Leylin had made great progress regarding the problem in controlling them.
He used the white termite as the main ingredient to make modifications to the two Grand Knights and used potions to increase the degree to which the brand was carved into their spirits.
He should be able to control their consciousness to make them completely enslaved, under those two control measures.
As for the Grand Knights Number 4 and Number 5, they were completely crippled, as the branded runes on their bodies were not compatible with them. The branding of runes wasn’t like drawing, where you could just erase your mistakes. Runes would be forever carved onto the body, and would also reside deep inside the spirit, forming a connection. This was the only way that the Branded Swordsmen could activate the natural energy particles!
Since it was Leylin’s first time operating, and he was lacking in experience and information, he had already carved the wrong runes onto the previous two female Grand Knights.
Currently, there wasn’t a way for Leylin to erase those runes, so they would forever lose their chances in improving and, would stay at the rank of Grand Knight for the rest of their lives.
Leylin would naturally not bring those two burdens with him. He had instructed Damien and the two female Grand Knights to defend his villa in the Nightless City as a future supply base.
Truthfully, Leylin was still in the darkness regarding the information of the war.
He knew that war was imminent, but didn’t know why it was occurring. Who were the opposing forces? Everything was shrouded from him.
However seeing how the Four Season Garden was acting as though it was going to meet a formidable enemy in combat, he could guess that the enemy, this time, wasn’t a simple one.
Information gathering was one of the reasons why Leylin decided to come to the general headquarters of the Four Seasons Garden.
After arranging for the two Grand Knights to stay at the residential area of the Four Seasons Garden, Leylin briskly walked to the main lounge of the Potioneering team.
It was rare for the two mischievous stone statues to not be creating trouble, so Leylin passed through them quickly.
*Creak!*
When the door opened, the lounge was still as flourishing and vast as before. A long, white birch table and chairs were orderly arranged. There was a white tablecloth on the table, on the side of which delicate flowers had been stitched.
Different teams in the Potioneering team sat at their respective positions, and constantly chattered among themselves.
The only difference, this time, was that the table wasn’t filled with food, but was instead occupied by various documents and crystal balls that were being perused for information.
The master’s position in the lounge wasn’t filled. It seemed that Decarte must have been busy, and couldn’t come here for the time being.
Leylin surveyed the area, and found the where Martin’s team was.
When he met Martin for the first time, that old fellow was positioned extremely far from the host’s position. However, now that Leylin had joined and completed some missions, that old man’s position had moved quite a bit forward. This was something that Martin had constantly bragged about to everyone.
However, even though he was sitting here, the excitement of being in this seat couldn’t cover the worry expressed on Martin’s face.
After seeing Leylin, Martin’s wrinkle covered face displayed a smile. “Leylin! Over here!”
He pointed to the seat beside him.
Leylin smiled, and after greeting the few Magi that he knew, he walked over to sit beside Martin.
“I’m really glad that you could make it! You should know that due to this dreadful war, our tasks have become much more arduous…….”
Since they were extremely close to each other, Martin started to express his complaints to Leylin.
“Sorry! I’ll definitely work hard in the Potioneering aspect, so can you tell me the details regarding the war? I was previously exploring before I received the Lord leader’s secret imprint, so I’m currently still at a loss as to what is happening!”
Leylin’s face showed a textbook example of confusion.
“Oh! Look at my manners!” Martin patted his large forehead.
“Which part shall I start talking from?”
Martin stroked his beard and expressed a pondering expression.
“To be honest, the source of this battle is related to the previous two Magus wars…..”
Martin commented slowly, his expression becoming serious.
Chapter 190 – Eternal River Secret Plane
“Leylin, did you know how the two Great Magus Wars began?”
Martin suddenly asked.
“It seemed to be because of the differences in values between light and dark Magi, as well as some anticipated benefits.” Leylin combined the factors he had read about in books and added his personal take on it.
“Benefits! Everything was for the sake of benefits!”
Martin waved his hand, his expression increasingly agitated.
“Saying that there was a difference in opinion is just a superficial reason, but when it comes down to it, it was all for benefits! When I find out who said this, I’ll copy it down and engrave it in my room!”
Martin quickly proceeded, “In reality, no matter if they were light or dark Magi, they were on the path of pursuing the truth! As long as they were not obstructed, no matter which areas the light Magi occupied, or what massacres the dark Magi were responsible for, the Magi couldn’t care less.”
“The real reason for the two Great Magus Wars was to obtain resources! The meagre resources in the south coast were not enough for the many of the Magi here…”
Leylin listened quietly as Martin explained the truth behind the Great Magus Wars.
At this moment, a cold smile emerged on his face.
“The so-called Great Magus Wars were actually just for the sake of obtaining more materials, which were not even abundant in the first place. It was a battle started by the highest tier of Magi on both the light and dark Magi’s ends, and was a way to ‘clean up’ the Magus World. After the war, there were massive casualties on both the light and dark Magi’s sides, and the remaining resources were enough for the Magi who had survived to advance. This is how the generations of families came to be on the south coast.”
As Martin was narrating, Leylin saw a rare look of heartache on his face.
From the looks of it, Martin did not approve of these methods and reasoning, and it was highly likely that he was somehow directly affected by the wars.
Leylin immediately thought back to his previous world.
In his previous life, the fall of any empire was said to be caused by corruption and an incompetent monarch, amongst many other things.
The way Leylin saw it, the real reason for their fall was due to benefits and resources!
In ancient times, the land was the base of life. As time passed, the population rapidly grew, and since there wasn’t family planning, people kept on having babies and used them for manual labour. That was the norm!
With an increase in population, but with the same amount of land available, not everyone was able to own land to support themselves. For this reason, the entire empire naturally declined.
Of course, during this process, high officials and landowners had their lands taken over, which hastened this decline.
……
After that, the confusion and deaths caused by the war caused the population to be diminished by about 60 to 70%, and the land and territory were left open for the remaining survivors to use. With this foundation, a new leader could govern well for a century or two and then decline. The cycle would continue…
Leylin believed that the south coast’s Magus World was in such a situation.
Even with various measures, the number of Magi was still on the rise, and the south coast’s rate of production of materials was hardly enough to support the rate at which Magi adva
nced in strength.
Many had to see their dreams crushed due to the lack of resources available.
This bitterness and hatred were passed down from generation to generation, resulting in a state where the ruling Magi began to feel afraid!
Hence, a few of the top guilds in the south coast were unafraid of the losses that might be incurred, and initiated wars, disposing of less powerful Magi organisations.
In those wars, winning was useless! Surviving was the best form of victory!
Once he thought that through, Leylin sucked in a breath of cold air.
Compared to the huge empires in his previous life that could not forge ahead any longer, the south coast Leylin was in was just a small part of the Magus World. It could almost be said to be a rural country area.
Even so, those wielding power in the south coast would rather constantly exhaust their own power by raiding to reduce the risks and resentment of their people, than expand their territory. There was only one reason for this!
Just as how it had happened with the Great Magus Wars, the desire to expand would often result in the opposite reaction, where gains did not make up for the losses. No leader was willing to lose their Magus underlings.
“What sort of dangers lie beyond the south coast?”
Leylin sighed inwardly. He had intentions on travelling all around the Magus World and climbing up to bigger heights. However, from this situation, it seemed rather impossible to even leave the south coast.
“However, this does explain why the south coast has always been so sealed off. Rarely are there Magi that stop over, with the only exception being the great Magus Serholm!”
Leylin’s eyes flashed as he seemed to come to a realisation.
“So does that mean that this impending war is also meant to lessen the population of official Magi?”
At this point, Martin and Leylin had both lowered their voices and transmitted their thoughts. Leylin had also taken the liberty of setting up a few spell formations that would isolate sound waves.
“That’s not it!” Martin slapped his head.
“I just had a lot of feelings regarding the previous Great Magus Wars!”
Old Martin behaved as though he was an old man, and Leylin had the urge to bash him up.
“Hahaha…” Seeing Leylin’s reaction, he laughed in a carefree manner.
“I apologise. I have this problem where in critical moments, I usually like to make jokes to ease my nerves.” Martin gave a tiny grin as an apology, but all Leylin saw was a despicable old man.
“Alright, let’s get back to the topic. The reason for this war is a dispute over benefits!”
Old Martin’s expression became milder, but Leylin still listened intently.
“About two days ago, a group of Magi who were out exploring in the Eternal River Plains found a Magus’ secret plane!”
Martin told Leylin some information.
This group had been searching for some ruins and had accidentally activated the secret plane, resulting in the leakage of this news, which could set off wars. This wasn’t anything new on the south coast.
However, to be able to elicit such a huge response from Old Martin, even making him think that the Third Magus War was arriving, this secret plane must be very unique.
“A secret plane? Is it a resource type plane? How big is it?” Leylin got right to the key points.
“I don’t know! From the information provided by Magi who had gone in, it’s about ten million mu! The density of elemental particles in there is of the highest quality, A!”
Listening to Martin’s statement, Leylin could not help but gasp in admiration.
Even a large-scale light Magi organisation like the Four Seasons Garden only had a secret plane the size of a little more than a million mu. Just from the site of exploration, the secret plane was already much bigger than what the Four Seasons Garden possessed.
Such a huge benefit was enough for the peace-loving light Magi, who were usually buried in research, to covet and be willing to kill to obtain the secret plane.
“Worst of all, such a huge secret plane has a large number of entrances. It seems that after the exploration group activated one of them, the other entrances were also automatically opened. Based on the news I’ve gathered, there are at least 7 other entrances.”
Old Martin was acting mysteriously about this.
Leylin just gave a huge sigh. “The Eternal River Plains are just at the border between the dark and light Magi’s territories. The undulations from the entrances to such a large scale secret plane will definitely be detected by official Magi, even if it were a thousand li away.”
He finally knew the reason for the wars. Even though it wasn’t the worst situation, it wasn’t all that good either.
“Exactly! Some dark and light Magus organisations got there first, and upon seeing the secret plane, started killing each other from their desire to gain possession of it. In the end, nobody received any benefits, and they later passed on the information they had learned to the organisations behind them! This information spreading from layer to layer resulted in a civil war between the various Magi.”
“In the end, the dark Magi managed to take control of three entrances, while the light Magi took control of the other four. In the huge secret plane, a bloodthirsty battle to steal away various precious resources and territories ensued. The war this time will be inside the plane, and Magi from all over will fight within. Of course, the most important part will be to gain possession of the territory within…”
Leylin heaved a sigh of relief.
Compared to the two other wars that affected the entire south coast, this was going to affect the Magus World the least. The number of dead humans would be minimal, and for Magi like him, as long as he did not choose to enter the secret plane, he would naturally be safe.
At most, there would be an increase in tasks related to Potioneering.
Of course, nearing the end of the war, there was sure to be a large number of casualties within the organisations, and Leylin might even have to be sent to the frontlines.
However, if that truly were to happen, Leylin would immediately choose to escape, and obviously wouldn’t be forced into the fight.
*Ding* Just as Leylin was about to enquire more from Martin, a clear sound resounded within the hall.
Despite there being no wind, the multi-coloured fabrics in the hall rustled, and rays of rainbow coloured lights shone within the room.
A distinct sound resonated across the hall.
“The team leader is here! Get up and greet him!”
Martin pulled Leylin along.
Leylin rolled his eyes and stood unwillingly.
As the team leader of Four Seasons Garden’s Potioneering team, Decarte’s power was unquestionable. He was already at the peak of rank 1, and was ready to break through to rank 2 at any moment.
He also had many achievements in Potioneering and was said to be a great master in the subject.
However, not only was this man old fashioned, he was also crazy for anything lavish that could show off his status.
Warlock of the Magus World 1-596 Page 147
