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A/N: First of all let me thank each and everyone one you guys for being with me through this journey. I was honestly very nervous about writing a new arc but through the response from both sides of good and critics have helped me a bunch. As of Yesterday the Beast Arc ended, with that we will come back to canon but before that I thought it would be better to put a little light on what transpired while Leylin was absent in Twilight Zone.
This journey is about Lancy and company, there would be a lot of info dump from the OG but it has original components as well, I hope you enjoy it. This arc is one of the favorite if not the most favorite of all WMW fans, at east I loved it. (Except the long and tedious first few chapters and long info dump but it escalated amazingly in the end so, I will not consider that.)
I won’t stretch it much, it would end in around 2-3 day. Let’s just take this as vacation from the main story for me. The chapters would be long and would stick to the OG to a high degree so be warned. Great emphasis is put on the end of the story so you could directly skip to that as well. I would like it if you enjoy it throughout.
Again there is a ton of info dump, I am repeating it because I can literally feel the ‘wisdom’ being showered on me.
Thank you.
….
Subterranean World, Twilight Zone.
A blue haired beautiful woman sat relaxing in a dominating posture surrounded by three stern and dangerous looking Knights who radiated a strong pressure around themselves. Two of these Knights were men in full body armour while other one was a extremely beautiful girl with very delicate and refined features, She kept her hand on her sword sheath wrapped around her waist, She wore tight leather armour and looked like a battle Goddess.
” *Ahem* Do you know about the joint conference of the eastern guilds, Lady Lancy?” There was a woman sitting before Lancy on the opposite couch who asked the question. She was an extremely beautiful female Magus. She wore a long purple robes could not hide the curves of the body. Instead, it was even more enchanting as the robes failed to conceal them. Her light purple hair was let down like a waterfall, and her exquisite face carried a smile.
She looked extremely intelligent and capable but even still looking at the blue haired women sitting comfortably on the couch with a soft smile on her face, she had a slightly uncomfortable and nervous countenance. This purple haired women was Celine, The guild master of the Nature Alliance.
“Joint conference?” The blue haired women repeated. She had heard a little about this world from her master, although her master didn’t exactly explained a lot but, still he told her a bit about this world and it’s power distribution before commanding her and her company to come here.
This women is none other than Lancy, who along with Dexter, Freed and Ivy were tasked to come here. Originally they were only supposed to build a small foothold and accomplish some miscellaneous arrangements before Leylin joins them but Leylin never came.
Although the group was very concerned about the his absence and delay but they also held full trust in his ability and deep inside they could still feel his mark on them so, after waiting for a while Lancy decided to make use of little information provided to her just in case and begin the operation taking matter in her hand.
After deciding her course of action she left the place where she stayed and waited for Leylin behind, leaving some methods of communication just in case if he returns and they couldn’t converse through a long distance via their seal. She came to the eastern region with an interesting group of people that she already knew a bit about courtesy of Leylin. The main person in this group was a kid named Baelin. She knew that this kid and another one back in the Potter Town(the place where they first went to after the teleportation), are the ‘Main Characters’ of this world.
Lancy was informed by Leylin that any unnecessary involvement could easily change the course of destiny as there is not just a single path it could take, and there are other child of destiny as well who could very well turn out to be the real protagonist if something hinders the original way. Thinking upto this she decided to keep things as unaltered as possible to reap the greatest benefits from a known path of destiny.
Initially she wanted to create good relationship with both of them, but alas as fate would have it, it wasn’t possible. The small brat named Longbottom had a huge crush on ivy after being captivated by her beauty. He tried to hit on Ivy multiple times and annoyed her beyond the point of tolerance after which she thoroughly beat his ass and knocked him silly followed by an embarrassment for all to see. After that incident he disappeared.
Lancy could only sigh at this, since it was already the path in which things are supposed to go. It was also her fault because she didn’t explain about these complicated things to her company and also didn’t order them especially to treat with caution. After this somehow Freed found a synchronisation with Baelin as their ‘past’ were a bit similar and he eventually decided to teach Baelin in the ways of a knight, Lancy knew that this is not on a whim too, there is a greater force at work and for now, she let things be as they are, as she decided to not jump in until she increases her grasp on the issue.
Lancy travelled with them and came here. One thing lead to another and eventually they made contact with the Nature Alliance’s Celine who held the best position to capture the Icy Cave, an important resource land marked my her master. Leylin told her to capture this place and monopolize it and also explained the benefits she could get from the humongous bank of advanced meditation techniques here. Lancy was already at the peak Rank 1 and she could breakthrough quite easily.
Previously while waiting for Leylin, she had the three saint knights procure a few meditation techniques through some underhanded methods. Obviously the meditation techniques weren’t very advanced but it was enough, keeping the horrific stimulation ability of her A. I. Chip on mind.
Afterwards she joined the Nature Alliance and made use of their library to increase her knowledge much further, she was able to open up a greater spectrum of opportunity before her.
“My apologies! As you know I had been wandering for quite some time dear, since my Meditation Technique is a bit peculiar hence, I have already alienated from the current high class knowledge and information. But even though I don’t know much about this, I’ve heard something, though. Isn’t it a conference where multiple guilds segregate their rankings and profits?” Lancy answered while gauging the women before her. Quite frankly she is not much of a fan of Celine character, even though she is intelligent and capable. It’s quite apparent how much she yearns for power and position. Lancy totally understand this and there is nothing wrong with being ambitious but still she doesn’t like it. For her, the greatest joy of life is protecting and serving her Master, the man who made her who she is, everything else is just plain medicore.
“Exactly!” Celine’s wry smile became more prominent. “The joint alliance is a grand occasion for the Magi in the eastern capital. Every twenty years, all the guilds in the eastern capital will gather. Nine council members will, in their capacity as hosts, mediate all conflicts, conduct another election, and divide territories.”
“Even the rating of guilds will be decided during this joint conference! As long as they are not large-scale guilds, all can apply, and after some inspections, territories will be redistributed, with more benefits… The guilds that do not meet the requirements to hold their ratings will be demoted, and the territories they hold and most of their rewards are transferred to other new guilds.”
“Let me guess, you want me to participate in this and represent your guild and help the guild maintain it’s current position !” Lancy pondered while looking at Celine.
“Yes, my lord!” Celine bit her lips.
Lancy knew that she will ask for this and quite frankly she would also desire to keep her hold on the Icy cave entrance, and more importantly adhering to the her current needs, she would like to expand the guild since it would broaden her horizon and boundaries making her enable to get other various advanced mediation technique.
Generally, there were four rankings. They were the unranked, small-scale, middle-scale and large-scale guilds!
As long as there was one official Magus in the guild, they would be unranked. Most guilds in Twilight Zone had this rating.
Above that was the small-scaled guilds like Nature’s Alliance. They possessed specific areas where they made profits, such as the icy caves, and there were usually a few official Magi or even semi-converted Magi taking charge.
There were then the middle-scale guilds. Not considering other details, at the bare minimum, they needed to have a peak rank 1 Magus.
In large-scale guilds, they were the elite guilds with rank 2 Magi in charge. Since the establishment of the joint conference, there were only a handful of instances where guilds were rated to be large-scale. Every time this happened, there would be a huge revolution involving the deaths of countless Magi.
The evaluation was not necessary to be in tandem with a Magi’s rank, as battle power differs even within a rank itself.
Hence, the ratings relied entirely on battle power! They would usually exchange hands with others of the same rank, and the shedding of blood on the battlefield was not uncommon.
Of course, there was another method. As long as one submitted research material that the nine council members approved of, one could also be rated according to the merits of the research. However, this was an extremely difficult process, and few had passed through the rating review using this method.
Celine’s mentor was said to be astonishingly powerful. Though he had yet to become a semi-converted Magus, he had somehow drawn a tie with a semi-converted Magus and had thus been thought to have an equivalent level of strength. Nature’s Alliance had thus been acknowledged to be a small-scale guild and received permits to estates and mines.
If their rating went down this year, all of these would naturally be revoked, and without these resources, Celine alone would not be able to continue managing the Nature’s Alliance. Hence, she had no choice but to look for outside help.
However, a semi-converted Magus was already considered an elite within the ranks of rank 1 Magi. At most, they would have been groomed by other organisations.
Though Celine had attracted the attention of a few official Magi, some of whom were inferior to her, with the allure of her body, what use was it? The rest were like Skrill who had some ulterior motives, and Celine didn’t dare to make use of them.
Lancy’s appearance gave Celine a sliver of hope.
After all, Nature’s Alliance was a Magus guild. There were thousands of books gathered in the library, including information about the culture, geography, and politics in the Twilight Zone, amongst other information. More importantly, there was an account of the Magus World.
These were all things that Lancy now lacked even though she has access to a vast database belonging to South Coast the knowledge here would be very appreciated, who knows it could even help to connect some dots from the otherwise useless and completely referential data, with the analysing capabilities of her A. I. Chip, there is a lot that could be done. As such, she did not restrain herself at all and ordered the A.I. Chip to record everything.
As time passed, the database in Lancy’s A.I. Chip was enriched. She now had a very profound understanding of the Twilight Zone.
Lancy proceeded further in, and even browsed in a few of the secret libraries within Nature’s Alliance.
She had even found a notebook with reflections concerning the use of rank 2 spells. It seemed to have been written by a great Magus.
“I accept. As a professor I also have some duties towards the guild. ” Lancy agreed which greatly elevated Celine mood, she kept on thanking her and exited the room.
“I don’t like her. ” Suddenly a sweet and a bit childish voice sounded as Ivy spoke. She looked at the direction in which Celine exited and her gaze was indifferent and cold like usual.
“Oh is that so and why is that?” Lancy looked at Ivy with a teasing gaze and asked.
“I don’t know. I just don’t like her.”
“Hahaha I see, well I am not a fan of her either but she is a good manager, I must give her that and her calculating ability is also top notch. It must have been difficult to manage a Guild and so much responsibilities all by herself and shoulder all of this. She had to become like this to survive and hey who could be blamed for being ambitious in our world. I am sure she would be useful later on.” Lancy smiled as she looked at the still cold and uncaring face of Ivy.
…..
A warm breeze blew, causing one to have the urge to take a nap.
In the subterranean world, the humans of Twilight Zone could not divide the year into four seasons. They had only two ways of detecting the current season. One was based on the activity of the planet’s crust, and dividing the year into the cold and warm season. Another way was through specific crops, and dividing it into the planting and harvesting seasons.
Such a warm breeze was the most obvious indication that it was the warm season.
Lancy sat on the back of a horse carriage with Freed and Dexter driving the carriage and Ivy sat by her side. An aromatic crisp smell of tea and some snacks travelled over as she was enjoying herself. Opposite to her, Celine sat in a very composed manner.
Celine wanted her Alliance two level 3 acolytes, Obo and Ilya who had pretty good talent and aptitude to come along with them hoping that Lancy would take them in but her ideas were shot down leaving her a bit helpless. It’s really difficult to please a Peak Rank 1 Magus into taking disciple.
The carriage was pulled by a stange animals which were obviously not horses, but an animal found underground—Wildebeests!
These animals were a lot larger than normal horses. They also had bony armour, and what was most obvious was the single horn on its head.
These animals were more patient than horses, they could also withstand some amount of radiation, and were the first choice for light Magi of the Twilight Zone when they went out on expeditions.
Of course, they was only useful for ordinary acolytes and Magi.
As for even more powerful Magi, they were naturally able to tame even more ferocious, mystical creatures, or even top-grade pets while they went on their journeys.
For a small guild like Nature’s Alliance, using a Wildebeests showed how hard pressed they were.
However, they had no choice. After Celine took over, Nature’s Alliance had not been in a good state and had been pressured in many areas. Based on the intel she received, there was a large possibility that the Nature’s Alliance would be demoted from its rating in the joint conference.
In this situation, Celine had no choice but to look for external help. She could only turn to Lancy.
Though Lancy had been said to be a famed professor in name only, Celine had been tactful and given most of the authority in Nature’s Alliance to her.
Notta Highlands. The ground in this desolate area was filled with a white quartz gravel.
Usually, this place would be filled with creatures of the darkness, but they had now left the area.
At the heart of the Notta Highlands, a bright ball of light that spanned for around ten metres was hanging in mid-air like a little sun, emitting light and warmth.
Under it gathered Magi of different tribes who looked different and wore clothes of various colours.
Even if it was just passive radiation and energy fluctuations that were emitted, the gathering of so many Magi forced the creatures to avoid them.
After all, this was still within the eastern capital of the Twilight Zone, and not a place for the creatures to flaunt their prowess. Any Magi that was stronger than them, could exterminate all the higher ranked darkness creatures.
However, if this was outside the Twilight Zone, where human activity was low, the situation would be reversed.
The creatures of the darkness had an absolute advantage based on their numbers. There would even appear formidable creatures that could rival a Magus, which would encircle and annihilate Magi.
“Lu lu!”
Meanwhile, another horse carriage bringing a few Magi passed through. The Horned Horse pulling the carriage seemed to sense the strength of the Magi, and neighed in worry.
The Magi merely shot a glance at this area. Upon finding out that it was a small-scaled guild, they promptly lost interest and continued along their way.
However, there were a few Magi that exchanging glances in secret, staring at the carriage without even blinking.
*Rattle!*
Dexter and Freed respectfully opened the door to the carriage, bowing as they welcomed the two professors inside.
Celine alighted first, she looked at the two knights and had the same perplexed expression she had when she first saw them. Although they are not Magi and are just Knights she could feel the dense bloodlust and pressure emitting from them which left her with nothing other than dread back then. Although currently completely different than before they looked like normal Knights and no could distinguish them.
“That’s quite a lot of Magi!”
Lancy also descended from the carriage, scanning the area and commenting with a smile. Ivy followed behind her with an emotionless expression and maintained her vigilant posture ready to pounce at anyone with bad design, her posture along with her cute beautiful face presented an interesting sight to behold.
Lancy had sensed the aura of large amounts of energy while on the carriage, and now, using his naked eyes, she knew that there were at least 400 official Magi gathered here.
This was no small number, and these were merely the representatives from various large organisations. They still had much more guards than their headquarters.
“Medium-scaled guild! Dense Fog Forest!” Lancy slowly muttered the name of the group which was targeting them for the Icy caves and immediately decided their fate. The Dense Fog Forest would have to be eliminated, and that needs to be done fast before their leader has the time to react.
Lancy followed Celine and after a bit of introduction and conversation with some acquaintance of Celine they soon entered the area where the conference was hosted.
“The nine enforcers are here!”
Celine whispered to Lancy.
“Hm?” Lancy stared at the nine Magi walking over.
There were both male and female enforcers, but they were no longer young. Their hair was white, and many of them wore glasses. They held dictionary-like books and feather pens or scales, and their eyes glistened with wisdom, giving them a scholarly aura.
However, their energy fluctuations left Lancy disappointed, all of them were just Peak Rank 1 magus in strength. She already knew about the power structure of this world and also knew who could harm her but these people weren’t one of them. Combined together they might become a nuisance but if she fought without using her trump cards and all of four of her group were to join hands they could definitely achieve a stalemate.
Honestly speaking, If Lancy were to fight without reservation and use the artifacts and trump card Leylin bestowed upon her then she could definitely severely injure or even kill them.
Looking at the surrounding Magi paying their respects to the nine enforcers, Lancy pondered.
“The evaluation process will go the same way as before. We will first announce the results before the evaluations are open to challenges. Each guild has, at most, three chances. Lower rated guilds can challenge higher rated guilds, but higher rated guilds are not to interfere with the lower rated guilds. Guilds of the same evaluation can challenge each other to settle any conflicts, and those who are defeated have to wait until the next time…”
Lancy, watched on, as one after another guilds challenged each other and fought for their ranks, a few unrated guilds chose to challenge some other guilds. She also carefully recorded everything trying to figure out the fighting style and combat strength of the people here.
Most of the challenged guilds were small-scale guilds that were declining, and almost all of the challenges were successful. Only one small-scale guild won, protecting what belonged to them.
This contest mostly happened between small-scale and unrated guilds. The medium-scale guilds rarely went onstage, and as for large-scale guilds, they were remote existences that only served as witnesses and judges.
“Dear council members, we of the Eight-Clawed Spider wish to challenge the Nature’s Alliance guild!”
