright red spot on top of the corpse.

This bright red spot seemed especially conspicuous among the dazzling golden scales.

That was a drop of blood.

That drop was on the chest of the Three-Headed Golden Dragon. Lin Yun had thought that the Three-Headed Golden Dragon had no wounds, but after getting closer, he could see a fist-sized hole on his chest, and this drop of blood came from this wound.

'So it was like that…' Lin Yun finally understood why the Draconic Beastman had suddenly gone crazy, it was because of that drop of blood.

No wonder the cowardly Xiuban would rush forward as if his life depended on it…

For Draconic Beastmen whose power came from their bloodline, the value of a drop of blood from a Three-Headed Golden Dragon couldn't be assessed. That was the drop of blood of an existence rivalling Ancient Gods, one of the peak bloodlines of Noscent, even a mere drop would contain unimaginable power and secrets.

The Dragonic Beastman might not consciously know this, but the instinct from his bloodline made him long for that drop of blood nonetheless.

It seemed like he had no other choice than to help Xiuban get hold of that drop of blood.

Lin Yun was also curious to see what heights a Draconic Beastman would reach after assimilating a drop of blood from a legendary creature like the Three-Headed Golden Dragon.

Naturally, he wouldn't act rashly.

"Xiuban, hold the vine tightly!" Lin Yun shouted. The Draconic Beastman was in a very dangerous situation. The seemingly calm void was filled with deathly fluctuations and wild mana. Let alone the Draconic Beastman, even Suyass and Lin Yun wouldn't last long without the protection of the Planar Path Fragment.

After saying those words, Lin Yun started shrinking the vine.

The several dozen meters long vine quickly shrunk to less than thirty meters and the distance between the Draconic Beastman and the Three-Headed Golden Dragon was quickly widened.

"Sir…" Panic appeared on the face of the Draconic Beastman.

The urge coming from the depths of his bloodline made the Draconic Beastman's thirst towards that drop of blood surpass everything. It felt as if a voice was mumbling to him from the darkness, urging him to risk everything to get that drop of blood.

But at the same time, he couldn't resist Lin Yun's orders.

They had a soul contract, which put a restriction directly on his soul. In comparison, that kind of a bind was even stronger than the urge from his bloodline.

In the end his soul suppressed his bloodline.

No matter how unwilling he was, he had no other choice but to tightly grab that vine, watching the drop of blood getting further and further away from him. The Draconic Beastman could only stare blankly as he was pulled towards the Planar Path Fragment.

The Draconic Beastman had already thought that he had missed his chance to get this drop of blood.

But then, he suddenly found out that the vine pulling him had stopped twenty meters away from the Planar Path Fragment. He was just like a kite drifting in the void with the string held by Lin Yun.

"Sir! Sir! What's going on?" The Draconic Beastman suddenly panicked and subconsciously believed that this was his punishment.

"Silence." Lin Yun had already stopped controlling the vine, he had only fastened it there and focused his mind to move the Planar Path Fragment.

Lin Yun wasn't controlling a spell, he wasn't just controlling a Magic Tool either, he was controlling a part of a Planar Path! It could only be described as extremely taxing. Through the Crystal Scales he controlled the several dozen meters wide piece of Planar Path and made it move closer towards the cemetery.

The difficulty was unimaginable to most people.

Fortunately, Lin Yun's Magic Arrays were roused to their limits and showed him several paths through the sea of corpses. Naturally, these paths were extremely complex and filled with dangers. If not careful they would collide with a corpse. It might still be fine if they hit corpses, but it would be deadly if they bumped into a Chromatic Dragon or an Ancient God.

Lin Yun didn't dare to be careless at this moment.

Lin Yun's mind was focused on controlling the Planar Path and simply couldn't bother answering the Draconic Beastman. After scolding him, he focused on controlling the Planar Path, making it follow a winding route through the cemetery.

"Merlin, this is too dangerous…" Suyass frowned.

At first, Suyass had already made up his mind and decided to always comply with the young Great Mage and follow his decisions to make up for Fran's mistakes.

But Suyass now discovered that this young Great Mage was actually sailing this Planar Path Fragment into the boundless cemetery.

This discovery frightened Suyass.

This was too dangerous!

Thus, Suyass subconsciously reacted.

But after starting his sentence, Suyass realized that he spoke rashly…

It wasn't an ordinary Great Mage standing in front of him.

Both his strength and status far surpassed the Great Mage realm, far surpassed even Fran and himself. Especially in this place, he was the one in control of the Planar Path Fragment and thus also in control of both Fran's and his own life.

And now, Suyass treated him as an ordinary Great Mage and bluntly pointed out his error…

This was too rash.

"Merlin, I meant, would there be any danger when going this far in?" Suyass promptly adjusted his words and softly talked.

"It's fine…"

"How could…" Suyass wanted to say 'How could it be fine', but he quickly stopped himself.

He had already been careless with his words.

Suyas didn't know how that young Great Mage would react if he pissed him off.

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Suyass was caught in a dilemma.

On one hand, he was worried about offending that young Great Mage, but on the other hand, he was worried about the trip being too dangerous.

Suyass was truly suffering now.

He felt that he couldn't do anything, he could only watch the Planar Path Fragment going through the cemetery. They were meandering in that space, and they would even stop at times. People couldn't help being worried, afraid this transportation method would break down.

"Eh?"

But watching it carefully made Suyass feel a bit wrong.

Indeed, the Planar Path Fragment was arduously moving forward, but one would find out after paying attention that this Planar Path Fragment was moving through the cemetery without bumping into any corpse.

No, it wasn't just corpses…

Even those shards of weapons and armors seemed to automatically avoid the Planar Path Fragment. Not one shard hit the Planar Path so far.

Those shards naturally couldn't automatically avoid them…

The only explanation was that the Planar Path Fragment was avoiding them!

"How could this be?" Suyass foolishly stood there after realizing.

The Planar Path Fragment managed to move through this cemetery without hitting anything.

This meant that the Planar Path's Controller was intentionally avoiding these obstacles.

But…

There weren't just one or two obstacles in the cemetery, nor hundreds, nor thousands. There were hundreds of thousands of obstacles, and they were all piled up in that part of the void. It was like clogged sewers in which people didn't even have the space to take one step. If one wanted to pass through the trash, they would have to forcibly wade forward, and this required strength.

But now, this young Great Mage had found a path and hadn't met a single piece of trash in all the "sewage".

How frightening was this?

And this wasn't the most frightening part…

He was controlling a Planar Path that was dozens of meters long!

Not mentioning how taxing controlling such a fragment of Planar Path was, just how troublesome was sailing this huge burden through such narrow gaps?

But what scared Suyass the most was the young Great Mage's mind.

This trip allowed for no mistake.

One mistake and the whole team would die.

He controlled the life of everyone, including himself. No mage could act normally under such pressure, but that young Great Mage just kept sailing the Planar Path Fragments through narrow gaps.

Not even a finger shook during that time.

Such a formidable mind…

In Suyass' eyes, only the most cool-headed and most cold-blooded person could reach this level, ignoring his own life and others'. This talent was frightening.

The young Great Mage in front of Suyass was such a frightening person.

Suyass suddenly felt a bit glad.

He was glad to have chosen to follow that young Great Mage on the Planar Path, greatly alleviating the conflict between both sides. Otherwise, the young Great Mage might truly look for Fran to settle their debts after they left and his relationship with the Mercury Tower would worsen.

To Suyass, this was more than enough.

He didn't dare imagine what would the consequences of having such a frightening enemy be.

The Planar Path kept winding around corpses and shards.

It had originally been a hundred meters away from the Three-Headed Golden Dragon's corpse, yet they flew several hundred kilometers under Lin Yun's control, bypassing countless corpses and shards and were now approaching the corpse of the Three-Headed Golden Dragon from its other side.

Others might not understand why…

But Lin Yun knew that it was the only safe path. Approaching the Three-Headed Golden Dragon from any other path would end up in a dead end, and they would bump against the body of an Ancient God or a Chromatic Dragon, or they might be pierced by shards of armors and weapons and end up as a honeycomb.

Only such a path could avoid all those threats and allow the Draconic Beastman to get that drop of blood.

In the end, under Lin Yun's urge, the Planar Path Fragment, bypassed the last corpses and put the drop of blood within Xiuban's reach.

"This…" The draconic Beastman that had originally given up suddenly saw the drop of blood appearing in front of his eyes, and shock came to replace his lifeless expression, restraining even the urge from his bloodline. He only stared at that drop of blood and even forgot to extend his hand.

"What the fuck are you dazed for, hurry up!" Lin Yun had already spent a lot of efforts controlling the Planar Path Fragment, before managing to get it to this location. But when he saw Xiuban being frozen there, he suddenly got angry and scolded him.

"Eh, eh…" The Draconic Beastman woke up when he was scolded by Lin Yun and quickly extended his hand…

Then, that drop of Dragon blood disappeared.

Indeed, just as the Draconic Beastman touched it, as if it had been attracted by a mysterious force, that drop of blood disappeared within Xiuban's finger. This happened so suddenly that if Lin Yun hadn't know that Xiuban was a Draconic Beastman beforehand, he might have felt that it had been a hallucination and no drop of blood had existed.

But before Lin Yun could recover, some unforeseen changes happened.

Just as the drop of blood was absorbed within Xiuban's body, the scales of the Three-Headed Golden Dragon started losing their luster, and the originally flickering light, dazzling like gold, was no longer flickering and remained dark.

Lin Yun watched as the golden dragon's corpse changed at a visible rate.

At first, it was only losing its luster, but soon, the Three-Headed Golden Dragon's corpse started withering. It didn't take long before that corpse thinned and started falling apart.

And this wasn't over…

The scales falling off soon turned to ashes amidst the void. The existence with the strongest defense in Noscent's history ended up in such a state, at this time, the bones cracked and fell apart.

It lasted about a minute…

But to that Three-Headed Golden Dragon's corpse, it was the same as a hundred thousand years passing in one moment.

The originally vivid corpse was decaying after losing that drop of blood.

Lin Yun recovered by the time the last bone turned to dust, he controlled the vine to pull Xiuban back while carefully thinking why this happened.

"Sir! Sir! I got it! I got it!" Xiuban was full of excitement, the longing in the depths of his bloodline was satisfied. That was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Draconic Beastman and was comparable to an evolution. That sense of satisfaction couldn't be described by words.

"Get back in." Lin Yun didn't care about Xiuban, the changes of the Three-Headed Golden Dragon shook Lin Yun.

Lin Yun had always thought that the corpses amidst the void had lost all power.

In fact, the information Lin Yun got from his analysis after entering the cemetery truly confirmed that. There were no mana fluctuations in the void cemetery, let alone any formidable aura.

It was only deathly quiet and strange.

But now, Lin Yun suddenly realized that he might have guessed wrong.

And it was because of that drop of Draconic blood.

Others might not understand what changes that drop of Draconic blood brought, but how could Lin Yun not know?

Lin Yun was certain that the Three-Headed Golden Dragon's corpse had managed to stay in such a perfect state for so long thanks to the drop of Draconic blood. Without it, the corpse instantly withered.

In other words, that drop of blood had contained a bit of the Dragon's power.

And since the Three-Headed Golden Dragon's power managed to last till now, then what about the other bodies…

Such as the Ancient Gods?

Lin Yun couldn't help feeling restless as he thought about it.

If his conjecture was right, then if he managed to reach one of the God's corpse, wouldn't his harvest be unfathomable?

And it didn't need to be a God….

The Silver Moon Elves gifted in magic, the Silver Dragons innately proficient with all magic, these two were also very good choices. As long as he got those, he would gain inestimable benefits.

'In that case, I should look for it…' Lin Yun thought as his eyes scanned numerous bodies and his Magic Arrays were frantically revolving as they outlined a dangerous path through the cemetery.

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Lin Yun was focused on controlling the Planar Path.

It was to the point that Lin Yun didn't even notice the strange expression on Xiuban's face. That was the expression of a kid meticulously suppressing his happiness so that no one would notice the treasure he picked up.

Lin Yun had already been in the cemetery for two hours by now, after pacing back and forth for such a long time he had brushed past many Chromatic Dragon's corpses, pure-blooded Elves, and in between, Lin Yun even got close to an Ancient God's corpse.

Earlier, Lin Yun had been going through an area with many shards and saw that Ancient God's body.

That was the first time Lin Yun saw an Ancient God up close.

Even if it was just a corpse, the shock it brought Lin Yun couldn't be described with words. Even the corpse gave the feeling of a deity descending onto a mortal world. Its dignified face, its imposing body, and the indescribable feeling it was emitting… It was floating in the void, surrounded by endless darkness and total silence, but it gave the feeling of boundless light being focused on its body, as if the first thing that had to be seen in this void was this God.

At this time, Lin Yun subconsciously wanted to urge the Planar Path closer.

But just as he thought about it, Lin Yun felt icy coldness coming from his chest.

Lin Yun was too familiar with this feeling. He would feel this kind of coldness whenever danger approached when hunting for sand beasts in that desolate desert. That feeling meant that he had overlooked something.

Shocked, Lin Yun promptly revolved his Magic Arrays and analyzed this calm void.

Lin Yun then paled.

He found out that this calm void that only seemed to be filled with shards was actually filled with endless dangers.

There was boundless mana crazily converging on the Ancient God's corpse like a huge maelstrom, and everything that dared to approach would be distorted and shattered. It was because of this that no corpses could be seen in the Ancient God's vicinity.

It wasn't because other corpses couldn't float near, but rather, once they approached, they would already be trapped in that endless maelstrom and be instantly sucked in and destroyed.

At the time, Lin Yun still didn't feel like completely giving up.

He summoned a Rock Puppet and use a Vine spell to send it out.

As a result, just as that Rock Puppet flew a hundred meters in, countless cracks appeared. In that split second it felt as if countless sharp blades attacked the rock puppet and with a snap, it was crushed to pieces.

Watching this strange scene, Lin Yun's hair stood on end.

Fortunately, it was only a Rock Puppet, if he had moved the Planar Path closer, the result would be…

Lin Yun didn't say anything, he was scared witless and then urged the Planar Path back.

Even if the inheritance of an Ancient God was attractive, Lin Yun clearly knew that he wouldn't be able to resist such a horrifying maelstrom.

Afterwards, Lin Yun sailed the Planar Path in the cemetery for a full two hours, yet he had only seen a small part of this place.

Lin Yun's group explored at most a tenth of the entire cemetery. Nothing could be done about it, the cemetery was too vast, it felt endless, there was only corpses and shards everywhere. Who knows what kind of desperate war happened to create such a place.

After two hours, Lin Yun found a safe path in the cemetery.

At the end of that path was the corpse of a Silver Dragon.

That Silver Dragon only had one head and couldn't be compared to the Three-Headed Golden Dragon.

But even if it only had one head, it was still one of the Chromatic Dragons. It was innately proficient with magic and as long as it left one drop of blood behind, Lin Yun would be able to undergo a great breakthrough.

To Lin Yun, this was more than enough.

Everyone had their own path, Draconic Beastmen were blessed with luck, being envious was useless.

More importantly, a drop of blood remained in the chest of the Silver Dragon.

A drop of Silver Dragon Blood.

In the era where Chromatic Dragons were already extinct, what did the blood of Silver Dragons meant? No one could be more clear about it than Lin Yun.

Although Lin Yun wasn't a Draconic Beastman and couldn't directly merge his bloodline with this drop of blood. But Lin Yun was a mage, a mage with the Magic Array. It wouldn't be exaggerated to say that Lin Yun could completely rely on that drop of blood to refine the Magic Arrays one more time. To some degree, that drop of blood wasn't inferior to the Reincarnation Eyes.

The Reincarnation Eyes made Lin Yun experience numerous reincarnations, allowing him to accumulate a shocking hundred thousand runes. And the Silver Dragon Blood would have an effect that wouldn't pale to the Reincarnation Eyes. Relying on that Silver Dragon Blood, Lin Yun could refine the Magic Arrays, pushing them to a whole new level.

He would surpass all the previous and future users of the Magic Array.

'It doesn't look that easy…' Lin Yun tightly held the Crystal Scales' magic staff. Numerous corpses and remains were spread ahead. Even after the Magic Array's repeated calculations, he only managed to find one path for the Planar Path.

But the space was very tight…

Even if his control far surpassed most people, Lin Yun could only tighten his grasp on the staff as cold sweat flowed down his back. Not the slightest mistake or deviation could be allowed when going through that tight gap.

If Lin Yun's hands trembled, they would crash on a powerful corpse.

One minute passed, and then two, three…

Ten minutes later, the distance between Lin Yun and the Silver Dragon hadn't changed.

It was because Lin Yun was leading the Planar Path on a tortuous route. The several hundred meters separating him from the Silver Dragon were in fact several hundred to a thousand kilometers.

Ten minutes, twenty, thirty…

One hour later, Lin Yun sighed in relief.

"Finally!" This hour was like torture to Lin Yun. His mind had been strained all along, and the Magic Array was in an overloaded state. Whether it was the mind or the body, they had both been seriously overdrafted. If not for that drop of Silver Dragon Blood, Lin Yun might not have been able to persevere through it.

The Planar Path stopped less than twenty meters in front of the Silver Dragon's corpse. Lin Yun cast a Vine which coiled around Lin Yun's legs. Then, he chanted a few words and the vine shot forward with Lin Yun.

Lin Yun couldn't avoid the dizziness. He moved forward with a glass bottle in hand and reached the Silver Dragon's body before securing the drop of blood within.

"Return!" Then Lin Yun chanted a few other words making the vine contract and fiercely shrink, dragging Lin Yun back to the Planar Path.

But at that time, Lin Yun caught sight of something from the corner of his eyes.

'Could this be…' In a hurry, Lin Yun promptly interrupted the vine. The originally fiercely shrinking Vine suddenly stopped in the void.

It had only been for a split second.

But in that split second, Lin Yun had clearly noticed it.

There were two magic staves piercing the Silver Dragon's stomach.

And these two magic staves were exact copies of each other, with a huge gem laid atop both of them, one representing the moon, and the other one the sun. But these two radiant gems were the same as all the other Magic Tools Lin Yun had seen so far, they had lost all their power and they no longer emitted any light, they looked like two ordinary stones.

But the difference was that these two magic staves weren't damaged.

In other words, as long as he could replace the two radiant gems, these two magic staves could still be used.

Well, saying that was putting the cart before the horse.

For a magic staff, the embedded gem was most important. Lin Yun's magic staff was a good example. If not for that huge Elemental Amber, Lin Yun would have already left it in some warehouse. It was because of that huge Elemental Amber that Lin Yun could gain a steady flow of mana and this was why he relied so much on that Spiritual Magic Staff.

The Elemental Amber was worth at least 90% of that Spiritual Magic Staff.

Changing or not changing the defective gem of a magic staff didn't make much difference usually.

Naturally, that was only when talking about ordinary magic staves.

The two magic staves Lin Yun had noticed were different, the two radiant gems had only been Augments!

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What did that mean?

This meant that these two radiant gems were actually dispensable. They were only there to amplify the power of the staff. The really important part of these two magic staves were the staves!

As a peak Master Alchemist, Lin Yun could definitely determine that only the gems had been damaged, the staves were untouched.

Lin Yun had no reason to refuse such a gift.

The array inscribed were exceptionally mysterious and deciphering them would be very strenuous even with Lin Yun's deep knowledge. This reinforced Lin Yun's assumptions that these two magic staves had most likely been True Spirit Magic Tools at their peak, but the two Augments gems were already destroyed, and as the years passed, the Magic Incarnation had long since dissipated in the void, making them fall from their True Spirit rank.

But True Spirit Magic Tools were still True Spirit Magic Tools.

As long as the core arrays weren't damaged, these two True Spirit Magic Tools could recover to their peak, it might just cost a bit.

In any case, since Lin Yun already encountered it, he would naturally not let these slip by.

He controlled the vine coiled around his leg and brushed past the Silver Dragon's corpse once again. He took advantage of the corpse having yet to decay to grab the two magic staves before ferociously pulling them out of the corpse.

Lin Yun didn't tarry after finishing this, he chanted a few words and dragged himself to the Planar Path.

Right after Lin Yun pulled the magic staves out of the Silver Dragon's body, the corpse decayed. Just like the Three-Headed Golden Dragon, the scales withered and the bones rotted. Before Lin Yun could even reach the Planar Path, the corpse turned to dust in the void.

'I truly wonder what happened…' Lin Yun inwardly sighed as he returned to the Planar Path. An esteemed Chromatic Dragon, one of the peak existence in regards to magic, became this frail after that war and ended up as specks of dust in the void…

'Shit!' As Lin Yun was inwardly sighing, a bright light flew near him.

That light was too strange.

After all, no matter how faint the light was, it would be like a scorching sun in this boundless darkness, it would be impossible to not sense it.

But Lin Yun hadn't noticed that light before, there had been no sign of its trajectory before, yet it had already reached his side when Lin Yun noticed it.

Lin Yun subconsciously dodged.

The few of them were as weak as ants in this cemetery, if not for the Planar Path's protection, one shard casually floating over could kill them on the spot.

Especially now that Lin Yun was still outside the protection of the Planar Path. If something hit him, no one would be able to save him.

However…

Lin Yun had forgotten something.

His movements depended on the vine coiled around him, and even if he could control the vine like an arm, he still had to sent the command first before it took action, so there was a delay. This was unavoidable.

Ultimately, this delay put Lin Yun in a bad situation.

Lin Yun quickly reacted and the vine quickly swung, but that was too late. Lin Yun felt a sharp pain on his stomach.

"Shit!" Lin Yun cursed.

He already where the issue was.

But the question was, what was it?

That light struck Lin Yun in the chest. It felt as if he had been hit by a rock and as if all his bones snapped. He let out a groan as he spat out blood.

'Fucking hell…' Lin Yun subconsciously felt his chest with his hand. Fortunately he hadn't been cut, he instead felt something very cold. He quickly looked up to see what it was while controlling the vine to bring him back.

"What's going on?" Solomon and Lys were both flustered when they saw Lin Yun getting injured. He was the most important person of the trip, if anything happened to him, they might not be able to return alive.

Just returning to Noscent would be a difficult problem.

"It's fine…" Fortunately, Lin Yun's complexion improved after spatting that mouthful of blood, he regained his smooth breathing, and just to be safe, Lin Yun drank a bottle of Health Potion before resting for ten minutes.

But he still couldn't help feeling dread while remembering that experience, 'Fortunately… Fortunately I haven't been hit by an equipment shard… It could have pierced my chest, or worse, directly shattered me.'

As he thought of this, Lin Yun couldn't help being curious about that ice cold thing in his hand.

'What is this…' A red crystal was laying on Lin Yun's hand, it looked like a precious gem, but it was far from being as hard as a precious gem. Lin Yun tried to pinch it and the gem changed form.

It was fortunate that this red crystal was malleable.

Otherwise, based on its speed, Lin Yun wouldn't have been able to survive.

He wouldn't have been able to survive a huge hole in the chest, not in this place.

'Is it even a gem?'

Lin Yun looked at that red crystal, but he was clueless, 'What is that thing…'

Lin Yun didn't even know where that thing came from.

After all, he had the Magic Arrays activated and not even a speck of dust could escape his sight within several hundred meters, except that red crystal, how did it approach him?

'What if… It came from the Silver Dragon's corpse?'

Only by flying out of the decomposing Silver Dragon's body could it escape Lin Yun's Magic Array's detection and instantly hit his chest.

'This might be possible.'

'But the aura is a bit strange for something that came from the Silver Dragon's corpse…'

There was no need to doubt, everything would be made clear once they were compared, thus Lin Yun took out the bottle with the drop of blood. That drop of blood was emitting the aura of the Silver Dragon, while the aura of the red crystal was entirely different.

"Oh, right…" Since Lin Yun couldn't find its origin, he decided to return, and just as put away the bottle of Silver Dragon Blood, he remembered the two staves tucked under his arm. He handed one of them to Solomon and the other one to Lys, "This trip might have to end here. Those two staves are for you."

"How could I dare…" Solomon faked being modest.

"If I'm not wrong, these should have been True Spirit Magic Tools a long time ago…"

As a result of Lin Yun's words, Solomon stop being modest… No, he didn't just stop being modest, he directly pounced on Lin Yun as if he was a prey and snatched the staff with the sun-shaped gem embedded within.

"…" Lin Yun silently shook his head and casually handed the leftover staff to Lys.

"Merlin, we didn't do anything…" Lys still remained calm. Although his hands were shaking, he still said a few humble words.

"We already came to an agreement earlier Leader Lys. These two staves are my gifts to both of you. Although these two staves were most likely True Spirit Magic Tools when they were at their peak, but as you can see, the two radiant gems are already damaged. If you want to use them, you will need to change the gems. Furthermore, the Magic Incarnations had already dissipated. Having them to form new Magic Tool Incarnations might take a long time."

"Tha… Thank you." Lys mumbled before taking that staff with the moon-shaped gem.

He hadn't done anything and only followed them all along, that young Great Mage had taken care of everything. If a True Spirit Magic Tool was put in front of him, he wouldn't have dared to take it, he wasn't that shameless.

But Merlin already said that these two staves had lost their Incarnations, thus it was fine to take it.

The most important feature of a True Spirit Magic Tool was the incarnation after all.

A True Spirit Magic Tool that had lost its Incarnation wasn't much stronger than a Spiritual Magic Tool, so it was fine gifting one.

Naturally, this didn't mean that the staves were not valuable.

It was the exact opposite, the value of these two staves was shocking!

They had been True Spirit Magic Tool.

Moreover, the arrays on the staves hadn't been damaged at all. These two staves would definitely be reborn as long as Solomon and himself could replace the two radiant gems, they would regain at least half of the power they had at their peak!

Half the power of a True Spirit Magic Tool, that was comparable to half of an Archmage's power. These were already the most powerful Magic Tools of the Sage Tower and the Alchemist Guild. It wasn't exaggerated to say that by relying on these two staves, the Alchemist Guild and Sage Tower could crush all the forces from Thousand Sails City, except the Gilded Rose of course.

But…

Luck and an opportunity would be needed for an incarnation to appear once again. Maybe Solomon and Lys might not have this opportunity and luck in their lifetime, but what about the next generation, or the one after that, who could guarantee that such an opportunity wouldn't appear in the future?

As long as they had an opportunity, these two True Spirit Magic Tools might regain their frightening power.

At that time, with the two forces owning True Spirit Magic Tools, who would dare go against them in Thousand Sails City?

It looked like Lin Yun only gifted them two damaged staves, but Lys knew that what this young Great Mage was giving them was peace in a few decades or in a few centuries.

It was because of this that Lys thanked him so solemnly.

"Haha, Leader Lys, you are too polite…" Lin Yun didn't think much of it, he had indeed gave them the two staves to give them peace.

To Lin Yun this was actually doing a favor at close to no cost.

Although he could make incarnations appear within ten years if he kept these two magic staves, did that really matter?

Lin Yun already had the Soul Walker, as well as an Upper Rank Flame Spirit that wasn't inferior to a True Spirit Magic Tool, he also had the Doom Staff which was bound to become the strongest True Spirit Magic Tool. Lin Yun's equipment far surpassed most Archmages.

And Lin Yun was only a 9th Rank Great Mage…

Although all mages relied on their magic tools, that didn't mean that the more magic tools they had, the better.

What mages should rely on the most was their mana. There was an ironclad law in the world of magic, the more a mage depended on his magic tool, the slower his growth would be. This was why Lin Yun was avoiding using his Magic Tools and relied on his own power to settle problems. Only when the situation was dire would Lin Yun use those amazing Magic Tools.

Lin Yun even felt that Bane represented the ideal of mages.

Travelling through the whole Noscent with only the Book of Death in hand.

That was the most ideal state of mages.

Not to mention, letting these two True Spirit Magic Tool form new Incarnations was easier said than done. To Lys and Solomon, this might be a question of luck and opportunity, but to Lin Yun, it was a matter of wealth and energy. The process needed an astronomical sum as well as ten years of energy.

Wasn't it better for him to use his wealth on the Doom Staff?

Wasn't it better to spend the energy on practicing magic?

These two staves were dispensable to Lin Yun…

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Chapter 256: Netherstorm

Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance

"Merlin, look…" Solomon suddenly paled, his delighted expression had been replaced by dread as he pointed towards the void with a shaky hand.

"What is it?"

"Over there, quick, look there!" Solomon's voice was completely different.

"Shit!" Lin Yun followed Solomon's finger, a bit surprised, and suddenly cursed.

A hint of red could be seen from the deep darkness.

It was spreading its bloody light, echoing with booming thunder and whistling gales while emitting berserk mana through the void in an instant.

"Shit, that's the Netherstorm!" Lin Yun cursed. Lin Yun had seen the same scene 30,000 years in the future, when Noscent was reaching its end. The sky was ripped open, blood and flames spread as Noscent echoed with its final sounds.

Lin Yun clearly remembered. This was the last scene he saw, the void dyed red, the thunder and gales ripping the earth apart, the whole world sinking in eternal darkness.

The Netherstorm was the last madness before the last bit of radiance of Noscent was extinguished. It swallowed everything, destroyed everything, and transformed everything into nothingness.

That power would destroy everything… Including the Planar Path under their feet.

'How could this be…' Lin Yun was shocked and terrified. How come the Netherstorm happened to come at this moment, not too early, nor too late.

This was illogical.

From that cemetery in the void, it could be seen that the Heaven Enlightening Plane had died at least 10,000 years ago, so why did the Netherstorm not appear then?

It had been such a long time, the Heaven Enlightening Plane was already dead, it couldn't be more dead. Why did the Netherstorm appear now?

'What is happening?'

'Is it because we entered the Heaven Enlightening Plane? Did we trigger this late Netherstorm?'

'It's not right…'

They had all been under the protection of the Planar Path, including the harvest Xiuban and Lin Yun gained.

The Planar Path was a path, but in reality it was a spatial distortion. In other words, even if they seemed to be in the Heaven Enlightening Plane, after going through the spatial distortions, they were completely hidden. It was as if the group didn't exist in the Heaven Enlightening Plane.

In any case, it was unlikely that his group had triggered the Netherstorm.

'But what could have caused this then?'

'Is it because I touched the Silver Dragon's body?'

'No, it couldn't be.'

Nothing had happened when Xiuban touched the Three-Headed Golden Dragon's corpse, a peak existence in Noscent's history that could compare to Ancient Gods, the Netherstorm didn't appear when his body decomposed, so how could it appear when the corpse of an insignificant Silver Dragon did?

Lin Yun kept thinking, but he couldn't understand…

There had been nothing else apart from that.

"Eh?" As this thought came to his mind, Lin Yun suddenly recalled what had happened moments ago.

He stretched his hand into his pocket and searched for that red crystal.

The appearance of that red crystal was strange in itself. It was too sudden and too weird. Were it not for Lin Yun reacting fast enough, he might had come off worse.

But Lin Yun clearly remembered…

There had clearly been a slight distortion in the surrounding mana fluctuations when that red crystal hit his chest. At the time, he had been under the range of the Planar Path's spatial distortion, and hardly felt any change from the Heaven Enlightening Plane.

'Is it really because of that red crystal?'

Thinking of this, Lin Yun put his right hand inside his pocket and couldn't help tightening his grasp on the red crystal.

Unfortunately, Lin Yun didn't have the time to study the red crystal, the crimson color in the sky already dyed the entire void, and the thunderous sounds of lightning and gales contained within were echoing louder and louder, it felt as if the void was igniting.

"Merlin, this is… This is…"

Solomon was already stunned.

That earth-shattering heaven-defying crimson was crazily spreading, and the power within could be felt even within the protection of the Planar Path. That power could destroy a plane, let alone the few of them on that Planar Path.

In front of such an apocalyptic disaster, even a Heaven Rank powerhouse would be nothing more than an ant, let alone their group whose strongest was an Archmage.

"Don't worry, this is the Netherstorm." Lin Yun didn't have time to explain to Solomon. After saying a few comforting words, he focused all his energy on the Netherstorm.

His Magic Arrays were ineffective for the first time.

In front of such a disaster, the ordinarily omnipotent Magic Array was seemingly insignificant. It gave the feeling of being a speck of sand thrown into a pool, unable to cause a ripple.

Lin Yun could only rely on his experience for now.

Lin Yun might very well be the only one in this world who had experienced the Netherstorm and lived.

He tightly held the Crystal Scales, enduring the gales as he stood on the Planar Path, his robe crazily flapping behind him. The boundless void spread in front of him, covered by the Netherstorm. But Lin Yun only focused on the center of the Netherstorm, he stared at the reddest part of the Netherstorm.

Because Lin Yun knew that this place would burst out and engulf the entire Heaven Enlightening Plane.

The Ancient Gods, the Chromatic Dragons, the pure-blooded Elves…

Everything would return to nothingness…

But that was his only opportunity.

His group's only way out of the Heaven Enlightening Plane

Once the Netherstorm appeared, it would engulf the plane it targeted. Everything would return to nothingness, that was the final destruction, no force could reverse that.

It was already too late…

Even if Lin Yun immediately destroyed the Crystal Scales and activated the Planar Path back to Noscent, it would still be too late.

Even the Laws already sank into chaos after being covered by the Netherstorm. Space, Time, everything had already lost their functions, and this also included the Crystal Scales' Planar Path.

Only Lin Yun knew that when the Netherstorm would withdraw for a short instant before its final burst. That short instant might be a tenth of a second, or one hundredth of a second, in any case, it would be extremely short, to the point that ordinary people wouldn't be able to notice it.

That short instant was Lin Yun's only chance to take advantage of the withdrawing Netherstorm to destroyed the Crystal Scales and activate the Planar Path back.

But this was very tight and dangerous.

One tenth of a second, or worse, one hundredth of a second, and without the help of the Magic Arrays… Lin Yun had to rely on his own experience and judgement to complete this impossible task.

Even Lin Yun had to rely on luck now.

The Netherstorm had already started gathering. The bloody red was getting brighter and brighter. The sounds of destructions echoed from the distant void. This was the Netherstorm destroying and turning everything into nothingness.

Seconds slowly passed…

The Planar Path under his feet started shaking, and under the pressure of the Netherstorm, the empty cemetery started becoming chaotic. Corpses, shards, remains, all started moving in one direction.

At first, Lin Yun could divide his attention and rely on himself to make the Planar Path dodge, but Lin Yun slowly couldn't keep up. The Netherstorm was drawing closer and was swallowing the void at a shocking speed, everything moved towards it faster and faster, the shards turned into hails, crashing into the Planar Path.

Lin Yun was flustered at that time.

He paid attention to the Netherstorm's changes while controlling the Planar Path to dodge. This far surpassed Lin Yun's ability.

An explosion suddenly echoed behind the Planar Path. Lin Yun turned around in shock to see the corpse of an Elf smashing onto the Planar Path.

The Planar Path was a spatial distortion after all…

The moment the body of the pure blooded elf crashed into it, it emitted a world shaking sound. From this it could be seen how frightening the attack had been.

But it was worth rejoicing because the Elf wasn't large, it was thinner than Humans, and besides scaring Lin Yun, this crash had no grave consequences…

But…

Lin Yun didn't dare to relax, it had only been an Elf's corpse this time… What about next time…

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