252 - 259

Unrestrained

"When the time comes, these Magi who bribed me before will, unfortunately, be apprehended and accused of helping the enemy… I wonder what expression will be on their faces when that happens?"

Leylin thought to himself as a sly grin appeared on his face.

His feet did not stop moving until he came to a building that was still being rebuilt.

This had once been the merit points exchange centre, and after having experienced the attack from the dark Magi, which Leylin had been the leader of, it was now destroyed to a terrible extent.

Most of the main structure had been destroyed and, what was even more serious, the huge loss of a few resource-based warehouses!

Besides the main warehouse, the greedy Magi also went after a few small-scale branch warehouses. There were some slightly valuable magic crystals, and if they had not already been stolen by the dark Magi, them they had self-destructed under the protection of their spell formations.

In the end, the dark Magi who had grown green with envy had even burnt up the whole area and torched everything!

On the bare surface of the stones in the surroundings, one could also see the burn marks here.

"Lord Leylin!" A light Magus who appeared to be the person in charge here quickly came over and greeted him.

"Hn!" Leylin nodded. He had never bothered remembering this light Magus' name, and could only vaguely remember that he was the person in charge.

"How's the progress of the rebuilding?" he asked.

Though it seemed as if Leylin had posed the question on a whim, sweat beaded on the forehead of the light Magus who was waiting by the side.

"Over 80% of our main infrastructure has been lost. This is not a large problem with earth elemental magic, but the key issue is that the spell formations have to be remade…"

This light Magus pulled out a white handkerchief from his robes and unceasingly wiped his shiny forehead.

"I'm not worried about that. When is the latest we can start working again?" Leylin stared hard at this Magus who was slightly plump.

"Three… No, two days! At the latest, we'll be able to resume our work in two days." The light Magus could feel himself tremble under Leylin's gaze and quickly promised.

"Two days?" Leylin furrowed his brows and then shook his head. "Far too long! I'll give you two more Magi and twenty acolytes. The progress has to be 20% faster!"

"Yes, my lord!"

From the aura that Leylin was unwittingly giving off, the light Magus became even more afraid and the sweat on his forehead flowed quicker. He didn't even have time to wipe it off with his white handkerchief as he agreed.

Leylin nodded, waved his hand, dismissed the person in charge, and began to stroll around the construction site.

Leylin had experiences from an alternate world and was naturally aware that the protection from the headquarters in the secret plane was as good as the rebuilding work after wars in his previous life.

There were two main points in this operation. One, regain the credibility of the administration, and two, guarantee the flow of trade!

In terms of credibility, even though a rank 2 Magus from Four Seasons Garden had died, the main organisation in the external world was still significant enough that no Magus could look down upon them. There was no issue at all.

What was more urgent now was to make the merit points exchange centre operational!

From what Leylin knew, contribution points were the currency in this world. In order to make things work in this place via getting many light Magi to take on missions to help rebuild the area, what did they need?

Merit points! But merit points were a virtual currency that could not be used to trade for material resources directly, and were thus meaningless! With the merit points exchange centre, large amounts of merit points could be given out as the light Magi performed specific tasks, which could then be exchanged. This process would allow Four Seasons Garden to quickly regain their power.

For this reason, even under these conditions, Leylin and Caesar quickly transferred a batch of resources over so that the merit points exchange centre could resume operations.

Though he and Leylin were dark Magi spies, they were extremely cautious, and before they officially took action, they were as dutiful as any other Magus from Four Seasons Garden.

Hence, Leylin would come over occasionally and closely watch the progress of the reconstruction. Caesar was buried in a sea of documents and had to deal with a pile of urgent and frustrating work.

However, this was something he himself had instigated, and it could be said that he had caused himself trouble.

Leylin looked past the acolytes who were busily using earth elemental magic to create large numbers of stone pillars and bricks and approached a few people who were vigilantly surveying the area.

They were all wearing the uniform of Four Seasons Garden, which had lightning insignias on it.

They were members of Desmund's Lightning Corps. Though a rank 2 Magus had left, there was still a vice team leader and two large groups staying guard here!

They were all official Magi who had experienced multiple battles and combined with the formation genie and defensive spell formation, even if a rank 2 Magus were to attack, Leylin and the others had the confidence that they could withstand the attack for a period of time until reinforcements from the nearby light Magi alliance arrived.

"The system of our defense has been re-built. It can't be said to be watertight, but it's no problem if we talk about maintaining our current situation. If not for me and Caesar being traitors…"

Leylin felt some pity in his heart.

To be honest, Four Seasons Garden had not treated him very badly. If not for the fact that he had little choice, he did not want to betray them either.

Compared to the dark Magi who would often change their minds, he actually preferred having to deal with the light Magi, who kept their promises, even if this was only applicable to those on the same level of strength as them.

With Reynold and Caesar pushing him into a corner, Leylin had little choice.

Caesar had first let out news of his identity as Thousand Meddling Hands' Blood Rogue, causing Reynold to become suspicious of him. Caesar had then assigned him to continuously participate in the battlefield, and wherever it was dangerous was everywhere Leylin would go. It was a pace where he could possibly work Leylin to death!

At the end, Reynold had even personally tried to identify Leylin's identity. This was a very dangerous sign, as this implied that the higher-ups in Four Seasons Garden were already beginning to lose trust in Leylin. Or perhaps, they had never trusted him at all.

Hence, whatever Leylin had done till now to increase his strength was for the sake of survival!

Now, after his bloodline's second transition and seeing first-hand the strength of a rank 2 Magus from Thousand Meddling Hands, he could now somewhat defend himself and escape. It was for this reason that he could temporarily leave this cycle and worry about Four Seasons Garden and others.

Leylin was not a heartless person. In a situation where his interests were not affected, he would definitely not mind helping friends and perhaps organisations.

"Under the name of changing the guards, George and the others have been transferred far behind the frontlines, so they should be fine. Dark Magi wouldn't have any interests in a few pitifully poor acolytes…"

Leylin indifferently pondered.

He was pretty much in possession of a third of the power within Four Seasons Garden's headquarters in the Eternal River Plain's secret plane. This amount of power was simply astonishing.

But it was certain that he was going to betray them. In order not to implicate George and others, he could only work in a roundabout way.

"Are you ready?"

At this moment, Caesar appeared like a ghost behind Leylin and asked.

"All ready! We can start anytime!" Leylin nodded, "With us together, he definitely won't be able to escape even with just what the formation genie grants us access to!"

He and Caesar's conversations were transmitted using spiritual force, and nobody would find out.

...

Wade expressionlessly got up from a bed that had a strange smell to it. His face was stiff as he came before a large crystal mirror.

Like a transparent crystal mirror, what was reflected was a person whose hair had withered, facial features sunken and two eyes caved in, much like the corpse of a mummy.

The curse on the dagger that had been used in sneaking an attack on him had constantly been eating at his life, causing his external appearance to undergo changes.

Wade could be considered a pretty boy in the past, but now, any Magus from Four Seasons Garden definitely wouldn't be able to recognise him.

"Teacher…"

A low mumble emerged from Wade's dry and cracked lips.

For Wade, the first half of his life was the model of someone who was treasured by the heavens. Since he was young, he had been tested to have the first-rate talent in becoming a Magus, and successfully entered Four Seasons Garden without much trouble. He had even become the student of a powerful rank 2 Magus! He had then advanced to become an official Magus, and even the bottleneck that happened while he was a semi-converted Magus was easily overcome. However, everything had been destroyed the day before. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, his entire world had altered.

Four Seasons Garden's entrance to the secret plane had been attacked, causing his teacher, Reynold, to die in battle. Even he himself had been struck with a curse that had maggots that burrowed into his flesh and bones, and could not be ridden of. This resulted in his current appearance, where he looked like an abomination.

"Teacher! I'll definitely avenge you!"

The corpse-like Wade in front of the mirror let out a low howl and a resolute look appeared on his face.

For official Magi like Wade, external appearances were of no concern. As long as he had time, he could slowly choose a look and make changes to achieve it.

This curse was directed at his life force and even his spirit. The moment both were diminished, no healing techniques would be useful!

Originally, he could have chosen to return to the headquarters in the external world and be treated. With the methods of the Magi there, even if they were unable to heal him, it was a large possibility that they could slow the development of the curse and give him more time to come up with more ways to deal with it.

However, for the sake of his teacher, Reynold, Wade firmly chose to stay behind.

He had too many questions regarding his teacher's death. There were also a few suspicious points that he needed to make sense with the help of the investigation team from Four Seasons Garden before he would leave.

Hence, even if the conditions here were simply terrible and the curse was constantly eating at his body and turning him into a horrific state, he would still choose to stay behind.

"My lord! How do you feel today?"

A Magus wearing an armour of thorns entered.

Divulged

"Goro! It's you!"

Wade glanced at one of the few surviving members of the Four Seasons Corps, his tone displaying his regret.

That day, he had sustained serious injuries, and practically all of the small team from the Four Seasons Corps had died. All that was left was Goro. As he had fainted because of the explosion, he had narrowly escaped death.

At the sight of Goro, Wade couldn't help but think back to that scene.

Explosion! Figures! Green mist!

Everything had happened so suddenly that even his secretary who was also his girlfriend, had died in the attack.

"Now, even Goro is probably ridiculing me as well."

Wade shook his head as he thought, and spoke in a hoarse voice. "What's the matter?"

"My lord, I've brought you your breakfast!"

Goro placed a silver tray on the table, on which were fruit salad, white bread, and steaming hot milk.

"Thank you!" Wade was silent for a while before he spoke.

"My lord, please be careful!" Goro bent his head slightly and quickly left.

Wade did not have much of an appetite, but for the sake of his teacher and as well as his own wellbeing, he still forced himself to go to the dining table.

He picked up a slice of white bread, preparing to slather some jam on it, but a slip of paper sandwiched in the loaf caught his attention.

Wade retrieved the slip and spread it out.

After being in contact with the warmth of Wade's fingers, rows of little letters appeared on the originally white paper.

"Danger! Dark Magi have infiltrated the headquarters and are planning to attack you. Leave immediately!"

The words were very strikingly written in red.

Wade stared hard and immediately got up to set up a few detection and isolation spells.

Next, with some astonishment, he focused on the slip in his hands.

"Like I thought, the dark Magi's attack was way too ferocious, and they knew too much about our defense system. The formation genie was also interfered with, and could not be used at all. There has to be a spy!"

Hatred appeared on his face, "If not for there being a spy, we definitely wouldn't be in this position, and even… Teacher Reynold wouldn't…"

His fists were clenched tightly, to the point that a few drops of crimson blood flowed out through the bandages on his hands.

"I'll definitely find you and avenge my teacher. I swear on it!"

A glint of resolution appeared in Wade's eyes, and he then rubbed the slip of paper in his hands.

"The paper used is the most ordinary parchment paper. The words were designed to show after coming into contact with my body temperature, so the sender has to be someone I'm familiar with. If he was able to warn me, that means that he's very clear on whatever's happened here, but… who could it be?"

Face after face appeared in Wade's mind, but he quickly pushed this thought down.

"It's not the time to think about this. Danger? Does this mean someone is planning on attacking me? Within the headquarters?"

Wade didn't quite believe it.

*Pu! Pu! Pu!*

At this moment, explosions sounded in the air, and numerous black needles as fine as cow hair penetrated the air. They were sharp glints in the air, launching towards Wade like raindrops.

"Really?!"

A green shield of vines appeared, and the numerous thin needles struck the surface and produced sparks.

He then dropped to the ground and rolled!

*Boom!* A black dagger punctured the area that he had previously been, and the bench split apart like tofu. Even the air had been cut, producing two pure, white gusts of wind.

*Tss tss!* From the area where the chair had been sliced, the sound of an object corroding was heard, with much white smoke accompanying it. The bench that Wade had been sitting on was corroded in a few seconds, not even leaving behind any residue.

The person holding the dagger was a dwarf-like figure.

The dwarf was surrounded by a layer of black gauze, and his movements were extremely agile. After seeing Wade avoid the attack, he pounced towards him like the wind. The black dagger was like the tooth of a poisonous snake, searching for Wade's weak points.

"Formation genie, activate the defense spell formation here, and inform the Lightning Corps!" Wade looked pitiful as he dodged a few attacks, and quickly swiped at a ring on his hand.

*Boom!* Green mist exploded at the scene, and with this chance, he began to yell.

"Order received! Activating defense at Zone B-7… Beep! Received a different command, cancelling out both. Your authority has temporarily been superseded!"

A robotic female voice sounded by Wade's ear, causing his heart to sink.

The formation genie had control over a large area, which practically included the entire headquarters of the Four Seasons Garden at the Eternal River Plains' secret plane. The moment he activated the power of the formation genie, he would definitely be able to break away from danger and arrest this killer.

But now, the enemy was even able to control the formation genie! Didn't this mean that the headquarters was now being controlled by the dark Magi?

A huge sense of fear suddenly made itself known. Despite the strong defense here, he could not feel any security and rather, felt like he was being caged in.

At this moment, the green mist in the room dispersed, and the dwarf-like killer's eyes had a cold glint within them. He seemed to transform into a black hurricane, which swept towards Wade.

*Teng! Teng! Teng!*

Outside the room, footsteps kept sounding. The guard Magi who were outside had heard noises inside and quickly rushed here.

The dwarf suddenly flung something, and the dagger in his hand turned into black lightning, streaking across the air and flying straight for Wade's heart!

"If I weren't seriously injured and cursed, this type of attack…" An unresigned expression appeared on Wade's face, and he quickly tried to avoid the attack.

*Pu!* The black dagger stabbed his shoulder, leaving behind just the handle exposed.

Large amounts of fresh blood spurted out, and Wade's face paled as he collapsed.

The dwarf quickly ran forward, preparing to deal the final blow!

"Protect the lord!" At this moment, the door to the room was forcibly kicked open and was turned into wood shavings. A few Magi wearing uniforms with lightning designs on them broke in.

Seeing Wade collapsed on the floor, they roared, and a few people produced blue and white electric currents.

The bolt of electricity arced across the air and arrived in front of Wade.

*Pak! Pak!*

The blue and white electric arcs struck the dwarf, causing green smoke and the smell of charred flesh to spread throughout the room.

The dwarf's body trembled, before he glared hard at Wade as if staring at his prey, and suddenly threw two black balls to the ground!

*Poof!* A large amount of black gas billowed out and concealed the dwarf's figure. After the gas had dissipated, the dwarf assassin had already disappeared.

"My lord, are you alright? Inform and warn Lord Caesar and Leylin about this!"

The Magi of the Lightning Corps supported Wade and then instructed.

Half an hour later, Wade had already moved to another room, his injuries having been treated. However, while he glanced at his surroundings, terror was beginning to engulf him.

The assassination attempt just now made him feel like something was wrong.

Within the headquarters, an assassin had actually managed to enter without obstruction and suppressed the activation of the formation genie! What did this mean?

"Who could be the thief who seized the authority to command the formation genie? Or is it Caesar? Leylin? Did they both join hands?"

Wade was expressionless as the gears turned in his mind.

"No! The headquarters are extremely dangerous, and there are too many hidden enemies that I don't know of. If things really are like the what slip of paper said, where the dark Magi have infiltrated here, I'm in even more danger…"

Wade glanced around his surroundings. A few Magi were patrolling the area, walking back and forth. After the attack, Caesar had brought over guards, but all he could feel were bad intentions in their gazes, causing him to sweat profusely.

"This isn't going to work. I need to leave here as quickly as possible; it'll be best to meet with the academy's investigation team!"

Wade's eyes showed his staunch resolve.

"What? Wade's missing?"

Leylin glanced at Caesar, shocked.

"How did this happen? You couldn't even carry out such a simple task! He must be suspecting us now!" In front of Leylin was the three-eyed Magus, Caesar, who did not look to be in a good mood.

"Even if he's an idiot, he'll definitely know there's something up with both of us after his authority in using the formation genie was suspended. If he were to report this to the investigation team…"

"That's impossible!" Leylin shook his head.

"The entrance to the secret plane is in our hands. I've checked all the recent records of people entering and exiting; there are no problems. Communication between the secret plane and the external world is very unstable, and the few communication towers we have don't work unless we use a spell formation exclusively for communication. Unfortunately, with our access to the formation genie, we can seal this entire area and turn him into a caged bird!"

"So the only thing he can do is to escape to other light Magi regions!" Caesar added.

"Exactly! A very daring decision!" Leylin nodded.

The area of the Eternal River Plains' secret plane was enormous, and the distance between each entrance was vast. One even needed to pass through a few extremely dangerous zones.

The difficulty would be too much for Wade while he was in his best condition, much less while he was cursed.

"This is your problem. You solve it!" Caesar answered in annoyance.

"Alright! This situation is actually what we wanted, though, isn't it?"

Leylin got up while he continued speaking. "Desmund has been transferred away, and nobody knows whether Wade is dead or alive… In these next few days, he won't have the chance to communicate with any Magus from the external world. Hence, the entire headquarters of the Eternal River Plain's secret plane now belongs to us…"

Query

After having spoken, Leylin made a show of flinging his robes, with the intention to leave.

"What are you doing?"

"To take care of the mess that was left behind, and arrange for the dark Magi to receive access to the information about our defenses and resources…" Leylin's figure eventually disappeared into the distance, leaving behind the echo of his voice.

Leylin went straight to his room, opened a secret door and revealed a basement.

"My Lord!" A dwarf in black clothing bowed towards Leylin.

"En!" Leylin nodded, and then pointed at the dwarf! A bright light was sent out from his fingertips and disappeared into the dwarf's forehead.

The dwarf's body swelled in an instant; green veins wriggling on his flesh like little snakes.

*Ka-cha!*

The dwarf's body constantly expanded, and actually transformed from a little dwarf to an adult, burly male!

With the change in his body, his black clothes burst and revealed a manly and handsome figure. However, on what had once been a beautiful male body, all sorts of runic brands now covered it all over that formed a bizarre spell formation.

The man's body which was laden with brands trembled involuntarily as bead-sized sweat constantly dripping. From the looks of it, such a transformation was extremely uncomfortable, but the burly man gritted his teeth and did not make a sound.

"You did well, Number 2!" Leylin glanced at the burly man and praised him.

"It's my honour to be able to serve Master!" This burly man was actually one of the Branded Swordsmen that served Leylin!

With his strength as a Branded Swordsman, the only way for Number 2 to fail in killing Wade, who was already injured and weakened, was according to Leylin's special instructions.

Even the slip of paper that warned Wade was arranged by Leylin.

"I've already helped you. Everything that happens next depends on your luck!"

Leylin lightly sighed, his pupils seemed to penetrate the void and see Wade, who was already fleeing.

He had gone out of the way to do all this.

After all, he was on somewhat good terms with Wade and allowed him to enter Four Seasons Garden. He did somewhat owe Wade.

Though Reynold had bad intentions towards Leylin, and Leylin had struck back mercilessly and indirectly caused Reynold's death, this had nothing to do with Wade. ?

Hence, Leylin did not mind letting him off when it was convenient.

To take it further, Wade right now still had some talent in being a Magus and was not someone Leylin had in his sights. Even if Wade wanted to avenge his father or anything like that, he could just kill Wade.

After this act, Leylin believed he had repaid the debt he owed Wade. If he stupidly decided to provoke Leylin, Wade would immediately be killed. There would be no hesitation.

In Leylin's mind, there was a very clear line.

Wade was now a tiny bit helpful to Leylin, and they were on somewhat good terms, so he could let him off. If they were even closer, Leylin might even arrange for Number 2 and Number 3 to escort him out, rather than letting him fend for himself.

Of course, before all that, the prerequisite was that none of this would harm Leylin's interests. If not, favours and things of that nature were not even worth considering.

"I won't chase after him anymore, but to make sure everything goes well, Caesar will definitely mobilize dark Magi from Thousand Meddling Hands to kill him. Good luck to you!"

Leylin estimated that the chances of Wade's survival in the external world were no more than 40%. This was in a situation where his own luck was factored in.

However, this was much better than staying behind in the headquarters, where he was sure to die. Hence, Leylin sighed a little and quickly pushed this matter to the back of his mind, and ordered Number 2 and Number 3 to conceal themselves in order to be his trump cards. Without telling anyone, Leylin came to the region where the core of the formation genie was.

Whatever Caesar had ordered him to do, had naturally been disregarded. Did Caesar dare to fall out with him just over such a trivial matter?

The core of the formation genie was now situated at the heart of the headquarters of Four Seasons Gardens, not far from what had been Reynold's office.

Here, with every step he took, he could see many light Magi who appeared quite solemn as they went about their tasks. Amongst these Magi, not only were there Magi from Four Seasons Garden, there were also a few Magi from the Lightning Corps.

In Leylin's eyes, the core of the formation genie was just like a generator room essential for the upkeep of the defense spell formation. The defense spell formation that guarded Four Seasons Garden was extremely important, and with the previous attack, the status and need for such defensive mechanisms was elevated by several times.

However, it was but a decoration in Leylin's eyes. He was one of the two most important people in Four Seasons Garden now, and not only did these Magi not question his being here, but they bowed to him.

After sending away the Magi outside, Leylin entered the room in which the spirit genie was located.

This room was very empty, and wisps of cool air floated about, which caused the temperature to drop.

In the centre of the room, the metal pillars within what was the main body of the formation genie that Leylin had seen the previous time were standing tall.

Usually, this sort of formation genie was a being that had no consciousness and only carried out procedures. It could not compare to Leylin's A.I. Chip, but to be able to construct this thing with magic was something that astounded Leylin to no end.

This was the product formed by a rank 1 and rank 2 Magus. Did that mean that rank 3 or 4 Magi could use magic and produce artificial intelligence, and even generate life?

There was a level of excitement in Leylin's heart, as well as some vigilance. Though he had the A.I. Chip and had a much better start than the other Magi, the developed brains of highly ranked Magi were comparable to regular computers. His advantage was becoming less obvious, and would eventually be rendered obsolete.

However, he was still very confident!

Even if there was a day where the advantages the A.I. Chip granted him were evened out, or even surpassed by other Magi, he was confident he would accumulate enough power before that happened and would not fear any challenges!

With a grin on his face, Leylin pressed the palm of his hand to the surface of the metal pillar.

"Welcome, Magus Leylin Farlier, an authority of seven stars! Please choose the function you require!"

The formation genie's voice sounded in Leylin's mind, instantly separating a few fundamental modules, which included: the monitoring of the spell formation, checking information, alteration of basic runes and so on.

Leylin's spiritual force touched the module that allowed him to check for information. Immediately afterwards, a large amount of information appeared in his mind.

This formation genie was, in actuality, a massive central computer, with large amounts of information about the Magi of Four Seasons Garden, recorded in its database.

What he had right now was access to everything except a few absolutely secret documents.

"Map to the Eternal River Plain's secret plane! Distribution of resources! The best missions! Inventory of each warehouse! Backup of academic knowledge!"

A subdirectory dazzled Leylin as it streamed past his eyes. This was just a newly-formed formation genie, and if it were a high-level formation genie that had recorded over a thousand years of history in Four Seasons Garden, all the information within would cause Leylin's brain to explode.

[A platform to control data entry has been discovered! Proceed with remote control?] At this moment, the A.I. Chip's voice sounded by Leylin's ear.

"Yes!" Leylin nodded.

Next, a streak of spiritual force covered the metal pillar.

"A.I. Chip! Make a copy of the information stored in the formation genie, and establish a catalogue for browsing!] Leylin ordered.

[Beep! Mission established! Beginning copy of information! Progress: 1%…34%… 100%!]

The A.I. Chip's efficiency was extremely shocking, and the amount it could store far exceeded Leylin's expectations. All the information stored in the formation genie only required a few seconds to be duplicated, and it had not taken up that much space either.

"It looks like after transmigrating, not only did the A.I. Chip fuse with my spirit, its storage space has also been increased. Even if I were to copy information from a high-level formation genie like the one in Four Seasons Garden that has over a thousand years' worth of information stored within, there wouldn't be any problems…"

Glee flashed by Leylin's face, and he then commanded, "Search! Rare items column!"

Instantly after, a picture was sent to the A.I. Chip to be compared with. It was a bizarre honeycomb coal briquette, with many pearls that looked like eyeballs, was dazzling and demonic!

This was what Leylin had found after sweeping through the main warehouse of the headquarters of Four Seasons Garden. It was definitely a top-grade item found within the secret plane.

Though Leylin had no idea what it was, and there was no record of it in the A.I. Chip's database, the rank 2 Magus Reynold was sure to recognise it. If not, he would not have treated it so preciously and protected it well.

With this image, there was sure to be a record of it in the formation genie.

As expected, after adding the database from the formation genie, the A.I. Chip quickly produced an answer.

[The fossil of the flesh from a Thousand Eyes Starfish! Degree of rarity: Level 5S. Place of discovery: Liema Channel in the Eternal River Plains' secret plane. Note Taker: Reynold.]

"Thousand Eyes Starfish! It seems to be an ancient creature!" Leylin rubbed his chin and looked through the introduction to its uses.

"The flesh of the Thousand Eyes Starfish contains extremely rich life energy, and can instantly regenerate a broken limb, and even give Magi at the brink of death a chance to live. It is also very effective in the strengthening of organs. With just a gram of the flesh of the Thousand Eyes Starfish, it can increase the rate of the organ's adaptability by two levels!"

Leylin had a crazed look of excitement in his eyes as he read up to this point.

"Adaptability of the organ? Doesn't that mean it's useful in the remodelling of my heart?" The progress of the remodelling of his heart had been stuck at 69%.

After all, reforming the body was a very dangerous process, especially as Leylin intended to transform his heart such that it was similar to that of the Giant Kemoyin Serpent.

Contribution Token

Even in Leylin's previous life, during the process of transplanting organs, there would always be the possibility of the body rejecting the new organ.

It was like this for transplanting between human bodies, and especially so for an exceptionally powerful organ such as the heart of an ancient being that was to be stuck into the body of an ordinary Magus.

Even with the help of magic, Leylin had to spend large amounts of time to increase the compatibility of his body and the heart.

The progress of the remodelling of his heart had slowed considerably.

Now, however, the flesh of the Thousand Eyes Starfish was actually able to suppress the body's antibodies and increase the rate at which organs adapted to the host body. How could this not get Leylin excited?

After knowing the uses of the flesh of the Thousand Eyes Starfish that he now possessed, Leylin left the room in a better mood. Soon after, a message came for him.

"What? Does someone want to see me? And is holding a rank 1 contribution token?" Leylin rubbed his chin and asked, "Who is it?"

The person who came forward to notify him was a young female Magus, who reverently gazed at Leylin. Well, after being transformed by his bloodline, his appearance would be lauded as 'handsome' no matter where he went. Also, for him to have reached the level of rank 1 Magus at such a young age showed that he was frighteningly strong! This caused a reasonably large commotion, which resulted in admiration and adoration from many female Magi.

"It's an old, and very… haughty lady!"

The female Magus ducked her head and thought for a moment, and then chose these words.

"An old, haughty lady?" Leylin was stunned, and then a slight smile appeared on his lips. He had already guessed who it was, "Bring her to conference room 3. I'll meet her there!"

The female Magus bowed and quickly retreated.

Leylin was left behind, looking as if he was deep in thought. From the curse he had planted on Manla and Jenna's body, he could somewhat tell what was happening around them.

After seeing the curses on Manla's body detonate, Leylin had a feeling that the family behind Jenna would try to compromise with him. From the looks of the current situation, this had come true.

Come to think of it, the time for the curse to take full effect was nearing. They must have tried all the methods they had access to, and only after having no other way did they choose to compromise with him.

"What should I ask for this time?" Leylin scratched his chin. He did not have any good feelings towards this family that considered themselves above others and was preparing to make them pay a high price and watch them fall to rock bottom.

"However, to be so arrogant on my territory…" A cold glint flashed in Leylin's eyes.

Three hours later, in conference room 3, the piercing screech of an old woman's voice could be heard, "I don't care what he's doing, but I've already been waiting here for over three hours. No matter what you do, I want to see him now. Immediately! If not, I'll use my contribution token and fire you! I swear on it!"

*Crash!* Next, the sound of glass breaking could be heard.

The female Magus who had notified Leylin ran out, her expression unhappy, "That darned old lady. Is she commanding just because she has a contribution token? One day…"

The female Magus cursed under her breath. All of a sudden, a shadow loomed over her, revealing the figure of a Magus.

"Lord- Lord Leylin! There's a guest who wants to see you!" She was shocked and immediately bowed, her cheeks rosy red.

"I understand!" Leylin restrained his laughter with great difficulty, and the female Magus walked into the room looking a little dazed.

He had purposefully taken a longer period of time to come over here so that she would calm her anger. However, for people like her, whose spirit had affected her neurotic characteristic, time was not going to change anything.

"Didn't I say to call Leylin over…"

Conference room 3 was very large, with a few long leather sofas and a few tables in the middle. This was where guests could comfortably sit, have a drink and chat.

Now, however, one of the tables had been flipped over, and there were the shattered remains of a few cups and plates on the ground. An old woman who had on the clothes of the upper class had her face covered with gauze. She wore black gloves and held onto a small bag, her temper foul.

Upon seeing Leylin, she was at first stunned, and then hatred shot out of her eyes.

The old woman's chest constantly heaved up and down, as if trying to suppress the fury in her heart. Then, with a haughty accent, she spoke, "Leylin, is it? You actually dare to offend our noble Botelli family! This is an absolute sin! However, the mother of power and peace is benevolent and merciful. Now, confess to your wrongdoings and cure Jenna! I can even consider lightening your sentence."

While she spoke, she acted as if she was being noble to him by allowing him to repent, as if he had committed a huge sin that required her forgiveness.

"Hold on!" Such a pitying gaze made Leylin extremely annoyed, and he rudely interrupted her.

"What? Are you preparing to confess?" The old woman held her head high.

"No! I just wanted to ask you, are you crazy?" Leylin did not beat around the bush.

"What did you say?" The old woman's expression showed her shock. She could not believe that someone dared to speak to her in such a manner.

"If you didn't hear it clearly, I'll say it again. " Leylin's voice rose a couple of notches. "Are. You. Crazy?"

"You- You actually dare…" The old woman pointed at Leylin, the joints in her fingers turning white and trembling in her anger.

"You actually dare to speak to me, the current wielder of power in the Botelli family, in such a manner! You even dare tarnish my family's reputation! Hell forbid! I'd even been so kind as to hope that I could pardon you… Oh, powerful and merciful mother of peace, please forgive my stupidity…"

"Stop!" Leylin did not wish to listen to this any longer. He was now clear of the situation. Jenna's family, which was the Botelli family, must have a family illness of craziness!

"I'm just going to say one thing. Only I am able to undo the curse on Jenna's body, and she is very important to you. After trying all available methods, you had no choice but to come here and ask me for help. Since you're here to ask for a favour, you must first have a good attitude!"

Leylin raised a finger. "If not, you can only watch as Jenna dies!"

Such an unrestrained way of speech seemed to pierce through the old lady's pretense of being honourable, the redness on her face quickly dying away, and leaving her looking pale.

"I knew it! There's no use in bargaining with sinners like you because you'll just try to make use of us. The only thing awaiting you is eternal death…"

The old woman incessantly muttered.

"You…" The anger in his heart stirred.

However, immediately after, his facial expression slightly changed and he calmed down.

At this moment, the old lady took out a gold token that was the size of her palm, swaying it in front of Leylin and grinning proudly. "See this? This is a rank 1 contribution token my ancestors received from the Four Seasons Garden. It makes me a noble here, and if I choose to use it, the Four Seasons Garden has to fulfil one of my requests! I wonder if I want them to expel you, what would happen?"

"So the reason why you were this unrestrained was because you have a token!"

Leylin suddenly felt the urge to laugh. Not even counting the fact that he was planning to leave the Four Seasons Garden, he did not view them very highly in the first place. However, this old woman seemed to be banking her hopes on the Four Seasons Garden, and used it as a method to threaten him.

"Whatever it is, you now have two choices. The first is to obediently admit to your wrongdoings and come back with me to cure Jenna. The second is to be banished from the Four Seasons Garden, and eventually, be chased down and killed!"

A victorious smile emerged on her face.

"…" Leylin was speechless as he glanced at this old woman, suddenly finding her a little pitiful.

The Four Seasons did have such a rule, and the rank 1 contribution token in her hands was also authentic. Unfortunately, she was a few days late!

If she had arrived here a few days earlier, she might have been able to use the power of this token, and, with the Four Seasons Garden to suppress him.

But now? Leylin looked at the token in her hands.

"That's right! She probably still doesn't know about us being attacked, Reynold's death, and me taking over…"

The attack had been classified as top secret, and the Four Seasons Garden entrance to the secret plane had even been sealed for a period of time. It was impossible for regular Magi to know about this.

As a result of a time difference and various other factors, this old woman was obviously still not aware that this branch of the Four Seasons Garden had already changed owners, what with her charging in so loudly and brazenly.

"What's wrong? Can't make a choice? Do you want me to help you?"

Leylin's long silence gave her the impression that he was afraid. Hence, the expression on her face was more arrogant, and she loudly bellowed, "Guards! Guards!"

"What is the matter?"

Minutes later, a few Magi in white robes charged in.

"In the name of the Four Seasons Garden, I command you to arrest Leylin!" The old woman raised the gold token in her hands, which flashed and glinted to form a four-coloured ring. An energy wave with a very recognizable frequency was emitted.

"It's a rank 1 contribution token! It can't be fake!" The guard Magi glanced at it bowed to greet the old woman.

She nodded, still exuding arrogance.

"Capture him!" She pointed at Leylin.

"Him?" A few guard Magi looked at the old woman, then at Leylin, finding this situation difficult to handle.

"What's wrong?" Her voice was piercing, to the point that one wanted to close their ears, "Do you wish to go against an age-old agreement?"

Threats

"I guess I should let you know!"

Seeing this old lady acting like this, Leylin suddenly found her quite pitiful and lost the urge to play with her any further.

He waved at the few guards. "You may return first."

"Yes, my lord!" The guards gave Leylin a deep bow, appearing as if a heavy weight had been lifted off their shoulders, and quickly dashed out of the room.

"Wait! What did they call you? My lord? Aren't you just a regular Magus from the Potioneering Team? Aren't you also ostracised?"

The old woman spoke agitatedly. She could feel that things were beyond her control as if a stone had lodged deep in her heart.

"It seems like you've investigated me quite thoroughly! Unfortunately, I've climbed up the ranks a little faster than that…"

Leylin spread his hands, a mischievous grin on his face.

Was he merely fast in climbing to this position? He had practically flown here! First, by killing large numbers of dark Magi, he had obtained the position of the vice team leader of the hunting team. With his battle achievement of killing Marb, he had been named the patrolling inspector of the headquarters. In theory, he was just as powerful as Caesar, the leader of the hunting team.

After the attack of the dark Magi and Reynold's death, he had seized a third of the power within this branch of Four Seasons Garden. But wait, there's more! After chasing Wade out, the authority he possessed had increased to two-thirds!

His position was infinitely nearing the chairman with this much power! This old woman only had a rank 1 contribution token, which was useless against a team leader, much less Leylin.

Next, the smirk on his face vanished, and his expression turned solemn.

"Formation genie, record this down! This… Ahem! This person who holds the power in the Botelli family overstepped her authority and ordered for my arrest, with a rank 1 contribution token. I hereby announce that she be stripped of the authority and the contribution token in her hands!"

*Weng!* Magical light brightened in the middle of the room, and the walls were filled with a ring of wandering illuminated runes.

"Recorded! Verifying! Verification complete. Removing authority from rank 1 contribution token!"

A robotic female voice was heard, and the rays of light from magic suddenly flashed outwards.

The old lady seemed to be scared silly by such a strong energy wave. If all the spell formations around them exploded in one go, her body would simply vanish.

The colourful magic rays did not attack her, but transformed into a hand the size of an adult, grabbing the rank 1 contribution token in her possession!

Then, the fingers exerted force!

*Ka-cha! Ka-cha!*

The sound of an object breaking sounded. A web of cracks spread across the surface of the entire token, and under the hopeless gaze of the old woman, it turned into little bits of dust.

*Tss tss!* The magical light receded after destroying the token. Even the spell formation on the wall vanished.

The old woman was now like a duck grasped at the neck, unable to utter a word.

She naturally knew the amount of authority needed to be able to order the formation genie to destroy a rank 1 contribution token! That was something only the chairman was able to do! Could it be that this young man had already advanced to become a rank 2 Magus, and had become the chairman of the Four Seasons Garden?

This world was just too crazy. The old woman supported her head, feeling as if she was dreaming!

"How is it? Do you have any other trump cards? You can try using them!" Leylin crossed his arms, staring icily at this old woman.

Her heart fell. Her family was now not in a very good position. This token, which was something their ancestors had left behind, was the last resort, but had been rendered useless without properly being made use of! She herself would even be in trouble upon returning!

"What do you want?"

Her voice was hoarse as if she had aged by ten years. She bent her back, and then released the pride from her tone, completely defeated.

"What do you want?" Leylin sounded innocent.

"Your granddaughter came up to me, saying I'm the main cause of a war and wanted to purify me. I was forced to strike back and gave them a lifeline when I could have simply just killed them. I'm already being very kind, and now you even want to threaten me!"

Leylin was indeed the victim in this affair, except for the fact that he had retaliated with just a little too much strength.

"Jenna is the seer of our generation. Her predictions can't be wrong!" The old woman persisted.

"You…" Leylin was exasperated but calmed his heart. There was no point in arguing over a trivial matter such as this.

"Alright, now it's time for me to name my conditions! My requirements are simple. I'm interested in that divination ability of Jenna's. Impart me this technique, and I'll release the curse on her!"

"Oh, Mother of Peace! Not only does a sinner like you want to control us, you even dare to covet our family's meditation technique!"

She clutched her chest as if she was on the verge of going crazy.

"Is it a meditation technique? Or even a high-grade meditation technique?" Leylin was suddenly very interested.

"Don't even think about it, you monster! Devil! Don't even think about trying to obtain our Botelli Family's meditation technique!" The old woman resolutely rejected him, a cold glint that could not be concealed flashing past her eyes.

"Hehe… You may not know this, but the curse on Jenna's body can only be released by me. Otherwise, you could try finding a Morning Star Magus, or else you'll just be waiting for a dead body."

"I'll give you one day! Think it through!"

Leylin clapped his hands and two guards immediately entered.

"Send this lady away to get some rest. Do not be negligent!" Leylin's tone was slightly different, and the two Magi who knew what he was implying quickly came before the old woman, ready to take care of her.

Leylin nodded and left.

Though the old woman had concealed it well, the coldness in her eyes was still apparent to Leylin. All that she was thinking had long since been discovered by Leylin.

"Trying to swindle me with a fake meditation technique? No! Magi are intelligent people! If you give me a fake one, I'll definitely know. If I can't tell, I can just find a few acolytes and perform tests on them… Unless… If she really gives me a high-grade meditation technique, but it has a very obvious flaw! Only with these conditions will Magi who lack high-grade meditation techniques be tempted to use it…"

"What a pity!" Leylin cracked a smile.

If he was a Magus without a high-grade meditation technique, he would definitely be unable to resist the temptation, and would end up training in it. After all, it represented an increased chance of advancing, as well as insuring a better future.

Unfortunately, he already had a high-grade meditation technique of his own—Kemoyin's Pupil! No matter how amazing the Botelli family's meditation technique was, he would only use it as a reference, and wouldn't do something so stupid as to switch meditation techniques.

With a smile on his lips, Leylin went inside a secret room.

The four walls of this secret room were made of thick stone, with numerous runes that could isolate energy placed all over.

In the middle was a rather strangely shaped, little stone counter. Three pillars supported a triangular section, large amounts of green vines crawled along it.

"Formation genie, activate the communication spell formation!" Leylin spoke.

"Authority verified! Activating communication spell formation!" As the formation genie spoke, a dusky splendour shot out from the little stone counter, and all the runes in the room began to glimmer.

Leylin nodded upon seeing this. Communication between the secret plane and the external world was all but impossible, and could only work through a particular communication spell formation.

This was a specially constructed communication spell formation that could penetrate the isolation effect of the secret plane and was considerably expensive. The Four Seasons Garden only had this one formation in the entire Eternal River Plains' secret plane.

Before, Wade's authority to communicate with the outside world was sealed through the combined efforts of Leylin and Caesar. Hence, in a situation where he could not contact anyone, Wade had no choice but to flee.

Leylin took out his own secret imprint book and flipped through to the most recent page. At the end was a blue imprint that looked like a beacon.

Leylin lightly tapped it.

*Boom!* The blue beacon suddenly became bigger, and the runes in the room unceasingly lit up.

A red line shot out of the stone counter, connecting to the surface of the blue beacon secret imprint.

"Is this Sir Hyder? How have you been feeling recently?" Leylin asked, full of smiles.

"It's… you! Quick! Give me the cure!"

From within the blue secret imprint, a haggard voice came on and off, as if the owner had been severely injured or was being tortured by some illness.

The owner of this voice was Hyder, the Magus who was on good terms with the Botelli Family, who had been invited by the old woman to treat Jenna!

Previously, he had failed in his treatment methods. Not only had he been infected by a poison that Leylin had made himself, but the poison had also come with a communication imprint.

Hence, Leylin was able to know a lot about the Botelli Family.

The grin on Leylin's face widened. "Sir Hyder, I want to tell you something quite unfortunate! The wielder of power in the Botelli family has already approached me. She implored me to remove Jenna's curse, but never said anything about you…"

Upon hearing his words, the imprint became quiet, and then came the sound of something breaking. "That whore, that lunatic! To think I worked so hard for her… Cough cough…"

After just two sentences, Hyder began to cough violently.

Leylin's smile was even brighter. "Sir Hyder! How's the effect of my 'Shadow Corrosion'? I spent a lot of effort on it! You're also a very outstanding healing Magus. I would like to know your evaluation of it!"

After a long time, Leylin once again heard Hyder's voice from the secret imprint. "You've won. The composition of the poison is much too complicated, and they're intricately linked together. I really have no way to remove it… Give me the cure, and not just medication to suppress it, and I'll tell you everything I know!"

"Fine! I want to know everything, especially your knowledge regarding the contents of the meditation technique."

Thousand Eyed Starfish

A day later, Leylin met the old woman from the Botelli Family once more.

This time, however, she looked to be pale and in a bad state, as if she had not rested well.

At the sight of Leylin, her eyes seemed to come to life and she spoke in a low voice, "I can give you information regarding the secret high-grade meditation technique that belongs to our family. However, I want to make this clear first. This technique is incomplete, and there are stringent limits and restrictions applied to those who train in it. If you were to forcefully train in it, there are sure to be residual effects."

"That's my problem. Just give me the meditation technique, and I'll give you the solution to releasing the curse. It's as easy as that!" Leaning against the comfy back of his reclining chair, Leylin's fingers were crossed as he calmly spoke.

"Fine! But we will first need to make a contract with the presence of the Trial's Eye!" The old woman straightened her back.

"Of course! I don't trust you either." Leylin nodded. "Let's start…"

A moment later, the old woman took what she wanted and left. Leylin was left on his chair, fiddling with a light golden crystal ball, and looking to be deep in thought.

"What an interesting meditation technique!"

He had briefly looked through the contents of the meditation technique the old woman had given him. Due to the contract under the watch of the Trial's Eye, she did not dare cheat him, though Leylin had found out she had pulled a few tricks as well.

For instance, she had either exaggerated or understated a few facts.

Based on what Hyder had said, male Magi in the Botelli family who had forcefully trained in this high-grade meditation technique had all died after going mad. However, all that was written here was that there would be aftereffects that would affect one's mind.

The old woman had also exaggerated the effects of training in this meditation technique, distorting the fact that one could catch glimpses of some vague fragments of the future into one being able to see the future.

Upon seeing the frightening effects of a high-grade meditation technique that could aid one in seeing the future, most Magi would not hesitate to train in it. They would then fall into the old woman's trap!

"How clever, but that's it!" Leylin assessed as he played with the crystal ball that had information about the meditation technique recorded within it.

As the meditation technique the old woman had given him was real, it complied with the Trial's Eye contract. There were only a couple of small changes that she made to the results and side effects, which would not cause the Trial's Eye to retaliate against her.

However, in Leylin's eyes, whatever she did was just a joke!

"However, the fact that there is an ability to predict the future is quite alarming. Through the spiritual force from the supernatural world, one can sense fragments of what's to happen in the future…"

Leylin rubbed his chin. He had briefly looked through the technique, through which, with training, Magi could practice and form a unique type of spiritual force. With the extension of this spiritual force, one could then gain information and see images relating to the future.

In general, the results were astounding, but unfortunately, the technique was incomplete.

"A.I. Chip, how's the scanning and recording process going?"

Leylin asked inwardly.

[Beep! Information on "Sacred Flame", a high-grade meditation technique, has been recorded! Inputted into database, "Meditation techniques" ... Classified information as five stars]

The A.I. Chip intoned.

[After scanning through, the percentage of incompleteness of the meditation technique is at least 79.52%. If this technique is trained in, it will result in mental issues. Chances of developing bipolarism is at 98%!]

"98%!? Then there's definitely going to be a problem!" Leylin sighed and then asked, "A.I. Chip, is it possible to complete this meditation technique?"

He suspected that the strict limitations of one's body and bloodline, as well as the horrifying aftereffects, were all issues borne from the incomplete state of the technique. If the rest of it could be filled in, most of the problems would be solved.

[Beep! Due to a lack of information regarding high-grade meditation techniques, this technique cannot be completed.]

Unsurprisingly, this was the A.I. chip's answer.

There was nothing he could do. High-grade meditation techniques were connected to the life or death of a Magi organisation or family. Even with his power now, he could only get ahold of two high-grade meditation techniques. One was his own Kemoyin's Pupil, and the other was the incomplete Sacred Flame!

Based on his guess, the A.I. Chip would need a large number of samples to analyse and compare. Only after that would it be able to analyse and complete the Sacred Flame technique.

The samples required would be around ten high-grade meditation techniques! They also would have to be completed.

Ten high-grade meditation techniques? Leylin gave a long sigh. Even in the entire south coast, it was a uncertain if there were that many high-grade meditation techniques. With his current power, it would be impossible for him to obtain them.

"No matter what it is, this is still a high-grade meditation technique. It's priceless!"

Leylin caressed the golden crystal ball in his hands. All of a sudden, black mist appeared within his hands. *Ka-cha! Ka-cha!* Cracks appeared on the surface of the crystal ball, and the ball turned into dust in front of Leylin's eyes.

All the information about Sacred Flame had already been recorded in the A.I. Chip's database, and he would not be able to lose it. There was no point in keeping this crystal ball, and Leylin was naturally a little suspicious of anything the old woman left behind, and he found it best to destroy it.

...

Within Leylin's room, in a laboratory.

As one of the two current leaders of the Four Seasons Garden's branch in the Eternal River Plains' secret plane, arranging a better room and a laboratory for himself was nothing difficult.

This laboratory had once been provided to Magi who were team leaders. The equipment here was the best and newest technology brought in from the external world; no laboratory that Leylin had worked in in his previous world could compare to this.

Leylin was currently in front of a large, silver experiment table. On the surface of the metallic table, there was a black honeycomb-like coal briquette that silently lay there. There were many depressions on the surface of it, in the middles of which were dark green pearls that emitted dazzlingly bright lights.

This was one of the three most precious ingredients found in the main warehouse of Four Seasons Garden—the fossil of the Thousand Eyed Starfish!

After receiving the information regarding its name and uses from the formation genie, Leylin quickly found himself a laboratory, and prepared himself to make good use of it.

"The flesh of the Thousand Eyed Starfish has already turned into a fossil. It's going to be troublesome to extract and use the useful portions of it; I'm going to need many potions to do that. Thankfully, I have this…"

Leylin laughed, retrieving a mysterious test tube from his pouch.

After obtaining the spatial high-grade magic artifact made from the skin of the Void White-eyed snake, Leylin had placed all his belongings into it. As all of his baggage was gone, Leylin now looked much slimmer.

The entire test tube was made from glass, and the liquid contained within had a very strange colour. The top half was an olive colour, while the bottom half was a greyish-black. There was a clear line of separation between these two.

"A high-grade Reactive Potion! Even in ancient times, this was one of the most precious potions used to awaken the life energy hidden deep within an item!"

The formula for making this ancient potion had been found within the database of the formation genie. As a few of the ingredients required to brew it had already gone extinct, this formula was not made confidential. For Reynold, this was probably something of little interest.

But Leylin was different! The resources he possessed through looting and extortion were plentiful, and he was easily able to gather the required ingredients.

As for the ingredients that were extinct? Fortunately, Leylin had them!

While he was still a level 3 acolyte exploring the Dylan Gardens, not only had he gained the high-grade meditation technique and the Book of Giant Serpents, he had even obtained a few extremely precious plants!

These ingredients were much too precious, so Leylin could not bear to use them. He kept all of them after going through some procedures to keep them fresh.

Now, however, after obtaining the formula to make the high-grade active potion, he suddenly came to the realisation that the few ingredients that were known to be extinct were, in fact, plants that he possessed!

This was simply too lucky for him! Now that he had gathered all the ingredients, coupled with the fact that Leylin himself was a highly-accomplished Potion Master, brewing the potion was a very simple task.

Along with Leylin's chants, the test tube opened up like a flower, and a putrid stench spread around the room.

Drip by drip, Leylin carefully positioned each droplet onto the green pearls of the Thousand Eyed Starfish.

Leylin's movements were extremely careful, smearing the amount evenly on every pearl.

By the time the last of the olive-coloured potion was used up, the fossil suddenly began to squirm.

"Awaken!" His eyes flashing with excitement, Leylin's lips moved as he softly murmured.

He had used the ancient Byron language, which seemed to draw power from the supernatural world.

*Weng weng!*

Invisible strength wrapped the Thousand Eyed Starfish within, and the potion evaporated and emitted black and white gases.

The black and white gases merged in the air, forming the multiple black and white eyes.

*Whoosh…*

With what sounded like a big wave, the flesh of the Thousand Eyed Starfish constantly trembled, layers of rock falling off of it.

*Tss tss!*

Green eyes blinked open; those olive pearls in the depressions were actually the eyes of the Thousand Eyed Starfish!

"Begin deep heating! Preset temperature at 1548 degrees!"

Complying with Leylin's voice, two large, mechanical arms suddenly rose from under the table. They were extremely shiny and seemed to be made of metal, but at the joints, there were traces of the slight movements that were reminiscent of real flesh.

The large arms scooped up the Thousand Eyed Starfish and placed it into what looked like a furnace.

Accomplishment

"Prepare the centrifuge! Beginning cooperation…"

Leylin shut his eyes, and black threads shot out from between his brows, connecting to the various apparatus in the laboratory.

*Ka-cha! Ka-cha!*

The light flickered, and the apparatus in the laboratory were activated. Any instrument that had a measuring function began to show numbers and pointers on gauges moved.

With the threads of spiritual force, Leylin worked on purifying his spiritual force and began the complicated separation process.

Two hours later, Leylin looked at the half-finished product on the table and nodded.

On the surface of the table was a piece of pink flesh.

This had been the fossil of the Thousand Eyed Starfish. Leylin had fully expended the life force within it and had gotten rid of all the olive-coloured eyes.

There was a very troublesome poison held within the eyes of the Thousand Eyed Starfish, and as such, they needed to be removed.

The Thousand Eyed Starfish currently seemed to have returned to its original state, the tender flesh having a gleaming luster, as if it had only just been dug out, and was still covered in a layer of liquid.

"Yes! The separation operation was very successful! All that's left is the last step."

Leylin took out the grey-black, high-grade Reactive Potion, of which only half remained. He poured all of it onto the pink flesh.

*Tss tss!*

The moment the grey-black potion was poured onto the flesh, large amounts of steam were produced. Through it, one could see the pink flesh decreasing in size at a rate that could be seen with the human eye. The flesh seemed to shrivel up and turn black.

Leylin expressionlessly used up all the liquid, and then chanted some ancient incantations.

"Wu wu wu…" These incantations were ancient, with a very boundless aura. It sounded like countless conch shells being blown at the same time. Blue waves of energy were like sweeping tides, wrapping around the flesh of the Thousand Eyed Starfish…

After the blue light dissipated, all that was left was an object the size of a longan.

The object was grey in colour and even had lines that characterized muscle. It looked like salt-cured meat that had not been properly preserved.

The salty meat began to emit the smell of something burning.

*Rumble!*

Upon smelling this, Leylin actually couldn't help but swallow his saliva, a distinct look of longing appearing from the depths of his heart.

"Eat it! Eat it!"

"Hungry! Hungry! Hungry!"

This thirst seemed to come from every cell in his body. It was extremely difficult to resist, and this feeling was the strongest at his chest, where his heart was.

Leylin could feel every blood vessel in his body pumping in excitement, urging him to swallow that piece of flesh on the table!

"Ah… haha… Primal desires? How can a mere thing like it control me?"

Leylin's eyes turned a little red, and even his hands began to tremble.

However, he did not choose to consume the flesh of the Thousand Eyed Starfish right away. He first used the A.I. Chip to analyse its composition and nature in detail.

During this whole time, the meat in his hand was a huge temptation for him. However, even though every cell in his body shook with excitement, his expression stayed the same, as if he was unaffected—as cool and grim as a glacier that had existed for thousands of years.

In his previous life, he had already developed an extremely staunch willpower. No matter how fierce and deadly the temptation, he could still control and stabilise his inner desires.

[Recorded composition of this object! Saved in folder: Material type- Ancient Creature- Thousand Eyed Starfish!] The A.I. Chip replied.

Only after the stream of data finished working did Leylin gobble down longan sized meat.

*Boom!*

Like a bomb that had exploded, his entire body was paralysed by lightning, like a drunkard who had abstained for years and once more had fine liquor, or like a traveler who was on the verge of death from his thirst and had finally savoured the sweet taste of spring water!

Leylin felt as if his body was floating, lying on the peak of white clouds. There was joy coming from every cell in his body.

An exceptionally sweet and refreshing feeling spread from his mouth and down his throat.

The flesh of the Thousand Eyed Starfish first went to his stomach. Gastric fluid rushed forward, and in just a few seconds, digested it completely.

Streams of water like from a hot spring spread throughout Leylin's body, and especially his heart was like a person dying of thirst, greedily absorbing this warm flow.

Leylin closed his eyes. He felt as if he was naked, flowing along a warm and comfortable large river.

A droplet of something moist suddenly rolled down his face. It was exceptionally sweet, exciting his taste buds to the extreme to the point that he unconsciously began to tear up.

For him, who had a physique that far exceeded that of a regular person, it was basically impossible for him to react in such a way, but the flesh of the Thousand Eyed Starfish was able to do it!

"I'm afraid such a taste might make one addicted!" Leylin exclaimed in satisfaction.

The process of consuming the Thousand Eyed Starfish was just too comfortable and pleasurable. The stimulation of one's body and mind was definitely enough to make any regular human addicted!

However, Leylin was a Magus, and he was basically invulnerable in terms of his mind. His awareness of himself was as strong as steel, which was how he was able to keep ahold of himself and resist this temptation.

At this moment, the robotic voice of the A.I. Chip was heard.

[Beep! Detected that the essence from the flesh of the Thousand Eyed Starfish has entered Host's body. Determined to be useful to Host body! Beginning absorption…]

In that moment, Leylin retreated two steps. He could feel the rate at which he was absorbing the hot stream increase by another level. At the place where his heart was, it was practically a black hole which steadily absorbed the essence.

[Beep! Host body has absorbed flesh of the Thousand Eyed Starfish. Rate of modification of host body's heart has substantially increased.]

The A.I. Chip began to work hard, the screen in front of him changing rapidly. Immediately after, Leylin could see in the column that displayed his stats, the number that showed the progress of the modification of his heart flying up quickly.

[70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%!]

The number rose like a fiery arrow but faltered slightly at the 90% mark. What came next was an eruption of heat, and the progress broke through 90% to reach 91%, and continued to rise!

[97%! 98%! 99%! 100%!!!]

When the modification of his heart reached 100%, Leylin suddenly felt faint, as if he had been pounded on the head with a large metal hammer.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

His heart, surrounded by purple-red light, seemed to stop for a while.

Next, his heart began to once again pump with a huge amount of force!

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

This force was extremely powerful, to the point that people would be able to hear his heart beating from outside Leylin's body!

Blood that held hints of purplish red began to form at his heart. Through his arteries, they were transported all over his body.

The purplish-red blood, which had a slight chilling quality to it, formed a stark contrast with the heat from the flesh of the Thousand Eyed Starfish.

Leylin suddenly felt an overwhelming orgasmic feeling coursing through his body. Minutes later, the heat dissipated, and what replaced it was an extremely comfortable, refreshing feeling.

[Beep! Modification of Host body's heart is complete. Detection of an increase in all body stats. Beginning recalculation of data!]

The sound of the A.I. Chip's voice was heard, and Leylin found the column with his stats being refreshed again!

[Beep! Leylin Farlier. Rank 1 Warlock, Bloodline: Giant Kemoyin Serpent. Strength: 21.1, Agility: 14.4, Vitality: 27.9, Spiritual Force: 85.6, Magic Power: 85 (Magic Power is in synchronisation with Spiritual Force). Elemental essence conversion: 99%]

In a moment, a feeling of extreme power spread and seeped into his limbs and bones.

"After modifying my heart, it means that I have achieved a fusion of the deepest level with the bloodline of the Giant Kemoyin Serpent. Now, it is replacing my blood! In the future, if I have children, they will automatically inherit this Warlock bloodline!"

Leylin seemed to sigh, and looked at his stats once again.

"Although my strength and agility did not increase by much, my vitality had increased by a large amount, which makes sense! The physical body is a carrier for the mind and spirit. With a rise in spiritual force, it would naturally require an even more sturdy body to support it!"

From Leylin's perspective, the body was like a glass, and the spiritual force was like the water in it. The bigger the glass was, the more water and thus, spiritual force it could contain. Conversely, no matter how much water there was, it would be useless if the glass was not large enough to hold it. It might even cause the glass to break.

Hence, many official Magi would think up ways to strengthen their body to adjust and balance their powerful spiritual force.

However, what shocked Leylin the most was the rise in his spiritual force and elemental essence conversion.

"Spiritual force actually went up to 85.6, and elemental essence conversion is even more terrifying. It actually rose to 99%! I think even ancient elemental beings would just be at this level… With these results, I can try my hand at advancing to become a rank 2 Warlock!"

Leylin sighed in contentment.

The requirements for a Warlock to advance was largely similar to a Magus, with the only difference being requirements in the bloodline.

Leylin's current bloodline was directly from the ancient creature, the Giant Kemoyin Serpent, so there was definitely no problem at all. The conditions to advance to become a rank 2 Magus was for one's spiritual force to reach 80, and one's elemental essence conversion to be above 80%!

These were the basic requirements to be promoted to be a rank 2 Magus.

In terms of spiritual force, many Magi were able to reach it. However, they were often stuck in terms of their elemental essence conversion and were hence unable to proceed further.

There were also ambitious people like Caesar and Decarte who had reached the requirements to advance but had not done so. They wanted to push their elemental essence conversion to above 90% to build a stronger foundation and pave the way for their future!

Not only had Leylin currently exceeded the basic requirements in spiritual force, but his elemental essence conversion had even reached the shocking number of 99%!

Besides ancient elemental beings that were made of elemental particles, there was nothing that could have a higher percentage than this.

Leylin was a being made of flesh and blood, rather than elemental particles. To be able to reach 99% was basically reaching the extremes of his limits.

He was extremely clear about this and did not look to increase it any further.

"With the bonus from my bloodline, all of my body's stats far exceed that of a regular Magus. Now, my elemental essence conversion has even reached 99%. Even in the entire south coast, I doubt that there's a rank 1 Magus who's stronger than me."

Leylin was extremely clear of his ranking.

Preparation

Compared to the regular Magi who did not have high-grade meditation techniques and were unsure of their futures, Leylin knew exactly what he was going to do.

Over a long period of time, regular Magi would need to search for or create a rank 2 spell that was compatible with the spell model they had chosen when they had become a rank 1 Magus and then try to solidify their sea of consciousness within it. This would, of course, all be done after their spiritual force and elemental essence conversion had achieved a certain level.

This was all a matter of luck. Even if one were able to succeed by chance, the two spell models could result in disharmony and wear and tear, having an adverse effect on the power of a rank 2 Magus.

But Leylin was different. He had a high-grade meditation technique! Every time he advanced, he would generate an innate spell that completely suited his body! What he needed to do now was raise the level of his meditation technique, and train till Kemoyin's Pupil went up to another level. Only then would he be able to be promoted to a rank 2 Warlock!

For Magi who trained in high-grade meditation techniques, as long as they reached a certain level, the technique would automatically push and help a Magus to advance at a rate far faster than regular Magi.

"I've already reached the basic requirements for Kemoyin's Pupil to advance to the second level! Next, I'll have to gather spiritual force and produce immense energy to make a breakthrough in Kemoyin's Pupil."

Information regarding breaking through the second level of Kemoyin's Pupil flashed by Leylin's eyes.

"This is a process that requires constant accumulation! With my current condition, this would need around two or three years. However, with some special methods, such as burning up large amounts of spiritual force, for instance, the process can be quickened."

Leylin serenely closed his eyes, seeming to emit dangerous rays of light…

Time passed slowly, and it was soon night.

The sky was filled with clouds blocking the moon and they had no intentions of moving. In the Eternal River Plains' secret plane, it was immersed in darkness.

Magical lights began to light up, connecting together like pearls as they brought light to the Four Seasons Garden headquarters.

However, even if they used large amounts of light magic, in a huge area like that the headquarters occupied, there would still be much darkness and many shadows.

Beside a flower terrace, dark figures emerged from the shadows, one after another.

All of these figures were wearing black robes with traces of blood on them. The smell of blood on their bodies was so strong that it did not seem like it could dissipate, and their eyes showed no sense of human emotion; all there was a pure desire to kill and vent!

"How is this? It's the Magi Army from the dark Magi's headquarters. They're not that different from the light Magi, are they?"

Leylin and Caesar stood aside. This time, they had used their authority to transfer the patrolling Magi away, personally removed the defense mechanism here, and welcomed these people.

Caesar grinned at Leylin.

"They're not bad, and are perhaps a lot stronger…" Leylin sucked in a huge breath.

Due to the harsh environments they lived in, they had to have great battling prowess. In general, being able to live until now was only possible with their own two hands.

The army trained by the light Magi had also gone through arduous and bloody battles, but the only way in which they surpassed the dark Magi army was in their cooperation. In terms of individual battle power, they could not compare.

"It's been already two days since the previous attack. We only have three more days before the investigation team from headquarters arrive! It'll be troublesome when that happens…"

Caesar's expression revealed his discontent. "How about Wade? Haven't you taken care of him yet?"

"He's concealed himself quite well. The people I sent to search for him haven't discovered anything yet!" Leylin waved his arms, looking helpless.

"He won't be able to flee out of the secret plane anyway, so he won't leak any information. Two days later, it won't matter even if he meets up with the investigation team!"

"Let's hope so!" Caesar stared coldly at Leylin for a long while and then forced the words out of his mouth.

He had guessed that Leylin was not doing this work himself and had intentionally let Wade off. However, as long as Wade was not able to spread any information, it would only be a small matter. In terms of general benefits, as long as there were limitations from the contract with Trial's Eye, Caesar believed Leylin wouldn't do anything that harmed their interests.

After all, if this operation failed, it was impossible for Leylin to return to Four Seasons Garden. Instead, he'd become a fugitive!

"Isn't it too conspicuous to bring over all these people? What's going to happen if we get found out?"

Leylin looked at the line of dark Magi trailing behind Caesar and asked, a little worried.

The light Magi from headquarters were no fools. With the Lightning Corps around, every single action either he or Caesar took was susceptible to scrutiny, and if they were discovered to have dealings with dark Magi, they would immediately be stared closely at.

"There's no other choice; we have no more time. In at most three days, or two days at best, we need to bring in enough people and transfer the authority to control the defense system to them!"

Caesar's face was stern, "I can temporarily arrange for them to stay in a few abandoned laboratories and warehouses. They're going to leave in a day or two anyway, so we don't even need to prepare a lot of food or water…"

"Hide in the western warehouse! I've already minimized the patrolling officers and sentries there. Here's the map of the changing of the guards and the warning systems."

Caesar instructed the dark Magi behind him, and passed a piece of parchment paper to him.

The leader took it silently, and with a fling of his robes he turned into black smoke and left with the dark Magi behind him.

The entire process was extremely quiet, displaying the results of the dark Magi's training.

Leylin was extremely aware that during the past few days, Caesar and himself had abused their own authority and brought several batches of dark Magi into the headquarters of Four Seasons Garden.

Due to the chaos after the attack, as well as he and Caesar helping to cover up this plan, not a single Magus had discovered that something was amiss.

By the time the authority to command the formation genie was transferred, the dark Magi would cooperate with those in the external world. Even if all the official Magi within the secret plane now, as well as the two large groups from the Lightning Corps were gathered, they would still be powerless!

Leylin sighed deeply and closed his eyes. He could already imagine the confusion and puzzlement on these Magi as they died.

"Tomorrow, you'll come with me to unseal the core body of consciousness of the secret plane! After the attack, Desmund added another seal and without enough authority, the formation genie will fight back!"

Caesar's face was grim.

In the contest to seize the gate, what was most important was obtaining the core body of consciousness belonging to the gate into the secret plane. As long as this was in their possession, they could control the platinum gate outside and prevent light Magi from the external world from entering.

It could be said that the key to seizing control of the secret plane was the core body of consciousness.

After Desmund had reinforced the sealing spell formation, just Leylin's or Caesar's authority was not enough to undo the spell formation and retrieve the body of consciousness. Only if they worked together would they have enough power to do so.

This was why Caesar was so tolerant of Leylin.

"Don't worry! This has already been stated clearly in the contract, so I can't go back on my word."

Leylin turned to look at Caesar.

"What's more important is what I requested of you! How has the preparation for that been coming along?"

When he had made a contract with the rank 2 dark Magi that the Trial's Eye had bore witness to, Leylin was also able to gain some benefits.

He had requested for a large amount of resources that were only available to certain dark Magi regions, high-grade academic knowledge, research information and even a promise that allowed him to enter Lighthouse of the Night!

Lighthouse of the Night!

That was the holy land for dark Magi. It had a rank 3 dark Magus in charge, and its reputation was spread everywhere. The original leader had even used his own strength and defeated, with a single blow, the combined attack from the director of Abyssal Bone Forest Academy, Siley and a few other rank 2 Magi!

Leylin's request was a little difficult for the rank 2 dark Magus to handle at first.

Though he was a delegate from the Dark Magi Alliance, recommending someone so that they could enter Lighthouse of the Night also required him using a lot of resources and favours.

As for materials, knowledge and the like, it was another huge issue.

However, Leylin had absolutely insisted on this, and the dark Magus had no choice but to include this in the contract.

The moment he thought of this, Caesar's expression became dark and his chest heaved up and down fiercely. Even his breathing had become harsh.

"Don't worry! The Black Blood Ores, Bone Flowers and other resources have already been sent to your room. As for the promise for you to enter the Lighthouse of the Night, you'll get it after we succeed here."

"Very well!" Leylin nodded, and then disappeared into the darkness.

*Pak!* Behind him, there was the sound of something shattering.

...

Two days laters, the day before the investigation team arrived.

It was noon, and the blazing heat shined hard upon the ground, resulting in a heatwave.

Four Seasons Garden's headquarters in the Eternal River Plain's secret plane had already regained its vitality. Many light Magi were entering and leaving the Merit Exchange Centre as they completed all sorts of tasks.

The Magi from the outside with neutral stances went out to gather all sorts of resources within the secret plane before coming to the exchange point set up by the Four Seasons Garden and traded them for magic crystals to purchase useful potions and high-grade information.

Everything seemed to be in order.

With Caesar and Leylin heading this work, the headquarters had already returned to its previous prosperity and stability. Of course, this was just on the surface.

Within the shadows, at least fifty dark Magi had been smuggled in, and a few important places with defense spell formations were taken over by dark Magi.

The busy light Magi had absolutely no idea that the headquarters of the secret plane here had already changed ownership.

"How is it? How does it feel to see the headquarters that you built up yourself be destroyed by your own hand?"

A voice travelled from behind Leylin.

Leylin expressionlessly turned, and answered Caesar who approached, "I feel nothing!"