End of the Magic Era

“Fuck!” Lin Yun reflexively cursed and didn’t even think before casting a Flame Burst.

Lin Yun was already a peak 9th Rank Great Mage, and even for his rank, he was very powerful. It could be said that his strength had doubled after reaching his current state from the 5th rank. Even if High Mage Hoen appeared again, he wouldn’t be Lin Yun’s equal. From this, it could be imagined how powerful the Flame Burst that Lin Yun just cast was.

A rumble echoed as the dazzling flames of the spell spread, even causing the earth to shake.

“Who is it!?” Lin Yun then heard an utterly discomfited voice. “Fuck, whoever just tried to hit me with a sneak attack, fuck off!”

Lin Yun suddenly frowned. He opened the door to the carriage and got off.

At that time, Lin Yun discovered that the large group had already reached Edge Rift, and a camp was standing before him. From the symbols on the tents, it could be seen that this was the Silver Moon Mercenary Group’s camp. Both sides of the camp were lined by precipitous mountain walls. Only one carriage could advance on the straight, narrow path, and that voice had come from the path ahead.

Lin Yun looked and found out that it was a young Mage in his late twenties. He was covered with black scorch marks, as if he had just been burnt. From the rampant mana fluctuations that he was releasing, it could be seen that he was only a 7th or 8th Rank Great Mage.

After thinking about the character that he had finally almost managed to simulate, Lin Yun glared at the flustered mage, emitting unconcealable killing intent. After having experienced countless defeats, he was disturbed by this person just as he was getting closer to success. It was obvious how angry Lin Yun would be.

Even if he would end up taking fewer detours in his later simulations after having that experience, how could he hold back the anger of being disturbed at such a critical moment?

Unfortunately, that young Great Mage didn’t know that he had already stepped on a path leading to disaster.

“You people from Thousand Sails City, how could you be so shameless? If you want this Variant Beastman, then come get it through negotiation, why use such a despicable sneak attack?”

“Ah?” Lin Yun froze when he heard that. He cast a Mage Eye and found out that there was a monstrous-looking beastman not far from the young Great Mage. It looked thin and fragile, seeming far too different from the usual fierce beastmen. If not for the iconic dark red skin, Lin Yun would have never guessed that this was a beastman.

The strangest part was that this Variant Beastman was emitting an aura… It had the faint trace of Draconic power!

‘Draconic Beastman?’

After feeling the faint Draconic power, Lin Yun immediately recognized it as a Draconic Beastman, one of the rumored descendants of the offspring of a Dragon and a beastman. Moreover, they couldn’t emit such Draconic aura unless it was a first generation with the purest bloodline.

Draconic Beastmen were very rare.

They were born with two innate martial abilities. The Beastman bloodline granted them outstanding defenses as well as innately powerful mana, allowing them to easily reach a level comparable to that of an Expert Swordsman once they reached adulthood. If they received some martial inheritance, it wasn’t impossible for them to enter the Sword Saint realm.

And their Draconic bloodline gave them shocking spellcasting abilities.

Moreover, this spellcasting ability was completely different from that of mages. This was Draconic Magic inherited from their bloodline. It was far simpler and more direct than human magic. They didn’t need to study magic or remember incantations. They only needed to rely on their innate Draconic Bloodline to compare with human mages.

It was unexpected for an already captured Draconic Beastman to appear in Edge Rift.

‘But didn’t the method to nurture Draconic Beastmen first appear a few hundred years later, among the corpses of the ones who claimed to be descendants of Devils, after the Gaugass Battlemages were eliminated by the Black Tower?

‘Could the way to nurture Draconic Beastmen have appeared earlier?’

This possibility startled Lin Yun.

But he quickly understood that he was just scaring himself.

“I must warn you that the blood of this Variant Beastman is a magic material that my teacher, Fran, personally requested. Try to steal it and see if you can handle the rage of a Master Alchemist!”

“Magic material?” Lin Yun didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ‘Using the blood of a Draconic Beastman as a magic material, only an imbecile like Fran would make such a mistake.’

Half of the blood of a Draconic Beastman came from a Beastman, and half from a Dragon. It was very unstable when used as a magic material. In the entire Andlusa kingdom, perhaps only those few Artisans could control the blood of Draconic Beastmen…

As for Fran…

Maybe in his next life…

Lin Yun wasn’t interested in saying anything else and directly extended his hand, releasing an immense magic power that pulled the small Draconic Beastman through the air and softly land in front of him.

Lin Yun checked it and noticed that this Draconic Beastman had been seriously injured and was unconscious. There were traces of wounds from magic attacks everywhere on his body, some burns, some frostbites, and even if they weren’t fatal, they still totaled several dozens. With one look, it could be seen that he had been tortured.

After thinking about it for a bit, Lin Yun took a dagger from his pocket and made a light cut on a finger of that Draconic Beastman. A few drops of red blood fell in a test tube Lin Yun had quickly readied. Not one drop of blood was spilled.

‘Sure enough, it’s a Draconic Beastman’ Lin Yun didn’t have time to examine the blood within the test tube before the incision made by the dagger quickly healed.

Lin Yun knew that this was the powerful self-healing ability from the beastman heritage. This race living in the extreme north naturally had stronger bodies than humans.

“You dare!” After the Draconic Beastman flew away from him, the young Great Mage’s anger was palpable. He didn’t even stop to consider whether or not a mage that could instantly grab the “Variant” Beastman from over a dozen meters away was someone he could deal with…

The young Great Mage only knew that this was the person who had attacked him and also wrecked the task his teacher had given him.

Blinded by his anger, the young Great Mage raised his magic staff and spat out an incantation, making three Frost Spikes sail through the air, leaving a trail of frost behind them while emitting a piercing sound.

“Oh?” The instant the Frost Spikes appeared, Lin Yun looked up at them, seeming unperturbed.

But the mana fluctuations around him were seething.

The young Great Mage seemed shocked, because he clearly saw those three lightning-fast spikes stop in mid-air.

“Did you know that the Earthquake you just cast disturbed me and made me lose the opportunity to break through?”

“It did?” The ease with which he stopped the spikes had already startled the young Great Mage, but he wasn’t willing to yield. “Disturb you? I don’t have the time to care about that!”

“I see…” Lin Yun shook his head and remained silent.

Then, a sharp sound echoed once again…

The three Frost Spikes rotated in mid-air and flew back at an unimaginable speed. This speed was too fast, to the point that no one was able to react. The young Great Mage didn’t even have the time to scream before the three Frost Spikes pierced his chest…

“You… You…” The young Great Mage stood there in a daze, blood flowing out of his wounds like water from a fountain, disbelief etched in his face, before falling down on the ground.

“Mafa Merlin!” Fran had just gotten down from his carriage.

And as a result, the drama continued.

“Mafa Merlin! You… You killed Rieser!” Rage was burning in Fran’s eyes.

This was Fran’s most valued disciple, in his late twenties, yet already an 8th Rank Great Mage and also a Great Alchemist on the verge of becoming a Master Alchemist. Fran had even planned on using most of his harvest from Vaughn’s Treasury on this disciple to quickly let him enter the High Mage realm and Master Alchemist realm.

Fran knew that he himself wasn’t innately gifted. It was already quite fortunate that he had managed to become a Master Alchemist, but he would never be able to become an Artisan. He had placed all his hopes on this disciple of his.

But now, one day away from reaching Vaughn’s Treasury, his most valued disciple had been killed.

The three Frost Spikes piercing his chest also severed Fran’s inheritance. For Fran, this was hatred he would never be able to quell!

“Turns out he was a disciple of Master Fran… I’m sorry, I didn’t have the time to care about that…” Lin Yun softly answered.

“You didn’t care about that!?” Fran stopped, his red eyes glaring at Lin Yun, wishing he could tear him into pieces at this instant.

“Yes, I just told this Great Mage Rieser that his Earthquake spell disturbed me and made me lose the opportunity to achieve a breakthrough. He answered that he didn’t have time to care about it.” Lin Yun didn’t back down and matched his gaze.

“Even if Rieser disturbed you, how could you kill him for an insignificant breakthrough opportunity?” Fran answered in his rage.