by Zhuang Bifan
"You're spouting too much rubbish. I just want to ask you one question: obey me or die?" sneered Lin Li as he pointed his Reincarnation Crossbow on Gordon's head.
At that moment, Gordon truly felt death approaching. His regrowing body suddenly stopped moving.
Demon, this human is the true demon! thought Gordon. From Lin Li's cold gaze, Gordon knew clearly that he couldn't play any tricks on this human. Even if he were to reply a little late, this human would probably destroy him without any hesitation.
Chapter 666 - The Study
Lin Li had released Demon Gordon only because he was curious, and not due to any benefit he could bring to the Tower of Dusk. Thus, Lin Li didn't bother to spend too much time on this fella.
Seeing that Lin Li was going to pull the trigger of the crossbow soon, Gordon, who didn't want to die now when he had just gotten out of prison, immediately yelled, "Yes, yes, I will do everything you say."
Given how easily he would give in to threats, it was surprising the High Elves had confined this demon in this jail. Lin Li found this fact very funny, but he still put up a cold expression, and said, "I don't need to teach you what to do, right?"
"Yes, yes." Gordon felt that he was too unlucky. Just as he thought that he had regained freedom, he couldn't even celebrate that for more than 15 minutes before landing in another prison. Although he wasn't willing, he didn't dare to hesitate in presenting his soul to Lin Li, fearing that he would be killed if he wasted too much of Lin Li's time.
While the team couldn't figure out why Lin Li chose to subdue this demon, Cheyenne got some inspiration from Lin Li's behavior. The Malfa Family was only left with Cheyenne as the only Legendary powerhouse, so he was forced to stay and defend Aminya. This even slowed down the progress of his magical abilities. Now, although the Dark Blade had suffered a major blow, they still possessed two Legendary powerhouses, so their overall strength was still higher than that of the Malfa Family. If the Malfa Family could get another Legendary powerhouse, it would be greatly beneficial for the faction's development.
Thinking of that, Cheyenne stopped the team just when Lin Li prepared to leave with demon Gordon, who had regrown most of his body. He said, "Chief Elder Randy, Mage Felic, I'm really sorry, but please give me a while." With that, Cheyenne returned to the crystal ball and put his finger on it.
Everyone was clear what Cheyenne was thinking, but nobody said anything and only waited, hoping to see what kind of demon Cheyenne would release.
Cheyenne tapped his finger on the crystal ball for a few times, and the image on the crystal ball finally fixed. The creature confined in this cell was a Demon Winged Angel from the 50th level of the Abyss.
It was called an angel because its wings weren't like the membranous wings of other Abyssal Demon, but a pair of pure white feathered wings. However, one would quickly realize that its wings weren't actually pure white, but pale white.
Winged Angels possessed high speed and expertized in shadowing. The bones in its two arms were also as hard as steel, making it an infamous assassin in the Abyss. In terms of assassination, Winged Angels wouldn't lose out to the Dark Blade's Lansdale. They were even better than him to a certain extent.
After battling with the Dark Blade for so many years, the Malfa Family suffered from the Dark Blade's assassination attacks so often. Although Lansdale wouldn't attack personally most of the time, his disciples had killed so many mages from the Malfa Family. Even Cheyenne himself had suffered numerous times when fighting with the Dark Blade.
Thus, Cheyenne thought of the Winged Angel not because he wanted to assassinate anyone, but because it would be useful for the Malfa Family's future development as a Legendary assassin.
Cheyenne gently tapped on the crystal ball and opened the gates of the Winged Angel's cell. However, everyone felt it strange that there wasn't any exploding aura even after the gates were opened. It was as if the opened cell was empty.
Just then, Cheyenne, who was standing in front of the crystal ball, suddenly waved his magic staff and released a Gas Blast Spell at his side. With a strong gust of power, his body instantaneously shifted to the side.
However, the Gas Blast Spell didn't hit any target. Before Cheyenne could stabilize himself in the new location, he suddenly turned and knocked his magic staff on the ground. A fire wave rippled from his body in all directions.
However, a figure suddenly appeared behind Cheyenne just as the fire wave started to spread out. The sharp bones on its arm pierced towards Cheyenne's heart without any warning.
Cheyenne couldn't help but feel rather sullen. The demon that Mage Felic had released just now uttered so much crap before attacking, while the one he had released started to strike once he had opened the gates. With an opponent whose assassination skills were no worse than Lansdale's, Cheyenne still appeared very passive even though he had considerable experience in dealing with stealth attacks.
More importantly, Cheyenne had always thought that the best way to defend himself from assassination attacks was that passive defense ring. However, it was already destroyed at the Seven-Realm Spiral. If not, he wouldn't feel so threatened by the Winged Angel's attacks. Fortunately, Cheyenne's power had fully recovered at the third floor of the tower. Otherwise, he really wouldn't know how to react to this.
"Master Cheyenne, if you want to understand the Winged Angel's abilities, it will be better to leave this place and go back to examine it," suggested Lin Li as he waved his Helios' Scepter. Numerous Arcane Missiles shot towards Cheyenne's side.
Arcane Missiles weren't powerful. For a Legendary-mage, they were actually the products of a low-level magic. Lin Li didn't intend to help Cheyenne cripple this Winged Angel. After all, the Winged Angel didn't have Gordon's heaven-defying recovery abilities. Even without using the Reincarnation Crossbow, the Arcane Missiles were enough to force the Winged Angel to reveal its tracks.
Seeing that Lin Li helped him, Chief Elder Randy was embarrassed to just stand around. He signaled to Gildor to set up his bow and arrows. 14 sharp arrows fired at once, shooting out to all around Cheyenne.
Although the Winged Angel was extremely fast-moving and good at hiding its tracks, the local space was small, after all. With so many Legendary powerhouses' attacks, the Winged Angel was like a fly trying to escape from a gigantic flyswatter—it couldn't escape no matter where it went.
Seeing that the Winged Angel had been forced to reveal its tracks, Cheyenne immediately waved his magic staff and released his much-prepared magic…
After signing the Soul Contract with the Winged Angel, Cheyenne couldn't hide the joy in his eyes. With all the magical equipment as well as a Legendary Winged Angel, the Malfa Family's strength was finally comparable to that of the Dark Blade. Moreover, it was totally possible for the Malfa Family to surpass the Dark Blade in the foreseeable future.
Seeing that Lin Li and Cheyenne had conquered powerful Abyssal Demons consecutively, Chief Elder Randy's expression got a little unnatural. The elves had always despised allying with the demons. Undead creatures were filthy in their perception, while demons were the epitome of evil and degeneration.
However, this didn't mean that Chief Elder Randy wasn't somewhat envious of Lin Li and Cheyenne. After all, those two Abyssal Demons weren't just some random Legendary-realm demons, and it was rare to find such powerful fighters. Unfortunately, he wouldn't let himself sign the Soul Contract with a demon. After all, an elf who did that would be despised by the entire elven population, even if he was the eighth elder.
Objectively speaking, the ones who gained the most from this fourth floor were actually the elves. After all, they found their sacred unicorn, while Lin Li and Cheyenne only found a Legendary fighter each. Thinking about this, Chief Elder Randy felt a little more at ease. He turned towards Lin Li and Cheyenne, and asked, "Mage Felic, Mage Cheyenne, shall we proceed to the fifth floor now?"
Although everyone managed to get something from the fourth floor of the Central Tower, and the elves even managed to f
ind their sacred unicorn, everyone was still somewhat disappointed. If it had been any other place, these would have been remarkable gains. However, this was the Sky Castle and the Immortal King's treasure's location. Such gains were truly unsatisfactory for them.
When the team reached the fifth floor of the Central Tower, they unexpectedly found two intricately decorated doors at the entrance, blocking everyone's view. This was really interesting; the previous floor almost didn't have any defense mechanism in place, and they could see everything from the entrance. What could be behind these two closed doors?
Initially, everyone was rather worried that these doors would use the Magical Thousand-contraption Lock like that of the tower's main gate. If that was the case, nobody would be able to get in. However, Lin Li closely examined the carvings on the door and realized they were just carvings with no defense ability. With a slight push, these two exquisite doors slowly opened, and the next room was revealed in front of everyone's eyes.
The items in the Central Tower had surprised everyone many times, and the fifth floor wasn't an outlier. A dozen of enormous bookshelves stood in the huge room, looking as if this was the library of this Central Tower. All kinds of different books filled each bookshelf in an orderly manner. Every book emitted a faint magic glow.
Seeing the rows of bookshelves and countless books, everyone couldn't help feeling very excited. No matter how strong magical equipment was, it was only useful to one individual. However, knowledge could enhance everyone. Thus, any magical equipment had finite value, but the value of knowledge was limitless. No one would doubt the value of the magic-related books in here. After all, this was the last Sky Castle with the Immortal King's treasure.
During the war at the end of the Dark Age, Anril's overall civilization level went backwards considerably, and not just in terms of the loss of alchemical knowledge—even magic was much weaker than before. Thus, the current Anril was known as the peak of magic era only due to the two magic tides, making it relatively easier for mages to grow stronger. However, in actual fact, this era's civilization was far from the one during the Dark Age under the High Elves' rule.
Everyone walked into the room with unprecedented enthusiasm. Walking through the rows of bookshelves, nobody took the lead to take any of the books. Judging from the titles and authors of the books, they already knew that these books were priceless.
From theoretical studies of magic to analysis of every kind of high-level magic, the books here covered almost every aspect of the entire magic domain. Even the Supreme Council probably wouldn't own such an extensive collection, not mentioning the fact that the authors of these books were all famous powerhouses of the Dark Age.
"Fenix! This is a book by Fenix!" Someone couldn't help exclaiming after seeing a few manuscripts.
Although 1,300 years had passed since the Dark Age, Fenix was still a shining name in the field of magic. As the High Elf Queen's most trusted subject, the creator of the Magic Legion and its first commander, and the creator of numerous forbidden-curse spells, his achievements were all worthy of admiration.
After Fenix, the team gradually saw more and more names that shocked their souls.
Aegno, who was the first principal of the High Elves' royal magic academy, was the greatest magic theorist of his time. The ranking system for mages which he had conceptualized was still in use today. Alrond, the genius mage among the High Elves' royals and the first mage to create a magic that could convert the dragon language to High Elves's language. Melgrad, the chief royal mage and inventor of instantaneous spells…
Seeing all these names that were symbols of that era, everyone's face was beaming with excitement and their eyes sparkled. Even their breaths became heavier. Everyone knew what these books meant. If powerful magical equipment could shape a powerhouse, then knowledge could breed generations of powerhouses. It would also have immeasurable benefit to the future development of a faction.
Finally, everyone stopped at the other end of the room. Lin Li, Cheyenne, and Randy, these three leaders of the respective factions didn't say anything. They just looked at one another's eyes and reached a silent consensus. Almost simultaneously, the three factions spread out and started plundering this High Elves' treasure of knowledge.
Although the books and manuscripts here were all very precious, there were still differences in their value, and nobody could grab all these books into their own pockets. At this time, it was a test of their judgment. Whoever could find the most valuable part in this sea of knowledge would be the greatest beneficiary. This was also the content regarding which the three parties had come to consensus within a second.
All the books and manuscripts here were covered in a layer of faint magic glow. This was also an obvious indicator. When mages edited their own writings or manuscripts, they would insert their own aura into those writings. Therefore, the stronger the author, the stronger the glow around the books.
Chapter 667 - Laboratory
Cheyenne and Elder Randy had indeed thought about that, hence reaching a tacit understanding. They then decided to grab all the books that had a halo. At the same time, they also referred to the various accomplishments and legends of famous authors in history. In fact, they didn't hesitate much or read the content in detail before stowing it away in their pockets.
However, Lin Li stood rooted to the ground, seemingly fascinated for a moment. Seeing that the two of them were almost done snatching most of the books, he slowly walked towards a row of bookshelves. It didn't seem to be part of Elder Randy's and Cheyenne's consideration at all, because the magical books seemed no different from normal ones. Even though they had magical halos, the halos were extremely dim, and seemed to be on the verge of vanishing.
Anyone could tell that the books on that particular bookshelf were of great value if brought outside. However, they were far inferior to others. Hence, from the beginning, Chief Elder Randy and Elder Randy had already decided not to take them.
Lin Li did not rush to put everything into the Ring of Endless Storm, but instead pulled out a book from the shelf, which was written by an author named Oloderis. He wasn't that famous in the Dark Age. Well, at least Lin Li couldn't remember anything about the name.
However, when he opened the book in his hand, he was greeted with content that made his eyes glisten. It was practically a standard book of magical materials, and there wasn't anything too mystical in the book. All of the content was rather in-depth and included plenty of theories that explained magic.
It seemed that the textbook-like magical book was indeed not as valuable as the notes written by the strong figures who doc.u.mented their experiences. There was no content about the enlightenment and understanding of Laws. nor formidable magic that could destroy the world. However, how many members of a force could really have the ability to learn from the experiences of the powerhouses?
Besides, Lin Li already had the Book of Eternity which was written by Geresco, who was known as the God of Mages. The elites of the High Elves could not compare to Geresco at all.
If a force was merely supported by one or two powerful leaders, its members would forever be spoon-fed, and they would be destined to be doomed. Not only would the members of force like this be unable to provide any help for their leaders, they might even become a burden. The reason the Malfa Family and Dark Blade could possess such high authority and status in the Breezy Plains was not only because of their Legendary leaders, but also because they had a strong foundation.
Hence, increasing the strength of the leader was not the most valuable thing for a force. Improving the overall power and strength of the entire faction was of paramount importance. Although having a strong leader was mandatory, the leader might not be able to support the force in the long run if his underlings were all useless wastrels.
The Malfa Family that was helmed by Cheyenne was a good example. Although they had a strong foundation, they still hampered Cheyenne from increasing his individual power and strength. If it weren't for the qu
est in the Haiga Mountain Range, it would probably be only a matter of time before the Malfa Family got annihilated by the Dark Blade.
Lin Li looked at the cover of the magic book in his hand and noticed that there was a number annotated on the upper right corner. He then looked at the other books on the shelf to see that there were several magic books with consecutive numbers. Clearly, the books belonged to the same series, and were perhaps magic textbooks used by the High Elves in the Dark Age.
Lin Li glanced through the books one by one, after which he confirmed his conjecture. Of course, the magic textbooks of High Elves were definitely not used by mage apprentices. Lin Li roughly deduced that the magic textbooks should have been used by High Elves that were akin to the level of Archmages or Legendary-mages. In particular, there was a detailed description stating the methods to advance to the Legendary-realm. If anyone could master it, it would probably be easy to become a Legendary-mage.
Apart from this set of magic books, Lin Li also grabbed some other magic books, but they all seemed rather basic. They included some explanations and analyses of magic theories. Oloderis was the author of all the magic books, and Lin Li reckoned that he should be considered a magic educator to the High Elves.
In the world of Anril, Lin Li was familiar with a certain saying: while the teacher of the strong was not necessarily powerful himself, the students of a powerhouse were mostly mediocre. Apart from talent, elaborate education was important. Hence, renowned powerhouses might not be able to become great teachers.
At this moment, Cheyenne and Elder Randy had already taken away all the books that they wanted, and were walking towards Lin Li curiously. They had long seen the books there, but the faint halo made them forgo the idea of taking them away. Apart from feeling curious, they also gloated over the fact that Lin Li decided to take those books.
"Mage Felic, how are things going?" Elder Randy asked politely with a smile, but his tone was rather derisive.
