“No!” Leylin shook his head with a resolute tone.
“The Magus Tower is a reflection of the rank of its Magus. If I were to build one, I will do it with the best of my abilities! Moreover, I have to think about the future. The Tower being in my territory will act as a deterrent to the surrounding forces.”
“Makes sense. But it is still unwise to use up all your resources for it! I almost prostituted myself when I was building my mine, even with my family and the clan’s resource….” Robin pummeled his chest, fear lingering in his voice.
Leylin could only roll his eyes at the near-promiscuous flashback as Robin moved on to the main concern, “Anyway, how much were you thinking of borrowing?”
“I’d like to ask, how much are you able to lend, senior?” Leylin asked as a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth…
In a short while, Leylin arrived at the trading hall of the Ouroboros Clan with a large number of contribution points in hand.
After spending the past 3 years here, Leylin was already familiar with the place and headed straight to his destination upon arrival.
‘A.I Chip, Report my current status!’ Leyin silently said in his head.
[Leylin Farlier, Rank 3 Warlock. Bloodline: Giant Kemoyin Serpent Strength: 23.6, Agility: 20.1, Vitality: 39.1, Spiritual Force: 240.5, Magic Power: 240 (Magic Power synchronized with spiritual force)]
The A.I Chip faithfully processed and sent the information.
As a Magus, spiritual force and magic power were the most important numbers. Vitality was the foundation upon which spiritual force was built and sustained, and had to be strong enough; otherwise, the Magus’ body would collapse.
When his strength and agility reached their maximum, Leylin temporarily took his focus away from them and raided for potions and alchemist spell formation in the clan that can boost his Vitality resulting in his terrifying increase to nearly 40.
Looking at these numbers, Leylin felt that his own body terribly surpassed many high-energy beings. Not only was his rate of recovery alarmingly fast, he was able to take on any Magi below rank 2 unarmed!
His bulky physique made cultivating his spiritual force a piece of cake, and he was already prepared to break through the bottleneck that was the Vapour Phase.
“A.I Chip! Simulate my current shape and compute the conditions needed for me to move on to the Vapour Phase!”
The Completion of the Onyx Castle
Leylin immediately commanded the A.I. Chip again.
[Task established! Initiating simulation, preparing main stats…] The A.I. Chip rapidly operated, and projected a 3D hologram in front of Leylin, which faintly resembled himself.
Apart from gathering and analysing large amounts of data, it could also run breakthrough simulations and obtain concrete probabilities and numbers. This was what made Leylin different from other Magi, who could only make deductions based on rough estimates of probabilities and slipshod experiments, or even through luck! And this was one of the reasons for Leylin’s successful breakthroughs every time.
[Beep! Simulation completed! Conditions for a breakthrough: sufficient spiritual force, the bloodline essence of the Corrosive Lizard, three portions of Purple Leaf Snake scaled-fruit, and a complete Vapour Phase spell formation! Success rate: 86.9%!]
The A.I chip presented this to Leylin.
“A close to 90% chance of success is enough!” Leylin clenched his fist tightly.
As they did not have the precise calculations of the A.I Chip, other Magi could only gather some materials that would help in the breakthrough. One would already thank the heavens if they had more than a 50% chance of success, let alone such an accurate forecast.
Leylin felt that after the A.I. Chip had fused with his soul, it had improved with his own progress, and its strengths had been amplified largely. Its predictive ability now greatly surpassed even the best A.I. Chips of his previous world.
In other words, his current A.I. Chip, even if placed in his previous world, would be too sophisticated to be copied.
”The Purple Leaf Snake Scaled-fruit and the bloodline essence of the Corrosive lizard are the most commonly used supplementary materials when Warlocks attempt to make their breakthroughs, and can be found in the trading hall. Even though they are pricy, I can still afford it!”
Having saved up money as a Potions Grandmaster for three years, and with the huge loan from Robin, Leylin could be said to have ample funds.
‘After this, I’ll have to return to my territory to make the breakthrough, as well as to take charge of the construction of the Magus Tower!’ Leylin though to himself.
A Magus Tower was being constructed next to Onyx Castle. This tower could be said to be his actual foothold in the central continent, and even as he was Potioneering for the majority of the past three years, he had not once loosened his watch on the construction of the Magus Tower.
Furthermore, the basic structure was already complete. The remaining portions, such as the installation of the elemental pools, adjustment of the spell formations and the like would have to be done by himself. The other Warlocks could only assist, after all, Leylin would not give anyone access to the secrets of the core of his tower.
‘The ability of a rank 3 Vapour Phase will be able to activate rank 4 spell scrolls. Then, we can even purchase a Scroll of Life from Mentor, that can be used to construct the entire intellectual core of the Magus Tower. Hopefully, Mentor’s price won’t be too hefty…’ Leylin thought casually, while looking for the data from the screens to carry out his transactions.
Even though he seemed preoccupied, under the tremendous assistance of the A.I chip, all the resources chosen were top-notch, and even the Vapour Phase spell formation was successfully obtained.
However, during the transaction, he had also obtained some news that made him frown.
”Miranda and Freya returned after completing their task? But they were seriously injured? Why is that so?” Leylin asked. These two were rank 3 Hydro Phase Warlocks. With the addition of their bloodline, their strengths were a few levels higher. That they would be seriously wounded had piqued his curiosity.
”Sorry! This is a secret! Even I am unable to get any news!” The peddler who had transacted with Leylin was a skinny Magus with a huge grin on his face. He did not dare offend Leylin; after all, Leylin was a big customer, and he had previously earned a huge sum from a previous transaction involving potions of tranquility.
The Magus came closer and lowered his voice, ”However, reports say that a mysterious person attacked them when they were exploring some ruins! This left the second elder furious, and he swore to find the culprit…”
”So it’s like that!” Leylin nodded, and quickly completed the transaction.
He had to return to his territory as soon as possible to make the breakthrough. He’d merely asked out of curiosity; no matter how chaotic it was here, it would not affect him.
……
Onyx Castle.
Construction had been completed in the last three years. The entire structure was built out of sturdy granite, and was reinforced by earth-elemental spells that closed up the gaps between the underlying rocks. From the outside, the entirety of Onyx Castle looked grand and expansive, exuding a feeling of deterrence. This was the core of Leylin’s territory.
With the amount of reinforcement it had gotten, Onyx Castle could last a few thousand years at the least. After seeing it, Alesandro remarked that he could hold the fort against fifty thousand elites with just a few thousand man, but of course, this only applied to regular humans.
The castle was carpeted in cashmere. Silver cups and golden lampstands were everywhere. The place was filled with a flowing light, and its luxury was something few royal palaces could rival.
If a commoner were to use the castle, it might have stirred up criticism and attacks from other jealous leaders. But since the lord of the castle was a strong Magus, there would be no problem.
The strength Leylin possessed was enough to
let anyone with negative intentions despair. The people would only compliment the nobility of its lord, and not for a moment have any designs on it.
”Looks like Royce and Alesandro have taken care of this place fairly well!” Leylin slowly walked into the castle.
He looked at the castle’s surrounding farmland. A lot of it was already being cultivated, and large windmills were turning slowly as farmers cleared the earth of weeds.
These were slaves he had previously purchased, with a portion of them being leaders.
In the process of the construction of the castle, a portion of the outstanding slaves and citizens had received rewards in the form of land. Since then, they had settled down and built a relatively prosperous area.
Soldiers and tall knights patrolled the place from time to time.
Royce and Alesandro who were appointed and nominated to oversee politics and military matters respectively had exhausted their time and effort into building a foundation over here duo to the temptation of the rewards of status and territory. At least in Leylin’s eyes, the Onyx Castle looked more or less like a Marquis’ palace.
”Welcome home, my Lord!” Once they neared the main gate, Kubler quickly hurried out. He was wearing a butler uniform and looked very energetic, with Royce and Alesandro following behind him.
”Mmm! Well done!” Leylin nodded his head slightly, and acknowledged Kubler’s work. He was not one to leave the power in the hands of only two people, and hence he’d left Kubler here as well.
Even though he could be sure that Royce and Alesandro would not dare to betray him, corruption was inevitable. However, with Kubler around, Royce and Alesandro would not dare to cross the line.
”Master! The latest survey has been completed. Within your territory, there is a total of 13,572 soldiers. The total population is.…”
Before Kubler could finish his sentence, Leylin waved his hand and interrupted him. ”Write a report about that stuff and hand it over to me later. For now, follow me. I want to look at the progress on the Magus Tower!”
Leylin had invested in the Magus Tower more than ten thousand times what he had invested into Onyx Castle! He would naturally devote minimal attention to it, instead electing to let the A.I. Chip scan progress reports every now and then.
”As you wish, Master!” Kubler followed Leylin in his rightful position. Meanwhile, Royce and Alesandro exchanged glances and could only smile grimly.
A small distance from Onyx Castle, atop a mountain, was a huge piece of construction land with various workers running about.
Because they were building a Magus Tower, they could no longer use ordinary human slaves. Ordinary humans were useless when it came to certain special construction materials, not to mention the possible contamination caused by long-term contact with such materials. Even with a purification tower, ordinary human slaves would perish within a short period of time!
”Hurry! Quicken your pace! Or else there won’t be any alloy rods for dinner tonight!” A youthful Warlock with an iron whip in his hands was shouting in a strange language.
Warlock acolytes, and even some formal Warlocks, were doubling up as foremen and architects in the construction site, rushing a few strange slaves to speed up their work.
These slaves were large in stature, with hardened skin the colour of stone.
These slaves were from the Stone tribe. Leylin had previously deciphered a book written in the Turin language from the secret plane of the Ancient Spirit Slaying Sect. In it there was content left behind by the craftsmen of the Stone tribe.
The Stone tribe was a type of human race. Because of their naturally large stature in addition to their stony exteriors that were as powerful as defensive spells, they could be said to have tough bodies. They were the species ancient Magi favoured to be construction slaves. Much of the construction in the Ancient Spirit Slaying Sect was done by them.
The members of the Stone tribe spoke in the Turin language, mentioned by the young Warlock, which was difficult one to learn. Still, for Magi, it was no big deal.
The Stone tribe existed in Twilight Zone and the south coast, but Leylin had not expected them to be present here as well, leave alone being sold as high-class slaves!
For the construction of the tower, Leylin could only grit his teeth and buy a large batch of these slaves. It cost him no small amount!
Leylin’s arrival naturally attracted the attention of some Magi. Not long after, an extremely good-looking and youthful Magus came before Leylin and bowed respectfully, ”Master!”
What was shocking was that his voice sounded extremely aged, which was not consistent with his appearance.
”Rise, Parker! What’s the progress on the construction of the tower?”
…
WMW Chapter 410
Attempt At Vaporisation
In his three years in the Ouroboros Clan, it was not as if Leylin had done nothing but brew potions.
Through the support of Robin and a few other seniors, he’d gathered a few henchmen and organisations under him.
In the Ouroboros Clan, it was a fixed tradition for lower-ranked bloodline Warlocks to support higher-ranked bloodline experts.
Leylin was a pure-blooded Giant Kemoyin Serpent Warlock, and even had a Morning Star mentor. He could be said to have boundless potential, and it was obvious that some Warlocks would want to side with him.
Of course, as he was still not as strong yet and had not done anything to gain himself a reputation, no powerful people would side him. This Parker in front of him was Leylin’s biggest gain!
Parker had been introduced to him by Robin. He was a Black Horall Snake Warlock, and his limit was rank 3. Giant Kemoyin Serpent Warlocks would obviously not become someone else’s subordinate and become a vassal.
Besides, Parker had only just entered rank 3 and had not even reached the Vapour Phase. Due to his age and the injuries and poison accumulated in his body due to his adventurous lifestyle, he had lost all hopes of advancing.
He had joined Leylin’s side to make preparations for his family.
Despite all that, Parker was a rank 3 Warlock, and was Leylin’s strongest vassal. Thus, Leylin naturally treated him well, and even took in his grandson as a disciple to strengthen their bond.
“The main structure of the Magus Tower has been completed. It’s exactly the same as is in your blueprint, but the energy circuit and spell formations need to be done by yourself, my Lord. I wouldn’t dare make that decision myself.”
Parker had experienced much in his life and knew what could be done, and what could not. Just these few sentences pleased Leylin a lot.
Leylin couldn’t help but turn towards the construction site.
A tall black spire had already taken shape, possessing a vast power within, as if making its presence known to the whole world.
Parker continued with his report. “Also, we have already stocked up on many of the materials to create the elemental reactive pool and garden. There’s also something regarding the Faens Family…”
“The Faens Family?” Leylin’s brows furrowed. That was Freya’s family. It was said that there were signs of their bloodline declining, and it had been a long time since any descendant had awakened their Giant Kemoyin Serpent bloodline. For this reason, Freya was now going around looking for pure-blooded Giant Kemoyin Serpent Warlocks, and had thus considered Leylin.
“What do they want?” Leylin asked, suddenly alert.
Of course, he was even stronger than before and was not afraid of her. However, this was still troublesome.
“The Faens Family sent people to contact us, hoping to sell a large amount of materials for the construction of the Magus Tower at a low price. I’ve seen them, and they are all top-grade materials and of great quality… They have even expressed their intentions in helping construct the tower, my Lord! In times of need, they also offered to send over manpower…”
Parker made sure to note Leylin’s reaction as he made the report. Rumours were already circul
ating about the previous incident, and he himself wondered whether his master had chosen her.
Leylin twitched upon hearing the news. He glared at Parker, which resulted in him lowering his head deferentially.
“We can purchase everything at full price, we don’t need their discount. As for any assistance they provide, reject it all,” Leylin commanded. Though he knew the other party was expressing goodwill, just thinking of their goal caused Leylin’s expression to warp. He had to resist rolling his eyes.
“Understood, master.” Parker acquiesced, though he felt a tinge of pity.
The Faens Family was prestigious amongst the Giant Kemoyin Serpent Warlocks. They went back a thousand years, and had an unfathomable background. If he had their sponsorship, the construction of the Magus Tower would go much smoother.
However, Leylin would definitely not agree to it.
If not, the Faens Family would definitely throw out more bait and lure him into a trap.
Though he could be ruthless, taking all the bait but not caring about them, that would be too shameless of him. Leylin believed that unless he was in dire straits, he would not do such a thing.
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