At the mention of the legendary rank 3 Magus, Pharen seemed to have plans of casting away this troublesome matter. “Reynold, we…”
“Pfft-!” Leylin could not hold it in and began to laugh.
The smile on his face became so big that he even bent down, holding his belly with both hands, unable to rein in his laughter.
“Human Magus, why are you laughing?” Their leaders exchanged a glance, having a bad feeling.
At this time, they took note of the handsome young man in front of them, his face seeming to be exceptionally familiar with them.
“It’s the first time someone’s used my own name to threaten me!” After laughing, Leylin’s expression darkened.
At the same time, there was a strange change to his face, as if there was a spontaneous removal of some concealing method.
An aura similar to the awakening of an ancient wild beast began to emanate from his body.
*Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!* The eight legs of the Underground Winter Spiders began to tremble and they weakly fell to the ground. The Underground Winter Spider knights and Dwarven soldiers all fell.
Leylin took a step forward, and space seemed to freeze.
The six Magi in mid-air were forced to the ground, expressions full of terror.
“You- You- You’re Leylin Farlier, the Guardian of Twilight Zone, the Great Emperor of the Night!”
Pharen’s mouth widened, his goatee sticking up. His fingers were trembling and he was so scared he was almost unable to speak.
Goodness! So the one who had been journeying with him was the lord Guardian whose name had spread far and wide? The one who was almost deified?
Pharen immediately searched through his memories until he found he had not said anything unpleasant about Nature’s Alliance or Leylin himself, and then heaved a sigh of relief.
After that, however, his heart got stuck in his throat once more.
Previously, he had been planning on leaving Leylin and that Magus to flee for his life. Would this behaviour gain the displeasure of the Radiant Guardian?
Compared to the inner conflicts Pharen had, the blow Leylin’s appearance had towards these other races was completely different.
“Greetings to lord Guardian of the Realm!” The dark elven and dwarven Magi immediately bowed.
Even if he were a fake, the unique energy undulations from a rank 3 Magus could not be mistaken.
The Magi of both races had a very deep impression of Leylin’s expression, and even if they were turned to dust, they would not get it wrong.
After all, Leylin had destroyed the splendour their two races had possessed, and even killed their rulers brazenly!
Leylin was now like a devil king or monster to them.
“En! Tell the people behind you that I’m going to take this man. This Vitality Fruitvine will also be considered part of this year’s portion.” Leylin indifferently ordered.
He was not planning to use raw force because that would just be bullying them.
“Understood, my lord.” The dark elven and dwarven Magi heaved a long sigh, bowed, and then withdrew quickly as if there was a great monster chasing them.
The news of Leylin’s appearance here was much too mind-blowing, and they had to bring this news to their higher-ups immediately to be able to respond.
……
“Are you awake? If you are, come here!” The middle-aged Magus opened his eyes, Leylin’s voice sounding by his ear.
He immediately got up and saw Leylin standing aside, playing with a test tube full of blood. Within that test tube were strands of earthen-yellow that had congealed, unable to scatter.
“Kubler greets my lord!” he immediately knelt respectfully, looking deferential and awed, as if a wolf that had seen its king.
Leylin had sensed this. He had the feeling that through his bloodline, he could influence this Magus.
This was a terrifying thing.
“The Huge Mankestre Snake! Your bloodline comes from the Wilted Huge Mankestre Snake.” Leylin concluded.
“Yes. Warlock of the Mankestre Bloodline, Kubler, greets my lord!” he bowed once more.
“No wonder…” Leylin shook his head.
He finally understood the strange feeling he got from this man.
The Wilted Huge Snake Mankestre was said to have a trace of the bloodline of the Giant Kemoyin Serpent. Though it was thinned out, it was still a descendant of the Kemoyin Serpent.
In the face of a true Warlock of the Giant Kemoyin Serpent, it was natural to be affected and suppressed by him.
When Leylin was still an acolyte, he had once seen a Huge Mankestre Snake. Though it was still young, it was enough to cause him a headache.
The matured body of this Huge Mankestre Snake was comparable to that of an official Magus. Though it was nothing in Leylin’s eyes now, that was a terrifying strength for acolytes.
“Well then, tell me your history and your reason in coming here.”
Leylin spoke expressionlessly, though his eyes were enough for Kubler’s heart to turn cold.
Though he could not use spirit-searching spells on official Magi, it was very easy for Leylin, a Warlock who had already advanced to rank 3, to completely smash the spirit and extract spirit fragments from him.
Though he would not get a complete set of information if he did that, and this Warlock would definitely die, it was very possible.
Fortunately, Kubler was evidently a sharp-witted man and deathly afraid of Leylin. Soon enough, he systematically narrated his origins.
After hearing a few words, Leylin’s expression became grim.
Central Continent
Kubler claimed to be a Magus from the central continent.
The hometown of the great Magus Serholm, the core of the entire Magus world, The sacred land of Magi—the central continent!
As for why Kubler was at this place, Leylin could not care less. On the contrary, he was very interested in the route Kubler had taken to get here.
If they were to walk this path in the opposite direction, would they be able to successfully reach the central continent? Leylin spoke the question in his mind,
Kubler’s face showed a moment of hesitation before he respectfully divulged the truth, ”In actual fact, the surface right above this subterranean world is the central continent! I learnt of the exact spot where the lava erupts from a research manual passed down through my family. After calculating the weaker points in the lava, I followed the pathway to arrive at this place.
Having heard Kubler’s account, Leylin more or less understood the procedure of his entrance.
On the whole, this was like what he had previously envisaged, and would also explain why the other party’s body had horrifying burn wounds—no matter how precise his calculations of the lava’s weak points were, the flames and the high temperature were not something a rank 1 Magus could bear.
If he had not by chanced upon the Life Vined Fruit, he might have already become a charred corpse!
“Mmm! I already settled the inconvenience with the dark elves and dwarves. You can have this as a reward for being open with your information!” Leylin waved his hands and threw the Life Vined Fruit into Kubler’s hands.
“Thank you, my Lord!” A tinge of gratitude appeared on Kubler’s face.
To him, managing to keep his life had already been a huge reward. As for the fruit that was full of vitality, it was a welcome surprise.
*Sizzle!* A few fine red blood vessels sprouted forth from his fingers, drilled into the insides of the fruit, and started to draw large amounts of life essence.
With a lively green radiance appearing on his body, his burn wounds recovered quickly. The scars gradually faded, eventually disappearing without a trace.
The scene reminded Leylin of the parasitic body of the Huge Mankestre Snake he had seen as an acolyte. The two seemed to have a certain level of similarity in their abilities.
Moreover, the method of directly drawing in vitality seemed to be inspired by the
meditation techniques that could absorb others’ spiritual force.
Of course, those were all small matters.
Having seen Kubler’s state improving, Leylin then asked him about the Black Serpent emblem “Also, this symbol. What meaning does it actually have?”
“What? My lord actually doesn’t know?” His response further surprised Leylin, but Kubler calmed down a moment after his reaction. “It doesn’t matter, the bloodline cannot be faked.”
After seeing Leylin’s look of puzzlement, Kubler immediately explained to Leylin: “This is a symbol of our organisation—the Ouroboros Clan!”
“The Ouroboros Clan?” Leylin nodded, that name was indeed very vivid: “Is that an organisation of Bloodline Warlocks?”
“Yes! Furthermore, within the Ouroboros Clan, we only accept Warlocks who hold the bloodline of the Giant Kemoyin Serpent or its descendants!” Kubler answered very certainly.
“Additionally, a Giant Kemoyin Serpent Warlock with great power, simply by joining the Ouroboros Clan, could instantly obtain a relatively high rank…” he added after shooting Leylin a glance.
“Since this is the case, then I have nothing much to hide!” Leylin laughed. “In actual fact, I too am a wandering Magus. I came to Twilight Zone by accident and chanced upon the inheritance of the Giant Kemoyin Serpent among historical remains! It was there that I first saw the symbol of the Ouroboros Clan!”
Leylin spoke honestly. Even though he spoke vaguely, and did not reveal any real details, Kubler was smart enough to not ask further.
On the contrary, he fed large amounts of information regarding the central continent to Leylin.
From this information, and records that he had obtained from ancient books, Leylin finally pieced together an image of the Sacred land of the Magi.
The central continent was the core of the Magus World. It spanned across a huge area, and had an abundance of precious resources!
There, official Magi were as common as the clouds, and rank 2 Magi were the elites! Rank 3 Magi were respected, although there were different ranks to them. Only Morning Star Magi truly held clout.
Organisations in the central continent needed a Morning Star Magus to oversee their development if they hoped to grow in power. Some small organisations were occasionally built by rank 2 or rank 3 Magi, but they were short-lived, typically being destroyed after a short period of time.
“You say we have Warlocks at the Morning Star realm overseeing the Ouroboros Clan?” Leylin was most interested in this.
After all, they were rank 4 Warlocks with the bloodline of Giant Kemoyin Serpents! This was clearly his path ahead!
“Yes!” Kubler was clearly very pleased with Leylin’s usage of “we,” with his tone and expressions being much intimate.
“Among the ranks of our Ouroboros Clan, the Grand Elder, Second Elder, and Third Elder have all reached rank 4. If they joined forces, they could even contend with a rank 5 Radiant Moon Magus! As a result, our Ouroboros Clan could be said to have some fame in the central continent!” Having said this, Kubler clearly felt proud.
“Rank 5! Radiant Moon Magus?” A doubtful expression crossed Leylin’s face, and he asked Kubler to clarify the rankings of Magi after the Morning Star realm.
Official Magi had a total of 9 ranks, and they were respectively termed Magi from rank 1 to 9.
And for every 3 ranks, there would be an extremely large bottleneck.
From rank 1 Magi to rank 3 Magi, and from the rank 4 Magi to rank 6 Magi, and eventually rank 7 and above, the differences between them was extremely terrifying.
The central continent was slowly regaining the splendor of ancient times.
Not only were rank 4 Morning Star Magi becoming common, even rank 5 Radiant Moon Magi and rank 6 Breaking Dawn Magi would appear periodically.
Morning Star, Radiant Moon, and Breaking Dawn were the honorific titles of rank 4, 5 and 6 Magi respectively.
“Am I akin to a moon or sun?” Leylin laughed in his heart, “However, just a Morning Star Magus has a lifespan of more than a thousand years and possesses tremendous strength. The even greater glory and radiance rank 5 and 6 Grand Magi possess can be understood from just that…”
Kubler had not discovered Leylin’s thoughts and continued to narrate, “I don’t qualify to know about what comes after the Breaking Dawn realm. Moreover, the few Magi who are at rank 6 are all the most influential leaders of the central continent, and are titled our ‘Kings!’”
“King of Magi? This term has a lot of meaning to it!” Leylin nodded.
“There are three main powers in the central continent. The Warlocks tied together by bloodlines, the Magus organisations that hold a lot of high-grade meditation techniques, and the Academies where various powers mingle with each other! Together, these three sets control over 70 percent of the resources and land of the entire continent. The rest is occupied by an assortment of human Magi and other species…”
With Kubler’s description, a blueprint of the central continent gradually appeared in Leylin’s mind.
Strange species! Large amounts of resources! High-ranked Magi! And a larger stage and space for improvement!
A flame ignited within Leylin’s eyes, as well as an even stronger urge to immediately rush towards the central continent.
Immediately, he suppressed the desire and impulse.
“Alright! Now can you explain to me why you would risk your life to escape from the central continent?”
Leylin’s eyes that radiated coldness glanced into Kubler’s, which immediately made the latter feel a chill in his heart.
“Ac… Actually…” Kubler’s did not look good. After which he knelt down before Leylin, and placed his forehead tightly on the ground.
“Lord Leylin! Please accept me as one of your henchmen!”
“What do you mean? Please explain yourself clearly!” Leylin’s face remained unchanged. After which, he heard some untasteful stories from Kubler.
To put things simply, Kubler had offended someone in the Ouroboros Clan, which had left him with no choice but to leave. Now, he wished to obtain Leylin’s protection so as to once again return.
Honestly speaking, from the looks of the central continent Magi, the subterranean world and other areas were all desolate. If not for the fact that he was forced into such circumstances, why would he willingly leave his hometown?
“Why do you think I can protect you?” Leylin desired to know. Before asking clearly, he would not easily promise anything.
“Of course! My lord has already achieved rank 3, and is a Giant Kemoyin Serpent Warlock, with a bright future. How can people like us rival that?” Kubler said matter-of-factly, and had a faint tone of admiration and inferiority.
“This subordinate has offended a Black Horrall Snake Warlock, who has the potential to at most grow to rank 3. The high-ranked officers of the Ouroboros Clan would definitely not side with him…”
“Growth potential?” Leylin was alarmed and understood that he heard something extremely important.
“Does My lord not know yet?” Kubler, on the other hand, had already in favour of himself, changed his address of Leylin.
“The inheritance I obtained did not contain any object in this area, please detailedly explain!” Leylin’s face looked upset. His heart had a bad omen.
“Yes! Subordinate will not hide anything!” Kubler’s attitude was extremely upright, and he had started to follow the standards of vassals; Leylin could not be bothered to correct him.
As Kubler narrated, Leylin’s face got gloomier, and eventually was like that of the sky before an imminent storm.
Bloodline Shackles
Warlocks were a branch of ancient Magi, and possessed enormous strength as a result of their bloodlines.
Warlocks of a rank not only had all the abilities a regular Magus of that rank held, but also the amplification of their bloodline. Their powers greatly surpassed those of regular Magi.
Why couldn’t such a powerful branch domina
te the Magus World? Why, instead, did they lay low in the South Coast and Twilight Zone, with even the central continent only containing a small number of them?
All of this could be attributed to their main problem—the shackles of their bloodlines!
According to Kubler, unlike Magi who could continuously improve, the advancement of Warlocks was largely dependent on the bloodline they inherited.
That was to say that, for a Huge Mankestre Snake Warlock like Kubler, because of the bounds of his bloodline, he was destined to never advance further after being an official Magus! No amount of effort could promote him to rank 2! This, was the shackles of a bloodline!
Warlock of the Magus World 1-596 Page 280
