“Basically, you have no way of getting recognition and learning the high-level meditation technique from your guild!” Merlin concluded.
“Yeah! So what now?” Aaron’s eyes were tinted by dejection.
“Hahaha…” At this time, Merlin laughed out loud and said: “Have you forgotten? I, Merlin, am a legendary Magus. How would I not have high-grade meditation techniques of my own?”
“I will bestow upon you a complete high-grade meditation technique. Furthermore, it has the frightening ability of allowing you to peer into the future! If you can predict the future, you can control everything!” Merlin’s voice was full of confidence.
“Foresee the future, control the future!” Aaron’s breathing grew heavier.
“That’s right! This meditation technique is called—Sacred Flame!”
……
In Dolon City, Leylin’s bedroom was vastly different from Aaron’s.
The gold-plated floor, the soft, silk brocade quilt, huge crystal chandeliers and gold and silver plates holding many fruits… comparing Aaron’s room to this place was like comparing a beggar’s shack to a grand palace.
“Few acolytes can resist the temptation of a high-grade meditation technique…” Leylin sighed. With his connection, he could tell that Aaron had begun using this new technique, and he let out a soft gasp.
Although the A.I. chip had repaired Sacred Flame and eliminated its side-effects, Leylin was still cautious of it. The soul was a huge mystery. While Leylin had previously assumed that his research into spirits was profound, after being at the mercy of a ghost, he had realized how ridiculous his thoughts were.
The amount of research he had done in the field of spirits was negligible. He had realized he was like a frog in a well, and completely abandoned any previous notions he had about the depth of his research.
Even more so, regarding the high-grade meditation technique Sacred Flame, he wished only to admire and respect it from afar. Although he thirsted for the power of destiny, he did not want to devolve into a schizophrenic madman.
Thus, it was necessary to collect data through live tests, which was what he had put into motion.
Leylin had a blank expression on his face, full of indifference. His gaze pierced through a veil of light and stared into the future.
……
The next day, the darkness creatures besieged the city as usual with their cannon fodder.
*Boom!* A fireball was shot and turned a huge black bear into a torch.
Aaron calmly retracted his hand. Uncaring of the increasingly reverent looks of the acolytes around him, he walked to the side and began meditating to restore his spiritual force.
“How does the new meditation technique feel?” Merlin and Aaron were conversing inside his head.
Aaron had previously only practiced in a simplified meditation technique. Even Leylin felt unfathomable that the transition was this smooth.
And after practicing the Sacred Flame, Aaron’s aura had faintly changed.
Ten Years In A Flash
“I feel great! Be it restoring my spiritual force or during cultivation, high-grade meditation techniques are leagues beyond the simplified versions,” Aaron told Merlin as he stood up.
“But what about the aura that I’m giving off? If any of the guild members find me, I’ll definitely be caught and interrogated…”
“Haha… Don’t worry. This magic ring that I’ve smelted can conceal your aura and create artificial fluctuations in your spiritual force. With your current strength, even an official Magus won’t be able to discover you!” Merlin was very confident.
“Really?” Aaron’s eyes brightened.
“Of course, don’t you know who I am? Furthermore, this is a magical artifact! A magical artifact! Do you know what that means? You’re far too weak right now, or else you’d be able to display more of its power…”
“Not really, but I’ve heard about them before.”
Aaron scratched his head. “What do I do next?”
“Keep killing our enemies and accumulate merit points! I took a look at the reward list yesterday, and the potion there that can suppress your spiritual force will be of use. You absolutely must get that!”
“I understand!” Aaron clenched his fist tightly, eyes showing his resolution. “That lowly woman and the Botelli Family, I’ll be back!”
……
Two months passed by.
Outside the walls of Dolon, the war raged on. Numerous armies of dark elves had stationed themselves across from the city, their camps stretching out along tens of miles. Several golden tents stood at the center of their army camp, the aura within enough to cause even Leylin to furrow his brows.
Under organized command, the battle power of the darkness creatures and elves had risen by several levels. Dolon City was embroiled in intense battle, with the weakest rung suffering the most casualty.
However, there was a steady supply of cannon fodder from the eastern region which allowed them to hold on.
Under such high pressure, the atmosphere in Dolon City grew increasingly heavy. A sense of an impending crisis enveloped everyone’s hearts.
Aaron was now a little famous, the limelight finding him after he beat up a few acolytes who had been sent to make trouble for him.
Given that Magi valued strength more than anything else, his residence had now been shifted. This one was bright, clean, and much larger than before.
Aaron was currently sitting on a blue striped bedsheet with beads of sweat rolling down his face. Leylin, in the meantime, was monitoring his actions from within the black ring.
This was the first time he was using the unique spiritual force born from his new meditation technique, Sacred Flame, to explore the tides of destiny.
Leylin paid close attention to this and ordered the A.I. Chip to periodically collect data and accumulate information in his database.
The Sacred Flame Aaron trained in was obviously not the one which the A.I. Chip had perfected. This version had been modified by Leylin using the chip, and many manipulative portions had been added in.
“It’s here!” Leylin laughed, and black undulations filled his eyes.
Immediately after, the visions were intercepted by the ring.
Above the city, Aaron rose his arms and shot out a fireball, causing a huge wild boar to roll down, while a grin appeared on his face.
But at this moment, an anomaly occurred. A large black monkey jumped out of the retreating horde. It had three eyes, and the centre one shot out a red beam. The monkey itself exploded forth with a power that equalled an official Magus!
Without any time to dodge, Aaron was blasted into smithereens!
Such scenes flashed across Leylin’s eyes but were rather blurry and unordered.
“So that’s how it is! At this rate, Aaron will die in the siege three days later?” Leylin touched his chin.
[Information from the meditation technique has been intercepted! Allow transmission?] The A.I. Chip’s robotic voice intoned.
“Yes!” The moment Leylin spoke, Aaron’s body trembled on the bed, his two eyes losing focus and rolling back as if he had seen something terrifying.
Leylin’s had implemented backdoor changes to the Sacred Flame. By coupling these changes with the limited AI in the ring, any premonitions Aaron had would be intercepted and first seen by Leylin. Only with his approval would these scenes from the future enter Aaron’s mind.
Besides interception, Leylin could modify these bits of vision at will. In other words, Aaron only saw what Leylin had wanted him to see.
After all, it was better to be cautious towards acolytes whose training in this allowed them to see the future. If not, what was he to do if they got a hold of his plans through their prophecies?
Of course, Aaron did not have a strong cultivation in this technique yet. He was only capable of prophesying events at the ability of a level 1 acolyte, which kept him from being able to sense anything about Leylin.
Even if
he advanced to become an official Magus, with Leylin intercepting first, he would not sense anything.
To become cognizant of the interception, he needed to, at the very least, equal Leylin in power. This meant he could not predict Leylin’s actions and prepare against them until he was promoted to a rank 2 Magus! Unfortunately, Leylin would not give him the opportunity to do so.
“Although the A.I. Chip could not upgrade Sacred Flame past rank 3, at least it’s no longer restricted to only females.” Leylin touched his chin.
“There aren’t enough guinea pigs yet!” He turned around and glanced at the colourful necklace and incomplete notebook on the table.
These were at most special magical objects. He only called them magic artifacts to fool acolytes like Aaron.
But it was enough.
“On the battlefield, one cannot control their own life nor death. If I put out this bait, they’ll have to bite no matter how suspicious they are.!” Leylin beamed confidently.
As for why he had not bought slaves or chosen people from Nature’s Alliance? It would be too obvious that he was the mastermind, which was not conducive to Leylin’s plans.
Meanwhile, Aaron was scared stupid by the prediction.
“Hah… I’ll die three days later, at the hands of a darkness creature with the strength of an official Magus,” he huffed roughly. He had visibly paled and was trembling in the aftermath of that premonition.
“What are you afraid of? This is just a possibility in the river of destiny. I’ve already predicted my death tens of times, but haven’t I gotten through alive and well?” Merlin appeared, looking disdainful.
“Yes, yes!” The light in Aaron’s eyes brightened. He now knew the many benefits of being able to make use of the power of destiny.
“What should we do now?” Aaron began to ponder enthusiastically.
“It’s simple! Just apply to leave this region or pretend you’re injured and hide for these few days!” Merlin seemed to be very experienced in this.
……
The dark elves’ offensive was not limited to just the eastern region of Twilight Zone.
The northern region had also suffered the charge of the dark elves. City after city fell until a few rank 2 Magi struck out, finally stabilising the situation. Still, they had been able to push the battlefront inwards by a few hundred meters. They had even dispatched elite Underground Winter Spider knights who seemed to be scouts sent for reconnaissance.
The eastern region was comparatively quiet. The tripartite defense of Dolon, Wakeshire, and Sadoor, with the continuous supply of troops, maintained an uneasy stalemate. Even so, capitalising on the endless darkness creatures as cannon fodder, the dark elves had caused many injuries to the Magi defending the posts.
It was a given that numerous acolytes would die, but even some official Magi had fallen. As for regular soldiers and knights? Too many of them were lost to even count.
In the blink of an eye, ten years passed. Leylin had been relieved a few times and periodically returned to Nature’s Alliance.
In this period of time, however, he kept a low profile and seldom did anything flashy. Hence, he did not have a large reputation.
Only he knew how much he had improved during this period of time.
“Leylin! I’ve received the heart of the Earthen Fiend. There are fifty here, and I’ve sent them to your lab!” A rune lit up and transmitted Fendix’s voice.
“Thanks a lot! I’ll get in touch with you later.” Leylin answered delightfully. “I’ve finally gotten it! Now all the requirements have been met!”
He hurried to the laboratory, where a Magus dressed in black robes was waiting for him. The man respectfully bowed his head, saying, “This is the heart of the Earthen Fiend that Lord Fendix wanted me to pass on to you. Please sign here to show that you received it.”
“En!” Leylin nodded and took the ingredients. After checking every single one, he nodded in satisfaction. He waved his arm over the piece of parchment the Magus in black robes proffered, and a black snake imprint formed immediately.
Seeing this, the Magus bowed and respectfully left.
Leylin entered his laboratory and activated spell formations for isolation and defense. A layer of various lit runes began to circulate outside.
“With all the ingredients here, I can finally attempt to brew potions!” Smiling, Leylin looked at his stats.
[Leylin Farlier. Rank 2 Warlock, Bloodline: Giant Kemoyin Serpent. Strength: 21.1, Agility: 14.4, Vitality: 29.9, Spiritual force: 127.9, Magic power: 127 (Magic power is in synchronisation with spiritual force).]
He had spent every day of the past ten years training in his high-grade meditation technique, slowly tempering his spiritual force. Over the course of his training of Kemoyin’s Pupil, he began to feel that the issue of irritability that was caused by his premature advancement was slowly corrected.
Given the quick pace of his advancement last time, an unstable foundation was only to be expected.
However, all of that was made up for in the past ten years.
Giant Serpent’s Breath Potion
Ten years was a long time.
In this period, besides training in his meditation technique, Leylin constantly absorbed more information regarding Twilight Zone to supplement his A.I. Chip’s database.
Given that he was already a rank 2 Magus, he was respected everywhere. To his benefit, most guilds simply gave up all the information they had to him.
In addition, he’d exchanged his contribution points for large amounts of the best research in Twilight Zone. This new research synergized perfectly with the data he had already stored from the south coast.
“A.I. Chip! Begin experimentation on brewing the “Giant Serpent’s Breath” Potion!” Leylin’s eyes flashed as he commanded. Immediately after, with a pat of his spatial pouch, all sorts of ingredients filled the table.
The Giant Serpent’s Breath Potion was an unexpected gain from the storage of a small-scale guild in Twilight Zone.
It was originally an incomplete recipe for an ancient spiritual force potion. It was originally not named such, but Leylin and the A.I. Chip had modified to suit Warlocks in general, and his own Giant Kemoyin Serpent bloodline in particular. Thus, it had been renamed after all the changes.
In other words, he had adjusted the foundations of the ancient formula to suit his individual needs.
After he’d advanced to become a rank 2 Warlock, all the previous ancient potions he had gathered, such as the Tears of Mary, were now useless to him.
On the other hand, this Giant Serpent’s Breath was the fruit of ten years of laborious research. It was a potion capable of increasing the spiritual force of Warlocks.
Pitifully, Leylin had been unable to find a substitute for the heart of the Earthen Fiend until now, and he was not able to proceed any further. Training in ancient high-grade meditation techniques was about relentless effort which would eventually pay off. Time was of the essence.
But at this point, the improvement in Leylin’s spiritual force had begun to slow down.
This was common when cultivating using high-grade meditation techniques. The farther one went, the more difficult it was to advance. Sadly, the increasing intensity of the war, as well as the deaths of several official Magi had left Leylin feeling a rising urgency.
The heart of the Earthen Fiend came at the right time!
After ten years of hard work, all the hidden damage to Leylin’s body had been healed. He could now continue to advance his strength using potions. This was obviously a good thing for him.
But that was not all. Leylin shut his eyes and took over Merlin’s role in Aaron’s ring.
Aaron was now ten years older, but due to the unique ability of Magi, he still looked rather young on the outside.
“Finally… I’m finally back!” Aaron stroked a roadsign, looking emotional.
This was where the headquarters of his guild was located. Seeing the unchanged architecture, Aaron felt lik
e nothing had changed.
“Ha, Aaron? Are you not dead yet? Weren’t you at Dolon City? Why are you back? Did you desert your position?” a young magician with an aquiline nose said with an incredulous look on his face.
Immediately, large numbers of acolytes came out of their rooms, following behind a young man, as if grouping around a revered leader. Behind him was a young woman who was glancing at Aaron with a complicated expression.
The magician at the center was dressed in luxurious robes. Although he only had the energy fluctuations of a level 3 acolyte, he wore quite a few magic artifacts.
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