by Zhuang Bifan
With the powerful battlesh.i.p.s that had been refined with alchemy, the Gilded Kingdom had absolute dominance over the sea, and their powerful naval fleet spanned across the boundless sea. Although the Felan Kingdom and the Ledin Kingdom were the hegemons of the mainland, no one would dare to provoke the Gilded Kingdom when at sea.
Hence, when they heard about the fortress-like battleship on the sea from the guards, Alan and the others immediately thought of the Gilded Kingdom. Other than the Gilded Kingdom, there would probably be no other nation or force that would be able to command such a powerful battleship. Who else could it be other than the Gilded Kingdom?
However, so what if they knew that it was the Gilded Kingdom? They couldn't possibly start a war with the Gilded Kingdom. If a war were to break out, the Tower of Dusk wouldn't be afraid of the Gilded Kingdom's battlesh.i.p.s, because they had a Sky Castle. However, the Gilded Kingdom might very likely be supported by the Illuminati that had a heritage of numerous years. If the Illuminati were as strong as the Brilliance Shrine, the Tower of Dusk would be in trouble.
Most importantly, Lin Li who could control the Sky Castle was now still in seclusion in the library, and Alan and the others did not want to disturb him at this moment. Hence, they had no choice but to let the Gilded Kingdom off for the time being. Anyway, they could not resume production in a short period of time, so they might as well just leave it alone for now.
In the end, the invasion of the mine might have caused the forces of Breezy Plains to get into an uproar, but the members of Tower of Dusk acted like nothing had happened, and did not do anything at all.
How could Lin Li, who had just asserted dominance with some cruel means, be bullied to the point of not reacting? The Tower of Dusk's inaction made many forces of the Breezy Plains confused. However, when they heard that a battleship of the Gilded Kingdom was the one that attacked the Tower of Dusk's mine, some of the forces couldn't help but gloat at them.
However, it didn't end there. Soon after the Tower of Dusk's mine was attacked, another piece of news was spread from the Felan Kingdom. An important port of the Felan Kingdom had also been attacked by the Gilded Kingdom, and nearly 100 merchant sh.i.p.s that had docked at the port were sunk. The warehouses in the port were also ruined because of the artillery fire.
It got extremely lively in the Felan Kingdom. Rumor had it that the king of the Felan Kingdom was so infuriated that he smashed his crown after hearing the news because one of the merchant sh.i.p.s docked in the port was carrying a large amount of treasures tributed to him by several castellans of cities in the south. Besides, the king of the Felan Kingdom wouldn't be willing to take it lying down even without the loss of tributes. It was a clear provocation. Was the Gilded Kingdom thinking of starting a war with the Felan Kingdom!?
However, there was no way the king of the Felan Kingdom could vent his anger. With the sub-par navy of the kingdom, they would be courting death if they started a war with the Gilded Kingdom. However, the Felan Kingdom was not completely at a loss for what to do, either. The king actually went straight to the Alanna Guild of Magic in hopes that the Guild of Magic would step out to help him resolve the issue.
Although the Guild of Magic was not under the rule of the Felan Kingdom's royal family, the Guild of Magic was responsible for ensuring the safety of the leaders of the Felan Kingdom. Hence, the Guild of Magic was responsible for the matter of the Felan Kingdom's port being attacked, and there was no excuse for them to ignore it.
Therefore, at the request of the royal family of the Felan Kingdom, the Alanna Guild of Magic had no choice but to take over this matter. However, the Alanna Guild of Magic did not intervene immediately. Instead, after some investigation, they sent Macklin to go to the Tower of Dusk, clearly planning to let Lin Li, a Sanctuary powerhouse, help them resolve the problems at hand.
Actually, President Aldwin was not to be blamed for not being responsible enough. The Endless Ocean was the world of the Gilded Kingdom, and without a powerful battleship, even a Legendary powerhouse would seem like an insignificant small fry there. A slight careless mistake would cause them to die without even getting to fight the battlesh.i.p.s of the Gilded Kingdom. Only a Sanctuary powerhouse who had mastered the World Laws would have the power to deal with the Might of Nature in the vast ocean.
However, the three Arbitrators of the Supreme Council, who had stopped paying attention to the world for a long time, would not step in despite knowing about this matter. After all, in the opinion of the three Arbitrators, the people from the Felan Kingdom and the Gilded Kingdom were all insignificant, and they felt that it was not worth their while to intervene in something that was akin to a fight between mobs.
Hence, Aldwin thought of Lin Li. After all, Lin Li had just stepped into the Sanctuary-realm, and he did not see them as nobodies.
When Macklin arrived at the Tower of Dusk, half a month had passed since the Tower of Dusk's mine was attacked. However, Lin Li still did not come out of the library. Although Macklin was on good terms with Lin Li, Lin Li was ultimately a Sanctuary powerhouse. If Lin Li was free, it would be easy to talk to him about it, but now it was inappropriate for him to disturb Lin Li because of this matter. He could only wait at the side for Lin Li to come out on his own while discussing with Gavin and the others everything that happened lately.
Initially, Macklin was not too confident about being able to invite Lin Li. After all, the attack on the port of the Felan Kingdom was not quite related to Lin Li. However, after having a chat with Gavin and the others, he learned that a mine of the Tower of Dusk had been attacked by the Gilded Kingdom's battleship too. Despite knowing that feeling such emotions was a little unethical, Macklin still couldn't help but be somewhat elated.
Damn it, the people of the Gilded Kingdom are really silly. Of all people, they had to provoke this ruthless kid! Once this kid Felic comes out, those guys are going to have a hard time! Macklin understood Lin Li rather well, and he knew that Lin Li was very cautious and protective of his people. Yet, the people of the Gilded Kingdom dared to touch the Tower of Dusk's assets. They truly had a death wish.
After knowing that the Gilded Kingdom had touched the mine of the Tower of Dusk, Macklin did not panic. He simply waited calmly at the Tower of Dusk for Lin Li to come out.
However, while Macklin was waiting for Lin Li to come out, there was a sudden influx of guests in the Tower of Dusk again. Besides, the reason that those people came was surprisingly to seek help from the Tower of Dusk too—they had continuously been attacked by an unknown force in this period of time.
Many of the guests were ready to see the Tower of Dusk become a laughing stock, but no one thought that they would encounter the same thing. The Tower of Dusk was extremely wealthy, and they would not be affected by the loss of billions of gold coins' worth of Tera ore and the temporary closure of the Tera Mine. However, the losses were unbearable for the smaller forces, as those losses were just like daggers to their hearts. After thinking about it, they realized that Lin Li, the president of the Tower of Dusk, was the only one who could stand up for them.
Initially, only the leaders of a few smaller forces were there to seek help from the Tower of Dusk, and most of them owned only one or two mines. However, the unknown force seemed to have gradually become bolder as they attacked more and more powerful forces. Soon, even the Mithril Alliance showed up at the Tower of Dusk. A few major families of the alliance had been attacked too.
After the Mithril Alliance, the Glittergold Trade Union, the Blood Moon Clan, the Caesar Family, and other top forces also sent people to the Tower of Dusk. Although those top forces might not be afraid of the unknown force, they could not take care of every industry, after all. The unknown force was coming and going like the wind such that they could not catch them at all.
In fact, the top forces were now encountering the same issues as the Tower of Dusk. Although they were extremely powerful, they had many businesses, and even the strongest force could be attacked by smal
ler forces when split up. If they concentrated on a single business, it would be akin to giving up on the others. After all, no one knew which industry the enemy would attack.
The reason that no one dared to touch the businesses of the major forces was that they had a great deterrent effect on other small forces, just like the Tower of Dusk before they asserted dominance. Actually, all top forces had established their authority using the lives of the enemies before. However, the unknown force that had suddenly appeared was clearly not a force from the Breezy Plains. Even if the Mithril Alliance wanted to take revenge, there was nothing they could do.
Of course, the Mithril Alliance and the other forces were not there to seek help from Lin Li, but rather wanted to join forces with him to nab the unknown force. Under the influence of the magic tides, the strength of the few major forces naturally increased, but most importantly, they now had Sanctuary powerhouses too.
Elvis of the Mithril Alliance, who had long since stepped into the peak of the Legendary-realm, had been in seclusion to break through to the Sanctuary-realm. If everything had developed as per normal, Elvis would have no hopes of entering the Sanctuary-realm, but he encountered the largest magic tides in history, which allowed him to break through the bottleneck. A year ago, he had successfully entered the Sanctuary-realm.
However, due to the magic tides. Elvis' strength would probably stagnate at level-25 from now on—unless he encountered another wave of magic tides that were more intense than this one. That would give him a slim chance of breaking through.
Master Thomas, the first president of the Glittergold Trade Union, also relied on the magic tides to successfully break through the bottleneck of the peak of the Legendary-realm, thus becoming the first Sanctuary powerhouse of the Glittergold Trade Union. As for the top forces like the Caesar Family and the Blood Moon Clan, their Legendary powerhouses who had been stuck at the peak of the Legendary-realm had also stepped into the Sanctuary-realm within this short period of time.
Chapter 1026 - Storm
Actually, that was not strange at all. Each of the top forces had an extremely strong foundation and a few old fogies who were stuck at a bottleneck at the peak of the Legendary-realm. Most of them no longer meddled with the affairs of their families and forces, and were instead focusing all their attention on breaking through the bottleneck. They would either step into the Sanctuary-realm and obtain thousands of years of life or stay in seclusion and quietly turn into a pile of ashes.
Back when Lin Li was a guest at the Brilliance Shrine, he had heard of a forbidden place in the Brilliance Shrine that was specially for those who were in seclusion to break through to the Sanctuary-realm. Due to the fact that no one dared to disturb them, it was unknown if the people who were in seclusion in that one room were alive or dead. Some might only have their corpses discovered decades or even centuries after their deaths.
After all, only four magic tides had appeared in Anril so far, and not every Legendary powerhouse could get such an opportunity. Besides, not every Legendary powerhouse who was at the peak of the Legendary-realm could successfully break through with the magic tides.
This time, the ones who visited the Tower of Dusk were not those few Sanctuary powerhouses. One of the reasons was that they had to continue familiarizing themselves with their newfound power. After all, they had to rely on an external force to enter the Sanctuary-realm. Another reason was that they had to guard the headquarters lest it got attacked by the unknown force, which was made up of Legendary powerhouses, during their absence. Of course, to some people, there might be another inexplicable reason—they felt that they were Sanctuary powerhouses who were now equal to Lin Li. Hence, there was no need for them to visit Lin Li personally.
It didn't take long for the Tower of Dusk to gather the representatives sent by the various forces, just like when the forces came flocking to the Tower of Dusk previously to repair their relationship with the Tower of Dusk. Besides, they could not see Lin Li, and had no choice but to pester Gavin and the other senior executives. They wanted to persuade Gavin to look at the bigger picture and get Lin Lit to come out of the library.
However, in Gavin's opinion, Lin Li's improvement in strength was far more important than the continuous attacks launched on the businesses of the Tower of Dusk. At most they would repeat what they did two years ago, and recall all the manpower to the Tower of Dusk. Once Lin Li came out of seclusion, they would be able to get everything they lost.
To the representatives of the various forces, waiting was an arduous chore, especially since they were continuously receiving news of a certain industry being attacked. That made their days feel like years. However, since Gavin and the others were not willing to get Lin Li to come out in advance, the others dared not act presumptuously, either. After all, offending a Sanctuary powerhouse was no laughing matter. They could only remain in a state of panic, yet no matter how anxious they might be, they had no choice but to wait patiently.
They waited for more than half a month, and were on the verge of vomiting blood. However, on this night, the guests of the Tower of Dusk felt a sudden and shocking magical wave when they were tossing and turning in bed, struggling to sleep. Under the magical wave, the Tower of Dusk seemed to be quaking a little too. The magical elements in the space suddenly surged countless times, forming a huge Elemental Storm outside the Tower of Dusk, which was howling angrily like a gale.
Immediately afterwards, they felt that they could no longer suppress the mana in their bodies—it was as if it had suddenly been summoned by the supreme, wanting to rush out from their own bodies. That gave them a great shock, and they did not have time to find out what was going on in the Tower of Dusk. They either fell onto the ground or lay on the bed to suppress the surging mana in their bodies.
That arduous feeling lasted for an entire night before gradually subsiding. The guests were also drenched in sweat, as if they had been pulled out of the water. However, at this moment, they could no longer be bothered to care about their appearance and demeanor. They were desperately trying to carry their weak selves out of the door with horror written all over their faces.
As soon as they came out of their respective rooms, they supported themselves against the wall and looked at each other with lingering fear. At this moment, Gavin had also come over with a few mages, and said to everyone, "The president has come out. Let me bring you over."
Upon hearing Gavin's words, everyone suddenly thought of the shocking changes that happened at night, and couldn't help but be astonished. Did the president of the Tower of Dusk cause those changes last night!? That was a groundbreaking abnormality! How brutal and ferocious must his strength be to be able to cause such abnormal changes?
The Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family were not on good terms with the Tower of Dusk, but they had no choice but to be deferential because of the pressure of a Sanctuary powerhouse. Initially, the messengers that they sent thought that now that they had Sanctuary powerhouses, they would finally not have to obey the Tower of Dusk, but they no longer thought that way now.
They had had firsthand experience of the shocking changes that happened last night, which were thousands of times more intense than when the Sanctuary powerhouses of their forces broke through. They probably had no hope of turning the situation around by relying on the Sanctuary powerhouses.
Besides, they also noticed that the representatives of their forces had all become rather disheveled after the shocking changes that happened last night. Even till now, they still had yet to recover from the shock. However, the mages of the Tower of Dusk, be it Gavin who had stepped into the Legendary-realm or the other Archmages, were completely unaffected.
What did that mean? Although the representatives of the forces, especially those of top forces like the Mithril Alliance, were all at the Legendary-level, their mastery of mana was inferior to that of the Archmages of the Tower of Dusk. They did not think that they were the only ones who were affected by the movement yesterday. Clearly, the
entire Tower of Dusk was in the range of influence. However, the Archmages of the Tower of Dusk did not seem to have been affected at all, unlike they who had ended up in such a mess. They couldn't even walk steadily, and were wobbling and swaying incessantly.
Anyway, the president of the Tower of Dusk had finally come out, and thus the representatives from various forces also temporarily suppressed the shock that they had gotten from what had happened last night. Under Gavin's lead, they headed to the conference hall of the Tower of Dusk. Of course, they secretly bore in mind the events of last night and their new understanding of the president of the Tower of Dusk, which they intended to report to their superiors about when they returned.
In the conference hall of the Tower of Dusk, Lin Li was already seated in the first seat with the Head Judge of the Tower of Dusk, Master Basel, on his left, and Macklin, who had had an arduous night, on his right. As Gavin went to invite the representatives of the various powers, Macklin complained to Lin Li about the lack of proper rest even though he was a guest.
"Master Macklin, have you stepped into the Sanctuary-realm this time too? Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to congratulate you personally ever since I returned." Lin Li had a casual chat with Macklin. Actually, he was not surprised that Macklin had entered the Sanctuary-realm.
"I might have entered the Sanctuary-realm, but that's all because of an external force. Unlike you, I didn't rely on my own abilities to enter the Sanctuary-realm." Although Macklin was still far from the Sanctuary-realm, he had heard plenty of Aldwin's complaints about not being a genuine mage in the Sanctuary-realm1.
Lin Li smiled calmly, and said, "The Sanctuary-realm is still the Sanctuary-realm, after all. No matter what you relied on to get to the Sanctuary-realm, it's better than having no hopes for the rest of your life."
"That's right, that's what I said. We should not be too greedy. No matter what, I've already entered the Sanctuary-realm, and I now have a lifespan of more than 1,000 years. Who knows what kind of amazing chance I might get in this long lifetime?" Macklin did not become distant from Lin Li just because the latter had become a Sanctuary powerhouse. He was still as casual as he used to be.
