End of the Magic Era

Translator: Shiraishi  Editor: TheAlliance

After each successful cast, the magic pattern would darken visibly, and another one would light up instead.

This was the Dark Elves’ casting cooldown. Only after the cooldown was over could the magic patterns could be used again.

Only by deepening their understanding of the spells could they reduce that cooldown. And some Low Tier Spells hardly had any cooldown.

This was like how humans normally needed time to cast spells but could instant-cast them after gaining a sufficient understanding of them. They could eventually even instant-cast dozens of Low Tier Spells at once.

Dark Elves inherently didn’t need any time to cast their spells because they were blessed with magic patterns, allowing them to learn any spells. Some Low Tier Spells could even be cast continuously. If they had enough mana, they could even cast for half an hour without stopping, and by relying on Low Tier Spells, they could achieve what others could only do with High Tier Spells.

Especially since as their understanding of spells deepened, not only would their cooldown decrease, but the spells would also become more and more powerful. Once the understanding of a spell reached its limits, the magic pattern would turn into an ultimate magic pattern and the spell would become an Ultimate Spell.

Although most of the spells released by the Dark Elves had been Low Tier Spells, a majority of them had either reached the level of Ultimate Spells or were close to it. A 1st Rank Wind Blade in the hands of these Dark Elves almost had the power of a 3rd Rank Spell!

And casting Wind Blades was effortless for those Dark Elves. In one second, they could cast eight Wind Blades, each of which was a rank stronger, while some were comparable to an Ultimate Spell!

This was also why Enderfa and Lin Yun’s expressions weren’t good after finding out that their enemies were Dark Elves.

The fighting power of Dark Elves wasn’t based on ranks, but rather on their magic patterns. As long as a few Dark Elves had mastered 6th Tier Spells and had turned them into ultimate magic patterns, they would be in huge trouble.

Ultimate magic patterns were the greatest assets of Dark Elves.

Lin Yun’s Sage Chapter had only stored 4th Tier Spells until now while promoting them to the 6th Rank by turning them into Ultimate Spells. Since he obtained the Sage Chapter, the Ultimate Spells had been a great help to Lin Yun, but the Sage Chapter couldn’t keep up with his rapid increase in power.

Thus, the Sage Chapter could only remain shelved for the time being.

It could be said that the Dark Elves had their own weakened version of the Sage Chapter’s ability. Every spell cast through the magic pattern was a bit more powerful than ordinary spells, and furthermore, every spell had the possibility of being strengthened to its limit.

In the decaying library, Lin Yun had once seen some notes… At the peak of Noscent while conquering many planes, the Cloud Tower once discovered a Dark Elven settlement in a new plane.

This was a settlement of only a few hundred Dark Elves, and the most powerful one was at most comparable to a 9th Rank Archmage. Only a dozen of them were at the Archmage realm.

In that era, Archmages were as common as dogs. It was an era filled with ordinary Heaven Mages. Besides being surprising, the Cloud Tower didn’t feel that they were very important.

Because their team was led by a 5th Rank Heaven Mage, two 3rd Rank Heaven Mages and over thirty 9th Rank Archmages that were just a step away from the Heaven realm.

This kind of formidable force made them plan without scruples at the start, discussing whether they should catch a few Dark Elves to bring back for study, totally unafraid of the Dark Elves’ resistance.

But reality was a huge slap to their face, making the Cloud Tower suffer their most depressing defeat.

A 5th Rank Heaven Mage, two 3rd Rank Heaven Mages, and a few dozen 9th Rank Archmages died.

A Dark Elf comparable to a 9th Rank Archmage dealt with them all with one move…

Later, the infuriated Cloud Tower dispatched top-notch Heaven Mages to discover what had happened.

That 9th Rank Archmage Dark Elf was the greatest genius in the Dark Elven history. Her magic comprehension had already exceeded the innate gift of the Dark Elves and displayed unfathomable power when coupled with that innate gift.

As a 9th Rank Archmage, she had reached incredible levels, comprehending an 8th Tier Spell to its limits and forming an ultimate magic pattern for it.

Normally, the strongest spell that Archmages could successfully cast were 8th Tier Spells but would need preparation to cast such a spell.

It would require a long and tedious incantation that might include hand gestures or staff movements… Only then could they successfully cast an 8th Tier Spell.

In a battle against an evenly matched opponent, no Archmage would have the leisure to cast an 8th Tier Spell. In battle, chanting a 7th Tier Spell was already the limit.

That was why Archmages usually used 5th or 6th Tier Spells in battle, or even lesser spells, relying on quantity or technique to win.

It could even be said that all mages would typically use Low Tier Spells that could be used flexibly when in actual combat. Spells at least one tier lower were usually the best choices.

It was the same for Lin Yun. He would rarely use the spells of the highest tier that he could cast when fighting. Instead, he used tactics and spells that he had perfect control over to achieve victory.

Because of this, there had never been a mage in Noscent that could comprehend the most powerful spell he could use to its fullest.

There wasn’t that much time and opportunity…

At the High Mage realm, it was impossible to comprehend a powerful 6th Tier Spell to its limits, and as an Archmage, it was impossible to comprehend an 8th Tier Spell to its limits.

This was even true for Lin Yun. When he was a High Mage, he had already comprehended a few 1st and 2nd Tier Spells to their limits. This was already quite successful and could be rated as an outstanding achievement.

Thus, after the 9th Rank Archmage Dark Elf instant-cast an 8th Rank Spell, and an Ultimate Spell at that…

Well, there was nothing after that…

The 8th Rank Spell, Devouring Darkness, displayed power comparable to a 10th Tier Spell. The three Heaven Mages and dozens of Archmages couldn’t even resist, and their souls were destroyed.

One-hit kill!

Lin Yun hadn’t been convinced after reading that part, up until he read an unclear note left behind by a powerhouse of the Cloud Tower.

The power of Ultimate Spells was something Lin Yun had been pursuing at the End of the Magic Era. In the era where they had to brave dangers just to squeeze mana from the Netherstorm through meditation, this kind of ability could be rated as the most powerful one!

Lin Yun once believed that the Dark Elves disappearing was because their gift was too formidable and incurred the jealousy of others.

Thus, Lin Yun was startled when he noticed that the attackers were Dark Elves and that their 1st and 2nd Tier Spells were almost comparable to Ultimate Spells.

If there was an Archmage amidst these Dark Elves that comprehended a 7th Rank or 8th Rank Spell, then their group could only wait for certain death.

With the talent of these Dark Elves, the possibility of such an outrageous thing wasn’t small.

What if that happened?

Thus, when Lin Yun recognized the Dark Elves, he was thinking of having a proper chat and trying to avoid making a mortal enemy out of them if at all possible.

Moreover, having a good relationship with the aboriginals of this God Nation would be good. It would be helpful when looking for Constance’s skull, because the Wisdom Tree was too huge. Who knew how long they would take to reach the top and what unknown dangers they would encounter?

From seeing these Dark Elves, even the angry Enderfa was silenced from dread. He clearly understood that if there was a ruthless Dark Elf in the group, they would be done for.

Lin Yun had been observing the Dark Elves ever since they appeared, and the outcome of his observation made him secretly sigh in relief.

Coupled with the analysis from his Magic Array, he was certain that while most of these Dark Elves had Ultimate Spells, the majority were only 1st and 2nd Tier Spells. Only a small minority had magic patterns for 3rd Tier Spells.

Lin Yun could only defend throughout that suppression. He didn’t plan on counter-attacking right away because he could see that these Dark Elves weren’t planning on killing them, at least not immediately.

Sure enough, a large group of Dark Elves kept moving forward and stopped fifty meters from Lin Yun, and although they didn’t stop releasing spells, two Dark Elves that were clearly different came forward.

One of them was a slender male that was almost two meters tall, looking quite handsome. There were two flame magic patterns on his face and he was wearing four delicate wooden stud earrings on his ears.

These four earrings represented the fact that he possessed a 4th Tier Ultimate Spell.

The other one was a woman about 170 centimeters tall. She had a green magic pattern on her forehead that made it look like she was wearing a crown, and she was wearing five wooden stud earrings. This Dark Elven lady had an Ultimate Spell of the 5th Rank!