Chapter 1090: Passage
When Lin Li was inaugurated as the president of the Guild of Magic, the arbitrator Apophis had once sent him a congratulatory gift, which was a sketch for the creation of the Sky-breaker. The method of creation of the Sky-breaker had been lost in the Dwarf Kingdom for thousands of years, and Lin Li believed that the sketch would definitely entice the Dwarf Kingdom.
Of course, Lin Li would not be foolish enough to send the sketch to the dwarves. Instead, he only copied half of the sketches, and got Gavin to arrange for someone to send it to the Dwarf King Odin. He believed that with Odin’s eyesight, he would definitely be able to distinguish the authenticity of the sketch. Before Lin Li said anything, the Dwarf Kingdom would definitely come begging the Tower of Dusk to create the Sky-breaker.
Apart from the Magical Crystal Cannons and the Sky-breaker, Lin Li also decided to exploit the Gilded Kingdom. During the battle on Cage Island, the dragon corpse had attacked the Gilded Kingdom and put them in a miserable state, but Lin Li witnessed how powerful the cannons of their battleships were. After all, the Gilded Kingdom was a maritime force that had a heritage of thousands of years, and could dominate the Endless Ocean that was full of danger and crises, so how could they not have any good technology?
However, it was not an easy thing to get the Gilded Kingdom’s battleship cannons. After all, the Tower of Dusk and the Gilded Kingdom obviously had a hostile relationship. The people of the Gilded Kingdom were no fools, so how could they allow their enemies to be equipped with their strongest weapons?
When Cantory of the Gilded Kingdom asked for help from the Tower of Dusk and the various forces of the Breezy Plains, he had promised them a large number of conditions. Although the Tower of Dusk and the Gilded Kingdom did not have a good relationship, the Gilded Kingdom dared not go back on their word as long as they didn’t fall out completely. The key point was the negotiation.
Hence, for the sake of the Gilded Kingdom’s battleship cannons, the Tower of Dusk nevertheless sent out a team of talented negotiators to discuss with the Gilded Kingdom the purchase of the battleship cannons. He believed that with the wits of the sly old man Gerian, it would only be a matter of time before he brought the Gilded Kingdom’s cannons back.
After sending Gerian and the team of negotiators away, Lin Li didn’t delay for a moment. He immediately started his other plan, and that was to transplant the Tree of Eternity.
Lin Li had obtained the first Seed of Eternity in the Central Tower of the Sky Castle, but it had already been dead when he obtained it. Later on, he’d only managed to revive the seed with the power of a section of the branch of the Tree of Eternity. After that, Lin Li had planted the Seed of Eternity at the back of the Tower of Dusk, and now it had grown into a small sapling.
However, what Lin Li hadn’t expected was that he would actually obtain another Seed of Eternity—which had undergone a drastic change—when he explored the Sky Castle for the second time. That reminded him of a legend from the Endless World which stated that the High Elves were born under the Tree of Eternity, bringing about an unprecedented and prosperous dynasty which ruled the world.
Therefore, Lin Li developed an idea at that time to plant both Trees of Eternity and observe the development that the Tower of Dusk would undergo under the power of the two trees.
However, with the current situation on the mainland, it was clearly not too safe to keep the Tree of Eternity planted in the Tower of Dusk. After all, Lin Li could not stay there for long. Besides, he had to resort to some means to increase the attack power of the Sky Castle. Hence, Lin Li thought of planting two Trees of Eternity in the Sky Castle.
If there were two Trees of Eternity on the Sky Castle, they would still be a good offensive method for the Tower of Dusk even if the saplings were still worlds apart from mature trees. Under the power of the Tree of Eternity, the mageweaths and Alchemy Arrays of the Sky Castle would undergo qualitative changes. Even the mageweaths that originally had ordinary power would be able to increase their power by tenfold.
In particular, the 36 Magic Towers had originally been the most powerful magical weapons on the Sky Castle, but due to the lack of mana provided by the power source, their power could not be fully exerted. Now, Lin Li had an additional power source for the Sky Castle and adjusted the power system, allowing the Magic Tower to obtain sufficient mana.
At the same time, under the influence of the power of eternity, the power released from the offensive spells would also change qualitatively, just like how the power of the magic spells cast by Legendary-mages and Sanctuary Masters would be worlds apart.
The two Trees of Eternity could not only make the Magic Tower obtain more mana, they could also reduce the consumption of mana, and allow the recovery speed of the power source to increase. The effects might not be obvious in the short term, but it was undoubtedly beneficial to the Sky Castle.
Of course, in addition to the many benefits to the Sky Castle, the existence of the two Trees of Eternity would also be an advantage to the mages who studied and lived in the Sky Castle. Although it was said that the growth of the two Trees of Eternity would not happen overnight, the essence of that eternal power was still the same. When enveloped by the power of the Tree of Eternity, the Sky Castle will become a huge Meditation Land, and every mage would definitely obtain unimaginable benefits.
Hence, after the transformation of the power system, Lin Li immediately proceeded to transplant the Tree of Eternity. As a Sanctuary powerhouse, that posed no difficulty to Lin Li at all. He just had to incorporate the sapling of the Tree of Eternity into his Domain World, and then transplant it to the Sky Castle.
However, when planting another Seed of Eternity, Lin Li happened to encounter a small problem. That Seed of Eternity had undergone a life and death situation. Although it had massive vitality, its power still contained a vague tinge of Undead aura that was not added by external forces, but was formed by the tree itself. Lin Li could not remove it all even with Holy Light.
At last, Lin Li finally thought of a solution when planting the Seeds of Eternity, and that was to use a mageweath to single out the Undead power, and send it to the Psychic Array. Although the Psychic Array was no longer as powerful as before, it was after all created by Highlord Osric, which was not something that ordinary Magic Arrays could compare to. Besides, the Undead power of the Tree of Eternity might not be massive, but it was extremely pure, and could allow the Psychic Array to exert a fairly high power.
After placing the two Trees of Eternity in the Sky Castle, Lin Li was finally able to catch his breath. At this point, the Sky Castle had not been completely modified and transformed into the Sky Garden’s counterpart yet, but there were already drastic changes in its combat power.
Although the restoration of the Sky Castle had yet to be completed at this point, there was no need for Lin Li to intervene too much, as everything was proceeding in an orderly manner according to the plan he had formulated. However, Lin Li did not slack off, as he knew very well that he simply did not have time to waste given the current changes in Anril.
After handing over all the work, Lin Li once again went to the inverted tower under Sky Castle, and entered Geresco’s Meditation Land. However, Lin Li did not come alone this time. Instead, he brought along Connoris together with his two Undead servants, Ujfalusi and Norfeller.
Although Connoris, Ujfalusi, and Norfeller hadn’t stepped into the Sanctuary-realm, they were currently Lin Li’s best assistants. The reason that Lin Li brought the three of them to the Meditation Land was not that he wanted to go there to accumulate mana, but to fully explore the Meditation Land.
In the Meditation Land created by Geresco, there were numerous Sanctuary-level prehistoric magical beasts. Although Lin Li wasn’t afraid of them, he also didn’t want them to affect his exploration.
Moreover, in that battle on Cage Island, Lin Li could also tell that Connoris and his two Undead servants had all reached a bottleneck. If they could never break through it, the help they could provide Lin Li with in the future would become smaller.
After all, the enemies that Lin Li would face in the future were all Sanctuary powerhouses, and there might even be enemies that were as strong as the dragon corpse. Therefore, while improving his own strength, Lin Li also had to improve the quality of assistance that he would be receiving. Besides, Connoris and the Undead servants had already reached the peak of the Legendary-level, and were only a step away from stepping into the Sanctuary-realm. They were undoubtedly the best candidates to help advance.
As soon as they stepped into the Meditation Land, Connoris and the two Undead servants were stunned by the infinite power of the Sanctuary-realm. Although ordinary Sanctuary Masters would not be able to beat them in combat power, the Sanctuary-realm aura here was too excessive.
“Is this the Meditation Land of Geresco?” Connoris had always claimed to be knowledgeable, but at this juncture, his tone was apprehensive. He lowered his voice and complained softly as if he was afraid of attracting the attention of those Sanctuary-level magical beasts. “What is Geresco doing? Why did he raise so many Sanctuary-level magical beasts in the Meditation Land?”
Faint sounds of bones knocking against each other were coming from Ujfalusi’s body, and the soul fire in his eye sockets was flickering like it was getting blown by the wind. Upon hearing Connoris’ complaints, he couldn’t help but say in a hoarse and shaky voice, “Respected Master, were these Sanctuary-level magical beasts left behind to you by Geresco?”
Norfeller was the only one who had an icy cold expression, and he was standing silently behind Lin Li. However, he was already clenching the hilt of his sword tightly in his hand; he was actually just as nervous. After all, although he was only a step away from the Sanctuary-realm, he was still at the Legendary-realm. The suppression of the Sanctuary-realm power was still effective on him.
“Yes, this is Geresco’s Meditation Land, and these Sanctuary-level magical beasts are indeed what he has left behind. However, we still have to rely on our own power to get what we want.” Lin Li shook his head slightly. He hadn’t been able to understand why Geresco had raised that many prehistoric magical beasts there. Could it be that Geresco was an animal rights activist?
“Oh, I see.” There was some regret in Connoris’ tone, and he obviously found it a shame that the numerous Sanctuary-level magical beasts could not become Lin Li’s assistants. If they could listen to a single person’s gesture, the army they formed would probably be able to dominate Anril.
“Okay, let’s not dwell on this any longer. I brought you here this time mainly to explore this space. This Meditation Land is definitely not the top of the tower, so I suspect that there might be a passage that leads to a higher level here.” Lin Li began to tell Connoris and the others of his suspicions.
Just like Lin Li said, there was an infinite number of books on the first floor of the inverted tower, while the second floor was the Barbarous Arena. The Meditation Land was only the third floor, so what did Geresco leave behind at the higher levels? That was what Lin Li really wanted to know.
However, this space was simply a small world, and in the face of countless Sanctuary-level magical beasts, Lin Li did not know where to start his search. If he were to search the entire world, he would waste plenty of time, and he would also have to destroy all the Sanctuary-level magical beasts in the space!
“Geresco has raised so many Sanctuary-level magical beasts here. He definitely doesn’t treat them as pets. Are they the ones guarding the entrance to the passage?” Connoris guessed with a frown. If they weren’t watchdogs, they couldn’t possibly be prey.
However, there was still a problem with Connoris’ guess. If the Sanctuary-level magical beasts were meant to watch the entrance, they should be able to guess the location of the entrance of the passage based on the distribution of their territories. However, after being in the Meditation Land for such a long time, Lin Li hadn’t seen any pattern, as if the magical beasts were wild, and were simply occupying territories based on strength without any purpose.
“These magical beasts are probably just a barrier for the people who are entering. If the passage really exists in this space, I’m afraid we will have to start with the strongest of these magical beasts.” In a moment of helplessness, Lin Li had no choice but to think of a stupid solution, which meant that he would have to fight the few strongest magical beasts. Of course, if they were lucky, they might be able to find the passage after killing the first magical beast. Otherwise, it would be more troublesome.
Lin Li had spent a long time in the Meditation Land, and apart from meditating and accumulating mana, he could use his mental strength to continuously explore the space. Although he could not find the passage to the next level during the exploration, he had gained a generic understanding of the magical beasts in this space.
Hence, Lin Li took Connoris and the two Undead servants straight to the Meditation Land without much delay.