Another World’s Versatile Crafting Master c1-1074, page 239
"Yes," said Adelo. "My mentor went into a historical building owned by the High Elves, and got to know that the Scar of Death has this altar and about the great secret hidden within it. This secret is related to the Immortal King…"
"Immortal King?"
"I presume you should have read many articles written during the High Elves Dynasty. Don't you realize that those articles barely mention the Immortal King? Even if there is information that might be related to him, it's only mentioned vaguely as though the author was trying to avoid the topic. For the parts that speak of the King, they were mixed with too many rumors and hearsay. 1300 years had gone by, and the only thing people of Anril knew of him was just that he was the creator of the entire High Elves Dynasty…"
"Mage Adelo, this means you know a lot about that Immortal King?"
"Since what I know of him is all stories my mentor told me, it would be an overstatement to say that I understand him well. I believe there would only be a handful of people in the entire Anril who would know the Immortal King well.
"My mentor found a diary that belonged to a high elf royal in that historical building. On the last few pages of the diary, this royal mentioned that his grandfather was actually one of the servants working under the Immortal King.
"In fact, the establishment of the High Elves Dynasty transformed the servants of the Immortal King into prominent aristocrats. Many truths about that age gradually disappeared in the river of time. The owner of the diary only found out about the Immortal King while he was tidying his grandfather's relics. Apart from this secret, his grandfather left him two other relics: a crossbow with a strange energy as well as a map that was said to lead to infinite amount of treasures… "
Chapter 415 - Treasure
"It seems that that treasure map is not an ordinary one, then…"
"Yes…" admitted Adelo, but did not go further with the topic. Instead, he continued the story from earlier. "The diary was blank for around a period of three months. My mentor only knew what happened in that three months after reading the contents afterward. It was just the High Elf royal trying to find the treasure on the map tirelessly, but there was no mention of the progress. Yet, from the tone and information written after the three-month gap, my mentor found out that this royal appeared to become crazily interested in Necromagic. He used at least 10 pages to narrate how he studied different types of Necromagic, and how he built a secret ground with the other royals in a canyon. While he talked about those things, he repeated a certain phrase in particular…
"What phrase?"
"'We are going to inherit the Immortal King's business'… "
"What sort of crap is that…?" Lin Li commented in disappointment. He'd been expecting that he would hear some secrets. Did that royal burn his mind while studying Necromagic?
"Hehe, I remember that my mentor said the same thing as Mage Felic when he told me that phrase…"
"What else?"
"After that, the war started. The royal High Elves researching in the secret grounds put aside their work, and led their team into battle. Unfortunately, Lady Luck was not on their side when they met Geresco during their first battle. The last part of the diary was written in his last breath…" When he got here, Adelo smiled.
"These divine-like High Elves really resembled us humans when they were on the edge of deaths. It is evident from his tone and words that he had already fallen apart mentally before he died. He reiterated in a hysterical and frenzied state at the end of the diary that Geresco was the Immortal King!"
"It seems like Mr. Royal was really petrified…" Lin Li laughed with Adelo. The Immortal King and Geresco was one High Elf and one human being, respectively, who had lived a thousand years apart from each other. Furthermore, the Immortal King was the creator of the High Elves Dynasty, while Geresco was the destroyer of the High Elves Dynasty. If it was what that royal said—that Geresco was the Immortal King—how different could that battle be from a fight between a left and a right hand?
Lin Li was more interested in the other contents of the diary as compared to that absurd story.
"Mage Adelo is saying that the crossbow with special powers and that map to infinite treasures are both hidden in this altar?"
"Yes. This was the reason why my mentor was so hasty after defeating the Lich. Having read the diary, he was clearer than anybody in Anril World that the treasure left behind by the Immortal King was no jewelry, riches, valuable resources, or any rare magical equipment. According to the diary, it was a treasure that would make the entire Anril World crazy over it. It was said that in this treasure, there was a passageway that would lead one to heaven. Anyone who obtained the treasure would acquire unlimited strength and even become a living god…"
After hearing the long story, Lin Li did not give an immediate reply. He lifted his head to gaze upon the tall standing tower, and filtered through every single detail in the story.
"I want to hear Mage Adelo's views," Lin Li said as he glanced at Adelo after a good 10 minutes of silence.
"Hahaha…" Adelo suddenly laughed upon hearing that. His laughter was one which was full of relief.
Adelo had been waiting for that question. Frankly speaking, Adelo was very afraid that the young mage had the intention to take everything. He had no choice too—although the team 12 men strong was sent by the Malfa Family, the person with authority would only be the young mage who'd defeated the Lich single-handedly.
Anril World was like that. The right to speak would always belong to whoever had a larger fist.
At the beginning, Adelo had thought that his fists were the largest. He'd thought that a level-17 Archmage and two high-ranking level-17 Warriors were enough to defeat that Lich injured greatly by his mentor. He'd thought he could silence all the other members in the advance party upon completing the mission.
Adelo absolutely did not expect things to progress so out of place. Not only had the Lich recovered his ability early, the Humerus Wyrm he'd summoned was a problem as well. The most absurd thing was, when he'd thought he could treat the other members in the advance party as cannon fodder, there suddenly appeared a mage in the Legendary-realm. It was like a nightmare. How could a well-prepared plan be destroyed by so many accidents like this?
To be honest, if this young mage had the intention to keep everything for himself, Adelo would have no ability to go against him. How could Adelo survive a battle as horrifying as the one earlier?
Adelo had everything to believe that that young mage could kill him with just a finger, not to forget that the dude sealed a Humerus Wyrm right after the battle… If he really wanted to keep everything for himself, summoning that Humerus Wyrm to attack them would suffice…
It was already a blessing for this young mage to be willing to discuss the matter with himself. Otherwise, he really did not know how to get back to Mentor Cheyenne…
"Look, Mage Felic," Adelo called Lin Li cautiously. "Can you let me make a copy of the treasure map afterward? I need to bring it back to Mentor Cheyenne…"
"No problem," replied Lin Li generously. He agreed without any hesitation.
"Y-you… You really mean it?" The swift reply gave Adelo a shock. He actually readied himself with a script in his mind to persuade the young mage. He was even prepared to help his mentor to promise some benefits given by the Malfa Family just to exchange for a chance to obtain a copy of the treasure map from him.
After all, it was a wholly different concept for a treasure map to be owned by a single man instead of two. If another man were to find the treasure first, the map in his hands would become a piece of trash immediately.
Adelo hadn't expected that he would not at all need to use his script for the young mage to nod his head in approval.
He was dumbfounded for quite a while, and even asked a very stupid question. "Can you tell me why…?"
"Because I need a partner to collaborate with me."
"What do you mean…?"
"It is still too early to say anything now. I'll head to Aminya City in person to look for Master Cheyenne after the Blackstone Mountains mission…" replied Lin Li. Then, he glanced at the peak of the tower. "For now, I think we should think of a way to retrieve the crossbow and map from the altar…"
"Yeah…" Lin Li's words reminded Adelo of his original plan. Adelo turned to call Johnathan over. "Mr. Johnathan, you can take out the thing Butler Hahn entrusted you with."
Johnathan froze for a moment before he began to flip his pockets in a hurry. After a while, he took out the six black magical crystals from a close-fitting pocket.
"You mean… these?"
"Yes, Mr. Johnathan. Now, I need your help…" Adelo reached out his finger, and pointed at the half-bodied statue on the tip of the tower. "Please climb to the top and place these crystals on that statue. I will use magical markings to show you exactly where to arrange them."
"Alright," replied Johnathan obediently. He asked no further questions, and started to walk towards the stairs with the six magical crystals in his hands.
"Wait…" Lin Li woke up from his daze when he noticed Johnathan was about to head up the steps. "Stop there!"
"What's wrong?"
"Look at this…" Lin Li said as he directed the two men's attention to one of the moonstones. "Do you know what this pattern means?"
Johnathan was not alone. Even Adelo who had more experience could not tell what Lin Li wanted to tell them. He stared in the direction where Lin Li's finger pointed for quite a while.
"Mage Felic, what's so special about this pattern?"
"Of course there's nothing special about this pattern. But look, this is not the only one here. In fact, each and every moonstone has a different pattern carved on it, and that makes them extremely dangerous…"
The situation at the altar was just like what Lin Li said. Every moonstone had a unique and delicately carved design, which might appear to be no more than an extravagant decoration to ordinary eyes. To a Guru of Inscription, however, it was an entirely different story. If Lin Li was right, the 13 patterns would form a mageweath array when they were joined together…
Chapter 416 - Mageweath array
Even Lin Li's expression changed after he had analyzed all 13 of the mageweaths. This was definitely the work of a Guru, and was comparable to the All-Kill Array of the Tower of Dusk. In fact, it was even more cleverly designed than the All-Kill Array.
The 13 mageweaths encompassed decay, gravity, deadly poison, fear, hallucinations, seduction, and the dark. Under the control of the mageweath array, these seven different kinds of energy were able to take on any formation and become frighteningly powerful. Moreover, the mageweath array relied on the Gloomy Dark as a source of mana—in other words, the 13 mageweaths were able to directly absorb energy from the Gloomy Dark.
That was the highlight of the entire mageweath array in Lin Li's opinion.
This was because the Gloomy Dark was the purest form of Dark Force in the world, and thus, the 13 mageweaths could just use the absorbed energy directly without having to convert it into another form. This meant that there would never be a risk of mana exhaustion.
"Impressive…" As a true Guru of Inscription himself, Lin Li knew better than anyone else that in terms of mageweath design, it was much harder to harness the strength of a mana source the more powerful this source was. Take Lin Li for example, the biggest problem he'd encountered while designing the All-Kill Array was not how to balance the 10 unique mageweaths, but how to integrate the All-Kill Array into the power system of the Legendary magical crystal.
It was hard enough with one Legendary magical crystal, but what about the Gloomy Dark that was much more powerful?
Seems like Osric was not the only genius in the once unparalleled and glamorous dynasty.
Lin Li was staring so intently at the mageweath on the moonstone that Adelo could not help but ask, "Mage Felic, why are you…?"
"Do you still have Summoning Scrolls?"
"I do…" Adelo paused in surprise before he searched his pockets and retrieved a white Summoning Scroll. "But I'm only left with the one used to summon the Three-eyed Demon Wolf, those above level-15 have already been used against the Skeletal Warriors. I wonder if…"
"It's fine." Lin Li shook his head as he took the Three-eyed Demon Wolf Summoning Scroll, and gently tore the seal in the middle. The Summoning Scroll immediately turned into a puff of smoke, and the blurry outline of a Three-eyed Demon Wolf appeared. Lin Li could not be bothered to wait until the smoke dissipated; hence, he only used his mental strength to give a command. "Go down the stairs."
The Three-eyed Demon Wolf was merely a low-ranking magical beast, after all, and with its pathetic intelligence, it did not understand how scary the altar was. Hence, Lin Li had barely given his command before the Three-eyed Demon Wolf rushed down the stairs.
"Mage Felic, what are you—"
Adelo had just started speaking when black fog engulfed the surroundings of the altar. While the fog was not too thick, it did loom over the place. Then, it was followed by the cry of the Three-eyed Demon Wolf from within the black fog…
Everyone besides Lin Li was stunned by the cry as they would never have thought that the altar that had been abandoned for over 1,300 years would have such terrifying traps hidden within. Johnathan was especially affected as he broke out into cold sweat. If Mage Felic had not stopped him earlier, it would have been him letting out the cry instead…
"I understand…" Adelo stared at the altar with a pale face and evident fear in his eyes. "So my teacher has been wrong all this time. He always thought that it was the Lich attacking him, but to think that it was a trap within the altar itself…"
"This trap is called the mageweath array," Lin Li said with a smile, but did not continue explaining how powerful the mageweath array was. There was no way he could do that anyway—there were less than 10 people in the world of Anril that understood the concept of a mageweath array, and of course neither Adelo nor his teacher were part of those 10. No matter how he explained it to him, there was no chance of Adelo getting it…
Moreover, Lin Li had more important matters to see to now.
It was true, the person who designed the mageweath array was a genius indeed, and even Lin Li did not think he would be able to come up with such a cleverly designed mageweath array. But, even if he was not able to come up with it, it did not mean that he could not replicate it. Once an Inscriber reached the realm of a Guru, there was not much difference in abilities; the only difference lay in whether or not one was able to think of it. As long as he copied down the mageweath array, he would be able to replicate it perfectly after studying it for a couple of days at most.
"Ujfalusi, you have half an hour to copy down the patterns on this."
"Alright, Master. "
Ujfalusi finished copying after half an hour, and Lin Li raised his Aether Staff as he slowly walked over to the altar.
"Everyone, stand back." Lin Li started chanting after he warned them. It was still a Pyroblast, and was still executed so fast that it had been nearly instantaneous.
"BOOM…!"
Large fireballs were hurled against the surface of the altar with a bang. Amidst the blindingly bright flames, large pieces of moonstone flew out—a hole was blown in the mageweath array. Then there were two and three, until the number reached 13…
Lin Li used 13 Pyroblasts, and blew 13 holes in the altar. If there were other Inscribers here, they would be cursing angrily because the 13 Pyroblasts were aimed exactly at the core circuits of the 13 mageweaths. In other words, the 13 Pyroblasts completely destroyed this ingenious mageweath array.
"Alright, Brother Johnathan, you can go ahead."
"Okay."
Johnathan nodded his head, and headed up the stairs with the six black magical crystals. Under the guidance of Adelo's magical marker, he quickly lodged the six black magical crystals in appropriate positions.
After the last black magical crystal was lodged into position, the entire cave seemed to become clear. The oppressive and annoying weak magical wave seemed to have been stopped by a mysterious force, and they could no longer feel it.
Even Lin Li could feel that the Holy Light in the Ring of Endless Storm had stopped pulsating, and lay quietly and peacefully instead of its earlier restlessness.
"These six black magical crystals were left behind by the High Elven royals, and were said to have come from an ancient magical beast. The only thing special about them is that they have an insane ability to devour mana, and even an Archmage at their peak will have their mana depleted in an instant. Hence, I had Mr Johnathan hold onto them. Besides, it is written in the High Elven royal's diary that the bolt in the altar has a strange energy that could only be suppressed by these six black magical crystal. Now, we can safely retrieve the treasure map."
As the six black magical crystals were devouring the mana, Adelo patiently explained things to Lin Li. The nearer they got to the treasure map within the altar, the more careful Adelo became as he was very afraid that he might do something to cause a misunderstanding between him and the young mage. Adelo was well aware that any misunderstanding that might arise now would not only hurt him, but also the entire Malfa Family…
"Alright, Mage Felic, let's head up." Only when the aura of the Gloomy Dark completely disappeared did Adelo and Lin Li head up the stairs.
The process of retrieving the belongings of the royal was simple as the Gloomy Dark was held in the left hand of the Immortal King sculpture, while the treasure map that Adelo spoke of was a yellowed piece of sheepskin lying next to the Immortal King's sculpture.
Adelo was so emotional that his hands trembled when he picked up the treasure map from beside the Immortal King. This was the key to the Immortal King's treasures, and there was more than endless wealth in it. There were also instructions on how to achieve the greatest strength, and once he was able to get ahold of that, there was a chance that he might reach the Legendary-realm in his lifetime, perhaps even reaching the peak of the Sanctuary-realm…
