Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance
Lin Yun could only think of a few people of Emperor Zhantui’s era who could have such a powerful Bloodline Curse after their deaths, including Emperor Zhantui himself, but it was quite clear that Emperor Zhantui returned to the Empire and died ten years later.
But with a Bloodline Curse being in that palace, Lin Yun was a hundred percent certain that a member of the royal family with extraordinary status died inside, but he just couldn’t figure out who it was.
Lin Yun shook his head and extended his hand to scatter the mana. In a flash, those four Frost Lances disappeared, and Solan, who had been nailed to the wall, powerlessly fell to the ground. Solan was now covered in bloodstains, bloody holes remaining in his limbs, his hair in disarray, his face pale and wearing a lifeless expression. He was gasping for air in a daze.
“No one can do something wrong without paying the price…” Lin Yun coldly shot a glance at Solan Monchi. He’d had his soul torn, which wasn’t something he could recover from easily. Moreover, he had been repeatedly tortured. Solan’s path of magic could be considered crippled.
Although he still had the strength of a 5th Rank Archmage, he would never be able to become a 6th Rank Archmage. Of course, Solan himself didn’t know that.
Lin Yun extended a hand, gathering mana as he chanted a few profound words. It was followed by a ray of mana entering Solan Monchi’s body.
“That’s…”
Delson frowned, a suspicious expression on his face. He had just seen the young mage casting a spell, and it looked very similar to Mana Shackles, but there was something odd he couldn’t figure out. He stealthily tried to sense it, only to find out that the mana within Solan Monchi’s body was still there. He then relaxed.
He had just been startled by the thought that the young mage might by trying to shackle Solan’s mana.
A 5th Rank High Mage Mana Shackling a 5th Rank Archmage… This would be a bit too scary.
‘Fortunately it wasn’t… But what did Mafa Merlin do to Solan Monchi?’
Only Lin Yun knew the answer to that question. The method he used didn’t belong to this era. Unidirectional Mana Shackles came from the peak of the Magic Era. The spell was developed by a Heaven Mage that wasn’t particularly well known. It was from one of the books he had read out of curiosity in the decaying library.
The Unidirectional Mana Shackles were very complicated to set up, requiring a very high degree of control from the user. If not careful, the process might lead to the destruction of the target’s Mana Whirlpool.
He managed to shackle Solan on his first try.
His mana existed within Solan’s Mana Whirlpool in a special way. This mana wouldn’t influence Solan when he meditated.
But if Solan aimed a spell at Lin Yun, the mana hiding in his Mana Whirlpool would violently conflict with his own mana, creating violent mana chaos.
Thus, this was known as the Unidirectional Mana Shackles.
After ten days, everyone got out of their illusions. Leon, who had gone through the Pale Plane, had already fused his Arcane Rings, and although he was only a 7th Rank High Mage, even a 9th Rank High Mage would have some trouble suppressing him.
Ross’ experience was the most incredible, as he had just been repeating a battle.
It was the battle he previously lost against Stan Watson that day in the Raging Flame Plane. He had always been brooding about it, and he had been limited by the flaws of his Meditation Law Set, preventing him from increasing his strength. Later, Stan Watson had been killed by Lin Yun, and thus, that battle in the Raging Flame Plane was his eternal regret. But this time, after entering the illusion, he finally defeated Stan Watson after countless attempts and was already an 8th Rank High Mage.
Xiuban was the last one to leave his illusion. He looked a bit sleepy, and Lin Yun suspected that after he contacted him with the Whispering Crystal, that guy went back to sleep.
But regardless, the Draconic Beastman was now a genuine 9th rank Expert Swordsman.
After everyone was gathered, they took an hour to rest and reorganize before opening that door. Contrary to their expectations, they didn’t meet any danger. Behind that door was a staircase spiralling downward, leading to a very dark place, most likely the 10th floor of the magic tower. The group followed the stairs down and quickly reached the 10th floor.
Once there, everyone was startled. The 11th floor spread for no more than several hundred meters, yet the 10th floor was huge.
It had clearly been extended via arrays.
To be more precise, this was an alchemy workshop specialized in producing puppets. That alchemy workshop was huge, several times bigger than the alchemy workshop Lin Yun had seen in Vaughn’s laboratory. But this place was different from the 11th and 12th floors. It was covered in cobwebs, and the floor was covered with a layer of dust, looking dilapidated.
“Heavens, how many puppets can be produced here,” Delson murmured, startled.
In the center of the criss-crossed assembly lines was a huge, black forge. After several millennia, it was still in good condition, but there was not a single spark within…
Suddenly, a slight sound of metal friction was captured by the Magic Array. Lin Yun frowned and sent a few Mage Eyes over to check on the source of the sound. There were about a hundred puppets rushing to this side…
After a short few seconds, the hundred puppets surrounded Lin Yun’s group. There were various kinds of puppets: Magic Beast Models, Battlemage Models, Swordsman Models, and so on.
“Isn’t this an abandoned alchemy workshop? How come there are so many puppets?” Ross looked at the three puppets and felt a bit numb.
Fortunately, the strength of these puppets was uneven and it was relatively easy to handle them. But the Mana Rays they had enchanted on themselves was a headache, especially when a hundred puppets would keep shooting Mana Rays continuously. Even if Lin Yun’s group was powerful, they had no choice but to spend some efforts on their defenses.
After half an hour of battle, none of the puppets managed to escape, and they were all destroyed.
But this was still far from over. Lin Yun’s group only walked a few hundred meters before being surrounded by a large number of puppets once again. There were fewer of them this time, only about thirty.
After dealing with these puppets, Lin Yun frowned. He suddenly had a strange feeling. After reaching the 10th floor, their group had stayed beside the forge for at least half an hour, and during that time, no puppets had attacked them.
But when they started walking towards the depths of the alchemy workshop, they encountered two waves of puppets.
He crouched down next to a Shadow Wolf Model and after looking at it, he quickly dismantled it, making everyone else dumbstruck.
“Something is amiss…”
After a few minutes of dismantling, Lin Yun shook his head in doubt.
“What’s wrong…”
Hearing Lin Yun’s opinion, Delson was immediately worried. He had experienced how strange that place was, especially that illusion. “High Mage Merlin, can you explain a bit for us?”
“They aren’t moving based on scheduled procedures. It looks like they are being influenced by something. And their system has been altered…” Lin Yun frowned and got up. He looked into the distance and sent out a Mage Eye. After seeing the scene transmitted by the Mage Eye, Lin Yun pointed ahead. “There is a workshop producing puppets, and these puppets are also rushing out of that place. We should go take a look.”
Under Lin Yun’s guidance, the ten men rushed towards the workshop producing puppets. They were only a few kilometers away, and with their speed, it wouldn’t take long before they reached it.
But after rushing over, they discovered that the amount of puppets far exceeded what they’d imagined. One after one, puppets dashed towards them.
The battle finally ended after six hours. Apart from Lin Yun, everyone was exhausted. Ross’ side even got some light injuries.
Lin Yun gradually discovered that these puppets were extremely strange. Their goal might not have been to kill them, but to do their utmost to stall them. They seemed to be protecting something.
And those alterations to their systems was the key to this…
This huge alchemy workshop should have been abandoned for a thousand years, so Lin Yun simply couldn’t understand what these puppets were protecting.
There were no puppets at the door to the workshop, so maybe all the puppets left in the workshop had already been killed by them. In the six hours of fighting, they killed no less than a thousand puppets. Such a quantity of puppets could form a Puppet Legion in any plane.
On the way, Lin Yun disassembled many puppets and got a variety of precious components from them.
“Is there danger inside?” Delson looked at the dark workshop and asked, seeming quite unsure of himself.
The group stayed at the entrance while Lin Yun was frowning. He had tried to send a Mage Eye to investigate the situation in the workshop. Whatever had been controlling the puppets was inside, so he couldn’t be careless. But there were fierce mana fluctuations in the workshop, and the Mage Eye dissipated just as it entered.
“Be careful…”
Lin Yun had a very serious expression. The Magic Array was roused to its peak and he poured mana into the Ten Thousand Spell Wheel before finally taking a step into the workshop. Delson and the others hesitated before following him.
The workshop was extremely dark, and they could only see within two to three meters of themselves.
A Light spell was cast, and it gradually shed light on the surroundings.
