Chapter 216 Arrival (New Year)
After sending off the Dragonblood Orcs, Leon finally focused his attention, carefully observing the changes within the Mana Harness...
Ever since the eighth character of the Death Tome was deciphered, Leon had been trying to use runes to simulate these mysterious glyphs. Back in Blade Canyon, he'd already made some progress, only for it to be ruined by Lisse's recklessness. So, Leon spent a few more days on this pursuit...
Fortunately, with the experience from last time, the simulation was no longer as difficult. On the day the convoy was about to enter Four Seasons Gorge, Leon finally made a breakthrough—the first mysterious glyph was successfully simulated.
To simulate this mysterious glyph, Leon used over a thousand runes. If these were used to build a spell model, it would be at least a seventh-level spell—in other words, power only a Title Archmage would possess...
Sadly, Leon had no time to savor this power. The moment the simulation was complete, the mysterious glyph formed from a thousand runes was immediately fed into the Mana Harness. All nine Mana Harnesses operated at once, instantly memorizing the glyph.
As it turned out, Leon's decision was absolutely correct...
Almost at the exact moment the Mana Harness finished memorizing, the mysterious glyph made from a thousand runes began to collapse, breaking apart into its most basic rune state...
There was no helping it—the power level of these mysterious glyphs was simply too high. Think about it: three glyphs could open a planar path, two could handle positioning, and the last two were used for teleportation. Even Leon had never heard of power on this scale.
Leon even suspected that this kind of power shouldn't exist in the Northend World at all...
Even with Leon's abilities, it took millions of attempts and sheer luck to seize a fleeting opportunity and use his own runes to simulate one of these mysterious glyphs.
But it was only a simulation, nothing more...
Leon exhausted himself just to simulate the mysterious glyph for a brief instant. After that, he could no longer control it, and could only watch as it reverted to its most basic rune state.
Still, for Leon, that fleeting instant was enough.
In that moment, the Mana Harness had already memorized the glyph. From here on, things would get much simpler—the Mana Harness's powerful computational abilities would gradually decipher the glyph, and eventually even integrate it into its system...
In fact, the Mana Harness had already begun this process.
Leon could clearly sense all nine Mana Harnesses within him running at full speed, channeling tremendous amounts of mana. The Mana Harness is a complete system—unlike other magical runes, it can operate independently even if the mage provides no mana at all. That’s the fundamental difference.
But now, even as a complete system, the Mana Harness needed to mobilize such vast mana. That alone showed just how terrifying the mysterious glyph was...
"Now, all that's left is to wait..." Once he confirmed the Mana Harness was running smoothly, Leon withdrew his attention. From here on, he could leave everything to the Mana Harness. All he had to do was wait patiently...
And it would be a very, very long wait.
This mysterious glyph required over a thousand runes to simulate. Its complexity even surpassed that of a seventh-level spell model. No matter how powerful the Mana Harness's computational ability, it couldn't finish the calculations quickly—especially since the Mana Harness Leon possessed was still in its most primitive form.
Unless Leon could immediately step into the Magus realm and fuse all nine Mana Harnesses into one. Only then would the Mana Harness truly transform, pushing its already terrifying computational power to an even more astonishing level...
The next two days of travel were just as dull. After the initial posturing, the heads of the eight major forces of Thousand Sails City stopped visiting Leon's carriage so often. Now, only familiar faces like Salomon and Kadgar would drop by, with Seth occasionally popping in as well...
To be honest, Seth was always rather wary of Leon. After betraying William Merlin once, William never forgot and often twisted Seth's words whenever he was present, scaring Seth into cold sweats. After a few times, Seth gradually stopped coming...
Leon didn't mind the peace. He spent his time guiding William Merlin in the Deep Crimson Heart meditation technique and quietly monitoring Hubert's changes. Life was, all things considered, fairly fulfilling.
A Soul Magic Crystal is a Soul Magic Crystal. Ever since Hubert started wearing that silver necklace, it had only been two days, and a faint magic pattern had already appeared on his arm. This meant Hubert was no longer just a Highland Beastman—the dragon bloodline was beginning to manifest spellcasting abilities in him.
Still, Hubert's mastery of spellcasting was far from proficient...
"I'll say it again—focus!" After an entire day of dawdling, Leon was starting to lose his patience.
A beastman is a beastman. Whether Highland or otherwise, their grasp of magic is nothing to brag about. Hubert, with his dragon bloodline, was exceptionally gifted, yet even with a single innate magic pattern, he still couldn't master it after a whole day.
If this were a human mage, they'd have smashed their head against a block of tofu by now.
"Master, I'm just a Highland Beastman..." The problem was, Hubert didn't think anything was wrong. Highland Beastmen don't really do 'focus.' In battle, they just grab a weapon and hack away. What, you can't win? Sneak attack. Play dead. Surrender. If you can't do any of that, well, you're not a Highland Beastman!
...That Highland Beastman excuse was just too effective—Leon nearly choked on it.
In the end, Leon finally lost all patience.
"Saedus!"
"Master, I'm focusing now!" The moment the Prime Flame Sprite appeared, Hubert knew he was in trouble.
Unfortunately, it was already too late...
"Saedus, you take over for me. Teach this Highland Beastman what it means to focus!" With that, Leon closed his eyes again, slipping into deep meditation.
As for what followed—the Dragonblood Beastman's screams and wails—Leon had no time to bother with any of it...
Early the next morning, as soon as Leon opened his eyes, he saw the barely alive Dragonblood Beastman gazing at him with a look of utter misery.
"Drink this first." Leon shook his head and tossed a recovery potion over. Watching Hubert drink it, he was about to ask about last night's progress when he suddenly felt the carriage come to a stop.
"Merlin, we've arrived!" came Salomon's voice.
"We're at Four Seasons Gorge?" Leon pushed open the carriage door and jumped out, spotting a rugged little path. It was so narrow that only one person could walk through at a time, flanked by steep mountain walls that looked as if they'd been hacked by blades and axes. Damp moss and wild grass grew in disorder—clearly, this was a place untouched by man.
"Let's head in." Salomon led the way, following the winding path deeper into Four Seasons Gorge. He glanced back at Leon. "The main forces of each faction arrived three days ago. They've already set up camps inside and tried some exploration, but things aren't looking good..."
"Oh?" Leon frowned. In his memory, Four Seasons Gorge was a barren desert—unless you approached Vaughn's laboratory, there was no real danger. So why did Salomon make it sound so perilous?
"The magical beasts inside are fierce. Seventeen- or eighteen-level monsters are everywhere, and there are plenty above level twenty." Salomon slowed his pace. "And some of the plants seem to have mutated—vicious things. Whether beasts or our own people, once they're caught by those mutated plants, almost no one makes it out alive..."
"Plants?" Leon was startled again...
What was going on? Beasts, sure—but plants too?
Could it be that after a year in this era, his memory was finally starting to fail?
Still, the discrepancy shouldn't be this huge...
He remembered clearly—Vaughn's laboratory was discovered 1,700 years later. By then, alchemy had entered its true golden age. Great alchemists emerged one after another; within the Kingdom of Andalusia alone, four alchemists achieved sainthood, and there were more than a dozen Creators. The first to break into Vaughn's laboratory was a Creator from Auckland Academy.
That Creator's notes were explicit: Four Seasons Gorge was a barren desert, not a patch of green from south to north. Vaughn's laboratory lay buried beneath that wasteland. The Creator and his team spent half a year digging it out...
Wait—time...
At that thought, Leon suddenly stopped walking.
That's right—time!
There's still over 1,700 years until that Creator discovers Vaughn's laboratory. Something must have happened in those centuries to turn Four Seasons Gorge from a place teeming with beasts and mutated plants into a barren desert, burying the entire laboratory beneath it.
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Happy New Year!