Chapter 392: Found
"Alright, the rest of you stay and rest. Anderson, come with me. We're going to dig something up..."
"What exactly are we digging up?"
"Another Primordial Deity Soul Fragment!"
...
Earlier, Anderson had told Leon that before a Primordial Deity Soul Fragment awakens, it only brings benefits to the demi-plane, never harm. He'd even suggested Leon take advantage of this strange environment to rapidly strengthen his magic.
Logically speaking, Anderson's advice was sound.
But Anderson didn't know—Leon came from thirty thousand years in the future.
Having survived the crucible of the Golden Age and witnessed Northend's destruction, Leon's ambition in magic far outstripped any mage of this era.
For mages of this age, becoming a Title Archmage or reaching Sky Rank was already a lifelong dream. Even Star Sage Joey only dreamed of someday transcending Sky Rank...
But Leon...
Leon’s ambitions dwarfed theirs...
Title Archmages were everywhere during the Golden Age. Sky Rank powerhouses—plenty fell in the Turan Mountains disaster. Even those who transcended Sky Rank, so what? When Northend met its doom, they all came crashing down...
Thirty thousand years later, the world would fall, inevitably.
For ordinary people, that's just needless worry. Thirty thousand years is too long to care—a person could reincarnate two or three hundred times in that span.
But for a mage—especially one like Leon—it was a very real problem...
Leon was barely in his twenties and already an Archmage. Unless he went looking for trouble, living for centuries was practically guaranteed.
And that's just as an Archmage...
With knowledge and insight that eclipsed his era, and the solid foundation of ten Mana Harnesses, reaching Title Archmage—or even Sky Rank—was just a matter of time.
A Title Archmage could easily live for more than a thousand years.
Sky Rank powerhouses could live for thousands of years...
As for the likes of Sandro, the Undead Lord, or Charles the Conqueror...
In all of Northend's history, there has never been a record of someone at that level dying of natural causes.
For Leon, this wasn't some wild fantasy. As long as he didn't fall along the way, he could grind his way to transcending Sky Rank, even if it took ages.
When that time came, Leon would have to face a choice: slip into the cracks of time and space like Sandro and Charles, or stay with Northend and await the final moment...
Honestly, either way, it's a decision made out of helplessness. Whether you slip into the rifts of time and space or wait for the end with Northend, you're still handing your fate over to the unknown. No one knows what the final outcome will be...
Leon refused to accept that...
What Leon wanted was to truly grasp his own destiny. If even powerhouses like Sandro and Charles couldn't control their fates, then Leon would have to become even stronger—strong enough to master his own fate.
To reach that level, he couldn't just follow the old paths...
Even if those paths had built an unprecedentedly glorious magical civilization...
That’s why Leon had always tried to forge his own magical path—the Mana Harnesses, the Arcane Wheel, every step he took forward was the result of countless simulations and careful thought, making sure each move brought him closer to his ultimate goal...
Anderson's advice wasn’t wrong...
But Leon didn’t want to meditate in that kind of environment. Power accumulated through external means never truly belonged to you. Sure, he could use this shortcut to quickly reach Title Archmage, but what then?
What would he rely on to reach Sky Rank?
Of course...
It didn’t matter if he didn’t need it—there were plenty of others who did...
So, Leon had William Merlin write that letter.
The Merchant Guild’s mercenary company had fifty Grand Mages, all desperate for advancement. The unique environment in the demi-plane, shaped by Primordial Deity power, was exactly what they needed...
Originally, they were the Merlin Family’s least gifted members—maybe they’d never have reached Grand Mage in their lifetimes. But by a stroke of luck, they met Leon, who sent them to the Bone Plane and helped them become Grand Mages. Everything they had now was already more than they’d ever hoped for...
They’d never even dreamed of becoming Archmages...