Chapter 640: The City Of Miracles
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Lin Li and his Undead servants strolled along the empty streets, marveling at the massive size of the Sky Castle while following the map’s instructions. If it were not for the in-depth study that he had conducted on Sky Castle, it would’ve been impossible to imagine how hefty the construction costs of the Sky Castle were. Even the High Elves who had dominated the world of Anril had had to give up everything they had to build the seventh Sky Castle. At that time, the High Elves had power over the entire land of Anril.
The prices of the precious building materials were beyond calculating, for the remains of the Dragon of Destruction were simply priceless. When Lin Li had obtained the map, he shockingly discovered that the huge Conquering Mageweath formed by the streets and the 36 tall towers surrounding them could kill at least hundreds of wyrms. Clearly, the construction cost of the Sky Castle was beyond imaginable.
However, there were countless legends about the Sky Castles going around Anril, though few people knew what the source of the power of the castle was. What was it that could support such a huge castle and travel through the chaos of time and space? Even Apophis and others who had experienced the war in person were unsure.
In the 1300 years after the dark age, there had been plenty of legends about Sky Castles. Of course, there were also many speculations about that source of power. Some guessed that it was the magical crystal of an ancient wyrm, while others guessed that it was a manipulation of the ancient deities. There were even some who guessed that the High Elves had captured the Pantheon and plundered countless Titan Spirits…
In short, there had been many speculations, but Lin Li knew that there was none that could really come close to the truth. Perhaps Geresco was the only human being who knew the truth about the Sky Castle. In the year of the war, Geresco had once personally ascended to the Sky Castle and killed the queen of the High Elves under the world tree.
Okay, Lin Li who had read the Book of Eternity could be considered another one, to a minimal extent…
However, no matter how much information Lin Li had acquired and how profound his understanding of the Sky Castle was, he still could not contain his shock now that he was in this magnificent city of miracles.
This was the nightmare of all the races that had been dominated during the Dark Age. Known as the Sky Castles that would never fall, they had helped the High Elves suppress plenty of rebellions and caused lots of heroes of all races to end with hatred.
Although the Sky Castles that were known as ones that would never fall had been destroyed in the war of rebellion led by Geresco, the God of Mages, the reputation of the Sky Castles was not damaged. On the contrary, after that war, people got to know more about the power of the Sky Castles and how hefty the price of rebelling against it would be.
If it weren’t for Geresco, who’d happened to have a major increase in power after breaking through to the next realm, and the dwarves who had created the now-long-lost Skybreaker, the war that had engulfed the entire Anril would have been tragic and horrendous. The rebelling forces would’ve then faced the attacks by the High Elves again, with rivers of blood flowing among rebels.
However, people could not help but yearn for the legend of the Sky Castles despite fearing and detesting them. Even Geresco, who’d once destroyed a Sky Castle, regarded the Sky Castles highly in the Book of Eternity.
Lin Li’s footsteps were very slow. He was constantly scanning across the street, his eyes full of awe for the great city of miracles. He had never experienced the war at the end of the Dark Age, nor witnessed the formidable power of Sky Castles, but he could tell what a Sky Castle would look like when it showed its prowess.
The construction of the Sky Castle did not comprise of just stacking precious materials. The various techniques used during the construction were amazing even for Lin Li, the freak with Master-level accomplishments in all crafts. The wisdom of the High Elves was perfectly displayed in this city, be it the mageweaths or the Alchemy Arrays or even the remote magic gears. All of those items could be considered the most representative pinnacle of work of the High Elves, be it in the Dark Age more than 1,300 years ago or in the present.
It could be said that although the war in the Dark Age had brought about long-awaited freedom to humans and other races, it’d also caused many skills to suffer setbacks. It had been long since a Guru appeared amongst humans. Even the Pharmacists Guild which had an extraordinary position in Anril only relied on a few Masters to survive. The Master of Inscription, Master Moke who had been sent by the Supreme Council to draw the mageweath for the Tower of Dusk in the past, held a high status in the Supreme Council even though he was just a Master.
However, there was an absolute gap between the Masters of the Dark Age and the current ones. Could one really be considered a Master just because he could formulate a Master-level potion and draw a Master-level mageweath? In addition to that, there were also plenty of skills that had even completely disappeared. The apprentices learning those skills were hard to find, what more the masters.
Although they had been walking slowly along the empty streets, Lin Li and others were still far from their destination—the skyscraper that was located in the center of the Sky Castle. Although the two Undead servants were puzzled, they followed closely, fulfilling their duties as servants.
Someone who hadn’t done a lot of research on mageweaths would definitely laugh out loud and mock the High Elves for having a terrible design of the Sky Castle, for it seemed absurd for one to make a huge detour to get to a place that was obviously not that far. Was it necessary to make the city seem like a labyrinth? Could it really stop the intruders? However, Lin Li clearly knew that the design of the Sky Castle was one of the important reasons why it was considered a sky city that never fell.
Back when Lin Li had got the blueprint of the Sky Castle, he vaguely made a terrible guess after analyzing the design of the streets. However, now that he was in the place itself, he deduced that his guess was right, for the evidence further confirmed his guess that these zigzagging streets and the towers scattered around him constituted a huge Conquering Mageweath. Even though this mageweath might not have been activated for more than 1,300 years, the solid and powerful aura still filled the streets and alleys, making it seem intimidating.
In Anril, there was probably no one who knew the horror of the Conquering Mageweath better than Lin Li. Even amongst Master-level mageweaths, the Conquering Mageweath stood out the most. In Anril today, the Conquering Mageweath might not be necessarily recognized by anyone, though.
Even though Lin Li had also mastered the art of drawing mageweaths, he had never dared to think of drawing such a huge Conquering Mageweath in a city. The required materials alone included the blood of hundreds of wyrms.
Indeed, only a lunatic could design such a marvelous city, but he would definitely be a genius with a lot of imagination. When a Conquering Mageweath was enlarged by many times, it meant that all residents in the entire city could be integrated at any time and possess godly powers. If all the Sky Castles in the world were designed in such an impressive manner, it would be impossible to imagine how Geresco and the rest managed to destroy those Sky Castles back then.
Lin Li had once been amazed by the Eternal Furnace designed by Osric and shocked by the Throne of Darkness created by the Dragon of Destruction. After Connoris proposed to fuse the Throne of Darkness and the Eternal Furnace, he once thought that his mighty power might not be inferior to the Sky Castle, though it might not exactly be equal. However, now that he was truly standing in a Sky Castle, he realized how childish and ridiculous his previous mindset was.
Although the High Elves had already disappeared from the Sky Castle now, Lin Li could totally imagine how majestic of a view it would be when someone invaded the Sky Castle and they activated the Conquering Mageweath, allowing the ordinary High Elves to suddenly possess power greater than the deities.
However, while Lin Li was marveling over the power of the Sky Castle, he also gained a new understanding of Geresco’s abilities. The title of the God of Mages was not just given to Geresco out of the mages’ respect for his contribution to development of magic. Although he was not alone, he definitely was godly.
Be it the Conquering Mageweath which had infinite power or the deadly designs on both sides of the buildings, Lin Li had seen more than just those. He had every reason to believe that there must have been more deadly traps where he couldn’t see them. Therefore, he still walked down the street even though he could already fly past those buildings as a Legendary-mage.
Despite having taken a lot of detours, Lin Li finally arrived at the center of the Sky Castle. In the middle of the spacious square lay the control hub of the entire Sky Castle. Compared to the tower in the middle of the Sky Castle, the Tower of Dusk was just like a toy. Even the materials used to build the Tower of Dusk that Lin Li was rather proud of seemed to be incomparable despite being gold and adobe.