Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance
Harren sighed again, his face filled with genuine regret. Even if he said those words with a joking tone, he still wanted to get Lin Yun to join the Black Tower.
Harren was not only regretting; his stomach was hurting from regret. The small mage that was selling Meditation Law Sets back then was now an Archmage…
Moreover, his aura was calm and reserved, just like an ancient and unmovable mountain, making people unable to sense his specific rank. They could only feel how terrifying it was within fleeting mana fluctuations. It was absolutely comparable to a 9th Rank Archmage…
And the most terrifying part was that he was definitely not a 9th Rank Archmage!
This was certainly the most frightening part. After all, in the Archmage realm, the 5th Rank was a watershed. The difference between every rank from that point on would become bigger and bigger.
The gap between each rank would be more important than the previous realm.
It’s said that there are six steps in the Archmage realm. The 1st Rank to the 5th Rank makes up the first step.
The 6th Rank is the 2nd, and so on, with the 9th Rank being the 5th step. Being half a step in the Heaven realm was the 6th step, and after that 6th step was the Heaven realm, where one would become an Extraordinary powerhouse and be able to stand above the mortals.
In the process of scaling that flight of stairs, there wouldn’t be an exaggerated gap between people on the same step. At most, some first-rate powerhouses could be invincible within their step, but an extremely small number could achieve that across a step.
Before their eyes was such an individual. Harren was certain that this newly advanced Archmage was that kind of rarely seen genius that could bridge across steps.
‘Damnit, if I had pulled him into the Black Tower early on, the Black Tower would have definitely become the strongest force of the Andlusa Kingdom and might have become even more powerful within a millennium.’
The strength of a force was, to a certain extent, dependent on the strongest powerhouse within it.
A Heaven Rank powerhouse, even one that didn’t do anything, would make his force rapidly develop just with his presence.
‘A powerhouse that is bound to reach the Heaven Rank, and one whose fighting power far exceeds powerhouses of the same level… such a person is wasted on the Merlin Family.
‘The Merlin Family sure is lucky…
Hearing Harren’s joking words and seeing his smile, Lin Yun didn’t jump on the opportunity.
“Sir Harren praises me too much…”
Jouyi happily smiled and ruthlessly gave Harren another blow.
“Sir Harren, you have only seen Sir Mafa’s talent and advancement speed, but you have overlooked something even rarer and more important. Sir Mafa is an alchemist, one that has already risen and become an Artisan!”
Harren’s face distorted when he heard the word Artisan. He felt as if he had actually been stabbed, and he covered his face in pain.
‘Damnit, an Artisan?! There are no more than three Artisans in the entire Andlusa Kingdom! And two of them are hardly ever seen… Who knows which plane they had gone to?
‘This young Artisan is in his twenties!? Is he the reincarnation of a God?
‘Forget it, no matter what price the Black Tower pays, it won’t be enough to make him come to the Black Tower. I’d better just maintain a friendly relationship with him.
Even if Mafa wasn’t a powerhouse, just the word “Artisan” was enough for the Black Tower to do their best to befriend him.
Harren was at a loss, but Jouyi was laughing happily.
‘Mafa’s progress is truly too fast, whether in terms of rank or alchemy abilities. Fortunately, Mafa has forged a very good relationship with us since he was only a Mage.
‘Ha, I still remember when he solved that formula, I truly hadn’t expected him to mature so fast that no one had time to react!
‘If I hadn’t known Mafa from the start, I wouldn’t have believed that he’d reached this stage in such a short period of time.
‘Now, he is already qualified to stand on equal footing, he is qualified to cooperate with the Cloud Tower. It might not be long before he’s someone I have to look up to…
‘He wouldn’t advance to the Heaven Rank before me, right?
‘Impossible, too much time has to be spent at the Archmage realm. He needs time to stabilize, he wouldn’t be able to advance that fast…’
Jouyi was startled as this thought flashed in his mind. What made him feel even more horrified was that he couldn’t be sure.
Jouyi and Harren were both sighing, and they overtly and covertly expressed their kindness towards Lin Yun.
Lin Yun naturally knew the meaning behind their actions. He didn’t deny his own strength or make modest explanations, as it would seem fake in front of these two.
“Thank you for your attention, but, Sir Jouyi, Sir Harren, you didn’t look for me to praise me, did you? I’ll blush if you continue…”
Jouyi and Harren laughed out loud. Jouyi took the lead with a solemn attitude.
“Sir Mafa, what is your opinion on the general attack of the Raging Flame Plane, and on the bet with the Odin Kingdom?”
Lin Yun simply answered, “This matter has already reached this point. No one can stop it, and it really is the best method.
On the side, Harren said, “I think our chances at victory aren’t very great. Sir Mafa, what do you think?”
Lin Yun was a little stunned as he looked at Harren. He hadn’t expected these words.
Such words had a different meaning when said by Harren compared to when it was said by the fools fanning the flames outside. These were his true thoughts.
“It’s not very hopeful. The Odin Kingdom occupies the best area of Noscent, it is rich in resources and has acquired the remains of the 3rd Dynasty. Even the 3rd Dynasty’s royal court is their capital. Their strength far surpasses the Andlusa Kingdom. It’ll be very difficult for us to win.” Harren and Jouyi nodded at Lin Yun’s words.
Harren glanced at Jouyi before solemnly looking at Lin Yun.
“Sir Mafa, Sir Jouyi and I stayed behind this time to talk about cooperation.
“You know that the benefits of the bet with the Odin Kingdom far outweigh the disadvantages. Because the general attack is a foregone conclusion, the conquest of the Raging Flame Plane has entered its last stage. There is no way to delay it, and moreover, the more it’s put off, the more unfavorable it would be to us.
“If all goes as planned, the victory is already a matter of time. But then, our Andlusa Kingdom will inevitably come into conflict with the Odin Kingdom. In order to control the Raging Flame Plane, war is inevitable.
“At that time, we’d have no chance.
“We have gotten the news that a few top-notch forces of the Odin Kingdom are now occupied and don’t have time to participate in the conquest of the Raging Flame Plane. Even the peak troops of the Odin Kingdom are all stalled by other matters.
“This is our best opportunity to make a huge bet with the Odin Kingdom and compete over it in an unconventional way.
“Like this, we can obtain benefits from the Raging Flame Plane and not have to go back empty-handed…
“I, on behalf of the Black Tower, and Sir Jouyi, on behalf of the Cloud Tower, signed an agreement. We will cooperate in this general attack.
“Bluntly said, the Black Tower and the Cloud Tower are the two peak forces of the Andlusa Kingdom, but we are a bit inferior to those first-rate forces of the Odin Kingdom. Even the Burning Tower participating in the general attack is a bit stronger than the Cloud Tower and the Black Tower.
“And with the addition of the Quicksand Tower and the Sky City, two forces not much different from the Burning Tower in terms of power, our two forces would find it difficult to resist.
“Thus, Sir Jouyi and I hoped to talk to you. We hoped that our three forces could cooperate to win this great bet. This would be the key to victory.”
Hearing this news, Lin Yun was somewhat startled. He originally thought that none of the Odin Kingdom’s peak forces had come, only sending second-rate forces, but he hadn’t thought that even though the strongest forces hadn’t come, three major forces only second to them had appeared.
The Burning Tower was located in an always active volcano that they had complete control over. The volcano would no longer erupt, but a large amount of lava flowed from it in a long, flaming river.
The Burning Tower inherited the legacy of the 3rd Dynasty’s Burning Army. Their famous Magic Conducting Rune was the Burning Rune, and they were experts in large-scale conflicts. The Magic Conducting Rune’s power, which leaned towards burning and large-scale scorched earth, would inevitably appear in battle.
They were very experienced in wars of attrition, and the Burning Tower would conquer a large-scale plane on their own in the future. Everything within a thousand kilometers would remain red.
As for the Quicksand Tower, they were situated in the lower reaches of the huge river that passed through the Odin Kingdom. The river swept along a large amount of sediment and had once caused great trouble for the Odin Kingdom.
The river had even forced people to abandon large sections of natural resources and land. When the Quicksand Tower first established themselves here, there were almost no signs of habitation within five hundred kilometers.
But the founder of the Quicksand Tower, that Heaven Mage titled the Sand Son, relied on his own power to expand the Lubuc River’s lower reaches to cover over a hundred meters.
After all, the Odin Kingdom was completely flat. Once the lower reaches were extended, the river was brought under control, and the Kingdom gained several thousand kilometers of land and could resume extracting natural resources.
The Lubuc River, which had been constantly wreaking havoc, was finally sorted out, and the Quicksand Tower became the only ruler of this enormous region.
That riverbed stretching over several thousand kilometers was made up of yellow sand and was, to this day, a masterpiece that made people gasp in surprise, because the surface of the Lubuc River had to be over a hundred meters from the bottom!
After so many years of development, the Quicksand Tower had already become a powerful force of the Odin Kingdom, second only to the first-rate forces.
