End of the Magic Era - Chapter 1262

Chapter 1262: Growth and Bandits

“I can only help you speed up your comprehension, resonance, and usage of your Natural Demiplane, and also accelerate its growth.

“Your Natural Demiplane is perfect. As long as you continue to develop it like that, I believe that you will be able to overpower me just by relying on it once you reach my rank. As for me, I can overpower everyone of the same rank!”

Agalon said these words very casually. He was completely confident.

Lin Yun smiled bitterly. He couldn’t say that he had a better understanding of Natural Demiplanes than Agalon… He wouldn’t believe him.

Lin Yun was struggling to hold on. Inside the Natural Demiplane, the halo of the mountain and the Mana Water in the lake were rapidly being consumed. It even caused the Natural Demiplane’s mana density to sharply decline.

This was actually a good thing. Mana kept accumulating in the process of developing the Natural Demiplane, and that wasn’t good, at least to Lin Yun.

So much mana accumulating meant that power wasn’t consumed, which also meant that the development of the Natural Demiplane would be slower.

When it came to the development of a Natural Demiplane, mana was never enough.

If there was too much mana accumulated, then the growth of Mana Vines would stagnate. Only when the Natural Demiplane’s mana was lacking would the Mana Vines feel that the mana torn from the void wasn’t enough and thus continue spreading.

The mana lake wasn’t full, but the Mana Water was rapidly consumed. The forest of Mana Vines, which spread more than ten kilometers and looked like a green pillar supporting the sky, seemed to suddenly come alive.

Each Mana Vine slowly split into two smaller Mana Vines that inserted themselves into the void, devouring power from it to fill the Natural Demiplane’s gap.

As time passed, the mana lake’s Mana Water slowly dried up and the mana permeating the air of the Demiplane was consumed. The southern volcanoes became silent, and the northern ice field started melting. This was the effect of mana deficiency. The Mana Vines then went completely insane.

The biggest mana crisis in the history of the Natural Demiplane became the best foundation for the development of the Mana Vines. All the Mana Vines within ten kilometers frantically split in two, and then into four. They were twisting their bodies towards the sky like giant pythons.

They were frantically tearing through the void’s mana. It was like ordinary vegetation that was on the verge of death suddenly sensing moisture and bursting with their strongest potential. The Mana Vines formed a thick, jade-colored pillar supporting the sky.

The pure condensed mana slowly flowed down, but that Mana Water didn’t even have time to reach the mana lake before being consumed.

This was the same as the Natural Demiplane remaining in a state of mana dryness. The Mana Vines instinctively believed that this was the best time to grow and that there weren’t enough of them. Ultimately, the Mana Vines would keep splitting, growing, splitting, growing…

Moreover, the Natural Demiplane was consuming a large amount of mana to cast a protective layer around Lin Yun. The mystic Laws formed a dense layer of fog around him, leaving him barely visible.

The difference was too great. The power of the Laws seemed to have been directly imprinted into Lin Yun’s soul, and comprehending the Laws became thousands of times easier and clearer.

Lin Yun bitterly smiled, but he knew that this was an extremely rare opportunity. A powerhouse that could already alter Laws personally offered to help him reach the peak of the Heaven realm within ten years. This was no different from a cheat.

Because the Natural Demiplane had the opportunity to evolve into a true world. As they developed, the Laws would be perfected, but they wouldn’t rely on magic comprehension; they would mainly rely on the Natural Demiplane’s growth to evolve naturally.

With that and Agalon’s help and training, comprehending the Laws would really be no different from cheating.

Even without Agalon’s help, Lin Yun would grow stronger and faster as he comprehended the Laws of the Natural Demiplane. This was why owners of Demiplanes would all become terrifying powerhouses once they reached the Heaven Rank, without any exceptions. The weakest would still be at the peak of Heaven Rank.

More importantly, with Agalon’s help and his control over his power, he could definitely be pressured to his limits without risking accidental death.

With such a good opportunity, how could Lin Yun be willing to let go of it? He was resisting with all his power on one side while comprehending the Laws’ projection, which was countless times clearer, on the other side.

A week rapidly passed.

Lin Yun quickly reached his limits, and so did the Natural Demiplane.

The comprehension he obtained within that week could compare to spending six months inside the Natural Demiplane. He only needed to consolidate what he gained to thoroughly transform himself.

As for the Natural Demiplane itself, the Mana Vines had frantically expanded but still couldn’t support the mana consumption. The forest of Mana Vines had already expanded a dozen times and all the Mana Vines had reached the thinnest size they could, to the point where they could no longer split any more until they matured.

Without Lin Yun’s immense mana consumption, the Mana Vines’ condensed Mana Water converged into a waterfall that followed the vines into the mana lake. The dried-up mana lake slowly started filling, and based on how quick it was, it would take about two days to be completely filled. And this was with most of its mana being consumed by the Natural Demiplane. The dried-up energy started being replenished once again just like a plant regaining its colors. With the huge influx of mana, the developing Natural Demiplane started rapidly evolving and expanding.

After two days, the chaos within the Natural Demiplane ceased. After frantically maturing, the Mana Vines once again turned into thick, emerald vines extending straight from the ground into the void. The forest of Mana Vines covered over forty kilometers now, but it spread even wider as one went up along the length of the Mana Vines, expanding a dozen times as they reached into the void.

The differences between the Demiplane’s four poles became even more pronounced. In the west, the earth became thicker and started producing metal, crystals, and other things. The eastern gales whistled over the sea, with lightning striking constantly. In the south, blazing lava erupted from the volcanoes, and as long as there was heat, those flames would never stop burning. And in the north, crystalline dark blue ice started condensing.

This was a really good thing for the Demiplane. It meant that after stabilizing, the Laws of the four elements were now more evolved. They started becoming more and more complex. Once branches of the Laws appeared, the Laws would become even more complete.

It was like a sapling taking root in the ground. As it grew, more and more branches would be formed until it turned into a tall and lush tree.

With this growth of the Natural Demiplane, only those four Laws were branching out and frantically growing. The Spatial Law had just become a small sapling, while the Light and Darkness Laws had only started to germinate. Who knew how long it would take before they started growing?

He rested for two days to settle his comprehension and then make the Natural Demiplane recover. Then, that deadly feeling of exclusion surged, and the surroundings once again turned into that boundless starry sky. Lin Yun had already made his preparations and continued his resistance.

Lin Yun started the painful, neverending training with Agalon, while on the other side, the Rodney Family, who had been humiliated, was completely silent.

Three days after the attack on the Gilded Rose, a convoy of the Gilded Rose was raided by bandits at the frontier of the Odin Kingdom.

That kind of matter wasn’t surprising. They only needed to strengthen their defenses. Convoys would be raided every year, and the total wealth stolen was enough to support a powerful mage family. The number of bandit forces spread around the Odin Kingdom simply couldn’t be counted.

They didn’t dare to rob powerful forces, and powerful forces didn’t feel like wasting power on them. Ordinary forces, or even smaller forces, were their main targets.

There were also forces, like the Gilded Rose, that had little to no influence in the Odin Kingdom.

After being raided for the third time, Faleau felt that something wasn’t right. But the person he dispatched to look out for clues found out that the attackers were really bandits.

A week later…

“Sir Faleau, our convoy of goods and materials has been snatched again. The losses were huge this time. There were some Perfect Grade Hope Potions and a few bottles of Perfect Grade Volcano Potions that had been compounded at the headquarters.

“However, we figured out where these bandits came from…”

Faleau had a calm yet unsightly expression. It was the fourth time the convoy was raided not far from its destination. It was on the golden trade path between the Andlusa Kingdom and Odin Kingdom, the path that convoys had to take to enter the Odin Kingdom.

Previously, using airships to transport goods was faster and cheaper, but with the Rodney Family, that method was too dangerous. The other side could casually dispatch a Heaven Rank powerhouse or a battleship to crash the airships within a minute.

And with that method, as long as the other side wasn’t completely unscrupulous, they wouldn’t be able to figure out the origin of the attack.

Transporting the goods on the ground and hiring a caravan was the best method. Defending it would be relatively easier, and moreover, they would be able to transport a few times more goods and materials at once. It would just take more time.

When transporting on the ground, they would inevitably have to pass through the golden trade road, but now, they were robbed multiple times in a row. They hadn’t been able to figure out the origin of the attacks, because there were too many bandits. Almost all of the Odin Kingdom’s famous bandit groups were active around there, waiting for the time when fat sheep would pass every year.

Now that they’d figured out where the bandits came from, it was much easier to find a way to deal with it. After all, bandits relied on being able to come and go as they pleased while keeping their hideouts hidden.

“Where is their hideout?”

Faleau was fuming with a dark expression.

This kind of thing happened in the Andlusa Kingdom when the Gilded Rose was in its early stage of development. As long as they discovered the nest of the bandits, they would immediately dispatch someone to raze it to the ground.

Later, no one dared to make a move against the Gilded Rose’s goods. Faleau really hadn’t expected something like that to happen several times in a row in the Odin Kingdom.

The man had an awkward expression as he reported, “Sir Faleau, after going through the clues several times, I found the trail and discovered their hideout. It’s over a thousand kilometers away from the golden trade road. Their forces are pretty good, but not to the point where we can’t deal with them. However…”

“However?”

“However, their hideout is in a territory controlled by the Rodney Family. If we dispatch our people to eliminate it, we might not be able to get close. After all, we are currently at odds with the Rodney Family…”

Faleau’s expression sank.

The Rodney Family…

With the Gilded Rose’s current relationship with the Rodney Family, if they dispatched people to deal with the bandits, they definitely wouldn’t be able to enter the Rodney Family’s territory. They would definitely be killed regardless of their reason for entering the territory. The Rodney Family would definitely bite the Gilded Rose as a provocation in order to start a war.

After all, it wasn’t like that kind of thing had never happened before. Using bandits as an excuse to enter another force’s territory and launch a sneak attack was a commonly used strategy.

‘Damn, the Rodney Family definitely knows about this. Or the bandits might even be controlled by the Rodney Family. Unless we directly kill the bandits when they attack, wiping them out will prove to be difficult.’

After analyzing the situation, Faleau understood the condition of the Gilded Rose.

After a moment of silence, Faleau took some people and left the Gilded Rose to visit the person in charge of the Rodney Family in Neverwinter City.

That person was actually very enthusiastic. After hearing of Faleau’s visit, he immediately came up to welcome him.

“Ah, I know now why I was in a very good mood today! It turns out Sir Faleau visited us in person! Truly a distinguished guest, please come in.”

Ivan was the person in charge of the Rodney Family’s matters in Neverwinter City. He had a big smile on his face as he led Faleau to the meeting room.

“Sir Faleau, this is a special product of our Family, the Rootless Fruit. There are very few of them, and they are only taken out to welcome very special guests. Not only do they taste very good, but they also restore mana. Give it a try.

“Ah, I almost forgot. What matter brought Sir Faleau here?”

Ivan was very cordial, as if he was entertaining a very distinguished guest, but Faleau’s heart sank a little.

“Sir Ivan, I came today on behalf of the Gilded Rose to discuss something with the Rodney Family. Our convoys have been raided on the golden trade road several times, and our losses have been quite big. We just confirmed that the attackers are the Death Sickle Bandits, and their hideout is within the Rodney Family’s territory…”

Faleau had yet to finish his speaking when Ivan started complaining with a wry smile on his face.

“Turns out to be the Death Sickle Bandits, that’s truly unfortunate. These damned bandits actually started raiding the golden trade road! I won’t hide it from you, we have been distressed about the Death Sickle Bandits for a very long time.

“These damned bandits have hidden in our Rodney Family’s territory multiple times. Logically speaking, we should have killed them long ago.

“But it’s actually very troublesome… These damned bandits are very powerful. We dispatched people to get rid of them three times, but our forces ended up coming back unsuccessful.

“We even dispatched a Heaven Rank powerhouse to attack, but it was completely fruitless. Not only are they very powerful, but their hideout’s defenses are also extremely good.

“The Rodney Family once went all-out to destroy the Death Sickle Bandits, but the people we dispatched only found an empty hideout. They all scattered to the surrounding cities and villages, assimilating with the locals. And those damned locals completely shielded the bandits! We couldn’t just kill everyone.

“To be honest, our Rodney Family is very distressed about this. We have no way to deal with these cockroaches…”

Faleau opened his mouth but swallowed back his words. As he looked at Ivan’s distressed expression, he felt like slapping him.

‘F*ck, is that idiot f*cking with me? How could there be an uncontrolled bandit group in the Rodney Family’s territory that even dares to steal from them and still live well?

‘You damned b*stard, are you treating me like a child? Do you even believe in that excuse?’

Faleau’s lungs were bursting with anger, but he couldn’t just let it out. It wasn’t like he could just question their statement.

What a joke. This was just an excuse provided by the Rodney Family. Most of the time, this kind of game had to be played by the rules. Knowing what was going on was one thing, but making a move was another.

Ivan kept complaining for a while before moving onto another topic.

“Regarding the Gilded Rose’s misfortune, I have to express my sincerest regrets. Rest assured, Sir Faleau, I’ll immediately report this matter to our Family, which will definitely dispatch people to eliminate those damned bandits as soon as possible.

“But, Sir Faleau, you shouldn’t hold a lot of hope. We might still be unable to eliminate these bandits. They might only behave for a few days…”

The people that Faleau brought were all holding in their anger. Ivan only expressed his regrets, saying that they couldn’t do anything about it. He did say that they would eliminate the bandits as soon as possible, but this meant nothing. It could take a year, or even ten years…