Warlock of the Magus World

by Stayrr

What happens when a scientist from a futuristic world reincarnates in a World of Magic and Knights? An awesome MC is what happens! A scientist’s goal is to explore the secrets of the universe, and this is exactly what Leylin sets out to do when he is reincarnated. Dark, cold and calculating, he makes use of all his resources as he sets off on his adventures to meet his goal. Face?

31. 947

Read Warlock of the Magus World - Chapter 947 – Rescue online free - Light Novel Full

Rescue

Blood Explosion wasn't sorcery. It was an unknown spell recorded in Dragon King's Mystic Might that allowed a Dragon Warlock to burn their bloodline in exchange for ultimate strength. It was something used when left without choice, a decision to make when in complete despair.

While the blood fog hindering the chilly fog, Isabel now had a path of escape. However, she had now reverted to her human form and could no longer transform. On top of that, the areas that had been covered in dragon scales turned into a mass of bruises.

However, her desire to survive still pushed her to advance forth in the fog forest.

"So I can't hold on anymore?" The haemorrhaging blood and injuries caused everything to blur, and it all turned into darkness.

"Hm? Boss!" Before collapsing, the last thing she heard was a voice of surprise.

……

"Ugh… I'm not dead yet?" Isabel raised her right arm and caressed the Red Dragon Sword, the burst of warmth from the sword sheath instantly making her feel relieved. While she felt just as weak as before, having a weapon in her hand would allow her to die with more dignity.

Isabel laughed wryly as she began to assess her surroundings, 'It's rather small here, and I seem to be in some enclosed environment. There was also that voice I heard before I fainted…'

"You're awake!" A muffled voice sounded by Isabel's ear, and her pupils widened slightly. It was Karen's voice!

"Where– Where am I now?" Isabel asked slowly, her eyes doing their best to adapt to the darkness as they looked for traces of light.

"We're inside a hollow tree. We haven't escaped danger yet!" Karen did not seem to be in the best state either, as she stumbled over her words, "He- Hehe, I'm guessing you saw a monster that looked a lot like me, right? I also met with great danger with someone I knew well!"

Isabel was not so easily convinced, "Who's the vice captain on our ship?"

"Three Ears, although he was struck a fatal blow and eventually crippled in the last naval battle. Karen especially pressed her lips to Isabel's ear, "Also… I know a lot more private information, such as what you hide under your pillow…"

"Enough! I believe you're the real thing!" A flush rose on Isabel's cheeks as she interrupted Karen.

"This is such a critical time, and that is what you decided to point out?" Isabel's low voice was filled with anger.

"We need to change our mentality," Karen said solemnly, "Did you notice that these monsters have held back from killing us? It's like… What's an appropriate word… Teasing us. Yes!"

"You mean…" Isabel had the same thought.

"Exactly! I think those monsters feed on human emotions. They keep scaring us to cause despair…"

Karen sounded agitated, "Beings like this exist in the Underdark as well. That's why I'm doing my best to hold in the fear and unease in my heart. Surprisingly, I haven't bumped into any particularly powerful monster, and have managed to hold on till now…"

As a half-drow from the Underdark, Karen evidently had a better understanding of such evil monsters. It was a pity though. Her ideas may have been valid in the World of Gods, but dreamforce wasn't as simple.

Still, Isabel now had no choice but to believe her, "In other words, I can deal with them easily if I suppress my emotions?"

"I can only say there's a slight effect, since completely obliterating all emotions are things only legendary mind flayers can do…" Karen had a wry smile on her face.

"Also… be careful not to experience intense emotion. It will only attract more powerful monsters!"

"I understand…" Isabel nodded, "These things only seem to appear at night. As long as we can hold on till sunrise tomorrow, we might be safe…" Isabel now had no thoughts of bringing more men to explore the area. She only hoped to escape as far as possible.

Rumble!* The surface of the ground trembled slightly, and a strange monstrous laughter sounded out. Isabel began to get nervous, "Be careful, something's here!"

She could see the human centipede crawl over slowly through the hole in the tree, large amounts of saliva dripping from its head. The surrounding trees were pushed away, revealing the sinister and terrifying human faces on the shell.

"Relax, as long as we calm ourselves, it can't find us…" Karen's voice trembled, evidently still uneasy at this life and death gamble.

'Don't think too much. No! Don't think about anything, and don't have any emotions!' Karen thought to herself as Isabel tightened her grasp on her sheath.

It seemed like their prayers had been answered. The giant centipede didn't seem to discover them as it wandered past the large tree.

'It really worked!' 'We did it!' Isabel and Karen exchanged a glance, looking hopeful and excited.

Huala!* The large trunk was split apart all of a sudden, revealing the two. They stared in shock as the giant centipede swayed back and forth.

"Keke, is this a game of catch?" The faces on the shell kept changing until a child's face appeared, speaking in a young voice.

"What a pity… You thought calming your emotions would help you escape Zelos. How childish!" The human face warped, becoming that of a middle-aged pirate. The voice grew older as well.

"Hehe… the game's over! Become a part of me!" The large centipede yelled, the numerous faces on its shell separating themselves and turning into white human silhouettes with masks. They moved slowly, looking blank as they surrounded the two.

"No, why did this happen? Did we guess wrong?"

"This is a nightmare. This has to be a nightmare! No… let me wake up! I want my mother…" Karen was the first to break under the immense pressure, seemingly laughing and crying at the same time.

"Damn it, I knew women aren't dependable at critical moments!" Isabel cursed, her sword being thrust into a white figure to no effect. They were still slowly surrounding her.

"There's no way… There's no way at all… I'll really die here…" Isabel seemed bedazzled in that moment, her life flashing before her eyes. A hint of tenderness appearing in her gaze, "Unfortunately…"

"Arcane dreamforce spell— Flying Palm!" Just as the white figures were about to completely surround them, a black figure fell from above. Powerful spells shot out, pulling the dark red fog together to form a large palm.

Thud!* The large palm pressed down abruptly, and countless white figures were crushed. With a swipe, the rest were sent flying.

"Thankfully, I got here in time!" Leylin turned back, glancing at Isabel's expression as she looked shocked and elated, "Are you two alright?"

"We're fine! I'll leave this to…" Isabel felt very suffocated, and only managed to say this at the end before fainting.

"Has her stamina completely run out? And this one…" Leylin watched Karen on the ground, who had been scared stupid, "She looks like she was terrified. Not surprising; not everyone can bear the shock of experiencing dreamforce…"

"Keke… another one! Another one that will become a part of my body!" The large centipede's head now split open, revealing an old face filled with wrinkles. The other fragmented white figures were inhaled into its body, and masked faces appeared on the crust.

"Such a large being contaminated by dreamforce… it's at least a legendary, hm?" Leylin looked up, elated, "Just the radiation alone can create a legendary being here… Whatever is here must be even more astonishing!"

"Kid, you dare ignore…" The centipede monster began to howl, and more cysts appeared on its body. They looked ready to explode.

"I have no time to play with you right now. See you next time!" Leylin was the absolute master of this region contaminated by dreamforce. He didn't even frown, feeling no fear.

"Arcane dreamforce spell— Distrait Dream!" Dark red undulations spread from his hands, and their surroundings strangely went silent.

"Let's leave first!" Making use of this rare opportunity, Leylin grabbed Isabel and Karen as he spread his wings. He flew to the edges of the forest where the dark red fog converged like a cage.

"Open!" Leylin exclaimed, and arcane spell energy poured into the Red Dragon Staff, blazing flames breaking through the lock. With a few flashes of his body, he disappeared into the horizon.

He was still unable to deal with the large centipede and naturally would not waste his strength on that.

……

It was now morning. Isabel, who had recovered most of her strength, arrived outside the tent. She then saw Leylin, who was studying the edges of the forest.

"I'm sorry… We were completely wiped out. I'm the one to blame for all this…" Isabel gritted her teeth and stammered.

"This was really an accident. Others would have had the same results." Leylin was focused as he took samples of the soil, while Isabel looked fearfully at the forest. The lesson she was taught in there was etched into her mind, and she hoped that she would never return to this place in her life.

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Faith Totem

"You're just in time. I've given Karen a tranquilising potion, and she should be starting on the road to recovery. Bring them all back to Pirates' Cove!" Leylin stowed a test tube into a box where things were carefully separated.

"We're going back? Then what about you?" Isabel asked in surprise.

"This place is very interesting, I'm getting ready for some extended research. There needs to be someone overseeing things at Pirates' Cove…" There was a fanatical expression in Leylin's eyes. Most wizards liked to research all sorts of strange things, which was why Isabel was not the least bit suspicious.

Still, the danger she'd experienced before had made her rather anxious, "But things are too dangerous here…"

"Don't worry, wizards always make preparations for this. I'll also need you to send me some magic materials and daily essentials periodically."

Whether it was because of the confidence in his tone or his successful rescue of her yesterday that moved her, Isabel finally agreed/

"Fine… You have to be careful. Perhaps I could stay here?"

"No. Nobody besides you has complete control of the Scarlet Tiger. This period is very crucial…" Leylin told her seriously.

After spending a lot more time persuading her, Leylin finally let his cousin take most of the pirates and leave. Watching the ships sailing away in the distance, he could not help but sigh.

'Now, this Nightmare Island shall be mine…' He nodded, arriving at edges of what was now called Nightmare Forest. There were already a few pirates in wait.

"My lord, command us as you will." While they looked exceptionally ferocious, they could only withdraw all their fierceness in front of Leylin. They even had pleasing smiles, looking more harmless than little rabbits.

There was no way around this. Leylin's reputation had scared them out of their wits. This was their true leader, so how would they dare be careless now?

"Mm. Build me a house here, I'll be staying for a while." Leylin casually pointed at an empty area.

"No problem, you'll see a villa soon. Iron hook Calon is very honoured to serve you!" The pirate at the front bowed respectfully, and after Leylin nodded he brandished the whip at his waist, "Heard that? My lord wishes for a villa to be built here. Start work immediately!"

Pak! Pak!* It had to be said that the pirates who were now foremen were rather good talents. With their fiendish threats, the rest of the native slaves soon understood what they wanted and began to clear the base and start cutting down wood.

"Mm, not bad!" Leylin nodded in praise. After gaining his approval, Calon raised his head with more pride, as if he had obtained some incomparable honour.

'Based on the memories of the native chief, the nightmarish phenomenon only appears during the full moon of every month. It is otherwise a normal forest…' Leylin then looked towards the forest. The dark red fog had long since dissipated, and there was even a layer of white mist at the surface of the greenery. Nothing looked special about it.

'I only get tens of hours for research every month. That's just too short. Looks like I'll have to stay here for a long time…' Leylin thought, and he sighed.

If those who'd comprehended laws in the Magus World knew of his thoughts, they would definitely go green in envy. A chance to study dreamforce and obtain the legacy of the Nightmare Wizard was something they would scramble for even if it would take them tens of thousands of years.

Leylin's regret only stayed for a moment. He then began his intense research.

Ruins from Magi were even more dangerous than the World of Gods' wizard ruins. They were filled with unknown variables, and with an existence dealing with dreamforce, there was now a higher difficulty in his exploration.

"Even the most surface layer of dreamforce contamination has created a legendary monster. Deeper down, it definitely gets more dangerous… Thankfully, I've already obtained firsthand information, so I'm not without direction…" Leylin glanced at the tremendous Nightmare Forest, a zealous look in his eyes.

……

Spring left and autumn arrived. In the blink of an eye, a year had passed.

The island that Leylin had named Nightmare Island now looked completely different. The native tribe had completely disappeared, having been killed or sold as slaves.

There was now a two-storey villa next to the forest. The garden at its front had blooming golden tulips, and violet wisteria climbed all over the fence. A faint aroma lingered in the air.

By the flowerbed, Leylin now held a white watering can as he leisurely took care of the plants in his garden. The soil around the roots of his flowers quickly grew damp as they greedily absorbed the water. Sparkling droplets of water remained dazzling on the petals and stems.

'Time passes so quickly. People at home and my cousin are very dissatisfied with how long I've stayed here…' After finishing the work at hand, Leylin picked up a white towel and wiped his hands. He then sat on a rattan chair amongst the flowers as he began to admire the fruits of his labour.

However, the A.I. Chip's light didn't dim from within his eyes. It continued to conduct precise simulations, performing analysis and calculations.

"With all these years of study, there's finally results…" Leylin saw the map that the A.I. Chip projected. On the translucent viewport, Nightmare Island was now separated into three layers. Nightmare Forest was only on the first.

'The ancient Nightmare Wizard's inheritance has sunk underground. The forest here is a structure formed from some vaporised dreamforce that's similar to a secret lock?' Leylin looked grim.

The legacy of such a terrifying existence of laws was something even his main body had to approach cautiously. With his strength as a clone, every step had to be taken prudently, or he could just die too easily.

"Thankfully, with the information I had before on Dreamscape, as well as the mutations to dreamforce in the World of Gods, finding a few methods to break through the lock is still simple…

"However, what's important now is to increase my strength…" Leylin headed into the villa and entered a secret room. He saw the many strangely-shaped rock carvings, totems and the like, and looked deep in thought.

These sculptures and decorative figures all had a very boorish style, and were also extremely incredible. They were filled with primitive daydreams towards exemplary strength, but what was more similar was the power of faith on them. Golden rays shone brightly as they illuminated the room.

"Immature power of faith?" Leylin muttered to himself. All this was loot from the Scarlet TIgers' attacks on the native tribes. They were items that those natives worshipped, filled with primitive power of faith. There even valiant spirits and some sort of nature spirits in there as well, albeit sealed.

'While I avoided native tribes protected by the Ocean Goddess or nature spirits of legendary strength, the outer seas are boundless. There aren't many of those…'

Leylin wandered aimlessly to a piece of blood-red animal skin. On the dark brown surface of the flag was a double-headed wolf totem, drawn in bright colours. Varied and dense power of faith spread from it, and the strange wolf seemed ready to pounce out at any moment, but was held back by the strong seal.

'This one is halfway between a dark soul and a natural soul. It hasn't even obtained divinity, so how can it go against Isabel, a Dragon Warlock?' Leylin sensed the valiant spirit on the flag. It had already grown sharp teeth and pointy ears, and a wart began to bulge at its neck. Evidently, the soul of the ancestor of the natives was already turning into a double-headed wolf.

'A poor guy who's held by the power of faith…' Leylin watched the confused valiant spirit, eyes not showing any pity.

This valiant spirit must have been some kind of hero in the original tribe. He had been worshipped extensively after death, and the faith of the tribe had intertwined with their worship of him. Had he completely transformed, a new god would have been born one day.

Unfortunately, Leylin's path conflicted with his. In that case, what else was there to say?

'Thankfully, these faith totems did not transmute divine force, or I might not have been able to absorb them…' Leylin raised his right hand, a faint Targaryen figure emerging in his eyes as terrifying devouring power enveloped the animal-skin flag.

"Innate skill— Devour!"

Whoosh!* It was like a long dragon drinking water as threads of golden light were pulled out of the flag with a formless force, disappearing into the dark hole. Immense power of faith, with souls and intense emotions mixed in, was devoured by the formless black hole, turning into the most pure origin force.

In the time of a few breaths, the dark golden lustre on the animal skin flag completely died down, and the wolf totem had now lost all life, turning into a dead item.

[Beep! Divine force absorbed, increased energy reserves by 3.8%. Total progress: 89.77%!] The A.I. Chip prompted.

"As expected of the offering of a small tribe. It's too little!" Leylin shook his head, looking dissatisfied. With a wave of his hands, the other statues and totems soared in the air.

The tremendous black hole devoured all these elementary sacrifices in an instant, turning them into the purest energy source. Afterwards, Leylin saw the numbers on the A.I. Chip's screen beginning to rise steadily.

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Probe

[Beep!] [Beep!] The value rose continuously, very soon reaching 100%.

Bang! Bang!* The totems and primitive statues lost their lustre, and hairline cracks began to appear on their bodies.

'These were all primitive gods. Did I just kill over a dozen deities?' Leylin chuckled inwardly at the thought of it, and very soon he tossed this matter to the back of his mind.

Although these primitive totems hadn't gained divinity, it was worth mentioning that the power of faith was extremely strong. The problem was that one god's faith was another's poison, and this faith was heterogeneous. Only someone like Leylin, who'd mastered the law of devouring, could easily expel the thoughts and conscients within them, turning them into the purest of energy that he could use.

After the reserves had reached 100%, the A.I. Chip's voice sounded out. [Beep! Divine force reserves completed. Beginning to transfer energy to the main body, simulating divine grace!]

Leylin's reserves depleted quickly, and soon he'd expended it all. Compared to the previous times when he had absorbed the energy, this time round it was much more powerful!

[Beep! The host has undergone a divine baptism. Spirit 1]

[Beep! The host's arcanist rank has increased to 18! Arcane Energy 10!]

[Beep! Obtained one rank 8 arcane spell slot, one rank 7 arcane spell slot, and one rank 6 arcane spell slot!]

Very soon, Leylin's stats had undergone changes too.

[Leylin Faulen, Age: 22. Race: Human, Rank 18 Arcanist. Strength: 15. Agility: 15. Vitality: 15. Spirit: 18. Arcane Energy: 180. Status: Healthy. Feats: Sturdy, Erudite, Intermediate Perfect Body. Specialties: Arcane Energy Detection, Arcane Amplification.]

[Progress of Weave Analysis: Level 0 100%, Level 1 100%, Level 2 100%, Level 3 100%, Level 4 100%, Level 5 100%, Level 6 76.88%, Level 7 51.30%, Level 8 19.60%.]

[Spell Slots: Rank 8(2), Rank 7(4), Rank 6(7), Rank 5(???), Rank 4(???), Rank 3(???), Rank 2(???), Rank 1(???), Rank 0(???).]

"This is the power… of divine grace?" A surge of power swelled through Leylin's body, intoxicating him. It was only now that he learnt how powerful the gods here were.

"So all that matters is divine grace. If I ignore the divine force requirement, I can also turn a pig into a legendary?" Leylin's improvement in strength right was akin to having received divine grace from a god, except that he obtain it through other means.

"It seems like Alustriel isn't just a Chosen, she also has some of Mystra's divinity. She is at least rank 25, and coming face to face with a legendary would not faze her one bit…" The situation in the north was still in a mess, especially the borders between the orc empire and the humans. That had turned into a place of unrest where darkness and chaos were prevalent.

"It seems like that queen has been devastated and is planning to live in seclusion?" Leylin rubbed his chin. He still held a hidden card in the north; Tiff was living there in territory he owned. It was possible for him to intervene in the battles and tip the balance of the scale.

'However this is also a blessing in disguise. The north has attracted the attention of the central continent and the gods, which makes it easier for me to carry out my plans in Dambrath…' Leylin pondered before leaving the secret room, without casting another glance at these sacrificial items which were much too mundane to him now.

……

Night fell, and the full moon appeared. A thin red fog had spread around Nightmare Forest starting at dusk.

A group of pirates and human slaves had retreated Immediately, as if the fog was their nemesis. Some of the human slaves even knelt in the direction of Nightmare Forest, praying loudly despite the whips of the foremen.

"Damn it! How many brothers has this cursed forest taken from us already?" Calon wiped the cold sweat off his body as he looked in apprehension at the forest enshrouded in the mist, his knees buckling weakly. His only thought now was to run away if something was off in the slightest.

Having served Leylin for the past year, he had seen the workings of this sinister forest. Despite repeated warnings, there were still foolhardy pirates who approached the forest on a full moon, and they never appeared before him again.

The numerous events had etched the memories of this forest deep in Calon's mind. His fear of it had long surpassed what he held for those monsters lurking in the deep seas, and equalled what he felt for demons and devils.

'Good heavens! Our Lord is actually conducting his research in this place, he really doesn't fear death! Almighty Goddess of the Ocean, I seek your blessing in leaving this cursed area at the next available chance…' Looking at the maroon-coloured moon and the mist enshrouding the forest, Calon prayed towards the gods piously for the first time…

……

"No matter how many times I've seen this, it still moves me…" Leylin stood at the edge of Nightmare Forest, fully armed. He stretched out his hand and grabbed a trace of the dark red mist, his eyes filled with emotion.

'The dreamforce from another world seems to have reached an accord with the laws of the World of Gods, developing a mutual tolerance…' Dreamforce was common in other worlds as well, and it underwent a necessary mutation to adapt to the laws of the World of Gods. If other beings who had comprehended laws learnt of this they would go insane over the discovery.

'Without a doubt, this could be the reason why the Overgod's conscient fell into slumber. Otherwise, it absolutely would not allow this sort of malignant tumour to smoothly grow…' Leylin stroked his chin, watching the dark red dreamforce in his hand twist into a variety of forms.

"A.I. Chip, establish mission: Investigate the feasibility of transmuting external powers into the World of Gods!"

[Beep! Mission established, added to secondary investigation list!] The A.I. Chip loyally reported.

"Nightmare Island… What surprises will you bring me?" Leylin's lips curved into a smile as he slowly melded into the forest, his figure swallowed by the dark red mist.

"The dreamforce in this forest completely explodes outwards during the night of a full moon, but normally even ordinary creatures can pass through the forest." A milky white flame lit the path ahead of him, and all Leylin could see on either side were trees.

At this moment, the forest seemed to take on a life on its own and all the trees became ents. They hugged their shoulders, shying away from the bright light of the everlasting flame. They even spared to the time to whisper to each other, "Hurry! Look! That human came again…"

"Hey! Ouch! You stepped on me, it hurts! Don't you know that it's very rude to step on an old person's head?" An aged voice came from beneath Leylin's feet. Leylin soon discovered that the green rock that had originally been there had grown tiny little hands and feet, and was now uprooting itself from the soil. An elderly face even appeared on the surface of the rock.

'Is this a Life Activation technique? It seems to have been corrupted.'

Under the influence of the World of Gods' transmuted dreamforce, the entire forest seemed to have come to life. Various unimaginable things were running to and fro.

"Oh, human! You have returned. Are you looking for Zelos?" A squirrel greeted Leylin, perching onto the shoulder of a giant ent.

'Zelos? Is it that giant centipede? Is it his turn to come out?' Leylin nodded, "No, but could you tell me where it is?" He withdrew a pine nut from his pocket and tossed it to the squirrel as he spoke.

"Mm, my favourite!" The little squirrel immediately stuffed the pine nut into its cheeks, its teeth quickly gnawing through the thing. Its words were rendered rather unintelligible as it ate.

"Zelos has been looking for you all this time! It's in the east… No! It's already here, run!" The little squirrel immediately took the pine nut and left, the nearby ents following it in succession. The area quickly emptied, leaving Leylin standing there alone.

'How lucky! Every night of the full moon, a different creature becomes the strongest one each time. I've seen a Nightmare and a walking piano before. Compared to them, unravelling the mystery behind a giant centipede is much easier…' Leylin had a relaxed smile on his face.

Bang! Bang!* An enormous black shadow suddenly erupted through the soil. It had innumerable feet, and a humanoid face rose out of its shell. The face, that of a youth, turned its crimson eyes to gaze coldly at Leylin.

"We meet again, giant centipede!" The Red Dragon Staff in Leylin's hands suddenly shout out a red light.

"No, I am Zelos the Third. What you met before was my father. You should not have trespassed here, intruder!" A droning voice came out of the youthful mask.

"Very well, this damnable dreamscape period has complicated everything significantly…" Leylin looked at this giant centipede with a serious expression. "Are you going to obediently get out of my way, or do I have to slaughter you?"

"Vile human!" It was clear that his attitude had infuriated the centipede. The giant monster roared loudly, bearing down quickly on Leylin with its entire body.

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Memory

Bang!* Rocks and soil were sent flying everywhere, and the place where Leylin had just stood immediately turned into a giant pit in the ground.

'Extremely fast, with great strength. As expected of a defensive creature that was contaminated by dreamforce…' Leylin assessed the centipede indifferently from the very edge of the pit.

"Human, you have provoked me! I, Zelos the Third, will make you pay the price!" The giant centipede shouted. Face after face separated from its body, each transforming into a strange, humanoid figure.

"I'll be honest. You're much easier to deal with than a Nightmare that can use dreamforce skillfully or a walking piano that can't be dealt with via normal magic." Finishing this earnest declaration, Leylin pointed the Red Dragon Staff at the centipede.

"Soul Burn!"

Roar!* A powerful draconic aura erupted from the staff. The red dragon's soul seemed to endure some torturous force on the staff's tip. It shrunk as its spirit withered considerably.

A surging red energy glowed at the end of the staff, transforming into the upper body of a mature red dragon.

Roar!* This monster which had appeared so abruptly had reached legendary strength, and a swipe from its enormous dragon claws sent the centipede flying. Afterwards, this legendary dragon spat out its dragon breath!

Bang! Bang! Bang!* The ground trembled continuously, and even the dark red mist in the air was dispersed considerably. The enormous red dragon phantom dissipated, only leaving behind a giant imprint of a centipede monster on the ground.

The monster looked very miserable and the summoned mask creatures had been completely exterminated. Even the armour it wore seemed to be rather damaged.

"Ow… How could the power of the normal world harm Zelos the Third?" The centipede monster had been torn in half, its breastplate shattered to pieces. Its fiery red energy core was even exposed, but the mask on its skull did not show the slightest hint of suffering. It continued to absorb traces of dark red mist that repaired the damaged shell.

"Of course the power of the ordinary world cannot harm dreamscape creatures, but what if dreamforce was used as well?" Although he saw that the creature was being rapidly restored, a smile of success still flashed across Leylin's eyes.

"Arcane dreamforce spell— Void Blade!" Some unknown force caused the dark red fog to condense, transforming it into an arc of light.

"If one wants to break through the first layer of the Nightmare Forest, you need to make a sacrifice to Sibyl!" After two years of slow and fumbling analysis, Leylin had developed an exceptional understanding of the Nightmare Forest's surface layer.

"Giant centipede, become my sacrifice!" The dark red blade of light flew from his hands and streaked cleanly through the centipede creature's exposed red core.

Enormous cracks appeared on the surface of the core. A crisp sound rang out as it exploded loudly, shattering like glass.

The whimpers and howls of many aggrieved spirits lingered in Leylin's ear as confused souls poured out from the centipede monster's wounds. These souls took the form of the natives of the forest, and there were a few familiar-looking pirates mixed in with them.

"Open the path with souls, Sibyl's sacrifice!" Leylin's hands sketched out numerous runes at lightning speed as he chanted ancient words out loud.

Bzzt!* A layer of suffocating energy swept across the forest. Many souls were gathered together and became a gorgeously lit passageway.

"The blood of a witch, a dark raven's wing, and the dark matter from Manter's sacrificial rites… The conditions have all been fulfilled!"

A sound of muffled thunder came from above as Leylin's actions seemed to have given rise to some chain reaction. Violet lightning blanketed the sky!

Ka-cha! Bang!* The passageway of souls rushed forward in a flash, and an enormous tunnel seemed to appear in the ground. The floor began to rumble as if an 8-point earthquake had been triggered.

"Was it a success?" Leylin's figure emerged from the smoke and dust. He waved a hand, and a dark red hurricane immediately swept away the dust to expose a devastated landscape.

The giant centipede monster and the spell array from before had vanished without a trace. The very earth seemed to have cracked apart, revealing a crevice that was unfathomably deep.

"The power of the lock has been broken, revealing the entrance to the lower layers," Leylin jumped into the crevice without the slightest hesitation. The turbulent darkness below gobbled him up as if he had leapt into the mouth of some giant monster.

The air whistled past his ears loudly, and spots of fluorescence constantly flashed in the darkness like fireflies.

"My research indicates that the Nightmare Wizard's inheritance has three locks total. The higher locks are closer to the World of Gods…'

The creatures in Nightmare Forest were bigger than those of the normal world. The deeper inside the forest one went, the greater the contamination of dreamforce. Even laws began to distort at a point.

Leylin had deduced that the third level of the lock would not have such constructs as time and space, instead being a mere assembly of thoughts and concepts. After all, it wasn't difficult for dreamforce to contort spacetime at its strongest.

"No matter what, I have to at least see the remnants of this ancient Nightmare Wizard…"

Thud! Thud!* Leylin suddenly felt a strange sensation from the solid ground. He stood rooted in place.

"Not granite… but mahogany planks?" Leylin raised his head, and sunlight shone gently into the room he was in. Motes of dust could be seen floating in the air, making the place look hazy.

"Little Ardin! The great wizard Poffert is here to recruit an apprentice; you must succeed this time!" A lady with a kind and gentle expression stood before Leylin, and her husband sipped on coffee as he read the newspaper. She gave a red haired boy a poached egg as she instructed him.

'What's happening?' Leylin's brows furrowed and he felt a chill down his spine. He tried to react, but found that he had completely lost all energy. He was now only a spectral observer, forced to just stare at the scene.

'Dreamscape! I'm in dreamscape! This is the second floor of the lock, countless fantasy dream worlds!' Leylin was suddenly enlightened.

'This must be the Nightmare Wizard's memories of his youth…' Leylin now looked at the little boy tucking in on a high seated chair and hastily wolfing down a meal. His legs were dangling off the ground as they shook, giving off a comical vibe.

"I know, mother!" The red haired boy promised and began to quickly finish eating his food.

"When I send you to the wizard later, you must remember to be polite at all times! Honey, why don't you say a few things to him too?" The wife glared at her husband.

It was only then that the dead husband raised his head from the newspaper, revealing a perplexed expression, "Yea, you can do this!"

"Ah, the grace of gods! Someone save me, I can't stand this any longer. Don't you know how important today is for little Ardin?" The wife seemed to turn estranged.

"I know, I know! It's just Poffert isn't it? I once…" The middle aged man reminisced the past.

"Stop boasting of those adventures you claim to have had. No matter what, you're just an inspector on the roads of the city…" It was apparent that the wife did not believe a word that her husband said.

"I'm done eating!" Ardin pushed his plate away as he stood up.

"Oh! Wait… Milk! Your milk!" The woman called out behind him.

Ardin ran very quickly, soon leaving his mother in the distance as he left the simple house.

Boom!* A fiery explosion suddenly occurred, and blazing flames filled the scene. Shrapnel grazed past Ardin's face, leaving behind a cross shaped wound on it.

Leylin felt like he was watching a movie, unable to help in a time of tragedy.

'No! If I go all out, I might be able to…' The flames engulfed Leylin whole, but could not affect his body in any way. A phantom Targaryen appeared as terrifying devouring power took form in Leylin's right palm. He grabbed a broken glass.

Boom!* He felt an immense force immediately, as if he was clutching onto the claw of a dragon. The whole world began to shake as if rejecting his existence.

'Even if it's dreamscape, I cannot tamper with this… The memory is just too vivid…' Leylin began to deliberate over the situation.

……

Soon after, the trembling of the world stopped and the void swirled.

"Hey kiddo! Are you awake now?" The scene changed as little Ardin opened his eyes and rubbed his face. The sharp pain from the touch caused him to inhale a deep breath.

"Don't look anymore, you're disfigured now… Hehe… Not bad, you're to my liking…" An ancient voice spoke with a tinge of mockery, as if it contained all the evil in the world. It would cause one to cower in fear.

Little Ardin raised his head, and only saw darkness in front of him, just having taken on human form.

"Huehuehue… I'll give you a chance because of your father. As long as you manage to survive, you will become the disciple of the Nightmare Wizard…" The darkness disappeared after the black figure spoke, revealing a pack of hungry grey wolves which eyed the little boy ravenously.

Leylin had learnt his lesson this time, and only watched on coldly at the struggle between little Ardin and the wolves. His gaze was indifferent, only with the occasional flickering of light from the A.I. Chip.

"This should be a small world close to Dreamscape. Also, the way this Magus chooses his students is rather savage…" Leylin knew that back when he was still a human, he had no chance of dealing with these creatures.

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Transformation

The second layer of Nightmare Island was constructed of numerous dreams. Leylin now wandered through many dreams, looking for an opportunity to break through.

He felt weightless again, and found his surroundings changed once more. Ardin had now grown into a young man, but the scar on his cheek had not disappeared. He'd activated some sort of talent in that life or death fight to successfully survive the attack, and was now an apprentice of the Nightmare Wizard.

The Nightmare Wizard's method of teaching his apprentices was very crude, and he had several apprentices like Ardin who were treated almost inhumanely. Many died, and only Ardin's desire for revenge allowed him to persevere and strengthen himself rapidly.

Many of these dreams involved him with a female junior, creating some of his most tender memories.

"Next is a great darkness… That must be the reason he transformed…" Leylin muttered to himself, both hands waving to create strange runes as he broke through this dream, entering deeper levels.

What appeared in front of him was darkness was so dense that it could not dissipate. Endless malicious intent converged to its limit, attacking his senses and almost turning him insane.

'Nothing can hold me back!' Leylin looked indifferent as he took a step forward.

Bzzt! Bzzt!* The darkness separated, revealing orange dots of candlelight. There were many fragmented and incoherent scenes here.

"Keke… dear apprentices, your last test is to kill each other in this pocket dimension. Only one can survive, and that person will absorb all of your life forces and ingenuity, becoming my most outstanding disciple…" The Nightmare Wizard laughed wildly, sending all of his apprentices to a bloody pocket dimension.

Ardin clenched his fists, glancing at the female apprentice who was like a white lotus next to him. She now looked slightly pale, and while she at most could be considered graceful, she still had a unique aura that captured his heart.

'No! There has to be another way! There has to!' Ardin bit his lips till blood was spilt.

……

'The next dream should be in a bloody pocket dimension…' This level of darkness was nothing to Leylin. With a slight caress with his right hand, he seemed to push a curtain aside.

However, the next scene surprised him. Torrential rain fell, and terrifying dreamforce spread everywhere. The area looked to be full of debris, and there had evidently been a great battle here.

"Haha… Ardin, my dearest disciple, are you going to betray me?" The Nightmare Wizard formed of numerous shadows watched the young Magus in front of him. This was obviously Ardin, who now only wished for his master's' death. He'd lost one of his eyes, and the other had turned purple.

"Do you not know that my nightmare clones have spread across the whole world? Without the determination to destroy the world, don't you know you can't kill me?" The Nightmare Wizard laughed madly, a dreamforce spell forming a three-headed helldog. Hellfire blazed as it ruthlessly pushed Ardin to the ground.

"I was the one who taught you all your magic, so what are you going to use against me?" He continued to snicker wildly as the bloody eyes of the figure stared at him, "Speak… how do you want to die?"

"I want you to die!" Ardin yelled, his arms surrounding the three-headed dog.

Awoo!* Terrifying hurricanes formed at his forehead as a red eye opened up. Streaks of green veins protruded from it, shooting out rays that dissipated the fog and absorbed the dispelled dreamforce.

"Ah… Ah…" Ardin's clothes burst bit by bit, and he turned into a monstrous giant of five metres, with a horn, red scales, and a third eye between his brows.

"This is… the physique to absorb nightmares! How is it possible? I've already checked it before, you can't have this bloodline…"

"Nothing is impossible, old man. Die!" Ardin, who had turned into a giant, grabbed forward in the air. Dark phantoms were pulled out of the dreams of numerous intellectual beings, and then exterminated.

"So your true body was hidden in Dreamscape. I found you!" Ardin exclaimed, and then seemed to open a channel straight to Dreamscape. Powerful dreamforce forced the old Magus out.

After seeing the old man, the black figures from before pounced forth, the injuries they had transferring over to him. The old man's expression quickly changed as he coughed up black blood.

"Hehe… as expected of the Nightmare Absorbing Physique, the rumoured favourite of Dreamscape! Cough cough… He actually managed to link with Dreamscape and expel my true body… cough cough…"

Mouthfuls of black blood spurted out from his mouth, but his gaze as he watched Ardin was like he was seeing treasure.

"Cough cough… The Nightmare Absorbing Physique has the natural ability to link with Dreamscape and absorb its origin. What I've been pursuing all my life has finally appeared before me…" The old man's eyes were filled with fervour, like a devout follower finally meeting his god.

"Are you done yet?" The giant walked over to him, the scar from the knife wound now seeming more jagged and obvious.

"I ensure you that even your truesoul will be crushed, and I won't give you the chance to enter the astral plane!" Tremendous Dreamscape origin force poured into Ardin, to the point that he could even somewhat sense laws.

Rumble!* After the powerful tremors, Ardin returned to his original state. Traces of black blood still flowed from his right fist.

"Henceforth… I am the Nightmare King!"

……

Light flashed, and the scene changed.

"Little Ardin! The great wizard Poffert is here to recruit an apprentice; you must succeed this time!"

Ardin's mother urged him repeatedly…

……

'As expected, the dreams are repeating themselves. Is this a maze formed of the life experiences of that Nightmare King? If I can't break the seal and find the entrance to the third level, I might be trapped to death here…'

Leylin watched the scenes a second time, feeling like a movie was being replayed.

'But…the Nightmare Absorbing Physique! I never thought it actually existed! Ancient records say that those with such a physique are the darlings of Dreamscape, and can even have Dreamscape origin force poured into their bodies. They are treated even better than the children of planes… This physique can absorb a large amount of dreamforce and compensate for its weak phase, the Nightmare King must be incomparably close to rank 9…'

"But… How do I get out of this dream maze?" The A.I. Chip's light shone in Leylin's eyes,

"Based on the A.I. Chip's observations and calculations, there were 38 key points in the dreams just now that could have changed his fate. There are 34198 chances to indirectly change it… but most important is probably the lost memory of the battle in the pocket dimension… I'll try them one by one first…"

"Plan 1…" Leylin pushed at the milk on the table, causing a large cup of milk to splatter onto Ardin's clothes.

"Ah! What's going on, Ardin? Your clothes!" The housewife cried, "Are you going to meet that esteemed wizard in this state?"

"I'm sorry, Mama! I'm going to change now!" Little Ardin ran into the next room and began to change his clothes.

As expected, his efforts had led to Ardin staying inside the house. Immediately after, a huge explosion burst out and enveloped the building…

Lights flashed, and the scene changed again.

"Little Ardin! The great wizard Poffert is here to recruit an apprentice; you must succeed this time!" Ardin's mother urged him repeatedly…

"Alright! Looks like killing Ardin won't work. I need to try something else…" Leylin had no choice but to watch this scene unfold again, and he began more tests…

……

'Getting him to escape and then study under the Nightmare Wizard… fail!'

'Saving his parents and having the whole family move to another city… fail!'

'Accident during experiment, finding a new strength system… fail!'

"It's already the 17,862nd time… My spiritual energy can't hold on much longer… But I've already found the key to proceed to the key memory region!" Leylin now looked resolute. The scene had changed to the time when the Nightmare Wizard had wanted the apprentices to kill each other.

"After so many experiments, I finally found the key point. Dreamforce, stop!" The scene froze with Leylin's will. Be it the crazy laughter of the Nightmare Wizard or the worried apprentices and Ardin biting his lips, everything stopped like a statue.

The world lost all its colour in that instant, turning monochrome like a photograph.

Leylin headed to the female apprentice that Ardin had feelings for, staring at the jade pendant on her chest. It had a white lotus on it.

"Break!" Concentrated dreamforce passed through the pendant like a needle, and the entire scene seemed to shatter like porcelain. The dream no longer repeated, and everything descended into darkness.

Two paths flickering with dark red light appeared in front of Leylin, and there were even strange eyes on him from the back of the paths.

"One of these two should lead to the third layer, and the other should be the sealed memories…" Leylin stroked his chin, "If I were the Nightmare King, finding out that an outsider dared peep on my sealed memories would make me…"

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Present

Leylin had a critical decision to make. At one end was heaven, and the other hell. He could enter the third layer of the island to find the legacy of the Nightmare King. On the other hand, the consequences could be dire for entering the hidden memories.

Of course, Leylin was unsure of the way this king thought. Perhaps he wanted to share his memories with other Magi, and wanted to slaughter those who wanted to get the legacy.

'Most importantly… all detection methods are useless. I have no idea what's at the end of the paths…' Leylin's scalp began to tingle.

He was a fairly conservative person. While he'd braved many dangers, he only did things when he had a 70-80% assurance of success. This half and half situation caused him to hesitate.

"I hate things that are so difficult to grasp like luck. It kills me…" Leylin complained. His luck was average, but he hated having to do things like following the will of the heavens.

Right now, however, the choice wasn't in his hands. The surrounding dreams began to shatter and would soon affect him. They wouldn't pull him into another cycle, but rather, twist and crush him into powder without leaving even his truesoul behind.

"What do I do? Do I choose one at random? With this probability, it's too…" Leylin began to get nervous. This was a rather new feeling, and he was somewhat savouring it.

"Left… I sense large amounts of chaotic concepts and coordinates on the left. This should be the third layer!" After a lot of analysis, Leylin gritted his teeth and made his decision.

Whoosh!* At this moment, however, something sounded in his body, causing his expression to change. He looked down abruptly to find that it was from his bag of holding.

'It's that thing!' Silver light flashed, and an ancient animal-hide scroll appeared in front of Leylin. Fresh blood still dripped from stains on it, and sound, light, and even the shattered time and space began to distort in front of the scroll.

"This is… the power of distortion! The might of Distorted Shadow!" Leylin muttered, "As ancient Magi or even allies, Distorted Shadow's remains alarmed the Nightmare King?"

Boundless distorting power took shape, and the two dark red paths were affected as they twisted and fused under this energy.

Bzzt! Bzzt!* After the light dissipated, the two paths had become one, forming an even larger spatial gate. Blood red dreamforce runes flickered on it.

'What a sly Nightmare King. He even had this planned!' Now, Leylin didn't even have a choice. He rubbed his nose and turned grim, glancing at the scroll before stowing it away.

The surface of the scroll was now very soft. It squeezed under pressure from Leylin's fingers, no longer having the power it once did. It was like an ordinary magic scroll. However, he did not dare underestimate this thing.

'This scroll has Distorted Shadow's strength and even conscient sealed inside?' Seeing that this item was adamant on following him, Leylin could only roll his shoulders back and accept it.

This body was a mere clone after all. At worst, he could abandon it even if it caused grievous injuries to his main body. With enough strength to protect himself, he naturally feared nothing and had the guts to try everything!

"No matter what it is you want me to do, you have to give me benefits first!" Leylin's eyes glinted with intelligence as he placed the scroll away, streaking into the spatial gate.

The third layer of Nightmare Island.

"As expected… The extent of dreamforce contamination here is even worse. This place has only the purest intent…" Leylin now found himself unable to sense his own body, only able to exist as the most fundamental form of his soul and conscient.

He was surrounded by a boundless universe, filled with the feeling of weightlessness. Leylin seemed to be a lonesome boat in the turbulent seas.

There was no concept of another existence around, and only nothingness. Leylin had no qualms in believing that he would stay like this until the world was destroyed if he did not make the first move.

Having lost his body, his sense of time began to slow. He had no idea whether seconds had passed or tens of millennia. All he felt was that the sense of self he had was gradually vanishing.

'No, this won't do! I have to persevere. Once my sense of self disappears, my truesoul will also disappear…' Leylin abruptly burst forth with strength, and his willpower took control all his thoughts. His body suddenly condensed and became distinct.

"Hah… How is this third layer of defence constructed? Even the essence of Magus concepts are dissipating…" Having reinforced his sense of self, Leylin glanced fearfully at his arms that had formed once more.

"This is the lost land… And also the place where the Nightmare King lost his self…" A few black feathers fell, and Leylin found a black crow was 'flying' towards him.

In this void with only concepts and no matter, a crow was something very strange. What caused Leylin even more astonishment was that it could move about freely in this void.

"We meet again, Mister!" The black crow combed its feathers and greeted him happily.

"Have we met before?" Leylin asked, confused.

"Hm. To me it's in the future but for you it's in your past. My future form is a single-eyed owl." The crow was a chatterbox.

'Single-eyed owl!' Leylin immediately recalled the time after he'd advanced to rank 5, when he'd been afflicted with a Dreamscape curse. He'd obtained a present from the owl within a dream then, allowing him to come into contact with dreamforce.

"My apologies, but may I know who you are?" Leylin asked the question he wanted to.

"Me? I'm just a mass of concepts. I shall exist as long as Dreamscape survives…" Leylin had a feeling that this crow or owl or whatever it was wasn't speaking the truth, but he did not fixate himself on that.

"You're saying this is the place the Nightmare King lost his sense of self? What does that mean? Has he fallen? Who did it?"

"As long as the Nightmare King did not want to die, nobody could make it happen. Here, however, he abandoned his sense of self. This means he's completely dead, without even a fragment of his truesoul left behind…" The crow seemed to know about matters of ancient times very well.

'If he's abandoned his sense of self, doesn't that mean he's committed suicide? So when the Nightmare King invaded the World of Gods, he was already determined to die?' Leylin had a feeling that perhaps the Nightmare King Ardin had died long before. After the bloody battle in the pocket dimension, the Ardin that still existed had only been a walking piece of flesh.

However, he was far too powerful, to the point that he could not even kill himself. Was that why he needed help from the gods?

'As expected… High-ranked Magi mostly have mental issues. It's too serious with the Nightmare King. I can't become like him in the future…' The example this senior set gave Leylin a good warning.

A real peak rank 8 Magus would never be able to fall if they did not want to die. This was the case with Distorted Shadow. He had already died for tens of thousands of years, and yet could still create trouble. The Nightmare King was bent on dying, which is why he had truly died…

"Well then… Magus, tell me your intent in coming here!" The crow opened its beak, its two black beady eyes looking mischievous.

"I…" Leylin gritted his teeth and spoke anyway, "I hope to obtain the legacy of the Nightmare King. At the very least, I want to find a method to evade the weakening of dreamforce!"

"Grasping dreamforce? Caw caw… that's not very easy. Are you sure you want to do that?" The crow asked.

"I'm very sure." Leylin answered seriously, eyes filled with resolution from his pursuit of truth. There was no fear of death.

"Caw caw, good! I see Ardin's shadow on you…" The crow cawed, and its body started changing.

Whoosh!* It suddenly swelled, turning from the size of a dove to that of a large evil dragon, jet-black neck showing dense black scales. Its beak widened to reveal sharp teeth like those of sharks.

Ka-cha!* A strike of blood-red lightning fell right on the forehead of the strange black dragon, turning into a bloody third eye!

"This… this…" Such a tremendous change had Leylin stunned.

"Accept it! This is a gift from Dreamscape!" The strange black dragon howled, the bloody third eye turning into a ray of light and disappearing into Leylin's forehead.

Agony! Leylin felt everything go black as he felt himself being torn into, collapsing into a dead faint. Large amounts of dreamforce flooded into him like a tsunami, enveloping his body completely in a huge crimson cocoon.

When the tide of Dreamscape weakened, the crimson cocoon had disappeared. Only the black crow was still around.

"Old friend… After helping you this time, I've repaid all my debts to you…" The crow murmured to the air, its body becoming less corporeal as it disappeared into the vast nothingness.

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Rank 19

Rumble!* The pirates witnessed a marvellous scene outside the forest. The thick red fog that shrouded the forest transformed continuously, dissipating to reveal the original lay of the land.

The earth trembled as numerous small cracks and even pits appeared in the ground. At the very center of the island, the bare mountain peaks issued a wrathful roar. Fiery lava shone faintly as it flowed over with agitation.

"This is bad. Earthquake! The island is about to erupt… My Lord! Where is the lord?" Calon didn't care at all about those worried native slaves and pirates. He rushed to the border of the forest in search of Leylin's figure. This wasn't due to loyalty; he knew that if he dared to abandon Leylin and flee in secret, the enrage Scarlet Witch would flay him alive!

The island was flooded with an aura of death and despair. Many creatures fled from the thickets, the small cracks in the rocks, and through underground caves to escape. It became an exodus, and even the little ants had bored out from their tunnels beneath the ground.

"Damn… Damn! How could these natives have settled their tribe on a volcanic island? Why weren't there any signs before?" Large droplets of sweat beaded on Calon's forehead.

However, the gods above seemed to hear his prayers. Just when Calon was prepared to abandon everything and flee, he finally spotted Leylin's silhouette near the forest border.

"Oh, thanks to the Ocean Goddess! My lord, you've finally appeared, let's quickly leave this place!"

Leylin seemed rather distracted however, and he caressed his forehead as if he didn't hear a single word that Calon said. Just when Calon was considering carrying this lord's body away, Leylin's eyes finally regained their vigour, "This place is now useless, let's go!"

"Yes Sir!" Calon's eyes were overflowing with hot tears. He felt as if he had just heard the most pleasant words he would ever experience in his life.

The pirates were masters of handling ships. Although they had wasted quite a bit of time, they still managed to leave Nightmare Island before the volcano fully erupted.

Rumble!* Strong black flames rose into the skies, covering the bright white moon. Only in the skies of Nightmare Island would the moonlight become purple on the light of the full moon, and now it would never happen again.

The fiery red lava flowed in streams resembling human arteries as they snaked across the entire volcano. It even spread relentlessly to the area outside of it.

'I never thought that the island was on a fire ley line. Once the dreamforce suppressing it was gone, the volcano immediately erupted… Perhaps this eruption was even more berserk because of the long suppression. This entire Nightmare Island probably won't exist any longer…' Leylin looked expressionlessly at the distant island, which was now engulfed in lava. Right now, all his attention was captured by the A.I. Chip's information records.

[Beep! Sustained unknown influence, scanning has suffered interference. Effect has been temporarily lost!]

[Beep! Intense interference… Currently…]

'The third level of the lock relates to memory. It made the A.I. Chip unstable for a while too… Really terrifying…'

However Leylin shifted his attention to the densely packed prompts below it:

[Beep! Host's truesoul has suffered unknown interference, probability of radiation to the body in the Magus World is 98.77%! Initiating separation! Experiencing interference… Separation has failed, unable to complete the task!]

'Ah…' Leylin breathed in a lungful of cold air, 'So even my main body's truesoul was affected. Dreamforce is truly nefarious and frightening.' After displaying this record, the A.I. Chip's information seemed to flow even more smoothly. It seemed as if the earlier interference had completely disappeared.

[Beep! Host has absorbed a great amount of energy essence! Determined to be mutated dreamforce! Initiating absorption!]

[Beep! Host has absorbed mutated dreamforce! Spirit1!] [Beep! Host's arcanist ranking has increased, currently rank 19. Arcane Energy10. Obtained Feat: Dreamscape View, Obtained Specialty: Illusions] [Beep! Host's soul has advanced. Level 6 Weave fully analysed. Host has obtained all rank 6 spell models and is immune to forgetting them. No materials are required to cast rank 6 spells.] [Beep! Host has advanced to rank 19. Spell slots obtained: rank 9: 1, rank 8: 1, rank 7: 1.]

Below these messages were introductions to the two feats.

[Dreamscape View: Host possesses the ability to see through Dreamscape, can now look straight at the souls of other people. Any concealment will be rendered immaterial, and nothing can hide from the host's eyes.] [Illusions: Host automatically grasps illusions, granting an additional 20% to the power of illusory spells.]

The A.I. Chip once again refreshed Leylin's stat window:

[Leylin Faulen, Age: 24. Race: Human, Rank 19 Arcanist. Strength: 15. Agility: 15. Vitality: 15. Spirit: 19. Arcane Energy: 190. Status: Healthy. Feats: Sturdy, Erudite, Intermediate Perfect Body, Dreamscape View. Specialties: Arcane Energy Detection, Arcane Amplification, Illusions] [Progress of Weave Analysis: Level 0 100%, Level 1 100%, Level 2 100%, Level 3 100%, Level 4 100%, Level 5 100%, Level 6 100%, Level 7 77.99%, Level 8 38.21%, Level 9 0.11%.] [Spell Slots: Rank 9(1), Rank 8(3), Rank 7(5), Rank 6(???), Rank 5(???), Rank 4(???), Rank 3(???), Rank 2(???), Rank 1(???), Rank 0(???)]

'I've finally reached rank 9 of the Weave. Is this the limit of the Weave's casting ability?' Leylin shut his eyes and sensed the Weave's network across the entire World of Gods. After the first 10 levels of the Weave, after rank 0 to rank 9, there seemed to be an even more vast world out there. However their souls were tightly shackled, unable to continue connecting to the Weave.

"It looks like the forbidden domain of the gods exists past rank 9," Leylin muttered to himself.

He had his own hypotheses on what came after the ninth level of the Weave. It could very well be the gods' divine spell network, the 'personal' network that the gods had made for themselves.

'Using the Weave to transmit divine spells? It could very well reduce the consumption of the gods considerably, and make it easier for them to cultivate followers. Ha, these gods have calculated it all very well, however…' Leylin controlled himself from speaking any further, as it was not something he could deal with at his current level.

'I'm close to becoming legendary now. Being rank 19, I'm only half a step away. I should refine my own power as quickly as possible, stepping into the domain of legendaries. Only true legendaries have a say in the continent.'

A rank 20 only had a few extra spell slots, not much different from a rank 19. The difference came in the refinement of their power, something that allowed them to perfect their theory.

Leylin thought of records chronicling the advancement of wizards. Although every legendary could still advance further, they had all walked to the peak of their own paths. Their theoretical knowledge was extremely rich.

'It's even more complicated to become a legendary arcanist. I need to condense my theories into a skill tree or a circulating energy loop. However, this won't be a problem for me. All that's left is the work on refining energy…' Leylin touched his forehead, a puzzled expression on his face.

The previous situation with the third level of the dreamscape lock surfaced before his eyes once again. Only now, his forehead gleamed pure white, as if there were no abnormalities.

'The final gift, what on earth did it mean?' His visit to the nightmare world had allowed him to absorb a great deal of dreamforce, and pushed his ranking to rank 19. However, Leylin was not granted his greatest wish of obtaining the Nightmare King's inheritance, and the method to avoid the exhaustion of dreamforce.

'Was this created by Dreamscape?' Leylin looked at his hands. The white palms contained unyielding power, but Leylin felt that his corporeal body had already been perfected to its limits. However, at every day and in every moment, he still tirelessly absorbed the nearby light and electromagnetic waves to refine his power. This was all to break through his bottleneck.

'After walking out of Nightmare Island, I keep feeling that I have changed greatly. Yet I can't place my finger on how exactly I've changed…' Leylin's eyes held a trace of suspicion.

"Where are we headed, milord?"

"Mm, let's go to Pirates' Cove first!" Leylin replied. When he turned his head however, all he saw was Calon who had fallen to his knees in shock, his complexion deathly pale.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing! There's nothing wrong! Your humble servant has bad eyesight!" Calon had a flattering smile on his face. He left at lightning speed while murmuring to himself, 'I must have drunk too much rum, how can Lord Leylin have three eyes? And those blood-coloured patterns on his face, ha… Haha…'

Calon shook his head with all his strength, as if trying to shake the memory of Leylin out from his head. However, he discovered that no matter what he did, his arms and legs still involuntarily trembled. He could only crawl his way back to his bedroom with the support of the wall.

"Three eyes and blood-coloured runes?" What Calon did not know was that his mutterings in the ship's hold had all been heard by Leylin. After he left, Leylin conjured up a water mirror with a wave of his hand.

What appeared in the mirror was the appearance of a young noble. His complexion was a little wan, with sky blue eyes as deep as the ocean. His golden curls fit with his thin lips, and he was handsome, without any abnormalities whatsoever.

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Nightmare Form

What Leylin saw in his reflection did not put him at ease. He instead grew even more grim, "Is this an evolution of the truesoul?"

He touched his forehead, and all of a sudden he felt an intense pain that caused him to close his eyes. The next time he opened them, he found a red streak at the middle of it.

Whoosh!* Water droplets dispersed to reveal Leylin's serious expression.

"The physique to absorb the energy from nightmares… from a bloodline?" Leylin rubbed at his forehead, now at a loss…

……

"A.I. Chip, check my bloodline!"

All sorts of scanning runes were activated within the wizard tower, and scanning light immediately gathered upon Leylin's body. He was back on Faulen Island.

He'd met up with Isabel for a bit at Pirates' Cove. He'd decided on the next path for the Scarlet Tigers, and was then at ease to solve his own issues.

He'd already given control of the tower to the A.I. Chip. He was using its power to check the abnormalities on his body.

[Beep! Mission established. Scanning… Host's blood is 99.99999% pure-blooded human.]

"So nothing can be found? Use the atomic microscope, and level 2 antimatter observation. Continue scan." Leylin sounded grim.

[Beep! Obtained host's blood. Magnifying specimen…]

The A.I. Chip immediately showed a screen with Leylin's blood sample. 100,000x, 1,000,000x… The image was magnified ten million times.

Leylin had to reach the smallest unit of his previous world, the limits of the sub-atomic level, to find the problem.

"This…" Leylin's eyes widened. He saw a few strange black dots amongst wandering photons.

"Lock on to that. Enlarge it!" The black dot moved extremely quickly, but at the end, it was still successfully caught by the A.I. Chip. Slowly, the appearance of the dark shadow appeared in front of Leylin. This was a hexagonal structure with strange patterns on it.

The patterns were rather complicated, in the shape of dark red flowers that gradually evolved into a scaly giant with three eyes. The bloody third eye at the middle seemed to have a will of its own as it stared at Leylin indifferently.

Thud! Thud! Thud!* Leylin took several steps backwards, the surprise on his face more evident.

"As expected… my body was implanted with a portion of the Nightmare Absorbing Body's bloodline abilities at the third level…" With his main body imbued with the power nearly equal to a rank 7 Warlock, Leylin was definitely no stranger to bloodline power.

"I just wanted some information. What are you giving me bloodline strength for?" Leylin now felt himself growing dizzy. It was like a beggar asking for some humble pie being given a mountain of gold.

What kind of physique was this Nightmare Absorbing Body? It was one of the most powerful bloodline abilities, something that allowed the Nightmare King to immediately start a massacre the moment he activated it. With the origin force of Dreamscape, he'd shot up to become a peak Magus of the ancient world in one go!

Leylin was very vigilant of such good luck.

'It's too impractical. There has to be something off about a strange event like this. Even if Distorted Shadow was giving me benefits in exchange for making use of me, this is a little too much!'

Leylin was never afraid to expect the worst of his enemies. These sudden benefits implied a huge danger was to come!

'But… I never thought this Nightmare Absorbing Body wasn't a physical thing. It can even affect the truesoul, including my main soul in the Magus World…' As an outstanding bloodline Warlock, Leylin knew that sort of bloodline ability would fuse inseparably with his soul. It would also radiate into his main body in the Magus World through strange channels.

'The power of Dreamscape can bypass the crystal sphere? Just a temporary energy transmission path alone would be terrifying… I must definitely grasp this strength!' The ability of dreamforce to pass through two large worlds caused determination to rise in Leylin's heart.

'I'm going to take the bait and toss the hook back. How's that?' Leylin stroked his chin, a slight smile appearing on his lips. Even Distorted Shadow could not guess that he had the A.I. Chip, and could find any issues.

This would be the greatest misstep in the plan Distorted Shadow had in store for him! Of course, he might have been thinking too much. All this could be a opportunity for him, but he had always liked to be prepared for the worst.

'A.I. Chip! Begin task: study this bloodline force!' Leylin looked ruthless. Even if this would interfere with his analysis of the Weave, he would not find it a pity!

……

Months passed in the blink of an eye.

Leylin was sitting cross-legged within the wizard tower, the doors and windows tightly closed as isolation runes flickered inside. If an outsider saw him as he was now, they would be scared stupid or treat him like a monster.

Leylin was now nearly a giant at almost three metres tall. His body had red scales and strange patterns on it, his face so sinister that it could drive children to tears. There was a slight crack on his forehead, shining blood red.

Formless power was attracted to this lustre, transforming into a dark red fog as it seeped into Leylin's skin and became something more powerful.

"This strength is…" Leylin's mind followed the path of the undulations and found the source, followed by scenes:

–The old butler Leon looked proud in Port Venus, "Our young master Leylin is…"

–In Pirate's Cove, an old pirate was teaching a few new pirates a lesson, "When you come out here, foresight is the most important. There's someone more frightening than the Scarlet Witch in our crew…"

There were even more, though they were all scenes within the north and Dambrath Kingdom. The large batch of devil worshippers that Leylin had gathered as Kukulkan were now transmitting an unending amount of fear.

'This isn't faith, but some emotional force one level lower than faith… What's going on? Why can I take this power in now?' One could only absorb faith after becoming legendary, much less this sort of low-level emotional force.

However, Leylin soon found that he could easily absorb this emotional force in nightmare form, boosting his strength.

"Could it be that…" Leylin muttered to himself, closing the third eye between his brows. The numerous scenes disappeared, and the channel for emotional force closed.

"As expected… The power of the Nightmare Absorbing Body can take in all emotional forces aimed at me. The effectiveness and rate of conversion is even better than gods, and most importantly… I'm not even half a god yet…" At this moment, Leylin realised the terror of this ancient physique.

'A.I. Chip, has anything been found?'

[Beep! Statistical model of host's bloodline force has been established, running with no abnormalities. Found no remnant spiritual brands.] The A.I. Chip answered loyally.

"There's still no problem? There's nothing left in my bloodline? Is this a real gift?" Leylin shook his head, dispelling the nightmare form. He shrunk once more, returning to his original appearance.

With the A.I. Chip's help, his grasp of bloodline force far exceeded the expectations of everyone else. Now, he could basically switch between the two forms smoothly.

"The Nightmare Absorbing Body is a special physique from Dreamscape. Seems like I'll have to head over to that world a few times in the future…" Leylin muttered to himself, "In addition, with the rate the physique absorbs emotional force, I might be able to raise my arcanist ranking very soon…"

At this moment, the tower genie's clear voice interrupted his thoughts, "Master! Gold Priest Xena has come to pay a visit!"

"Xena? Get her to wait for me at the drawing room!" Leylin shook his head, draping a white bathrobe around himself.

"But my form after the second transformation might lead to some associations. It's best to use it as little as possible in the World of Gods…" A moment later, Leylin had tidied everything up and met the priestess of the Goddess of Wealth in the drawing room.

"Wizard Leylin truly is great at making me wait. It's already been two years since the last time…" Xena glared at him, looking annoyed.

"Ahaha… my apologies! I've been immersed in an experiment. Anyway, hasn't Master Ernest continued the trade of the devil and demon detectors?" Leylin laughed and then changed the topic, "May I know what you're here for today?"

"You're in great trouble!" Xena took a deep breath and spoke cautiously.

"Oh! Have the people from the God of Murder's church made their move?" Leylin got it right in one go, since there were few large organisations he had offended.

"Yes! One of their legendaries, Cadaver Collector Soros, has completed his experiments and is about to come to the outer seas…" No matter where it was, a legendary was a big shot. Xena was worried that this genius wizard would not be able to pass this hurdle.

"But… from how he's been acting, we know he's inclined towards attacking devils and demons. Our church has dealt with him, and the intel we got is proof of that. Unfortunately, we don't know what he'll do…"

Actually, Xena did not think well of Leylin's future. After all, that person was a legendary! There wasn't even a half-step legendary in the outer seas, so a true legendary would be able to suppress everything.

The existence of a legendary was an important standard for the prime material plane to judge the size of an organisation!

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Soros

"Legendary?" Unexpectedly, Leylin did not panic at all after hearing the news. He instead asked with interest, "Please tell me what you know. We have our deal on sharing information."

Xena rolled her eyes at him. "Cadaver Collector Soros is the honorary executioner of Cyric's church. He likes to torture his target's mind, causing them to crumble and commit suicide before he takes their body. He shot to fame 281 years ago…"

She spoke as if she was making a report, expressionlessly introducing this person generally. Still, she couldn't keep up the facade and ended up staring at Leylin.

"Lord Leylin! You're still young and possess such astounding talent. It isn't a mere dream to become a legendary, but you need to accept reality. Pledge to join Goddess Waukeen's church and hide in the mainland. Our goddess will shield you…"

Xena was sure Leylin would understand, even though he would have to abandon the outer seas, including Port Venus and all other industries.

After all, the church of wealth was more conducive to Leylin's potential than all the organisations in the outer seas. With the value he was showing and how he was steadily raising his strength, he seemed to have more than a 50% chance to become a legendary. This was definitely an investment worth making for the church of wealth.

However, Leylin's answer did not match up to her expectations. "Thank you very much for your kind intentions, but I won't give up my work here…"

She frowned slightly, watching Leylin discontentedly, "Do you know what a legendary is? Cadaver Collector Soros is an infamous assassin. Even if we sent out a legendary to protect you ourselves, you could still be killed, much less…"

"I know all that!" Leylin interrupted her, looking apologetic, "I saw Her Highness Alustriel at Silverymoon. I read and studied about legendary wizards, and I know that numbers are nothing to a legendary…"

Leylin knew the terror of a legendary better than anyone else. They grasped the power of domains, similar to what a dragon's aura cast. No matter how many low-ranked Professionals were pit against one, it was useless.

In addition, legendaries had refined their life essence, and could absorb and control divine force, walking the path of godhood.

However, the path that Leylin had chosen was entirely different from Xena, which was why he reacted differently.

"Are you trying to face off against a legendary head-on? Just with a wizard tower? You'd probably be destroyed within seconds…" Xena felt insulted by Leylin's arrogant tone, and especially by that resolute gaze that said he didn't need charity.

"You…" She felt humiliated and discontent, but all that soon faded away into shock. "The– The spell rays on your body…"

"My rank rose a little during these past two years of experiments." Leylin sounded calm, as if he were describing something insignificant, yet Xena almost choked in surprise.

While they were both high-ranked wizards, rank 15s were nowhere close to rank 19s. One had just entered this grade, while the other had reached the peak of wizardry, beginning to step into the domain of legendaries.

'Two years! In less than two years, he's already become a rank 19 wizard!' Xena froze as she watched the spell rays that Leylin intentionally leaked.

'A genius. A genius of the World of Gods! No, this is more than just a genius, he's probably a monster! Outside of Chosen, he's even faster than close combat Professionals as a wizard!' Xena zoned out slightly. With his aptitude, she was now sure that he would definitely become a legendary if he didn't die this time!

"Apologies! I was too harsh with my words…" Now treating Leylin as a to-be legendary, Xena's tone became more respectful.

"Actually, Mister Leylin, I still stand by my previous suggestion. With your talent, there really is no need to tackle your enemies head-on in the outer sea. The church of wealth shall forever be your shield…" Leylin naturally showed his gratitude towards Xena's kindness, but he did not relent on his decision not to dodge this, leaving Xena helpless.

After sending her away, Leylin returned to the training room alone, looking deep in thought.

'Cyric's counterattack is later than I expected…' The presence of a legendary meant nothing to Leylin. After all, Tiff had become a legendary long ago, and he'd personally led a team to kill a legendary dragon. Normal legendaries did not terrify him at all.

"However, I can't disclose Tiff's identity or transfer him here. This makes things complicated…" Leylin stroked his chin, eyes brightening, "I should use this opportunity and try that…"

"Tower genie!"

"Master!" The female form of the tower genie emerged, bright eyes full of anticipation.

"Seal the place off. Nobody is to bother me for now, not even Ernest. Is that understood?"

"Yes!" The tower genie's primary objective was to carry out Leylin's orders. She obviously had no objections to this. With Leylin's will, the apprentices and even Ernest were moved out of the tower, emptying it out.

"Sigh… I don't know if this kid can do it…" Ernest naturally knew something only higher-ups did here. While things were calm in Port Venus, he could tell that this was the calm before a storm.

The pressure that a legendary could cause was far too immense. Leylin's operation was thus misunderstood to be a dangerous action to raise his strength quickly. Ernest was naturally worried.

He definitely knew how intelligent his student was. There were a few materials to raise strength quickly in the research of ancient wizards. However, there was a steep price to pay.

"I hope he doesn't go too far…" Ernest had a helpless smile on his lips. Ever since Leylin reached adulthood, he could no longer persuade Leylin even as his master.

While he was still Leylin's teacher in name, Ernest knew that there was nothing he had taught Leylin other than foundational skills. Yet, he had obtained even more than he'd given.

"I believe in him. Sometimes, he's someone who can create miracles!" Ernest kept encouraging himself, "It'll be fine! It'll definitely be fine…"

Meanwhile, the wizard who Ernest was worried about was not conducting any taboo experiments within the tower. However, in some sense the method Leylin was using to gain strength was more dangerous than the methods of ancient wizards.

"There aren't any living beings in the tower any more. I don't have to worry about my secret being discovered or leaked… begin!"

Whoosh!* A layer of dark red patterns appeared on Leylin's skin. He swelled strangely, and broke through his casual clothes in an instant. His forehead also split vertically to reveal the third eye.

Nightmare form! Leylin was now demonstrating the Nightmare King's Nightmare Absorbing Body.

"Absorb the wandering emotional force…" The vertical eye on Leylin's forehead opened slightly, emitting red light that broke through space to connect to all emotions related to him. It was like a spider web.

Reverence, fear, love, hatred…

Dense emotional force was originally formless and therefore useless. However, the vertical eye turned it into a dark red fog that was then devoured by the Nightmare Absorbing Body. This force was intensified, and the blood-red runes on his body grew more dazzling.

"In essence, faith is just extremely dense emotion. It contains energy dispelled from soul undulations. The Nightmare Absorbing Body is terrifying. As long as it has to do with the host body, any emotional force, no matter how meagre, can be used…"

Leylin's eyes were now completely blood red, and a large serpent appeared behind him. This was the Targaryen, big as the world, with black scales, devilish wings, terrifying claws, and a single horn at the top of its head.

"Hss!" The Targaryen had now transformed slightly. Traces of dark red fog shrouded its body, causing its scales to begin turning dark red.

A strange vertical eye appeared between the two snake eyes, splitting open.

"Ahh… Devouring power, erupt!" With Leylin's control, the power of devouring and dreamforce worked together flawlessly. The Nightmare Absorbing Body took in the vast jumble of emotional force, and Devour transformed it into the purest energy.

After who knew how long, the A.I. Chip's robotic voice sounded, like the sweetest melody he had ever heard. [Beep! Energy reserves at 100%, sending to main body…]

A warm surge spread throughout his body, extending to his very soul. The sound of a crystal shattering sounded, and Leylin sensed his soul go through another evolution. His very essence was baptised.

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[Beep! Spirit1.] The A.I. Chip sent another prompt as many stats began to change.

[Beep! Host's arcanist ranking has advanced. Host is now a rank 20 arcanist! Arcane Energy 10.]

[Beep! Host has advanced to rank 20. Spell slots obtained: Rank 9(1), Rank 8(1), Rank 7(1).] [Beep! Host's stats have changed.] [Leylin Faulen, Age: 24. Race: Human, Rank 20 Arcanist. Strength: 15. Agility: 15. Vitality: 15. Spirit: 20. Arcane Value: 200. Status: Healthy. Feats: Sturdy, Erudite, Intermediate Perfect Body, Dreamscape View. Specialties: Arcane Detection, Arcane Amplification, Illusions] [Progress of Weave Analysis: Level 0 100%, Level 1 100%, Level 2 100%, Level 3 100%, Level 4 100%, Level 5 100%, Level 6 100%, Level 7 81.23%, Level 8 38.86%, Level 9 11.29%.] [Spell slots: Rank 9(2), Rank 8(4), Rank 7(6), Rank 6(???), Rank 5(???), Rank 4(???), Rank 3(???), Rank 2(???), Rank 1(???), Rank 0(???)]

'I'm finally rank 20. All that's left is becoming legendary.' Leylin shut his eyes. He felt an enormous wall blocking him at this moment, the boundary of the legendary realm.

As a non-religious Professional, he would enter the legendary realm at rank 21. This was the greatest power in the central continent, giving one the ability to determine the state of any region and absorb divinity itself.

'I still have one rank left to become a legendary… If I wasn't worried about the contamination from the power of emotions, I could use the law of devouring to absorb most of the energy. Perhaps it would've been possible to become a legendary directly…'

Although he thought this, Leylin did not have the slightest regret. The foundation was the most important thing. A lot of emphasis was placed on one's foundation in the legendary realm, and Leylin did not want to advance without caution. It could lead to detours in his future path.

[Beep! Nightmare Absorption abilities have been activated! Host has obtained a bloodline ability— Dream Eater!] The A.I. Chip sent yet another prompt.

"Is this the bloodline magic ability by any chance? With Nightmare Absorption's power, the power of this magic technique should be incredibly terrifying, shouldn't it?" Leylin muttered to himself irresolutely. He could be said to be an expert in exploring bloodline magic and putting it to use.

Once the abilities of a Warlock were combined with the power of this ancient bloodline, the results would be sure to surprise him.

"Bloodline ability— Dream Eater!" Leylin looked at the A.I. Chip's window on the skill, and discovered nothing besides the name.

'Even the A.I. Chip has no records of it in the database. Seems like it's an entirely new magic ability. I can only rely on myself to explore it and perfect it…'

……

Soros the Cadaver Collector was an expert wanted by the church of justice. His extensive criminal record was difficult to chronicle; he'd even massacred an entire town before. However, the man himself was someone who'd always been shrouded in a dark robe.

Nobody knew that under this cloak, the church of murder's legendary 'honorary executioner' was a boy with a warm and sunny aura.

"Many thanks, Uncle Newman!" Soros slid down from an ox cart piled high with foraged grass, thanking the old man in front of him.

"Ah, it's nothing much. No one would reject a polite and obedient child like you a ride. Is this your destination, young fellow?" The driver of the cart was a wizened old man. His arms were lean muscle, beaten by the weather. His face was wreathed in a carefree smile, revealing his sparse teeth. He had a scattered beard that looked like iron wool.

"Mm! I want to go to Port Venus, I heard it is the most prosperous port in the outer seas," The tall youth's expression was a little bashful, but his eyes were filled with determination, "I want to earn money there, and then I can… Oh! This is my gift for letting me take your cart."

Looking at the pretty little shell in the youth's hand, the old man's smile bloomed even more happily, "Haha! Well work hard, youngster. I wish you the best!"

'The spiritual influence of despair held within that shell, I wonder how long it'll take to kill him off?' After leaving the cart, Soros lowered his head. His eyes held a trace of darkness as he laughed demonically.

If that old man saw how he looked now, he definitely wouldn't have let Soros hitchhike on his cart.

"I still need to keep this identity a secret… Such a pity," Soros licked his lips. When he lifted his head again, his expression had already changed into that docile and harmless smile he had shown before. His youthful appearance easily gave others a favourable impression.

"Big Sis, could you please give me…" Soros chose a random inn to stay in. His words caused the middle-aged woman who was the proprietor of the inn to light up brightly. The village woman gave him a room for half the price.

Soros' face only darkened after he entered the room and made sure he was alone. "Damn it, that disgusting hog had actually dared to provoke me… If not for this mission… Oh right!"

The tall boy clasped his hands, "After this mission ends, I'll give this town a bloodbath. It seems that our revered god likes sacrificial rites like this anyway… Hehe…"

As a legendary, and a criminal wanted by many of the good churches, Soros knew how much his identity weighed on their minds. Powerful beings definitely had their own set of perverse fetishes, and Soros' was to put on an innocent image and wait for the very last moment to reveal his true self. He would watch as his target broke down.

He felt more twisted joy from this sorrow than any divine grace could give him. Of course, Soros himself would not explicitly admit this point.

……

Soros moved towards Port Venus the next day, having gotten ample rest. He headed for Leylin's wizard tower.

'This defense system is well thought out. The detection spell formations are activated constantly… Something like this is pretty good for a place like the outer seas.'

A look of pity flashed across Soros' face. 'Leylin is extremely wary, he'd see through any disguise straight away. Well, it isn't a big deal. I have many other skills, and this will be a good time to test them out.'

Sudden Strike! Soros' body floated up into the sky, and an illusory gold claw struck the wizard tower. Red alarms flashed immediately.

"Warning! Detected energy waves with legendary power. Tower has taken 35.99% damage!"

"Found it! So it was here all along?" Soros' pupils contracted as he merged into the shadows.

He followed the energy pathways of the tower, and arrived at a laboratory before he emerged once more. This place was likely where the core of the tower resided, and he looked at the frightened noble wizard in front of him.

"Le… Legendary! You are waging a holy war…" The young wizard seemed to be frighted silly, and his teeth clacked when he spoke.

"Only a legendary-ranked wizard tower could hold me back!" Soros' face was full of mockery, the same way a golden lion would look at a rabbit. As if in accompaniment to Soros' voice, the tower genie gave off a high pitched tone, "Intruder alert! Current location: Core Laboratory. Deploying magic gargoyles… bzzt!"

Soros made a slicing motion with his finger, cutting the image of the tower genie into pieces.

"You don't have to take out these toy gargoyles…"

Bang!* He immediately turned into countless black figures, and the gargoyles that surged from the defense mechanism were all destroyed, with no life left in them.

"Tower core 87.99% destroyed, operations ceased!" At this point, the tower genie could not even muster a hologram of itself. Only its voice rang out, as if coming from an old gramophone.

"How… how is this possible?" The young wizard's legs buckled as he sat on the floor, staring listlessly at the ceiling, "But I'd spent…"

"This place is just like a backyard for someone in the legendary realm."

Soros enjoyed the process of toying with his prey. The young wizard cried out, his eyes bloodshot as if he was a gambler who had lost everything. "No! I still have…"

Roar!* The young wizard's robes tore apart into pieces, releasing a mighty draconic aura. He'd become half-dragon, and his skin was topped by scales. He spewed flames from his mouth, destroying all the glass apparatus in the laboratory.

"A half-dragon? The bloodline of a dragon species? This is your trump card?" Soros' brows furrowed, before he released his own aura. The air in the vicinity was blasted away, giving rise to a vacuum. "What a pity, everything you do is in vain. The only thing left for you is death…"

……

"Rumble!" The mighty tower collapsed, sending smoke and dust billowed high up into the sky. Soros walked out of the rubble, carrying a freshly severed head that still had blood trickling down it.

The draconic scales faded, revealing the pale visage of the late wizard. His eyes no longer had any trace of life, glazed like that of a dead fish.

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Death

"Something seems off…" Soros raised his right hand as he stared into the aggrieved eyes of the incapacitated young wizard. Still, his sense of touch and various detection techniques confirmed that he was already dead.

However, even Soros had to admit that this wizard was extremely talented. He'd become a near-legendary at such a young age, possessing a powerful dragon bloodline. His battle might was already greater than that of some rank 20s.

"You were a genius… It's a pity, mortals should never provoke god…" Soros seemed to lament in pity as he gently closed the eyes of the wizard.

At this moment, multiple figures from Port Venus had already discovered that something was amiss. They ran over, while some high-ranking priests chose to fly there directly.

"The Goddess of Wealth's church huh…" Soros shook his head in disdain, but did not choose to engage. He disappeared without a trace.

……

Within the God of Murder's church, the bishop looked at Soros with a pleased smile, "Well done, my child. Now, let us offer this sinner's head to our revered god…"

Buzz!* Cyric's statue let out a loud rumble once it received the sacrifice, golden divine force rippling out into the air. The sculpture soon seemed to come to life, taking the shape of a man with a wicked face.

"Worshipper Soros, you've done well. You shall get the rewards you deserve!" The voice of his god's incarnation was extremely deep and magnetic. Soros felt an immense amount of divine force descend on his head as it sounded.

"This…This is divine grace! And of the highest grade!" The bishop cried out hoarsely from the side. Seeing the traces of dark gold light falling on Soros' head, he couldn't maintain a neutral expression any more. The ancient scripture detailing the sacrificial rite fell to the ground.

"And divinity too?"

"Are you questioning our revered Lord's decision?" Accepting copious amounts of divine force and divinity, Soros now looked like a golden statue. Lightning occasionally streaked within his eyes. The benefits he had observed this time was extremely huge. The God of Murder had actually raised him by a rank and even granted him divinity!

"No, I wouldn't dare. Our god has chosen you, and you shall be his emissary on the continent!" A trace of fear arose in the bishop's eyes, but his reply was still clear and distinct.

The foremost authority in any church was the god themselves. Directly under them would be the Bishop or Chosen, and from one standpoint Soros' status was now equal to that of the the bishop. The difference between the two was merely the amount of divine grace they had!

"Haha…" Being able to look at his former superior squarely in the face, Soros laughed in a carefree manner, forgetting the uneasiness that he had felt despite finishing the mission.

He disappeared into the void without a trace, and a single vertical eye appeared.

……

30 years later, Soros slammed an old wizard into the ground as he laughed, "Haha, Madrid, you have never believed that you would land in my hands one day huh!"

"No…This is not possible. Why are you this strong? Your progression is too fast!" Madrid's body was littered with injuries, and his voice was barely audible.

"This is all the grace of the god!" Soros grabbed the collar of this wizard, "Back then you were stronger than me in every way, and even managed to become a legendary and steal Vanessa's heart. But now, you're as weak as a dog…"

"Kill me… Kill me…" The helpless wizard mumbled.

"I won't you off this easily! You'll be repaid the suffering and anguish I felt all these years…" Soros carried the wizard away. The vertical eye appeared once more, forming a crack in the void to reveal crimson light…

……

200 year later, in the church of the God of Murder.

"Cough cough…" The lord bishop looked at the dagger lodged in his chest, and the high ranking officials across him. He turned his head around in disbelief, and saw the sinister look on Soros' face.

"You…you actually…"

"Old fool, the cardinals and the honour guard have chosen to abandon and betray you. You're past your time now!" Soros' smile was even more malevolent than before.

"Our god… Will never forgive…" The bishop clenched these last words out of his teeth before his body combusted.

An immense conscient descended to the planet, "Soros!"

"My Lord, you are the emissary of death, the supreme amongst the stars…" Soros knelt onto the ground.

"You have successfully conspired to kill the previous bishop. Well done! I hereby appoint you the next bishop of my church!"

"I will dedicate my life to walking the path you've chosen. I shall throw the entire continent into chaos and conduct many massacres…" Soros affirmed, his eyes turning slightly bloodshot.

The vertical eye behind him was now more than half open, yet nobody could discover its presence.

……

Time trickled by, and the church of murder grew under Soros' charge, spreading across the World of Gods. Soros himself had managed to ascent to godhood, becoming a lesser god under Cyric.

Several thousand years later, he grew increasingly dissatisfied with Cyric. He waged a holy war, managing to defeat and absorb his former master, becoming the Greater God of Murder, Massacre, and Death.

Soros continued these wars after, building a system of faith where he was the one and only deity. Finally, he usurped the Overgod's throne. He now sat on the highest pedestal of the World of Gods' divine hall, his gaze passing across the rivers of time and into eternity.

At this moment, the vertical eye behind him fully opened its eyes!

"Hmm? Who is it?" Soros felt an immediate threat to his life. It was a warning that came from the depths of his soul, a feeling that this attacker could consign him to eternal damnation.

"Why is there someone else in the highest of realms, is there something that can transcend the entire world?"The throne split into half as Soros turned around with a look of disbelief.

At this moment, the giant vertical eye was omnipotent, its gaze crystal clear, as if nothing in the world could escape its eyes. A trace of crimson mist appeared, gnawing at the corners of the World of Gods.

Soros felt his hair stand on end once he saw this vertical eye. It was like this eye had been observing his every moment in life.

"What are you? A devil?" This feeling of being pried on caused immense fury to arise in this sovereign.

"Hah!" Divine force gathered in Soros' hands, turning into a purple lightning that could split the world in half. This lightning formed a spear that landed in his grasp.

The spear was thrown, and it tore the void apart as it moved, carrying the various blessings of the gods.

Boom!* An attack which could annihilate gods struck the vertical eye, yet not a single sound was produced. It was as if a speck of dust had come into contact with a rock, dissipating just like that.

"How…is this possible? I am the sovereign! The world origin force is at my fingertips!" Soros staggered backwards, the fear in his heart growing stronger.

"I've seen the creation and annihilation of the world, the rise and fall of many tribes. Only the foolishness of mortals is eternal in the rivers of time!" The information struck Soros at the deepest part of his soul, and he understood the underlying meaning within.

"A mortal? How can I be a mortal…" Soros let out a hollow laughter, before his face contorted. He discovered that he had turned a mortal, mere flesh and blood. This feeling of falling from heaven caused him to suffer a mental breakdown.

However, the vertical eye did not give him any chances for a mental recovery. It opened up and gazed at Soros.

Rumble!* The whole world was devoured by the red vertical pupil, and Soros was but a struggling speck of dust, screaming in anguish before finally disappearing into the pupil of the eye.

……

In the room of an inn, Soros' sleeping head was sharply twisted to one side. He was dead.

Leylin rubbed his temples outside the inn, seemingly exhausted. "The power of this Dream Eater spell is really terrifying. To construct a complex world, even if it's fake, is just too difficult for me right now…

"But it was all worth it…" Leylin's face could not help but change at the pleasure of devouring Soros' entire dream. This ability to devour dreams also allowed him to absorb the target's memories, experiences, and even more. It caused him to feel full from the essence of his very soul, and Leylin knew that he had fulfilled all conditions to become legendary. He only needed to digest what he'd absorbed.

"If not for using Dreamscape Vision and entering Soros' dream, I might not have had it this easy… It seems that the best way to use this Dream Eater skill is to first lure the enemy into a dream and combine with a spell. Distrait Dream could do it…"

Having acquired what he wanted, Leylin disappeared from the inn without a trace. The outer seas basically belonged to the Faulens right now, and although it wasn't easy to conquer the entire territory, the pirate forces would pave the way for them to expand their territory.

Leylin had sorted the information to identify suspicious activity and targets. He would personally confirm it all with his eyes.

Soros had just been unlucky this time, like a beautiful butterfly having flown into an intricate spider web. Caught by Leylin's Dreamscape Vision, all attempts to conceal himself were to no avail.

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Spear Crusader

The tranquility of dawn was broken by an ear-piercing scream. With two buckets by her side, the innkeeper looked at a lifeless youth on the bed. This boy, who'd made her heart flutter yesterday, had now lost all traces of life.

"No external injuries nor any traces of spells. His identity certificate is forged…" The public security officer felt a headache coming on as he hurried over to inspect the scene. His many years of experience had told him that this case was going to be very troublesome.

"Can it be some acute illness?" The public security officer spoke in an imposing manner to mask the nervousness that he felt.

"Find a priest to come and pray over him, then send the corpse to the burial mound…" Seeing this officer unwilling to let things get out of hand, the plump lady didn't hesitate to agree.

They downplayed this death through various procedures, and finally invited someone to bless the burial. However, this person wasn't an official priest. It was an acolyte handling the menial tasks of a church.

The acolyte did not even have the cultivation to cast a rank 1 holy spell, let alone find out what was wrong with Soros' corpse. After a quick blessing, he let the the men in charge of burying the corpse carry it away.

The one in charge of burying the legendary-ranked Soros' corpse was a filthy, skinny, middle-aged white man who reeked of alcohol. His blackened teeth carried a putrid odour, and he thoroughly searched through the corpse once he was outside the city. He was looking for little valuables that the corrupt official hadn't discovered.

"Hehehe… What a fair skinned boy. A pity that the officer already squirreled away his purse and other things…" Soros' corpse had been stripped even of its shoes. Every inch of his body that could have contained gold was looked at by this man.

Soros was a legendary however, and his priceless bag of holding, spatial ring, magic artifacts, and other items had been taken away by Leylin. The officer had grabbed the gold that was left, leaving nothing for this man to take.

However, just the set of clothes and shoes alone was enough to satisfy him.

"Hehe… This kiddo is rather rich. All these clothes are worth at least 30 bronze pieces. I can visit Mary once or go to the pub and drink all night…" The man looked at the stark naked corpse, nodding his head in satisfaction.

"Since you've given me this much, I'll dig your grave bigger than the rest."

"This is the outcome of a legendary like Soros, huh? What a sorrowful scene!" A sinister voice mocked throughout the surroundings, scaring the man away. "Who, who is there?"

Zip!* An icy blade flashed, and the man dropped to the floor with blood gushing from his body.

"A legendary who was among the top ten experts of the church couldn't even escape death…" The void warped as a the figure of a high-ranked thief appeared. He masterfully picked up Soros' corpse, and the expression on his face grew darker.

"No… this isn't right! How can his body only be as resilient as a regular human's? He was a legendary!" The high-ranked thief cried out, "If not for the top secret information I received from our bishop, I would have treated him as a regular human as well!"

"What's more… The most important thing is that the soul has disappeared completely… Such ruthless measures…" The pupils of the thief narrowed, and he felt that a terrifying presence was in the vicinity. He did not dare tarry longer, and immediately vanished with Soros' corpse.

He was only a high-ranked thief in the church, nowhere close to being legendary. If even Soros had died here, wiping him off the face of the earth wouldn't be a major issue either. The thief knew this clearly, and there was no way he would stay another moment.

……

Church of Cyric, within the gloomy valley.

The bishop had received this news as well.

"I have already contacted our god. It seems like Soros' soul did not enter his divine realm, instead vanishing mysteriously."

"Was it some sort of confinement spell?" A high ranked thief chimed in from the side.

"No, not confinement. It's completely missing! Even… Even our god's imprint had completely vanished…" The bishop grew extremely solemn. Legendaries were the foundation of a church, yet one of theirs had died just like that. It was an enormous blow even to an organisation like theirs.

Furthermore, the ability to wipe out a legendary without a trace left the others extremely uneasy. The bishop closed his eyes and pondered before speaking in an icy tone, "Find out everything for me! Everything!"

"Yes!" The thief bowed respectfully and left to pass on the orders.

Although there was no evidence, he was very clear in his heart that all of this was linked to Soros' primary target, the noble wizard of Faulen Island.

'An expert who managed to kill a legendary! Having me investigate this monster… Aren't you asking me to go and die?' The high-ranked thief lamented to himself, 'Luckily this is just an investigation mission. It looks like even the Lord Bishop himself won't carelessly go against this person…'

"Faulen Island's Leylin?" The high-ranked thief had a premonition that this wizard was the man of the moment in the World of Gods. No! Having showcased this power, this wizard was now a powerful player who could shake the entire continent!

……

Leylin did not pay the slightest attention to these conjectures and the dark clouds looming in his future. After he quietly murdered Soros, he peacefully returned to the wizard tower without alerting a single person.

What was truly terrifying was the unknown. If he revealed his ability to kill legendaries, it could lead to excessive fear of him. He needed to slowly digest the power he had devoured.

"The Dream Eater ability is truly the most terrifying bloodline power. The bloodline abilities it gives are also extremely demonic and powerful…" Leylin sighed.

He was a rank 20 wizard, while Soros was a legendary expert. Using an analogy in the Magus World, it was like a Crystal Phase Magus squaring off against a Morning Star. The gap between the two was as wide as that between heaven and earth.

And still, the Dream Eater ability acquired through his bloodline had allowed Leylin to kill Soros easily. Nothing as insane as this had ever happened even in the ancient times.

The barrier between ranks 3 and 4 was one of a qualitative change from spiritual force to soul force. Even an army of rank 3s would be slaughtered by a Morning Star, yet Leylin had managed to win across this gap!

"A.I. Chip!" Leylin commanded. The A.I. Chip had already collated all the previously collected data, and it displayed the information on this bloodline ability.

[Nightmare Absorption bloodline ability: Dream Eater: Allows host to infiltrate the target's dream world, constructing an illusion and causing their truesoul to degenerate. The host can then devour the target's dream world and absorb everything. Warning: If the target's soul force is too powerful, or they see through the dream world, it may injure the host in an unpredictable manner! As the host's bloodline concentration is limited, it can only be used once every 10 days.]

"So it's a battle between souls using an illusory technique. However, with my main body's experiences perhaps nobody except a god coming in person can best me in that regard…" Leylin had a premonition that this bloodline ability would be his most important hidden killer move.

"Besides, using Dream Eater to devour energy seems to be even more effective than before. I can gain everything that belonged to my opponent, and even walk down their path to power once for myself. The benefits from that will be immeasurable…" Leylin felt that he seemed to have found the reason why that Nightmare King was incomparably powerful.

The legendary body of Soros the Cadaver Collector comprised of all his experiences as an honorary executioner. Leylin had effortlessly obtained all of this, and all that had been left was a decaying corpse.

After devouring the soul of a legendary and obtaining all his experiences, Leylin had reached the threshold of the legendary realm.

"Ascending to become a legendary! Refining my power is the first step, and the next is to cultivate my spiritual conscient and construct an inner circulatory system… I have already fulfilled all of these criteria." Leylin's eyes flashed brightly. His aura began to dampen as he entered deep meditation.

Just at this moment, a visitor had arrived at Faulen Island.

"Lord Jeffries!" Xena, the Gold Priest of Waukeen's church, bowed deeply with respect at a middle-aged man.

"My lord has travelled a long way. I have already prepared accommodations and everything else, I entreat my lord to…" Xena's voice was humble as she spoke. This person was Jeffries, the Spear Crusader! He was a legendary expert of the church of wealth, and his status and reputation was far above that of a Gold Priest like her.

"There is no need of that for now. I didn't come here to seek pleasure. You had better hurry and take me to see that wizard. It's difficult to protect a person being targeted by the Cadaver Collector…" Jeffries the Spear Crusader had a head of long silver hair, an aquiline nose, and thick lips. He gave off a resilient and ascetic aura, and his eagle-like eyes revealed the endless turmoil within him.

Although he did not intentionally release his aura, the elemental energy particles in the surroundings continuously swirled around him. This was a legendary, the goal of all Professionals in the prime material plane!

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Legend

"Understood. I'll have it done immediately!" Xena lowered her head to show respect, while she sighed on the inside. 'They've even sent this lord over. Looks like the church thinks very highly of Baron Leylin…'

She could tell the favour the church had for this baron. After all, he'd created two great sources of revenue and improved their methods of detecting demons and devils. She hadn't had much hope with her proposal, but the fact that they'd immediately sent over the legendary Spear Crusader showed his value!

'It's not just his talent, but also the possibility of him becoming a legendary.' Only a future legendary was worthy of the church's investment. Thinking of this, Xena couldn't help but envy Leylin.

"I heard that he's created many magic items to detect devils, and even our church can't make sense of them. That wizard has left us all pleasant surprised…" While he was annoyed at being dispatched so urgently to deal with an ordinary human, Jeffries was rather curious about this young wizard.

"He's really a rather interesting person…" Xena could only continue speaking as Jeffries asked questions, but she soon discovered a strange expression on his face.

"What's wrong, my lord?"

"These undulations? Perhaps…" Jeffries stared at the hill outside Port Venus, focusing on the wizard tower that stood tall and grim.

"Where is this Leylin right now?" he suddenly asked.

"He's inside the tower. I heard he's been conducting some important research. This child really doesn't know his priorities…" Xena spoke without thinking.

After which, she was stunned to find that Jeffries was hurrying towards the tower, "Wa- Wait! My lord, are you planning to meet the wizard right now? At the very least, you should…"

Jeffries seemed to have no plans of listening to her. He only proceeded forward, looking to be in disbelief.

"His expression… Did something happen at the wizard tower?" Xena seemed confused, and she glanced at the tower in the distance.

……

At this very moment, Leylin was indeed experiencing a transformation within the wizard tower.

Normal Professionals on the continent entered the legendary realm at rank 21. This involved a refining of strength, and it was as difficult as it was for rank 3 Magi to advance to Morning Star. It was a sort of qualitative change, an upgrade to the very soul.

Having experienced this once before, and with Soros' own experiences of advancing this stage wouldn't pose any difficulty to him. The A.I. Chip was working furiously, and large amounts of data flashed by Leylin's eyes to form a few prompts.

[Beep! Arcane spell network construct completed. Host's internal cyclic foundation constructed.] [Beep! Host's spiritual force has reached the limit, breaking through and solidifying. Host is advancing to the legendary realm!]

At this moment, Leylin felt his soul and the Weave growing chaotic. It felt as if his soul was being attacked by the Weave.

'If I was an ordinary wizard, it would be exceedingly difficult for me to advance under such circumstances. Thankfully, I have long since become an arcanist, so my relationship with the Weave isn't as close as it was before…' Leylin manipulated his spiritual force with his powerful will, allowing everything to progress steadily.

Finally, under immense pressure from the outside world, the misty spiritual force in his sea of consciousness abruptly gathered at the centre, forming a rainbow-coloured crystal. It felt as if some invisible bottleneck had exploded, and Leylin's entire soul seemed to be soaked in a hot spring. It left him feeling very comfortable.

[Beep! Host's spiritual force has experienced a qualitative change. Spirit 1.] The A.I. Chip prompted.

[Host has advanced to rank 21 and has become a legendary.] A huge shock seemed to impact Leylin's very soul, to the point that he grew slightly absent-minded.

[Beep! Host has become a legendary arcanist, and has broken through the outer Weave. Contact with the inner Weave initiated.]

Leylin's spiritual force broke through some restraints at that moment, moving past the surface levels of the Weave into a deeper domain.

"Is this… the inner Weave?" From his broad perspective, Leylin could see that the Weave was a network that surrounded the World of Gods. It had layers like an electrical network, and he'd gotten access to a golden network within.

This was a channel for divine spells, numerous instances of which descended from their respective divine realms like stars. They were sent down in exchange for faith.

'With control over the inner Weave, the gods treat it as a channel for divine spells?' Leylin immediately thought back to the arcanist records, 'Some arcanists who break through the restrictions of the Weave attempted to steal divine spell slots from priests. This remote power system, the profaning of priests. While this caused discontent and a death sentence from the gods and churches, arcanists were poorly regarded to begin with. One more issue meant nothing…'

The benefits of breaking past the outer Weave weren't limited to being able to observe and channel divine spells. Leylin could now cast legendary spells.

Leylin was already as strong as the legendary arcanists of the Netheril Empire. Once he grew familiar with and recorded down the legendary arcane spells he had, even gods' avatars wouldn't be able to frighten him.

The A.I. Chip continued to flash it's prompts..

[Beep! Advancing to the legendary realm has strengthened feats. Sturdy has become Legendary Sturdiness. Erudite has become Scholarly.] [Beep! Host has obtained legendary specialty: Origin Force Detection, replacing Arcane Energy Detection.]

More information about the feats and specialty was shown below.

[Legendary Sturdiness: Rigorous tempering and advancement has rendered your body comparable to that of a legendary beast. Regeneration has been strengthened.] [Scholarly: Having accumulated a tremendous amount of knowledge, including many secret inheritances, you have explored many of the secrets of the World of Gods. Appraisal has reached the maximum level, allowing you to appraise any material from the World of Gods.] [Origin Force Detection: Legendary arcanists were not satisfied with casting spells using elemental energy. They set their sights on the deeper secrets of the world, discovering the existence of the world origin force. They named it origin energy and tried to control it, engendering the ire of the gods with their deep research.]

"Origin Force Detection? Making use of the origin force? This is something only beings who have comprehended laws can do…" Leylin sensed the majestic origin force sea of the World of Gods, feeling slightly disconcerted.

The Magus World only gave him an opportunity to absorb origin force once every century as a near rank 7. And this was after he made a compromise with other beings of laws. It was evident how precious world origin force was. No wonder the gods eliminated the arcanists, they were trying to steal their 'meat'.

"Even if I can use it, I definitely can't make it obvious, or the gods won't let me off…" A legendary wizard with research into arcane spells wasn't much. However, one who could make use of the world origin force would definitely force the gods to act and crush him.

Leylin felt that there was an increasing number of secrets he possessed. Revealing any one of them would leave him consigned to eternal damnation.

"In any case, I already have a lot to worry about. What's one more? Let it be!" Leylin easily come to terms with this.

[Beep! Host's stats have been refreshed. Stat box refreshing.]

The A.I. Chip projected a 3D image of Leylin, the numbers having gone through some changes.

[Leylin Faulen. Race: Human, Legendary Rank 21 Arcanist. Strength: 15. Agility: 15. Vitality: 15. Spirit: 21. Arcane Energy: 210 Status: Healthy. Feats: Legendary Sturdiness, Scholarly, Intermediate Perfect Body, Dreamscape Vision. Specialties: Origin Force Detection, Arcane Amplification, Illusions.] [Analysis of Weave: Level 0 at 100%, Level 1 at 100%, Level 2 at 100%, Level 3 at 100%, Level 4 at 100%, Level 5 at 100%, Level 6 at 97.83%, Level 7 at 66.56%. Level 8 at 34.55%.] [Spell slots possessed: Rank 9 (3), Rank 8 (5), rank 7 (7), rank 6 (???), rank 5(???), rank 4 (???), rank 3 (???), rank 2 (???), rank 1 (???), rank 0 (???)]

"Hah… It's been over twenty years since my soul split and entered the World of Gods. Am I finally at the peak of the mortal world?" Sensing the boundless strength within his body, Leylin sighed in relief.

He had finally reached the domain of a legendary! This was not just the peak strength that a mortal could achieve, but the beginning of an exemplary road!

In order to digest divinity, ignite godfire, and become a god, being a legendary was a definite prerequisite.

In addition, after becoming a legendary, the chance of dying was small as long as he was not too reckless, since the gods could not send their main bodies down.

Now that his safety was covered, Leylin focused on something else.

"Now, I need to obtain as much divinity as possible and digest it, and then ignite my godfire before becoming a god. I'll then get my main body to descend… Yes! Only about a year is left till the floating city appears. I could try to obtain it…"

Leylin's movements were never hindered by anything. What he pursued was only truth and eternity! Everything else was like passing clouds to him.

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Great Waves

"I already contacted him via magic. He should come out immediately…" Xena stood behind Jeffries, looking puzzled, "With my lord's status, is there a need to stand on ceremony?"

However, Jeffries had no intentions of explaining himself. On the contrary, he stood even taller, like a pike that could pierce through the heavens, eyes fixed on the main entrance of the wizard tower.

"He's here!" Jeffries exclaimed softly.

Rumble!* The main entrance opened to reveal Leylin, looking apologetic in his golden-purple wizard robes, "I never thought Lord Jeffries would come himself…"

'Hmm? Why does it feel like Leylin has changed…' Xena sized up the young wizard in front of her, bewildered. While he looked just as young and handsome as before, she had a feeling that he had undergone a huge transformation.

'It's his aura! He's giving me the feeling of being on equal terms with Lord Jeffries… How is that possible, when Jeffries is a legendary? Oh!' Xena seemed to think of something, and then vigorously shook her head, as if trying to shake the thought out of her mind. 'What am I thinking? How is this possible?'

"Indeed, my Lord. You have entered the realm of legendary." The moment Jeffries said this, the entire group broke out in a ruckus.

'So… So he's really entered the legendary realm. How long has it been since we last met?' Xena covered her little mouth, looking stunned. She wasn't the only one to forget herself in the moment, the others began to create a disturbance as well.

This was a legendary wizard! The Faulen Family would now shake the outer seas!

Legendaries held peak strength in the World of Gods. They could influence the change of rulership, and were even more important to a kingdom than the king. A kingdom without protection from a legendary could not last long.

"Although I did sense the energy from your breakthrough, I never thought it would be you. Your age, it's…" Jeffries smiled wryly, "… Actually, even us old folks find it hard to believe…"

"Age!" It was only at this moment that Xena and the others reacted, "Right, Lord Leylin is not even 25 yet! Gods! A 25 year-old legendary, and a wizard at that! It's the hardest profession to advance in!"

There was too much shocking news, and the entire area turned mute, as if everyone had been shocked stupid by Leylin's miracle.

"Heavens… Gods… this…" Xena now had no idea how to describe Leylin's aptitude, 'I'm very sure that he must be some miracle in the wizarding world! He'll definitely be written down in the records for eternity, and his achievements will be narrated to our later generations…'

"I was just lucky!" Leylin had a good-natured smile on his face. Whatever it was, since the Goddess of Wealth dispatched a legendary to protect him, he definitely had sensed their goodwill.

"Come, let's go in and discuss this further!" Leylin seemed to only have Jeffries in his sights.

"Let's go!" Jeffries appeared amiable to someone of similar rank, and Xena and the rest only found this natural. A legendary would only take another of the same level seriously. Similar strength was the prerequisite to associating with one another, this was the law everywhere!

……

The God of Murder's church.

An old bishop was reading the information in his hand as he muttered to himself, "Legendary might and also a secret trump card that can kill other legendaries… seems like the rise of the Faulen Family in the outer seas can no longer be stopped…

"Make it known that our men have to be very cautious while investigating! Try not to be discovered by him!"

"Understood, Lord Bishop!" A black-robed priest quickly bowed and left, knowing that they would give up their plans of revenge for now.

There weren't all that many legendaries even in Cyric's church. The fall of Soros had already dealt them a huge blow, and before knowing what Leylin had up his sleeve it was not a good idea to take such a risk.

The God of Murder never cared about honour anyway, and he was the best at conspiracies. With enough time, they could definitely bribe someone and break in, finding out all the secrets of this young legendary wizard!

……

Within the Dambrath Kingdom. The aging king had abandoned his afternoon entertainment for a report from a trusted aide.

Hearing what was said, the king went silent for a long while before speaking in a low voice, "So that wizard has already become a legendary?"

"Yes, your majesty! Lord Jeffries of the church of wealth has proof of it." The person speaking was the king's trusted aide, as well as the leader of the court wizards.

There was a tartness in this silver-eyed wizard's smile. He was only a high-ranked wizard himself, and Leylin advancing at such a young age was a huge blow for him.

"You're a wizard yourself. You should know this best, speak without reservations and I'll trust in you." The king rubbed his temples in distress, and then waved his arms.

"Understood, Your Majesty!" The high-ranked wizard thought for a while, and then spoke, "Legendary strength is the peak in the secular world. It can even…"

"I know, I know. Get to the point," The king answered in annoyance.

"Alright!" The high-ranked wizard took a deep breath.

"Our first priority should be to avoid angering him. Thankfully, our information shows that he has good intentions towards us. He is a court wizard himself, and that status is something Your Majesty granted him… I believe we can also do what Marquis Gold Thornblossom proposed… Actually, a legendary wizard in our kingdom will surely be helpful in our diplomacy…"

"Granting a title?" The king took a deep breath and made his decision, "Then let's do that. Take care of it for me!"

……

In a city near the north, the God of Justice's church. A slender knight was piously praying to a god's statue.

Divine force that was bright and full of righteousness rippled about her body, causing the young female knight's face to glow.

At this moment, a benevolent old priest walked over, "Rafiniya, the church has a mission for you to complete!"

"Grandma Maria!" Rafiniya immediately helped this priest who was so old she would pant with a few steps, "I am also a member of this church. On top of that, you saved my life. If there's anything I can do, please tell me!"

"Good…" Maria gave a summary of what had happened at Faulen Island, and then said, "The church wants you to be the envoy. After all, you are friends with him…"

"Leylin? I'll need to think about it…" Rafiniya bit at her lips.

After the priest left, the image of the young wizard appeared before Rafiniya's eyes, and all that she had experienced with him appeared vividly in her mind. Sulking after her attempt to get Leylin to help Silverymoon had failed, she'd headed to the battlefield on her own, arriving at the broken city.

Gravely injured in the war, she was saved by the paladins of the God of Justice and accepted their call. She grew faith in the God of Justice, and joined Tyr's church. Perhaps from the attraction from her very nature, she improved very quickly and was now already a formal paladin!

With her training going well, she'd assumed her past was no longer important. Yet, such a thing was happening now.

"You… You've already become a legendary?" Rafiniya muttered to herself, and then recalled the hot-blooded knights that had backed her up at Silverymoon. Their bones had all turned into ash.

"Those that chose to help are mostly dead, while you who chose rationale became a legendary. Are you trying to mock me?" Rafiniya suddenly began to chuckle, the glimmering rays on her body now more distorted than ever.

"God! Please forgive me for my lack of resolution before. I promise to stand by justice, and even death will not make me feel fear!" Rafiniya immediately knelt by the statue and began to pray, looking decisive and cold.

'Even if you've become a legendary, I won't give up on my dreams and my path. At the end, I'll definitely prove to you that your decision was wrong! The only things in the world worthy of protection are love and justice!'

……

As news of Leylin's advancement spread, an increasing number of envoys from various organisations arrived at Faulen Island, causing Port Venus to be even more prosperous.

Along with the envoys came large merchant groups, and all the merchants in the surrounding seas now chose to trade here. After all, the protection of a legendary was a considerable boon in the World of Gods.

Ordinary merchants only needed a fair and safe trading environment. This was only possible with enough strength! What was more persuasive to them than a legendary?

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Preparations for Ascension

The vacant manor on Faulen Island was opened up once to welcome the honoured guests from the continent.

Baron Jonas had sent all the manpower he had, but he was still a little undermanned for the guests that were still pouring in. What's more, guests from the western desert and the northern lands were still on their way to the island. These organisations had to travel far and wide to reach them. Even if they had received the news by magic, the emissaries would reach Faulen Island later than the other guests.

Very soon, the guests had no choice but to seek lodging in the inns of Port Venus, which was a huge opportunity for the merchants here. The prices for various items had increased manifold.

As Baron Jonas scurried around to tend to the guests, he was also suspended in a state of disbelief. Fortunately, butler Leon was around to tend to things, so order could still be maintained.

'My son has already become a legendary?' Baron Jonas and his wife felt as if they were on an emotional rollercoaster. While they weren't at the peak of nobility, they still had a certain understanding towards the power system in the world of gods.

A legendary was a powerful entity that could influence an entire kingdom! Bards would forever sing hymns of their tales, the tales of these beings at the apex of power! Right now, their son Leylin had achieved such an accomplishment too!

Right now, the esteemed guests were also fervently discussing this youth who had become legendary.

"Hehe… A legendary who has yet to reach the age of 25! Lord Leylin has broken the record in the continent!"

"There are rumours that he is a favoured soul of the Goddess of Wealth, there are no other plausible explanations…."

"A favoured soul can only advance quickly as a cleric, and even that would require a large amount of divine force.…" Evidently, this emissary was more privy than the others to the powers of the extraordinary and rankings in the power system. "From my observation, this Leylin must have had some sort of extraordinary talent, which would explain his progress…:"

"Rumour has it that he's taken up piracy in the past, and he's even conducted taboo research relating to Netheril!" A voice filled with annoyance and hostility sounded, apparently belonging to someone who treated Leylin as his enemy.

"That's indeed a problem before one becomes legendary, but almost all legendaries engage in such dark research. To use this to condemn him is just… Also, for his past as a pirate, haven't you seen that even the Dambrath court's chief wizard is here?" This deep voice spoke with a very logical stance, which stumped even the hostile emissary.

Only a while later did someone lament, "This is a legendary we're talking about…" The voice reverberated throughout the room.

Amidst the fervent discussion between the forces, Leylin chose to hole up inside the wizard tower, seldom seen by the public eye. He was draped in comfortable robes within his chambers, his golden hair gently resting on his shoulders.

A dark red light glowed under this golden hair, making him look extremely sinister. Leylin hadn't taken on the nightmare form completely, but his body was covered in dark red runes. A red line appeared on forehead, radiating a light of dreams.

In this state, he was able to grasp the power of faith and emotions much easier. Using dreamforce as a catalyst, he could see the actions of each and every person that he chanted his name, their joys and sorrows, and everything else…

After entering the legendary realm, his body and soul had achieved a quintessential upgrade, the beginning of his journey to godhood.

A legendary could already sense the faith of any worshippers, and even respond in return. If one was able to amass a following of devout worshippers, they could accumulate faith over a long period of time, progressing in their own strength and giving rise to divinity. They could even ignite their godfire, becoming a demigod.

However, the churches all suppressed the worshippers of anyone who hadn't become a complete god. Forget legendaries, even divine beings and demigods weren't spared.

This unspoken rule showed Leylin the hostility the gods had towards someone joining their ranks. Unless one could become a god immediately, or had the backing of a powerful god themselves, it was very difficulty for a being from the material plane to attain godhood. This was a perilous path riddled with danger.

The divine hall was now extremely packed, and they did not wish to see any other newcomers joining them.

'Even without this restriction, legendaries, divine beings and demigods would still find it difficult to compete with the churches of true gods…' Leylin sighed.

Legendary experts could only vaguely respond to prayers, and divine beings could only respond somewhat more clearly. Demigods could bestow divine spells, but only up to rank 5. Only those true gods who had their divine spark were able to bestow rank 1 to rank 9 divine spells.

The ordinary people of the prime material plane were not fools. It was obvious who they would choose in this competition. The gods had leveraged many restrictions on the powerful mortals, all for the sake of protecting the source of their faith.

'Although I'm still only a newly advanced legendary, my sensitivity to the power of faith is greater than some weaker gods thanks to Dreamscape Vision. Apart from not being able to bestow divine spells, I'm much different compared than a true god. The most crucial point is is that Nightmare Absorption can even absorb the power of emotions. This source of strength is greater than what those true gods have…' Leylin assessed his strengths and advantages.

A legendary's response to their followers' prayers was like that of an old handphone with a bad signal. Nightmare Absorption was like an extra antenna, greatly amplifying Leylin's sensitivity to the signals he received.

Although the power of emotions was weaker than that of faith, there were more sources of it. The quality may not be equal, but emotions far exceeded faith in quantity. This was too crude and complex for gods to use, but Nightmare Absorption disregarded such things, allowing Leylin to make effective use of that power.

It increased Leylin's probability of ascension more than fivefold.

And indeed, this was what Leylin was looking at now. Having become a legendary, he'd placed his sights on godhood. He could not halt his steps because of a little bit of praise and admiration from those in the secular world. He always had to look up at the stars above.

"To become a true god, one must not lack godfire or divine rank. Godfire is just a transformation of divinity once it has accumulated to a certain level. To attain divine rank, the legendary first has to comprehend laws, combining them with the power of faith from their worshippers…" Leylin already had a great deal of experience in all the aspects required for his ascension to godhood.

'The faith of their worshippers and the power from their prayers can help gods comprehend laws, allowing them to form a special structure called the divine rank… The laws of the World of Gods are really quite bizarre…' Leylin thought. As for the divine spark, it was an emblem of a god's strength. Only those who had ascended to become a true god could possess this.

A divine realm was also something that only true gods possessed. It was an external plane used to accommodate the souls of their worshippers, and it also served as a hideout for themselves.

In their divine realms, gods could wield amazing power. The ancient Magi had not understood this during the last war, and some had even died to that mistake.

'The divine spark and divine realm aren't too far off in the future. The most crucial point is to accept some potential worshippers and try to obtain divinity. I can then continue to accumulate worshippers, soon igniting my godfire to become a demigod.

'I need to select my first worshippers carefully. Their prayers and philosophy will affect my domain and my divine realm. Clerics will be the most important, they help raise gods.'

Leylin began to feel rather vexed as he thought of this point. Although the seas around the Dambrath Kingdom were at his disposal, this was a developing area. There weren't many cultured and civilised people here.

Beelzebub's worshippers weren't even worth thinking about, it wouldn't be wise to let a group of devils function as priests and clerics. Leylin seriously suspected that those worshipers would pray their way into Beelzebub's stomach in the end.

One reason Leylin had accepted Beelzebub's worshippers was that they were an established power. Another was to to quickly raise his own strength.After advancing to the legendary realm, he was certain that he could take over Beelzebub's entire worshiper network, and obtain a secret church whose members could be found all over the continent.

This framework would only nurture clerics the next generation. This was a worrying delay. He'd already put his plans into action though, having his followers in Dambrath accept orphans and the like, sending them to Viscount Tim for secret training and instruction.

He also had a few plans to migrate people to the outer seas.

'I need to pay more attention to the race of the worshipers. Although racial gods are very powerful, it's far too limiting…'

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Friend

Leylin was inside his secret chambers in the wizard tower, using a portion of his Nightmare Absorbing Physique powers. Many dreamforce runes had appeared along with his vertical eye.

This state allowed his to sense the prayers of his worshippers extremely clearly, and also pulled tremendous amounts of energy from their emotions. It then allowed him to absorb it, which served to strengthen him.

It was exceedingly difficult to advance once one entered the legendary realm. However, to Leylin it was like walking a level road. He was enjoying the feeling of constantly gaining strength, and he continued to make his plans for ascending to godhood.

'It would take too much time to move somewhere else, and spreading faith is a problem as well… While the quality of the worshippers would be high, there'll be too few of them… It's better to turn the devil worshippers, and have the natives of the outer seas worship me as well…'

Leylin's eyes closed, and the blood-red eye between his brows cracked open. He continued to think as dark red patterns covered his body.

Worshippers were a very important resource for a god. They provided an unending amount of faith while alive, and became petitioners in death, similarly continuing to support their god. They could even turn into valiant souls or holy spirits, comparable to rank 5 and rank 6 Magi!

This was why all gods took good care of their worshippers. The faith of evil gods wasn't allowed to spread.

There was even a specialised God of Protection known as Helm, and he dealt specifically with these matters. Verifying a true god's qualifications and deal with belief in false gods were all within the scope of his divine powers.

As the continent was so vast, worshippers of devils and demons could develop in secret. A new legendary like Leylin would not be the target of much attention.

Inside the prime material plane itself, Leylin now had enough status and strength to protect himself. Even so, a few churches could band together, sending high-ranked and legendary Professionals along with an avatar to kill him in mere minutes.

'I should work in the shadows and be more careful. I can't arouse suspicions… It's best that I amass strength quietly and become a true god. I wouldn't have anything to worry about then…' While deep in thought, Leylin completed his meditation and absorption of the power of emotions for the day. He transformed back into the youth.

"Master! The Spear Crusader Jeffries has come to visit you. He's already been waiting outside for half an hour…" the tower genie appeared and reported, "Additionally, the Dambrath Kingdom and church of justice have sent special envoys to you, requesting private meetings."

"God of Justice?" Leylin frowned. Nobody inclined towards evil had a good opinion of this person. "I haven't dealt with them often enough… Could they have found out that I killed a paladin before? No, that's too trivial… Whatever, all will be clear once I meet them…"

With enough might to protect himself, Leylin was no longer as cautious as before. After all, as long as he did not collude with devils and demons, plot to bring chaos to the continent, or spread his own faith and try to become a god, no large organisations would willingly offend him.

However, out of politeness and his status, Leylin still met with Jeffries.

"My sincerest apologies! I was stuck in meditation…" Leylin looked apologetic.

"Hehe… It's nothing at all. Only a wizard as meticulous as that can achieve the results you have, Lord Leylin…" Jeffries revealed a sincere smile. Truth be told, he admired Leylin's hard work. He'd seen many talented geniuses, but never one as disciplined as this wizard.

The puppets served a scented tea along with snacks. After some idle conversation, Leylin asked in puzzlement, "I wonder what my lord is here for…"

"Oh! Actually…" Jeffries slapped his forehead, looking flustered as if he had only just recalled this.

"Legendaries are already at the peak of the mortal world. For this reason, there are a few established rules we need to follow. Since I'm the one who first witnessed your advancement, it's my duty to explain them."

"Ah, yes." Leylin nodded. Any world with extreme powers had a concept similar to no first use. If not for that, constant wars would destroy the world no matter how large it was. "I obviously won't refuse. Do I need to sign some sort of contract?"

"No, not at all! They're just conventions that you need to obey…"

Jeffries' waved his hands while he smiled more warmly. He began to go through the rules one by one, and Leylin listened attentively.

"We don't really have many restrictions. We shouldn't initiate battles in densely populated areas, collude with devils and demons, spread our own faith privately, and things like that… Also, since you're a legendary wizard you can't cast legendary spells or conduct experiments that could pollute a large area."

In general, the restrictions weren't too stringent, but what surprised him the most was that he didn't have to sign any magic contract.

'Then again… These are all restrictions in their own right. No legendary would be willing to attach such an act to themselves unless they're masochistic. Also… the fact that legendary wizards study material on arcane spells is an open secret…' Leylin suddenly understood.

"Cough cough…" Jeffries' smiling face seemed to be saying 'good that you know.' He continued seriously, "Alright then. Lord Leylin, I welcome you to to the continent's alliance of legendaries. We hold meetings every year, and all new members are welcome to join. It's taking place at…"

"I will attend, if time permits." Leylin still planned to obtain the floating city, but he didn't reject Jeffries outright. Having obtained what he wanted, the Spear Crusader left in delight. Waukeen's church had given him a valuable gift as well.

After he left, Leylin then met the special envoy from the Dambrath Kingdom. This person was supposedly the court's chief wizard. This envoy's ranking meant nothing to Leylin, though, and thankfully the other party understood this. He was rather courteous, and did not put on any airs.

At the least, Leylin knew why this court wizard had come here.

First was title. His father Jonas was made a Marquis, and a word from the king rendered the barren islands around Faulen Island a part of his fief. In reality, these islands had already come under Faulen influence, effectively being their land anyway. The king was just formalising this, but it still made Leylin elated.

Even if these islands made up a tiny area, the sea region that he had control over far exceeded the lands of any Marquis, the size of half a kingdom. In actuality, the king had basically given them half of the outer seas.

Of course, this was his right as a legendary wizard. Leylin's own title had been upgraded as well. He was now an honorary duke, similar in status to this chief wizard in front of him. While they were indirect, Leylin understood these kind intentions.

Leylin chatted with the wizard for a while after he happily accepted it all. It was more like he was giving the court wizard some tips, and when the time came the wizard left reluctant yet satisfied. A legendary wizard's lessons weren't an easy thing to come by.

"Tower genie… Send over the envoy from the church of justice." Leylin had spent most of his time as a legendary training and strengthening himself. He also met with envoys from various organisations, and although it was somewhat annoying he had to do it anyway for the sake of expansion.

Seeing the projection of the tower genie disappearing, Leylin stroked his chin, "Hmm… I should put upgrading the wizard tower in my schedule. There's so much to do…"

……

Leylin had never had a good impression of the God of Justice's church. This was obvious from the order of the people he was meeting. However, the envoy left Leylin slightly surprised.

"Long time no see, wizard Leylin!" A female knight bowed politely, "On behalf of the God of Justice's church, I sincerely congratulate Lord Leylin on your advancement to the legendary realm. We hope to be able to work together to safeguard the justice in the continent."

"I shall accept your blessings then!" Leylin watched the long-legged female knight in front of him as he recalled the past, "It's truly been a long time, Rafiniya…"

"Come to think of it, I haven't asked you about what happened after you left. When did you enter the God of Justice's church?" Leylin first got Rafiniya to take a seat with an enthusiastic smile like a good host, and commanded a puppet to send over a plate of tropical fruits.

"Come! Try some special produce from the south. It's rarely seen in the north…"

"Thank you…" Rafiniya had a complex expression on her face as she picked up a purple fruit similar to a longan. While she had fantasised about meeting Leylin, she'd never thought it'd be in this situation. For some reason, Leylin's nonchalant expression caused fury to erupt in her heart.

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Plea For Help

At the thought of the task that the church had entrusted to her, Rafiniya suppressed her emotions and forced a smile. "This is pretty good! The captain mentioned it before in the north…"

'Not bad. It looks like you've matured a little after entering the church, though it's a pity that it's not much use.' Sensing her emotions, Leylin snickered inside. 'Unfortunately, She's far too naive.'

"Right, I still don't know what happened to you…" Leylin now held a cup of hot tea like a child wanting to hear a story.

"Once we separated, I returned to Silverymoon and met Her Highness. Then, I took part in the city's final defense…" Rafiniya laughed wryly, eyes glazed over as she immersed herself in her memories, "… Well, that's what happened. That paladin saved me, and after I recovered, I joined the God of Justice's church and have been working hard to protect the refugees in the north…"

"Right…" Leylin nodded gravely. He could sense that the devil mark he'd planted on her had already formed a perfect balance with the God of Justice's strength.

'A soul that's balancing on a dangerous path? That's even more interesting…' Leylin's thoughts didn't make their way to his face. "I've heard of the God of Justice's blessings. Is there anything else?"

Leylin looked unhurried as he held his cup, and Rafiniya wanted to sigh deeply. However, she thought back to her orders and spoke gravely, "I'm also here to ask my lord for help."

"Help? What help?" The rising steam blocked the teasing look in Leylin's eyes.

"It's related to the north. We've already made contact with Queen Alustriel, and we're trying all we can to help her restore the country. However, we currently lack strength and manpower, especially in terms of legendaries. While the church is doing all it can to help, there also similar problems in other areas…"

Tears began to well up in her eyes, "On account of those innocent commoners who are suffering in the north, I hope you can help us. After all, you were once helped by Silverymoon…"

'How naive,' Leylin shook his head, 'You're trying to invite a legendary without any form of payment?'

While he had gotten a lot of knowledge from Silverymoon, it was all earned from battle achievements and many other things. He didn't feel like he owed the city anything.

In addition, he'd have to fight the orc empire if he joined this war. Even if Gruumsh was being suppressed by Mystra and Tyr, their emperor Saladin alone was a huge problem.

"I have something very important to do for now, I'll be in the west for a while…" Leylin answered, causing the light in Rafiniya's eyes to dim.

"However…" Just as she felt complete despair, Leylin changed his words, "I might be able to come to the north if you wait a while."

"It won't be a problem at all! We're only preparing right now, and it'll be years before we begin. I can wait!" Rafiniya stood up, looking emotional, "Whatever it is, thank you very much. The commoners who are being trampled upon by the orcs in the north will never forget your contributions…"

"Mm," Leylin answered speechlessly, rolling his eyes inside. 'If I didn't have to go to the north for a bit to get something, do you think I would agree to this?'

Watching Rafiniya leave, Leylin stroked his chin as he sunk into deep thought. 'I never expected this. Tyr's church has already made contact with Alustriel, and they're even trying to help her rebuild her kingdom. It seems like the God of Justice has plans for the north…

'It is surprising that Alustriel agreed to this. Either Mystra and Tyr came to some sort of compromise, or she was moved by the refugees in the north. With her personality, it's probably the latter…'

Tiff had informed Leylin that the humans in the north weren't faring well. Other than the few lucky ones who'd managed to make it into the southern human nations, everyone was dead, exiled, or enslaved by the orcs. After all, the brutish creatures did not know agriculture, and needed human help in that department.

However, the feeling of a master becoming a slave felt terrible, and they were definitely treated worse than before. While Saladin was a wise emperor, he was still an orc. He needed to consider things from the orcs' point of view.

In addition, even if the orc empire sent down order after order about it, slaves were still abused or killed for entertainment. The humans in the north were in a living hell right now.

After seeing this situation, Alustriel, who had been living in hiding, had probably changed her mind. After all she was the type that was soft-hearted and unable to watch the weak plead for help. Were it not for Mystra's backing and her own strength, such a personality would have killed her countless times over by now.

'How many gods are gambling on the turbulence in the north? Mystra will definitely want to make a comeback. Tyr has made his stance clear, but his true intentions are still unknown. What do the other gods think?' Leylin's brows furrowed slightly.

He'd been small fry in the past. No matter what he did, he would not attract attention from the gods. However, things were different now. Legendaries could affect battles with avatars, and his own stand would be important.

Leylin now had to consider every move carefully, else he might immediately form enmity.

'Whatever it is, the moment I help Alustriel rebuild Silverymoon I'll become an enemy of all orcish gods. The human gods have a questionable stand themselves…' Leylin rubbed his eyebrows and sighed deeply, 'But there is something I must get my hands on in the north. Even if it's dangerous, I'll need to give it a try!'

'In order to get out of this uninjured, my strength will be key!' Leylin's target had never changed. No matter what the future held, he would never be wrong in working hard to increase his own strength.

'I won't be able to advance in rank significantly in just one or two years…' It took centuries to increase in ranking after entering the legendary realm. Leylin was already extremely fast. Still, he was weak compared to avatars and the better-known legendaries.

'Raising my own rank is too slow a way to strengthen myself in the short term. I can only rely on other items…'

The rules in the World of Gods were very stringent. Legendaries with high-ranked legendary items or divine weapons evidently surpassed all ordinary legendaries in terms of strength. Leylin now placed his focus on this aspect.

What divine weapons existed that could amplify one's strength more than a floating city? A floating city was the most suitable artifact for a legendary arcanist in Netheril's era. The two combined could even match a lesser god!

Besides Netheril's greatest accomplishment in the Mise energy core, every floating city needed to merge with a semi-plane. This made every complete floating city equivalent to a divine realm. It was basically an impregnable stronghold!

'If I obtain that floating city, I can do whatever I want in the prime material plane. I needn't even be afraid of the gods' avatars!' Leylin himself was already a legendary arcanist. If he obtained that floating city, he could probably become even stronger than the legendary arcanists of Netheril's time!

After all, the depth of Leylin's research as a near rank 7 Warlock in the Magus World far surpassed that of ancient arcanists.

'The first order of business is to deal with matters in the outer seas. I'll then head for the western desert.' Leylin's eyes twinkled as he made his mind.

In the following days, Leylin met different envoys with great statuses. They had come from huge organisations in different parts of the continent, all offering Leylin their blessings on his advancement as well as gifts. However, they didn't know him very well so there weren't any deep conversations.

Leylin was glad to see this happen. Without conflicts of interest, he mixed well with the many envoys, and everyone was happy.

Afterwards, Leylin hosted a huge ceremony. He officially accepted the congratulations of other small groups as the edict from Dambrath's king was announced.

The Faulen Family were now a lineage of Marquises, and were basically free to do anything in the outer seas. With a legendary wizard like Leylin there, the family's glory and honour would last a long time. After all, wizards had long life spans.

The outer seas would count on this legendary to maintain this freedom. With all the small organisations nearby joining the Faulens, the entire outer seas had basically separated from Dambrath. The Faulen Family's glory was only just beginning…

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West Desert

The World of Gods was vast and boundless, with the prime material plane being the core foundation. It had many other planes above and below it, and between them were an unimaginable number of scattered semi-planes. The combination of all this formed the mysterious ecology of the World of Gods.

All sorts of elementals, fleshly beings, angels, devils, and demons led to joys and sorrows, intense emotions and all forms of beautiful and bloody battles over race.

With its location and other advantages, the prime material plane had become the area with the most intense competition. Be it the gods up above or the devils and demons down below, everyone cast their greedy eyes on this place. Even the most barren western desert was contested.

Because some secret information had leaked, a few special existences had already placed their focus on this place.

……

The western desert was at the edge of the continent. It was huge and barren, containing parts of numerous empires. The occasional black sandstorm made it a forbidden region for all life, and only a few desert races managed to survive near oases.

Living in such harsh conditions, the natives of the western desert were fierce fighters, and everyone the place produced was extremely ambitious and terrifying. They were widely known for their bloodthirst.

While the western desert was extremely barren and there were few signs of human inhabitation, there were still a few merchants who would come to purchase its specialties, and there were some who especially came here to experience this environment. They would use the harsh environment of the desert to discipline themselves in their faith, breaking through the limits of life. Some even attempted walking through the desert, reaching an unimaginable realm upon success. Of course, most people died.

Most bodies were buried by the sands, while some became food for the desert's creatures.

It was now the prime season again, and merchants and adventurers headed towards the place. The traders went annually, while the adventurers dreamt of gold. There were also mercenaries, and those seeking to temper themselves once again in the severe environment of the desert.

Everyone headed west, towards wealth, power, passion, and sexy dancers…

The town called Narwick was in the outer regions of the desert, formed around a little oasis. Its name translated to corner or edge, and it prospered as the entrance to the western desert as well as a point of service.

Various merchant groups and tourists from all over the world entered this place in the trading season, practically filling the entire city. Beings of all races and alignments walked the streets, and there were goods from everywhere in this place.

Some individual merchants chose to sell their goods here, getting more time to head deeper into the desert. It also attracted more business.

Scimitars made of refined ore from the depths of the desert, female slaves who were so flexible they were said to be boneless, those slaves from the native tribes… There were many items from ruins here as well, both originals and fakes filling the market.

A white-robed wizard entered Narwick in this prosperous time.

"It's the annual opening day? How lively!" Leylin nonchalantly watched the passersby and the many stalls, his footsteps never halting as he glanced past what were said to be treasures from the ruins found deep in the desert.

With his foresight, he could definitely tell that most were fake, and the rest weren't valuable enough for him. He would definitely have to pay a terrible price for those.

The entire city was filled with people of various races and all walks of life, which helped him widen his perspective. Warriors, thieves, assassins, bards… There were even rare wizards and swordsmen who were unique to the desert. These people were guarding merchant groups, or farming parties for adventure. There were even some lone wolves who gave off a very dangerous aura.

'These people should be hoping to make some wealth while the black sandstorm's dissipated…' Leylin shook his head inside. This desert was rumoured to be formed during a great battle amongst the gods. It had once been beautiful and fertile land, with numerous powerful civilisations.

Astounding ruins now hid beneath the yellow sands, and some people were lucky enough to uncover some and strike it rich overnight. This motivated generation after generation of adventurers and explorers to enter the ends of the desert, fearless of death as they looked for traces of the past.

Leylin too needed a guide to bring him into the desert, until he reached Frostfall Valley.

'Even if I've bought a map, it's too vague. A mere piece of paper can't explain the dangers along the way either…' While thinking this, Leylin entered a bar.

His senses were flooded by the clamour the moment he pushed the door open, the smells of alcohol, meat, and perfume entering his nose.

This place was evidently a combined bar, inn, and stage. It was loud, and a musician in strange clothing was beating the drum at his waist. A dozen passionate women danced to this vulgar beat, wearing clothing that revealed their belly buttons. Their eyes were tender, and a red veil cowered the lower halves of their faces, only making them seem more mysterious and tempting.

Gold hoops moved across fair legs that stamped to vigorous moves as bodies swayed. The bells and tassels intertwined smoothly.

The guests cheered endlessly as they watched this graceful dance. The occasional merchant was so intoxicated they threw silver and gold coins on the stage, causing the atmosphere to grow more heated.

"Not bad…" Leylin nodded slightly. He could sense the aura of a few powerful beings in the inn. A few merchants were evidently being guarded by high-ranked Professionals.

He then glanced past them and focused on a large round table on the right. A swordsman decked in white took up the entire thing, yet nobody protested it.

He wore a veil and white turban unique to the natives, and his long narrow eyes gave off a sense of coldness. A black scabbard for a scimitar lay at his waist, the shaft having no ornaments but still giving Leylin a slight sense of danger.

'A near legendary swordsman? He's probably the strongest in the inn…' With Leylin's current rank, he'd not caught the attention of this man after spying on him. Casually throwing a gold krona at the attendant in front of him, he was respectfully invited to a seat at a table.

"Give me lamb chop, vegetable soup and fruit juice…"

Compared to steak that was tender and full of fat, lamb chop had a unique fragrance. With the seasoning that was similar to pepper as well as the unique meaty texture, it was drool-worthy.

Once his stomach was filled, the attendant came over to tidy up. A golden lustre flickered between Leylin's fingers, "Tell me where I can find the best guide, and this gold krona is yours…"

"You wish to enter the desert alone?" There was a trace of greed in the attendant's eyes, but he seemed to be put on the spot as he spoke, "The best guides have been hired by the large merchant groups. The rest are probably not better than me in terms of knowledge of the desert… It's very dangerous to enter the deserts alone. It's best that you join a group or form a group with other mercenaries…"

While he really wanted to earn this gold krona, the attendant still advised him tactfully.

"Is that so… Whatever it is, I like people who aren't led by their greed. This is yours." Leylin had never hoped for much anyway, so he nodded and put the coin on the table.

"May the gods protect you, esteemed customer!" Not expecting anything, the attendant was pleasantly surprised, "If you don't mind, I could help you contact a few adventuring groups…"

"There's no need for that!" Leylin waved his arms. Low-ranked Professionals would just burden him now. Besides, he had a clear goal, and entering a group would only cause strife.

After sending him away, Leylin picked up a glass of dark red wine, as if slowly appreciating it. In actuality, the A.I. Chip's detection was operating at its limit as it gathered information from around him and tidied it up.

This sort of place was where information circulated best. With the A.I. Chip's unusual abilities of gathering and sorting information, Leylin soon had a general idea of the identities of the people in the hall and the organisations they belonged to.

"… A month later… Frostfall Valley…" At this moment, a conversation conducted in hushed whispers could be heard, causing him to freeze.

Making use of the movements of drinking his wine, he nonchalantly glanced to the side at the swordsman he'd taken note of. There were now a few others seated around him, whispering to each other as they discussed matters.

One of them was evidently a wizard, and she drank some clear water as her right arm secretly created a noise barrier. Unfortunately, this much was the same to Leylin as not doing anything at all.

'A month later… Isn't that the time that the floating city will appear? The location's right as well!' Leylin then turned grim, "It looks like I'm not the only one with information about the floating city. This is going to be troublesome…'

Fortunately, Leylin had somewhat expected this. There were many arcanists interested in the floating city after all, and it was hard to guarantee that others hadn't found this secret in historical records and deduced the time and location of its appearance.

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News

'My luck is still pretty good. A guide appeared of their own accord…' Leylin glanced at the white-robed swordsman and his group, a hint of blue shining in his eyes before he left immediately.

The wizard of the group watched their swordsman freeze. She asked with surprise, "What is it?"

"Nothing much. Something felt off for a moment." The swordsman looked slightly baffled, his right hand on his scabbard as he took a look around him. He sat down once more, looking puzzled.

He'd felt a chill up his spine that moment, as if death was right before him. However, that sense of danger had disappeared before he could take stock of the situation.

"You're being paranoid. We can't leak news of our mission…" A black-robed person spoke in a low voice.

"Perhaps that's it," he said as he sat down. His hand was still on his scimitar, though, and his frown didn't dissipate.

……

Leylin had already left the area, and was now strolling along the bustling streets.

'His senses are good. Even if it was only for an instant, the ability to sense my intent is quite impressive. He'll probably become legendary in a few years' time, but that's only if he can survive this…'

His noble attire, rosy cheeks, and extravagant accessories were signs of wealth, and they caused many small peddlers to pay attention to him.

"Take a look at this, esteemed customer. Old Jafar has the best things here…" One in particular held a golden scepter up for Leylin to see. It was an old white man with golden hair, "Take a look at these patterns and decorations… I unearthed this while I was still an adventurer, braving deadly danger in an ancient ruin. It's said to hold the secrets of the ancient Sun Dynasty within, and it can be yours for just one hundred kronas…"

"Ancient Sun Dynasty?" Leylin halted his footsteps, a teasing smile on his face. He watched this Old Jafar do all he could to introduce the item.

"Indeed! It was a dynasty from a time before this place became a desert. Legends talk of a large golden river, flowing not with water but honey and milk. The land was filled with golden words in that era, and this scepter contains a secret of theirs…"

"Your name is Jafar, yes?" Leylin stopped in front of the stall, watching this old man who was evidently not a human from the deserts, "Why did you settle here?"

"Sigh… I met the mother of my children during my life as an adventurer. I naturally can't leave…" Jafar chuckled. Although he seemed honest, there was still a sly look in his eyes that could not be concealed.

"So? Since we're both from the south, I can sell it ten kronas cheaper. The Goddess of Luck is smiling down on you…"

"I'll take a look…" Leylin seemed interested, and he crouched down in front of the booth.

"All these things are from ruins?" Jafar had placed decorative ornaments on a greasy black cloth, and some of them still had a layer of rust on them. It gave the illusion that he was speaking the truth.

Unfortunately, Leylin had acquired the Scholarly feat when he'd advanced to the legendary realm. His appraisal skill had hit its limit, and he used the A.I. Chip to immediately see through these fakes.

"This looks pretty good. It'll look good on my wall…" Leylin 'appraised' a dark gold mask that was carved in the likeness of a cobra.

"Of course! How can there be nothing decent from the ancient ruins for an esteemed guest like you?" Jafar's face wrinkled in his delight.

"This, this, and this. I want it all…" Leylin acted like a deceived noble, buying seven to eight items. Jafar's smile was so wide he couldn't close his mouth.

"This too, and these…" Leylin continued to point at things with both hands, basically buying everything in the stall.

"Old Jafar is going to get rich at this rate…" The surrounding peddlers all stared hard at Jafar in envy.

"I'll buy all of this… Hmm… there seems to be an issue with carrying them…" Leylin looked troubled.

"No issue, there's no issue at all!" Jafar quickly discarded the items Leylin didn't want, his movement faster than a high-ranked thief. He placed the four ends of the cloth together and bundled the items up. "How about that? So easy. I can even send this to your inn…"together, forming a huge bundle. "How's this? Isn't this easy? I can even send this to your inn…"

Old Jafar had a cajoling smile on his face, "That comes up to 1372 gold kronas, and I've already given you a discount…"

"Umm…" Leylin appeared like those generous guests that were easily cheated, "Fine! Do you accept bills from the church of wealth, or will you come with me as I withdraw the gold?"

……

Every market had a church of wealth, and a huge market like the western desert obviously wouldn't miss out. The small town had one to serve the merchants.

Leylin sent the extremely thankful Jafar away once they exited the church, turning a corner on the street.

'I never thought I'd find something great from a peddler…' Leylin flung the bundle in his hands, and all the fake gold items clattered to the ground like trash.

'A legendary magic beast hide with some information on it…' Leylin stared at the greasy cloth, blue light flickering in his eyes. This was what he'd set his sights on, the cloth Jafar used to display his goods.

'I wonder how he managed to get this hide. Could he really have been an adventurer?' Leylin stroked his chin, but didn't linger on the thought. He'd paid for the items, so this was his now. He couldn't be bothered with how Jafar had gotten his hands on it.

'Just the material alone is worth the price. I'll need to have the A.I. Chip decipher the information on it.'

Leylin knew the history of the west desert well. It had once been the core of Netheril, and in its days of glory been filled with fertile land and a huge population. Unfortunately, with Netheril fading away and wars involving gods occurring in the place, the west had become a desert.

If not for that, why would an arcanist who leapt through dimensions keep his floating city here?

'This encryption… It doesn't seem like an arcanist's, but there's still some exemplary strength… It even contains the secrets of a lost civilisation…' Leylin's eyes glinted. If Jafar learnt of the secrets of this hide, he'd probably grow so annoyed with himself he'd just commit suicide.

Leylin was in a great mood now that he'd obtained a treasure. He walked out of the corner and then glanced through the items in the stall with more focus. With his foresight and experience, no treasures escaped his sights.

Unfortunately, that had been the only one. Nothing stuck out to him after that.

……

"Boohoo… Please help us. Please help us…"

Some cries attracted Leylin's attention at this moment, leading him forward. A large crowd had formed a huge circle up ahead, and caused a disturbance that Leylin took notice of as he drew closer.

In the middle of a circle was an adventurer and a crying little girl.

The adventurer had fallen down, looking like he'd met with great hardships in life. He was no longer young, and his lips were blue. It looked like some sickness had acted up all of a sudden.

"Uncle, uncle! Please wake up…" With such a huge crowd watching, the girl's cries made her seem even more helpless.

"He must have gotten poisoned. There are many dangerous beings in the desert nearby…" An experienced mercenary went up, touching the adventurer's neck and pulling up his eyelids to check, "Unless I have a specific antidote, I can't do anything. Do you know what poison it was?"

The little girl froze after hearing this, and began to bawl more sorrowfully, "I- I don't know. Vivian is so useless, sniff… uncle…"

"Sigh… Unless a high-ranked priest is here to cast Neutralise Poison, he's…" The mercenary looked around, "Who amongst you is a high-ranked priest?"

The crowd avoided his gaze, evidently not wanting to be involved in this. A death would cause the guards to come here, and the interrogations and the like would be very time-consuming. They could even be blackmailed by shameless jailors and officials, which caused most of the crowd to leave.

The area was bustling with activity, yet they pretended not to see the little girl and the adventurer who seemed to be breathing his last. There was a great sense of detachment in this place.

"Little girl, we need to look for other methods… At the very least, we'll need an inn…" The mercenary looked troubled, obviously seeing the impatient urging from his companions. He halted midway his speech, realising that no inn would take in an adventurer on the brink of death, and he was only making things difficult for himself.

"Sigh…" With this thought, the mercenary too looked agonised and place a small bag of copper coins in front of the wailing girl, "Take these and bury your uncle well!"

He then left quickly in large strides, as if afraid of something.

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Implantation

The streets were bustling with life, starkly contrasted by the sorrowful cries of a young girl. The bystanders dissipated quickly, death something they'd seen all too often in the desert. They were all in a hurry to strike it rich, so who would care for something like this? A few thugs even eyed the coin pouch in front of the girl.

They were also looking at her person. Even though she was very young, beauty shone through her crying face. There would probably be many people who'd want someone like her. Selling her to child traffickers would be profitable.

'Interesting… How will things progress from here?' Leylin watched on with his arms in front of his chest, apathetic like a god up above. He wouldn't be moved by the lives of these individuals.

His focus suddenly shifted in another direction, at a monk that headed over slowly. He had a pugilistic aura, with short brown hair, thick eyebrows and a weak-looking gaze. He only wore coarse sack clothing, with patches all over it making it look tattered. He only wore one shoe.

The monk even had a putrid smile, causing the crowd to distance themselves from him.

'A monk!?' A trace of fear shone in Leylin's eyes. This person was powerful, already at the legendary realm.

Monks were people devils did not want to meet at all. They rejected the pleasures of life, their staunch souls not corroded by anything. Meeting a legendary monk was like hitting a jackpot.

'There's a monk here at this time… Does it have anything to do with the floating city?' Leylin frowned. That adventuring team with near-legendary strength wasn't worthy of his attention, but he'd have to focus on this monk's actions. Were their targets the same, another variable would be added to his plan.

"Let me try…" The monk approached the crying girl and spoke with a hoarse voice, as if he had not drunk water in a long time.

"Boohoo… It's not use. The mercenary just now already said that unless you're a high-ranked priest…" Vivian wept, but still passed the coin pouch filled with copper to him, evidently treating him as a beggar.

"Thank you, kind-hearted young lady, but I can't accept any gifts or money…" He smiled gently, and then moved closer to the unconscious adventurer. "It's the Hellthorn Flower, a common and very poisonous flower seen at the edges of the desert. But it's already mutated a few times… This will be difficult."

A bundle of warm light emanated from the monk, and seeped into the body of the adventurer on the ground. The healing light caused the adventurer to improve visibly.

The spell naturally attracted the attention of bystanders, and someone with good eyesight soon exclaimed, "Poison Removal? No, that's True Resurrection!"

"A rank 9 divine spell that one has to be rank 19 to cast…" Everyone froze, their eyes trained on the monk with reverence. It was a respect for strength. Seeing the situation changing, the thugs disappeared into the corners of the streets, leaving in the blink of an eye.

"Ugh…" The bruising on the adventurer's lips dissipated, and he blinked before opening his eyes completely. He looked at the little lady in front of him. "What's wrong, Vivian? Where am I now?"

"Uncle! Uncle, you're awake!" Teardrops sparkled on Vivian's face as she threw herself into his embrace.

"Uncle, you fainted on the road. It scared me so much! This grandpa saved you," Vivian said as she pointed to the monk.

"Thank you very much, grandmaster!" The adventurer knew his adventures much better than the girl did, and therefore understood the strength and abilities of the person who had healed him. Upon hearing this, he immediately got up to thank the monk, and then reached for his coin pouch.

Priests required a fee to cast spells on their believers. A high-ranked divine spell was very expensive.

"There's no need for that… We clerics are duty-bound to help the injured and dead…" The monk shook his head and rejected the man with a smile, and then swaggered into the market. However, nobody dared to underestimate him this time.

As he left, the monk's dark eyes scanned the area Leylin had been in. Seeing nobody there, he looked puzzled.

Only after the monk's figure disappeared from the streets did the adventurer leave with the girl. It was then that Leylin walked out from the shadows.

"Tsk tsk… as expected of a legendary. His senses are better than that swordsman…" Leylin sighed, heart heavy. If this man was also here to contest for the floating city, things would be very troublesome for him. And his instincts told him that this was almost certainly the case.

'Ugh… It seems like more than one organisation knows about the appearance of the floating city…' Leylin looked grim, 'Looks like I'll need to make my move as soon as possible…'

……

Night soon fell. Lights and fire emerged everywhere in the market, illuminating the dark area.

The market bustled with activity even at night. However, once the moon crawled halfway across the sky, the shops that had been boisterous before turned completely silent. The merchants and the rest entered their dreams after a long day.

'Dreamscape View!' Leylin currently stood at the top of a tower, eyes flickering with strange red lights as a red crack appeared on his forehead. Scattered spots appeared all over the town in his vision, twinkling like the stars in the sky.

These various starlike spots were actually the dreams of different people. Those that were whitish in colour belonged to the weakest commoners. Professionals were much more dazzling, while high-ranked ones were bright as torches. The legendaries were like pillars of light reaching into the skies, obvious in an instant.

'The dreams of regular humans are far too weak. If I'm not careful, I could kill a whole bunch…'

These dreams showed Leylin things that hadn't been revealed in the day.

'First is Jafar… Hmm, that beast hide was something you picked up by accident. No wonder you didn't know its true value…' Shifting his attention from a dim speck, Leylin glanced towards the west, looking serious.

'As expected of a legendary monk. I can't see through him, nor his dreams… Not like I intend to deal with him anyway. Dream Eater is a trump card, and I'd be foolish to cast it even before I see the floating city…'

WIthout alarming him, Leylin found his main target. There were dazzling dreams in the inn, like pillars of light. Leylin could see them through Dreamscape, and almost visualise a young man who'd been practising his sword skills from a young age.

'Here you are…' Leylin smiled slightly, launching dark red dreamforce that formed a winged eyeball.

"Go!" With Leylin's command, the eyeball flapped its wings and flew into one of the dreams.

With the Nightmare Absorbing Physique, Leylin's grasp of dreamforce had reached great heights. With the different system of power being applied on him, the target didn't even notice the eyeball.

……

Many merchants aimed to make use of the cool weather in the morning, walking the path of hopes and dreams. The high-ranked Professionals began their journey as well.

"What's wrong, Allerie?" The white-robed swordsman asked the wizard journeying with them, puzzled.

"It's nothing much. I just recalled my dream last night, and it was a little disgusting…" The wizard had a terrible look on her face, and she retched. There were dark circles under her eyes, as if she hadn't had a good rest the whole night.

"Dream? Disgusting?" The swordsman was startled, but he didn't ask further.

"Yes, it was just a dream!" she repeated, as if trying to encourage herself. However, at the thought of the vivid dream, the wizard couldn't help but tremble, even as a high-ranked spell caster.

She'd actually swallowed a winged eyeball whole in her dreams! It had been exceedingly vivid, to the point that her throat still remembered that disgusting and greasy feeling.

"Could this be some specific curse… No, no, I've already checked properly. There's nothing strange. That was just a nightmare. But… why did I dream of that…" She looked confused and touched her forehead, "Looks like I'll need to get something to soothe my nerves tonight…"

Within the town, Leylin glanced at the map in his hands while looking deep in thought. The situation of the little group appeared in a crystal ball next to him, the point of view that of the wizard.

"The implantation was successful. Now that I have their position, they won't be able to escape…" Leylin was rather satisfied with his work. These guides would make his own journey more convenient.

Having them show the way, he could follow their path at a distance. There was no danger or trouble whatsoever. Watching them from such a large distance, it was impossible for him to be discovered.

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Skeleton Lich

Berserk energy from the four elements roared in a large semi-plane outside the prime material plane, causing ripples in the sky. The sky seemed to distort and shatter.

There was no sun nor moonlight here, only a sparkling ambient light. Layers of ashen-white bones littered the ground, their height unknown. There were some little white flowers growing out of eye sockets, the most beautiful flower buds blooming. Numerous vines crawled over the bones, as if subsisting on them.

A gale blew past the area, and it was like a rain of flowers as the plants dispersed to reveal bones on the ground. This plane was actually formed of all sorts of bones piled together.

These bones were about the same size as those of humans. Some were exceptionally small but thick, likely coming from halflings and dwarves. There were even some extremely large animal bones scattered in the area, forming little hills.

This semi-plane was one of bones, on the verge of being smashed into pieces. It was hidden in the gaps between numerous dimensions, unvisited for a long time.

Ka-cha! Ka-cha!* At this moment, a slight cracking sound could be heard from underground, followed by some shaking.

Gulu! Gulu!* A hill of bones gave way, and large amounts of smoke and dust were sent flying. Meanwhile, a protruding round head rolled out of a crevice in the ground.

This was a dazzling human skull. The eye sockets flickered with two still flames, and dead black soul force lingered around the area, emitting powerful undulations. The skull's teeth chattered and its jaws creaked, seemingly shaking in confusion.

"I've been asleep for a thousand years…" The skull spoke in a desolate voice, its tone ancient. Only a scholar who had researched the past would be able to understand it.

Crunch!* The skull meshed its teeth together and seemed to spit out something similar to parchment paper. A layer of light flickered, and letterings as well as a map were projected in the air.

"The year where the elemental tides streak through, when the black crows cry out to the blood moon… The Simoshel Canyon… east of Cygnus!" A fire blazed in the skull's eyes as it found a few sparkling bones, slowly recreating its body.

"The floating city. The best achievement of the arcanist era, able to match up to the gods' divine realms…" The skull spoke as if it was chanting, an aura of despair from the very soul covering the area like a cloak.

"That floating city is definitely mine! The Skeleton Lich, Illyrio Paxlude!" A staff of bones automatically moved its way to the lich, a blood red gem at its top emitting crimson light.

Roar!* The lich tapped the ground with his staff, and it split apart to reveal the head of an enormous creature.

This creature was tens of metres tall, with large bony wings and two heads that looked abnormally sinister. A brilliant soul energy could be seen within the thing's skull. This was evidently the necromancer's favourite pet— A two-headed bone dragon!

"Keke… Let's go, darling…" Strong winds blew, and the double-headed bone dragon flapped its wings, carrying the skeleton lich on its back and entering the terrifying elemental storm. The violent storm seemed to quiet under their might, forming a pitch-dark channel.

The bone dragon roared and disappeared at the end of the plane…

People had gotten wind of this at several other places.

"Abnormal movements from the bone kingdom? Seems like that lich has awoken…"

"Illyrio… It's really been a long time. I have yet to settle that grudge with him…"

"The envoy of death, the skeleton lich? How interesting…"

All sorts of mysterious godly conscients flickered all over the world, and then all focused on the bone kingdom without prior agreement.

A few gazes seemed to have their own goals, heading towards the western desert.

……

Scorching sunlight fell on the sand dunes, causing heat waves that distorted the air. Practically all moisture had evaporated, and each breath one took in this place was like breathing in fire.

The desert's surface was reaching the limits of temperature, and could practically roast a person alive! The entire desert looked like a place disallowing of life. Even the scattered cacti around the area had disappeared, and there was not even a hint of greenery.

The leading swordsman looked at the map in his hands, beginning to check the distance, "We're already very deep into the desert, so we have to do our best to retain our strength. We'll also need to plan for our items and water… What's wrong, Allerie? Still thinking about the dream that night?"

Upon looking up, he found the wizard in his group had grown absent-minded once more, and his question revealed a slight annoyance.

"No, I'm feeling better now… it's just this weather…" Allerie gathered hair behind her ear and felt her dry skin while sighing inside. That dream no longer disturbed her, but the terrible environment in the desert was now giving her a vivid lesson. Even with the protection of magic, she felt this difficult to endure.

Seeing this, the swordsman could only curse in his mind at the nonexistent stamina of wizards. Still, there was nothing that could be done. He encouraged her, "Hang on for a while. We'll reach the dream oasis soon enough, so you can get some rest there…"

The mention of the dream oasis perked up everyone in the group. They were currently deep inside the western desert, and it was exceedingly dangerous. Terrifying black sandstorms could erupt at any moment.

Even if they were near legendary adventurers, there was nothing they could do in the face of nature; there would still be dangers.

The dream oasis was the only source of water in the depths of the western desert. It was said that this was a moving crescent lake and shrub forest, as well as the only hope for survival that lost travellers had.

"My most recent information, and this map, all indicate the dream oasis is up ahead. We can't be wrong!" The swordsman yelled to raise the morale. With that hope, the group sped up quite a bit.

However, none of them realised that someone had noticed all their actions from behind them.

"The dream oasis… That place is very close to Frostfall Valley… I might not even have found it if not for these guides…" Leylin was riding a sand scorpion, a winged eyeball flapping in front of him. It showed him scenes of those people.

With the group of adventurers showing the way, he did not need to take detours. As long as he followed the safe path they did, everything would generally be fine. With the distance limiting them, normal detection spells wouldn't be able to find him.

"Once here… How do I say this… their value is decreasing…" Leylin stroked his chin. In his opinion, this group was the weakest wave of those eyeing the floating city. "But they seem to have a leader. I'll just put them ahead and see what they attract…"

Leylin patted the scorpion he was riding, and the large beast immediately cried out. It's eight legs alternating in motion as it sped up its advance through the desert…

There was nothing to see along the way in the desert but sand, except the bones of all the monks that had died. Leylin had even noticed a withered corpse with no moisture, one that looked like a mummy.

Monks trained by toying with their lives. Without clear water, they would end up dead, and there were few who would be saved by kind-hearted merchant groups.

"But… it seems too calm…" No longer bothering with the many corpses buried by sand, Leylin urged the sand scorpion to keep moving forward.

The western desert definitely had many dangers. However, there was a group of elite high-ranked Professionals ahead. Besides natural disasters like the black sandstorms, they could deal with anything. Their numbers hadn't even dropped yet.

While it seemed normal, Leylin found something strange. The path to the floating city shouldn't have been so clear.

It was at this point that Leylin's face showed a sudden understanding, 'It appeared… I never thought that there would be natives deep within the western desert. Could these people be remnants of Netheril?'

At this thought, he gave up his ride and cast a flight spell, soaring into the air while flapping his wings.

Once he passed countless sand dunes, a deep green entered his eyes. In a place where the only thing on the horizon was yellow sand, there was a sparkling crescent lake and a large oasis. Seeing this in an area void of life could move someone emotionally.

However, there were signs of disharmony here. A vigorous fight had already begun near the oasis.

"No wonder I felt something was off. This was the place!" Leylin looked like he realised something all of a sudden.

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Desert Tribe

A gruesome massacre unfolded by the lake in the grassy plains.

A group of strangely dressed men on one-humped camels attacked the group of adventurers. They wore the trademark attire of the desert, white, loosely fitted robes with a scarf wrapped thickly around their heads, revealing only a pair of wolf-like eyes.

With a whistle from the leader of these camel riders, his men encircled the adventurers, where some of them had even drawn their bows.

Looking at this turn of events, the expression on those adventurers took a turn for the worse.

They were already lacking in numbers, without even mentioning the high-grade equipment being used against them.

"What are they saying?" The female wizard Allerie asked the assassin after casting a few layers of defensive spells on herself.

"They said that… We have intruded on their land, and must use our blood and lives to wash away our sins…"

The assassin leader face darkened as he hurriedly explained, "We're in deep trouble, these are the desert tribes. The original inhabitants of the western desert, and this is the place they call home. They also possess a strange ability for casting curses."

"Hacaree! Hacaree!"

The desert warriors immediately rushed forwards and released the arrows nocked.

A few bamboo-thin warriors leapt high in the air, brandishing sabres with gems embedded in them as they slice downwards in an beautiful arc.

"Good timing!"

The assassin leader shouted as he struck with the dagger in his hand.

An icy blade flashed past as many of the desert warriors fell of the ground, the sabre in their hands shattered into pieces like dancing butterflies.

"Head! How can you strike first and even deal such a fatal blow!"

The other adventurers looked on in disbelief at the leader.

"We don't have a choice…" The assassin smiled wryly, "'hacaree' means don't leave anyone alive…"

However, they did not have the leisure of conversing moments later. The desert tribe leader hopped off his camel and dashed towards the assassin.

Peng!*

A thick and bulky saber whistled through the air, and the gale force brought upon them made the assassin somewhat apprehensive.

Clink!*

"Howling moon art!" The assassin howled and clashed his dagger against the sabre. A surge of qi dispersed into the surroundings, leaving countless pits on the surface of the desert,

Shing!* Just when the two blades were about to clash, a blade from the desert leader's body flashed. Another small dagger appeared in his hand and he thrust it directly at the assassin's eye.

"Secret technique — Dual Serpentines!"

"Leader!" The female wizard cried out as she pointed with her index finger which glowed and shouted, "Mage Sword!"

An illusory blade appeared in midair and deflected the fatal blow from the desert leader.

"Damn it! Get lost!"

In this situation of life and death, that assassin too unleashed all his might and roared. The muscles on his body began to bulge and very soon, he had turned into a smaller version of a giant.

The dagger in his hands now exerted a larger force, which sent the desert leader staggering backwards.

That desert leader cried in a high pitched tone and hopped away as nimble as a swallow, her eyes clear as water.

"A woman?"

This assassin felt the back of his neck tingling. His carelessness almost had his eyes gouged by a woman.

"Leader, what now?"

At this moment, the arrows fell like rain, throwing the rest of the party into disarray.

"Gather by Awar's side, we will break from the encirclement. Allerie, concentrate and support if needed!" The assassin gave his orders.

"Hah! Berserk!"

The party member Awar was the group's berserker and meatshield. He produced a low grunt and the muscles on his body bulged.

"Bull's Strength! Bear's Endurance!"

Allerie, on the other side, had also added multiple layers of buffs which glowed.

"Hah! Kill!"

After entering berserk mode, Awar seemed to change into a human tank with the shield in his hands, sending many of the desert warriors flying with blood momentarily.

"Wodarnike! Arberdoniya!"

The female desert leader gave a few commands and directed her men to rows of defense. It seemed as though as she did not want to stop until this group of adventurers were dead.

"Your opponent is me!"

The assassin inhaled deeply, before a layer of battle qi was imbued on his rustic dagger.

In the face of peril, this assassin had shown his most tenacious side. He decided to engage directly with the enemy's leader, buying time for his teammates.

Shing!*

The female desert warrior did not say a word. Instead, she crossed her sabres and unleashed her explosive force.

Her body seemed to leave behind an afterimage as she dashed towards the assassin. Her attacks came from all directions, her arms seemingly boneless in their flexibility.

"Hng! Scorching gale blade!"

The assassin shouted coldly. With his eyes blazing, the blade in his hand formed a gale which matched the power of a sandstorm, parrying the attack of the female warrior.

"Ooh… There are actually martial art techniques in this area…"

Leylin leisurely watched on from the air, applying a layer of illusion magic around him.

"That female warrior is nearing the strength of a Legendary, but her technique is at the legendary rank! The desert tribes do have some talents… This group of adventurers are in danger…"

Leylin's estimates were extremely accurate. In a situation where one was in an unfamiliar setting with a smaller number of people, the disadvantage could not be made up by just a sudden burst of strength.

Thud Thud!* Yellow sand flew in the air. Facing against a berserker like Awar, those desert warriors chose not to engage head on, but to ride their camels, dragging along multiple metal chains behind them.

Peng! Peng!*

The furious roars of the berserker carried on, yet he was still trapped like a bug in a spiderweb, and could only resist to no avail.

Some time later, the berserker's roars grew softer, and his physique turned back into the original size, looking dispirited.

"Not good, his berserk mode has ended!"

Looking on, Allerie went forward and shove a spiritual force potion down Awar's throat, her face filled with worry.

Even with the resolution of the assassin, he could not help but be demoralised looking at the current circumstances.

"Hmm… If there aren't any reinforcements, then most likely this group of adventurers will perish here…"

Leylin concluded while in midair, "However, their backup has arrived…"

Leylin's face turned solemn as he looked at a direction, pulling his distance away, as if somewhat apprehensive.

While he had used illusory magic to cover his tracks, he was still very likely to be discovered if someone of the same rank was here.

Zoom!*

At this moment, in the direction where Leylin was looking at came a very hazy and loud noise. It sounded like the chirps of a thousand birds, and thunder from the sky.

Boom!*

A bright starlike object appeared in broad daylight, with a dazzling afterimage as it shot over with a whizzing noise.

When the object drew closer, it was made out to be a thrown spear. The friction it produced while speeding through the air had turned it a bright red, as if it was going to melt anytime.

This scene could only be made out with Leylin's visual prowess. As for the desert tribe, they could only see a dazzling light shooting towards them, piercing several warriors and camel at the same time, finally landing before the female leader of these desert warriors.

Clink!*

Against such an attack, the desert leader face turned solemn. She withdrew both her hands and crossed them, into a jagged cross symbol.

Bang!*

A loud explosion sounded as steam rose from the ground, followed by the smell of rust.

After the dust and sand had settled, the female desert warrior was no longer there, only broken bits of the sabre were scattered around where she stood.

"Uwuuu~~"

As if receiving some sort of order, the sand tribe immediately turned their backs and fled, not lingering for one bit.

They retreated quickly and in the span of a few breaths, no one from the sand tribe could be seen, only flurried tracks from the camels remained.

"It's our lord! He's here!"

Allerie squealed, as the assassin and other members heaved a sigh of relief.

"You guys are late!"

A giant, metallic arm reached for the spear as its owner spoke in a booming voice.

He had curly, wine-red hair, and a silvery unibrow. The expression on his face was extremely stern, commanding respect and intimidation.

"Our apologies! Lord Rogero, there were some circumstances on the road…"

The assassin's face turned slightly pale and spoke in a soft voice.

"Also, thank you for saving us, my lord…"

Allerie's eyes held a tinge of adornment, but Rogero did not care the least.

"You bunch of useless creatures! Such a simple matter and you already can't deal with it…Moreover…"

Rogero's gaze seemed dazzling to Allerie, as he looked from her face down to her belly, causing her to turn red.

"You were being followed and no one knew it, you group of fools!"

Rage began to replace the puzzled look on Rogero.

"Hn? Followed? No way, I…"

The female wizard looked blankly at the spear pointed at her, feeling flabbergasted.

Soon after, she was stunned as she looked at her hands.

The original jade white skin now was covered in thick tumors filled with pus. As those tumors erupted, it caused her to wail loudly.

Sssii!*

White smoke rose from the body of the female wizard, and her blood-curdling screams struck fear into the heart of others. When the smoke had dissipated, the female wizard no longer stood there, but only a puddle of pus left on the sand.

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Frostfall

"What…What happened? Allerie…she…" The assassin stared blankly ahead.

"What a venomous spell, is it a curse-type magic or a poison element spell?"

Rogero squatted by the pool of pus, his expression extremely solemn.

"Right after I discovered a trace, it was decisively broken? The killer behind this is extremely cunning and cold-blooded… It'd be a worthy opponent…"

"Allerie! Allerie!"

Only realising what had happened now, the members all cried out in anguish. Especially Awar, who knelt to the ground, and seemed to have suffered a mental breakdown.

Looking on, the assassin sighed. He had long since knew that Awar had feelings for Allerie, but the female wizard had only set her sights on strong people, which left Awar feeling rather dejected.

But now, the two of them will never be together.

"Is this a venomous curse-type magic by the sand tribe?" The assassin asked as he looked at the sand that left no corpse behind, a chill running through his spine.

"It's very likely not the sand tribe, but the person that had followed you before you entered the desert!"

Rogero shook his head, and the spear in his hands whizzed in a whistling sound.

"Let's go! We can't waste any more time on this. The prophesied event is about to happen… We must reach Snowfall Valley before then…"

"Yes, my lord!"

The assassin and the rest did not have any objections, and very soon set off on their journey.

Only the sizzling pile of pus remained, as if reminding someone that it was once the life a high ranked class which had perished.

……

"Rogero?"

Leylin walked out from the darkness in the distance. "I've heard of this name before, he is a legendary that specialises in using spears. Having a high reputation amongst the western region, I never thought that he'd be here today…"

"The gathering of weeping crows and the blood moon… It's soon approaching. I wonder how many experts who are blinded with greed will still be coming…"

Leylin raised his head and looked in the sky as he muttered, before vanishing from the spot.

At this point, he no longer needed a guide.

Because Frostfall Valley was in fact the sacred grounds of the sand tribe, which they had protected for generations.

When he appeared again, Leylin had entered the oasis. He looked around at the mess on the ground and picked a sand tribe corpse from it. Very soon his eyes had flashed with various memory fragments.

"So it's there…"

Spells which could retrieve memories were already considered rare, but this skill to do so from a corpse would shake the world.

After getting the information he needed, Leylin formed a giant scorpion with the sand and looked towards a direction.

He then sat on it and with the point of his finger, the sand scorpion began to sprint towards the direction as if it had life within its body.

……

However, after arriving at Frostfall Valley, the ongoing scene still left Leylin somewhat flabbergasted.

Corpses! Corpses that filled the area for as far as the eye could see! Many of the sand tribe members had numerous injuries on the bodies. Their faces carried rage, and even utter fear.

It seemed like there were traces of a castle, but right now it had been destroyed by a powerful force and reduced to just a rubble.

"This doesn't seem to be the style of Rogero and his men…"

Leylin stroked his chin, and looked at a pair of corpses that had died while fighting each other. The sand tribe warrior had a malevolent expression, as he gnawed off the throat of his opponent. The other party had plunged a dagger into the sand warrior's skull, and his eyes were still moist, as if he had planned to sacrifice himself to kill his opponent. However, there was one thing that could not escape Leylin's eyes.

"The aura of death… Is this a necromancy-type magic?"

Leylin reached his hand out and grabbed a black gaseous matter above the corpse.

"It seems like a necromancer came here and raised the undead to wipe the forces of the sand tribe here…"

A necromancer! It was a sub-class of wizards, who fervently delved into the research of the physical body and spirit. They dealt with corpses everyday and in the dark, they engaged in the research of souls which was a taboo. Their presence was unwanted second only to arcane wizards, but were still outcasted the same.

However, a truly strong necromancer had prowess much stronger than peers at the same level. Their summons of the undead would be enough to trample and annihilate kingdoms.

"To crush the sand tribe here with an undead army, this necromancer is very likely a Legendary too…"

Leylin inhaled a deep breath and followed the trail of destruction into the valley.

The further in he walked, the more he could see traces of a bitter battle. Occasionally, there were a piece of bone lying on the floor, seemingly from a broken undead skeleton.

After entering the middle section, Leylin saw several figures.

In the middle section of the valley was a huge field, as if the core of the sand tribe. It was now a mountain of corpses.

Several figures stood facing each other, seemingly in a confrontation.

Rogero and his men were inside. Leylin even saw that Legendary monk that he felt apprehensive about!

The monk shifted a corpse into the ditch. The corpse had a soft body and eyes clear like water. Her eyes spoke of the desire to live. It was the female desert leader from earlier, but now all signs of life was not found.

"Someone else is here!"

Leylin's arrival roused the attention of others. They observed him with wariness in their eyes.

Naturally, Leylin did not reveal his true features, but to use the image of Kukulkan. He wore a mask and dressed in black robes. His appearance was the manifest of evil.

A faintly discernible trace of divine force surrounded the area, preventing all sorts of detections and probings.

"What an intense demonic aura!"

Rogero gripped the spear in his hands tightly, as faint sparks of lightning flashed at its tip.

As for the monk, he put down the task he was doing and looked at Leylin in a hostile manner.

"Haha… I never thought that it'd be someone from our camp!"

Although there were several groups of people standing on the field, it was distinctly divided into two sides.

The monk, Rogero, and a few paladins drew close to each other, which was evident that they had formed a camp together.

As for the other side, they were a few powerful people who were alone. Most of them chose to mask their appearance like Leylin, and exuded an aura of evil as well.

However, on the contrary of the opposing camp, the good alignment, these people did not trust each other as much and maintained their distance from one another.

The person who spoke was a purple haired woman who carried a snake headed whip with nine falls. Behind her stood several powerful people who too took up a very large headcount.

"I'm Evida, and I welcome you my friend. I wonder who you are…"

The purple haired woman's eyes were filled with doubt. After all, the number of Legendaries were limited, and she should have recognised him. However, the vibe that Leylin gave off to her was extremely foreign, and dangerous!

This piqued the curiosity of the woman.

"If I'm able to bring this Legendary stranger to our camp, our divine god will definitely give me a handsome reward…"

As she thought of this, her eyes were only more coquettish, and even her words sounded as if they were honey-coated, intoxicating and tantalising.

However, Leylin did not bother with her at all. Instead, he chose to walk to a corner and give off an unfriendly vibe.

"Damn it, is he blind?"

Evida could only curse him, and doubted her beautiful appearance.

"Well… Now that we are opposing each other, there are simply no benefits to be gotten!"

Evida stared furiously at Leylin and stood out to speak to the good alignment camp. "That skeleton demon has already entered the deeper parts. Do we have to fight here and let it take all of the benefits?"

Evidently, the evil faction still held the upper hand with numbers despite their lack of trust in one another.

"We're here to capture the skeleton demon Illyrio. The floating city is not our concern!"

The leader of the paladins was a middle aged man wearing shining armour. He made his declaration in a low voice.

Even paladins had to learn to compromise. If they, at this moment, begin to shout things like 'eliminate all evil', the only outcome would be them being grinded to a pulp by the evil alignment.

"Cough… We want a certain item from the floating city!" Rogero said.

"Very well! Although there are certain conflicts of interest, but it doesn't mean that we cannot mediate! Why don't we enter the floating city, and obtain the items we want to our own capabilities?"

Evida suggested.

It was apparent that none of these people here wanted to take action with the absence of a tangible benefit.

When two parties have close to equal strength, coming to an agreement was a common matter.

Even though the opposing camp had not mentioned a word, the legendary monk quietly made his way to the deeper parts of the valley after burying the corpse.

"Hng!"

Evida snorted cutely with a satisfied expression, as she brought her men deeper in. The two parties too began to make their way in.

Leylin followed casually behind the group and continued his thoughts, "Skeleton demon? Eeriole? That powerful Legendary? I never thought that he would be here too. It seems like the castle earlier which had been reduced to a rubble was his doing…"

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Judge

This was a lich! They were the pinnacle of necromancy, having abandoned their bodies and split their souls to obtain some degree of immortality. Some extremely powerful liches were even strong enough to face gods!

Skeleton Lich Illyrio was someone Leylin had heard of before. Rumour had it that an accidental leakage from one of his soul experiments had contaminated and killed half a kingdom! The paladins had put him on the wanted list, and he was an extremely vile existence that had to be wiped out at all costs.

'Not all legendary necromancers are liches, but all liches are legendary necromancers… His movements make him seem like he's a high-ranked legendary, above rank 25…' Leylin immediately marked the lich as the biggest threat to his operation.

Evida looked around, suddenly asking, "The Dead Sea scrolls passed down by our church indicate the floating city will appear deep in Frostfall Valley. Do you have any more information?"

The group sunk into silence. Even if they had possessed the information, it wouldn't be revealed so easily. Rogero was the one who spoke in the end, "We have information from the esteemed diviner Frederic, our location is even more vague…"

"Then things are going to get troublesome… Illyrio has a partial inheritance from ancient arcanists, and probably knows more about the floating city than we do. He might even have entered the dimensional fortress already…" Evida bit at her lips.

'Hm?' Upon seeing this, Leylin shook his head inside, 'Seems like they don't have accurate information either. Looks like I'm the one that knows more…'

He couldn't help but recall the time and location he'd decoded. It would be when the black crows cried out to the bloodmoon, within the Frostfall Valleys slanting to the east of Cygnus.

"It's about time…" Leylin looked up, gazing into the horizon. The sun descended slowly, the light dimming. The temperature of the region dropped, as was the norm in the western desert. The daytime sun could roast people alive here, and the night could freeze them to death. Few could survive besides some like the sand tribes.

'It's the right month and time. The location is slanting to the east of Cygnus? Based on astrology, that should be…' Leylin's eyes twinkled as he immediately calculated the precise location of the floating city. 'If the skeleton lich obtained an arcanist inheritance as well, he should be lying in wait there…'

"Since we know that it's deep within the Frostfall Valleys in general, how about we split up in our search?" Evida suggested at that exact moment.

"Mm, sure." Rogero and his group of powerful elites from the good faction naturally didn't want to mix with an evil person like Leylin. They immediately agreed.

The legendary monk showed his intent with action as well. Numerous figures scattered as they cast many detection spells, everything dazzling Leylin.

Just as Leylin planned to head in a certain direction, an aroma travelled over as Evida followed close behind Leylin, "What is it? Do you wish to head that way, my lord?"

"Mm, I'll take a look. The floating city will create a huge ruckus when it appears anyway, anyone will be able to find it within the valleys…"

Leylin would always decline invitations from this woman who might have been connected to the gods.

"But the people who enter first will still have better chances. Or am I wrong?" Evida's beautiful eyes were trained on Leylin as she spoke, hinting at something.

"Do you intend to go this way? I can leave it to you…" Leylin rolled his shoulders back nonchalantly.

This attitude caused Evida to feel doubtful.

"Hehe… How could I steal your path? I was just joking…" She twisted her beautiful hips after she spoke, leading her powerful group away. It caused Leylin to blink. 'Has this woman discovered something?'

Rumble!* All of a sudden, something happened! Bright, brilliant holy light rose from a direction, filling the skies and brimming with holiness and righteousness.

"Illyrio, accept punishment of justice!"

A thick voice travelled all over, holding within a steel determination.

"It's a paladin, and a legendary one at that!"

Leylin and other evil ones had terror showing in their eyes as if they had met their natural enemy, while staring at the silver rays in the sky.

"It's the Judge!" "Quick, go there! He's discovered the lich!" Other paladins cheered as they twisted the blades of light in their hands. As if trying to threaten him, they glanced over a few times like children that could now rely on their parents.

Evidently, once their legendary judge took care of Illyrio, they definitely wouldn't mind wiping out this evil that was Leylin.

"Keke… Felbard, I see that you haven't died yet…" The sound of a cold snicker could be heard. A dense wave of dead spirit clouds covered the skies that even the holy light could not penetrate through.

Roar…* Along with the intense dragon roars and terrifying dragon aura, a tremendous bone dragon with two heads revealed a bit of itself from the clouds.

"Die!" The legendary paladin exclaimed, body burning with holy flames as the sword in his hands turned into a pillar of light, breaking the dark clouds apart.

The dead spirits spread out, revealing a crystal skeleton with a black robe. The lich now stood at the head of the ancient dragon, and with a wave of his hands, countless bons appeared to form a bone shield with skeletal decorations, withstanding the paladin's sudden attack.

"It's him! Illyrio! That must be the place where the floating city is about to appear… Go!"

Immense energy undulations alarmed all of those powerful existences as they darted towards the place where the battle was.

"Damn it… he's so unprofessional at hiding. I was planning to lead a few away…"

Leylin sighed inside and headed in Illyrio's direction. That was the exact opposite direction he was planning to go towards!

Leylin had intentionally made a wrong choice, hoping to cheat a few of the strong beings. Unfortunately, the appearance of this legendary paladin had spoiled his plans.

"On this day… nobody can obstruct me!"

After announcing something so huge, the fire in Illyrio's eyes blazed brighter as he extended his palm made of bones and caressed the head of the bone dragon.

[Legendary Skeletal Strengthening!] [Boost to Legendary Pet!]

Berserk spell rays were launched at the bone dragon. *Roar!* It burst out in an earth-shattering, angered snarl, and its terrifying dragon breath was launched, corroding everything in its way.

"A legendary dragon's breath?" After seeing the attack, the legendary paladin immediately looked grim and covered himself with a milky-white armour.

[Holy Light Protection]!

[Holy Light Cross Slash!]

A cross of pillars of light rose in the air, colliding violently with the bone dragon's breath and began to be consumed rapidly.

The terrifying storm from a battle between two high-ranked legendary beings finally caused some fear amongst the surrounding powerful beings.

It was only at this moment that they remembered the reputation of the skeletal lich and the legendary paladin.

Of course, there were also some who proceeded forth fearlessly, and obviously those with similar strength.

"Even the pet is a Legend? As expected of a high-ranked one!"

Leylin moved forward unhurriedly, getting closer and closer to the centre of the battle. Terrifying waves of wind swept through the area, but that did not even result a crease in his clothing.

"You are indeed powerful! I'm sorry, but I think I might need your help later!"

Evida now looked extremely grim. The black-robed people behind her all came in front while taking turns to block the stray ripples from the battle. After seeing Leylin dealing with the situation without issue, she immediately drew close to him with a charming smile.

"My goal is also the floating city, so there's no way we can work together. The spoils won't be easy to split…"

Leylin apathetically shook his head to reject her.

"You never know. My target isn't the entire floating city. Besides, the people there will need us to work with them to cope…"

Evida's serpent head whip pointed at the paladins and monk ahead, looking relaxed.

"Hm? Crap!"

However, at this moment, Leylin's expression suddenly changed as he retreated by a large distance.

"What's going on?"

Evida looked puzzled, and soon felt a surge of spatial force crashing to her body, causing her to be sent flying while coughing blood.

The few black-clothed beings in front of her had been burnt to ashes under the immense force, and nothing was left behind.

Rumble!*

The lich and paladins who were in battle in mid-air simultaneously stopped, and then flew back by a large distance.

A powerful spatial storm that formed a tornado began to wreak havoc on the area.

Leylin looked up at the moon in the sky, which now had a bloody-red creeping all over it.

"When the black crows cry out to the blood moon! It is time… The floating city will soon do a spatial leap here. I never expected the storm formed before the appearance would be so violent…"

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Shadow City

"It's the floating city! My floating city is finally about to appear!" The skeleton lich Ilyo burning gaze was fixed on the core of the spatial storm, the fire in his eyes blazing brightly.

Rumble!* The air trembled and the earth thundered, and the Frostfall Valleys lamented as if unable to take on the pressure.

Whether those of the good or evil factions, they all gazed up after retreating a large distance, watching the miraculous scene of the appearance of the floating city.

The stars that filled the skies seemed to lose all their lustre, and it was as if a supernova was born in the sky as a star more dazzling than any other descended, enveloping the world with colour.

Bzzt! Bzzt!*

Terrifying spatial undulations spread in all directions and in the blink of an eye created a gigantic and deep pit in the ground. The shadow of a dimensional plane loomed over, as if there was a single point of it trying to fuse with the prime material plane!

Even while it was a tiny dot, that was only in comparison between the sizes of two worlds. The tiny point that linked the two unceasingly increased till it formed the figure of the floating city!

This was a large base that was a hemisphere. The shadows of the roofs of many buildings could be seen, forming a large human city.

In the Nether Arcanist Era, the floating city not only was the main area for arcanists, but also a large city and social hub. It could easily fit a hundred thousand people without it getting crowded.

The four elemental plane seemed to have opened a special energy channel as immense energy surged and whistled forward.

It was as if the end of the world for the western desert. If not for there being few people here already, there might have been a terrifying catastrophe or deaths here.

……

After goodness knew how long, the astounding storm finally dissipated, and everything calmed down.

A dark shadow was projected to the ground, hiding the glow from the stars and the moon.

Leylin looked up and found a large shadow. This was the base of the floating city. This immense and vast city had now completely descended into the prime material world!

Watching the large body of the city as well as the bright arcane runes, the whole world seemed to stop breathing.

Deathly silence! In that moment, even the Legends on the ground sunk into a temporary silence.

"Keke… my floating city!"

Ilyo was the first to react, riding his bone dragon mount and pouncing towards the city.

"Dream on!" The legendary paladin obviously could not just watch as he got to the city and soared up high as if stepping on air, body moving rapidly.

"We're going too! That's the floating city, and the only one in the World of Gods! It's the crystal of the Nether Arcane civilisation…"

Other legends also began to get restless.

……

In that moment, within the floating city where nobody seemed to be around, sparks flickered within a certain control room. Lights gathered to form flower elves that were around ten centimetres tall.

The little faces now looked stiff as they spat out in a robotic tone, "Dimensional leap completed. Damage to floating city at 1.77%. Energy consumed at 75.99%. Activating maintenance procedures."

After which, a glaring red alarm sounded as a layer of screen projections showed Ilyo outside.

He had his bone dragon pet fight against the legendary paladin while he headed towards the city, and was right about to enter the city's territory.

'Discovered intruder. Strength at grade A3, determined to be high-ranked Legendary. Activating energy membrane… Beep! Energy membrane damaged at 52.33%, unable to be activated. Changed to automatic defensive mode. Activating magic missiles with automatic calibration and firing.'

With the commands from the intellectual core, the armours at the sides of the floating city opened up to reveal steel cannons that were like a beehive. In that instant, the floating city turned into a large porcupine!

'Target calibrated. Launching magic missiles!'

Boom!* A boiling hot white energy of pillar whistled as it shot out of the cannon, arriving before the skeleton lich in a moment.

"Oh, shit."

The skeleton lich somehow managed to show immense fear on his expression.

Tzz tzz!* After the glowing white rays, there was no sign of the lich left whatsoever.

"It- it can't be! That's a high-ranked Legend!"

The terrifying might of the cannon finally scared off the greedy Legends. Only then did they remember what made the floating city so terrifying.

"This is only the automatic cannons without a legendary arcanist working it. The most powerful dimensional cannon of laws and pure energy defensive membrane has yet to appear…" Leylin gazed up at the floating city that was showing off its strength, the fervour in his eyes becoming more obvious.

"But… that bone dragon hasn't disappeared. Seems like Ilyo isn't a high-ranked Legend for nothing…"

Leylin noticed this and slowly retreated without leaving traces behind.

Whoosh…* Now, white light flickered. A layer of bone powder turned into a gale and blew by the area Ilyo had disappeared.

The ashes from his bones converged to form a crystal skeleton.

"Tsk tsk… thankfully, I still had a substitute. This amount of strength is as expected of the floating city…"

Ilyo floated in the air but no longer had the guts to just enter. He used the joint in his wrist to and used his palm to support his chin, the fire in his eyes dimming.

"It's getting difficult… Even with the dimensional leap consuming most of its energy reserves, just the least powerful automatic defences can't be broken through by a legend as long as the intellectual core exists… If I don't obtain control over the floating city soon, the personifications of the gods will definitely strike out… Things will be troublesome then…"

Ilyo gritted his teeth, "It's a pity that I only obtained a portion of the inheritance of the arcanists and didn't become one. If not…"

At this moment, the floating city produced a loud rumble.

WIthin the core control room, the personification of the core that were the flower elves had screens that appeared before them, gathering images of the people below.

'Beep! Discovered arcanists! Activating transmission mode. Starting spell formation to receive them!'

Numerous screens shifted till they locked onto two beings. One had a silver mask and looked extremely mysterious, and it was Leylin, who was planning to make his move!

The other was actually Roglo!

Rumble!* With the sound, a bridge of light shot out from the top of the highest building of the floating city, landing on Leylin and Roglo who were caught unprepared.

With a flash of light, the two disappeared.

"Huh? What's going on?"

Evita froze.

"Crap, the two that disappeared should have been arcanists! The master of the floating city must have set up a certain procedure for his legacy. Only when arcanists appear will the floating city take them in and even transfer the authority to control it!

Ilyo now looked very anxious.

"What do I do? What do I do?"

Just when Ilyo was gritting his teeth, a new situation broke out at the ground.

"I have no choice… god!"

Evita closed her eyes, and the next time she opened them, there were now a pair of dark golden eyes. A tremendous might had descended into her body.

"The personification of a god has descended! So she used the method of having the god possess her body!"

"Has a god already found out about this place? How quick!"

"God!" The guards Evita had brought along, who were lucky enough to survive, quickly knelt.

"We can't let other organisations get control of the city! They've activated a spatial channel, which means there's a hole in their tight defences! I'll send you right in, so find it at all costs!"

'Evita' spoke unhurriedly, and a faint goddess' image appeared behind her.

Mighty divine force turned into a terrifying wave that swept those black-clothed people into the city.

The consumption like this must be terrifying, because once all this was done, Evita passed out and crumbled to the ground.

"Now's the moment. It's a good chance!"

Making his mind, a rhombus-shaped red-blue metal tile was shattered and formed spatial force. This allowed Ilyo to go along the gods' tears and enter the city.

Dazzling divine force rays flickered on the legendary monk and paladin, allowing them to enter the floating city.

"Is this… the inside of the floating city?"

Leylin's eyes blinked open as he took in his surroundings.

"Yes! Welcome to Shadow City, where the flowers of the Nether Arcanists never wither!"

A flower elf projected itself in front of him, flapping the translucent double wings behind it as it surrounded Leylin.

"Congratulations, Arcanist! You have obtained a chance to inherit the floating city and all knowledge of the mighty Great Silver Hand!"

"Chance?"

"Yes. As two have been determined to be qualified, one of you will inherit the floating city!"

The flower elf spoke primly, obviously carrying out the will of the original master loyally.

"Speak. What is to be done?"

It was impossible for this intellectual core to go against its procedures. Besides, this floating city was not a ruins of the past, and since the flow of information and firewalls were still intact, using his mind and the A.I. Chip to invade it would be just stupid. This was why Leylin went straight to the point.

"This is the floating city's core energy room, and also where the Mise energy core is…"

The flower elf showed an image. This was within an empty room, where there was a floating ball emitting lights that showed the heat it emitted.

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Test

"This is your current location!" The fairy showed Leylin a map, indicating his current position within the floating city.

"You must compete with the other qualified person. The first to reach the power room will obtain the authority over the Mise energy core. That will allow you to take control of the floating city and get control over the core…"

The fairy's bright eyes were trained on Leylin, voice robotic, "Please take note. Master has set up various hindrances along the way, and… Because I do not have enough power, a few invaders have entered the floating city…"

Scenes flashed and separated into smaller squares, allowing Leylin to see the skeleton lich, legendary paladin, monks and other people.

"Have a few worms snuck in as well? With the floating city's own defensive strength, there should be a few specific methods or gods acting in the shadows that allowed them to break through the outer defences of the city."

Leylin grinned, thinking back to Rogero who had also been chosen.

"I never expected this… a legendary with a reputation for his combat skills also has the strength of an arcanist! Rogero, you've cheated a whole continent… Pretty good… but unfortunately, you met me!"

Even if it was just a conjecture, Leylin knew what the floating city's master had planned. It was definitely something to do with testing the power of arcanists.

He was now a legendary arcanist. Even in the Netheril era, he had about the same strength as the master of the city, which made him qualified to enter the arcanist elder union and obtain his own floating city. He was obviously unafraid.

On the other hand, Rogero too had become a legendary based on his combat skills. However, even with training hard in private, his arcanist ranking wouldn't be that high.

In this area, Leylin could overlook his opponent.

"The most important thing right now is to get control over the city before the gods react!" Leylin took a look at the map that the fairy projected, and the A.I. Chip recorded everything before choosing the most suitable route.

"You who are qualified, I hope you can succeed in becoming my master!" The fairy glanced at Leylin's back, and then gradually disappeared…

After walking through a path styled in a futuristic, sci-fi way, Leylin entered a drawing room.

Chi chi!* Two magic golems that looked like monkeys stood in wait, large robotic eyes shooting out red lights.

"Gatekeepers? Even with the A.I. Chip choosing the most optimal route, I need to pass through at least 20 stages. I need to quicken my speed…"

Leylin did not stop walking and walked in between the two puppets, figure disappearing into the path.

After he left, the two magic golems exploded into pieces… At the other side, Rogero was advancing quickly, his lance emitting terrifying qi as he ripped a steel door apart.

"An opportunity! The best opportunity!"

Rogero's eyes blazed, "I've hidden my arcanist inheritance for so long, and I finally have this chance! The floating city will definitely be mine…"

At this thought, the image of his competitor showed up in his mind as his emitted a bloodthirsty air.

"I must get the floating city. All who get in my way must die!"

……

Compared to the test that the two of them got, the other invaders were treated poorly.

Boom! Boom!*

"There's so much wealth from ancient civilisation, and every single item is priceless. The price of one would be enough to purchase half of a large city. Why do you still keep chasing after me?"

Ilyo turned and yelled, sounding distressed.

"Destroying evil is the role the heavens have given to me. Did you think mere greed over wealth can confuse me?" The paladin looked resolute as he followed behind relentlessly, causing the skeleton lich to have to run tirelessly and feel annoyed.

Usually, he could just turn back and fight three hundred rounds with the paladin. With the floating city and remains of historical civilisation for him to explore here, having to waste his energy on fighting caused Ilyo to feel his heart bleeding.

"Just you wait…" He knew that paladins had brains like concrete, and could only come up with ways to eliminate him.

"Beep! Detected invader. Automatically activating defence mode. Activating metal golems!" Once the two entered a plaza, a robotic voice sounded out. A large gate suddenly opened as a puppet with armour walked out. Many energy fields surrounded it, causing the skeleton lich and paladin to sense immense danger. They could not help but stop in their tracks.

"It's the metal golem! The legendary golem!" The lich sounded as if he was sighing in awe, "Such a high-ranked golem is the top secret of the Netheril arcanists. Wizards now can't create imitations of it…"

Boom!*

After this, however, the skeleton lich could no longer laugh. The golem instantly vanished in an instant, and the next time it reappeared, it was behind Ilyo, large steel fist aimed at his head.

"So fast! It's almost like instant shifting. Is this really a golem?"

Spells flashed continuously at Ilyo's body as he quickly set up several bone walls, the bone spurs and bone lances shooting towards the key areas of the golem and bringing with them great gusts of wind.

Crackle!* The many attacks reached the defensive surface layer of the metal golem and created sounds like rainfall, and then scattered.

Rumble!* *Ka-cha!* The golem cared not for these attacks and raised its huge fist, preparing to strike at the bone wall.

There was a huge whistling sound in the air, and the bones flew everywhere. A defence that a lich had formed with all his strength actually was completely destroyed under this attack!

Boom!*

By the time the legendary paladin arrived, all he saw was the lich embedded into the wall. He was perfectly 'printed' onto the wall, neck twisted at a very odd angle. If he was alive, he would long since have died.

Even if he was a lich, the fire in his eyes had dimmed quite a bit, and he was evidently gravely injured.

"You monster full of evil! Prepare to be judged by justice!"

Upon seeing this, the paladin heaved a deep sigh of relief, both hands raising the large sword that signified light and judgement.

'Beep! Enemy discovered!'

However, before the paladin's sword could fall, a metal golem had already arrived behind him, electronic eyes emitting dangerous red rays.

For legendary metal golems, there could be liches or paladins, but all were invaders and needed to be exterminated.

If Leylin had been here, he would have exclaimed 'Such high technology'! Or 'Transformers', but unfortunately, the paladin with an inflexible mind did not have so many stray thoughts.

In his eyes, metal golems like these were not much better than demons of the abyss or devils of hell.

'Beep! Enemy scanned to be model of 'paladin'. Activating extermination plan number 2. Activating extreme gravity engine. Activating nuclear furnace!'

The steel golem made sounds that the paladin could not understand then spread its arms.

Boom!* The gravity around suddenly increased, and the ground caved in, now seeming extremely solid.

The chest area of the golem opened up to reveal a red hot furnace that rotated in a turbine, producing a frightening whirr.

"What- what monster is this!"

Noticing that his attack at full power had been easily blocked, his exemplary sword that was almost legendary grade melted in the furnace at the golem's chest. No matter how strong his mind was, the paladin now held hints of despair…

A similar scene could be witnessed at various parts of the city. The outsiders who had entered without permission were now under terrifying attacks, and there already were casualties.

After all, the floating city was a nest of the Great Arcanists of ancient times, so how could they just allow enemies to barge in?

At this moment, other 'guests' had also arrived outside the city.

"I never thought even with the consumption from dimensional leaping, the defences of the floating city is still so terrifying. The divine force that the body I'm possessing can amass is nearly depleted…"

'Evida' opened her eyes, gazing at the large floating city while looking expectant.

However, this relaxed look only maintained for a moment. Evida quickly turned to the other side, "Her Highness, Mystra, and others…"

"We meet again…"

A young girl dressed in black walked out from the shadows, having the dignity and coldness that only gods possessed.

She gazed at the empty area next to her, looking hostile.

Golden lights flashed, and numerous orc gods also appeared. They were all avatars, causing fear to appear in Evida's eyes.

For true gods to descend into the prime material plane, there was the most dangerous truebody saintly form, as well as an avatar and possessing a body.

An avatar was a clone formed of divine force and godhood, while possessing a body would require taking the body of a follower.

In comparison, possessing the body might be safe, but the power could not compare to an avatar.

"After the hall meeting of the gods, there have been few gatherings between many gods…"

An elderly being wearing white, scholarly attire had a wise look in his eyes. This was Oghma, the god of knowledge and a powerful greater god.

"After all, this has to do with arcanists and the floating city…"

The other gods all went quiet, focusing on the Weave Goddess, Mystra.

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Banishment

"Arcanist civilisation must never be allowed to be revived. That is the bottom line!" Mystra announced first. The many gods who had gathered revealed a tacit understanding.

While they were confident that their avatars could enter the floating city, they were still afraid of the enemy. Who knew if there were traps specifically meant for gods, left behind by the Great Arcanist in the city?

"It's not advisable to go against it for too long. How about we…" However, just as Oghma broke the silence, an astounding change happened in the city.

Dazzling rays enveloped the city and teleportation rays filled the area, causing it to seem translucent.

"Dimensional leap? No, it's a random teleportation. Stop it!" The many gods quickly made their moves, using powerful divine force to form a golden sealing web. However, they were too late. The floating city completely vanished, leaving behind gods exchanging gazes.

……

A while ago.

Near the core power testing room, Rogero stared hard at the blue test tube in front of him, looking nervous.

"The expectations that the Great Arcanist had for his successor are a little too much. Even as a high-ranked arcanist, it's still too difficult to successfully brew the mild blue light potion. Thankfully, I have this…"

Rogero placed a white crystal under the test tube, and in the moment that it made contact with the test tube, the crystal instantly heated up.

"A stabilising potion that increase chances of success by 50%— The dream stone, Sage Abofeld! Success or failure shall be decided in this moment!"

Rogero took a deep breath and placed another pipette at the mouth of the test tube.

"If the potion turns blue, that means it's a success. If not, it's a failure… There's only one step till I get the inheritance…"

Rogero prayed the most devoutly he ever had in his whole life. "Whatever god you are, please bless me! If I can succeed this time, I will become your most pious follower…"

It was unclear if a remote god had favoured him, or if this was luck.

The moment after the pipette dripped a bit of the potion, the entire test tube began to boil.

Thick liquid boiled and kept changing colour, till it stabilised to a faint blue.

At the beginning, the blue was not stable, and Rogero could feel cold sweat beading on his forehead. However, the dream stone that that was like white crystal emitted white rays that enveloped the entire test tube.

The mild blue potion stabilised, and he immediately looked elated, "It's a success!"

He quickly darted over to the crystal door with a large vertical pupil carved in and splashed the freshly-made mild blue light potion onto the eye.

Tss tss!*

After the potion made contact with the eye, it was as if sponge met water as it was absorbed.

Rogero looked nervous as he waited for the results, feeling uneasy and nervous.

'Beep! Brewing of mild blue light potion is successful!'

Time seemed to pass slowly, but it also seemed to be mere seconds. When the robotic voice sounded, Rogero could not help but give a whoop of delight.

Rumble!*

The eye rolled and produced the mechanical sound of unlocking. The large door slowly opened, revealing a path straight to the power room.

"Haha… I've succeeded. I've succeeded!" Rogero roared in his excitement. "As expected, there aren't many arcanists left around. That black-clothed person might be an arcanist, but his ranking can't be higher than mine. I definitely was the one to pass the test first, so I'll get full control…"

While looking emotional, Rogero's footsteps never slowed.

The path was short. With his speed, he quickly reached the core power room and saw the Mise energy core that was continuously providing the floating city with strength, floating in the air.

"Haha… as expected, I was the quickest!"

Upon seeing that nobody was around, Rogero could not hold himself back and chuckled loudly.

"Mine, mine! The ancient floating city, the remains of the Great Arcanist and all the arcanists' treasures all mine and mine alone…"

Rogero looked expectant as he headed to the Mise energy core.

He looked moved and greedy as he reached his trembling right hand out.

The fairy appeared nearby, watching on expressionlessly.

"Intellectual core, hand over control to me!" Rogero shouted, "As the master, I'll definitely treat you well…"

Beep!* The fairy nodded expressionlessly, and the flooring under the Mise energy core opened up to reveal something like a control desk. A purple crystal flickered with dazzling rays above.

"Good job!"

Rogero laughed heartily and his right hand reached forward.

However, just a centimetre away from the purple crystal, something happened!

Glaring rays surged and enveloped his body. These were spell rays from a teleportation spell formation.

The high-ranked legendary arcane spell: Dimensional Banishment!

"No! Mine… my everything…" Rogero looked unresigned as he vanished, leaving behind his voice that echoed in the empty secret room.

"Aha… he took so long to get here. I waited so long…" A transparent human figure walked over from a corner of the secret room. The illusion on his body gradually disappeared. This was Leylin!

He was now yawning, looking nonchalant. "He couldn't even recognise the dimensional banishment trap. Ha, to think he was a high-ranked arcanist. Looks like there's something wrong with his inheritance. I'm pretty sure it's incomplete…

"But even if he recognised it, the way to get rid of this legendary spell is for it to work once. He made me wait for so long…" Leylin looked dissatisfied.

"Only a legendary Great Arcanist like you can detect the arcane spell trap that master set up!"

The fairy now bowed low to Leylin, "While I'd already confirmed that only you, who is also a legendary Great Arcanist, can take over the city that is the glory of the Netheril era, I had to do this for procedure's sake. Please be understanding…"

"It's nothing much… Proceed with the transferring of authority please. There might be more variables from the passing of time…"

Leylin headed to the control desk. The dimensional banishment spell had now been completely removed.

"The Mise energy core… Rumours have it that any item that touches it will be hit with something like a legendary disjunction spell and crumble into numerous particles. How powerful can this be?"

Leylin sighed, right index finger touching the purple crystal.

'Beep! Confirmation of qualified person. Beginning transferring of control.' The fairy cooperated with the operation. Leylin felt that his self linked with the entire city, and that it seemed to become part of his body, and he could even see scenes of the invaders.

[Beep! Obtained control over floating city. Supplementary scan ongoing.]

The A.I. Chip's voice sounded. With its help, Leylin could easily control the floating city. In terms of his proficiency, he immediately reached the level of the original owner.

"The energy reserves are at less than 50%, and there are also divine force undulations detected outside?"

Leylin looked at the report and frowned slightly.

"Fairy, begin preparations to teleport floating city. Activate concealing spell formations and spatial location confusion spell formations…"

Leylin commanded.

"Understood, master! The previous master always called me Shaylin, but you can call me something else…" The exquisite face of the fairy broke out in a smile and carried out his order.

"Also, send me to these locations. I still need to take care of a few worms before teleporting…"

Leylin waved his arms high spiritedly, but at this moment, his expression changed.

A strange beast skin scroll automatically floated from his dimensional pouch. The seals that Leylin had put on had all cracked.

The Mise energy core emitted terrifying energy undulations, creating a pillar of light the size of a thumb at the middle, shining on the scroll all of a sudden.

The energy that could break up all matter did not cause the scroll to be damaged, but the luster on it grew more dazzling as it slowly opened up. It revealed an arcane spell model that was so complicated it was terrifying.

[Beep! Discovered high-rank arcane spell model. To scan?] The A.I. Chip asked.

"Yes!"

With Leylin's order, the A.I. Chip immediately scanned and recorded the model. After which, the scroll seemed to be done with its mission and rolled itself back.

"As expected, this scroll isn't something dead but contains some will of Distorted Shadow?"

In Leylin's tests, the scroll obviously sealed something amazing. If it were opened suddenly, it might result in terrifying contamination or curses.

But now, under the radiation from the only Mise energy core in the continent, this seemed to be the correct way to open it. He had been given a terrifyingly complicated arcane spell model.

"This…"

Leylin took a look at the A.I. Chip's taskbar. As the spell model was exceedingly large and difficult, the effects and abilities still needed time to be deciphered. The only thing Leylin could confirm was that this spell had a very high grade!

"The price for all these arrangements and even giving me my bloodline ability is finally showing itself?"

Leylin looked solemn, but his eyes were now full of bloodlust and violence all mixed together.

"What are you standing there for? Teleport quickly!"

Leylin yelled at the fairy who seemed to have been scared stupid.

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Annihilation

Leylin knew the principle of equal exchange. However, seeing some of the tricks Distorted Shadow had pulled on the sly, he was left in a bad mood.

At this moment, he decided to vent all of his anger on the intruders. The teleportation light shone, and Leylin's body vanished. As for the intruders in the different parts of the floating city, they were about to meet their maker!

……

It was a complete mess at the arcane field.

The metal golem's head was missing a huge chunk, and the right arm was ripped off. As for the energy core, it stopped functioning completely.

Even though it stood still, but that malevolent and dangerous feeling still radiated from its body, striking fear into the hearts of others.

"Pant…Pant… Thank you!" The legendary paladin half knelt on the ground in the middle of a pool of blood. He was grievously injured.

"Cough…Cough… Saving someone from dying and banishing evil… Cough cough… Is what we were born for…" This was the monk from before, but his injuries were far more severe. His chest had already lost a huge piece of flesh, and blood flowed from his lips endlessly.

Even with the constant healing spells, it was impossible to restore his body to a fighting state.

"The floating city is really this strong… Just one metal golem and it's so troublesome…" The paladin sighed, apprehension still in his eyes.

He fought a bitter and losing battle with the golem earlier. If not for the sudden appearance of the monk, who used his tough body to take on most of the hits, he would have died a long time ago.

"Hey hey… And me? Why haven't you thanked me…" The crystal head of the skeleton lich began to chatter.

Under extreme danger, he put all past feuds behind him and chose to team up with the other two. After an arduous battle they had won, but this demon was unlucky, left with only its head intact.

At the moment, the paladin gritted his teeth and stood up before walking over. "Banish all evil!"

"Wh…Damn! We were allies mere moments ago, how can you just about face?" The lich began to wail, "Help…Save me…"

In actuality, he wasn't afraid at all. As long as his phylactery survived, he could resurrect after death. It just required a very long time.

"Forgive me. Even if we worked together, to eliminate evil is my calling." The paladin stood in front of the lich, holy light forming a sword in his hand.

"Scram!" Teleportation light flashed at that moment, and the paladin grew stupefied as he was knocked away.

"I'm in a very bad mood right now. Tell me, how do you all want to die?" Leylin walked out in the silver mask, looking at the three injured people like a god of death.

This made Ilyo feel as if he had met a demigod being in the distant past. Intense, overbearing evil that can devour everything whole.

"It's that Legendary from the evil camp, now that he has control over the floating city's teleportation portals, does it mean that the authorisation has been handed over to him?"

The crystal skull on the floor tumbled several rounds before stopping, the dark fire in its eyes stopped flickering.

"What an intense evil… The magnitude now is countless times more than before… Had he just been putting up a front all these while?"

The pupils of the paladin and the monk narrowed, as they tracked the item that they were struck by. It was the decapitated heads of the other contenders inside the floating city!

"You are the only intruders left, after disposing the lot of you I will begin the transfer of authority…"

Leylin's features were hidden under his mask, so no one knew his current expression. Only his pair of eyes could be seen, cold and indifferent, as if it could freeze the soul of one who looked into his eyes.

The evil black light covered the grounds. Compared to him, the aura of the demon seemed like a kiddy item.

"Cough…Have the others been slain by you?"

The paladin coughed, time to time spitting blood from his lips.

"Most of them had perished under the arcane traps. As for the rest, they have been done in by me. It's only you three left…"

An icy killing intent was prominent in Leylin's voice. Suddenly, he appeared behind the legendary monk, "You possess the most threat amongst the three of them…"

"So, let me invite you to go to hell…"

Leylin's right hand seemed to turn into a pair of devilish claws which tore through the hardened defense of the monk, reaching for the heart directly.

"Urgh… Before this trip, I felt the restlessly during one of my meditation… As if some great evil was about to be borne… Hence I followed my heart and was directed to the western desert…"

Droplets of blood dripped down, momentarily taking away the pain seen on the monk's face. He inhaled violently, as if pacing back and forth through death's doors.

"I originally thought that… It was the descent of the floating city, which would bring great destruction to the world. But I know now it's was due to your existence…"

The monk struggled to force the words out of his parched lips.

"Too much nonsense…" Leylin clenched his fist, and the monk's heart was shattered into countless bits.

"Dead?"

The paladin and Ilyo's eyes dimmed, as if seeing something unbelievable happening within minutes.

"Even if I have to ignite my soul, I have to stop the evil in this world…"

The next moment, the monk's eyes which had dulled violently opened, and emitted light rays even stronger than the sun. His right palm now took on a golden hue as he gently pushed out. The force felt even stronger than being crushed by a mountain, and even the air was pushed away. It was unstoppable.

Legendary technique — Vajra's Palm!

Boom!* The golden palm pushed through the phantom behind Leylin's back and turned the construct behind into smithereens.

"You're not bad huh! Old man, is this the legendary ability — Life After Death? You are indeed a powerful and gifted monk, even after your body is destroyed, you are able to sustain life for a period of time…"

The monk's life was extremely tenacious, and now with this legendary ability, even if his heart was taken and having sustained grave injuries from before, he could still produce such a might.

"Giving your all to beat me huh? Why do I feel like a final boss like the great demon king in the novels of my past life…"

Leylin squinted his eyes, and saw all of the righteousness represented behind the palm of the monk.

"A pity that an attack of this magnitude… It's not enough to hurt me…"

Leylin mocked, as his nostrils flared. "Let me put you into utter despair…"

The floating city can never land in his hands, if not the world will enter even more suffering…"

The paladin now too struggled to get up, "The final holy buff…"

Radiant rays shone on the paladin, and stopped all of his injuries in their tracks. Very soon, a sword made of light appeared on his hands.

"In the name of righteousness…" The paladin held his sword up high, the energy swirling into a violent gale.

"Divine Intervention!"

The radiant sword made of holy light carried the intent of killing as it sealed Leylin's retreat route.

"Blazing Point! Vajra's Palm!"

The monk ignited all of his life force into blazing fuel. The palm which covered the skies seemed to be able to incinerate anything in its path.

The demon Ilyo who was lying at the side had an extremely unsightly expression. He knew that against this wave of destructive attacks, if he was in Leylin's shoes, there would be irreversible damage caused!

"I've already mentioned it… There's no use…"

Under Leylin's mask, there seemed to be… lamentation.

"Right now, I am not someone you guys can oppose…" Against these ultimate attacks, Leylin indifferently raised his hands. "Time…be still…"

Suuu*

At this instance, the dust stopped in midair, and the air grew thick and dense. Even those attacks which could destroy heaven and earth were stopped.

Buzz…*

After Ilyo regained his consciousness, he only saw the two corpses of the other two legendary being shattered into pieces.

"That moment earlier…. No, this…. This is an arcane spell at the legendary rank… The divine ability of the legends that can stop time. Only legendary ranked arcanists can cast this spell — Timestop…"

"He is actually a legendary ranked arcanist? Haven't people of this calibre perished a long time ago? Has he survived since the Mise period?"

The dark flame in Ilyo's eyes continuously flickered, as if struggling with his thoughts. The performance that Leylin displayed earlier had scared him.

"I can only stop time in this region… It's still a mile away from fully controlling time. However, power like this is still extremely intoxicating. It is indeed an arcane spell from the limits of rank 8. I could even feel a strand of the laws of time…"

Leylin exclaimed inwardly, before walking to the demon.

"Subjugation, or death?"

"Subjugation? Ahahaha… hahaha, You're very strong, at the legendary arcanist level, and also control the floating city. However, to want me, skeleton demon, one who has a kingdom of undead army, one who has survived three holy wars and participated in numerous holy wars that even gods had transcended and used human vassals… Me, the great demon king, Ilyo, to subjugate? Hahaha…"

As if hearing something hilarious, the mouth of the skull continuously clacked, evidently in a mocking tone.

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Phylactery

"Is that right…." Leylin spoke blandly, leaving Ilyo unamused.

Leylin had been of good mind to take him under his wing. After all, this was a legendary expert who could fight many experts at once! He was a treasure trove of knowledge, and a talent in the research of spell models.

Most importantly, he was aligned evil, so there was a possibility of him aiding Leylin.

"Alright… I'll admit that you are very strong, but so what? As long as you're unable to find my phylactery,the most you can do is kill me…"

Ilyo put on a front like a dead pig who was unafraid of boiling water.

"Nope! I can choose to seal you for eternity and prevent you from committing suicide and therefore, resurrecting."

Leylin's shoes stepped on the crystal skull. Ilyo immediately discovered that his connection with the weave had been completely disconnected. He could not even kill himself now.

"Wait a minute…"

Under such extreme terror, Ilyo finally let up. Afterall, being sealed was not a fun thing. Moreover, if there weren't anyone to break to seal later on, it was equivalent to dying.

"Although I could have coaxed you… But you gave me a pretty good suggestion…"

Leylin smiled as he sealed the crystal skull, mockery in his eyes. "phylactery huh?"

As the highest achievement of a necromancer, the lich had chosen to store his soul into the phylactery, and obtain eternal life — as long as the phylactery was intact. Even after death, it could resurrect through the phylactery.

As for the phylactery, it was the most protected secret and the life essence of the necromancers. They would store it in the safest of havens, some even with detection and prophecy-type spells.

To put it in another way, if the phylactery was in the hands of another, the lich would be completely controlled, unless it sought death.

"It's unafraid because of the phylactery huh?"

Leylin stroked his chin. "With the techniques in the world, finding the phylactery of a lich necromancer is extremely difficult. But…"

In the field of soul research, Leylin had obviously surpassed the world of gods' standards. Afterall, he had the accumulation of knowledge from a completely different world.

Moreover, in this demonic life transfer, he saw many familiar things.

'This type of life transfer, together with soul transfer, and also arcanists… No, there are traces of Magus spells in this. It seems like the wizards here have absorbed some knowledge from the Magus World… Although I don't have a spiritual connection to the Magus World, I can still identify traces of it through this clone… Not to mention I have Dreamscape Vision to peer into its most innermost thoughts…'

Leylin now looked at Ilyo in pity. He couldn't kill himself even if he wanted to.

……

Through the Mise core, Leylin teleported into the control room.

"Master!" The flower genie flew to Leylin's side and rested on his shoulders.

"The intruders have been completely wiped, energy required for the activation of teleportation portal is complete…" The flower genie reported in a rather upbeat tone.

"Alright, begin to move! Make sure to mask the coordinates of the space, I don't want those gods to find me…"

Leylin waved his hand, before beginning to operate the teleportation system of floating city. The way Leylin handled the operations expertly left the flower genie blushing.

"Hmm? The other gods are arriving now? Too bad, they're late…"

Leylin smirked at he looked at the screen monitor. He operated the floating city and easily broke through the seals of the gods, disappearing from the Frostfall Valleys.

"He actually got away?" Oghma's avatar looked at Mystra, as a golden light flashed in his eyes. "Prophetic spells are not working, it seems like the person is very used to the functions of the floating city…"

"To be able to control the floating city this quickly, he must definitely be a Great Arcanist! I never thought that someone from the Mise period is still around…"

"It's a problem that you must handle now, Mystra!" The gods broke into fervent discussion, venting their frustrations on the Goddess of the Weave.

Mystra inhaled a deep breath before explaining, "Everyone here witnessed the fall of Netheril. I can guarantee you, not one legendary arcanist managed to survive it…"

"No matter what, this is your job. I hope that you'll be able to handle this matter well…" A golden orc spoke.

At this moment, the other gods were watching on with a degree of schadenfreude. Mystra had always been too powerful, and now that she had suffered a blow, it was time for them to vent their frustrations.

Many of the divine conscients held their discussion in midair before dispersing into different directions, leaving behind Mystra who looked on at the direction of where the floating city disappeared…

……

In a quiet space of void, with boundless darkness surrounding it, the air current whistled violently, as a floating city quietly sat on the turbulent air currents.

This was the outer membrane of the physical world, where many half-dimensions were produced and destroyed. Even gods found it difficult to follow every space that was created in the outer region.

"Shaylin, send me another report of the energy stored and the armoury stock!"

Leylin sat in the control room and asked the flower genie.

"Yes master! Currently, the floating city has 12.77% of energy reserves! The Mise core will be able to regain its lost energy approximately the time of 271 hourglass trickles… Furthermore, there are damages suffered to the external parts of the floating city, and the 23.7% of the firearms are unable to be used. There are two missing legendary ranked golems, and one which is stopped operating as the damage is over 50%!

The flower genie also pulled an image, which was the golem that the legendary ranked paladin and the monk had defeated.

Right now, it had already been returned to the storage and the many golem constructs had been working to repair it, but the progress was extremely slow.

"Apart from all these, there are 3 main cannons which engages in the laws of secondary energy, 347 homing cannons, and 239812 other various cannons. 80% of them are able to function normally, and two of the main cannons have damages amounting to over 20%…"

"As for magic golems…"

"The arcane garden…"

The flower genie displayed every aspect of the floating city, which left Leylin nodding his head in satisfaction.

"This is really a fortress which can rival that of a divine kingdom in its prime… However, it's not as it's full capabilities yet…"

The floating city now had suffered damages and its energy reserves were lacking. Leylin would definitely not choose to use it now to war gods with casualties on both sides.

He had a better use for the floating city.

"Master, that lich has woken now, and kept crying about wanting to see you after sensing something." The fairy reported.

"Oh? It seems like he has realised it, bring him in!" Leylin beckoned.

Seconds later, a golem walked into the hall with loud thudding on the floor. It carried a giant silver tray. On this tray lay a crystal skull, artistic like an ornament, with two dark glows in its eyes.

"Skeleton Lich Ilyo, will you finally subjugate?"

Leylin toyed with a purple-gold coin in his hands as he asked in a teasing manner.

"My phylactery, how could you find…" The lich wailed. He might have very well attacked Leylin if not for the seal.

"Ilyo, I have to admit this is rather clever. You made the phylactery a metal coin of nobility, and even put it in the hands of a coins collector. It took me some effort to find him and to have it handed over…"

Leylin raised the coin in his hand. It was an ancient coin from the previous dynasty, and there were archaic carvings on the edges. The previous owners had kept it with great care, and the reflection of the light on the coin was dazzling. Nobody would believe that this was actually a phylactery of a lich!

Leylin had read some journals of necromancers constructing their phylactery into everyday objects, some even into pebbles at a seabed, that they could never find it again on their own.

While this could prevent their enemies from finding it, but if they were casually picked up and destroyed, their life would be over.

Compared to them, Ilyo's method was much more ingenious. The value of the purple gold coin was extremely high, often representing a hundred gold pieces in the previous dynasty. Now it had become a valuable asset for coin collectors and every of its owners would keep it in a good condition.

However, even after so much preparations, it was futile before Leylin's soul searching method.

"It's not important how I found it… So? Subjugate, or die?"

Leylin added, "Even if you don't agree, I will be able to turn you using the phylactery into a golem. This means is enough to deal with another legendary…"

"If you did that, my lifeforce would be stripped almost to nothing, not to mention that summoning me to the frontlines has the greatest risk of me dying… Do I even have a choice…?"

Ilyo muttered and grumbled, but he still chose to serve. "Great arcanist, master of the floating city! I, Ilyo, will pledge my allegiance to you…"

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Distorted Shadow

"Great!" Leylin clapped and removed the restraints on Ilyo. "Since you've chosen to be subservient to me, then we're on the same side. There's no need for a contract or anything like that…"

That's what Leylin had said, but he nonchalantly kept the phylactery into his dimensional pouch under the desolate gaze of the lich.

Compared to any promises, this was the ultimate restraint! With the phylactery, Leylin had plenty of ways to make Ilyo wish he were dead. He knew full well that Ilyo would never dare betray him.

On the other hand, if he were to just give the phylactery back to Ilyo, it was unclear what would happen.

"I will give you part of grade 2 control over the floating city. From hereon, you'll focus on maintaining the arcane gardens and the golems. Shaylin will transfer the information to you soon…"

Leylin waved his hands.

Since Ilyo was now his subordinate, it was natural that he use the lich as much as possible. After all, this was a scholarly-type wizard, and was probably very useful if nurtured.

Ilyo laughed wryly in answer. If this were in the past and he had countless information as well as authority over the floating city in front of him, he would definitely go crazy in his elation. However, if the price was losing his freedom… That was a little too much…

"Understood, Ma- Master!"

"Shaylin!"

After Ilyo left, Leylin commanded the intellectual core.

"While he's submitted already, it's still necessary to monitor him. In addition, if he ever gets near the Mise energy core power room or any grade 1 important areas, I give you permission to kill him immediately!"

"Recorded into main procedures!"

Shaylin looked to have human emotions, but in essence, was an intellectual body formed of a bunch of codes. Her primary goal being to carry out her master's orders, she never hesitated when it came to Leylin's orders.

"Mm. I want some peace now…"

After taking care of all these matters, the floating city was now far from danger and under Leylin's control.

It was only now that Leylin finally had some idle time.

After the flower elf, Shaylin left, it completely went silent. Only the arcane spell lights emitted tender rays of light.

With a flash of silver light at his right hand, the scroll Leylin had obtained from the Netheril Ruins appeared.

"Ancient Distorted Shadow… What do you want…"

The rays from the A.I. Chip shone in Leylin's eyes, "A.I. Chip, how's is the research on this going?"

After getting control over the city, the Mise energy core's tremendous power had seemed to unseal something in the scroll and given Leylin a terrifyingly complicated arcane spell model to him.

Leylin had been using the A.I. Chip to decode it, and only now did he get some idea of what it was.

[Beep! Progress of arcane spell model analysis at 100%. Displaying quantified information.]

After which, the complicated numerical data of the spell model showed itself before him.

[Arcane spell name: Calsas' Avatar. Rank 12 arcane spell (???) Effects: Allows the caster to substitute the Weave Goddess and take over control of the Weave. (Minimum requirements: Great Arcanist, 100% analysis of level 7 Weave.) Description: This is a mysterious arcane spell. With the caster's understanding of the Weave, its might changes. Grasping it allows you to become a powerful higher god in an instant!]

"An arcane spell that surpasses even a legendary arcane spell… Allowing me to become a powerful higher god in an instant?"

Leylin's eyes widened and he stroked his chin, smiling slightly, "Interesting! How… interesting…"

An arcane spell of this grade was obviously not something developed by those great arcanists, but a spell of the Magus World that a peak rank 8 like Distorted Shadow could design.

"This arcane spell model already is out of the domain of arcane spells. It can only be explained with spells from the Magus world. It's at least a powerful rank 7 spell…"

Leylin muttered to himself. Even his main body only grasped one rank 7 spell, which was Alternate World Incarnation, which already had an astounding effect.

"It's at least a rank 7 spell there. If the caster's understanding of the Weave has reached 100% of level 9, that would make this a rank 8 or 9 spell in the Magus World…"

Leylin gasped in awe.

Allowing the spell caster to replace the Weave Goddess and obtain control all of the Weave… What was this?

Based on the rankings of the Magi, that would be like making a Morning Star Magus a peak rank 8 Magus in a moment. That was might comparable to Distorted Shadow, Nightmare King and the Mother Core!

"But… can a frail spirit and mind take on such power? The only probable outcome would be getting control of the Weave and becoming a greater god for a moment, and then dying from the tremendous amount of information and energy being transmitted over. It'll be like a child who decided to touch a high-voltage power grid…"

Leylin now looked grim, "Even if it's my main body of a semi-rank 7 Warlock and help form the A.I. Chip, I'll only barely be able to control the Weave. Due to a difference in my godhood and divinity, my path will be contaminated and be corroded from the conscients of the other gods…"

"But at least I finally know Distorted Shadow's intentions. So he wants to destroy the Weave?"

Even after death, a peak rank 8 Magus still could leave behind a conscient and not disappear even after hundreds of thousands of years. With a slight chance, he could be revived!

Distorted Shadow seemed to have been setting up this plan before and even given Leylin great benefits at the Nightmare Island. That had made Leylin feel very uneasy.

Now, he finally understood what Distorted Shadow had been planning!

His goal was to destroy the World of God's Weave!

"Hehe… You really think rather well of me!"

Leylin knew that besides being a channel for wizards' spell slots, it was also used for the priests' divine spells.

The moment he showed his intentions, he would not only be viewed as an enemy by most wizards, but the Weave Goddess would immediately become his mortal enemy.

The other gods would also not be willing to give up the convenient channel of faith through the weave.

"This meant he would be going against the whole World of Gods!"

"No wonder he chose me! Aside from an outsider like me, even devils or demons wouldn't be willing to do this…"

His eyes twinkled as he grabbed the beast hide scroll.

"Unfortunately… I won't be a pawn for you. If I do become one, I'll do it as the player!"

"Ancient Distorted Shadow… Did you think that your conscient could keep following me in the shadows?"

Leylin spoke in the Magus World's ancient Byron language, voice hoarse and activating a trace of the power of laws.

After which, a formidable sealing force enveloped the hall. This was power he had from controlling the city.

Hss…*

With immense support from the city and seal from another world, Leylin finally showed off his full strength. A Targaryen figure as large as a world appeared behind him.

Rumble…* In the remote, faraway Magus World, Leylin's mighty semi-rank 7 body that had been in a deep sleep caused a magnitutde 8 earthquake and opened a slight channel, transferring streams of bloodline force over.

Hss…*

A terrifying Targaryen with a single horn, devil fleshy wings and and two claws appeared behind him.

There seemed to be slight changes to the Targaryen. There were now traces of dark red fog surrounding it, and its scales were turning dark red. In its eyes that were like stars, there was a blood-red line had seemed to form a third eye.

"Did you think that I wouldn't notice you doing something behind the shadows while I had bloodline power planted in me?"

"Get out here!!!"

Leylin yelled and tossed the beast skin scroll away, his clothes exploding open. Traces of black blood that had been contaminated streamed out from his pores.

A distorted black shadow appeared in the sky, numerous tendrils at ths dies. It seemed to want to hold onto Leylin, but with Leylin's yell and sudden powerful bloodline force, was forced out.

Xiu!*

There was a sharp whistle in the sky, and the shadow that was Distorted Shadow clashed with the scroll, and then began to burn with phosphorescent green flames.

The flames slowly turned black, and a distorted human figure soon appeared.

"We finally meet… The ancient Distorted Shadow!"

Leylin panted slightly, but he now felt extremely comfortable. Even his soul seemed to have been refreshed, and his connection to his followers' prayers was now more distinct, as if he could produce divinity at any moment.

"Tss… Your body and spirit fuse perfectly with bloodline force, tss.. No wonder the Nightmare chose you…"

Ancient spiritual force sent over this information, similarly using the ancient Byron language.

"Isn't this great? There's no exploitation whatsoever. We're conversing on equal grounds…"

Leylin watched Distorted Shadow in front of him, the Targaryen behind him spitting outs tongue, bloodline force created a dense armour over him.

"Tss tss… Warlock! I need you to destroy the Weave. In return…. I can give you all the inheritances of primordial Magi…"

He seemed to know that Leylin would be difficult to deal with, but more importantly, was aware of the terror of the powerful isolation force of the floating city. He gave up on conspiring anything and proposed a trade on equal grounds.

"Fine, but I will choose when it will be done."

Leylin did not give even an inch, "What is inside the Weave? I can somewhat guess, but I need you to confirm it…"

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Back to The North

Leylin observed the trace conscient of a peak rank 8 existence. "Your goal is to revive yourself, right? What does that have to do with the Weave?"

"There are three layers to the Weave. The outermost layer is the channel for all spell slots. The inner Weave is a network of faith and divine force for the gods. Lastly, there's the core, which is the ultimate seal where the gods have sealed conscients like me inside. That's also the largest hindrance to us reviving…"

Distorted Shadow sent a spiritual undulation.

"Seal at the core? Conscient fragments? So that's what's at the heart of the Weave…"

Leylin's eyes narrowed, "In that case, there should be many other conscients sealed inside…"

……

Boom!*

After goodness knew how long, Distorted Shadow automatically dissipated, and the beast hide spell scroll also completely vanished.

This was just a dead conscient, and after showing himself, he could not maintain himself for long.

The seal on the floating city was released, and Leylin sank into deep thought, "Revival? This seems to be getting more serious…"

Now, he felt that he had made contact with the greatest secret of the ancient gods' battle that led to its dusk.

From what was known in the Magus World, the World of Gods had buried numerously mighty ancient Magi of laws, causing huge damage to Magi organisations and leaving them no choice but to withdraw from the World of Gods.

If those rank 7 gods already had the possibility of revival after falling, then this was even more possible for ancient Magi of laws.

Rank 8 and peak rank 8 existences were already beginning to attempt at containing the laws of space and time in their bodies. Even if they were to fall, their truesoul could still sleep in the long river of time and space, and wait for a chance of revival. They would leave behind many conscients and make arrangements to give themselves another way out.

In the World of Gods, which was the battlefield of a large war, this would definitely happen.

Hence, the gods had worked together to develop the Weave. Using power of the entire world, they had gathered all the conscients of the fallen Magi and sealed them at the deepest parts of the Weave, and even formed the Weave Goddess to guard over it.

However, even though the gods had done their best to scour through the world, there were definitely still some that had escaped. Distorted Shadow was the largest one that had gotten away.

Now, after tens of thousands of years, Distorted Shadow had finally found a Magus suitable to deal with this situation. That would be making use of Leylin, who had used Alternate World Reincarnation and arrived in the World of Gods!

The moment he used Calcas' Avatar, the Weave Goddess would immediately fall. Making use of his temporary hold over the weave, Leylin could destroy the seal of the gods and let out the conscients of the ancient existences of laws.

"Dying here in ancient times and still leaving conscients behind in wait for a chance at revival… These are all at least rank 7 Magi of laws…"

Leylin stroked his chin, clicking his tongue as he imagined this.

"While they're a bunch of dead people who are powerless, the mystery of Magi can't be easily understood by the gods. They can probably regain much of their strength in a short time or even completely revive. That would mean the reappearance of the ancient final war…"

"His plan is great, and he seems to have something planned not just in the floating city…"

Leylin's lips quirked in a smile, "Unfortunately… he met me…"

Initially, with Distorted Shadow's laws, he could entirely cast the power of distortion by making use of the conscient and energy in the scroll. That would cause Leylin to unknowingly walk the path that Distorted Shadow had determined.

It was a pity that even the peak rank 8 ancient Magus, Distorted Shadow, knew nothing about the existence of Leylin's A.I. Chip. His main body had reached an unimaginable level and could discover the Magus and even expel him, therefore allowing him to have the upper hand.

Now, the key to starting the final war once again and letting out the conscients of numerous existences of laws were all in Leylin's hands.

The main body of Distorted Shadows had already fallen, and much of his conscients were sealed in the core of the Weave. With Leylin, he could only try to make a trade and entice him to doing what he wanted.

It was a pity that Leylin had no intentions of letting them out.

"I'm too weak… my main body is only a semi-rank 7 Warlock. When it comes to battle might, I'm only comparable to a rank 7 Magus of laws, and I'd find escaping from a rank 8 existence to difficult, much less those peak rank 8s…"

Leylin evidently knew himself well.

The World of Gods was like a playground for him now. Why would he divide it and hand it over to others?

In addition, these methods of causing a life and death struggle would definitely result in an all out counterattack from the gods. Leylin wasn't so eager to please the Magi that he would do this.

"But if I don't do anything, those ancient Magi might do something desperate, so I need to give them some hope…"

Leylin's eyes darted around as he came up with a plan. Having this Calcas' Avatar was an important deterrence and meant that he could turn the tables at any moment!

Even if his identity was found out or leaked, then he could just move on. When faced with a threat like this, it was probably the gods who were more fearful.

"But this is only in the worst case scenario… I have to focus on becoming a god first…"

Leylin pondered inside. He knew clearly what his path was. While he was merely a semi-rank 7 Warlock, successfully becoming a god and receiving his main body to descend here would definitely allow him to advance to a whole new level.

"I've made all the theoretical preparations. I just have to wait for energy to be poured in."

Leylin sighed, "Looks like I'll have to go to the north and spread faith in me as well as prepare to get priests. That's the priority now…"

Trying to become a god as a Legend without help from any god could be said to be insane.

However, after getting the Shade City, Leylin now had the confidence to say this!

The fusion between a great arcanist and a floating city would even cause a true god to tremble!

"Things are dire now, so there's no need to return to the outer sea. I'll go to the north then…" Leylin's eyes flashed and he transmitted a few orders.

The Shade City that was in a spatial turbulence rumbled and, like a huge warship that was ten thousand tons heavy in the sea, split the waves at both sides and pushed the elemental turbulence aside. It began to move at what appeared to be slow but was actually quick pace in a certain direction.

……

The north, at the edges of Sabu Valley.

Noble cavalry with the flag of a viscount unhurriedly moved along, protecting a noble couple within.

There were green wheat fields at the sides. The ears of wheat were being extracted, and farmers caressed them with their two hands lovingly as if watching one's lover, elated at the harvest.

For refugees from the north, obtaining life as it was now had been difficult.

Just surviving from the orc disaster three years ago meant needing protection from the Goddess of Luck, and very few were lucky enough to arrive at human territories. The others either starved to death or were killed by bandits or orc soldiers, and even became rations.

The refugees that survived had no guarantee that they could settle down, as there were far too many of them from the north. This resulted in great pressure for the master of the territories.

Those who had gotten the distributed territories could only weep at the difficulty in dealing with the disaster.

In comparison, the benevolence of this master of the land was enough for these victims to pray to him sincerely.

"The harvests from the newly plowed farmlands aren't half bad. Looks like we'll be able to get through winter…"

The viscount mistress spoke reservedly, glancing past the farmer that had bowed towards her. Only a few lucky ones were fortunate enough to be acknowledged by her by the nod of her head, and she had the air of an arrogant noble lady. Now, she watched her husband.

When it came to her husband, she wasn't satisfied nor dissatisfied. This was a mere transaction.

Thankfully, the people in the organisation had not lied to her and gotten her to marry some old man at death's door. That was something lucky for her.

The Viscount mistress looked at Tiff, who seemed like a middle-aged man, and could not help but sigh deeply.

Recalling what had happened to the north, she could not help but shiver. Those fierce and violent orcs had killed her family and slaves, and she herself had almost fallen into their devilish palms.

While she had been fortunate enough to escape, she had then met a few greedy pigs. Thankfully, with some quick-wittedness and luck, she had managed to keep her family's name and territories. However, almost half of it was gone, but the pitiful lady did not dare hope for more.

"Next… I'll have to give birth to a few children…"

She watched her husband as well as the few cowering maids behind him, looking hostile.

Only the mistress of the territories who gave birth to a male successor had the most secure position. There were already many girls wanting to climb into the bed of the master and get a better life, many of whom had once been nobles in the north.

"Indeed… while we spent a lot, we've finally we've finally settled this batch of refugees…"

Tiff had changed his appearance. He was now nearly two metres tall with bushy eyebrows and large eyes and seemed very masculine. His silver hair was slightly curled but combed neatly, and looked exactly like a traditional middle-aged noble in the north. The poor mistress had no clue that in terms of his real age, Tiff was probably even older than her father. However, if his age was to be considered in comparison with the average for Legends, Tiff was rather young.

However, nobles never cared about age, did they?

"What's wrong, darling?"

She found that her husband looked lost in thought.

"Oh, it's nothing. You can return first. I've gotten someone to call the jewel merchant and tailor to come over. They're going to pick the most beautiful and luxurious gown for you…"

Tiff planted a kiss on his lady's hand and sent her away.

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Education

Although she knew her husband was hiding something from her, Tiff's mistress still listened to him. Tiff had great power backing him, which caused her to feel slightly afraid.

With the ability to forcefully snatch something from the northern nobility, he wasn't someone she could spy on.

"Let's go to the village office!" After she left, Tiff brought his soldiers to a building near to the village.

This was the village office, the building Tiff provided for public use. He could take orphans in here, many of which were refugees. It made him look like a benevolent man.

These kids were so young they couldn't work, and they were destined to die of hunger quickly. Usually, nobody outside of the churches would take them in, and the disaster in the north had created an uncountable number of them. The few churches alone wouldn't be able to take them all in.

A black-robed person with a silver mask was standing in front of the village office's wooden door. The moment he saw this person, he greeted him without hesitation.

If anyone else saw the viscount calling someone 'Master,' they would definitely gape in shock. Someone with the authority to have a viscount bend the knee in a bow was a great noble, at least a marquis!

However, the knights behind Tiff did not even blink as they did the same, "Master!"

Most of them were trusted aides that had personally battled with Leylin before. There were also a number of subdued devil worshippers, so they obviously knew who Leylin was.

"You're doing well, Tiff!"

The person who had arrived here was obviously Leylin. Through the astounding speed at which Shade City had moved in the spatial turbulence, he arrived in the north quickly and arrived at his base.

From all he had seen and heard on the way, he was rather pleased with Tiff's recent work.

"Everything is going as per Master's instructions…" Tiff answered humbly.

"Let's enter together! I want to see what you've achieved…"

Leylin waved his arms, entering the office with Tiff.

On the way, there were children, teachers and nannies around bowing towards Tiff. By the looks of it, he had amassed a great reputation.

In private, Tiff continued to transmit to Leylin, "In order to avoid the priests and reduce expenditure, we only have five village offices like this. We've taken in almost a thousand children, and the average age is from 9 to 12, which is the prime time to educate them…"

Tiff now brought Leylin to a window, through which many yellow wooden desks and chairs could be seen. Tens of young girls listened attentively as a scholar taught. There were simple letterings on the black board, which meant this was a class to teach them how to read. This scene immediately had Leylin recalling the schools in his previous world.

"In addition, after seeing that we're giving them an education, some peasants have gotten their children to come and listen as well. I've agreed to that…"

Leylin listened closely, nodding occasionally as he saw the glint in the children's eyes within the classroom. That was hope!

"After studying for a while, the children who are believed to have the aptitude and perseverence will enter the higher-grade…"

Tiff brought Leylin deeper into the office. Nearby, Leylin could sense undulations from powerful beings monitoring the area, which meant security was tight.

"Divine studies… is a class about the gods. Here, I would like to introduce you all to a god, whose godly name is Kukulkan…"

……

"Praying and meditation are compulsory courses for priests…"

The things being taught here were somewhat immoral, which was why the students were all orphans who had been trialled and would stay here. They used something like primary school education as a model.

The scholars who passed down the information all wore black uniforms, and there was something about their aura that was contradictory to their roles.

After seeing Leylin, they immediately trembled and made to greet him, but Leylin waved his arms to stop them.

Exactly. These people who were instructing children with aptitude to become priests had all been devil followers, and had high priest rankings!

With Tiff's help, Leylin had long since subdued all followers of gluttony in the north.

He then did a round of selections and allowed only those who had gone through several trials and were truly loyal to nurture the future reliable priests!

Yes, all of those village offices and the education provided was all a pretense! In actuality, this was about selecting children and nurturing numerous priests. These would be the people providing Leylin with energy to become a god!

Something like this was far too sensitive, which was why Leylin had no intentions of doing this in the outer seas on his own territories. Here, there was no issue.

Firstly, due to the invasion of the orcs in the north, many refugees had lost their homes. The situation was very complicated and could be said to be a disaster. That had resulted in a large number of orphans, and turned into the best natural circumstances for Leylin.

Tiff being a Legend, those teaching the advanced parts being devil followers Leylin had subdued and the place where all this happened being Tiff's land, Leylin could do anything and create layers of seals that made it difficult for information to spread.

Most importantly, even if discovered, Leylin could just abandon this place. He could just cut off all ties easily, but there would be no damage to his foundation!

By the looks of it, Tiff was doing very well.

"We're limited by the qualified teachers we have as well as secrecy. This is the limits of what we can do…"

Tiff looked a little ashamed, evidently because he was unable to do more for the feathered serpent god, Kukulkan.

"That's alright. You're already doing very well…"

For the gods, the faith from priests was an essential part. They were beings that would be the prime mode of communication with followers, which was why they were very important. Outstanding priests had to be learned scholars and even needed to have some grace. Whether it was the peasants at the bottom of the hierarchy or nobles who were all about poise, they needed to be able to deal with all these people well.

These were all seeds!

Once the church stopped being in the shadows and came to the light, the other students might not become priests, but they could also be workers at the church. They would be the core strength of the church.

In this age, it was not so easy to have elites who possessed knowledge. If loyalty was required as well, then there was no way but to nurture them the whole way.

The inverted image of the Targaryen appeared in Leylin's eyes, causing Tiff to kneel reverently.

"My divine class has been expanding and is beginning to touch upon the domain of slaughtering. The prayers should also change slightly, including information to do with killing…"

Leylin now looked very much like a oracle, like some powerful being had possessed him.

"Understood, my master! You are the stars in the sky, and the serpent of the world that will devour everything. Murder shall be your sharpest sword…"

Tiff had lived for many years after all, and with just a moment, he managed to come up with a prayer.

This was obviously something temporary. There would need to be divine scholars and high-ranked priests to discuss and refine it, before leaving it to Leylin to make a decision.

After all, this was something important and could even change a god's factiond domain, as well as the start of a godly war.

However, Leylin was now doing something very sneaky anyway, so he couldn't really care less.

"Mm, notify me once everything's confirmed. Also, prepare a quiet room for me and then summarise all the information gathered regarding the north…"

"Understood!"

Tiff respectfully withdrew, though his eyes now showed his excitement, "Is he finally making a move?"

He had always been the most enthusiastic about expanding the feathered god, Kukulkan's organisation.

While he had tried his best to hide it, taking in a thousand children and providing them with the chance at an education was astounding. With some hidden context, the nobles of the north were now fearful.

In the shadows, there was already a powerful resistance both in the shadows and in the open. Tiff knew that it was impossible if he wanted to expand here. The only method would be to force the way through!

Leylin's actions pointed to making a huge ruckus, which caused the hot-bloodedness in Tiff to rise.

……

"Hm, looks like the orc empire and werecreature tribes reconciled…"

Tiff moved quickly. After enjoying a great dinner that was made with the style of the north, Leylin quietly skimmed through intel regarding the north in his study room with the rays from magic lights.

With the A.I. Chip's help, he could read the documents incredibly quickly. With a slight glance, he could practically read ten lines and did not need any rest.

It was only after he put down the last piece of parchment that Leylin closed his eyes slightly, the information forming a network and showing him what had happened after he left vividly.

The largest change to the north was obviously the orc empire, formed from the remains of the Silverymoon Alliance.

Under Emperor Saladin's lead, the orcs stepped into the human's northern district that their ancestors never had the ability to do, and formed an empire of their own. Saladin's reputation amongst the orcs shot through the roof, and he could possibly become a god.

While the orc empire worked hard, the orc gods had also obtained immense benefits, especially the orc god Gruumsh. It was said that he had advanced in the path of the greater gods, and there were a few other orc gods who had increased their rank, becoming a lesser god to an intermediate god, which boosted the orc gods' strength by a large extent.

On the other hand, the resistance that the orc gods had also increased.

Not only did the greater gods, Weave Goddess and Tyr become their arch enemies, there were also the human gods who believed that the orcs were powerful enough that they needed to be kept under control.

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