End of the Magic Era

The Fusion Shield, which was the sturdiest, had been torn apart, and couldn’t be reassembled until several seconds later. That was the minimal time required to reorganize the law runes, and make use of the elements to build a shield. It would’ve taken an ordinary Heaven Rank mage a dozen seconds to reestablish a Fusion Shield.

Facing the crisis, Lin Yun became calmer than ever. The illusion of an ancient bronze scale appeared underneath his feet. The Book of Ten Thousand Mantras and the Ten Thousand Spell Wheel fell on the two ends of the scale.

The horrifying power that he absorbed from the void was injected into the Ten Thousand Spell Wheel, allowing it to carry out level-43 power for now, which could not only be used in casting spells, but also in computation.

Having been upgraded to an Extraordinary Magic Tool from a True Spirit Magic Tool, the Ten Thousand Spell Wheel’s computation ability was increased 100 times.

The archer alchemy puppet on his opposite side had fired another arrow while it constantly moved in midair.

Instantly, Lin Yun adjusted himself to his best status. With the power from his Natural Demiplane, the computation of the Ten Thousand Spell Wheel, and the arrays of magic power, he came up with a perfect solution.

His Draconic Staff glittered. A spell flew out of the Book of Ten Thousand Mantras, which absorbed Lin Yun’s power, and formed a silver mirror three meters tall in front of him. It was a combination of Space Reflection and Water Mirror. Only someone who had grasped the laws of water and space could release it.

After releasing the first mirror, endless data was flowing crazily in Lin Yun’s eyes. One spell after another flew out of the Book of Ten Thousand Mantras.

The silver mirror in front of Lin Yun became slanted. When the silver arrow hit the mirror, it was instantly broken. However, the arrow was deflected towards the bottom of Lin Yun’s feet.

He hadn’t dared to use the spell until this moment, because the silver mirror would’ve been shattered before it deflected the enemy’s attack, and Lin Yun would’ve been killed even if he had been hiding behind the mirror.

However, after accurate computations, Lin Yun reached the conclusion that if the silver mirror was perpendicular to the arrow, it would be useless, but if there was a much smaller angle between them, the arrow would be deflected even if the mirror was broken.

When the arrow was deflected like light, another mirror surfaced in its way, and deflected it again. After six continuous deviations in its course, the arrow of light took a circle around Lin Yun, and darted towards the archer alchemy puppet from the top of his head.

The arrow of light was so horrifyingly fast that it penetrated the archer alchemy puppet’s chest, and broke its mana reaction furnace into pieces.

Holding the giant bow, the alchemy puppet was overwhelmed with disbelief in its crystal eyes. It had already drawn the bow, but it was quickly losing its strength due to the destruction of the reaction furnace.

Lin Yun cast another black wind blade, cutting off its metal head. Immediately, the archer alchemy puppet’s enormous body fell to the ground.

With the lesson he learned from the last time, Lin Yun immediately picked the puppet’s body, and fled. As he expected, the moment the puppet died, the counterattack system of Steel City was activated. It was like dozens of level-1 and level-2 Heaven Rank experts were attacking at the same time…

Returning to Agalon’s shelter, Lin Yun almost felt exhausted.

That archer alchemy puppet was using the law of light, which Lin Yun hadn’t perceived at all. It hadn’t even been created in his Natural Demiplane yet. There was nothing but a prototype.

He hadn’t grasped the law yet, and there was only a prototype in his Natural Demiplane. He couldn’t have fought at all without the experience from the last battle.

Besides, even the Ten Thousand Spell Wheel couldn’t infer the enemy attack’s trajectory at all. The enemy was even two levels stronger than him. It was impossible for him to fight that puppet at all…

“You must know the importance of the Natural Demiplane now. The perfect evolution of a Natural Demiplane is significantly beneficial. You’ve already learned to protect yourself with laws from your Natural Demiplane.

“However, it’s not so easy to protect yourself with laws that haven’t successfully evolved in your Natural Demiplane. Not bad. That puppet could’ve killed any mage below level 5 of the Heaven Rank except the spatial mages and the light mages.

“Alright, let’s continue…”

Lin Yun looked rather awful. Such battles were like dancing on the tip of a blade. Although he could learn things fast under the pressure of death, he might really get killed…

Even though those alchemy puppets were not really good at using laws, and any Heaven Rank mage was better than them, their levels were still too high…

Though a bit scared, Lin Yun didn’t reject the proposal. He had benefited a lot from such battles. It was as effective as the extraordinary evolution.

All his opponents had been carefully picked by Agalon. They were the most suitable for him. He had to try his best to fight them, and they couldn’t kill him in one attack. He could win the battles as long as he controlled himself well.

However, not everybody could’ve achieved what Lin Yun did. It was like throwing a rookie who had practiced sword techniques for only a few days into a bloody battlefield. Chances were slim that they could survive…

A month later…

Lin Yun tiredly walked out of a puppet graveyard. Watching a black spot disappearing in the distance in the sky, he was slightly relieved.

Agalon appeared behind Lin Yun.

“Well done. You’ve been making progress very fast. I believe it won’t take long before you advance into level 4 of the Heaven Rank. Your control over your Natural Demiplane and your understanding of laws cannot be further improved.

“Your training here is completed…” Agalon remarked with mixed feelings, a smile of satisfaction in his eyes.

What a genius. He has extraordinary gift, aptitudes, and responsiveness. Adding his Natural Demiplane that has evolved perfectly, it’s really possible for him to become as strong as I am in 10 years.

Previously, I thought it was impossible for him to rise to level 9 of the Heaven Rank in only 10 years even though he had a Natural Demiplane.

It took me almost two years to accomplish what he did. Yet, it only took him one month…

Agalon was satisfied, but Lin Yun felt rather bitter. He looked at his ragged robe and half burnt hair. There were burns all over his right arm. His body even emitted the fragrance of barbecue.

That was the result of him hiding from an infuriated level-46 alchemy puppet. He didn’t know what Agalon did or how he taunted them, but every alchemy puppet had charged at him with such wrath as if he had killed its entire family…

During the month, he was asked to kill level-45 alchemy puppets at the beginning, but later, when his opponents became level-46 alchemy puppets, all he needed to do was keep himself alive…

Any of the level-46 alchemy puppets could’ve torn apart his Fusion Shield easily. His attacks couldn’t possibly break their defense.

In the previous 20 days, he had been fighting level-45 alchemy puppets. He was only able to kill them in the first 15 days. In the latter half of a month, he was unable to kill any alchemy puppet.

In the last 10 days, every alchemy puppet he fought was level 46. When he fought a level-46 alchemy puppet for the first time, it tore apart his Fusion Shield, and almost gouged his heart out the moment they encountered each other.

He had been running for life during the 10 days. Each alchemy puppet had hunted him for one day. After a day of hunting, they would give up. There was no telling whether Agalon did something, or it was just the alchemy puppets’ setting.

During the 10 days of escape, he had been constantly on edge because he would’ve been killed if he’d slowed down for one second.

Now that the training was finally completed, Lin Yun hurriedly took out a bottle of Health Potion. He drank half of it, and smeared the other half on his wounds.

Leaving the Puppet Plane with Agalon, the first thing Lin Yun did was to return to his Demiplane, and have a good sleep.

After a month of intense battles, his nerves were almost breaking down. He needed some sleep to soothe himself. As he fell asleep, his soul fell asleep too. The impurities in his soul were discharged, making his soul purer. His soul power rose significantly.

The Magic Array that had been used for a month was relaxed too. Then, it began to recover and perfect itself.

The mana inside Lin Yun’s body became purer and more powerful too. Extraordinary power spread on Lin Yun’s skin, and fluctuated as Lin Yun breathed…

Three days later, Lin Yun slowly opened his eyes. The illusion of a wheel appeared in his eyes. As Lin Yun blinked his eyes, the illusion was gone.

After three days, he had completely recovered from his tiredness. His mana wasn’t exhausted, as he had plenty of it; it was his soul power that was exhausted.

To survive against the level-46 alchemy puppets, he had been anxious every day, but the training had been beneficial too. His soul had been purified and consolidated. It contained twice as much power as previously. His head became clearer than ever.

After he woke up, the first thing Lin Yun did was to return to the Gilded Rose, and check what happened during the month when he was away.

He had deployed Xiuban, Reina, Pabiete, and even the mage army in the Gilded Rose to prevent anyone from causing trouble.

He even sent a message to the Raging Flame Plane, asking the three allies there to fly The Intrepid to Noscent if necessary.

After hearing Faleau’s report, Lin Yun was finally relieved.

Nobody came to the Gilded Rose for trouble at all in the past month. Many people knew of the battle between Lin Yun and Wilder in the last month, but few knew its result.

It was because both Lin Yun and Wilder were still alive…

Although the majority didn’t know the result, they could tell that the Gilded Rose won because the Lodney Family had been keeping a low profile. It stopped having more conflicts with the Gilded Rose. Even if the Gilded Rose’s branches were swallowing the Lodney Family’s market share, the Lodneys simply stayed away.

Many people were shocked and suspicious. The Lodney Family had dominated the potion business in the north of the Odin Kingdom for years, not because it sold the best potions, but because it suppressed or simply acquired its competitors that had invented great potions.

It had been very domineering, yet this time, the Lodney Family chickened out on their own.

The Gilded Rose had planned to establish 38 branches. The 13 branches of the second batch had been opened. Some of them had opened in cities where the Lodney Family’s stores monopolized the business so far. After they opened, the Lodney Family’s revenue in those cities plunged by half.

When the Lodney Family’s branch in one of the cities had a conflict with the Gilded Rose’s, the Lodney Family simply closed the branch, without giving the Gilded Rose any chance to complain…

The branch program had been going well. In terms of potions, the Gilded Rose’s market share in the north of the Odin Kingdom had risen from the ninth on the rank to the third. Judging by the trend, it would only be a matter of time before the Gilded Rose rose to the top.

“We’ve been doing well with respect to potions. A lot of people are hoping to cooperate with us. However, the revenue from magic tools, alchemy puppets, and alchemy arrays combined cannot even compare to half of the potions’ revenue.

“It’s mainly because we don’t have any star product that we can promote. Although we have advantages in quality and price, the advantages aren’t too obvious.

“Sir Merlin, do you think we should enter the magic tool market first?”

Faleau reported the monthly events to Lin Yun, and then asked a question. He wanted Lin Yun to develop a star product that could be sold.

The alchemy puppets in Lin Yun’s base would crush any alchemy puppet of the same kind on the market if sold. Unfortunately, those puppets carried advanced technology. Also, they were his secret troops. He certainly couldn’t sell them for money…

“Let’s not rush into anything yet until I come up with a suitable idea. Continue opening more branches. When all the 38 branches are opened, and we have regular customers, we will release our star magic tool.”

The Gilded Rose expanded as planned, faster than any other alchemical corporation. Its reputation was improved and consolidated during the expansion…

Reputation wasn’t something that could be built in one day. Only with a good reputation could a store have regular and new clients. The alchemy products had a huge market because everybody from mage apprentices to Heaven Rank experts consumed alchemy products, especially potions.

However, there was a fixed amount of potions that each of the customers would pay for. That amount wouldn’t change very much. To attract the customers to the Gilded Rose, its reputation had to be better than that of its competitors.

Most people loved potions that were effective and affordable. That was definitely the Gilded Rose’s advantage. The materials of all products of the Gilded Rose were all carefully filtered. There were even three quality assurance processes during the making of any potion before it was sold. It was possible to track down every person that had worked on any given bottle of potion.

The material supplier, the material processor, the tool makers, the refiners, and the QA managers… Everybody could be tracked down. Under such circumstances, it was as difficult to buy unqualified potion from the Gilded Rose as to let a mage apprentice rise to the Heaven Rank in one step.

Also, the Gilded Rose’s potions were classified according to their quality. Different quality meant different prices. Also, all the prices were slightly lower than market price. Although the potions’ tag prices were similar to market price, they had been sold at a discount, so they were actually cheaper than other potions on the market.

Most importantly, the Gilded Rose sold perfect potions, which were the most attractive products, and mostly appeared only at auctions. Alchemists mostly bought low-level potions for studies and high-level potions to save their lives at critical moments.

However, the perfect potions were sold as ordinary items in the Gilded Rose…

A lot of potions didn’t even have low-quality versions. Even the worst of them was still more effective than the best products in some small stores…

Therefore, the Gilded Rose gained reputation quickly. Even the most picky person couldn’t say that its products were bad.

The Gilded Rose had been growing quickly, but Faleau’s level didn’t rise as fast. As the Gilded Rose’s manager, he was getting too weak, and might get caught in danger.

Ensuring that the Gilded Rose had been growing smoothly, and there was nothing important recently, Lin Yun pulled Faleau into his Demiplane, and started training him.

Having been played by Agalon for a whole month, Lin Yun watched Faleau fight a few alchemy puppets covered in cold sweat, and put on a smile.

Now that he was in Agalon’s shoes, he was sure that Agalon did it on purpose because it felt great…

He asked Faleau to fight the alchemy puppets for eight hours. Then, he threw Faleau to the peak of the pillar, and let him learn the manifested truth runes for eight hours. The last eight hours were at Faleau’s disposal.

Half a month later, Faleau started to fight alchemy puppets for six hours in a day. Then, Pabiete was asked to hunt him in the last two hours. Pabiete had limited himself to Faleau’s level, but could still kill him easily…

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