Chapter 436: Raid
He walked toward the pond, only to discover that the liquid inside wasn't water at all, but Liquid Mana...
Liquid Mana—just imagine what that means...
Throughout the entire Northend World, places where Liquid Mana has appeared since ancient times can be counted on one hand...
Leon stood by the pond’s edge and immediately felt waves of flowing mana rushing toward him. The Arcane Array within his body roared to life, greedily absorbing the mana. In just over ten minutes, all the mana he'd lost fighting the Sand Beast was completely replenished.
But just then, he accidentally caught sight of a faint glow at the bottom of the pond. Something seemed to be down there. With a wave of his hand, he summoned a Water Elemental Golem to dive in for him. The images relayed by the golem made Leon grin from ear to ear.
It was actually a Mana Crystal...
A Mana Crystal that contained ten times more mana than Liquid Mana!
Even in the golden age of magic, Mana Crystals like this were rare. The mana within them was pure—far purer than even that in Soul Mana Crystals. Although the total amount of mana couldn’t compare to a Soul Mana Crystal, their value was immense. A Mana Crystal the size of a palm was almost equivalent to a magic crystal from a magical beast above level twenty.
Once the Water Elemental Golem dissipated, Leon scanned the area and finally found a suitable spot to plant the Arcanavine. It was a flat clearing not far from the pond. After spending some time, he carefully planted the Arcanavine Seedling. The moment it touched the ground—though it was only the size of a palm—the Arcanavine began to change.
It shot up at a speed visible to the naked eye. In just a few minutes, it had grown to half the height of a person—and it kept growing. The size of an Arcanavine isn't fixed; it all depends on its environment...
Legend has it, the Arcanavine’s growth period is about two years. The denser the mana, the faster it grows. Once it fully matures, it can draw mana straight from the void.
Leon estimated that in an environment like a demi-plane, the Arcanavine could mature in just a few months. Once that happens, it’ll endlessly draw mana from the void, accelerating the growth of the natural demi-plane.
With the Arcanavine issue settled, Leon didn’t linger in the forest. He wandered around for a bit, and had to admit—the environment inside the demi-plane was excellent. The mana rushing toward him kept him at peak condition. The first time he’d come here, the place was a wreck: barely a kilometer across, no laws, no life, just a hollow shell...
But by sheer luck, placing the Primordial Deity Soul Fragment in the demi-plane had led to all these changes. In less than half a year, the demi-plane’s area had expanded rapidly—now stretching for thousands of kilometers, teeming with life. Even the Four Elemental Laws—earth, water, fire, and wind—had just taken shape.
The Arcane Array in his body was always running. Soon, Leon clearly sensed the trajectory of the laws at work. He could feel those four somewhat chaotic elemental laws, constantly shifting in unpredictable ways...
But he knew—the Four Elemental Laws were gradually stabilizing.
It wouldn’t be long before the four laws fully stabilized. When that happens, what new changes will the demi-plane undergo?
As he walked, Leon suddenly stopped. Everywhere he looked, lush trees thrived and the whole plane radiated vitality. Yet, for some reason, the demi-plane still felt hollow to him—never as natural as the Northend World.
That’s it—it was the lack of living creatures...
In that instant, he realized the key issue: he’d released the Three-Eyed Shadow Wolf here, but with the area now stretching a thousand kilometers, finding it quickly was impossible. He wondered if, in the future, he should capture a batch of magical beasts and let them loose in the demi-plane.
A group of magical beasts living here would certainly liven things up...
Leon simply sat down on a patch of lush grass and fully activated his Arcane Array, following the trajectory of the laws to begin exploring.
The power of the laws was mysterious and profound. Even at the Title Archmage level, one’s understanding of the laws was only superficial. That’s why Leon had paid a hefty price for the Voidstone—it contained a trace of World Power. Even a sliver of it could be pivotal for a Title Archmage.
At first, he tried to use the Arcane Array to observe the Four Elemental Laws—earth, water, wind, and fire—and was surprised when he succeeded, clearly catching their traces. Theoretically, with the Arcane Array’s terrifying computational power, he could analyze the Four Elemental Laws. But...
After trying it, he realized he’d underestimated the difficulty. Catching the traces of the laws was easy, but analyzing them was extremely hard. Even the nearly omnipotent Arcane Array struggled to keep up with the shifting laws.
It seemed only Sky Rank experts could truly analyze the laws—and wield World Power.
But the Arcane Array was still the Arcane Array...
After several hours, Leon burned through the mana from two Alchemical Vortexes just to keep up with the laws’ trajectory. The Arcane Array worked at full throttle, constantly parsing the laws. Four days passed like this before Leon finally opened his eyes. His mana was utterly spent. Luckily, in the demi-plane, the mana concentration was nearly twenty times higher than outside. Plus, Leon’s core meditation codex—the Void Furnace Codex, with its sixteen formulas—made recovery easy.
Once his mana was replenished, Leon left the demi-plane and returned to the Mage Tower. As he emerged, Leon couldn’t help but shake his head. Four days had passed, and everyone else still hadn’t come out of the illusion.
After experiencing the apocalypse illusion, Leon had mostly figured out how to break out of these illusions. In short, every illusion had a core. The apocalypse illusion he’d encountered was a bit special. Take Ross Merlin, for example—maybe once he defeats Stan Watson, he’ll be able to break free...
Just as he was thinking, a familiar wave of mana rippled from nearby. Leon turned and saw Solan Monty’s figure appear out of nowhere...
Solan Monty noticed Leon too. He looked puzzled for a moment, then his expression returned to calm, and he walked over: "Where are the others...?"
"None of them are out yet..." Leon frowned, channeling mana into the Arcane Wheel and pushing his Arcane Array to its limit. Solan Monty was skilled at hiding his intentions—Leon couldn’t afford to let his guard down.
"Then we’d better wait..."
Solan Monty nodded and stopped about two meters away from Leon. Truthfully, when he first saw Leon, he was shocked—he hadn’t expected Leon Merlin to emerge from the illusion before him...
The moment he stepped onto that path, everything around him changed. He found himself in a familiar place—the Azure Plane. He’d spent at least twenty years there, so he knew the environment well. The instant he arrived, he realized where he was.
Realizing it was the Azure Plane startled him. No matter how strange that path was, it shouldn’t have let him cross planes in an instant, right?
He quickly found a flaw. After searching around, he couldn’t find the Black Tower’s Planar Legion. Thinking back on earlier events, he suspected he was trapped in an illusion.
But even after using the Eye of Truth to investigate, he found nothing.
After that, he began searching aimlessly. Half a month later, he finally discovered where the Azure Dragon slept. If this had been the real world, he wouldn’t have dared enter the Azure Dragon’s lair for anything—he’d heard from his teacher that the Azure Dragon hadn’t awakened in thousands of years. If it ever did, even the Black Tower would have to abandon the Azure Plane completely.
He’d always been curious—wasn’t it just a dragon waking up? Why would something as powerful as the Black Tower go so far? But his teacher soon gave him the answer.
The Azure Dragon was a being that surpassed Sky Rank...
Even back then, when he was just a low-level Archmage, he understood what it meant to surpass Sky Rank. Such beings possessed world-shattering power—rivaling the Primordial Deities themselves.
The Azure Dragon’s lair was a forbidden zone—no one dared enter.
Once he realized it was an illusion, Solan Monty immediately thought of the Azure Dragon—maybe that was the key to breaking out.
His guess was right.
The moment the Azure Dragon awoke, a destructive force erupted—enough to annihilate the world—swallowing him whole. The cycle repeated over and over, until by sheer luck, he managed to capture a breath of dragonfire. Only then did the illusion disappear, and he reappeared in the Mage Tower, meeting Leon.
He’d thought he’d broken out of the illusion quickly, but Leon Merlin was even faster. Seeing Leon after emerging left him a bit unsettled...
In truth, his hatred for Leon had reached the point of no return. The only reason he chose to cooperate was for two reasons. First, this place was genuinely dangerous—even as a fifth-level Title Archmage, he wasn’t confident about making it out alive. In such circumstances, setting aside his grudge and working with Leon was the best option.
Second, he secretly feared Leon’s strength. Back at Skyline Gorge, when he was just a second-level Title Archmage, Leon defeated him effortlessly—he’d nearly died. That was when he learned Leon possessed two powerful Essence Relics. Even after advancing to fifth-level Title Archmage, he still couldn’t gauge Leon’s true power. The battle with the Battlemage Golem was a chance to test Leon’s strength.
But to his surprise, Leon didn’t fight the Battlemage Golem head-on—instead, he dismantled its parts with a bizarre technique...
So, ever patient, he never made a move against Leon. He was waiting for the right moment.
After capturing that breath of dragonfire from the Azure Dragon and escaping the illusion, he knew this was his chance—a perfect opportunity to kill Leon Merlin once and for all...
The Azure Dragon was a being beyond Sky Rank. What he’d obtained was its dragonfire, released in its sleep. But even so, the power of that dragonfire was terrifying—no matter how strong he was as a fifth-level Title Archmage, if he took it head-on, he’d be seriously injured despite all his defenses.
But what if it was a sudden attack...?
If Leon Merlin was caught off guard, could he be instantly torn apart?