“Recorded! Verifying! Verification complete. Removing authority from rank 1 contribution token!”
A robotic female voice was heard, and the rays of light from magic suddenly flashed outwards.
The old lady seemed to be scared silly by such a strong energy wave. If all the spell formations around them exploded in one go, her body would simply vanish.
The colourful magic rays did not attack her, but transformed into a hand the size of an adult, grabbing the rank 1 contribution token in her possession!
Then, the fingers exerted force!
*Ka-cha! Ka-cha!*
The sound of an object breaking sounded. A web of cracks spread across the surface of the entire token, and under the hopeless gaze of the old woman, it turned into little bits of dust.
*Tss tss!* The magical light receded after destroying the token. Even the spell formation on the wall vanished.
The old woman was now like a duck grasped at the neck, unable to utter a word.
She naturally knew the amount of authority needed to be able to order the formation genie to destroy a rank 1 contribution token! That was something only the chairman was able to do! Could it be that this young man had already advanced to become a rank 2 Magus, and had become the chairman of the Four Seasons Garden?
This world was just too crazy. The old woman supported her head, feeling as if she was dreaming!
“How is it? Do you have any other trump cards? You can try using them!” Leylin crossed his arms, staring icily at this old woman.
Her heart fell. Her family was now not in a very good position. This token, which was something their ancestors had left behind, was the last resort, but had been rendered useless without properly being made use of! She herself would even be in trouble upon returning!
“What do you want?”
Her voice was hoarse as if she had aged by ten years. She bent her back, and then released the pride from her tone, completely defeated.
“What do you want?” Leylin sounded innocent.
“Your granddaughter came up to me, saying I’m the main cause of a war and wanted to purify me. I was forced to strike back and gave them a lifeline when I could have simply just killed them. I’m already being very kind, and now you even want to threaten me!”
Leylin was indeed the victim in this affair, except for the fact that he had retaliated with just a little too much strength.
“Jenna is the seer of our generation. Her predictions can’t be wrong!” The old woman persisted.
“You…” Leylin was exasperated but calmed his heart. There was no point in arguing over a trivial matter such as this.
“Alright, now it’s time for me to name my conditions! My requirements are simple. I’m interested in that divination ability of Jenna’s. Impart me this technique, and I’ll release the curse on her!”
“Oh, Mother of Peace! Not only does a sinner like you want to control us, you even dare to covet our family’s meditation technique!”
She clutched her chest as if she was on the verge of going crazy.
“Is it a meditation technique? Or even a high-grade meditation technique?” Leylin was suddenly very interested.
“Don’t even think about it, you monster! Devil! Don’t even think about trying to obtain our Botelli Family’s meditation technique!” The old woman resolutely rejected him, a cold glint that could not be concealed flashing past her eyes.
“Hehe… You may not know this, but the curse on Jenna’s body can only be released by me. Otherwise, you could try finding a Morning Star Magus, or else you’ll just be waiting for a dead body.”
“I’ll give you one day! Think it through!”
Leylin clapped his hands and two guards immediately entered.
“Send this lady away to get some rest. Do not be negligent!” Leylin’s tone was slightly different, and the two Magi who knew what he was implying quickly came before the old woman, ready to take care of her.
Leylin nodded and left.
Though the old woman had concealed it well, the coldness in her eyes was still apparent to Leylin. All that she was thinking had long since been discovered by Leylin.
“Trying to swindle me with a fake meditation technique? No! Magi are intelligent people! If you give me a fake one, I’ll definitely know. If I can’t tell, I can just find a few acolytes and perform tests on them… Unless… If she really gives me a high-grade meditation technique, but it has a very obvious flaw! Only with these conditions will Magi who lack high-grade meditation techniques be tempted to use it…”
“What a pity!” Leylin cracked a smile.
If he was a Magus without a high-grade meditation technique, he would definitely be unable to resist the temptation, and would end up training in it. After all, it represented an increased chance of advancing, as well as insuring a better future.
Unfortunately, he already had a high-grade meditation technique of his own—Kemoyin’s Pupil! No matter how amazing the Botelli family’s meditation technique was, he would only use it as a reference, and wouldn’t do something so stupid as to switch meditation techniques.
With a smile on his lips, Leylin went inside a secret room.
The four walls of this secret room were made of thick stone, with numerous runes that could isolate energy placed all over.
In the middle was a rather strangely shaped, little stone counter. Three pillars supported a triangular section, large amounts of green vines crawled along it.
“Formation genie, activate the communication spell formation!” Leylin spoke.
“Authority verified! Activating communication spell formation!” As the formation genie spoke, a dusky splendour shot out from the little stone counter, and all the runes in the room began to glimmer.
Leylin nodded upon seeing this. Communication between the secret plane and the external world was all but impossible, and could only work through a particular communication spell formation.
This was a specially constructed communication spell formation that could penetrate the isolation effect of the secret plane and was considerably expensive. The Four Seasons Garden only had this one formation in the entire Eternal River Plains’ secret plane.
Before, Wade’s authority to communicate with the outside world was sealed through the combined efforts of Leylin and Caesar. Hence, in a situation where he could not contact anyone, Wade had no choice but to flee.
Leylin took out his own secret imprint book and flipped through to the most recent page. At the end was a blue imprint that looked like a beacon.
Leylin lightly tapped it.
*Boom!* The blue beacon suddenly became bigger, and the runes in the room unceasingly lit up.
A red line shot out of the stone counter, connecting to the surface of the blue beacon secret imprint.
“Is this Sir Hyder? How have you been feeling recently?” Leylin asked, full of smiles.
“It’s… you! Quick! Give me the cure!”
From within the blue secret imprint, a haggard voice came on and off, as if the owner had been severely injured or was being tortured by some illness.
The owner of this voice was Hyder, the Magus who was on good terms with the Botelli Family, who had been invited by the old woman to treat Jenna!
Previously, he had failed in his treatment methods. Not only had he been infected by a poison that Leylin had made himself, but the poison had also come with a communication imprint.
Hence, Leylin was able to know a lot about the Botelli Family.
The grin on Leylin’s face widened. “Sir Hyder, I want to tell you something quite unfortunate! The wielder of power in the Botelli family has already approached me. She implored me to remove Jenna’s curse, but never said anything about you…”
Upon hearing his words, the imprint became quiet, and then came the sound of something breaking. “That whore, that lunatic! To think I worked so hard for her… Cough cough…”
After just two sentences, Hyder began to cough violently.
Leylin’
s smile was even brighter. “Sir Hyder! How’s the effect of my ‘Shadow Corrosion’? I spent a lot of effort on it! You’re also a very outstanding healing Magus. I would like to know your evaluation of it!”
After a long time, Leylin once again heard Hyder’s voice from the secret imprint. “You’ve won. The composition of the poison is much too complicated, and they’re intricately linked together. I really have no way to remove it… Give me the cure, and not just medication to suppress it, and I’ll tell you everything I know!”
“Fine! I want to know everything, especially your knowledge regarding the contents of the meditation technique.”
Thousand Eyed Starfish
A day later, Leylin met the old woman from the Botelli Family once more.
This time, however, she looked to be pale and in a bad state, as if she had not rested well.
At the sight of Leylin, her eyes seemed to come to life and she spoke in a low voice, “I can give you information regarding the secret high-grade meditation technique that belongs to our family. However, I want to make this clear first. This technique is incomplete, and there are stringent limits and restrictions applied to those who train in it. If you were to forcefully train in it, there are sure to be residual effects.”
“That’s my problem. Just give me the meditation technique, and I’ll give you the solution to releasing the curse. It’s as easy as that!” Leaning against the comfy back of his reclining chair, Leylin’s fingers were crossed as he calmly spoke.
“Fine! But we will first need to make a contract with the presence of the Trial’s Eye!” The old woman straightened her back.
“Of course! I don’t trust you either.” Leylin nodded. “Let’s start…”
A moment later, the old woman took what she wanted and left. Leylin was left on his chair, fiddling with a light golden crystal ball, and looking to be deep in thought.
“What an interesting meditation technique!”
He had briefly looked through the contents of the meditation technique the old woman had given him. Due to the contract under the watch of the Trial’s Eye, she did not dare cheat him, though Leylin had found out she had pulled a few tricks as well.
For instance, she had either exaggerated or understated a few facts.
Based on what Hyder had said, male Magi in the Botelli family who had forcefully trained in this high-grade meditation technique had all died after going mad. However, all that was written here was that there would be aftereffects that would affect one’s mind.
The old woman had also exaggerated the effects of training in this meditation technique, distorting the fact that one could catch glimpses of some vague fragments of the future into one being able to see the future.
Upon seeing the frightening effects of a high-grade meditation technique that could aid one in seeing the future, most Magi would not hesitate to train in it. They would then fall into the old woman’s trap!
“How clever, but that’s it!” Leylin assessed as he played with the crystal ball that had information about the meditation technique recorded within it.
As the meditation technique the old woman had given him was real, it complied with the Trial’s Eye contract. There were only a couple of small changes that she made to the results and side effects, which would not cause the Trial’s Eye to retaliate against her.
However, in Leylin’s eyes, whatever she did was just a joke!
“However, the fact that there is an ability to predict the future is quite alarming. Through the spiritual force from the supernatural world, one can sense fragments of what’s to happen in the future…”
Leylin rubbed his chin. He had briefly looked through the technique, through which, with training, Magi could practice and form a unique type of spiritual force. With the extension of this spiritual force, one could then gain information and see images relating to the future.
In general, the results were astounding, but unfortunately, the technique was incomplete.
“A.I. Chip, how’s the scanning and recording process going?”
Leylin asked inwardly.
[Beep! Information on “Sacred Flame”, a high-grade meditation technique, has been recorded! Inputted into database, “Meditation techniques” …… Classified information as five stars]
The A.I. Chip intoned.
[After scanning through, the percentage of incompleteness of the meditation technique is at least 79.52%. If this technique is trained in, it will result in mental issues. Chances of developing bipolarism is at 98%!]
“98%!? Then there’s definitely going to be a problem!” Leylin sighed and then asked, “A.I. Chip, is it possible to complete this meditation technique?”
He suspected that the strict limitations of one’s body and bloodline, as well as the horrifying aftereffects, were all issues borne from the incomplete state of the technique. If the rest of it could be filled in, most of the problems would be solved.
[Beep! Due to a lack of information regarding high-grade meditation techniques, this technique cannot be completed.]
Unsurprisingly, this was the A.I. chip’s answer.
There was nothing he could do. High-grade meditation techniques were connected to the life or death of a Magi organisation or family. Even with his power now, he could only get ahold of two high-grade meditation techniques. One was his own Kemoyin’s Pupil, and the other was the incomplete Sacred Flame!
Based on his guess, the A.I. Chip would need a large number of samples to analyse and compare. Only after that would it be able to analyse and complete the Sacred Flame technique.
The samples required would be around ten high-grade meditation techniques! They also would have to be completed.
Ten high-grade meditation techniques? Leylin gave a long sigh. Even in the entire south coast, it was a uncertain if there were that many high-grade meditation techniques. With his current power, it would be impossible for him to obtain them.
“No matter what it is, this is still a high-grade meditation technique. It’s priceless!”
Leylin caressed the golden crystal ball in his hands. All of a sudden, black mist appeared within his hands. *Ka-cha! Ka-cha!* Cracks appeared on the surface of the crystal ball, and the ball turned into dust in front of Leylin’s eyes.
All the information about Sacred Flame had already been recorded in the A.I. Chip’s database, and he would not be able to lose it. There was no point in keeping this crystal ball, and Leylin was naturally a little suspicious of anything the old woman left behind, and he found it best to destroy it.
……
Within Leylin’s room, in a laboratory.
As one of the two current leaders of the Four Seasons Garden’s branch in the Eternal River Plains’ secret plane, arranging a better room and a laboratory for himself was nothing difficult.
This laboratory had once been provided to Magi who were team leaders. The equipment here was the best and newest technology brought in from the external world; no laboratory that Leylin had worked in in his previous world could compare to this.
Leylin was currently in front of a large, silver experiment table. On the surface of the metallic table, there was a black honeycomb-like coal briquette that silently lay there. There were many depressions on the surface of it, in the middles of which were dark green pearls that emitted dazzlingly bright lights.
This was one of the three most precious ingredients found in the main warehouse of Four Seasons Garden—the fossil of the Thousand Eyed Starfish!
After receiving the information regarding its name and uses from the formation genie, Leylin quickly found himself a laboratory, and prepared himself to make good use of it.
“The flesh of the Thousand Eyed Starfish has already turned into a fossil. It’s going to be troublesome to extract and use the useful portions of it; I’m going to need many potions to do that. Thankfully, I have this…”
Leylin laughed, retrieving a mysterious test tube from his pouch.
After obtaining the spatial high-grade ma
gic artifact made from the skin of the Void White-eyed snake, Leylin had placed all his belongings into it. As all of his baggage was gone, Leylin now looked much slimmer.
The entire test tube was made from glass, and the liquid contained within had a very strange colour. The top half was an olive colour, while the bottom half was a greyish-black. There was a clear line of separation between these two.
“A high-grade Reactive Potion! Even in ancient times, this was one of the most precious potions used to awaken the life energy hidden deep within an item!”
The formula for making this ancient potion had been found within the database of the formation genie. As a few of the ingredients required to brew it had already gone extinct, this formula was not made confidential. For Reynold, this was probably something of little interest.
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