End of the Magic Era

And after another dozen minutes…

Another machine-like, accurate calculation and completely new spell matrices. Hogg was already feeling a little numb. When this second set of two spell matrices was transmitted back, Hogg was already blanking out. Grabbing the pieces of paper, he activated the alchemy array, acting stiff like a puppet.

When the 8th completed spell matrix was sent back to him, Hogg suddenly found out that he wasn’t alone in the research room!

“Don’t look confused!” Star Sage Jouyi hissed, hiding in a part of the room that was in a blind spot of the crystal ball. When Hogg looked over, Jouyi immediately gave him a threatening glare.

“Eh, eh…” Hogg, whose brain had shorted out, managed to recover when he noticed the Star Sage.

“Send this spell matrix next…” Star Sage Jouyi secretly slipped a piece of paper over.

“Okay.” Hogg nodded. He glanced at the piece of paper and suddenly felt startled. He glanced back at Star Sage Jouyi with disbelief. “Th-thi-… This…”

“Stop being long-winded. Just transmit what I gave you!”

“Okay…” Hogg helplessly nodded and looked at the crystal ball with some sympathy.

‘Great Mage Merlin… This is Star Sage Jouyi’s idea, it has nothing to do with me… I hope you can solve this spell matrix within the year.’

The entire Fanrusen Formula was comprised of over 300 spell matrices. After over a decade of efforts, the researchers had already solved about a hundred of them. After they solved the more than two hundred spell matrices still remaining, the entire Fanrusen Formula would be completed.

The spell matrices that Star Sage Jouyi was in charge of numbered a bit more than twenty, but the difficulty could only be considered as horrible. Even the other two Archmages were ashen-faced when they saw Star Sage Jouyi’s task. They had shaken their heads and declined to take part.

So there was no need to mention Hogg.

Each of the spell matrices in Jouyi’s hands could be described as otherworldly to Hogg. It would take him who knew how much time and energy to understand just one of them.

Now, the spell matrix that Jouyi took out was one of those.

Hogg felt that Merlin might have to spend a few months on it.

Lin Yun soon completed the two spell matrices in his hands. When he sent them back, Hogg sent him the spell matrix from Star Sage Jouyi.

Thus, Hogg finally saw the young Great Mage in the crystal ball frown.

‘Sure enough…’

Hogg sighed in relief. He then raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat off his forehead.

This young Great Mage’s performance had been too shocking and frightening. A month of Hogg’s work had been completed in only one hour in the hands of this Merlin. It came to the point that Hogg even thought that this had all been an illusion. How could someone be so abnormal?

‘Thank god, thank god, no matter how abnormal this young Great Mage is, he is still human.’

If he still had been unfazed when facing such a spell matrix, Hogg would truly have been left wondering if he would ever wake up from this strange dream.

In this split second, an unexpected thought appeared in Hogg’s mind.

“My apologies, High Mage Hogg, I might need more time.” When Lin Yun saw that spell matrix, he knew that it wouldn’t be as simple. This inevitably was one of the core spell matrices of the Fanrusen Formula.

“It’s fine, it’s fine…” Hogg smiled and asked with a tone of concern, “Would you like the Sage Tower to help you prepare a research room? It seems that you don’t have a comprehensive set of Magic Tools on your side.”

“Magic Tools?” After hearing this, Lin Yun shook his head. He spread the piece of paper flat on the refining table and began calculating meticulously.

“Sir Jouyi, isn’t this spell matrix a bit too complicated?” Hogg pretended to look for something on the blind side of the crystal ball as he asked with an anxious voice.

“Just watch and we’ll find out.”

“Oh right, Sir Jouyi, these are the eight spell matrices that Great Mage Merlin had completed. I shall report it to you first, this is…” Hogg noticed that Jouyi’s mood was quite good, so he promptly gave him the eight spell matrices Lin Yun had finished earlier, hoping he could use this chance to redeem his bad impression in Jouyi’s mind.

But he was cruelly interrupted by the latter. “Fuck, shut up!”

“Ah?” Hogg was startled, wondering what mistake he had made this time to provoke this temperamental Archmage.

“Quiet, that kid already sent you the results!”

‘Crap!’

Hogg almost started tearing up. He frantically escaped to the crystal ball and saw that Lin Yun had already activated the transmission array and sent over the spell matrix.

“Great… Great Mage Merlin, you… Don’t you need to rest?” Hogg wanted to force a smile out while holding the paper. But with the corner of his mouth twitching, the smile turned quite uncanny.

Hogg was no longer worried whether Merlin was tired. Rather, he was worried whether his heart could take it if things continued like this…

Lin Yun massaged his temples. He had done the calculations for so many matrices in a row, one of them being one of the core spell matrices of the Fanrusen Formula. It would definitely be a lie to say that he wasn’t tired, but Lin Yun didn’t want to take time to rest at this moment because with his next trip to the Bone Plane probably coming up in a few days, he felt that he might as well take advantage of this time to work on the Fanrusen Formula’s research.

Thus, Lin Yun shook his head and replied, “No need.”

“Ha… Ha… Haha, Great Mage Merlin, you are truly…” Hogg laughed stiffly. He wanted to give a few flattering compliments, but he found that he didn’t know what to say.

And seeing this, Jouyi, still hiding to the side, immediately unhappily grumbled, “Give him this!”

“Eh, eh..” Hogg took the piece of paper and glanced at it. It was another core spell matrix of the Fanrusen Formula.

Hogg was already numb at this point, so he only rolled his eyes and transferred that piece of paper.

Sure enough, after half an hour…

The 2nd piece of paper, the 3rd, the 4th, the 5th…

One by one, the papers were sent from the Gilded Rose to the Cloud Tower through the crystal ball. Meanwhile, more and more people entered Hogg’s room. At first, it was only that Master Alchemist from the Mercury Tower, but then the two Archmages joined in, and when evening came, even the two who had missed the meeting came to Hogg’s study room.

No no no, not just them…

At this time, the news spread throughout the entire Cloud Tower. Everyone knew that a young Great Mage was in the middle of computing the Fanrusen Formula’s core spell matrices. Furthermore, he had already completed close to ten of them in a few hours. This news was like a bomb cast amidst the crowd, making the entire Cloud Tower explode in a frenzy.

Several dozen High Mages came to Hogg’s room just to take a look at how abnormal this young Great Mage was. Even more Great Mages were crowding at the doorway. Their gazes couldn’t reach the crystal ball, so they could only listen to the High Mages’ comments.

The originally spacious research room was suddenly crowded with people. Star Sage Jouyi even cast an 8th Tier Spell to put up an illusion that could deceive the crystal ball.

Time slowly ticked by. It was already late in the night, but no one ran off. No one could take their eyes off the crystal ball, afraid of missing something marvelous.

10th, 11th, 12th…

When Lin Yun sent back the last piece of paper, the sun had already started to show on the horizon. At the same time, the entire Cloud Tower burst into deafening cheers. All the mages spread the news and all the High Mages in the room were clapping their hands to celebrate. The wall Star Sage Jouyi hit in his research of the Fanrusen Formula had been cracked by Lin Yun today!

“What’s going on?” When he heard the cheers, doubt appeared on Lin Yun’s face.

“Haha…” Hogg stood in front of the crystal ball, and besides chuckling, he didn’t know what to say.

“Move aside…” Star Sage Jouyi walked over, shoving Hogg aside. He smiled as he stood in front of the crystal ball. As everyone watched in shock, he bowed deeply to Lin Yun. “Thank you, Merlin.”

“This…” Lin Yun was shocked. This was Star Sage Jouyi, the master of the Cloud Tower. One of the most powerful Archmages of the kingdom, “Sir Jouyi, you, you… How can I accept this.”

“No, no, let me speak…” Jouyi smiled as he shook his head. “That bow was to thank you on behalf of Noscent’s countless mages. To thank you for everything you did today, helping to let them encounter fewer detours as they travel down their paths to learn magic. The next bow is to express my thanks for fulfilling a wish I had for the last few decades…”

After saying that, Star Sage Jouyi bowed once again.