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Invitation From The Central Region
The war had ended. Leylin, who had returned from the battlefield, was now leisurely drinking some coffee.
With a thought, he accepted the scenes that the A.I. Chip transmitted to him.
“Baelin truly is Twilight Zone’s child of destiny, but Longbottom is really surprising me…” Leylin stroked his chin, watching Longbottom who was currently spouting resentment.
“Using a revolution to cobble together an army, gathering wandering Magi who are unsatisfied with the rule of the guilds, and passing high-grade meditation techniques to common acolytes? Ingenious!” Even he had to appreciate Longbottom’s methods.
The Magus World had never been a fair place, but the immense strength of Magi had meant that nobody could overthrow them.
To cause trouble in the Magus World, it was necessary to incite disharmony within their ranks. It looked like Longbottom was doing well. He was even bringing about a revolution!
“Perhaps this happened in the south coast’s past as well, causing the power of guilds to wane and letting academies take their place…” Leylin made a sudden association.
However, the first of the revolutionaries would not be able to find peace, as the conservative factions would attack them, giving them a horrible death.
This was why Leylin had no intention of introducing the system of academies to Twilight Zone and had instead kept a low profile and assimilated into their culture.
“It looks like Baelin and Longbottom are like two sides of a coin. Both are the children of destiny for this era! However, one is a hero, while the other is a rebel.” Leylin picked up the cup of coffee on the table and took a sip.
Sometimes, rebels were merely heroes who failed in their conquests! If Longbottom’s revolutionary efforts succeeded, then he would be immortalised as a model in the Magus World, extensively praised and recorded down in Magus history.
If, instead, Longbottom was bested by Baelin, he would go down in the books as a rebel; a traitor who had betrayed mankind, forever shamed by history.
“The final decisive battle will definitely be between these two! Before that, the force of destiny will quickly increase their power, even if it might not be beneficial to them in the long run.”
Leylin was very clear about the path a child of destiny could take.
While they were making their mark on the world, they could obtain an inheritance just by wandering around. By going into a random danger zone, there could be a grandpa giving out techniques, allowing them to advance quickly, and thereby causing many geniuses to be so ashamed of themselves that they committed suicide!
“Longbottom seems to have gained a bloodline, and Baelin is even better off. Not only has he even found the path to becoming a Bio Booster, which suits him best, he has even subdued the Underground Winter Spider Emperor, which is a creature with a might similar to a rank 2 Magus!”
Leylin, who had seen much in the world, could naturally judge their general strength through these scenes. The unexpected luck they had caused even Leylin to envy them.
At the same time, he had been frightened slightly. “If I had continued with him, wouldn’t I have been played by destiny and become the grandpa handing out techniques?”
Leylin looked grim. Baelin had actually gotten some benefits from him. Although he had been affected by his emotional instability as a warlock, one could not deny the hand of destiny in this matter.
After all, destiny was not created out of anywhere. It needed a form of catalyst, which would infinitely increase the probability of it appearing.
For instance, Leylin could have chosen to craft potions instead of taking in a disciple to while time away, but he had instead chosen to teach Baelin the ways of knights.
Out of everyone in Potter Town, he had settled on Baelin. How much probability and luck was involved?
“Since you want to play, let’s have a good time!” Leylin raised his cup and sent a challenge out to the skies.
[Beep! Based on scans by the limited AI, slight instability has been detected in target Aaron. The target seems to be in the early stages of mental breakdown. Immediate adoption of countermeasures suggested.]
At this moment, the A.I. Chip prompted, and an image of Aaron going crazy was projected in front of Leylin’s eyes.
“Looks like things are getting quite troublesome! Although the effects when training as an acolyte were removed in this new version of Scarlet Flame, the effects don’t seem sustainable for those who advance to become Magi.”
Leylin’s expression darkened. This was why he had not trained in Sacred Flame. Not only did he already have Kemoyin’s Pupil, he feared the side-effects brought about by training in the technique.
The spirit had far too many secrets. Even with the unworldly calculative ability of the A.I. Chip, it was still not able to analyse the mysteries of the spirit.
“A.I. Chip! Gather stats from Aaron’s current condition, and modify Sacred Flame again. Also, check on the other guinea pigs!” Leylin commanded.
Immediately after, the images of two other people were projected before Leylin.
He had not limited himself to forging the ring. His counterfeit grandpas had been passed on in secret during these past ten years, disguised by various methods as a ‘coincidence’ each time.
The A.I. Chip’s scenes showed him a young female acolyte and a strong man who also trained in Sacred Flame, cold sweat rolling down their faces.
“The power of destiny!”
All of a sudden, the two of them opened their eyes and looked at the central region.
“Everything starts and end at the same place! There’s them as well…”
The two of them made the same prediction, fear flashing on their faces.
Through the interception of this information, Leylin naturally knew what they were afraid of.
“Hehe… have they sensed the others training in the technique? It seems Sacred Flame still can’t be practiced by more than one person.”
The high-grade meditation technique, Sacred Flame, had come from the Botelli Family. Traditionally, only one person in a generation could successfully train in this meditation technique, while the rest would suffer a mental breakdown and die.
However, with modifications from the A.I. Chip, as well as Leylin’s lack of concern, this meditation technique had been passed down to many acolytes, and they had all risen to become official Magi through Sacred Flame!
[Due to the unusual nature of this meditation technique, they will need to kill each other to determine a victor. Only then will Sacred Flame be complete.]
Leylin smirked at the A.I. Chip’s newest conclusion.
“This Sacred Flame really is a fraud!”
His thoughts were now very clear. He would definitely not train in such a bizarre meditation technique.
How to take advantage of their prophetic powers and set up the situation was worth looking into, as well as the question of who would win the fight.
Leylin touched his chin, deep in thought.
……
Five days later, an unexpected guest paid a visit to Leylin’s villa.
*Clang!* Four giant metallic legs charged straight through and finally stopped by Leylin’s garden, setting off a cloud of dust and creating a ruckus behind them.
“My apologies, Magus Leylin! This large guy hasn’t been easy to control. It might be because it’s in its mating season…” Logan jumped off the back of his metallic lifeform, looking apologetic.
“No worries Magus Logan,” Leylin smiled. Shaking his head to show he did not mind, he gestured to invite the Magus in, continuing, “Please come in. I’ve collected some items which may interest you.”
A bit later, Celine who’d rushed over for some business saw the protector of the east, Logan, sitting on a chair and singing praises of the giant grilled fish on the long table.
“What type of fish is this? I’ve never seen it before.”
“It’s a hybrid of the Mamhar Fish and the Barracuda. I bred it myself!” Leylin laughed.
This creature was an accidental product of a bloodline experiment. Unexpectedly, it had ended up tasting quite good, which prompted Leylin to serve it to guests.
As the flesh of this fish was extremely delicious, and also had the function of strengthening the body of a rank 2 Magus, it was very popular.
After finding this out, Leylin immediately ordered Celine to open up a massive aquafarm, preparing to breed this type of fish at a large scale. It would be another addition to his profits.
While learning under the light Magi of the south coast, Leylin had taken care of numerous secret planes and had learned that something like that had a lot of significance and value.
As a bonus. Celine had been extremely agreeable to him recently at night, her eyes so bright it seemed like she could blink out liquid.
Leylin’s conjecture was that she had thought he had been diligently managing the guild, which touched her.
Leylin had merely laughed off her misunderstanding, not bothering to explain and instead enjoying his luck with her.
After enjoying the fine liquor and good food together, Leylin finally cut to the chase. “I wonder what I can do for Protector Logan, that you’ve come all the way here?”
“I came here today because I have a presumptuous request of you.” Logan looked serious, and slightly embarrassed.
“What is it?” Leylin seemed calm, while Celine who was beside him grasped his fingers.
“On behalf of the central region’s guilds’ alliance, I invite Nature’s Alliance to move to the central region! We have prepared the resources afforded to a large-scale guild for you, and there is a seat for Nature’s Alliance waiting amongst our ranks. In other words, once you go there, Nature’s Alliance will become a large-scale guild!”
Logan went straight to the point, saying everything in one breath.
The moment the words left his mouth, Leylin could feel Celine’s breath becoming more hurried.
Large-scale guild! That was the ultimate dream of all guilds in Twilight Zone! As the heart of Twilight Zone, the central region was also where the population was the densest, and represented the essence of the subterranean humans.
Most guilds could only wish to expand there.
Celine had always been striving for Nature’s Alliance to rise through the ranks, and she did not seem to find this situation to be strange as all. Meanwhile, Leylin was thinking of something else.
“Has the situation in the central region become that bad?” He suddenly asked.
“Hm?” Logan’s expression froze.
Moments later, he laughed wryly.