End of the Magic Era

This diary recorded some of Bill George’s knowledge, and there were very few parts about puppets. It mostly contained some scattered notes regarding magic and mana, things concerning magic comprehension.

And these things were most precious to Lin Yun. He knew a lot, but it wasn’t easy to know about things related to enlightenment and comprehension without experiencing them personally.

These things were what Lin Yun needed the most right now. At the Archmage realm, mana was no longer a shackle. Runes, Magic Conducting Rune, Core Meditation Law Set, True Spirit Magic Tool… None of those could restrict his increase in Rank.

The only thing stopping Lin Yun from advancing was his comprehension of the Laws. The accumulation of insight couldn’t be achieved in one night.

Thus, as long as Lin Yun gained some new insights, his rank would increase on its own. When his soul was burnt by the Illusory Soul Fire, Lin Yun had gained new insights and improved his comprehension. That had pushed him to the peak of the 4th Rank.

Now, it looked like this wasn’t a book that Bill George really cared about, one that he casually left lying around, yet Lin Yun immediately broke through to the 5th Rank.

It was an entirely different feeling. He felt like the power he could display had greatly increased, as if he had only been able to display 50% to 60% of his true power before, while he could now output 70% to 80%.

Lin Yun browsed the diary and understood that this wasn’t an illusion. It was real.

The 5th Rank was a threshold for Archmages. When he came to the Raging Flame Plane, he heard that everyone under the 5th Rank of the Archmage realm was considered cannon fodder.

Only powerhouses above the 5th Rank of the Archmage realm could really influence a war on their own.

There was also a certain viewpoint in Noscent, that becoming 5th Rank Archmage was only the beginning.

Everything before that was just a process of accumulation, an increase in rank and power. Advancing through the High Mage realm wasn’t too different of a process from the Great Mage realm.

But the 5th Rank of the Archmage realm was when a mage started coming into contact with the shadow of Laws. In that state, they could observe that wisp of the shadow and hope to gain some insights.

Thus, every increase in rank starting from the 5th Rank would keep magnifying the increase in strength. Even when the strength didn’t increase much, one would feel as if they were able to display even more of their own power. This was the change brought from observing the shadow of a Law.

After silently advancing to the 5th Rank, Lin Yun couldn’t help smiling.

His power had increased, and now, an ordinary 9th Rank Archmage would no longer be on his level. Only those peak Archmages who had taken half a step into the Heaven realm, like Harren and Jouyi, could be his match.

Lin Yun studied the insights on magic contained within Bill George’s diary while the Radiant Fort was buzzing with activity.

With the Radiant Fort as the center, they suppressed the few surrounding tribes and even planned on expanding. And as the underground base started operating at maximum efficiency, a large number of puppets were manufactured.

These puppets weren’t the strongest, but there were plenty of them. They were doing the bitter work around the Radiant Fort, like excavating some of the resources. There were all kinds of puppets.

After returning from the underground base, Reina isolated herself to practice. Her soul had been tempered, and the refining of her Dragon Crystal was advancing even more quickly. Her power was also increasing faster and faster. She was now improving far faster than the fastest Frost Dragon.

After all, Frost Dragons had very long lifespans, a trait common to Dragons. A Dragon that was a millennium old might not even be considered an adult. They were innately powerful, but their strength and level would rise very slowly. It was far, far slower than humans.

In more than a year, Reina had already advanced to level 39, and her strength kept on rising. It far exceeded the speed of an ordinary Frost Dragon, at least a few dozen times faster.

Xiuban’s rank was also skyrocketing. He quickly advanced to the 7th Rank, and his power was getting more and more frightening, while his physique was becoming more and more outrageous. When he was accidentally hit in the back by a level 36 puppet, he only cursed in annoyance.

Lin Yun also used some of the precious materials from the base to replace some low-grade components in his puppet. If he found some parts for a Heaven Rank Puppet, it wouldn’t be impossible for his own puppet to reach the Heaven Rank.

As for the army of fifty mages, some more of them advanced to the Archmage realm, and the progress of the leader, Kurumu, was the fastest. Although he was still a 2nd Rank Archmage, his understanding of Fire Elemental Incarnation made it exceed the original power of the spell.

The entire Radiant Fort was thriving, and everyone was in a good mood. Only Wagner was an exception.

“Lord Shawn, I was wrong, I didn’t inwardly curse you on purpose…”

Wagner was lying on the ground, continuously rolling about while clutching his head in pain and terror.

After a dozen seconds, Lord Shawn came out of Wagner’s head and returned to his ring. “Damned scoundrel, you actually slandered Lord Shawn in your mind! Are you trying to pick a fight with me?”

Wagner promptly shook his head.

Seeing Shawn return to the ring, the despairing Wagner accepted his poor fate.

After returning from the underground base, Wagner had still wondered why he should still follow Lin Yun since he had complete control over the puppet base.

He didn’t want to resist at first, but Shawn had already left a backdoor, which made it the same as having no defenses against Shawn. How could he keep anything from Shawn?

Each time this kind of thought rose up, he was sorted out by Shawn.

In the few days after returning, he was roughed up several times a day until his soul suffered some damage. He would be like a corpse, unable to stand up or do anything at all.

If he wasn’t willing to give up, Shawn would take care of him.

He resolved himself to cut his finger off with a spell, but just as the thought appeared in his mind, his soul was forcibly torn open by Shawn. Shawn cautiously made him feel what being half-dead meant.

Now, Wagner was looking at the ring in resignation.

‘Never mind, it’s already like this. I won’t be able to escape, and I can’t even resist. What can I even do? My soul is under their control and I’ll die if I don’t accept my fate…

‘So what if I follow that Mafa Merlin? He is so powerful, it is highly likely that he’ll advance to the Heaven Rank. From what Lord Shawn said, Mafa Merlin recently advanced to the 5th Rank… A 5th Rank Archmage…

‘Hell, how could a 5th Rank Archmage be so powerful? Wouldn’t he have the power to contend against a Heaven Mage by the time he becomes a 9th Rank Archmage?

‘Moreover, it only took him a few years to transform into such a frightening existence from a Magic Apprentice. I won’t lose out if I follow him faithfully.

‘Now that I’m in charge of the puppet base, I’m more powerful than I was in the George Family, and I control even more forces! Even if I could become the Patriarch of the George Family and have a very small chance of advancing to the Heaven Rank later on, that might also be possible by following him.

‘Forget it, this is my life now…’

Wagner finally took over his job properly and sincerely ran the base under the Radiant Fort.

Half a month passed, and the Radiant Fort was built like an iron barrel. Unless an extremely large army of Raging Flame Beastman swept over and caught them by surprise, the Beastmen couldn’t take over the Radiant Fort.

Even the surroundings of the Radiant Fort were completely under their control. Although the area was considered a cold, bitter land in the Raging Flame Plane, it was mostly because the climate and environment weren’t suitable for growing most plants.

The basic plants and cereals that the Beastmen needed to grow couldn’t be produced here, and there was a pitiful amount of prey. However, there was plenty of ore.

But these ore veins had no meaning to the Raging Flame Beastmen, so they had little attraction for this land.

It wasn’t without reason that Bill George established his base here. There were many ore veins, and it wouldn’t attract attention.

As more and more puppets were created, everyone started becoming idle. Lin Yun wasn’t the only one spending his days in his room… Reina and the others were also free of work, and the fifty mages also had a large amount of free time to study or research spells every day.

This continued for a while. After all, they had been fiercely fighting before. But as time passed, everyone felt worried.

In normal times it might be more normal to occupy and fortify a place after conquering it, but it wasn’t the time to be idle now.

The greatest military campaign in the history of the Raging Flame Plane was currently underway. The general attack on the Raging Flame Plane would decide the fate of the Raging Flame Plane and who would control it later on.

The struggle between the Andlusa Kingdom and the Odin Kingdom was already at its fiercest and the point totals were changing every day. Everyone was going all-out, striving to get more points.

But at such a time, Commander Mafa Merlin wasn’t showing any signs of urgency. Every day, he would just study a book, or perhaps tear apart a puppet before fixing it.

“Merlin, the Radiant Fort is already under control, and we’ve also taken over all the land in the surroundings. Don’t you feel a bit worried? If you drag things on like this, we will fall too far behind. Even if the Andlusa Kingdom wins this military campaign, we won’t get much territory…”