End of the Magic Era

“Eh?”

When Lin Yun’s answer came out, over a dozen Archmages, including Harren and Jouyi, were all stunned. Some of them were wondering whether they had misheard him. That was too irrational… He was offering a full plane, the opportunity for instant success.

They thought that Merlin had been too nervous and answered wrong.

“My apologies, Sir Harren, three years is too long…” While they were all feeling confused, Lin Yun elaborated on his answer.

This time, they all understood clearly…

Afterwards, the entire Banquet Hall burst into an uproar once again.

‘He refused! He actually refused!’

Harren took out a whole plane, but he was refused by that young Great Mage!

‘This… This is crazy!’

‘How could anyone refuse such a deal? You were presented with a whole plane, yet you are actually giving it away on the basis that three years is too long…’

Some of the Archmages thought in shock, ‘A planar conquest would normally be counted in decades… Even the Pale Plane that the Cloud Tower discovered two centuries ago has yet to be completely conquered. Harren dared to promise you to conquer that plane in three years due to his confidence in the Black Tower’s strength, yet you actually think that three years is too long?’

At this time, many Archmages started to doubt whether that young Great Mage knew what owning a plane truly meant.

Otherwise, how could he decline like this?

“Great Mage Merlin, may I ask why?” Harren was still maintaining a very graceful pose, worthy of Jouyi nicknaming him ‘ladyboy’. After being refused by Lin Yun, he didn’t act offended and only asked with a smile.

“It’s complicated…” Lin Yun awkwardly chuckled.

Nothing could be done about it, as he couldn’t tell the true reason.

He couldn’t let Harren know that he already had a few planes and had his hands full with them, so he didn’t have the time to deal with an unknown plane.

This explanation truly couldn’t be used…

Otherwise, let alone Harren going berserk on the spot, even the other Archmages would be spitting at him. In this era where planar coordinates were invaluable, using such an immoral reason was simply flaunting his wealth, and he would deserve to be spit at.

But it was a fact…

Let alone the plane coordinates he learnt of during the end of the magic era, even just those he’d earned through various channels after arriving here were plenty enough.

First was the Bone Plane…

And now, although Lin Yun had yet to conquer the entire Bone Plane, he held the Book of Death and could open the Planar Path anytime, anywhere. William and Faleau were also occupying the black wasteland. As long as he was patient, he would sooner or later conquer the Bone Plane.

This was Lin Yun’s foundation. There was no need to speak of other planes, as all his energy and resources would be spent on the Bone Plane first.

Moreover, the depths of the Bone Peak were linked to the neighboring Demon Plane. The two planes were already overlapping, and a Planar Path would be established sooner or later even without external help. What Lin Yun needed to do now was to consolidate his strength so that when the time was ripe, he would be able to force the entrance to the Demon Plane open in one go. Lin Yun estimated that the Demon Plane should be as fertile as the Bone Plane…

Moreover, Lin Yun already talked with Osul about borrowing the Dusk Fire, a key needed to open the Shattered Sun Plane.

But this would be later on. Lin Yun didn’t have enough power to enter the Shattered Sun Plane at the moment. He needed to be a 5th Rank High Mage at the very least to make sure that he could survive there.

And he couldn’t forget about the Demiplane left behind by Rudolph.

All these planes…

Lin Yun had three and a half planes waiting to be conquered, and that was without the planar coordinates he still had from the decaying library.

Lin Yun only hated the fact that he couldn’t clone himself to take care of multiple planes at the same time.

As for the plane mentioned by Harren, Lin Yun could only refuse. He wasn’t going to let them explore a plane before him and then hand it over, and he already had a lot on his plate.

Moreover, Lin Yun already knew what he wanted from the Black Tower…

Compared to that unknown plane, that was something Lin Yun truly wished to get.

“Sir Harren, I heard that the Black Tower found ruins from the 3rd Dynasty a few months ago.”

“Oh?” The disappointed Harren suddenly frowned when he heard that. “How did Great Mage Merlin learn about it?”

“Haha, I incidentally heard about it when chatting here.”

“That’s right, three months ago, the Black Tower indeed found a ruin of the 3rd Dynasty on the East Coast. We finished removing the traps a few days ago and now, three Master Alchemists of the Black Tower are taking care of the arrays. They should be able to excavate it within a month…” After saying this, Harren threw a strange glance at Lin Yun. “Why? Great Mage Merlin has some understanding of the ruins?”

“I’ve learnt a bit about it, and if I’m not wrong, this should have been left behind by the Sun King from the middle of the 3rd Dynasty.”

“Haha…” Harren knew that since the other side was able to talk about the Sun King, his understanding of the ruins definitely wouldn’t be shallow. The origin of these ruins had only been made public within the Black Tower a month ago. There would only be two reasons for the other side to be able to talk about these ruins. He either had been paying attention to these ruins for a long time, or he had a spy inside the Black Tower.

If it had been someone else, Harren would have already become hostile upon realizing this. Whichever reason it was, this was a grave provocation towards the Black Tower.

But Harren only chuckled as he faced that young Great Mage and remained silent…

Not only did he remain civil, but he was even very happy.

He finally felt like he had the upper hand in this gathering…

This was like someone delivering a pillow when he wanted to sleep…

This was the situation Harren was the happiest to see.

‘Let’s talk about the Sun King Ruins since you are so interested.’

Sure enough, Harren soon noticed greed within the young Great Mage’s eyes. “I didn’t expect that the Black Tower actually discovered the legendary Sun King Ruins…”

“Haha, it looks like Great Mage Merlin is very interested in these Sun King Ruins. How about you come over when it is completely excavated? Thousand Sails City isn’t very far, after all, so I can receive you when the time comes.”

“Sir Harren, forgive me for speaking bluntly. I see that you are very interested in the Meditation Law Set, and it turns out that I am very interested in the Sun King Ruins… I feel that we can come to an agreement.”

‘Sure enough…’

Harren inwardly laughed, remaining calm and collected. “This might possible, but I have to ask, Great Mage Merlin, which relic of the Sun King are you interested in?”

Greed flashed in Lin Yun’s eyes once more as he said, “I want the entirety of the Sun King Ruins…”

“This…” Harren showed some embarrassment.

The other Archmages listening couldn’t help holding their breaths, ‘The entirety of the Sun King Ruins? Isn’t that too greedy?’

“Of course, I know that this request is a bit too excessive, so how about this, Sir Harren. You can choose which of the two Meditation Law Sets I have in hands that you want to get.”

“This…” Harren hesitated for a few minutes before reluctantly nodding, “Okay…”

In fact, Harren was inwardly laughing…

Others might not know the situation within the Sun King Ruins, but how could Harren not know?

In the past three months, the Black Tower had actually excavated the ruins while removing the traps. Now, the most precious resources, knowledge, and equipment were already in their possession.

But in order to maintain secrecy, the Black Tower didn’t make this information public. Even in the Black Tower, only a few high ranked mages knew about it.

The Sun King Ruins seemed untouched to the outside, but in reality, the most valuable relics had already been taken by the Black Tower. It could be said that the famous Sun King Ruins were now just an empty shell.

Harren never expected that he could trade such an empty shell for an 8-Formula Meditation Law Set.

“Then I wish us a delightful cooperation.” Lin Yun extended his hand with a smile.

At this moment, Harren never could have thought that Lin Yun would also be inwardly laughing at him…

Harren thought Lin Yun didn’t know that the Sun King Ruins had already been emptied…

But Lin Yun had already read about the Black Tower’s excavation in the books of the decaying library.

This was a classical excavation added to many textbooks.

But it was as an example on what not to do…

In the era of crazy excavations, almost every alchemist would exhort their disciples while teaching them, “If you don’t study well, then you’ll end up like those idiots of the Black Tower, letting go of the watermelon to pick up sesame seeds while being proud of it for over a thousand years…”

Indeed, the teaching material was the excavation of the Sun King Ruins…