“This…” Leylin pondered, fingers circling and rapping to create a regular rhythm.
Alicia’s breath almost stopped, awaiting the judgment of destiny in terror and anticipation.
“Fine.” Leylin nodded in agreement.
After the human race’s allied force recovered the northern region, it lacked the ability to advance and gain more.
In addition, Leylin still had other ideas.
An absolute power meant that once the human race completely extinguished the dark elves, gnomes, and dwarves with his help, they could very well decline quickly due to internal strife. This was not what Leylin wanted to see.
A constant, unyielding external pressure would evidently be able to serve the function of spurring on the humans.
“Many thanks, my lord!” Alicia was so elated she was on the verge of tears.
Though Leylin could immediately enjoy the enthusiastic desire of this matriarch to serve him, he still chased her out.
It was obvious that Alicia’s value could not compare to the dark elven crown and high-grade meditation technique.
“Magic equipment— Dark Elven Crown!”
Leylin caressed the surface of this magic equipment. As it had been used recently in the war, the crown’s surface was dim, and it seemed unremarkable.
If not for knowing about it beforehand, Leylin might have been tricked by its outer appearance and missed this magic equipment.
In the world of the Magi, magic equipment ranked far above magic artifacts. They held a mysterious power within, and usually, only Magi at rank 3 and higher would have the opportunity to come into contact with one.
[Discovered magic equipment, beginning scan!] [Beep! Scanning complete. 45.9% could not be analysed. Obtained high-grade concealing and icy runes, as well as traces of incomplete high-grade illusory spell formation runes…]
Many prompts from the A.I. Chip appeared.
“This is just the start. If I can completely analyse the inner workings of this magical device, I might even be able to forge my own…”
Leylin could tell that this was a great opportunity for him. He had been unable to improve his alchemy and high-grade enchantment skills in recent times.
“And this!” Leylin picked up that black crystal.
Large amounts of information streamed in front of Leylin’s eyes. They were written in the dark elven language, but this was nothing important. Earlier in the eastern region, Leylin had obtained much fundamental academic content through the library in Nature’s Alliance. Things like the dark elven language were nothing much.
“Life Absorption!” This was a high-grade meditation technique passed down by the dark elves. Only dark elves who were as powerful as matriarchs were qualified to train in it.
From this, it could be seen that Longbottom had really been doing well with the dark elves, and had gained their trust.
“This meditation technique…” Leylin touched his chin, recalling the information the A.I. Chip had just recorded.
Even though this bit of time was not enough for him to completely analyse the meditation technique, he largely knew its characteristics and uses.
Life Absorption was obviously rated as high-grade and was in the top class even in Twilight Zone. If not, dark elves themselves had many high-grade meditation techniques. Why would they make it a rule that it was a meditation technique to be passed down?
The characteristic of Life Absorption was that it could increase the spiritual force by robbing life force from other creatures, thus helping with breakthroughs.
The higher the level, the easier it was to gain the life force of various creatures. At the end, it could even cause a deathly vortex that was similar to a calamity, and all creatures in range would be attacked regardless of what they were.
However, this meditation technique did have its disadvantages.
As it relied on robbing life force to improve, its foundations were not stable. There had not even been a single matriarch who could break through from the rank 3 level into the Morning Star realm.
Besides, when one reached the more profound parts of the meditation technique, the Magus himself or herself would find their life force disappearing. This could not be compensated with any method other than the life force of other creatures.
The moment the life energy gained was too immense, or if the Magus’ rank was too high, the Magi who trained in Life Absorption would lose their life force at a faster rate.
This meant that every time Magi who trained in Life Absorption used it, it meant they were one step closer to the abyss of death. However, with the growth of strength and the later loss of life force, it was like a drug that influenced many Magi to use it and eventually destroy themselves.
“To cultivate in this sort of meditation technique, it’s best to find an ancient creature with enough life force and drain all its life force, succeeding in training in this meditation technique all at one go.”
Leylin’s plentiful experience allowed him to think of a few methods to solve this issue, but he then shook his head.
“It’s not just the difficulty in advancing in meditation techniques. Ancient creatures that have great life force cannot be underestimated by even rank 3 Magi… Unless it was their remains…”
At this thought, Leylin naturally thought about the Icy Cave.
If nothing unexpected happened, in the deeper parts of the Icy Cave, the Icy World held within the body of a creature with the strength of at least Morning Star strength, as well as the blood of an even more frightening existence.
“With my current strength, what will it be like if I go to the Icy World?”
Leylin was silent for a while, and a gold light suddenly flashed in his hands, a simple gold coin appeared in his palm.
*Bling!* Leylin flung the coin, and there was a sole golden arc in the air that then landed on the back of his hand.
Leylin lifted his palm and he saw the side with a skull engraved on it pointing up. Its eyes seemed to be ridiculing him with its smirk.
“It won’t end up well?” Leylin murmured, and gave up all thoughts of proceeding forth.
*Ka-cha!* Immediately after, a slight crack appeared on the surface of Coin of Destiny.
As the unique magic item, Leylin had created by exhausting his thoughts, Coin of Destiny had the terrifying ability to predict the future!
However, there was also a limit. Though Leylin had given it a sacrifice using the child of destiny, as well as added much spiritual force from Sacred Flame, he did not train in this meditation technique and thus, could not obtain images and specific information. He could only approximate the judgment through positive and negative predictions.
Besides, due to the constraints from Sacred Flame’s level and the ranking of the sacrifice, there was a limit to how many times Coin of Destiny could be used.
If he wanted predictions on rank 3 Magi and below, it could be used for a long time, but once it got up to the Morning Star realm, each usage would result in great damage to Coin of Destiny itself and then cause it to fall apart.
Leylin had asked for predictions on the situation if he headed to the icy caves. The skull head was up, implying that if Leylin really did that, it would not end up well for him.
Radiant Guardian
“It’s still a no.” Leylin kept the Coin of Destiny, feeling slightly crestfallen.
The Coin of Destiny had been cast rather crudely. Due to the involvement of Morning Star Magi, it was already damaged, and if it got worse, Leylin truly had no idea where else he would find a child of destiny to offer as a sacrifice.
Though he could make prophecies the way he had used Aaron, they had no way to make predictions regarding higher-ranked existences, and the risks in that were too huge.
Humans were creatures full of possibilities. If the Magi that Leylin had chosen managed to advance till they were on the same level as Leylin and managed to prophesize his actions, there would be no way Leylin could benefit from it
Leylin
would rather use these dead creatures. Though they were troublesome, they were convenient and very safe! That was what he prioritised.
“Even I with my rank 3 strength will meet with dangers that cannot be measured in the Icy World. Looks like that’s still a place that I can’t peek into.” Leylin was clear on his situation. He now held most of Twilight Zone in the palm of his hand and had nothing to be anxious over.
The Icy Cave would always be present, so the things inside would be his sooner or later!
After the entire dark elven race surrendered, all that was left to take care of in the northern region were the gnomes, dwarves and few remaining guilds there.
Leylin could not be bothered with this and used his overbearing power to take care of it.
A few days later, a shocking rumour spread.
Lord Leylin, Guardian of the Realm in Twilight Zone, charged into the dwarves’ stronghold, the Taline Caves, alone.
They said that the lord relied on his own power and barged in head on, and went all the way into the dwarves’ royal court.
Berserk lightning and the terrifying aura of death constantly shrouded the area. The battle continued for numerous days before it stopped.
From then on, however, the royal dwarven court sent out an announcement, saying that their respected ruler, King Greybeard, and various other important ministers had died from illness. The young dwarven price inherited the throne and immediately withdrew his troops…
The same thing happened in the gnome kingdom.
This time, the explosions could be seen with the naked eye. Their machinery was ruined, and the three godly weapons which represented the peak of their alchemic skills were turned into trash. Many of their outstanding artisans were also kidnapped, and thus they lost many essential resources and research material about advanced alchemy.
From then on, Leylin’s fame spread throughout Twilight Zone. Besides humans, even when dark elves and gnomes mentioned him, they did not dare call him by his name. He had been titled the Radiant Guardian.
His image had been recorded as a legend by other races, and news of his being an exceptionally terrifying existence was passed down.
Of course, Leylin had not considered all these. He was now sitting on the most respected gold throne in Potti City and instructing Iren.
“Divide the resources in the newly-recovered northern region, and prioritise the guilds who’ve sided or displayed their goodwill towards us. As for the rest of the harvest, confiscate it all.”
Leylin’s intentions in attacking north Twilight Zone was not to be a good samaritan, but to get rich.
Through many years of development, there were various abundant resources in the northern region. Most guilds had died out during the chaotic war, which gave him another excuse to take them over.
As for those lucky enough to survive? Besides those who sided with Leylin’s side, whom he gave special treatment to, he was not planning to bother with the rest.
“Then… How about the Magi who’ve set up organisations there?” Iren was slightly hesitant.
Due to the chaos, not just other races but also other guilds from Twilight Zone had dispatched people to the former north Twilight Zone. They attempted to seize some things and even occupied a small territory, having a long-term confrontation with dark elves and managed to survive with their tenacity.
This was a result of Leylin killing the opposite party’s great matriarch in one blow. If not, no matter how gutsy they were, they would not dare even consider this area.
“Handle this in the same way. Also, for those stubborn guilds unwilling to submit to me, arrest them on the grounds of treason and colluding with the enemy. As for the evidence? Just look for Alicia. I’m sure she’ll be willing to supply it.” Leylin smirked.
This was basically an act to eliminate all outsiders, but Leylin’s crushing strength and his advantage of acting on an absolute righteous cause allowed everything to seem calm and organised.
In reality, Leylin was building north Twilight Zone up as the headquarters of Nature’s Alliance.
In the other regions, the strength of the Magi made everything tricky, and it was difficult to just insert an exceptionally large-scale guild within.
Nature’s Alliance Academy in the central and eastern region had expanded to its peak already.
If this was in the past, Leylin could simply continue expanding outwards, but the situation was now different. Due to the war, the northern region was destroyed by the chaos and many guilds had died out. The nobility and other chains of command had almost completely been wiped out as well.
Though this partly had to do with the cruelty of dark elves, most of it had to do with various organisations who were hidden deep within. Leylin had also played an important role there.
After most of the original organisations in the northern region were purged, it was time for the strong to divide up the feast.
Leylin, who held an absolute advantage and Nature’s Alliance Academy, gained the largest part of the benefits!
A few months later, a large branch academy of Nature’s Alliance was established there. Besides being a branch in name, the facilities and allocation of staff were based on the highest standards and even bested the headquarters in the central region.
With the completion of the branch academy, Leylin gained complete control of north Twilight Zone. For the two areas which were still hesitating, this was a huge shock.
In the year 5786 of Twilight Zone, the western and southern regions that had only been pledging their allegiance on the surface could no longer hold on and announced their agreement to support Nature’s Alliance academy in the central region. They received guidance from the great Guardian of the Realm and built a joint academy.
Twilight Zone was unified, and the prestige of the Guardian of the Realm, Leylin, was deep in the hearts of the masses. Human society also began to develop at a quick rate.
It was a new page of history. The end of the former era, as well as the ascension of the new one, proceeded so quickly that many Magi found it hard to react to.
North Twilight Zone, in Nature’s Alliance Academy.
“Crap, I’m going to be late!”
Will quickly got out of bed and hugged his thick notebook and textbook, a sandwich fresh out of the oven in his mouth as he dashed across the roads of the academy.
The academy was illuminated with large amounts of sun stones and eternal flames. There were even bonsai transplanted to the side of the roads for viewing pleasure. This would have been unthinkable in the past.
On the roads, there was the occasional sight of acolytes who were all darting towards their own classrooms.
“Mentor Jeline’s reaction field theory is so profound. I don’t understand at all…”
“The principle behind the construction of spell models is very important. It is the basis of all spell models that can be performed, and it needs to be solid. There cannot be any mistake!”
“It’s almost time for the academy competition. Rumours say that the victor can even get guidance from an official Magus!”
Many conversations flew into Will’s ear, and there were even many familiar voices. However, his feet did not stop moving as he ran at a flying speed.
As an acolyte chosen from among the commoners, he truly appreciated this hard-to-come-by opportunity.
It was because he had been up studying till late last night that he had overslept.
After passing by the teaching plaza, all acolytes would respectfully bow towards a statue in the middle.
The statue was carved out of black dazzling stone and formed the image of a handsome young man. His gaze was set far away, as if surveying the scene in the distance from his elevated position. Under the statue, these words were carved in the language of Twilight Zone—
‘Distinguished Guardian of the Realm, Leylin Farlier. Rank 3 Magus, the founder of Nature’s Alliance Academy, once gloriously killed the dark elven empress, dwarven king and gnome prophet in battle, savi
ng all humankind. The patron saint of Twilight Zone, he also has other names, such as the Hand of Sacred Light, the Glorious Guardian and so on…’
“The lord Guardian of the Realm!”
Will bowed slightly towards the statue, admiration apparent in his expression, “If only I could become such a mighty Magus one day…”
Immediately after, however, he couldn’t help but laugh. He really was imagining the wildest things.
Some time after passing by the sculpture, Will couldn’t help but turn back and look, only to find a figure under the statue that had the exact same face as the sculpture.
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