End of the Magic Era

“What are you doing!?” Lin Yun was startled, and he almost let the precious gem fall. After recovering, he scolded Shawn with a dark expression. “What kind of True Spirit Magic Tool are you, making a fuss out of nothing!”

“Throw away that thing in your hand! Quick!”

“Are you kidding? This magic gem is worth at least a few million golds. Are you going to pay it back after making me throw it away?”

“I’m not kidding, that thing in your hand, it… it’s not a magic gem, it’s only a disaster…”

“Oh?” Lin Yun smiled when he heard that. “Looks like you know something, Lord Shawn?”

“I don’t!” Lin Yun had just asked to probe, but Shawn’s answer was self-explanatory. He impatiently denied it, afraid that Lin Yun wouldn’t believe him. “No… I don’t know. But listen to me and quickly throw that thing away. It will only bring you disaster.”

“So you don’t want to explain.” Lin Yun understood when he heard those words. Shawn definitely knew something, but he just didn’t want to tell him. “But, Lord Shawn, you should know, right? The Doom Staff is a bottomless pit, it can easily handle dozens of spirit mana crystals, and you also consume a lot… Didn’t you almost finish digesting that spirit mana crystal too?”

“I’m… I’m about to…” Shawn’s voice lacked confidence. He indeed had almost finished digesting that spirit mana crystal. In the past few days, he had been scheming, trying to come up with a way to wheedle another one from Lin Yun.

“About to…” Lin Yun smiled and shook his head, pointing at Xiuban’s neck. “And that good-for-nothing Draconic Beastman’s magical development completely relies on gathering mana crystals…”

“But…”

“This is worth a few million golds, and you are asking me to throw it away. Tell me, if there is no reason, why should I waste it?”

“That thing can only cause a disaster…” But Shawn still only repeated the same thing and refused to say what the disaster was.

Lin Yun didn’t have a way to get the answer out of him and could only helplessly ask, “Okay, let’s leave the disaster aside for now. If it’s not a magic gem, what is it?”

“This is a soul fragment…” After saying this, Shawn went silent for a long time. Eventually, he regained his courage and continued, “A soul fragment from a God…”

When the words “Ascian Dynasty” came out of Shawn’s mouth, Lin Yun held his breath.

Among Noscent’s legends, the story of the ancient Ascian Dynasty established by Gods had always been circulating. That was a true golden era, when the ancient Gods walked the earth. They had many abilities and endless power. They could tear open the sky and raise the earth. Under the rule of the ancient Gods, every race peacefully prospered and all of Noscent was thriving.

But that golden era was ended by a disaster…

And now, no one knew what kind of disaster it was. People could only find some simple records of the era saying that the Gods resisted the disaster and saved the world of Noscent, but that the price they paid was extremely heavy and the survivors had to leave Noscent, exiling themselves into spatial cracks.

That period, often called the Golden Era, was also known as the Mythological Era.

After the Golden Era was the Silver Era, when Elves and Dragons jointly ruled Noscent, up till several tens of thousands of years ago, when Charles The Great shattered the Life Throne. All legends came to an end and Noscent entered the era of mortal rule. That was what people called the Bronze Era.

Time passed and dynasties changed. Eventually, even the 3rd Dynasty established by Charles the Great disappeared in the river of time. In comparison, the furthest Ascian Dynasty could only be traced through epics and legends, and it was only a shadow of its former self.

In fact, even at the peak of the magic civilization, the existence of the Ascian Dynasty was frequently debated.

Lin Yun would have never thought that he would find a fragment of an Ancient God’s soul within the Four Seasons Canyon.

“Haha, Lord Shawn, that’s very funny…” Lin Yun’s first thought was that Lord Shawn was making up another story, just like he had done in Barov’s tomb when pretending to be the Desolate Overlord to scare him. It sounded exactly the same, using some fantastic excuse to make Lin Yun throw away the magic gem. ‘Ancient God? Really?’

But regardless of what excuse Shawn gave him, Lin Yun couldn’t suppress the shaking from his laughter.

“Can’t you tell if I’m joking? I have a master-slave contract with you, after all,” Shawn sneered.

“No way…” The magic gem in Lin Yun’s hand suddenly felt rather hot.

“Do you finally know how serious this is?” After coldly snorting, Shawn scolded Lin Yun like an elder teaching a lesson to a child. “This is the soul of an Ancient God. You must have heard of Ancient Gods, their limitless mana, and their ability to destroy anything with a single move. With one blow, an Ancient God could kill a hundred 9th Rank Great Mages like you. It’s quite bold of you to hold the fragment of an Ancient God’s soul. Who do you think you are? A wisp of that Ancient God’s soul fragment would be enough to obliterate you many times over!”

“Well, Lord Shawn, how do you know this?” Lin Yun looked at the soul fragment for a long time before looking suspiciously at Shawn.

“Because a certain lunatic once played with a soul fragment of an Ancient God, but that lunatic was far stronger than you…”

“You are talking about Barov?”

“That’s right, that lunatic.”

“So you are saying that the soul fragment I found here is the same kind that Prince Barov had?”

“Don’t ask again!” Shawn’s voice was filled with a degree of alarm that was hard to cover. “Don’t ask again, Ancient Gods are taboo, looking for these will bring you disaster!”

“Indeed.” Lin Yun actually nodded. He rarely agreed with Shawn’s point of view, but the problem was truly dangerous. Ancient Gods were taboo, and it seemed that the fall of the 3rd Dynasty was linked to that.

“Okay, okay, I have already explained, so quickly throw that thing away…” Seeing Lin Yun nod, Shawn finally relaxed.

“No…” But he never expected that Lin Yun would still shake his head. “Since this is the fragment of an Ancient God’s soul, I cannot throw it away…”

“You are insane!”

“Don’t worry, I have an idea.”

After saying that, Lin Yun opened the Book of Death and incanted the seven mysterious characters. His surroundings changed in a flash as a Planar Path appeared out of nowhere…

“I can put it in a safer place,” he said, before stepping into the Planar Path. After the surroundings stabilized, Lin Yun could be seen standing above the Demiplane. Nothing changed, and it was still quiet and desolate, just like Noscent in the future. But Lin Yun knew that there was a huge difference between both. Noscent was on the verge of dying because its life had come to an end, while this Demiplane was just recently born.

Because of its recent birth, it was still in its most primitive state.

But that primitive state could be changed, provided he had enough natural resources, just like Astrologian Agalon. After establishing the four elements, the world’s evolution of life would begin, and the desolate Demiplane would turn into an independent world.

Naturally, this would be a very long path.

Just establishing the four elements would have to wait until he reached the Archmage realm, and as for starting the world’s evolution of life, he would have to be a Heaven Mage before he could try.

But it wasn’t urgent.

Even if he immediately evolved the Demiplane into an independent world, he wouldn’t be able to harness the full power of that world yet. This was also something he could only do after reaching the Heaven Mage realm.

Before that, it would be better to treat this Demiplane as a warehouse of sorts.

Lin Yun put down the Ancient God’s soul fragment before walking back to the Planar Path. After another distortion, Lin Yun returned to Noscent.

“Hell, you will regret it, I’m telling you, you’ll regret sooner or later…” Shawn continued blabbering after they left the Demiplane.

“Okay okay, I understand, I’ll regret it…” Lin Yun shook his head and ignored Shawn’s complaints.

In fact, Lin Yun also knew that the most reliable way to handle that fragment was to put it back into the hole.

But Lin Yun was reluctant…