End of the Magic Era

“A hundred years after the Draconic War, a huge disaster happened. Almost all the powerhouses of the Merlin Family disappeared overnight…”

“Disappeared?” Lin Yun was surprised when he heard this. Even if a powerful Family that participated in the Draconic War declined in a century, how could it be because of their powerhouses disappearing overnight?

“Following that, the status of the Merlin Family took a great hit, falling down from the peak of the empire to dust…”

“But I wasn’t expecting this…”

“Before that huge disaster, the Merlin Family’s crest was indeed a bloody Dragon’s head. This is something that can only be found within the secret tome in the Ancestral Land.”

“In other words, this crest you gave me most likely belonged to one of the Merlin Family’s Ancestors?” Lin Yun gazed at that damaged crest for a long time before doubtfully asking, “How did you get this?”

“Eh, it was earlier, when the sky reddened..” William scratched his head, he looked dazed as he said, “But I don’t remember the details. I only remember that it was very chaotic, weapon shards, armor fragments and corpses were crashing onto the Planar Path. There was nowhere to hide, nor was there any time… By the time everything calmed down, I found that crest at my feet…”

“…” Lin Yun was speechless. Xiuban finding the Three-Headed Dragon’s drop of blood was an extremely lucky coincidence, but he hadn’t expected William to be just as lucky and find a crest of the Merlin Family after the ordeal.

But this crest…

Lin Yun looked at that damaged crest and discerned a strange power lingering within it.

It felt like soul type power.

Lin Yun didn’t understand much about soul power, so after failing to detect anything for a while, he called out Shawn.

“Come, Lord Shawn, take a look at that crest, see if there is something strange…”

“Eeeh, Dragon Slayer Crest!” Shawn clearly knew more than Lin Yun. Just as that crest got into his sight he immediately exclaimed, “This thing has a deep history, where did you get it? I’m telling you, the things left behind by the Thirteen Great Families can be very evil. They aren’t as trivial as the Royal Family’s Bloodline Curse. It’s your thing if you meet some trouble and die, but don’t drag me down with you…”

“…” Lin Yun took a few breaths as he tried to suppress the urge to squeeze Shawn back into his ring with his bare hands.

“Wait a second…” But just as Lin Yun was considering how to punish Shawn, the latter exclaimed, “This isn’t right, that bloody Dragon’s head clearly belongs to the Black Dragon of Destruction, but at the time, none of the Thirteen Great Families participating in the Draconic war fought against the Black Dragon of Destruction. I say, this is a fake…”

“Be less long-winded. I called you out to get your help to check if there is any soul power on that crest, not to be annoying…” Lin Yun unhappily cursed, “Who asked you whether this was a fake or not? You have spent so much time in Barov’s tomb, who knows if your mind deteriorated over time…”

But even though he said that, Lin Yun couldn’t help secretly admiring Shawn.

Shawn’s insight was clearly superior to an ordinary person, in truth none of the Thirteen Great Families had fought the Black Dragon of Destruction.

Because the one who withstood the Black Dragon of Destruction at the time was the strongest alchemist of the empire, the Dark Sage.

Thinking about it, Lin Yun was stumped.

‘Could it be that the Merlin Family has some relation to the Dark Sage?’

As he thought about it, Lin Yun felt that this was truly possible. As a participant of the Draconic War, since the Merlin Family left behind a bloody Black Dragon’s head as their crest, it meant that the Merlin Family had most likely fought the Black Dragon of Destruction, and in history, the one who fought the Black Dragon of Destruction was the Dark Sage.

Thinking about it, there truly seemed to be a relation between them.

At the very least, they should have fought alongside each other.

“Indeed, there is some soul power involved…” Shawn finished his analysis while Lin Yun was lost in his thoughts. He spoke up with a proud voice, but suddenly stopped before doubtfully saying, “But there is something strange…”

“What is it?”

“The soul power within that crest doesn’t seem to be a curse nor a protection…”

“Then…”

“If I’m not wrong, the soul power within that crest is likely… An inheritance…”

“You mean, a soul inheritance?” The expression on Lin Yun’s face became extremely strange.

No wonder that crest became damaged.

Until then Lin Yun still thought that the crest of the Merlin Family managing to land at the feet of an offspring of the Merlin Family was a coincidence.

But it now seemed that this wasn’t a coincidence after all.

Someone might wonder why it didn’t land at Lin Yun’s feet.

Mafa Merlin was indeed an offspring of the Merlin Family.

But Lin Yun wasn’t, his soul came from 30,000 years in the future.

“That’s right, it’s a soul inheritance, but don’t count on me to deal with that soul inheritance, the risk is too great and I won’t take it…” Shawn stretched after saying that. He didn’t wait for Lin Yun to urge him and retreated back into his ring.

“…” Lin Yun didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he watched the cowardly Shawn disappear.

But then again.

Lin Yun had no one else to ask…

“When you meditate in the next few days, try to pour mana into the crest.” Lin Yun didn’t wait for William’s answer and directly threw the crest back to him before sitting down to continue his analysis of the Silver Dragon Blood.

Days slowly passed.

In a blink, half a month passed.

The time it took to return surpassed Lin Yun’s expectations.

Through the twisting void, he could still clearly see the Netherstorm devastating the Heaven Enlightening Plane, that crimson almost covering every corner of the plane. The only part yet to be affected was that cemetery.

But it was only a matter of time.

Once the Netherstorm strikes, the whole world would turn into nothingness, corpses of the Ancient Gods would be no exception.

After two weeks, Lin Yun managed to extract a hundred thousand runes from that Silver Dragon Blood.

Now, the runes gathered within the Magic Arrays had reached a shocking 200,000!

If this spread on Noscent, even Archmages would turn pale on the spot. What did 200,000 runes meant, that was understanding over half of the world’s known runes. The amount of spells that could be combined with these 200,000 runes was simply amazing. This kind of abnormal rune accumulation would be described as shocking even in the peak of the magic era.

Never before did a Great Mage gather so many runes.

Not even the ones with the Magic Arrays.

The Magic Arrays within Lin Yun’s body already expanded to their maximum but still couldn’t accommodate all these runes. Lin Yun could clearly feel that the nine Magic Arrays within his body seemed bloated, they weren’t efficient enough and were a bit sluggish. Lin Yun knew that his circumstances were that of someone that had eaten too much and couldn’t walk.

He only had two choices.

Throwing up or fully digesting.

Lin Yun clearly wasn’t willing to get rid of these runes.

Thus he could only choose to digest them.

During the later half of the month, Lin Yun remained seated on top of the Planar Path, not standing up any longer. Everyone could feel the shocking mana fluctuations being emitted by Lin Yun, and these mana fluctuations never wavered, he was like a machine that never stopped, continuously operating his mana.

Lin Yun was in such a state.

For half a month, his Magic Arrays worked tirelessly, they kept operating at full speed. The feeling of burden and bloating made them inefficient and sluggish at start, but then, the Magic Arrays performed faster and faster and followed Lin Yun’s thoughts more precisely before finally working like usual.

Normally, Lin Yun should have stopped since the Magic Arrays already recovered.

But Lin Yun didn’t adhere to normal, he continued running them in full speed.

Because he felt that the Magic Arrays were already transforming.

Lin Yun didn’t move for another ten days.

But the mana fluctuations emitted were getting even more shocking.

In these ten days, whether it was Suyass, Fran, Lys or Solomon, they were all looking at Lin Yun with shock. They had a faint feeling that once that young Great Mage opened his eyes, the magic system of Noscent would be once again overturned.