"Did you find out clearly about this matter?"
Leilin asked Xiling.
"According to intelligence from several of my close friends, the one who plans to target us at this joint council meeting is Shigeli of the 'Eight-legged Spider'!" Xiling ran her fingers through her hair, exposing her fair neck, with the hint of two full curves visible beneath.
"Shigeli? That spider man?" Leilin paid no attention to Xiling's unconscious seduction. The Crystal Mask that Xiling practiced had this exact quality—it could bewitch the minds of those around a wizard without them even noticing.
But this kind of influence was minimal against semi-elementalized wizards, and as for Leilin? That went without saying.
"He's only a semi-elementalized wizard. With you and some helpers, you should be able to deal with him, right?"
Leilin looked at Xiling.
"If it were just him! I could still hold my own by spending some of the favors my mentor left behind. But..." A shadow of gloom crossed Xiling's brow. "Behind Shigeli, there seems to be another force covertly supporting him..."
"I see!" Leilin nodded.
"Of course! My lord, this time, you only need to maintain the Natural Alliance's current standing. That's all Xiling asks for!" As if afraid Leilin would back out midway, Xiling quickly added her assurance.
"Rest assured! Since I've given my word, I have that much honor!"
Leilin naturally wouldn't care about any hidden mastermind behind the scenes.
The Ice Jade Scorpion Emperor's bloodline imprint had already been crafted. All he needed was to wait until his body fully adapted to the cold radiation, and then he could use Ice Transformation to restore his strength as a Second-rank Warlock!
A Second-rank Warlock. Especially one like Leilin who possessed such a powerful ancient bloodline—his strength would absolutely far surpass that of an ordinary Second-rank
No matter what, the Natural Alliance wouldn't be enough to arouse the greed of a Second-rank Wizard, would it?
"Chip! How much longer until my body adapts to the cold radiation?"
Leilin closed his eyes and asked silently in his mind.
"Beep! Based on the current body model, estimated full adaptation time: 56 hours and 34 minutes!"
The Chip quickly provided its conclusion.
"So that means two days from now, right after the joint council meeting ends?" Leilin mused, and subconsciously swept a glance at his status panel.
"Leilin Farell, Second-rank Warlock, Bloodline: Komoin Giant Serpent. Strength: 21.1, Agility: 14.4, Constitution: 27.9, Spirit: 79.9 (104.3), Mana: 79 (Mana synchronously determined by Spiritual Power)"
After so many days of effort and various potion treatments, he had only managed to release a small amount of his solidified spiritual power, still far from breaking through the threshold of a First-rank Wizard.
This only strengthened Leilin's resolve to use the Ice Transformation talent. Otherwise, who knew when he would be able to restore his Second-rank strength!
"After repairing my sea of consciousness, since I've broken free from the influence of emotional volatility, the combat power I can exert is even greater than my peak state on the South Coast..." Leilin calculated endlessly in his mind.
"I'm really looking forward to it!"
Previously, in the Ice Cavern, through the Ice Jade Scorpion Emperor's breath crystals and the "contributions" of numerous other Ice Jade Scorpions, Leilin had managed to completely eliminate the emotional volatility influence of his bloodline.
Although in his view, this elimination still had its imperfections. Perhaps when he advanced to higher ranks of wizard in the future, the violence and chaos hidden in his bloodline and genes would erupt once more.
But now, through the Chip's analysis, Leilin could at least be certain that during the Second-rank and even Third-rank Warlock stages, bloodline emotional volatility would no longer affect him.
And having eliminated this occupational disease, he now possessed all the advantages of an ancient bloodline Warlock without any of the bloodline's drawbacks. How terrifying would his combat power become?
When strength and wisdom combined, nothing on the path of truth could stand in a Warlock's way.
"My lord, what are you thinking about?" Xiling leaned in halfway.
"Nothing!" Leilin pulled Xiling directly into his arms, one hand sliding along her sash and slipping inside.
"M-My lord, not here. Outside, there are still people outside!"
Xiling blushed crimson, pushing at Leilin's hand.
Outside, Ober and Ilya lowered their heads in embarrassment. Whatever ambitions they might have harbored had been thoroughly extinguished after witnessing the formidable power Leilin occasionally displayed.
...
Nuota Highlands. The ground was covered with a kind of white quartz sand, the surroundings desolate.
In normal times, a fair number of dark creatures would gather here, but now, these creatures had all fled the area.
At the center of Nuota Highlands, a brilliant sphere of light, over ten meters in diameter, hung high in midair like a small sun, radiating bright light and heat.
Beneath the sphere of light, numerous wizards wearing garments of various colors—and even some with distinctly different appearances, clearly belonging to other races—were sparsely gathered together.
Even the uncontrolled radiation and energy fluctuations they emitted, after so many wizards had gathered, forced the dark beasts to keep their distance.
After all, this was still within the interior of the Dark Polar Eastern Region, not a place where those creatures could run amok. Even a slightly stronger wizard could exterminate all the dark beasts in the Nuota Highlands.
But outside human territory—beyond the Dark Polar Region—the situation reversed entirely.
Dark beasts held an overwhelming numerical advantage, and among them appeared powerful specimens rivaling wizards in strength, turning the tables to hunt wizards instead.
"Neigh!!!"
At that moment, another carriage carrying several wizards arrived. The horned horse pulling the carriage seemed to sense the formidable power of the wizards ahead and let out an anxious whinny.
The gathered wizards merely glanced over, and upon discovering it was only a small academy, they lost interest and returned to their own affairs.
But a few wizards exchanged subtle glances, their eyes fixed unblinkingly on the carriage.
Thud!
Ober and Ilya respectfully opened the carriage door, half-bowing to greet the two professors.
Xiling was the first to descend. Her face bore an unusual flush of red, her clothes slightly disheveled, but she quickly regained her composure.
"Quite a lot of wizards!"
Leilin also stepped down from the carriage, casting a casual glance around with a faint smile.
From within the carriage, he had already sensed numerous energy signatures. Now, seeing with his own eyes, he knew that at least four hundred and more official wizards had gathered here.
That was no small number. And these were merely the representatives of the major factions—many more personnel had been left to guard their respective headquarters.
Only a small, declining academy like Xiling's would bring out its entire membership like this.
At the same time, even though these four hundred wizards were deliberately restraining themselves, their radiation was still slowly but steadily emanating outward, imbuing the land with a distinctly different atmosphere.
"Four hundred nuclear reactors piled together, all with their cores exposed—back in my previous world, that would have been a major event!"
A faint smile tugged at the corner of Leilin's lips.
"But looking more carefully, the underground wizards really are somewhat different from those on the South Coast!"
Leilin observed carefully, noting silently.
Due to the limited light, or perhaps from never seeing sunlight, the wizards of the Dark Polar Region tended to have rather pale skin.
As for their clothing, they wore all manner of things. There were even a few peculiar wizards who were completely bare, with not a single stitch of clothing on their skin.
Some nature-aligned wizards advocated merging with the great natural order, believing that clothing obstructed this process, and so they adopted this practice. Although many wizards never approved of it, this was a matter of personal philosophy, and other wizards couldn't very well oppose it directly.
Leilin noticed something else: the underground wizards didn't seem to distinguish between Black Wizards and White Wizards.
Black robes and white robes here were merely formal wizard attire, seemingly carrying no special significance.
He could see many wizards in black robes chatting and laughing with those in white robes, with no fighting breaking out.
"Or perhaps the distinction between Black Wizards and White Wizards is something unique to the South Coast!"
A flash of light crossed Leilin's eyes as he took in this scene.
"Dear Xiling! It's been a year since we last met, hasn't it?"
At that moment, a woman in elaborate dress, adorned with gems and tassels everywhere as though heading to some court ball, came forward to greet them with a smile.
"This is Madame Sache of the Obsidian Throne, a good friend of mine! And also an ally of our academy," Xiling whispered an explanation in Leilin's ear, then stepped forward to exchange cheek-kisses with the noblewoman.
"Hello! Madame Sache! This is our academy's honorary professor, Mr. Leilin!" Xiling introduced Leilin to Madame Sache.
"Hello!"
Madame Sache studied Leilin, a hint of curiosity flickering in her eyes.
"I recall that an academy with the Natural Alliance's qualifications, under the joint council's rules, can only recruit one honorary professor. It seems Xiling has pinned all her hopes on you!"
Leilin also observed Madame Sache.
As for the Obsidian Throne, this small academy—as allies, Xiling had already given Leilin a brief introduction along the way.
Madame Sache was quite tall, with a slightly aquiline nose that, combined with her blue eyes, gave her a distinctive quality quite similar to the European style of Leilin's previous world.
"I'll do my best, Madame Sache!"
Leilin naturally understood that while seeking outside help at joint council meetings was precedented, it still had to follow the rules.
For a small academy like the Natural Alliance, the most they could do was accept one outsider to compete under the title of honorary professor.
How could one tell whether someone belonged to an academy? It was actually quite simple—you just had to look at the high-level Meditation Method the wizard practiced.
After advancing to official wizard rank, high-level Meditation Methods would manifest different external phenomena, making them very easy to identify.