When Leilin saw the stone pedestal and the black book at its center self-destruct, not a trace of regret crossed his face.
For him, the greatest prize of this trip was already in hand. Even if he walked away with nothing else, he had no regrets.
Crack! Crack!
The two blue cocoons before him also shattered, revealing the two items that had been inside.
Leilin caught them steadily.
The black pouch, crafted from the hide of a Void White Eye Snake, felt soft to the touch, and a warm sensation continuously radiated from it.
The silver patterns on its surface seemed to come alive, constantly writhing across the leather in shimmering, iridescent waves.
"As expected of the Void White Eye Snake — the so-called darling of space. An adult specimen naturally manifests Spatial Runes on its exterior…"
Leilin murmured in admiration, his fingers tracing across the surface of the pouch again and again.
"What a pity! The Void White Eye Snake isn't a bloodline creature. Otherwise, even though this leather has been solidified by an Ancient
Leilin let out a small sigh, then turned his gaze to the honeycomb-like ball beside it.
Ink-green pearls were embedded across its surface, each one resembling a strange, unblinking eye. After staring at them for a while, Leilin actually felt a wave of dizziness wash over him.
"This thing is bizarre! I'll need to look up references later and analyze its composition…"
He set the thought aside and sent a thread of Spiritual Power seeping into the pouch made from the Void White Eye Snake's hide.
Swish!
The knot at the pouch's neck loosened instantly, revealing a pitch-black opening. In that moment, Leilin felt his Spiritual Power connect to a peculiar space.
The space was not large — roughly the size of two or three rooms. All four walls glowed with a hazy white light, and the Spatial Runes he had noticed on the pouch's exterior drifted lazily across the luminous surface.
Through his Spiritual Power, Leilin sensed that he could stuff any inanimate object inside.
He then looked at the honeycomb ball.
Whoosh — the ball vanished from his hand in an instant, and inside the pocket dimension, a honeycomb-shaped object covered in countless pearls now floated serenely in the void.
"What a strange sensation. And the pouch hasn't gained any weight, either…" Leilin hefted it.
Just as he was about to seal the pouch, a burst of mental information flowed from deep within.
"Successor! Congratulations on obtaining my final creation — the Endless Pouch of
"Meipisi — I've never heard that name, but he must have been an alchemist from the Ancient Era!"
Leilin examined his newly acquired high-tier Magical Item with surprise.
Along the South Coast, low-tier Magical Items were things that apprentices and hard-up First-rank Wizards used. Semi-elementalized and peak-stage Wizards employed mid-tier Magical Items.
Only the truly gifted, or Second-rank Wizards, could hope to possess a high-tier Magical Item!
As for magical artifacts above that tier, they had always been jealously guarded by the great powers. Even Leilin had never heard any concrete intelligence about them.
And now, Leilin himself owned a high-tier Magical Item. Though it wasn't an offensive type, the help it would bring him far exceeded that of any offensive high-tier piece!
Leilin swept his gaze across the remaining items.
Around the black stone pedestal stood several rows of small wooden racks. While the items on them were fewer and less remarkable than the three treasures on the pedestal, out in the open world they would still be enough to make semi-elementalized Wizards and even peak First-rank Wizards tear each other apart!
"Since I'm here, all of this is mine!"
Leilin smiled. Dense wisps of black mist coalesced into small serpents and surged toward the racks on every side…
A dozen minutes later, Leilin walked out of the vault wearing a broad grin.
His haul this time was enormous. Even though some of the hidden treasures had been destroyed by the defensive formations, under his aggressive scavenging he had managed to seize nearly eighty percent of the entire stockpile!
The rare and exotic materials inside dazzled his eyes. Some were so obscure that not even his thoroughly updated database contained records of them.
A rough estimate put their value at tens of millions of Magic Stones at the very least!
"These resources are more than enough to carry me all the way to Second-rank Wizard and sustain me for a long time after…"
Leilin patted the black pouch inside his robe, his smile growing ever wider.
The greatest prize of all was still this Endless Pouch of Greed. A storage-type high-tier Magical Item was something even Second-rank Wizards would consider a once-in-a-lifetime find.
The pouch now resting against Leilin's chest looked utterly unremarkable from the outside — a dull, dusty grey. The mesmerizing silver Spatial Runes it had once displayed were now completely hidden.
After receiving the alchemist's residual message left inside the pouch, Leilin could already manipulate the Endless Pouch to alter its outward appearance.
In its current form, it appeared to be nothing more than a plain leather belt pouch, devoid of even the faintest energy fluctuation — the kind of thing no one would ever associate with a spatial artifact.
Moreover, the interior space spanned two or three rooms, roughly a hundred cubic meters. After Leilin transferred everything from the vault and the supplies he was already carrying inside, only a few corners were taken up.
With this pouch, any future expeditions or explorations would be infinitely easier!
"Hmm? The Rat Wizard has already left? A clever one, that…"
Leilin glanced around. The Rat Wizard had been gone for who knew how long. The entire corridor was deathly silent, the ground littered with broken wall tiles and dust.
From far away came the faint tremors of ongoing magical bombardment.
That would be the dark wizards of the Thousand-Leaf Hand and the light wizards of the
"It should be just about time for the dark wizards to pull out!"
Leilin calmly pulled out a golden pocket watch, checked it, and let out a cold laugh.
Having spent considerable time within the Thousand-Leaf Hand, he understood perfectly well that the dark wizards' initial assault had been devastating — at one point the light wizards could barely hold their heads up. But all of that relied on the attack's secrecy and surprise. As time dragged on, the White Wizard Alliance's reinforcements were sure to arrive.
Besides, dark wizards were, for the most part, selfish creatures. Once they had grabbed their share, getting them to risk their lives was nearly impossible.
"Still, up there, that giant and that 'lord' must be wondering why I haven't detonated the consciousness core of the metal gate, right?"
The passageway of the Ganges Secret Realm was extremely stable, especially the massive metal gate connecting the two areas. The runes Leilin had sensed on it were troublesome enough on their own, and the entire gate appeared to be constructed from a kind of memory metal with self-repair capabilities. Unless it was destroyed in a single blow, or the attack exceeded its tolerance threshold, the gate would automatically restore any damage.
According to the Chip's estimates, only a Fourth-rank Morning Star Wizard or above could hope to completely destroy the Secret Realm gate.
Whether the South Coast even still possessed a Wizard of that caliber was anyone's guess!
Leilin shook his head, chose a path, and vanished into the darkness.
…
Ssss!
Green hurricanes tore through the air, slamming into buildings with deafening sounds of corrosion.
Spell-light flickered here and there, dimming under the embrace of the green mist before the entire structure collapsed with a thunderous crash, giving way to billowing clouds of dark green goo.
At the center of the miasma, the giant withdrew the hand that had just moments ago crushed the skull of a Four Seasons Garden Wizard.
"What's going on? Why hasn't it detonated yet?" He stared toward Leano's office, a hint of impatience flickering across his features.
If the metal gate's consciousness core were destroyed, a terrifying spatial storm would erupt, and the Secret Realm entrance would suffer irreversible damage.
But now?
The giant glanced again in the direction of the metal gate. The Secret Realm entrance still stood firmly at the center of the Four Seasons Garden headquarters. Even when caught in the crossfire of wizard battles, it showed not the slightest fluctuation — like an ancient ocean, concealing unimaginable power within, enduring for millennia without destruction.
"It seems something went wrong on Leilin's end! But… I still have a backup plan…"
A strange expression flickered across the giant's face.
…
Inside Leano's office.
Seeing the intact seal, the golden-haired wizard let out a sigh of relief. "The seal Master spoke of is still here — the core consciousness is undamaged…"
He then shouted to the wizards behind him: "Secure this area immediately! Threat level 5A! This is a joint order from Master Leano and myself as the headquarters envoy!"
"Yes, sir!" The wizards behind him bowed in unison, then swiftly fanned out, forming a tight defensive perimeter around the magical formation at the center of the office.
Every one of them wore blood-red armor adorned with thorny vine patterns. Every movement they made radiated a bloodthirsty aura that sent a chill through the other wizards nearby.
This was the core fighting force of the Four Seasons Garden headquarters — the Four Seasons Squad. Every member was a powerful wizard with at least sixty percent elementalization, proficient in multiple secret techniques that could amplify their spells by seventy percent or more. They excelled above all in coordinated combat.
This time, only Wade's status as a headquarters envoy had allowed him to mobilize them.
"Sir! Should we also send a few to protect the Merit Trading Hall? According to the latest intelligence, the Thousand-Leaf Hand's S-class fugitive — Blood Hand — has already been spotted there…"