Warlock of the Magus World 1-596

by Wen Chao Gong

  He had returned to his guild an official Magus. He had also made them pay, to a certain extent, but the result was far from what he had imagined.

  That young noble who had stolen his fiancee still had a Magus family backing him, with an official Magus in charge. Aaron could do little more than accept his apology for stealing his bride.

  After this experience, his thirst for power had become more intense. This was why he was in a hurry to wander around, as well as gather materials to forge the Meteor Sword.

  “So where is the area where destiny converges?” Aaron looked at Grandpa Merlin, eyes full of hope.

  “You’ll need to find out yourself!” Merlin seemed to be implying something.

  “En! I have to use Sacred Flame!” Aaron’s eyes brightened.

  “That’s right! You’ve been promoted to an official Magus, and can therefore take a peek at the real long river of destiny!” Merlin gave an amiable smile.

  “I’ll take a look now!”

  Aaron impatiently sat down and entered a meditative state.

  A unique spiritual force emanated from his body, linking with passage of time in the underworld and the rivers of history.

  “Hm?” Aaron suddenly moved, holding onto his head and crying out miserably.

  Scattered images, containing the bloodlust and vengeance of spirits flooded his mind.

  —In the central region of Twilight Zone, a young Magus in black robes was currently speaking in a basement to an audience of malnourished and sickly teenagers. These teenagers, however, had extremely bright eyes that were almost blazing. Behind the Magus, the twisted image of a spider seemed to appear—

  —The Dark Elven Empire! A teenager riding on a large Underground Winter Spider cheered excitedly, with a dark elf smiling wryly beside him—

  These and a few other sporadic fragments appeared in Aaron’s mind, making him feel like a brick had been stuffed into it.

  About half an hour later, Aaron reawakened, but he was breathing roughly.

  “Those two people must be the ones around which the powers of destiny converge!” He sounded resolute.

  “As long as I’m by their side and gain their trust, I can affect the children of destiny and accelerate the progress of Sacred Flame!

  “When the time comes, you will all die! Haha…”

  Aaron began to laugh madly, a faint trace of insanity in his expression.

  Invitation From The Central Region

  The war had ended. Leylin, who had returned from the battlefield, was now leisurely drinking some coffee.

  With a thought, he accepted the scenes that the A.I. Chip transmitted to him.

  “Baelin truly is Twilight Zone’s child of destiny, but Longbottom is really surprising me…” Leylin stroked his chin, watching Longbottom who was currently spouting resentment.

  “Using a revolution to cobble together an army, gathering wandering Magi who are unsatisfied with the rule of the guilds, and passing high-grade meditation techniques to common acolytes? Ingenious!” Even he had to appreciate Longbottom’s methods.

  The Magus World had never been a fair place, but the immense strength of Magi had meant that nobody could overthrow them.

  To cause trouble in the Magus World, it was necessary to incite disharmony within their ranks. It looked like Longbottom was doing well. He was even bringing about a revolution!

  “Perhaps this happened in the south coast’s past as well, causing the power of guilds to wane and letting academies take their place…” Leylin made a sudden association.

  However, the first of the revolutionaries would not be able to find peace, as the conservative factions would attack them, giving them a horrible death.

  This was why Leylin had no intention of introducing the system of academies to Twilight Zone and had instead kept a low profile and assimilated into their culture.

  “It looks like Baelin and Longbottom are like two sides of a coin. Both are the children of destiny for this era! However, one is a hero, while the other is a rebel.” Leylin picked up the cup of coffee on the table and took a sip.

  Sometimes, rebels were merely heroes who failed in their conquests! If Longbottom’s revolutionary efforts succeeded, then he would be immortalised as a model in the Magus World, extensively praised and recorded down in Magus history.

  If, instead, Longbottom was bested by Baelin, he would go down in the books as a rebel; a traitor who had betrayed mankind, forever shamed by history.

  “The final decisive battle will definitely be between these two! Before that, the force of destiny will quickly increase their power, even if it might not be beneficial to them in the long run.”

  Leylin was very clear about the path a child of destiny could take.

  While they were making their mark on the world, they could obtain an inheritance just by wandering around. By going into a random danger zone, there could be a grandpa giving out techniques, allowing them to advance quickly, and thereby causing many geniuses to be so ashamed of themselves that they committed suicide!

  “Longbottom seems to have gained a bloodline, and Baelin is even better off. Not only has he even found the path to becoming a Bio Booster, which suits him best, he has even subdued the Underground Winter Spider Emperor, which is a creature with a might similar to a rank 2 Magus!”

  Leylin, who had seen much in the world, could naturally judge their general strength through these scenes. The unexpected luck they had caused even Leylin to envy them.

  At the same time, he had been frightened slightly. “If I had continued with him, wouldn’t I have been played by destiny and become the grandpa handing out techniques?”

  Leylin looked grim. Baelin had actually gotten some benefits from him. Although he had been affected by his emotional instability as a warlock, one could not deny the hand of destiny in this matter.

  After all, destiny was not created out of anywhere. It needed a form of catalyst, which would infinitely increase the probability of it appearing.

  For instance, Leylin could have chosen to craft potions instead of taking in a disciple to while time away, but he had instead chosen to teach Baelin the ways of knights.

  Out of everyone in Potter Town, he had settled on Baelin. How much probability and luck was involved?

  “Since you want to play, let’s have a good time!” Leylin raised his cup and sent a challenge out to the skies.

  [Beep! Based on scans by the limited AI, slight instability has been detected in target Aaron. The target seems to be in the early stages of mental breakdown. Immediate adoption of countermeasures suggested.]

  At this moment, the A.I. Chip prompted, and an image of Aaron going crazy was projected in front of Leylin’s eyes.

  “Looks like things are getting quite troublesome! Although the effects when training as an acolyte were removed in this new version of Scarlet Flame, the effects don’t seem sustainable for those who advance to become Magi.”

  Leylin’s expression darkened. This was why he had not trained in Sacred Flame. Not only did he already have Kemoyin’s Pupil, he feared the side-effects brought about by training in the technique.

  The spirit had far too many secrets. Even with the unworldly calculative ability of the A.I. Chip, it was still not able to analyse the mysteries of the spirit.

  “A.I. Chip! Gather stats from Aaron’s current condition, and modify Sacred Flame again. Also, check on the other guinea pigs!” Leylin commanded.

  Immediately after, the images of two other people were projected before Leylin.

  He had not limited himself to forging the ring. His counterfeit grandpas had been passed on in secret during these past ten years, disguised by various methods as a ‘coincidence’ each time.

  The A.I. Chip’s scenes showed him a young female acolyte and a strong man who also trained in Sacred Flame, cold sweat rolling down their faces.

  “The power of destiny!”

  All of a sudden, the two of them opened their eyes and looked at the central region.

/>   “Everything starts and end at the same place! There’s them as well…”

  The two of them made the same prediction, fear flashing on their faces.

  Through the interception of this information, Leylin naturally knew what they were afraid of.

  “Hehe… have they sensed the others training in the technique? It seems Sacred Flame still can’t be practiced by more than one person.”

  The high-grade meditation technique, Sacred Flame, had come from the Botelli Family. Traditionally, only one person in a generation could successfully train in this meditation technique, while the rest would suffer a mental breakdown and die.

  However, with modifications from the A.I. Chip, as well as Leylin’s lack of concern, this meditation technique had been passed down to many acolytes, and they had all risen to become official Magi through Sacred Flame!

  [Due to the unusual nature of this meditation technique, they will need to kill each other to determine a victor. Only then will Sacred Flame be complete.]

  Leylin smirked at the A.I. Chip’s newest conclusion.

  “This Sacred Flame really is a fraud!”

  His thoughts were now very clear. He would definitely not train in such a bizarre meditation technique.

  How to take advantage of their prophetic powers and set up the situation was worth looking into, as well as the question of who would win the fight.

  Leylin touched his chin, deep in thought.

  ……

  Five days later, an unexpected guest paid a visit to Leylin’s villa.

  *Clang!* Four giant metallic legs charged straight through and finally stopped by Leylin’s garden, setting off a cloud of dust and creating a ruckus behind them.

  “My apologies, Magus Leylin! This large guy hasn’t been easy to control. It might be because it’s in its mating season…” Logan jumped off the back of his metallic lifeform, looking apologetic.

  “No worries Magus Logan,” Leylin smiled. Shaking his head to show he did not mind, he gestured to invite the Magus in, continuing, “Please come in. I’ve collected some items which may interest you.”

  A bit later, Celine who’d rushed over for some business saw the protector of the east, Logan, sitting on a chair and singing praises of the giant grilled fish on the long table.

  “What type of fish is this? I’ve never seen it before.”

  “It’s a hybrid of the Mamhar Fish and the Barracuda. I bred it myself!” Leylin laughed.

  This creature was an accidental product of a bloodline experiment. Unexpectedly, it had ended up tasting quite good, which prompted Leylin to serve it to guests.

  As the flesh of this fish was extremely delicious, and also had the function of strengthening the body of a rank 2 Magus, it was very popular.

  After finding this out, Leylin immediately ordered Celine to open up a massive aquafarm, preparing to breed this type of fish at a large scale. It would be another addition to his profits.

  While learning under the light Magi of the south coast, Leylin had taken care of numerous secret planes and had learned that something like that had a lot of significance and value.

  As a bonus. Celine had been extremely agreeable to him recently at night, her eyes so bright it seemed like she could blink out liquid.

  Leylin’s conjecture was that she had thought he had been diligently managing the guild, which touched her.

  Leylin had merely laughed off her misunderstanding, not bothering to explain and instead enjoying his luck with her.

  After enjoying the fine liquor and good food together, Leylin finally cut to the chase. “I wonder what I can do for Protector Logan, that you’ve come all the way here?”

  “I came here today because I have a presumptuous request of you.” Logan looked serious, and slightly embarrassed.

  “What is it?” Leylin seemed calm, while Celine who was beside him grasped his fingers.

  “On behalf of the central region’s guilds’ alliance, I invite Nature’s Alliance to move to the central region! We have prepared the resources afforded to a large-scale guild for you, and there is a seat for Nature’s Alliance waiting amongst our ranks. In other words, once you go there, Nature’s Alliance will become a large-scale guild!”

  Logan went straight to the point, saying everything in one breath.

  The moment the words left his mouth, Leylin could feel Celine’s breath becoming more hurried.

  Large-scale guild! That was the ultimate dream of all guilds in Twilight Zone! As the heart of Twilight Zone, the central region was also where the population was the densest, and represented the essence of the subterranean humans.

  Most guilds could only wish to expand there.

  Celine had always been striving for Nature’s Alliance to rise through the ranks, and she did not seem to find this situation to be strange as all. Meanwhile, Leylin was thinking of something else.

  “Has the situation in the central region become that bad?” He suddenly asked.

  “Hm?” Logan’s expression froze.

  Moments later, he laughed wryly.

  Movement

  “I really can’t hide anything from you!” Logan laughed bitterly. “As you know, the situation in the central region is not favourable. The dark elves are a part of it, but the Protector of Twilight Zone is the more pressing issue…”

  Leylin roughly understood the situation. Powerful rank 2 Magi normally overtook the duties of protecting the north, south, east, and west of the Twilight Zone, but central Twilight Zone was different.

  That area housed the elite forces of Twilight zone, so the overseeing Magus was titled the “Guardian of the Realm”. The current generation’s Guardian possessed the strength of a rank 3 Magus.

  But intelligence reports said that the lifespan of the Guardian was nearing its end; he hadn’t even appeared in public in the last few decades. His seclusion was so foreboding that it was probably the main reason for the dark elves, dwarfs and gnomes to gang up on them.

  “You…” Celine clenched her fists tightly, her face turning red from anger, she had finally realized the meaning of the invitation. If it was during peacetime, and one was allowed to enter the central region and become a large-scale guild, that was a truly fortunate event. But now?

  The dark elven army had just been routed in the east, giving them some room to breathe. On the other hand, with the fall of Potti City, the center was facing a surge of dark elves and other enemies from the north. This meant the situation in the center was currently much worse than in the east.

  At such a time, what sort of invitation was this? Wasn’t this just a request for troops and cannon fodder?

  Celine almost cursed before she realised that the person sitting across her was the rank 2 Protector of the East. She suppressed her rage by force of will, leading to nothing but a smudge in her expression.

  Leylin remained silent for a while. He finally let out a bitter smile. “The central region was originally protected on all four sides. It was extremely stable and peaceful, and was the best choice for accommodation. But currently, it’s being eyed by our enemies. Logan, do you really want me to suffer?”

  “I understand your problem! But…“ Logan said hesitantly, “Firstly, I can tell you, this is an order of the Guardian of the Realm. We are to summon forth assistance from all four regions. Additionally, regardless of the other large-scale guilds’ intentions, I can guarantee that my own guild will step forward and enter the central region!”

  Logan stood up and vowed solemnly to Leylin, even bending his head all the way to his knees.

  “Sir Leylin! For Twilight Zone, and for the entire human race, I hope you can help us!”

  In that moment, Leylin felt like Logan’s body was glowing. That expression greatly moved Celine who was at his side.

  “Hu…” Leylin locked his brows, and seemed to be deep in thought. Logan and Celine, on the other hand, were afraid to even breathe too loudly for fear of interrupting Leylin’s ruminations.

  “I’ll help you…�
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  After a few moments, Leylin produced an answer, bringing a sudden streak of joy across Logan’s face and causing Celine to worry. She wanted to speak out, but was abruptly thwarted by Leylin continuing, “but I have a few conditions!”

  “Speak!” Logan’s voice could not conceal his excitement.

  Leylin raised his index finger. “Firstly, The resources and seat you promised previously must be handed over to us unconditionally!”

  “Of course; you’re entitled to the resources and treatment given to a large-scale guild. If that bunch of brats dare to embezzle anything, I will kill them immediately!” Logan’s tone was merciless, but during war the protector did indeed have the authority to do such a thing.