But such astonishing destructive power comes at an equally astonishing cost.
Most mages only cast one or two arrows with Meteor Volley. Even with Mana Harness, ten arrows is the upper limit—not because they can't cast more, but because they choose not to. Each additional arrow means more mana consumed and more difficulty in control.
For someone like Leon to unleash over a hundred arrows with Meteor Volley is unthinkable to most High Mages. It means a hundredfold increase in mana consumption and control difficulty. Even if it's a low-level spell for a mage, stacking it a hundred times turns the cost and challenge into something terrifying.
The mana Leon had just replenished was once again drained at a shocking rate. In just moments, half his mana was gone, and with the need to maintain the Flame Barrier, the remaining half was vanishing even faster.
This kind of extreme spellcasting, Leon could only sustain for thirty seconds. After that, he could feel his mana running dangerously low. But he didn't panic—the ring on his right hand flashed again, and a surge of pure mana slowly flowed into him.
With the Elemental Amber supplying mana just in time, Leon muttered a few incantations and, against all odds, managed a triple cast!
Originally, Flame Barrier combined with Meteor Volley was just an impenetrable defense. But with Leon's triple cast and the second Flame Barrier appearing, the tide of battle changed instantly.
Two Flame Barriers, one in front and one behind, trapped all the Venomwings in between. For a moment, all you could see were Venomwings darting about frantically. The heat radiating from the barriers spelled their doom. They tried to escape, but flames raged on every side—there was simply no way out. Countless Venomwings were crushed together in that impossibly tight space.
Awaiting them was a Meteor Volley of over a hundred arrows...
Charred black husks rained down in clumps. When Leon unleashed his final surge of mana, not a single living Venomwing could be found at the cave entrance...
"Whew..." Only now did Leon finally let out a long breath. He pulled the Blightbloom Core from his pocket and sat down against the stone wall, sweat beading across his forehead and his face unnaturally pale.
The fight just now looked simple—only a few dozen seconds to wipe out hundreds of Venomwings. But only Leon knew how dangerous it really was.
Three times he used Mana Harness, once he activated his arcane gear, and pulled off a nearly impossible triple cast. Leon was pushed to the brink. No exaggeration—the threat these Venomwings posed was even greater than Bell, the High Mage of Viper's Nest.
Sure, Venomwings are only level ten. Any mage above level five could kill one easily. But don't forget—Leon was facing not one or two, but four whole nests. Hundreds of Venomwings.
If Leon had made even the slightest mistake in that battle...
If the Flame Barrier hadn't stopped the Venomwings, or if that last triple cast had failed, things would have looked very different. Imagine hundreds of Venomwings swarming everywhere, spitting venom with every breath. No matter how strong Leon was, he'd have to grit his teeth and pick them off one by one. And then, it wouldn't be a matter of seconds or minutes—he might've burned through all ten bottles of Arcane Spring in his pocket.
Luckily, nothing went wrong...
From the first Frostfire Shield to the final flaming arrow, every spell landed exactly as Leon intended.
As Leon recalled every detail of the fight, he gripped the Blightbloom Core tightly, drawing out its mana bit by bit, purifying it carefully, and then slowly channeling it into the Mana Harness.
Normally, few High Mages would draw mana directly from a magic crystal. The mana inside is full of impurities—one slip, and it could be dangerous. In severe cases, the backlash could be fatal.
But Leon isn't like most High Mages...
Back in the end times, Leon's only source of mana was the Voidstorm. The mana in there had far more impurities than any magic crystal. Every meditation session beneath the Voidstorm felt like torture.
Leon had survived that era—why would he fear a few impurities in a magic crystal now? He just had to slow down the extraction process.
The whole extraction process cost him three bottles of Arcane Spring.
By the time Leon stood up, the Blightbloom Core in his hand had lost its last trace of luster, looking no different from an ordinary stone.
Leon tossed the now-empty magic crystal aside and cast a Light spell. The pitch-black cave was suddenly as bright as day.
The red mist inside the cave was even thicker than outside, almost solid. Even with Arcane Spring shielding him, Leon could only barely clear a few meters of the mist around him.
Guided by the notes left by alchemists, Leon walked deeper into the cave for nearly ten minutes. The passage ahead finally opened up. He knew he was close—if the notes were right, another two hundred meters would bring him to the cave's center. There, he'd find a tomb from the Third Dynasty.
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That's right—this is the second ruin in Venomfog Gorge.
Unlike the temple Soth wants to open, this tomb wouldn't be discovered for at least a thousand years. By then, Cloudspire Tower would be the kingdom's dominant power, and a High Mage from Cloudspire would stumble upon Venomfog Gorge during his travels.
There, he'd get caught in a fight at the gorge's entrance, badly wounded. Only a few bottles of Arcane Spring kept him alive as he fled, eventually stumbling into this unknown cave.
No one knows what the High Mage encountered in the cave...
But when he emerged from Venomfog Gorge, he held a Soulbound Relic in his hand—an artifact equal to a Title Archmage. The enemies at the gorge's entrance lasted less than ten seconds before being reduced to ash by its avatar.
Afterwards, the High Mage returned to Cloudspire Tower and wrote a report about his discovery.
The report immediately caught Cloudspire Tower's attention. Three Grandmaster Alchemists came to Venomfog Gorge, and in the spot where the High Mage found the Soulbound Relic, they made another discovery...
The discovery was a strange coincidence...
Of the three Grandmasters, two were Title Archmages, and the third was a High Mage.
And that High Mage's Arcane Sigil was, in fact, the same Mana Harness that Leon possessed.
Originally, that High Mage's Mana Harness only had two arrays. But after three months of archaeological research in Venomfog Gorge, it reached five arrays—giving him the power to face Archmages head-on.
When Leon read those notes, he was surprised by the High Mage's bizarre leap in power.
Mana Harness is easily the most complex and tedious of all Arcane Sigils. Every tiny improvement takes endless effort. Even with Leon's knowledge far beyond this era, going from two arrays to five would take at least three years.
Yet that High Mage in the notes managed it in just three months!
What does that even mean...
That's a tenfold acceleration!
This is what Leon truly values about Venomfog Gorge. Compared to that, he doesn't hold out much hope for the Soulbound Relic. After all, a Soulbound Relic isn't the same as a Living Relic. The former is just a magical item with some intelligence, fighting according to its master's will—at its core, still just an artifact.
But a Living Relic is something else entirely...
A Living Relic represents the pinnacle of alchemy. Any alchemist who creates one is revered as a Creator. In the golden age of magical civilization, only three Living Relics ever appeared. The alchemists who made them were held in the highest esteem—even Heavenly Mages bowed before them.
Living Relics possess true life—the ultimate achievement of alchemy.
Each Living Relic's avatar is indistinguishable from any other living being.
To become the master of a Living Relic, you must earn its avatar's approval. But in reality, almost none ever accept a new master. Except for their creator, they never choose a second. That High Mage from Cloudspire Tower was the only exception Leon had ever seen.
Leon knew he didn't have that kind of luck...
Compared to the elusive Living Relic, the Eye of Reincarnation—which could quickly grant Leon five arrays in his Mana Harness—was much more practical.