Warlock of the Magus World 1-596

by Wen Chao Gong

  If it wasn’t because of Grand Canyon Margaret’s complex and ever-changing topography, and the huge sandstorm encircling it for a good part of the year, this canyon would have long became a natural resource mine for the magicians.

  As time slowly passed by, the ash-gray rocky forest around Leylin and the others became shorter and shorter. Eventually, their surrounding only had fragmented small stones, resembling a barren land.

  “Limestone Wasteland. We’ve already merged into the standard route. In the next ten days or so, we’ll be more at ease. But following this will be the frightful Golden Desert, where the Kary Vultures gather. Everyone should maintain their energy, and prepare for the upcoming battle…”

  The lead, an old geezer, yelled uninterrupted, as he rode a Seated Lupin Wolf that had a few strands of white beard on its face.

  “Limestone Wasteland? A.I. Chip, bring out the map!” Leylin slightly lowered his head as a projection that only he could see was emitted.

  On a simple map, there were general markings of the danger zones within the Grand Canyon Margaret. In the center, there was a twisted green route, that was linked from one side of the map to the other.

  ‘Kary Vultures Gathering Place’ was marked with an eye-catching red font, that was in the center of the green line which they have to pass through.

  On the other two sides of the route, there were other extremely dangerous zones marked scarlet, which indicated that they cannot be traversed.

  This only meant that making a detour was impossible.

  If Leylin and the rest want to safely get across the Grand Canyon Margaret, the only way was to banish the Kary Vultures obstructing the route.

  “Limestone Wasteland!”

  Leylin found the range of the Limestone Wasteland on the blue map. It was a big ash-gray region.

  Small words were written beside the region: “Limestone Wasteland! Verified as having an extremely low level of risk, and no high-energy life form was ever seen…”

  Obviously, the Grand Canyon Margaret was explored by countless magicians on both sides and this was the best route to take to get across the canyon as it held the least risk.

  As expected, once they entered the Limestone Wasteland, Leylin felt the Seated Lupin Wolf’s muscles and fur slightly loosen up, as if entering a relatively relaxed state.

  “The concentration of energy in the air here is very less as if the air has some kind of leakage and causes the energy within it to be vaporised.”

  Leylin snapped his fingers and a small ball of flame appeared on his palm. It trembled in the breeze as if it could be extinguished at any time.

  If it were outside of this area, this small flaming wisp would be burning brightly, several folds brightly than now and its power would have been 1 degree or more.

  “AI Chip, calculate this flame’s power.”

  [Beep! Mission objective noted. Analysing the target. . . .completed! Flame’s power is 0.4238 degrees.] The AI Chip outputted the required data very quickly.

  “As expected. The energy concentration in the air has been reduced. To cast spells here with complete power will cost even more strength than if cast outside of this place…”

  Magicians and magical beasts all use the energy particles within the air to perform all sorts of unimaginable and marvellous magic. If the energy concentration in the air was less, the power of the spell cast will also be reduced.

  Moreover, if a living being stayed in this place for a long time, it might undergo mutation.

  As for those beings who knew magic, they would abhor these kinds of regions.

  “This type of area, the Limestone Desert, looks like it was caused by a war between two highly-ranked Magi, as stated in the Book of Giant Serpent!”

  Leylin now begins to believe the legend; the Grand Canyon Margaret was created by two great Magi during their battle.

  But the Limestone Wasteland’s desert-like appearance was a good thing for travellers like them.

  At least, there was no need to worry about random, exotic species ambushing them along the way. They could rest and conserve energy.

  This tranquil life lasted fifteen days.

  Along the way, there experienced some bad weather and other situations. But it was not an issue for Leylin, who was a well-prepared magician.

  The night before they were to walk out of this Limestone Wasteland, the old geezer, who was leading them all, and Lancey, gathered the six Magi .

  “Starting tomorrow, we will be out of the Limestone Desert, and entering the Golden Desert!”

  Under the illuminating flame, the old geezer’s wrinkled face showed uncertainty as his pair of pupils shone.

  “At the heart of the Golden Desert, the third supply spot that we will pass by has been occupied by the abominable Kary Vultures. The reason why we formed small teams, was mostly for this! Now, it’s time to make the final decision!”

  The old and tiny geezer looked around: “Will we kill the Vulture King as mentioned before, or merely expel them?”

  “What else? Of course, we kill it!” The huge bloke who was teased by the Brownstone Singer took the lead and voiced out first.

  “Materials made from the Vulture King can be sold for sell tens of thousands of magic crystals, and bar owners from both ends of the canyon will give extra rewards. Is there anything better than this?”

  This was mentioned by the bartender from the Broken Axe Pub, who gave this small team an impromptu mission —— Kill the Kary Vulture King, do not let it leave alive!

  Once this is done, not only will the materials obtained from the Vulture King belong entirely to the group, the pubs on both sides will also give a generous amount of magic crystals as a reward.

  Because of the existence of the Kary Vultures, it had caused issues for cargos that were transported back and forth the canyon. It seems that the people involved can no longer tolerate it.

  And the Kary Vultures were very vengeful creatures. If the Vulture King wasn’t killed, it would gather more of its kind and hunt down any visible Magi.

  The impromptu team Leylin was with, had a short discussion at the bar and agreed to the bartender’s proposal.

  After all, official Magi all lacked resources. They couldn’t afford to miss any opportunity to accumulate more resources.

  What the old geezer had put forward, was only to make a final confirmation.

  “Of course!” “Well, did we not agree on this before?”

  The huge bloke’s words caused a resonance, and Leylin gently agreed. As long as it was appropriate, he did not mind giving his vote and gain some magic crystals.

  “Great!” The old geezer smiled till the wrinkles on his face gathered together, resembling a chrysanthemum.

  Seeing him like this, Leylin reckoned the Vulture King had an important material that the old geezer needed. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so into this.

  “Good! Then I’ll delegate tasks to everyone accordingly. The Kary Vultures are very cunning, their ability to fly makes battling them extremely troublesome. Those of you who know rank 1 flying magic ……”

  The leader old geezer started to deploy everyone.

  Contrastingly Leylin remained uncommunicative; he did not voice out his expertise. He ended up with the role of assisting the attacker.

  The old geezer’s arrangement was quite fair. In accordance with the principles of “work more, get more”, every magician was assigned a job within their capabilities and developed a detailed plan.

  However, during the planning, the flying magicians who were tasked as attackers and responsible for intercepting had the privilege of selecting the spoils of war.

  And the old geezer just had a showcase of his strange flying magic.

  Flying was still a relatively rare ability amongst the rank 1 Magi. Not only is the specialised rank 1 flying magic rarely seen, it is also not practical.

  Not unless they managed to obtain a few magic artifacts that could aid flying, like Bosain.

  But, as fa
r as rank 1 Magi were concerned, only middle-grade magic artifacts would be deemed useful. For example, that item in Bosain’s hand — the liquefying metallic ball, called ‘Bright Silver’. Although it was very useful for one at the acolyte level, for an official Magus it would have very low power and be considered to be very weak. The most important factor, speed, of that artifact had not reached a suitable standard and to use it to assist with flying would only be seen as a joke!

  It was still rare to be able to master the rank 1 flying magic like that old geezer leader.

  A pair of pale green wings grew on the back of the old geezer. When he soared into the sky, Leylin keenly felt the currents and particles in the wind fluctuate. Evidently, the old geezer was a Magus who specialized in Wind element energy particles.

  [According to the quantity of energy particles dispelled from the target’s, determined to be of Wind element. Essence element conversion is 15-20%!]

  A fine beam of blue flashed across Leylin’s eyes.

  The A.I. Chip could now judge other magicians during sudden bursts of energy, to determine the general stats of the opposite party.

  But to get the most accurate data, it would still have to break through the protective force field of the target.

  Unless he met a tenacious enemy, Leylin would never do something like that.

  Before a rank 1 Magi’s force field can be broken, the moment Leylin uses A.I. Chip to break through into the opponent’s protective force field, it’s as if Leylin had used his hands to peel off the other party’s clothes. It would definitely lead to some extreme hatred from the other party. Leylin did not wish to make more enemies.

  Or maybe he could wait for the A.I. Chip to upgrade again, and then he could break through into the other magician’s force field without him noticing.

  Leylin kept calculating in his heart, as he looked forward to such an ability.

  139 - Sentinel Slate

  The rain drizzled continuously, as if like a thread of yarn.

  It pelted onto the tarpaulin Leylin had draped over his shoulders; it gave a cooling sensation.

  Riding on the Seated Lupin Wolf that had a night’s rest, Leylin appeared tranquil as he peered through the ashy haze, trying to look at the scenery ahead.

  *Whoosh*

  It was as if the curtains were pulled apart. Leylin felt like he had rushed out of a dense fog as extremely dazzling sunlight directly shined on them.

  *Rustling*

  Wolf claws slowly sunk into the countless grains of sand they were stepping on.

  The rain-filled, dark clouds had gradually dispersed, and now the fiery sun had taken over the sky. It brought with it burning hot rays of brilliance, which constantly spread across the wide desert.

  From what they could see, there was a field of gold as well as modulating levels of sand dunes.

  “Golden Desert, we’ve arrived!” Leylin felt the surrounding temperature increasing constantly. It must have gone up by at least twenty degrees since the rain earlier.

  The sweltering humidity continuously flooded into the tarpaulin, and even with Leylin’s constitution, he felt a little uncomfortable.

  *Crash* He hastily removed the tarpaulin and stripped off some clothes, and even then he only felt a little better.

  This sudden change in temperature within the Grand Canyon Margaret was not unusual. If ordinary people came here, it would have been a torment for them. However for Leylin and his group, it was only a wee bit troublesome.

  “Awooooooo!”

  The leading Seated Lupin Wolf howled, and the rest of the wolves that were being ridden by the others also howled. It wasn’t clear if these howls were due to excitement or was meant as a warning.

  With the howling of the wolves, Leylin noted that the body hairs on the Seated Lupin Wolf began to change.

  The Seated Lupin Wolves had black fur, and only the head had a touch of bright red fur. But now in the hot sunlight, the wolf’s hair color gradually faded. Finally, it completely transformed into a pale white color, then a streak of light blue lighted up from the wolf’s body. The whole piece fur turned ice blue.

  An icy breath emitted from the back of the wolf. The icy-cool feeling was very comfortable, especially in this desert.

  “It actually even knows of the uses and the difference between thermal absorption properties of light and dark colors!”

  Leylin could not help but to gasp in amazement of the adaptability of the Seated Lupin Wolf. Under the scorching rays of the sun, the ice blue fur was not affected by the heat as much as the dark fur. As for the fact that the Seated Lupin Wolf knew of these — it made Leylin feel somewhat shocked.

  Moreover, they even applied the slight use of Ice element energy particles.

  The Seated Lupin Wolf was undoubtedly the best creature to traverse the terrains of the Great Canyon Margaret!

  The six huge wolves with icy blue fur gave off a chilly sensation. They very soon proceeded on their journey along with the Magi riding on them, and stepped into the Golden Desert which was 10 times more dangerous than the Limestone Wasteland.

  Under the scorching rays, Leylin gulped down some more water.

  With his vision and the A.I. Chip’s detection, he had already discovered many dangerous creatures in the nearby desert.

  To put it bluntly, the level of danger in the Limestone Wasteland was the lowest in all of the terrains within the Great Canyon Margaret.

  A dozen days before, the journey for Leylin and the others were extremely relaxed. There was no difference from an excursion, and the dangerous creatures they met were rare.

  However, things were obviously different in here.

  With the slightest observation, Leylin already discovered many dangerous lifeforms concealed within the sand dunes.

  Six-Eyed Poison Snake, Golden Scorpion, Toxic Compound Eye Lizard were a few creatures that Leylin saw before in illustrations as they continued to appear before his eyes. There were even some grotesquely shaped creatures.

  “The energy density in the air here has even been replicated. It’s even higher than in the outside world, no wonder there are so many troublesome things!”

  Feeling the energy particles that filled the air, Leylin gasped slightly.

  “Everyone, keep your spirits raised. The dangers in the Golden Desert cannot be compared with the Limestone Wasteland!”

  The female Magus, called Lancey, shouted.

  Even without her reminder, the other Magi present had already recollected their absent-minded pace from before.

  One can loosen their guard occasionally in the Limestone Wasteland, but if they chose to do the same in the Golden Desert, they were foolish and seeking for death! Those magicians who were able to advance into a rank 1 Magus were seldom such people.

  “Awoooooo!”

  Just then, Lancey’s steed let off a howl. Its huge claws were raised and its sharp claws at tip slashed down with a cold glint of light!

  *Pat*

  Suddenly, a black scorpion with the image of an eye appeared in front of where the wolf was. It was patted down by the sharp claws of wolf as it continuously writhed its body and hissed.