Chapter 186: Arcanavine
The Frost Ray in the previous chapter should have been a sixth-tier spell. I was so dizzy at the time that I made a blunder.
Also, I spent the whole day on the road today, got up at 4 a.m., and it's past 10 p.m. and I still haven't slept. I can't keep going—can I take half a day off? I'll owe you a chapter and make it up after I get home on the sixteenth.
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"Alchemical Golem!" Salomon's face instantly twisted into a bitter grimace.
Salomon had originally thought the Frost Ray was probably some kind of trap and was pondering how to break it. But with just one glance, he realized this was far more troublesome than any trap...
Frost Ray is a sixth-tier spell...
Two alchemical golems imbued with sixth-tier spells—their combat strength is almost on par with me, a ninth-tier magus.
No wonder it's the handiwork of a Celestial Mage...
For a moment, even Salomon couldn't help but secretly admire it. Only those who've stepped into the realm of the extraordinary would treat a sixth-tier spell so casually, embedding it in a pair of alchemical golems without a second thought.
You have to understand, solidifying a spell comes at the cost of sacrificing runes. For a sixth-tier spell like Frost Ray, it takes hundreds of runes. Except for outliers like Lin Yun, who sits on tens of thousands of runes, only those who've stepped into the realm of the extraordinary would invest so much in a pair of alchemical golems.
"And they're Mage Slayer models..." Worst of all, Lin Yun was standing beside him, giving a running commentary...
...Salomon broke out in a cold sweat at that. Damn, it's not bad enough they've got Frost Ray solidified—now they're Mage Slayer models too?
Mage Slayer golems are true mage killers, their spell resistance is off the charts. Low-level spells barely tickle them, and among the spells they've solidified, there's always a Mana Burn. That spell is nasty—if it hits, your mana ignites instantly, and the pain is enough to make any mage wish for death.
Now, Salomon didn't dare make a reckless move...
Two alchemical golems with sixth-tier spells, and the nastiest Mage Slayer models at that—this is way out of Salomon's league. As a ninth-tier magus, he could handle one, but facing two at once, he'd be lucky to have a thirty percent chance...
"Merlin, I think we're in trouble this time..." Salomon's face was the very picture of misery.
"Yeah, it's a bit of a problem..." Lin Yun nodded in agreement. It really was a problem. If he'd known things would turn out like this, he never would've handed that spatial ring to William Merlin and Faro back in the Bone Plane...
He'd only thought they needed the spatial artifact to store soul essence while fighting in the Bone Plane. Who could've guessed he'd come to Rockridge for an Order of the Arcane Hand Gathering, stumble into a sub-plane, and run into golems this powerful?
What now...
There's no way I can take these two alchemical golems back with me!
Should I dismantle them? That would be such a waste...
For a moment, Lin Yun's face was just as bitter as a gourd...
"This is Rudolf's library..." Salomon had one foot out the door but couldn't bring himself to step inside. He knew the moment he crossed the threshold, those two golems would attack. But giving up was just too hard—like he'd said, this was Rudolf's library, and the knowledge inside could elevate the Sage Tower's magic by a whole tier!
"Merlin, should we go for it? Look, you take one golem, I'll take the other—no, no, you don't have to take any risks. Just hold one off for me. Once I finish the other, I'll come help you, how about that?"
Salomon rattled off his plan in one breath, but Lin Yun just looked stunned. "Go for it? You mean these two alchemical golems?"
"Yeah, yeah, these two golems. I know, asking a fifth-tier archmage like you to face something like this is a lot, but just do me this favor, okay? It won't take long, just hold one off for twenty minutes... Twenty minutes—hey, wait, what are you doing!"
Salomon didn't even get to finish before his eyes went wide...
Because suddenly, the young archmage he'd been trying so hard to convince gave him a strange smile—then just walked right into the library...
"Damn it!" Salomon cursed out loud...
Sure, I wanted Merlin to take action, but did he really have to jump in so fast? Those golems have at least one sixth-tier spell solidified, and they're the nastiest Mage Slayer models. Charging in unprepared—what if something goes wrong?
No, no, I have to think of a way to back Merlin up immediately...
Forget it, there's no time to worry. Unprepared is unprepared...
Salomon spat out a string of incantations, layering himself with a few low-level buffs. With his rune shield up, he charged straight into the library...
"Huh?"
Then the ninth-tier magus froze, his expression shifting from blank to confused to terrified in an instant. For a moment, Salomon felt like he'd just seen a mouse shaking hands with a cat—his heart nearly gave out on the spot.
Both alchemical golems were already lying on the ground, and the young archmage was busy dismantling one, his foot planted firmly on its chest...
And as he worked, he grumbled, "Damn, this one's too heavy—I can't take it back..."
"Me... Merlin?" Salomon stared at the bizarre scene, looking as pale as a ghost. Even his voice came out in fits and starts...
"Ah, what's up?"
"You—you—how did you do that?"
"I shut down their power systems."
...Salomon nearly coughed up blood. Seriously, are alchemists even fair? I rack my brain over two alchemical golems, nearly die just charging in, and in the end, the alchemist just goes 'snap, snap'—I shut down their power systems!
"Well, aren't you going to see what loot we got?" Lin Yun wiped the sweat from his brow and casually asked Salomon.
"Right, right, I'll check..." Lin Yun's reminder snapped Salomon back to reality. For the moment, he didn't care how the power systems were shut down—he rushed over to the bookshelves to pick out their spoils.
After reminding Salomon, Lin Yun went back to work.
To Lin Yun, the magical books in the library didn't mean much. If he ever needed them, he could always borrow and copy them from Salomon.
What really mattered were the two alchemical golems lying on the floor.
The rune iron skeletons were definitely too big to take...
That was a huge loss. Rune iron was an incredibly rare magical metal—the entire Kingdom of Andalusia didn't produce enough in a year to make even ten golems. That's one reason Mage Slayer models are so rare; only the major powers with their own rune iron-producing planes have them.
At least the power systems can be dismantled...
This power system is definitely worth studying. Lin Yun planned to take it back and have the folks at the Alchemy Workshop try to replicate it—maybe they could use it in the mining golems.
A few alchemical arrays could be salvaged, but they were all for boosting spell resistance—useless to Lin Yun. With enough materials, he could draw dozens of those any time.
All that was left were four mechanical arms...
Each arm had a Frost Ray solidified in it. As long as the mana supply held, they could form a crossfire defense system—perfect for the camp back in the Bone Plane.
"Merlin... Merlin, come quick, look what I found..." Just as Lin Yun finished dismantling the second golem, Salomon suddenly called out.
"What did you find?"
"Just look..."
Salomon handed over a black book. The first thing Lin Yun saw were the gold-embossed words: Arcanavine Cultivation Manual.
"Arcanavine, Merlin! Arcanavine!" Salomon stared at the black book, his old face twisted into a grin so wide it looked painful.
"Yeah, Arcanavine..." Lin Yun flipped through a few pages. Sure enough, the black book detailed how to cultivate Arcanavine. It seemed Rudolf valued this sub-plane greatly—he'd started collecting Arcanavine knowledge before even stabilizing the four basic elements: earth, water, fire, and wind.
Arcanavine is a mysterious plant. Before it went extinct, nearly every mage wanted to cultivate it, because it could automatically draw mana from the void—the harsher the environment, the more mana it could absorb.
After absorbing mana from the void, Arcanavine would refine and purify it, eventually forming a Mana Pool beneath its roots to store all that power.
That alone made Arcanavine priceless. Imagine—a tower with three or five Arcanavines, drawing mana day and night, refining it and filling the Mana Pool. It would be an inexhaustible source of magical energy.
Unfortunately, Arcanavine's growing conditions are so harsh that it's practically impossible for it to survive in the Northend World. It's been over a thousand years since one last appeared here.
Still, this shows Rudolf's sub-plane was almost certainly a naturally formed one.
Only in naturally formed sub-planes does Arcanavine have even a slim chance to survive...
But it looks like Rudolf never found any Arcanavine seeds. Otherwise, this sub-plane wouldn't be in such a sorry state. Just the mana Arcanavine could provide would make it independent of the Ashen Tower—there'd be no need for that alchemical array outside.
Of course, just because Rudolf couldn't find an Arcanavine seed doesn't mean Lin Yun can't...
In fact, Lin Yun remembered clearly: the plane opened by Duskfire contained an Arcanavine seed. When mana dried up in the Northend World, several Celestial Mages broke in together and seized the seed, but it still couldn't survive here in the end...
"Let me borrow it to copy later."
"Sure." Salomon agreed readily. As valuable as the Arcanavine Cultivation Manual was, it didn't mean much to the Sage Tower—at best, they could use its methods to try cultivating other magical plants.
"Huh, what's this..." After handing the Arcanavine Cultivation Manual back to Salomon, Lin Yun was about to resume dismantling the golems when a red book on the shelf caught his eye.
It was titled 'Elemental Sprite Capture Essentials'...