The Fallen City
“Since everybody has gathered, then I can begin the announcement! Let the 325th Eastern Region Magi joint conference begin!”
After looking around, the council member in the middle immediately spoke.
Even though his voice was not loud, he could be heard by every Magus present.
Once he spoke, the books, calligraphy brushes, weighing scales, and the other items in the arms of the nine enforces immediately emitted faint rays of white light that floated in the air.
“I summon the Fallen City!!!”
Nine rays of light shot out from the books and other materials in a flash and converged into a big white sun.
*Boom! *
The tall pagoda violently shook and a big crack from the abyss opened.
The Magi looked very calm during this kind of disastrous earthquake and only used their powers to protect themselves and their apprentices, as well as their luggage, horses, and so on.
*Bang! Bang! Bang! *
A few huge stone statues suddenly broke through the ground floor, emerging like tall mountains that cast large shadows on the surface.
“These are the Twilight Zone’s ancient Magi: Ignis, Nikolat, and Morfe.”
As this was happening, Celine casually introduced the Magi joint conference to Leylin.
Since ancient times, the joint conference was not just organized by anybody but fixed in this location.
In the legends, the Fallen City was an ancient city to consecrate the Ancient Magi.
The nine huge stone statues in the middle were in fact the nine most famous Magi in the ancient times.
As a matter of fact, the nine Magi of the joint conference were also emulating these few Magi.
*Crash!*
Big chunks of stone fell, like how bamboo shoots fall off in springtime when it rains
A piece of solid stone beneath Leylin lifted him up as it rose to the last position at the top.
Leylin looked around.
The Magi were now seated exactly in the center of the Fallen City.
The entire building appeared similar to the ancient Colosseum of Rome, just like what the people of ancient Greece practiced. The circle of outdoor seats surrounded the middle area.
Outside the conference, twelve slim, spotless marble pillars glistened in the sunlight and appeared to support both heaven and earth.
“The joint conference controlled the way to summon the Fallen City. It’s a pity that we cannot find any materials related to the end of the war… or a single living creature. Otherwise, we can restore the glory of the ancient Magi….”
Celine, who was beside Leylin, gasped in admiration.
Many Magi went to their respective places and formed a circle, surrounding the altar in the middle.
Leylin looked, the ones in the front were the middle-level Guilds, followed behind them by the low-level guilds, like him and Celine, that sat in the middle section closer to the back seats. As for the rest, the unranked guilds, they sat in the outermost section.
Each seat took up a lot of space as a suitable distance was maintained between each one, which allowed the Magi to be able to see each other without feeling restricted.
This site was enough to accommodate ten thousand people, but now there’s barely a few hundred Magi. Naturally, the there was ample space between each Magus.
“How were these nine council members selected?”
Leylin pulled Celine closer into his embrace, and whispered into her ear
“Each large-scaled guild would send a representative, before us Magi present voted for them!” Celine was slightly embarrassed, but she still explained it to Leylin.
“Oh! Basically, the Eastern Twilight Zone only has about nine high-leveled guilds?”
Leylin stroked his chin, this kind of strength was similar to the south coast. Only that he was unsure of the numbers of rank 3 Magi present.
But deep down he had some reservations. Although high-grade meditation techniques were widely taught and of a higher grade than in the south coast, most of them were incomplete, and needed a few special otherworldly materials for their practitioners to advance. This meant that there would be fewer higher rank magi in the Twilight Zone and they possibly would be weaker than their south coast counterparts due to the Twilight Zone being isolated from the external world.
“The first point of the conference’s agenda is to observe a minute of silence in tribute of our Magi ancestors! They were true pursuers of knowledge, the founders of the the Twilight Zone!”
The nine council members in the front immediately stood up, as they solemnly and respectfully bowed their heads.
And in their hands, a pure, white flower bud slowly bloomed.
The petals of the flower bud looked like countless rays of light that created a dreamy illusion.
Immediately after, the Magi disorderly stood up to observe the minute of silence, the rays of light in their hands transformed into the shape of the white flower bud.
“This is the light daisy, a specialty of the Twilight Zone that is used to represent the recollection of the dead and our grief!”
Leylin’s eye flashed and concentrated some of his spiritual force to observe Celine’s actions.
The magic of transforming the flower was only a magic trick, one that even acolytes could easily learn. Celine’s abilities were immediately recorded by the A.I. Chip, which then provided the composition of the spell model and the spiritual force.
*Zoom!* Leylin followed swiftly with a layer of white light twinkling in his hands.
In a flash, numerous light daisies in the open space bloomed as formless ripples continuously circulated, and pure light rays of flower petals dispersed and spread to the sky.
A rain of petals floated down, some of them dispersed atop the sculptures of the nine ancient Magi.
“Hm?” It was at this moment that Leylin suddenly raised his head.
To his eyes, numerous petals seemed to use some form of mechanism or magic, and the nine stone statues at the heart of the center were subtly trembling.
A desolate, ancient aura filled with abundant energy surfaced in the center.
And looking at the surrounding Magi who were calm earlier on and had seized the moment to close their eyes, Leylin realized that they were actually in concentration.
Leylin also released his energy, letting his spirit and that aura connect.
*Boom!* Like the eruption of lava, like the coming of a tsunami wave, an intense vibration incessantly shook Leylin’s heart and at the same time, many confused thoughts crossed his mind.
“This is… a high-level meditation aura!”
Leylin gave Celine a somewhat intoxicated look, and immediately came to his senses.
“Regarding what these Twilight Zone Magi said, they’re lacking materials only obtainable from other worlds and their meditation techniques cannot be improved, and now this aura that comes from an ancient meditation technique is to guide them on which path to follow!”
Although this acted only as a guide, there were still many benefits for a rank 1 Magus. Moreover, who knows, there might be geniuses that could use this ancient aura and be able to make modifications on their meditation techniques and skip the steps of using rare and ancient resources.
“It’s a pity! In fact, there is no ancient technique that inspires me. Furthermore, rank two Magi have already decided their path and are continuously intensifying further. So those Magi who have been promoted to the second rank also don’t look up to these…”
After waiting for the rain of petals to pass, the nine huge stone sculptures regained their tranquility and many of the Magi were then obsessed with keeping their eyes closed.
“Alright! Now to the second point of the agenda, let’s come to an agreement!”
The Magus that stood in the middle and who held the weighing scale said softly, with his voice being channeled through an unknown device, was heard by every other Magus present.
Soon after, two Magi walked up to the front and debated loudly with him, and occasionally displayed the recordings of light.
And the Magus holding the weighing scale would make his judgement after having listened to both parties.
Magi from both sides would generally accept the result, and occasionally those who did not would start to challenge each other at the center of the site.
“Can we believe this council member’s verdict?” Leylin asked Celine, who was beside him.
“Gandor the council member is a fair and wise senior, and we usually trust his judgements. Moreover, the golden weighing scale that he holds symbolizes fairness. His personal beliefs forbid from violating fairness and justice.
Celine explained softly to Leylin, “Do not ask such questions out loud, otherwise the other Magi will despise us!”
“Oh!” Leylin nodded his head indifferently.
However, he was somewhat bored looking at the issues that were discussed one by one here.
Although there are contradictions in this joint conference, he understood clearly that it was for the protection of the entire strength of the Twilight Zone’s Magi and instead of internal conflicts, we should be focusing on foreign enemies.
Humans were not the only rulers in the Twilight Zone, there were also many darkness creatures out there, just like the neighbouring elven empire beside the humans that left many intelligent beings wary of them.
But Leylin was not convinced by this concept. To him, if the Dark Magi were to come in power, they would have already started a war and would be constantly fighting. And through such bloody wars, a selection of the acolytes would be conducted. They would start off from a low-intensity battle which would then gradually increase in difficulty. In this manner, an elite force of magicians could be created!
It was not worth having such an indecisive situation.
This situation was similar to current state between the light and dark Magi.
“Leylin! It is the guild evaluation right after, you need to be careful!” Celine cautiously reminded Leylin.
“Dont worry!” Leylin replied calmly, and at this moment, two unfriendly gazes were laid on him.
Leylin’s brows furrowed as he looked at the source of discontentment.
At the seat of the Eight-clawed spider, Skrill lowered his head without delay, but his eyes had a sinister tint.
“You will never survive today’s ordeal! From today onwards, Celine is mine!”
“What trump card do you have? Or is the Dense Fog Forest going to interfere?”
Leylin remained calm, knowing that Skrill had slipped away like a beaten-up dog at the sight of him. He strongly believed that Skrill had some sort of backup to rely on.
But to Leylin, the strength of a middle-scaled guild was not enough to threaten him!
“Alright, continuing to the fifth agenda of the conference! The guilds’ evaluation” A council member declared.
In a split second, the Magi on site all looked on with eagerness and attention.
