Chapter 184: Subrealm
Salomon could hardly believe it—a Plane Path hidden right here in the Ashen Tower. What were the odds?
And it wasn’t just any discovery—it was monumental. Salomon’s frustration was almost palpable, the kind that makes you want to curse at the ceiling.
"So it’s a subrealm..." Leon brushed the dust from his hands, caught somewhere between laughter and disbelief. The implications were enormous—if the Ashen Tower had access to a Plane Path, its resource supply would rival even Sage’s Spire. That was a strategic game-changer.
He’d actually let an alchemy array trip him up. Leon almost wanted to laugh at himself.
No, no, no—it wasn’t that the array was some masterpiece of alchemy.
If anything, it was laughably crude. How could an Archmage settle for this?
It was only Grandmaster level!
Leon had never heard of any subrealm being linked by a Grandmaster-level alchemy array. It was like feeding a dragon hay—absolute mistreatment.
Only those who had reached the absolute pinnacle—Archmages—could open subrealms. With unfathomable power, they carved out worlds from the void itself. From the moment of creation, these worlds stood apart from Northend, unbound by any law but the mage’s own will. Their existence, their rules, their very function—all depended on the Archmage who birthed them.
[Irrelevant system message skipped.]
That’s why, at first, Leon hadn’t even considered this possibility.
It wasn’t until his sixth analysis of the array that Leon suddenly realized something—the key runes weren’t designed solely to open a Plane Path. Sure, some stabilized the space, but most were set up for mana transmission and rune relay.
What kind of plane would need mana transmission and rune relay? There was only one answer—a subrealm.
And then, suddenly, everything clicked for Leon.
Of course. The Plane Path almost certainly concealed a subrealm. Otherwise, why all the mana transmission and rune relay runes? Why would the array be linked to the entire Ashen Tower? The Ashen Tower was a fortress—when fully powered, it could raze the world. Feeding such immense mana into a mere Grandmaster-level alchemy array was unthinkable.
The only explanation was a subrealm.
But if it really was a subrealm, then a Grandmaster-level alchemy array probably wasn’t enough…
Leon frowned again at the thought.
Rudolph had been the last Court Mage of the Third Dynasty, wielding vast power. If he wanted an expert in array alchemy, he could have summoned one with a word. So why settle for a Grandmaster-level array to link his subrealm?
"Merlin... Merlin..." Salomon had been waiting expectantly after Leon stood up, hoping for an answer...
After a long wait, Salomon realized Leon was just standing there, lost in thought.
Salomon couldn’t take it anymore. He waved his hands in front of Leon’s face, called his name several times, and finally snapped Leon out of his daze.
"Ah, what is it?"
"You’re asking me what’s wrong?"
"Oh..." Leon snapped back to himself after Salomon’s retort. He took two steps back and pointed to the array glowing on the wall. "This alchemy array can open a Plane Path. If you’re truly interested in Rudolph’s Sky Mage Relics, you can use the activation rune to go inside and look—but you’d better not stay longer than an hour, or you might be lost in that subrealm forever."
"A Plane Path?" Salomon nearly jumped out of his skin. For over a thousand years, Sage’s Spire had produced countless talents—three Archmages had earned their titles here. Yet the tower remained trapped in a small city, hemmed in by its nemesis, the Ashen Tower, and most of all, by its lack of a dedicated realm.
As someone from Cloudspire Tower, Salomon knew just how vital a dedicated realm could be...
Why could Cloudspire Tower stand shoulder to shoulder with the Black Tower, towering over all other mage factions in Andalusia?
Because Cloudspire Tower possessed seven dedicated realms. Each one supplied vast resources. For any faction, resources are everything. No matter how deep your legacy, how vast your territory—without resources, history turns to dust and lands are lost.
Talent, technology, progress—none of it survives without resources.
Salomon never imagined he’d find a Plane Path in the Ashen Tower…
The thought made Salomon want to beat his chest in frustration. How could those bastards in the Ashen Tower be so lucky, to have a Plane Path right beneath them?
If those bastards ever discovered the Plane Path and tapped into its resources, Sage’s Spire would be in serious trouble.
"Merlin, do you... do you have any way...?" Salomon’s face twisted with worry. This was the last thing he wanted to hear.
But before Salomon could finish, Leon just shook his head. "No."
"I didn’t even finish my question!" Salomon protested immediately.
"You don’t need to finish. You’re probably asking if I can destroy the alchemy array so the Ashen Tower never finds the Plane Path, right?"
"Exactly! So, can you do it?"
Leon shook his head and patiently explained, "Impossible, Salomon. Even if I destroy this alchemy array, I can’t destroy the Plane Path itself. If the Ashen Tower discovers it, setting up a new array would be trivial…"
[Irrelevant system message skipped.]
"So what do we do? If the Ashen Tower gets control of the Plane Path, Sage’s Spire could be in real danger!"
"That’s my problem to worry about..."
"Huh?"
"Do you really think, now that I have first pick, I’d be generous enough to leave an entire realm to the Ashen Tower?"
...Salomon’s face darkened. Damn it, so that’s what the first pick was for?
In the end, Salomon cursed under his breath and spat out the activation rune through gritted teeth...
Then Leon felt the space around him twist—a sensation almost identical to opening the Bone Plane, unless you paid close attention.
But Leon knew there was a difference. The mana flow here, when opening this subrealm, far exceeded that of the Bone Plane. That was because the entire Ashen Tower was linked to the alchemy array—its surge of mana in an instant dwarfed even a handful of Abyssal Magic Diamonds.
After a brief twist in space, the surroundings snapped into focus.
And then Salomon burst out laughing, unable to hold it back...
"Hahahaha, Merlin! This is how you use your first pick—hahaha..."
No wonder Salomon was laughing like that. What appeared before them wasn’t a true realm at all, but a chunk of land floating in the void—just a few thousand meters across. Meteors streaked overhead, lightning tore through the sky, the heavens above were dark red, and below was endless blackness. Time and space twisted in chaos. Compared to the Bone Plane Leon had visited before, this place was barely a speck of dust.
The entire realm felt hollow—no life, no laws, not even the four basic elements: earth, water, fire, and air.
Looking at all this, it was obvious why Salomon was so gleeful—this realm was utterly worthless.
At this point, even Leon himself was a bit surprised...
Sure, Leon had known from the start that this subrealm was probably nothing special.
After all, Rudolph had only just begun creating his subrealm before his death. At best, it was a rough prototype. And with the Twilight War over a thousand years past, and no one to maintain it, things could only have gotten worse.
But Leon hadn’t expected it to be this bad...
Whenever a subrealm is created, the first step is to anchor the four basic elements—earth, water, fire, and air. They’re the foundation. Without them, the subrealm can’t stabilize. It’ll either be torn apart by void storms or swallowed by the chaos of time and space. Death is always lurking.
In other words, the subrealm Leon now stood in was almost like one freshly carved from the void...
"Let’s just see if we can find any of Rudolph’s Sky Mage Relics..." Leon hadn’t expected much from this subrealm anyway. After a brief moment of disappointment, he shrugged it off. The Plane Path was a freebie—if he found nothing, it was just a wasted trip.
Salomon, on the other hand, was far more anxious...
This time, Salomon had come fully prepared. The Oblivion Inferno scroll alone had cost him hundreds of thousands of gold, and he’d spent countless days and nights deciphering it before finally uncovering the secret beneath the Ashen Tower. All of it was for Rudolph’s relics.
Those relics were crucial to Sage’s Spire—they could be the key to its rise...