End of the Magic Era

But he really didn’t know what was attracting the Raging Flame Beastmen in the Flame Demon Fort. Although the ore veins in the area were very rich and would make any major force envious, what about the Raging Flame Beastmen?

After all, the metallurgy culture of the Raging Flame Beastman Race was practically nonexistent. Ores might be no different from common stones in their eyes.

This was really suspicious.

For the Raging Flame Beastmen to desperately attack here, the Flame Demon Fort had to have something deadly attractive to them.

It seemed that the Flame Demon Fort was far from being as simple as it seemed. Lin Yun could see that although Thorne had stayed in the Raging Flame Plane for over a decade, his understanding of the Flame Demon Fort was still superficial. He had yet to reach deep enough.

Lin Yun suddenly thought about Ida and Yuri from the Ancestral Land… He might be able to get some clues from them. He had someone notify the two, and a few minutes later, Ida and Yuri hurried to his living quarters, nervous expressions visible on their faces.

With their usual attitudes they wouldn’t show any respect to anyone not from the Ancestral Land. But it was clearly a different matter in front of this young mage. Not only was he their Commander, but he also had overwhelming power. When facing such a person, the two truly couldn’t act arrogant.

They had trouble facing the young mage even though he seemed to be in a calm mood.

“Err… High Mage Mafa, is there anything you need?” Ida cautiously asked. He had originally planned to pay a visit to the young mage with Ida, but they were summoned by him first. They weren’t sure what to make of this.

“First, take a seat…”

Lin Yun could clearly see how they felt from their expressions. He awkwardly scratched his cheek as he thought, ‘Am I that scary?’ The atmosphere became a lot more relaxed after the two sat down. Lin Yun smiled and said, “I’m sorry to disturb you, Sirs. I know you come from the Ancestral Land and might know more about the Raging Flame Plane.”

“High Mage Mafa, you… please don’t use any formalities, we are all on the same side.”

Lin Yun’s flattery overwhelmed them. Ida’s heartbeat calmed down a bit, but he didn’t dare to be careless. He smiled while organizing his words. He had participated in countless Planar Wars and his understanding of this plane was far higher than Lin Yun’s. After thinking for a bit, he said, “In fact, the entire Raging Flame Plane is very attractive to all of Okland’s forces. Although the environment is quite harsh, the natural resources produced here are very rich. It’s comparable to multiple Andlusa Kingdoms. No major force would be willing to miss out on this, but naturally, the most important reason is that the Raging Flame Plane’s mana density is very shocking. It can speed up the growth of mages…”

After taking a pause, Ida continued, “Moreover, there is a legend concerning the Raging Flame Plane. It has been circulating for about a millennium. It is said that an extremely powerful existence is being nurtured in the depths of the plane, and once it appears, it will have the power of Heaven Rank…”

“Oh…”

Lin Yun’s mind shook when he heard this. He thought of his Demiplane. A place that could speed up the growth of mages was truly worth being fought over by all major forces.

As for that legend…

He made the connection to the Book of Ten Thousand Mantras. This was a famous Extraordinary Magic Tool. It would appear in the Raging Flame Plane, but was currently still growing in power and was only a True Spirit Magic Tool. After a few thousand years, the Book of Ten Thousand Mantras would genuinely be at the Heaven Rank.

But thinking about it, it was unlikely that the Book of Ten Thousand Mantras was behind the growth speed increase for the mages there.

“The Flame Demon Fort area is the place with the densest mana in the northern part of the plane. To be more accurate, the mana in the Ghost Valley, located east of here, has reached a horrifying density. Unprepared mages wouldn’t be able to keep their lives after going in, they would explode from mana. Even a Great Mage wouldn’t dare to stay in the Ghost Valley for too long…”

Yuri then said with a grave expression, “This is the reason that the Merlin Family values the Flame Demon Fort so much, and is also why those other major forces desire it. If they didn’t fear the might of the Merlin Family, they might have already attacked. Moreover, the Raging Flame Beastmen also care a lot about the Ghost Valley. They do large-scale attacks on the Flame Demon Fort because they want to obtain the Ghost Valley.”

“Ghost Valley…”

After hearing Yuri’s words, Lin Yun frowned. He recalled the battle he had with the Raging Flame Beastman Mages earlier. Those dozen Beastmen each left a flame after their death, and that flame flew towards the east. With his insight, he naturally saw that this flame was made out of their mana and souls.

He hadn’t thought too much about it after discovering this strange phenomenon. He’d guessed that this was probably related to some traditions of the Raging Flame Beastmen, perhaps along the lines of offering sacrifices. But after hearing Yuri’s opinion, he immediately felt something strange. ‘Maybe that strange phenomenon is related to the Ghost Valley?’

He suddenly became greatly interested in the Ghost Valley. He fished out a map from his pocket, the one he had gotten from Thorne. He spread it out on the table and quickly found the location of the Ghost Valley. It was directly east of the Flame Demon Fort, and not far from the Ghost Valley was a Beastman tribe.

He suddenly felt that this Ghost Valley wasn’t as simple as what Yuri made it out to be.

“High Mage Mafa, what are you planning?” Yuri curiously asked.

Ida and Yuri didn’t dare to disturb him, but they hadn’t expected that after five minutes, the young mage would put away the map and walk out of the barracks.

“A stroll in the Ghost Valley…”

Lin Yun stopped and expressionlessly looked back at Ida and Yuri.

“Err… High Mage Mafa, you should take us with you, we have been there before,” Yuri said cautiously as he looked at Lin Yun’s expression.

“Yes, it’s already night. It might not be too safe if High Mage Mafa goes out by himself, how about you take us with you? We can attend to you…” Ida had an excited expression on his face.

They understood that this was a good opportunity to try to gain some favor with the young mage. If they missed it, it might be hard to come by another chance…

Establishing a good relationship with the young mage was extremely important. After all, he was just a bit over twenty and had already been recognized by the Ancestral Land, becoming a Planar Commander. Most importantly, the young mage’s power could only be described as terrifying. Although he was only a 5th Rank High Mage, he was no weaker than a 6th Rank Archmage.

Such a young mage with huge potential had to be befriended early on. The two were sure of this. If nothing unexpected happened, this young mage’s future achievements would likely reach the heights of Santon Merlin’s, or maybe even higher.

Thus, the two talents didn’t mind thickening their skins and brazenly asked to follow him.

“Haha, you should rest early, I’ll just take a casual stroll…”

Lin Yun smiled and left his living quarters before the two could react. After thinking, he decided to take his three cousins and the Draconic Beastman along with him.

“It’s so late, who dares to rouse Lord Xiuban!?”

After being awakened, Xiuban felt very bitter. He kept cursing in a low voice, but when he saw Lin Yun after leaving his living quarters, Xiuban’s face paled and beads of sweat dripped down his forehead.

“I’m heading out for a stroll…” Lin Yun put on a fake smile while looking at Xiuban, ‘That look is becoming more and more brazen, it looks like I need to get Syudos to teach him a lesson.’ Soon, their group of five left the Flame Demon Fort and moved towards the Ghost Valley.

In fact, nights were a lot brighter in the Raging Flame Plane than in Noscent. Active volcanoes could be seen everywhere in this plane, and some were even erupting. Nights were only a bit duskier than the days. They encountered no danger on the way to the Ghost Valley. Occasionally, there would be some Elemental lifeforms as well as fire-type magic beasts, but the weakest among Lin Yun’s group was an 8th Rank High Mage. After three hours, they reached the Ghost Valley.

While following the map, Lin Yun didn’t relax his vigilance and kept controlling a Mage Eye to explore the path ahead. When the outline of the valley appeared in front of him, he felt the surroundings disappear as the Mage Eye received intense mana interference and dissipated.

Lin Yun instantly knew that what was in front of him was the Ghost Valley.

With his three cousins and Xiuban in tow, he entered the valley.

“Where is this…” Ross was in disbelief.

“This is the Ghost Valley, and it is very rich in mana…” Lin Yun smiled and repeated Yuri’s explanation, causing their faces to change color. They clearly hadn’t expected that such a fantastic area existed in the surroundings of the Flame Demon Fort.

Lin Yun stood at the entrance of the valley, and even though it was dusky, he could still see that the Ghost Valley was huge. The trees were lush and verdant, and fragrant grass spread everywhere. The entire valley was filled with the aura of life. This was very mysterious, and Lin Yun could clearly sense from the entrance that Yuri hadn’t told him any lies. The mana here was very dense.

If a Mage entered this place, his Mana Whirlpool would involuntarily absorb mana. And since the amount of mana a Mage could hold was very limited, they would burst from mana. Yuri’s words weren’t exaggerated, there was a basis behind them.

But there was a gap between the Ghost Valley’s mana density and the Demiplane’s.

It was natural for such a gap to exist. After all, the naturally born Demiplane was truly special. It was affected by the soul fragment of an Ancient God. Even 30,000 years in the future, Lin Yun had never heard of a place with twenty times normal mana density.