End of the Magic Era

The Merlin Family obtained unfathomable benefits in the recent collaboration and occupied almost 70% of the Ghost Valley, part of which was very suitable for plants, so they had planned to use that area to grow some medicinal herbs. There were also over ten rich ore veins, and each of them represented unimaginable wealth. More importantly, the resources of the Ghost Valley were almost inexhaustible.

Both the ore veins and medicinal herbs had all been born from the dense mana, and now, the Ghost Valley’s mana density was more than three times what it had originally been. Just in the recent period, the Merlin Family had sent over ten Great Alchemists to form a team to check for ore veins, and in a few areas, they found some faintly shining rocks, which were signs of even more ore veins being formed.

This was the first time Lin Yun had walked around the area again after thoroughly controlling the Ghost Valley. He really hadn’t been able to find the time before, but he had now finally finished dealing with many major things at once.

Once the Thawing Fire Tribe was annihilated, the Merlin Family and the Black Tower split up the Ghost Valley and the four forts. The Black Tower was actually very generous regarding the four forts, which hadn’t been discussed in the agreement, letting the Merlin Family choose two of them.

At that time, Lin Yun realized that his unplanned move had brought huge benefits to the Merlin Family. With the addition of the two forts, the Merlin Family now occupied five forts, which covered half of the northeastern part of the Raging Flame Plane. There weren’t many forces that had more land than the Merlin Family in the Raging Flame Plane. There should only be the two giants, the Cloud Tower and the Black Tower.

In other words, the Merlin Family, which had been in the middle of the pack in the Raging Flame Plane, had left the other forces far behind…

Such huge changes happened in a mere three months…

And these changes brought significant benefits to the Merlin Family in the Raging Flame Plane. It would inevitably snowball and greatly increase the influence of the Merlin Family in the Raging Flame Plane.

After two more hours, Lin Yun finished his tour of the Ghost Valley and ultimately returned to the Demon Contract area. There, the fifty High Mages and the three Merlin Cousins were still meditating.

As for the Draconic Beastman, Xiuban…

Even if he wanted to meditate, he would find it very difficult. Otherwise, Lin Yun wouldn’t have given him the Soul of the Ancient Tree, the Meditation Law Set that didn’t require meditation to accumulate mana. During that time, Xiuban seemed to have spent most of his time sleeping. Even now, Xiuban could be seen lying on his back, sunbathing. There were strange runes flickering all over his body, and minute changes were happening to his power all the time. Without Lin Yun’s Magic Array, these changes would be very hard to notice.

Xiuban was already a genuine Peak 9th Rank Expert Swordsman with one foot in the Sword Saint Realm. Lin Yun’s mouth twitched as he looked at Xiuban. ‘He wouldn’t be sleeping his way to the Sword Saint rank, right?’

As he thought about it, he felt that it might actually be possible.

Soon after, his eyes fell on William’s group and he instantly felt surprised. Through these familiar mana fluctuations, he was able to accurately assess that these young Merlins were now standing at the peak of the High Mage realm. All of them were Peak 9th Rank High Mages!

He hadn’t expected the three of them to progress so fast.

As for those fifty High Mages, although their progress wasn’t as exaggerated as William’s group, their strength also greatly increased. Most of them were now between the 2nd and 3rd Ranks.

Sensing the familiar mana fluctuations, William was suddenly roused from his meditation and he instantly looked at the newly appearing silhouette. “Cousin Mafa, you came back…”

“Yes…” Lin Yun nodded. He started to speak, when he suddenly remembered something and waved at William. “Cousin William, there is something I need to trouble you with…”

“Eh?” William was surprised, but he quickly reacted and waved his hands. “No problem, no problem…”

“It’s like this…” Lin Yun thought for a moment before fishing out a stack of paper from his pocket, seemingly wrapping something inside and handing it to William.

“This…”

William seemed a bit unsure at first, but his expression greatly changed when he opened a corner of the paper. He looked at Lin Yun and said, “Cousin Mafa, this can’t really be…”

“Go quickly, and return fast.” Lin Yun faintly smiled, not explaining anything.

…

At this time, in the Flame Demon Fort’s meeting room, a meeting was underway. Thorne, as a Commander, would periodically summon some high-ranking members of the Planar Legion to discuss all kinds of problems. Naturally, the final decision would belong to Thorne.

But the atmosphere in the meeting room was weird today.

The few officers of the Planar Legion could clearly feel that their Commander was absent-minded as he heard their reports. During the discussions, he also remained silent. They didn’t know what had happened, but they found that Thorne seemed to have a lot on his mind these days.

“Alright, Let’s finish here today…” After heavily hitting the table, Thorne let out a gloomy voice. He watched as the officers left until he was the last person in the meeting room. He let out a long sigh while massaging his temples, but he couldn’t clear out the haze shrouding his mind.

He had been struggling to make a decision ever since he came back from the Winter Plane.

To be more exact, this was related to the young mage.

He had always had a deep enmity towards this young mage, and back then, he had even felt that the decision from the Ancestral Land had been somewhat stupid. A youth in his twenties without any experience fighting in Planar Wars was dispatched to the Raging Flame Plane as a Commander, sharing half of his authority… Wasn’t this senseless?

But the events that played out had made the way Thorne looked at the young mage quietly change.

Lin Yun had succeeded in doing the impossible multiple times. He had convinced the Black Tower to join forces to completely control the Ghost Valley and cause the destruction of the Thawing Fire Tribe, bringing huge benefits to the Merlin Family. From this, Thorne was able to see that there was far more to the young mage than he had thought.

Especially during that fight in the Sacred Land of the Thawing Fire Tribe. When the two major forces were in a deadlock with the Tribal Chief, Mafa suddenly burst with power and got rid of the Tribal Chief with a single move.

At that time, he realized how terrifying the young mage’s potential was.

After all, he was merely a 5th Rank High Mage. In any of the forces of the Raging Flame Plane, he should be quite unremarkable. Yet, he was different… His power far surpassed his own rank.

Thorne didn’t know what to do when he realized this.

‘Should I keep setting myself against him?’

No… Not to mention the fact that he couldn’t compare at all in terms of strength, the young mage’s outstanding performances further dissuaded him. He wasn’t just an extremely powerful youth of the Merlin Family, he was an existence that had the potential to reach the Heaven Rank.

Thorne wanted to find Mafa to have a proper chat, but he didn’t have the opportunity.

Also, many things happened in the Winter Plane. They first encountered the flock of Ice Field Mammoths, and then a level 38 Frost Dragon. If he hadn’t been there, Thorne would have met his end in the Winter Plane. This caused Thorne to have complicated feelings towards the young mage.

Perhaps he shouldn’t have targeted him so much.

The young mage hadn’t caused him trouble in the Raging Flame Plane and instead even saved him twice.

Thorne wasn’t an ungrateful person…

But, when he thought about it, he couldn’t help remembering the despair in Aube’s eyes after his Mana Whirlpool was crippled.

This made Thorne feel conflicted. He simply couldn’t put down his grievances.

While Thorne was immersed in his thoughts, a silhouette had sneaked inside the meeting room, unbeknownst to him. “Sir Thorne…?”

“Hmmm?”

Hearing someone calling his name, Thorne suddenly raised his head, only to see William standing beside him. He couldn’t help but frown as he asked, “Is there something you need?”

“There is…”

William was smiling, apparently not caring about Thorne’s cold attitude. He reached into his pocket and took something out. “I came to you on an errand from Cousin Mafa. He told me to hand this to you personally…”

“Eh?”

Thorne faintly glanced at William, and although he was very calm on the surface, he was extremely suspicious. Why would the young mage send him something out of nowhere?

His gaze couldn’t help but fall on that stack of paper that was apparently wrapping something. He resisted the urge to inquire and pointed at a table. “Put it there…”

After saying that, he calmly waited.

But Thorne hadn’t expected that William would still stand there indifferently after half a minute, looking at him with a strange expression. This made Thorne frown, his expression turning somewhat unpleasant.