End of the Magic Era - Chapter 1018
Chapter 1018: Core Area
They were completely exhausted every day, and even Dedale was pale due to extreme mana consumption.
Finally, after eight days, everyone apart from Lin Yun, Raphael, and the three mages from Sky City had joined the fight against the Demons.
The Blood Fang Tribe’s Great Tribal Chief and Great Shaman had already joined the fray, and they had even dispatched over a thousand Beastmen to help out.
On the 9th day, Sky City’s three mages had no choice but to join in the fighting with their floating fortresses. Apart from Lin Yun and Raphael, anyone able to fight was on the battlefield.
The frequent battles made everyone miserable. Every battle would be led by a Demon Overlord, and there could be up to three. Even the Blood Fang Tribe’s Great Prophet had no choice but to join in the fight.
After several days of continuous battles, Dylas looked as pale as a corpse. The loss of one member of the Shadow Tower had greatly increased the pressure.
He wanted to burst out and vent, but he couldn’t say a single word. On the 8th day, he’d barely muttered something when a sentence was shot back at him: “If not for that fool of the Shadow Tower looking for trouble, we would have already finished cracking and altering the array.”
Trying anything would cause trouble. The battles were fierce, and everyone had to pay full attention. If they were slightly careless, they might end up dying.
They had been fighting several extra days in vain, and the battles had been a lot fiercer and more dangerous. And the Shadow Tower was the one taking the blame for that. The Andlusans were looking at Dylas unfavorably, and while the Odin Kingdom’s forces weren’t cold towards Dylas, they weren’t warm either. The unsubtle Morgan even directly criticized Dylas after a fight and they almost came to blows.
The others kept gritting their teeth and fighting, while Raphael and Lin Yun kept researching the array. Every time that the array shook, it was the best opportunity to gather data and study the changes.
Raphael and Lin Yun were the only ones left taking care of this, and they had to brave the dangers of the battlefield while paying attention to the array from above. Not only did they risk getting attacked by those crazy Demons, but they still had to make sure that they gathered the important data, or that battle would be pointless.
On the 10th day, the sound of Raphael cheering could be heard from the temporary laboratory.
“It’s finally cracked!”
Raphael had bloodshot eyes and messy hair, and the pile of paper beside him had already reached the height of a large man.
Lin Yun also had red eyes, and he had a small mountain of papers beside his desk that was covered in calculations. Just the final results formed a stack of paper that was fifty centimeters thick.
After discarding his quill, Lin Yun massaged his stiff fingers and wrist. A trace of happiness could be seen in his eyes.
Ten days to crack and alter a Heaven Rank Array. This would have been impossible a year ago.
After obtaining the Intrepid’s map, Lin Yun had slowly researched it. Although he couldn’t make sense of most of it, it had greatly increased his insight.
The Intrepid’s design was a Heaven Rank Array in itself, and it was a very high-grade array, far more exquisite than this sealing array, and therefore far more difficult.
This sealing array was extremely powerful because it was huge and was using the entire mountain range as array patterns. The weight in itself was so great that it couldn’t be estimated. Using the mountain range to construct a suppressing array would make the array hundreds of times more powerful than if they used ordinary materials.
But the complexity and quality of the array couldn’t compare to the Intrepid’s design. Moreover, after being altered and cracked, both those factors would decrease once again.
But using ten days to complete the modifications and then finding a new suppression method to truly suppress that Greater Demon Overlord was an achievement Lin Yun felt happy about.
Compared to a year ago, his mastery in the field of arrays had increased by a few times. He turned around to look at the True Spirit Array and felt that it was a lot simpler. He could see all the details with one glance.
Lin Yun slowly recovered from those intense calculations, and just as he relaxed, the waning runes in his eyes suddenly burst out.
Boundless runes roamed within Lin Yun’s eyes as a cryptic and ineffable aura appeared on his body. The dirty robe softly trembled as if moved by a breeze.
Lin Yun instantly understood what was happening.
The huge wheel shadow appeared behind him, and the concentric circles formed from boundless runes were frantically rotating.
In the center of the wheel, a mass of red runes was forming a floating flame. There was also a rock made of brown runes constantly changing shape.
Those were the Fire Law and Earth Law that Lin Yun had comprehended. Those countless runes were just the two Laws taking shape.
And now, the flame and the rock slowly moved to the sides to leave a spot in the center of the wheel.
A wisp of green wind seemed to fly in from the void, and it blew in the center of the wheel in an indescribable way.
The green wind was spinning into a whirlwind, and countless cyan runes suddenly appeared as it weakly whirled.
The cyan runes merged with that whirlwind, causing it to frantically expand. In less than three seconds, it became as big as the flame and the rock.
Lin Yun’s mana started sharply increasing, and with the support of his Demiplane, endless mana poured into his body.
Breakthrough, 8th Rank Archmage!
But in less than a second, the burst of mana coming from Lin Yun’s body suddenly dissipated.
Lin Yun stood up and the filth that accumulated on his face disappeared within a breeze.
He raised his hand and felt as if the surrounding air was supporting him. He didn’t have to do anything; he only needed to think, and the air in the surroundings would react faster than his own body.
The continuous intense study of the Heaven Rank Array had given him such an unexpected reward: It sped up the fusion of the third Law!
The fusion of the third Law, the Wind Law, had been silently completed.
Raphael’s eyes were bloodshot, but he could hardly hide his excitement. He rapidly arranged the data and looked at Lin Yun before freezing. He had only sorted out the data, but when he looked again, Lin Yun seemed to have washed up, and his aura seemed to have changed.
‘Sure enough, he is formidable. Not only is he an Artisan, but he also took on most of the data computing by himself, and he still doesn’t look exhausted afterwards. In fact, he seems full of energy. Only this kind of powerhouse would be able to go further and further down the path of alchemy.’
Raphael looked at Lin Yun with admiration.
As a Peak Master Alchemist, and the one of them that was most proficient in arrays in Sky City, where the field of arrays was a mandatory field for all members, Raphael had never accomplished such a difficult task.
In Sky City, Peak Master Alchemists only had the opportunity to examine some remnants or be treated as Artisans’ helpers to crack arrays. Even then, they would only encounter some damaged Heaven Rank Arrays and would barely be able to interact with them.
A complete Heaven Rank Array wasn’t something anyone under the Artisan realm could get in contact with.
Ten days! It took ten days to crack and complete the modification of the Heaven Rank Array. This was simply impossible for Sky City. At least none of Sky City’s Artisans would have this kind of strength!
Once the array was cracked, Raphael felt his own mastery of arrays rapidly increase. He was convinced that after returning, it wouldn’t take long before he advanced to the Artisan realm.
“Sir Merlin, since we are done cracking it, should we do the last alteration?”
Raphael’s eyes were glistening with excitement, and he looked like an apprentice that had gotten to interact with an array for the first time. He simply couldn’t remain calm.
Lin Yun nodded and put away the results of the calculations before looking for the Blood Fang Tribe’s Great Tribal Chief.
After completing the cracking of the array, the last part of the modifications would free the souls of the Beastmen’s ancestors, but a substitute was needed. This was the fastest and easiest method.
“Great Tribal Chief, the array has already been modified. It only needs your tribe’s Inheritance Totem as a substitute for the souls of your ancestors. The Inheritance Totem, alongside the array, would truly suppress the Greater Demon Overlord.”
An Inheritance Totem was a Beastman Tribe’s most important thing. As its name suggested, it represented the Tribe’s inheritance. The Inheritance Totem would witness the rise and fall of a Tribe, existing from when the Tribe was formed until it went extinct, and it possessed terrifying power.
Lin Yun originally thought that the Great Tribal Chief would be unwilling. After all, losing the Inheritance Totem was the same as severing the Tribe’s inheritance.
However, not only did the Great Tribal Chief agree, but even the Great Shaman and the Great Prophet also unhesitantly nodded.
…
They once again went to that canyon. This place was the core area of the array. Every time the power of the Greater Demon Overlord leaked, it would leak from here, and every time a Demon appeared, it would appear here.
Usually, some Demons would appear here every so often, summoned by the leaking power of the Great Demon Overlord. And every so often, the Blood Fang Tribe would have to suppress the Demons that appeared.
But Lin Yun and Raphael had recently been altering the array, which inevitably stirred it up, causing the Greater Demon Overlord’s power to leak more often. This resulted in having one or two battles per day, and sometimes three.
After walking to the canyon, Lin Yun and Raphael stood on both ends and simultaneously started altering the array, adding pieces of Eternal Gold Essence alchemy plates into the heart of the mountain. Every plate was covered in runes and patterns.
These metal plates were placed at the energy nodes of the huge array, ensuring the least amount of interference with it while changing as much as possible.