End of the Magic Era

But unfortunately, Syudos had been too unwilling and hadn’t given the answer Lin Yun wanted.

Lin Yun had always wanted to know what Rudolph had done for Syudos to hate him so much. Not only did he struggle free of his binding when the Heaven Mage died, but he also burnt his corpse to ashes. After all, Rudolph and Syudos had been together for a few hundred years, perhaps even as long as a millennium. Why would Syudos do something so excessive?

Unfortunately, Lin Yun had already used his five Magic Arrays to suppress him…

That Upper Rank Flame Spirit would have to wait at least a month if he wanted to say anything. By that time, Lin Yun would have already carved all kinds of runes on his body, thoroughly fusing it with himself, no longer fearing a repeat of Rudolph’s tragedy.

But before that…

“Well, High Mage Solomon, should we…”

“Let’s return, let’s return…” Solomon didn’t wait for Lin Yun to finish and quickly called for a retreat. The spirit disguising itself as Dylan had startled Solomon greatly, and he no longer had the courage to continue exploring this Demiplane.

Fortunately, Lin Yun had successfully caught Syudos making the array stop gushing Frost Elementals. It took the two of them about ten minutes to clear away the Frost Elementals in the hallway, and then they left this Demiplane that hid countless secrets…

But Solomon didn’t notice that when Lin Yun opened the Planar Path, he said five unknown characters…

These five characters came from the Book of Death. One was used for localization, three for opening the Planar Path, and Solomon would have never expected the final one to be a delayed burst character. After a few minutes, that character would cause an explosion and destroy the Planar Path, thoroughly cutting off any hope for others to enter this Demiplane.

In other words…

Lin Yun only used five characters to seize the Demiplane that Rudolph left behind. From now on, the Book of Death would be the only key to open this Demiplane.

Just like he had said earlier: “Do you think I can afford to leave a whole plane for the Ash Tower?”

After the two returned to the Ash Tower, Lin Yun asked for – Mana Vine Breeding – from Solomon and went back to his room to transcribe a copy of it. This was the most important book to Lin Yun among Solomon’s over four hundred magic books.

In this era, a Mana Vine might only be akin to icing on the cake for a mage tower, but to Lin Yun, having a Mana Vine was truly indispensable.

Lin Yun had already gained the Demiplane that Rudolph left behind. Although Lin Yun had only explored a part of the plane, and he only had a Planar Path in his hands, there would inevitably be a day when he fully controlled the entire Demiplane. He might even tread on Astrologian Agalon’s path.

This was why the Mana Vine was truly indispensable. The mana that a Demiplane needed to grow was far more than what a mage could provide.

Rudolph’s situation was the perfect example. Even an esteemed Heaven Mage like him still left this Demiplane to become desolate. It wasn’t that Rudolph didn’t want to take care of it, but a Demiplane needed too much mana to sustain it. If anything, just stabilizing the four elements would need a peak Heaven Mage’s mana. If that mana wasn’t provided by the Mana Vine, but by Lin Yun, then who knew how many years it would take for that Demiplane to truly grow?

Naturally, it was too early to say this now.

Before he could completely explore the Demiplane, Lin Yun wouldn’t dare to make excessive moves. Especially with that True Spirit rank array in the lobby… Lin Yun was very vigilant about it. That was a True Spirit rank Array, with power comparable to that of an Archmage. Even a fool would know that it was suppressing something dangerous.

Lin Yun felt that he needed to become a 5th Rank High Mage at the very least before he could approach that array. It would be better to keep his distance before that.

Moreover, he didn’t have a Mana Vine in his hands.

Just before dawn, Lin Yun completed the copy of – Mana Vine Breeding –, and he finalized his future plans on one side while going to sleep with a yawn.

But not long after, just as the sun was shining in the sky, Jouyi came over…

“Merlin, get up quickly.”

“So early?” Lin Yun drowsily got up and opened the door. Jouyi was standing in front of him, with a sleepy Solomon next to him.

“Why do you both look as if you haven’t slept?” Jouyi looked at Lin Yun and then at Solomon before suspiciously asking.

“…” Solomon almost choked on his own saliva. ‘How can I answer that? I can’t tell Teacher that I haven’t slept at all yesterday because I spent the night plundering our hosts?’

Fortunately, Lin Yun was shameless enough to give an unquestionable explanation. “Maybe we aren’t used to the climate…”

“Climate?”

“Yes, yes, we’re not acclimatized…”

“Forget it…” Jouyi shook his head. Although he knew that this was a fake excuse, it was beneath him as a peak Archmage to dig deeper. Thus, he gave a warning look at Solomon and stopped arguing with them, only nodding at Lin Yun. “Almost everyone in the Magic Hand is present, follow me there.”

“Oh, okay…” Lin Yun hastily sorted himself before following Jouyi to the 10th floor of the Ash Tower, the Banquet Hall.

As the host of the Magic Hand’s gathering, the Ash Tower had obviously made enough preparations. Although the decorations in the Banquet Hall weren’t extravagant, they used a considerable amount of money to make a low-key, cozy, and harmonious setting that mages liked. Puppets served as waiters, several hundred Light enchantments were used as illumination, and even the most unremarkable goblet was a premium product from the Crystal Workshop. The whole Banquet Hall was filled with a dense aura of mana…

“This is Mogg, the Master of Whistle Island. He is called the Hurricane Envoy, and is an Elder of Oddrock City’s Fenn Family who had already become an Archmage several hundred years ago… He might be a bit older than Osul and me. That person is the Shadow Master, Dylan’s teacher. He was the one who opposed you joining the Magic Hand the most yesterday…” After walking in the hall, Jouyi greeted a few people while softly introducing them to Lin Yun.

‘It truly is the Magic Hand…’ Lin Yun felt a bit apprehensive as he heard the status of these people. They were top mages of the kingdom, and it could be said that this was a group of people standing at the peak of the magic world. They had enough power to rule countries…

“Oh right, Mercury Tower’s Nolan. You have already met his disciple Karon.”

“Oh…” Lin Yun followed Jouyi’s line of sight and noticed an old man with a white beard and white hair. He had a kind smile as he nodded towards him.

The Master Alchemist of the Mercury Tower, Karon, seemed to have told his teacher Nolan quite a few good things after coming back from the Cloud Tower. He most likely told him about Lin Yun’s help on the Fanrusen Formula, or else he wouldn’t have shown a youngster he was seeing for the first time such acknowledgement.

“Jouyi, long time no see.” As the two were speaking, a middle-aged mage walked over.

The middle-aged man seemed to be in his forties. He was rather handsome and had a tall build. His hair was meticulously combed, and although he looked pale, his smile seemed very friendly. Lin Yun couldn’t help having a good first impression, comparing him to Jouyi next to him.

Naturally, the results of the comparison couldn’t be argued.

Jouyi’s gray robe was not only wrinkled, but it was also stained. When compared to the middle-aged man in front of him, he looked like a beggar.

“Harren, move a bit, I still have stuff to do…” After seeing the new arrival, Jouyi, who had just been greeting people with a smile, seemed upset and his face darkened. He took Lin Yun to walk away from him.

“Sir Jouyi…” Lin Yun was curious, but after calling out to him, he hesitated, not knowing whether he should ask.

“That’s Harren, the Chairman of the Black Tower’s Council. He had already been a 9th Rank Archmage a hundred years ago. Don’t be deceived by his young appearance, he is already a few hundred years old, but he had absorbed the essence of a Dark Azure Tree in the Dark Azure Plane in his earlier years, gaining the ability to maintain his appearance, dressing gorgeously every day as a 9th Rank High Mage, feeling pride instead of shame… Such a shameless ghoul…”

“…”

The two walked around the Banquet Hall and quickly found Osul…

“Osul, how is it?”

“There aren’t that many issues, I’ve contacted all the members since yesterday and discussed with them. Most of them agree to Merlin becoming a member of the Magic Hand, but there might be some questions he needs to answer first, to make sure he mastered sufficient knowledge of magic. You know that this has been a standard rule.”

“Yes.” Jouyi nodded and patted Lin Yun’s shoulder. “You’ll be on your own in a bit.”

“That’s not a problem.” Lin Yun wasn’t worried. Those that had the slightest chance to stump him in magic theory had yet to be born.