Chapter 526: Some Trouble
"Archmage Leon, I agree to everything you've said..." Thorne Merlin looked at Leon with a blank expression. In truth, he was simply curious, wanting to understand what was really going on and whether this would threaten the interests of the Merlin Family. After all, this passage lay deep beneath Specter Valley, and if he didn’t get to the bottom of it, he couldn’t rest easy.
Moreover, the terrifying strength of the young mage left him with no choice but to compromise...
"Lord Thorne, you..." Larn Merlin stared at Thorne Merlin in disbelief, unable to trust his own ears. The always forceful Lord Thorne hadn’t even tried to negotiate—he just agreed to the young mage’s terms outright.
Isn’t that a bit... unnatural?
To Larn Merlin, it really was unnatural. He’d been following Thorne Merlin through the struggle for control over the Blazeforge Realm for quite some time, and he knew the commander’s temperament well enough—fiery would be putting it mildly.
But now, this hot-tempered commander was acting so docile in front of the young mage—it was simply baffling...
In fact, back at Frostfire Fortress, Larn Merlin had already learned that the Ancestral Council had dispatched a commander to lead the Planar Legion in the Blazeforge Realm alongside Thorne Merlin.
When he first heard the news, he assumed it’d be some powerful ancestor from the Ancestral Grounds, or maybe a member of the Council itself, coming to take command. The reality, though, had stunned him—the Council sent a mere twenty-something, a Fifth-Level Archmage...
It made him wonder if the Council had lost their minds...
Otherwise, why would they do something so absurd?
In his eyes, a Fifth-Level Archmage—no matter how exceptional in some ways—was simply unqualified for the position of commander...
And after meeting this almost ridiculously young commander, his impression only worsened...
"Enough, I know what you want to say..." Thorne Merlin glanced impatiently at Larn Merlin. That single look was enough to make him shut his mouth obediently. Then, Thorne turned to Leon with a look that sought his opinion: "When do we go in?"
"Right now, I suppose..."
As he spoke, Leon had already stepped into the passage. The moment he entered, an intense wave of heat washed over him, as if he were inside an oven. The skin exposed outside his mage’s robe prickled with a faint burning sensation—not unbearable, but enough to make him frown. Still, he didn’t slow down and kept walking forward.
Soon enough, Thorne Merlin and the others followed after him...
The group carefully made their way down the spiraling stone steps. As they ventured deeper, they realized the passage was growing wider and wider.
The passage was spotless, not a single piece of debris in sight. But the temperature was frighteningly high—even for this group of Title Archmages and above, after ten minutes on the stone stairs, everyone was drenched in sweat, their mage’s robes clinging uncomfortably to their bodies.
Before long, the group reached the end of the passage...
The place was vast—a space several hundred meters across. The stone walls on all sides were covered in intricate patterns, with a candlestick every two meters, though the candles had long since burned out. The floor was paved with moonstone, casting a faint glow in the dimness and giving off subtle magical ripples. The whole setup felt rather extravagant.
"What is this place...?"
Once inside, Thorne Merlin looked around with wide-eyed curiosity, his face full of wonder. He passed by several candlesticks, his gaze locked on a wall directly ahead, thoughtful. "This must be Third Dynasty style. Only that age of extreme luxury would lavish so much attention on a single stone wall. I can't imagine how a place like this exists beneath Specter Valley—it's got to be thousands of years old..."
There were six of them in total. Like Thorne Merlin, the others cautiously explored the spacious chamber after confirming there was no immediate danger.
Maybe no one noticed that Leon’s gaze never left the space ahead...
It was pitch black ahead...
But he knew there was something there that stirred his heart...
Leon casually cast a Light Spell, and a gentle, bright orb appeared, floating a foot in front of him. Using its illumination, he walked forward alone.
After walking for four or five minutes, he reached the far end of the chamber. Before him stood a tightly shut stone door, with faint magical ripples seeping out from behind it.
"This is..."
Standing before the stone door, illuminated by the Light Spell, Leon could just make out the intricate network of patterns spread across its surface. With his experience, he immediately recognized it as an alchemical array drained of magic. After studying the door for a few minutes, he didn’t hesitate—he took a low-grade mana crystal from his pocket, crouched down, and ran his slender fingers across the stone until he found a groove, then inserted the crystal.
Then...
The moment the mana crystal was placed, the sealed stone door shuddered violently. Countless patterns lit up, blazing with brilliant light for several seconds. As the glow faded, the door slowly swung open.
"It's open..." Seeing this, Leon finally breathed a sigh of relief. But then his expression froze, staring blankly at the scene before him—his heart nearly stopped.
Two dazzling crystals, bright as diamonds, were embedded in the wall, flooding the space with a blinding light. Violent magical ripples spread to every corner, and at the same time, two terrifying auras began to rise...
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"Five-Colored Dragon Core..."
Leon recognized them instantly—two Five-Colored Dragon Cores, belonging to the legendary pureblood Five-Colored Dragons. Each one held earth-shattering magical power, a treasure countless mages dreamed of. But in all of Northend’s history, those who’d ever possessed a Five-Colored Dragon Core were vanishingly few.
During the Nesser Dynasty, it was the era of Five-Colored Dragons and pureblood elves, and together they forged a glorious age. The entire world of Northend was under their rule—even human Sky-Rank Archmages, powerful enough to slay an adult pureblood Five-Colored Dragon, rarely dared to make a move.
Only near the end of the Nesser Dynasty, when figures like Emperor Charles and the Azure Sage emerged among humans, did the great Dragon-Slaying War begin.
But after the Throne of All Creation was shattered, the Five-Colored Dragons and pureblood elves vanished into unknown planes, never to be seen again in Northend...
That age saw magical civilization reach its absolute peak. Mages powerful enough to rival the gods led campaigns across endless planes, but found no trace of the Five-Colored Dragons. In the end, everyone agreed: by the dawn of the Third Dynasty, the Five-Colored Dragons were utterly extinct.
"Wait..."
Leon wasn’t blinded by joy. Instead, he focused intently on the smooth wall, quickly noticing that not only were the Five-Colored Dragon Cores embedded there, but countless runes were also inscribed, forming a complex alchemical array. The two cores were its heart.
To be precise, it was a Dragon Revival Array designed to open a planar passage...
That much was easy to guess...
A Dragon Revival Array must be built at the intersection of two planes, harnessing forces from different worlds to achieve extraordinary effects.
After a few minutes of deciphering the runes, Leon triggered the two cores, and dazzling rainbow light burst forth. For a moment, the entire chamber was lit up like the sun. Standing before the wall, Leon could clearly feel the space around him twisting, wild magical energy surging so fiercely it was almost tangible—even the air crackled and snapped.
Meanwhile, the light from the two Five-Colored Dragon Cores grew ever brighter, and the alchemical array on the wall spun furiously. Space twisted to its limit, and after more than ten seconds, it slowly calmed. A pitch-black fissure appeared, widening—it was a planar passage...
At last, everything settled...
What appeared before Leon was a deep blue planar passage, wide enough for ten people to walk side by side. Standing at its mouth, he could feel a bone-chilling cold. He was surprised—most planar paths simply separated two worlds, but this one was clearly different...
"No wonder it's a Dragon Revival Array..." Even Leon had to marvel—the array forcibly connected two different planes with its power, and the passage was incredibly stable. Only a Pinnacle Alchemical Array could manage such a feat. He could set up some True Spirit arrays himself, and with effort, even mid-tier alchemical arrays, but compared to the Dragon Revival Array, they were worlds apart.
"This could get tricky..." Leon looked at the deep blue passage, a wry smile on his lips. He could guess that at the far end was another plane, likely as vast as the Blazeforge Plane, and within it, another part of the Dragon Revival Array.
In other words, only when both arrays in the two planes are combined does the Dragon Revival Array become complete.
Back in the vast, decaying library, Leon had already memorized the theory and structure of the Dragon Revival Array. Its core was five distinct Five-Colored Dragon Cores—now, two had appeared, and there should be another at the center of the planar passage, stabilizing the connection.