Chapter 1299
I will only help you accelerate your understanding of the Natural Semi-Plane, deepen your resonance and utilization of it, and hasten its development.
Your Natural Semi-Plane is truly flawless. If you keep developing it as you are now, trust me—at the same rank, you could easily crush me with it. And I, in turn, could crush anyone else of my level!"
Agalon spoke these words calmly, brimming with confidence.
Leon smiled bitterly to himself. I never said I didn’t believe you. In fact, I understand the strength of the Natural Semi-Plane even better than you do. Would you believe that...?
Leon struggled to hold on. Inside the Natural Semi-Plane, the Sky Pillar glowed with halos, and the Mana Lake’s waters were rapidly depleted, even causing the overall mana density of the plane to drop.
Actually, this is a good thing. As the Natural Semi-Plane develops, mana keeps accumulating, which isn’t necessarily ideal—at least not for Leon.
All that accumulated mana means it hasn’t been consumed, which in turn means the development of the Natural Semi-Plane is slow.
In the process of developing the Natural Semi-Plane, mana is never enough.
If too much mana builds up, the Arcanavine’s spread stagnates. Only when the Natural Semi-Plane is low on mana, and the Arcanavine senses it can’t pull enough from the void, will it continue expanding its colonies.
Right now, the Mana Lake isn’t even full—the mana elixir is being consumed at a staggering rate. The forest of Arcanavine, stretching for dozens of kilometers, suddenly came alive, towering like a green Sky Pillar.
Each Arcanavine slowly split into two thinner vines, then pierced into the void, devouring its power to replenish the Natural Semi-Plane.
As time passed, the mana in the Mana Lake gradually dried up, and the ambient mana in the demi-plane’s air began to deplete rapidly. The southern volcano fell silent, the northern ice sheet—spanning hundreds of kilometers—started to melt. All signs of mana shortage. Then, the Arcanavine forest went completely wild.
The greatest mana crisis in the history of the Natural Semi-Plane became the perfect soil for Arcanavine’s growth. Every vine within those dozens of kilometers began frenzied division—one split into two, two into four. After dividing, the vines writhed like giant serpents stretching from the earth up into the sky, vanishing from sight.
This was a sign of violently ripping mana from the void, just like ordinary plants that, when on the verge of dying from thirst, suddenly sense water and burst forth with their greatest potential.
Within that thick, emerald Sky Pillar formed by Arcanavine, pure mana condensed into thin streams that trickled down, but this pure mana elixir was consumed before it ever reached the Mana Lake...
This meant the demi-plane would remain in a near-dry state of mana, and the Arcanavine would instinctively see this as the best time to develop. With the colony still not large enough, the result was endless cycles of splitting and growing...
On top of that, the Natural Semi-Plane was expending a terrifying amount of mana to cast its rule projection over Leon. Rules that were once obscure—like a veiled girl you could only glimpse—were now suddenly standing naked before you, open to any interpretation...
The difference was staggering. The power of the rules seemed to imprint directly onto Leon’s soul. Comprehending them became hundreds, thousands of times easier and clearer...
Leon smiled wryly, knowing this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. With a master who could already change the rules personally helping, promising to raise him to the peak of Sky Rank in ten years wasn’t just an idle boast...
Because the Natural Semi-Plane has the potential to evolve into a true world. As it develops, all the rules will be perfected—not by a mage’s insight, but by the plane’s own natural evolution.
With this, plus Agalon’s guidance and training, comprehending the rules is basically cheating...
Even without Agalon’s help, Leon could still comprehend rules within the Natural Semi-Plane—faster and stronger. That’s why anyone who gains a Natural Semi-Plane and survives to Sky Rank always ends up terrifyingly powerful. At worst, they reach the pinnacle of Sky Rank...
Most importantly, with Agalon’s help, Leon was sure that Agalon could push him right to his limit—without ever accidentally killing him.
With such an opportunity, there’s no way Leon would let it slip by. He resisted with all his might while absorbing the rule projections, now a thousand times clearer.
Time flew by. A week passed in a blink, and both Leon and the Natural Semi-Plane reached their limits.
In that week, Leon’s insights exceeded what he’d gained in half a year within the Natural Semi-Plane. Now, those insights just needed to settle and truly become his own.
Meanwhile, the wild expansion of the Arcanavine forest inside the Natural Semi-Plane couldn’t keep up with mana consumption. The colony grew tenfold, with every vine thinned to its utmost, unable to divide further. All that remained was to wait for them to mature.
With the terrifying mana drain gone, the mana elixir condensed atop the Arcanavine forest formed a waterfall, cascading down into the Mana Lake. The dry lake’s surface slowly rose. At this rate, it would refill in two days, even with most of the mana dispersing throughout the Natural Semi-Plane.
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The world’s mana dried up, then was replenished again—like a parched potted plant suddenly drenched with water. The slow-growing Natural Semi-Plane began a rapid evolution, expanding and advancing as mana was consumed and restored.
Two days later, the turbulence inside the Natural Semi-Plane finally ceased. After frenzied growth, the Arcanavine reverted to thick, emerald vines stretching straight from the ground into the void. The forest now covered over forty kilometers—seemingly just a few times larger, but the actual area had expanded more than tenfold. The mana it ripped from the void had also increased tenfold.
The four poles of the demi-plane became more pronounced: the earth thickened, and beneath it metals and crystals began to form; on the eastern wind-tossed sea, thunder surged; in the southern volcanoes, burning flames appeared atop the lava—earthfire, which never goes out as long as there’s heat; and deep in the northern ice cap, crystal-blue ice blocks condensed like water crystals.
This was truly a good thing for the demi-plane. It meant that once the Four Elemental Rules—earth, fire, water, wind—were completely stabilized and balanced, deeper rule evolution began. Simple rules branched into complexity, making them more complete.
It’s like a sapling taking root in the earth: as it grows, a single shoot slowly branches out, eventually becoming a lush, towering tree.
Right now, only the Four Elemental Rules in the Natural Semi-Plane have started to branch out and grow wildly. The Law of Space is just a tiny sapling, and the laws of light and darkness are only beginning to sprout—it’s anyone’s guess how long before they break the surface...
After two days of rest, letting the rules settle and the Natural Semi-Plane recover, that deadly sense of rejection resurfaced. The world around Leon shifted once more into endless starlight, but he was ready and continued resisting.
Leon began his endless, grueling training under Agalon. Meanwhile, the Rodney Family, who’d just suffered a humiliating defeat, seemed to have gone completely quiet.
Less than three days after the attack on the Gilded Rose, one of its merchant convoys was ambushed by bandits on the Odin Kingdom’s border...
This wasn’t exactly surprising—just tighten security a bit. Every year, the wealth stolen from merchant convoys in Odin Kingdom is enough to support a powerful mage family. Bandit groups are everywhere, too many to count.
They don’t dare target the truly powerful, and the powerful can’t be bothered to deal with them. So, average or weaker factions become their main prey...
And then there are groups like the Gilded Rose, who have no real roots in Odin Kingdom...
After three consecutive robberies, Farrow started to notice something was off. But every clue his investigators brought back pointed to ordinary bandits...
A week later...
"Lord Farrow, our shipment of goods and raw materials has been robbed again. The losses are substantial this time, including some of the headquarters’ perfect-grade Hope Elixirs and several perfect-grade Volcano Elixirs.
However, we’ve finally tracked down where these bandits are coming from..."
Farrow’s face was grim. Four times now, and each robbery happened close by—on the Greendale-Odin Border, the main trade route for Andalusia Kingdom’s merchant convoys entering Odin Kingdom.
Previously, using airships for transport was faster and cheaper, but with the Rodney Family involved, it’s become too risky. Just one of their Sky Rank mages—or even just a warship—could sink an airship in a minute.
And unless the attackers show themselves openly, there’s no way to identify who’s responsible for the ambush.
Ground transport with hired merchant convoys is the safest option now. It’s easier to defend, and you can move much larger shipments at once—though it takes far more time.