Chapter 1026: Storm
Actually, that was not strange at all. Each of the top forces had an extremely strong foundation and a few old fogies who were stuck at a bottleneck at the peak of the Legendary-realm. Most of them no longer meddled with the affairs of their families and forces, and were instead focusing all their attention on breaking through the bottleneck. They would either step into the Sanctuary-realm and obtain thousands of years of life or stay in seclusion and quietly turn into a pile of ashes.
Back when Lin Li was a guest at the Brilliance Shrine, he had heard of a forbidden place in the Brilliance Shrine that was specially for those who were in seclusion to break through to the Sanctuary-realm. Due to the fact that no one dared to disturb them, it was unknown if the people who were in seclusion in that one room were alive or dead. Some might only have their corpses discovered decades or even centuries after their deaths.
After all, only four magic tides had appeared in Anril so far, and not every Legendary powerhouse could get such an opportunity. Besides, not every Legendary powerhouse who was at the peak of the Legendary-realm could successfully break through with the magic tides.
This time, the ones who visited the Tower of Dusk were not those few Sanctuary powerhouses. One of the reasons was that they had to continue familiarizing themselves with their newfound power. After all, they had to rely on an external force to enter the Sanctuary-realm. Another reason was that they had to guard the headquarters lest it got attacked by the unknown force, which was made up of Legendary powerhouses, during their absence. Of course, to some people, there might be another inexplicable reason—they felt that they were Sanctuary powerhouses who were now equal to Lin Li. Hence, there was no need for them to visit Lin Li personally.
It didn’t take long for the Tower of Dusk to gather the representatives sent by the various forces, just like when the forces came flocking to the Tower of Dusk previously to repair their relationship with the Tower of Dusk. Besides, they could not see Lin Li, and had no choice but to pester Gavin and the other senior executives. They wanted to persuade Gavin to look at the bigger picture and get Lin Lit to come out of the library.
However, in Gavin’s opinion, Lin Li’s improvement in strength was far more important than the continuous attacks launched on the businesses of the Tower of Dusk. At most they would repeat what they did two years ago, and recall all the manpower to the Tower of Dusk. Once Lin Li came out of seclusion, they would be able to get everything they lost.
To the representatives of the various forces, waiting was an arduous chore, especially since they were continuously receiving news of a certain industry being attacked. That made their days feel like years. However, since Gavin and the others were not willing to get Lin Li to come out in advance, the others dared not act presumptuously, either. After all, offending a Sanctuary powerhouse was no laughing matter. They could only remain in a state of panic, yet no matter how anxious they might be, they had no choice but to wait patiently.
They waited for more than half a month, and were on the verge of vomiting blood. However, on this night, the guests of the Tower of Dusk felt a sudden and shocking magical wave when they were tossing and turning in bed, struggling to sleep. Under the magical wave, the Tower of Dusk seemed to be quaking a little too. The magical elements in the space suddenly surged countless times, forming a huge Elemental Storm outside the Tower of Dusk, which was howling angrily like a gale.
Immediately afterwards, they felt that they could no longer suppress the mana in their bodies—it was as if it had suddenly been summoned by the supreme, wanting to rush out from their own bodies. That gave them a great shock, and they did not have time to find out what was going on in the Tower of Dusk. They either fell onto the ground or lay on the bed to suppress the surging mana in their bodies.
That arduous feeling lasted for an entire night before gradually subsiding. The guests were also drenched in sweat, as if they had been pulled out of the water. However, at this moment, they could no longer be bothered to care about their appearance and demeanor. They were desperately trying to carry their weak selves out of the door with horror written all over their faces.
As soon as they came out of their respective rooms, they supported themselves against the wall and looked at each other with lingering fear. At this moment, Gavin had also come over with a few mages, and said to everyone, “The president has come out. Let me bring you over.”
Upon hearing Gavin’s words, everyone suddenly thought of the shocking changes that happened at night, and couldn’t help but be astonished. Did the president of the Tower of Dusk cause those changes last night!? That was a groundbreaking abnormality! How brutal and ferocious must his strength be to be able to cause such abnormal changes?
The Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family were not on good terms with the Tower of Dusk, but they had no choice but to be deferential because of the pressure of a Sanctuary powerhouse. Initially, the messengers that they sent thought that now that they had Sanctuary powerhouses, they would finally not have to obey the Tower of Dusk, but they no longer thought that way now.
They had had firsthand experience of the shocking changes that happened last night, which were thousands of times more intense than when the Sanctuary powerhouses of their forces broke through. They probably had no hope of turning the situation around by relying on the Sanctuary powerhouses.
Besides, they also noticed that the representatives of their forces had all become rather disheveled after the shocking changes that happened last night. Even till now, they still had yet to recover from the shock. However, the mages of the Tower of Dusk, be it Gavin who had stepped into the Legendary-realm or the other Archmages, were completely unaffected.
What did that mean? Although the representatives of the forces, especially those of top forces like the Mithril Alliance, were all at the Legendary-level, their mastery of mana was inferior to that of the Archmages of the Tower of Dusk. They did not think that they were the only ones who were affected by the movement yesterday. Clearly, the entire Tower of Dusk was in the range of influence. However, the Archmages of the Tower of Dusk did not seem to have been affected at all, unlike they who had ended up in such a mess. They couldn’t even walk steadily, and were wobbling and swaying incessantly.
Anyway, the president of the Tower of Dusk had finally come out, and thus the representatives from various forces also temporarily suppressed the shock that they had gotten from what had happened last night. Under Gavin’s lead, they headed to the conference hall of the Tower of Dusk. Of course, they secretly bore in mind the events of last night and their new understanding of the president of the Tower of Dusk, which they intended to report to their superiors about when they returned.
In the conference hall of the Tower of Dusk, Lin Li was already seated in the first seat with the Head Judge of the Tower of Dusk, Master Basel, on his left, and Macklin, who had had an arduous night, on his right. As Gavin went to invite the representatives of the various powers, Macklin complained to Lin Li about the lack of proper rest even though he was a guest.
“Master Macklin, have you stepped into the Sanctuary-realm this time too? Unfortunately, I haven’t had the time to congratulate you personally ever since I returned.” Lin Li had a casual chat with Macklin. Actually, he was not surprised that Macklin had entered the Sanctuary-realm.
“I might have entered the Sanctuary-realm, but that’s all because of an external force. Unlike you, I didn’t rely on my own abilities to enter the Sanctuary-realm.” Although Macklin was still far from the Sanctuary-realm, he had heard plenty of Aldwin’s complaints about not being a genuine mage in the Sanctuary-realm[1].
Lin Li smiled calmly, and said, “The Sanctuary-realm is still the Sanctuary-realm, after all. No matter what you relied on to get to the Sanctuary-realm, it’s better than having no hopes for the rest of your life.”
“That’s right, that’s what I said. We should not be too greedy. No matter what, I’ve already entered the Sanctuary-realm, and I now have a lifespan of more than 1,000 years. Who knows what kind of amazing chance I might get in this long lifetime?” Macklin did not become distant from Lin Li just because the latter had become a Sanctuary powerhouse. He was still as casual as he used to be.
Of course, deep down, Macklin was long since amazed and surprised by the fact that Lin Li could advance so quickly in a short period of time. Initially, he’d thought that Lin Li would stop progressing so rapidly after entering the Sanctuary-realm. After all, the Sanctuary-realm was different from the Legendary-realm, and advancing in the Sanctuary-realm by one level would take at least a few decades.
However, after the abnormal changes that happened yesterday, Macklin specially asked Lin Li about it, only to get an answer that would drive others mad. Lin Li advanced to level-27. He remembered that Lin Li only took a little over three years to enter the Sanctuary-realm. In another three years, he managed to advance from level-25 to level-27. Even Geresco couldn’t achieve such an incredible feat!
Indeed, the shocking changes that happened last night were triggered by Lin Li’s advancement to level-27. Initially, Lin Li was already at the peak of level-26 when he arrived, and especially after the training that Geresco’s incarnation had put him through, he was only a step away from level-27.
During this period of time, Lin Li had been in seclusion in the library, and he once again received the strict guidance of Geresco’s incarnation. If he still could not break through, it would probably be because Geresco was blind.
In fact, Lin Li had almost broken through to level-27 at the beginning of his seclusion in the library. He had just had an exchange of blows with Geresco’s incarnation, but he already felt that he was not good enough. Thus, he suppressed his level. After he had perfected his abilities at level-26, he finally broke through to level-27 last night. That was also the reason for the ruckus that he kicked up when he broke through level-27.
Lin Li and Macklin chatted for a while more, and Gavin also brought the representatives of a few forces to the conference hall. After everything that happened last night, the representatives of the various forces began to look at Lin Li with fear and respect.
Although the people who came to the Tower of Dusk this time were there for their own forces, everything actually revolved around one issue, and that was how they should deal with the Gilded Kingdom. At this moment, the representatives of those forces finally knew that the unknown force they were talking about was the Gilded Kingdom from the archipelago on the sea.
At this moment, Macklin revealed his purpose for visiting Lin Li, and that was to seek his help after the attack on the port of the Felan Kingdom. However, although it was also about dealing with the Gilded Kingdom, Macklin’s request was somewhat conflicting with the request of the representatives of these forces of the Breezy Plains. Those forces naturally hoped that Lin Li could take charge of the Breezy Plains and do justice for all the forces that had been attacked, but Macklin wanted to invite Lin Li to the Felan Kingdom because the port that had been attacked was on the southeastern coast of the Felan Kingdom, which was tens of thousands of kilometers away from the Breezy Plains.
Hence, before Lin Li even said anything, Macklin had already gotten into a heated argument with the representatives of the forces of the Breezy Plains. Although Macklin was a senior executive of the Alanna Guild of Magic, the forces of the Breezy Plains would not succumb to the Alanna Guild of Magic.
“Okay, it’s just a small issue. All of you are figures of status. How embarrassing it is to get into such a heated argument,” Lin Li interjected to stop them. Seeing that Macklin could not outargue so many of them, Lin Li naturally wouldn’t let him be berated.
Although Lin Li’s voice was soft and his tone was calm, his words made the commotion cease immediately as everyone in the conference hall fell silent. Everyone knew that it was time for Lin Li to decide if he wanted to save the pride of the Felan Kingdom first or solve the problems of the Breezy Plains first. They would get the answer in a moment.
However, when the crowd quieted down, Lin Li remained silent and stood up. While everyone was confused, Lin Li waved his hand casually to open up a spatial rift in the air before walking into it.
The southern part of the Breezy Plains bordered the sea, which was blue and clear like the sky. A fortress-like giant battleship was lying motionless on the surface of the sea like a gigantic beast. On the deck of the giant battleship, several elegant and poised nobles were seated by a table, tasting some fine wine while enjoying the scenery around the battleship.
However, at this moment, a spatial rift appeared out of nowhere less than a meter away from the deck, after which a figure slowly walked out of it.
“Who’s that!?” The few of them who were leisurely enjoying the pleasures of life immediately stood up when they saw Lin Li appearing on the deck. They looked at him warily.
However, Lin Li simply ignored their question, as if he did not hear them at all. He simply sized up the giant battleship, and confidently said, “Nice ship. I’ll take it.”
“This kid is courting death!” Upon hearing his words, the few of them who had been disregarded immediately flew into a rage. They drew their swords, while blue battle light emerged from their bodies.
[1] I don’t know. I’m pretty sure Macklin was already in Legendary-realm before this. Maybe Aldwin dissed Macklin for being a noob? Otherwise, just the author thing I guess.