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Darlie
He had to say, with his bloodline strengthened his charm had also achieved a new peak. The current him could even charm ghosts and humans of any age. Even Darlie’s face flushed and she lowered her head.
At this sight, Leylin couldn’t help but feel a little good about himself. He smiled at Darlie.
Unfortunately, the action misled the female Magi in front of him, “Oh my god! He smiled at me!” “No! It was me!” Frustration coloured their faces as they fought over it.
“It’s so good to be young!” Leylin shook his head, sauntering out of the airship after it came to a halt.
“Sir over there must be a Magus with a rich history.” Darlie watched as Leylin walked away, curiosity burning in her eyes.
She was someone with pretty good aptitude and could be considered a talented person. On top of that, she was hardworking and had advanced to rank 1 at a young age. She’d even started on her elemental conversion already!
Despite this, her past few attempts at probing Leylin failed, and she realised that Leylin was not any ordinary Magus.
Sadly, her other companions did not seem to notice this; she sighed as she looked at her starry-eyed friends.
‘Teljose City still looks the same as it did…’ Standing in front of the city wall, this large city built around a volcano seemed to have remained the same. The only difference was the aging of the walls.
Leylin couldn’t help but think of the first time he’d come here. That poor Magus, Jenna, and her meditation technique of Sacred Flame.
He managed to enter the city quite smoothly when he revealed his power as a Magus. The place was as bustling as it used to be, and had been separated into different strata. As his soul force probed through the city, he managed to find his old villa. However, it was now decked out with a whole new set of spell formations, set up by the Magus currently residing there.
Leylin shook his head and dismissed all thoughts of probing further, instead moving towards a tavern. He’d gotten a general idea of the current situation, but there was still some information he needed to probe further into; this was especially true of the issues surrounding the Primordial Spirit Slaying Sect.
Furthermore, since he was already here, Alric and the other Magi wouldn’t be able to escape him. He could wait at ease.
“Descendants of my blood, heed my command. Head here!” Leylin’s eyes turned crimson as his terrifying soul force spread out. His power, however, couldn’t be detected by anyone. Soul force was far too advanced to be detected by anyone in this city.
Still, it was a bad omen for the Magi who’d been picked by him. A fountain pen broke apart in Alric’s hand as he stood up clutching his chest. “What… is this? What’s going on?”
Magi usually had accurate premonitions. As a rank 3, Alric’s intuition had saved him from umpteen dangerous situations.
That same sense of danger hit him again, and this time it was ten times as strong as the previous times. How could he stay calm with that?
“Someone get in here!” He shouted.
A handful of old Magi arrived in order, standing outside the door, “What may I do for you, my Lord?”
“What has the Primordial Spirit Slaying Sect been up to lately? I need to know everything about them, and I mean everything!” Alric looked gloomy.
“Yes sir!” the Magi echoed, looking at Alric as if he were their God.
A rank 3 Magus was the top of the pack in the south coast. After the third Magus War, the status of rank 3 Magi had even increased by a huge amount given how many had perished in it. Alric himself actually oversaw the entirety of Teljose City, and was one of the best light Magi.
Naturally, his orders spread out like wildfire. It took no time at all for everything about the Primordial Spirit Slaying Sect to cover his desk.
“That’s all?” he asked, flipping through indifferently.
“Whatever we could find is in here, my Lord. The recent batch of sect members who came here seem to be hunting someone down instead of collecting souls.”
“Mm, I saw the report. For a rank 2 Magus to be leading the team, it seems like those they’re after are a force to be reckoned with…” Alric sat back down once again, and rubbed his forehead. Bothered by the look of hesitation on the aged Magus’ face, he asked, “Is there anything else you’re hiding from me?”
“I wouldn’t dare, my Lord!” Now intimidated, the Magus immediately knelt before him and sought forgiveness, “It’s just that there are a few rumours related to the Magi we caught. However, we wouldn’t dare come to any sort of conclusion before verifying them…”
“Speak!” Alric’s face grew gloomy.
“Of course,” The old Magus shot Alric a look, and started breaking out in a cold sweat, “The rumours state that the Magus who’s being hunted down by the sect members is a member of Leylin Farlier’s family.”
All the Magi present tensed their bodies the moment the name was mentioned. That name was an absolute taboo to Alric. His only son had died at Leylin’s hands!
When he’d chased after him, he’d instead been used by Leylin who escaped with a teleportation spell formation. Furthermore, he barely escaped the rank 2 Magus’ trap, something that had caused him immense humiliation.
*Boom!* A terrifying energy ripple spread out, and all the objects in the room began to shake.
“A surviving member of Farlier’s family?” Alric’s voice held a tinge of bitterness. In his hatred towards Leylin, Alric had once disregarded the unspoken rules of the south coast and brazenly sent troops to exterminate Leylin’s family clan. During that operation, the entire Farlier Family seemed to have been uprooted. Only a few specific bloodlines seemed to have received the protection of some mysterious characters.
“My– My Lord, I can’t be too sure of this as well, but the only thing I know is that they have already infiltrated our city,” the old man stuttered out. Despite being a Magus himself, he was only rank 1 while Alric was rank 3, the peak of the south coast’s Magi. The disparity between them was simply too huge.
“Go look for them now!” Alric commanded, and all the Magi rushed out of the room while cursing at their target.
“Leylin…” Alric’s gritting teeth echoed throughout the room after all the Magi had left.
……
“Please come back, my Lord.” An elderly man accompanied Leylin to the entrance of his shop, maintaining a half-bow until Leylin’s back disappeared from his sight.
He ran a store that specialised in the sale of information and data. He’d met hardly any customers who were as straightforward as Leylin was in his store. Moreover, the energy coming from Leylin’s body had stifled him slightly.
‘Things seem to be the same but the people have indeed changed!’ Leylin sighed in thought as he wandered the streets.
The information he’d acquired on the airship only formed part of the picture, barely scraping the surface. After they touched down in the city, he obtained a lot more detailed information through the information broker he’d found from the tavern.
First was the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy. Leylin’s alma mater still seemed the same as it was before, the only difference was the Dean of the academy had changed. Siley was nowhere to be found, but other than that there were no anomalies.
And even though the Four Seasons Garden greatly suffered after their encounter with Leylin, they’d slowly recovered due to their strong foundation.
Other than stronger groups like the Four Seasons Garden, many names which Leylin was once familiar with had all vanished into the annals of history.
Leylin had even gone to the extent of intentionally revealing the names of his past friends like George and company, but that got him nothing. After all, when Leylin left he was only an acolyte, it was impossible to leave footprints. Or maybe the events in the Eternal River pocket dimension had discouraged all of them so greatly that they chose to hide themselves from the world.
On the other hand, it was Leylin himself who caused trouble between the dark and light Magi. Even now, his work was being described in detail and with much cursing.
Furthermore, many Magi and even the Primordial Spirit Slaying Sect had put a bounty on Leylin’s head. Learning that it hadn’t been taken down till date, he was left speechless.
“Sir, I really am capable. I know some things about alchemy and potioneering, and I know how to…” A female Magus was dragged violently out of a store, the owner a Magus as well. Many of the onlookers took a step back, not interfering. The owner himself was actually a semi-converted Magus, a faint halo of elemental particles surrounded him.
“Sir! My Lord! Please give me a chance, I really need this job—” The female Magus grabbed onto the hem of her skirt, pleading with urgency and yearning. Still, she was rejected mercilessly.
“Don’t make me repeat the same thing twice!” A tremendous amount of power started to bleed from the owner’s body and Darlie started moving back uncontrollably.
A powerful supporting force surfaced suddenly and helped Darlie to her feet. “Thank you! Oh? Aren’t you the Mister from…”
“Count yourself lucky!” The store owner had obvious reservations about Leylin and stomped back into his shop while shaking his head.
“Are you alright?” Leylin looked at Darlie, thinking this situation was a little ridiculous. Judging from Darlie’s current state, she was evidently in a poor predicament. “Want to go for a drink?”