End of the Magic Era

Is his understanding of the transplantation of bloodlines even better than mine? How is it possible?

Are there other people who are studying the transplantation of bloodlines besides the Thorny Crown? No way. The Thorny Crown has studied that for 1,000 years. Nobody can be more familiar with the subject than it. But how can this man know so much?

He's probably already been aware of my weakness. He even knows at what time of the day my eyes aren't usable, which will result in a plunge in my combat ability…

He knows so many things that even the members of the Thorny Crown don't…

"Don't look at me with such an expression. Did you think it's a secret that only you get to know? Transplanting bloodlines is a complicated and dangerous thing. More often than not, it's a desperate choice.

"It's not bad for you. Even though you've transplanted the crystal monster's bloodline, you're only using it as help, and still walking on the path of a mage. But look at this guy here, who has transplanted the bloodline of a lava giant. He cannot possibly advance beyond level 2 of the Heaven Rank.

"You cannot reach level 3 of the Heaven Rank without finding another lava giant whose bloodline is purer and who is in level 3 of the Heaven Rank. Then, you will have to hunt pure-blood lava giants who are at least in level 45 in order for you to advance into level 4 of the Heaven Rank.

"If you're truly lucky, there's a slim chance that you may advance into level 5 of the Heaven Rank. But that will be the ceiling. You cannot grow any stronger than that…

"Also, the lava giant you hunted didn't have a pure bloodline. It carried part of fire element creatures' bloodlines. So, you can only use 80% of your strength in battles, right?"

Hearing what Lin Yun said, a mage who was at least 2.2 meters tall and wearing a cloak and a black robe shivered. Then, he simply lifted his cloak, which had been enhanced with spells that blocked detection. Nobody could see his appearance without destroying it.

As he lifted his cloak, his face, which was purely red and looked like the cracked stones near a volcano, was revealed. His fire was like burning flames. His eyes were bloodshot too.

The man looked at Lin Yun in shock and fear. Around him, all the other black-robed mages turned around and stared at him. Myers looked at him suspiciously too.

The red-faced mage opened his mouth and spoke in a hoarse voice, as if his vocal cord had been burnt.

"H-how did you know…"

Every person of the Thorny Crown who had transplanted bloodlines of strange creatures had their own weaknesses. However, they never let anyone else know those weaknesses, because if other people knew their weaknesses, those people could easily come up with a dozen solutions to deal with them.

Myers was completely shocked, and so were the others.

It was understandable that this man knew Myers well because they had fought for quite a while. Experts had to reveal something in battles. If the man knew transplantation of bloodlines well, it was possible that he had inferred many things.

However, the mage, who had never attacked or even revealed his face, and who was wearing a special protective robe, had been seen through easily. That was horrifying…

It meant that if a battle were to burst out, those level-1 and level-2 Heaven Rank mages would be easily killed by Lin Yun, who could take advantage of their weaknesses…

The mages who were wearing cloaks took them off one after another, and showed their faces. Few of them looked like pure human beings. Most carried features of strange creatures. Some had green faces that carried scales, and some people barely had a face anymore.

Even the guys who had normal faces carried the features of other creatures on their bodies.

They were often despised because of their appearance, especially the weird-looking ones. They might be regarded as monsters instead of human beings.

That was why they had been hiding their bodies and faces. However, it was obvious that Lin Yun had a profound understanding of the transplantation of bloodlines, so they stopped hiding.

"Sir Merlin, let's explore this plane together. Whatever we may find, we only want things that will help us. The rest will all be yours, Sir Merlin.

"I hope we can discuss the transplantation of bloodlines when you're free, Sir Merlin."

Myers put on a smile, and seemed to have forgotten the clash just now. He resumed his calmness.

Lin Yun sneered inwardly. They only wanted things that would help them? That was ambiguous. Everything here was very valuable, and could be sold for a mountain of purple gold. They could buy anything with such an amount of purple gold.

Therefore, everything here could help them. What a cunning man…

But that was fine. This was just the beginning. Who knew what might happen. With those bloodline transplanters, it would be a lot easier to explore this plane…

"Then, Sir Myers, I hope we will cooperate well here," Lin Yun said briefly, without mentioning the discussion of the transplantation of bloodlines. Those people wanted to trick him and get all the loot here. That would never happen…

Myers was wearing a smile. The other mages were more or less hopeful too. Since Lin Yun had seen them through, his expertise in transplantation of bloodlines should be at least as good as Myers'…

Lin Yun and Myers struck a partnership after the brief negotiation. Then, they flew back with those black-robed mages. On the other side, Xiuban and Sheldon were still fighting. The longer Xiuban fought, the stronger he became. There was not a wound on his body. However, Sheldon looked quite miserable by comparison. One of his horns had been broken. Smoke was popping up, and blood was gushing out. His recovery ability was no longer keeping up…

If the battle went on, Sheldon probably would be smashed to death, even though he had transplanted a demon's bloodline…

On the other side, the battle between Sunny and Reina was coming to an end too. Reina had transformed into a human being, and was fighting at ease. Sunny was suppressed, even though her level was higher. She was only able to resist because she could still summon Screaming Ghosts. When she ran out of her mana, she would die.

"Alright, let's stop. I've reached an agreement with Sir Merlin. We will explore this plane as a team."

Myers' words were sent to Sheldon's and Sunny's ears simultaneously. They saw that Lin Yun was standing next to the man too.

"Xiuban, Reina, stop."

Myers and Lin Yun gave the orders at the same time. Xiuban looked at Sheldon reluctantly, and flew back with Carnage on his shoulder. Reina, however, simply flew back without looking at Sunny.

Sheldon, who was enshrouded in black smoke, roared and charged at Xiuban again, as if he had lost his mind, only to be smashed away.

Sunny also shrieked and commanded the Screaming Ghosts to launch suicide attacks. Unfortunately, they were all frozen into ice and cracked apart…

"You people of the Thorny Crown are quite persistent, aren't you?" Lin Yun remarked casually, which made Myers look awful.

They were both leaders. However, Xiuban and Reina carried out Lin Yun's order immediately, even though Xiuban already looked like he'd gone berserk.

However, on the Thorny Crown's side, the two guys were still attacking after Myers gave the order…

The situation was rather awkward. Myers looked angry and unstable. At this moment, Sunny and Sheldon finally understood the command, and walked back gloomily. Sunny's body was shrouded in vague mist that prevented her from being seen, but her aggression was obvious.

Damn you, you're lucky. But you can't stay lucky forever. That stupid food convinced Myers. Just wait for it, Mafa Merlin, and that goddamn dragon. You will be in serious trouble…

Nearby, the smoke around Sheldon was roiling and dispersing, revealing his body that had transformed into a half demon. There were distinctive demon features on his face, skin, and body. There was even a demon tail behind his back.

It was not until three minutes after the battle that Sheldon's demon body finally returned to normal. However, the demon horns and the smoke around his body remained. The abundant evil power could barely be hidden.

Sheldon was wearing a cold smile with undisguised hatred in his eyes, as if he would attack again if he found a chance.

What a bunch of idiots! You would've been torn into shreds if it weren't for Myers. The more heavily wounded I am, the stronger I will become. When I completely turn into a demon, all of you will die!

Sunny and Sheldon made Myers look rather terrible, but he could not scold them for that. After all, he was not the only leader of the Thorny Crown. Sunny and Sheldon, technically speaking, weren't his subordinates, either. The Thorny Crown had only been a loose organization of researchers at the beginning. It was better organized at this moment, but still not as hierarchical as some mage families.

Myers didn't say anything. Neither did Lin Yun, who simply glanced at Sunny and Sheldon.

He had confirmed the bloodline that Sunny had transplanted. It wouldn't be difficult to kill her if she dared to cause trouble. However, it was well-known that the demon bloodlines were hard to extinguish. Anything might happen as long as their souls weren't destroyed.

Lin Yun was even less concerned about Sheldon, who had transplanted the bloodline of a bull-horned demon that was one of the 72 pure-blood demons, but its level wasn't too high.

The man had mutated after the transplantation. The more he looked like a demon, the stronger he would be. However, by the time he completely turned into a demon, it wouldn't be easy for him to turn back. The more times he transformed into a demon, the more difficult it would be for him to recover.

In the end, he would turn into a complete demon. His soul, personality, and thoughts would be twisted. He would go crazy…

There was no need to be concerned about such a man who had sold his soul for more strength. He had lost his ego and soul, and would get himself killed sooner or later…

"Sir Merlin, which place should we explore first?" Myers spoke and ended the awkwardness. He had a deeper understanding of this plane's weirdness, and asked Lin Yun, who was apparently more familiar with this plane.

Lin Yun pointed at the enormous cavern in the distance.

"Let's go explore that cavern first. There's nothing that deserves attention on the surface of this plane except the beast and plant resources.

"However, let's not use extraordinary power after we enter that cavern."

Myers realized something, and didn't ask Lin Yun why. He simply nodded gently.

The surface of this plane was brimming with plant resources. All plants here basked in the sunlight of mana all year long. They had all mutated into magic plants. Almost all of them could be used as materials to make alchemy potions.

Any magic plant could be grown here. With the orange sun and the blue sun shining above, the herbs grown here would be much more effective than those in Noscent, and it would take much less time for them to grow. The hardest part of growing magic plants was the accumulation of mana, but that was the easiest here.

Those swarms of beasts were worthless. Except for the strange beasts that looked like giant dragonflies and produced Golden Honey, very few yielded special materials. Most could only yield magic crystals. Their bodies were barely useful except for being used as fertilizer.

Another kind of resource was not on the surface, but underground. The enormous cavern was the biggest entrance to the underground world. In the future, it would be the biggest entrance to explore underground mines.

The cavern was completely dark. A huge number of hairless monsters that looked like bats were stuck to the ceiling of the cavern. Sensing the intruders, the monsters shrieked and swooped. A mage who had green scales all over his face near Myers opened his mouth, and let out strange screams, emitting a special aura.

Immediately, the monsters in the front were ignited and burnt into ashes. Those in the rear all fled back in fear, as if they had encountered their natural enemy. They stuck themselves to the ceiling again, and shivered while covering themselves up with their wings.

Lin Yun looked at the mage, who had transplanted the bloodline of an underground beast that preyed on assorted creatures, including the monsters above his head. Those monsters, whose souls were as weak as those of reptiles, wouldn't dare to approach after feeling his aura and seeing the victims.

It was like when a tiger killed a few sheep, the other sheep in the herd would only escape or hide in fear, and wouldn't dare to fight back.

They moved further into the cavern, which became narrower and narrower. After they walked a couple of kilometers, the cavern became only 200 meters tall and 800 meters wide.

There were still a tremendous number of hairless monsters that stuck themselves to the ceiling with their heads covered in their wings. They fully covered the ceiling, and made it impossible to see any rock. They had occupied the ceiling all the way here. There had to have been hundreds of thousands of them.

Normally speaking, one had to kill half of those monsters to frighten them, and force them to abandon crazy attacks in order to move on, but it was a lot easier at this moment.

The technology of transplanting bloodlines of other creatures wasn't mature yet, and had an extremely low success rate. Even the lunatics of the Thorny Crown wouldn't do that unless they had confirmed that they'd run out of their potential, and couldn't advance further.

The people here were exclusively the elites of the Thorny Crown and the most successful bloodline transplanters. They had advanced into the Heaven Rank with the power of foreign bloodlines, or become even stronger. However, they all suffered from serious sequela.

That was inevitable. Most mages who had transplanted bloodlines of foreign creatures had only risked doing that because it was hopeless for them to enter the Heaven Rank. It was lucky for them to break into the Heaven Rank in such a way. However, by doing so, those mages would transform into warlocks who depended on bloodline power. None of the mages here had a Demiplane. They would rather spend time strengthening their bloodlines instead of learning laws.

By transplanting the bloodlines of foreign creatures, they had acquired abilities that human mages didn't have, which made them useful here…

It was an important reason why Lin Yun was willing to cooperate with Myers. The dozen members of the Thorny Crown all had transplanted bloodlines of foreign creatures. Many of their abilities were practical in this place.

At the very least, it was much easier than fighting their way forward…

After they walked for almost eight kilometers, the enormous channel finally stopped narrowing. It remained fixed at 100 meters in height and 300 meters in width. The channel seemed to be endless, and zigzagged all the way underground. Intersections were appearing too. Some of the side paths led up, and some slanted downwards.

When they reached the intersections, the hairless monsters they encountered earlier were all gone. There was an obvious aura of mana near the intersections. In this place, the air seemed to have been corrupted by magic power.