Cross sighed.
“That human is far from being as simple as what you have seen. He might only be at the Peak of the Archmage realm, but his power is comparable to a 2nd Rank Heaven Mage.
“Moreover, I can feel that his foundation is extremely stable, he far surpasses any mage that I’ve seen. No, any mage that I’ve heard of. I can even faintly feel a faint wisp of God Aura coming from his body. Hmmm, it can’t be said to be a God’s aura, rather, it’s a kind of powerful feeling.
“He might be able to advance at any time. Moreover, I sent someone to gather information on Mafa Merlin and his speed of advancement is really terrifying. I believe that he’ll reach my level within the next ten years.
“I wouldn’t have cared if he was just a talented genius, but I discovered that almost all those who had enmity with him weren’t let off lightly, and most of them ended up dead.
“In this expedition to the Holy Mountain, most of the Heaven Rank powerhouses that died were hostile to Mafa Merlin. As for those that didn’t have a grudge and had a pretty good relationship with him, they are now growing at a very rapid pace.
“Have you seen those few newly advanced Heaven Rank powerhouses among the humans? They all have a pretty good relationship with Mafa Merlin.
“This is where he is the most frightening. His individual strength alone is enough to make me treat him favorably, because I know that he would never die until he had enough strength to get rid of me.
“More importantly, haven’t you seen Steel City? Don’t you know how thriving that place is? During the war, that was a neutral zone for humans and Beastmen. Any human or Beastman that made trouble over there was suppressed with an iron fist.
“And even if Mafa Merlin participated in the war, that didn’t affect Steel City, this is shocking. That place is the best way to strengthen our Beastman race.
“To tell the truth, we have been exploiting the resources of the Raging Flame Plane in a wasteful way before the humans’ appearance. The humans have maximized the use of the resources.
“Steel City is the only place where we can trade with the humans for a long time. If we lose that place, we will keep falling behind and we will end up losing once a war happens.
“In Steel City, no one would dare to do anything. Mafa Merlin’s subordinate army is enough to destroy any of our Beastman Tribes, including our Gold Tribe!
“That incomparably huge battleship is said to have been the battleship of a God, and those three races are terrifying ancient races that once followed a God.
“Right now, peace is the best possible outcome, and Mafa Merlin’s Steel City is the best link between humans and Beastmen…”
Cross said a lot, but most of his subordinates didn’t understand too much. However, they understood a bit: if the Beastmen wanted to develop, borrowing the power of Steel City was the best way. But they knew that they couldn’t use force and could only trade sincerely.
Lin Yun returned to Steel City and made the final arrangements. The Raging Flame Plane was almost on the right track so he didn’t need to keep overseeing it. Steel City had been reinforced with a lot of precious materials and a huge mana reactor had been added. Now, even if a Peak 3rd Rank Heaven powerhouse came to attack, they wouldn’t be able to tear through the defenses of Steel City.
Even in the city, the foundations have been deepened by a dozen meters and had been made of mana crystals. They were completely made out of Magic Iron, and secretly formed a huge array. The array would activate as long as there was chaos and would pressure all forces within Steel City, aside from those puppets and inhabitants of Steel City who were left with a secret rune. Only they could exert their power flawlessly.
Heaven Mages would be suppressed to the Archmage realm. As for an Archmage, their best outcome if they dared to cause problems in Steel City would be being torn apart by puppets within thirty seconds.
The Intrepid was hidden in the sky and the three major races were stationed in the mountain range’s basin. As long as someone came to attack Steel City, the Intrepid’s mana crystal cannons could cleanse the opponent’s territory before the powerhouse even tore through Steel City’s defenses. After gaining an energy source, the fear of the Intrepid had started emerging.
Once the energy reserves reached a certain level, the Hand of Destruction would be able to display more and more power and the deterrence would be even stronger.
After all, at its peak, the Hand of Destruction could destroy a small plane and tear heaven and earth apart.
After Lin Yun sorted out the matters of the Raging Flame Plane, he discreetly left the Raging Flame Plane.
And at this time, Joseph took the initiative to come to Steel City and gifted an area bordering the Shadow Tower and the Four Seasons Plain to Lin Yun, using a river as the boundary between their two territories.
As for the territories controlled by the Merlin Family, those small Families somehow got the news and all of them took the initiative to withdraw. No one dared to attack the Merlin Family’s territories.
At least in the Raging Flame Plane, no one dared to provoke Lin Yun. The humans and Beastmen’s 3rd Rank Heaven powerhouses both paid a visit to Steel City. As long as they weren’t dumb, everyone knew what that represented.
When Lin Yun left the Raging Flame Plane through the Planar Path, the guards protecting the Planar Path immediately notified the Merlin Family.
Patriarch Ofran personally brought people to welcome Lin Yun.
Although he had already learnt a lot about what happened in the Raging Flame Plane, he was still startled when he saw Lin Yun and couldn’t hide his shock.
A Peak 9th Rank Archmage, no, it should be a perfect Peak 9th Rank Archmage. This feeling of perfection was something he had only felt from Santon Merlin.
‘What a terrifying guy, I originally thought that he would learn common sense in the Raging Flame Plane and maybe alleviate the Merlin Family’s predicament, but I hadn’t expected things to develop to this stage.
‘The extremely fertile Horn of Fertility, the Four Seasons Plain which is one of the three places with the richest mineral resources in the Raging Flame Plane, and that mountain range’s basin are all under Sir Mafa’s control.
‘What a terrifying guy…
‘Our Merlin Family could be considered a weak Family in the Raging Flame Plane. It isn’t very powerful among the forces of the Andlusa Kingdom, let alone when compared to the Odin Kingdom, it is equivalent to a barren countryside force.
‘Those guys don’t even show respect to the Cloud Tower and the Black Tower, but now, it seems that even quite a few of the forces of the Odin Kingdom have a very good relationship with Mafa Merlin…
‘The Elder Council’s foresight simply can’t compare to mine. I’ve unearthed such a formidable clansman, no, that guy is a monster, a monster even more terrifying than Santon Merlin…’
Ofran had a very complicated expression. As he saw Lin Yun walking over, he couldn’t help taking a few steps forward and giving Lin Yun a hug.
“Welcome back Sir Mafa.”
It was a simple sentence. Behind Ofran, members of the Merlin Family all gave a solemn mage bow.
“Welcome back Sir Mafa.”
Over a hundred Merlins, with the weakest behind at the High Mage realm, were respectfully bowing behind Ofran. Many children of the Merlin Family were looking at Lin Yun with fanatical expressions.
“This is Sir Mafa. He looks so young. Why does he have no mana fluctuations?”
“Idiot, this is because you are too weak and Sir Mafa too powerful. We don’t even have the qualifications to sense Sir Mafa’s mana fluctuations.”
“Yes, I’ve heard that Sir Mafa isn’t even 30 and is already a Peak 9th Rank Archmage. I heard Sir William say that Sir Mafa could advance to the Heaven realm at any time!”
“Heaven Rank, less than 30 years old and already a Heaven Rank powerhouse? Amazing. This is even more formidable than Ancestor Santon Merlin!”
“What does the Heaven realm even count as. Sir William said that Sir Mafa is known to have gotten rid of a dozen Heaven Rank powerhouses. He said that when Sir Mafa releases his own aura, Heaven Rank magic beasts would be scared and tuck their tails between their legs.”
“Sir Ross told me a few days ago that there seemed to have been an Ancient God resurrecting in the Raging Flame Plane, but he was eliminated by Sir Mafa…”
While Lin Yun was still in the Raging Flame Plane, his achievements already spread through the entire Merlin Family. Some even rummaged through old matters, and stories became even more exaggerated.
Now, Lin Yun was a legend in the Merlin Family, the idol of the younger generation, their role model. When instructing children, parents and teachers would use Lin Yun as an example.
‘Sir Mafa was already a Great Mage in his teens… Sir Mafa was already an Archmage at twenty, what gives you the right to be lazy.’
‘Sir Mafa would spend over ten hours a day studying alchemy and is already a formidable Artisan. If not because he spent more than ten hours a day on alchemy, Sir Mafa would have already reached the Archmage realm at your age.’
Remarks such as these ringed true in the Merlin Family, at least to those children and Magic Apprentices. They all believed that this was true, even those who knew Lin Yun when he was a Mage felt that, although slightly exaggerated, everything was true.
Common sense didn’t apply to some people. How could his family go bankrupt and how could he have remained as a Magic Apprentice for so long if not because he was studying alchemy?
It was rumored that he had inferior magic talents, to the point of being described as sh*tty. But how could someone who was on the verge of advancing to the Heaven realm before 30 have poor talent? If he had poor talents, then how could there be anyone talented?
And there was alchemy. If not because he spent so much time on alchemy, how could he have such achievements?
So they felt that the rumors must be true.
Lin Yun didn’t know that he had become a legendary figure in the Merlin Family and was shocked when he saw such a huge crowd.
Behind Lin Yun, Xiuban walked out with Carnage on his shoulder. He smiled, but his smile looked terrifying.
Reina still had a cold expression that showed that she was unwilling to be disturbed by strangers. No ice spread, but everyone around her felt as if their minds went numb from cold.
Apart from these two, no one else followed Lin Yun. The others were stationed in the Raging Flame Plane.
Ofran leaned towards Lin Yun and whispered with a bright smile on his face, “Sir Mafa, these are the younger generation of the Merlin Family. You should say hello, after all, you are the role model of the younger generation. I didn’t bring them here, they took the initiative to come and meet you…”
What else could Lin Yun do after hearing those words, he raised his hand and waved at the crowd behind Ofran.
At that moment, the boys’ loud cheers and the girls’ shrieks echoed like an explosion…
“Did you see? Sir Mafa waved to me! He looked at me, he definitely looked at me! Sir Mafa must have appreciated my talent…”
“Sir Mafa is truly kind. Our teacher was tricking us, he said that Sir Mafa is very strict and terrifying…”
“Sir Mafa is truly powerful, I felt the surrounding elements cheering with just a casual wave of his hand, they are welcoming Sir Mafa back…”
Facing such a warm welcome from the younger generation of the Merlin Family made Lin Yun feel too embarrassed to be empty-handed. After all, he had just returned from the Raging Flame Plane. He might not have a lot of things, but he had so much resources he couldn’t use them all.
After thinking about it for a bit, Lin Yun waved his hand and a large amount of precious ore and medicine appeared in the air. These precious ores and medicines flew towards the young Merlins as if they had wings.
Everyone obtained different things, but they were all precious things that these youths couldn’t obtain at their rank.
Some people obtain refined ores, some obtained compounded potions.
Soon, the group of youths of the Merlin Family started cheering.
“Heavens, this is a True Spirit Grade medicine, it can improve affinity with incantations. It can’t be bought in stores. Only some Master Alchemists proficient in potioneering could successfully compound it.”
“I got a piece of Dragon Blood. Once crafted into a Magic Tool, it would fit my Magic Conducting Rune perfectly…”
“I got a true gem, when embedded into my magic staff, it would be able to make up for my flaws…”
As the group cheered, someone suddenly reacted. The things that Lin Yun gave them were most suitable to them, and they were extremely valuable. Even if Archmages wanted to get a hold of those things, they would have to save up a lot.
“Sir Mafa is so powerful, he only took a look at us and knew what everyone needed…”
“That’s for sure, Sir Mafa is a formidable Artisan. He is proficient in potioneering, in puppeteering, in the field of array, and in Magic Tool refining, and they are all at the Artisan realm. It’s not surprising that he can see what we all need with a single glance…”
The group of younger Merlins were like children that had grown up hearing legends for years before finally meeting and receiving a gift from their idol. They almost went crazy.
Shock flashed in Ofran’s eyes, but he didn’t say anything. The youths didn’t know how difficult that action had been, but how could he, a powerful Archmage, not know?
‘Mafa is growing stronger and stronger… No, it’s not just strength, it’s like he is the reincarnation of a God. He doesn’t know any of these kids and has never seen them, yet he was able to know the ins and outs of every single one of them with a single glance, as if he could see through everything, and gave them what suited them the most.
‘If would be fine if it had only been one or two, but there are a few hundred people here. How did he do it?
‘It only took a few seconds to see through all of their secrets. No, it could be said that he understands these youths better than they understand themselves.
‘Damn, just how did he do it?’
Ofran’s eyes swept through the things these young Merlins held and his eyes opened wide. Of these hundreds of things, the worst one was still a True Spirit Grade medicine. Even those that weren’t at the True Spirit Grade were more troublesome to refine than True Spirit Grade medicines and couldn’t be bought on the market.
And the materials had all been refined. Every piece of material could be treated as a Magic Tool’s embryo, some of them even had many runes inscribed. As long as they gathered enough auxiliary and not necessarily precious materials, many of those materials could be treated as True Spirit Magic Tool’s embryo.
As for those magic gems, not a single one of them could be purchased. Most of them could only occasionally be seen at auctions, and buying many of them was very troublesome.
There were also things that could be directly used as the core of arrays, and those arrays were what those guys urgently needed.
Ofran’s eyebrows twitched. It wasn’t that the Merlin Family wasn’t able to take out some of these things, but these things were usually used by Archmages and would be rationed by the Merlin Family. Only some Plane Commanders could obtain some of these things, and they might not necessarily be suitable to them.
Taking out so many things would make the Merlin Family’s finances very tight for a year, and they couldn’t take out many of these things.
The value of many of these things simply couldn’t be calculated…
