Chapter 207: The Magic Crystal That Enhances Meditation Efficiency

Chapter 207: The Magic Crystal That Enhances Meditation Efficiency

Erza was not like Natsu and Gajeel; she didn't have the anti-dragon magic body constitution of Dragon Slayers. Caught completely off guard, she was struck by George's Stupor Spell and instantly lost consciousness.

"Juvia, take Erza and let's get out of here. There are probably only five minutes left until the Etherion cannon fires."

Letting Erza go fight Jellal with all her might was clearly not a wise decision.

Bringing everyone along to fight Jellal was equally unwise.

That Jellal could command someone as powerful as Ikaruga, an S-Class mage, meant he was incredibly strong—perhaps even a Saint-ranked wizard.

And along the way, it was obvious the other side was brewing something much bigger.

With everything still unclear and the threat of Etherion looming, continuing to follow their opponent's script would be downright foolish.

It was better to leave the Tower of Heaven first, get out of Etherion's range, and then wait to see what happened next.

If Jellal and the Tower of Heaven were blasted to dust by Etherion, that would be ideal.

If not, they could adapt accordingly—if they could fight, they would; if not, they would flee. The kingdom had so many magic guilds, so many powerful wizards, and quite a few of the Ten Saints—there would be others to step up if trouble came.

No need to die in vain.

He didn't like to fight battles he wasn't confident about winning.

If Jellal truly needed Erza's body as a vessel to resurrect Zeref and chose to leave the Tower of Heaven to chase them down, then fighting outside would still be better than inside the tower.

At the very least, the enemy would lose home-field advantage, and they'd be free from the threat of Etherion.

He took out a box expanded with the Undetectable Extension Charm, packed Erza and the others inside, and used Apparition to move directly to the sea outside the island.

At that moment, Lucy and Simon had also left the tower, bringing along Wally and Millianna, two of Erza's childhood friends. They had taken a small boat out onto the sea.

"Reparo!"

Casting the Repair Spell on a large kingdom ship that had been shattered by magic, a brand-new vessel quickly appeared on the sea.

George released Erza and the others, picked up Lucy and her group, and removed the Stupor Spell from Erza. Everyone stood on the deck, looking toward the Tower of Heaven.

"Erza, there's less than a minute until Etherion fires. Let's just watch from here."

"Jellal..."

Now awake, Erza knew that even if she went now, she wouldn't make it in time. She could only sigh quietly.

Meanwhile, on the top floor of the Tower of Heaven, Jellal flicked all the chess pieces off the table and walked to the window.

"Forget it. Once the Tower of Heaven is fully completed, I'll deal with you all myself."

In order for the R-System to be fully completed, it required an enormous amount of magic power. Even with his Saint-level strength, he couldn't do it alone. He had to rely on the Council's ultimate weapon: Etherion.

So, years ago, he had split off half of his magic power to create a thought-body under the alias "Siegrain" and infiltrated the Council, becoming one of the council members thanks to his Saint-level strength.

That thought-body had suggested using Etherion to prevent Zeref's resurrection, just so the Tower of Heaven could absorb the 2.7 billion units of conceptual magic power released by Etherion's fire.

Afterward, he could use Erza, an S-Class mage, as the vessel to resurrect Zeref.

Originally, he had waited for Erza to come to him on her own, and then, once the R-System was fully completed, he would begin the resurrection process.

Now that the plan had changed, it didn't matter much. Once the R-System was complete, he would reclaim the thought-body he had in the Council, regain his full strength, and personally go out to capture Erza.

"What terrifying magic power!"

Seeing several massive golden magic circles suddenly appear above the Tower of Heaven, George and everyone else on the ship showed expressions of shock and horror.

They had all heard of the Council's ultimate destructive magic, Etherion, but this was their first time seeing it with their own eyes.

In the face of that colossal satellite spell in the sky and the accumulated 2.7 billion units of conceptual magic power, everyone felt their own insignificance.

Boom!

A golden pillar of light, as solid as matter itself, burst forth from the massive golden magic circle and struck the Tower of Heaven directly.

In an instant, the entire sky was enveloped in white light, and everyone couldn't help but close their eyes.

"How could this be!"

However, after the world-illuminating white light faded, the Tower of Heaven hadn't disappeared. Instead, it had transformed into a gigantic magic crystal tower over a hundred meters tall.

"As expected, something was wrong."

George looked at the magic crystal tower overflowing with magical energy without much surprise on his face.

Once he realized that Jellal hadn't pursued them, and that he hadn't left the Tower of Heaven during the Etherion firing, he knew the Council's plan had likely failed.

Jellal definitely had a way to neutralize Etherion's attack.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been stupid enough to stay inside the tower waiting to die.

"So that's it. His Tower of Heaven wasn't complete at all. He needed the magic power from Etherion to finish it!"

At that moment, Erza also understood.

She had been a slave involved in constructing the Tower of Heaven back in the day, so she wasn't entirely unfamiliar with it.

Eight years ago, the dark mage group had built eight towers simultaneously to better gather magic power and activate the R-System.

But Jellal had built only one. How could he claim to have completed the R-System?

She had been stuck in a mental dead end before and hadn't considered this possibility, focusing only on going to the top to confront Jellal and end everything.

Now, seeing the magic crystal tower, she fully understood.

"So the R-System is only now complete."

Hearing Erza's explanation, the others finally understood Jellal's true objective.

"With such a massive magic crystal, if used for meditation, wouldn't one's magic power level skyrocket?"

George looked at the immense magical energy radiating from the crystal, his eyes growing brighter and brighter.

The meditation techniques he had learned in the Wizard Apprentice World worked by using mental energy to absorb external forces and convert them into internal magic power to enhance a mage's level.

In this sense, it was somewhat similar to cultivation from mythology.

Once a magic power level exceeded 500, it basically granted immortality.

The Ring of Merlin and the Ring of Morgana could both concentrate surrounding energies, greatly increasing meditation speed—the higher the concentration of surrounding energy, the more efficient the meditation.

If he could carve the Morgana Ring inside this magic crystal tower and meditate there, his meditation efficiency might increase tenfold.

So, at that moment, he had already decided—no matter how powerful Jellal was, he had to take him down today and claim that magic crystal tower as his own.

Thankfully, his side wasn't weak either. Besides himself, there was the top-tier S-Class mage Erza; the S-Class mages Natsu, Gray, and Juvia; and Lucy, who could summon S-Class Celestial Spirits to fight at sea.

(End of Chapter)