"I feel great! The Advanced Meditation Method — whether it's Spiritual Power recovery or the degree of concentration, it's incomparable to the simplified version from before..."
Ailin stood up and asked
"But what about the leakage of my aura? If someone from the same school finds out, I'll definitely be isolated and interrogated..."
"Haha... don't worry. The
Merlin appeared quite confident.
"Really?" Ailin's eyes lit up.
"Of course. And who do you think I am? Besides, this is a magical artifact! A magical artifact — do you understand? Right now your strength is still too weak; otherwise you could unlock even more of the Wizard Ring's power..."
"Not really, but I think I've heard of them."
Ailin scratched his head. "What should I do next?"
"Keep killing enemies! Accumulate military merit! I checked yesterday's contribution rankings — that Spiritual Power Compression potion is very useful for you. You must get it!"
"Understood!" Ailin clenched his fist, his eyes blazing with determination. "That bastard, and the Podrick Family — I will definitely come back for them!!!"
……
Unbeknownst to anyone, two months had passed.
Outside Dorun City, the war had escalated further. Massive dark elf armies had arrived and set up camp, forming an encampment that stretched for dozens of miles.
In the center of the camp stood several golden tents, from which emanated an aura that even made Leilin frown.
With proper command, the dark beasts and elves fought with several levels greater effectiveness than before. This plunged Dorun City into a fierce battle, with devastating losses among the lower-ranking forces.
Fortunately, the consumption of these cannon fodder was backed by the Eastern Dark Domain's endless supply, so they managed to hold on.
Under this intense pressure, the atmosphere in all of Dorun City grew heavier by the day. A premonition of a great battle looming settled over everyone's heart.
By now, Ailin had made a small name for himself, having beaten several apprentices sent by fellow school members to hassle him until they were bloodied and bruised. He had gained a modest reputation.
And following the wizards' rule of respect for strength, his quarters had been upgraded to a new location.
The windows were clean and bright, and the space was much larger than before.
At this moment, Ailin sat on blue-striped bedsheets, large beads of sweat rolling down his face, while Leilin closely monitored everything through the black ring.
This was Ailin's first time using the strange Spiritual Power generated by the Sacred Light Candleflame to probe the currents of fate, since switching to its cultivation.
Leilin was paying close attention to this as well, ordering the Chip to continuously collect data for future reference.
The Sacred Light Candleflame that Ailin practiced was, of course, not the original pristine version provided by the Chip, but a version that had been modified again by Leilin and the Chip, with numerous backdoors and control programs embedded within.
"It's coming!"
Leilin smiled, and an ethereal fluctuation appeared before his eyes.
Immediately, image after image was intercepted by the ring.
On the city walls, Ailin waved his hand and launched a fireball. A giant boar tumbled down. Seeing this, a smile appeared on his face.
But right at that moment — something unexpected happened! From among the beast herd that had already begun to retreat, a massive black monkey suddenly rose up. The monkey had three eyes, and from the central one, a beam of red light shot forth.
An energy fluctuation as powerful as a full Wizard erupted from the monkey's body.
Ailin couldn't dodge in time, and his body was torn to shreds!
These images flickered alternately before Leilin's eyes, though they appeared somewhat blurry and not entirely coherent.
"So that's how it is! If things continue this way, Ailin will die during a siege three days from now?" Leilin stroked his chin.
"Meditation Method information intercepted! Allow passage?" the Chip's mechanical voice sounded.
"Yes!" The moment Leilin gave his answer, the meditating Ailin's body trembled, his eyes completely losing focus and turning white, as though he had seen something terrifying.
The Sacred Light Candleflame Meditation Method, after Leilin had added its hidden backdoors and control programs, had become somewhat different from the original.
Moreover, through these hidden measures working in conjunction with the semi-intelligent program in the ring, every one of Ailin's prophecies would be intercepted and pass through Leilin first.
Only after Leilin approved would these fragments of the future be transmitted to Ailin's mind.
Furthermore, beyond just the ability to intercept, Leilin could even delete or modify these fragments and information. In other words, whenever he wished, he could make Ailin reach completely wrong conclusions.
After all, when dealing with an apprentice who had gained the ability to foresee the future through cultivation, Leilin felt he needed to be extra careful.
Otherwise, if the other party managed to prophesy all of his plans, what would be the point of Leilin's schemes?
Of course, right now it seemed Ailin's cultivation level was still very weak. At most he could only foresee events at the apprentice level, and he had no perception whatsoever of anything related to Leilin.
Even if he advanced to a full Wizard, thanks to Leilin holding the initiative, he would remain completely unaware.
To realize the truth, he would need to advance at least to Leilin's same second-rank level before he could possibly foresee Leilin's actions and make counter-preparations. But unfortunately, Leilin would never give him that chance.
"However, it looks like the Sacred Light Candleflame, after the Chip's modifications, has resolved the restriction that only women could cultivate it, even though higher tiers haven't been deduced..."
Leilin stroked his chin.
"The sample size is still too small!" Immediately, he shifted his gaze to the colorful necklace and the tattered notebook on the desk.
These items were at best special magical curiosities. The claim of them being magical artifacts was enough to fool an apprentice like Ailin, and nothing more.
But that was enough.
"On the battlefield, life and death are not in one's own hands. Now that I've scattered these bait, even if he suspects something is wrong, he'll have no choice but to swallow it!"
Leilin wore a confident smile.
As for why he didn't simply buy slaves or select someone from the Alliance of Nature? That would draw too much attention and be detrimental to Leilin's later plans.
Meanwhile, Ailin was thoroughly terrified by the future he had foreseen.
"Hah... hah... I'm going to die! Three days from now! Killed by a dark beast with the power of a full Wizard!"
Ailin panted heavily, his face deathly pale, his entire body trembling involuntarily.
"What are you afraid of? That's just one possibility in the river of future destiny! I've foreseen my own death dozens of times before, and haven't I always come through just fine?" Merlin manifested, wearing an expression of disdain.
"Right! Right!" Ailin's eyes lit up. Now he finally understood how great the benefits of mastering the power of destiny could be.
"Then what do we do now?" Ailin began thinking actively.
"Simple! Directly request a transfer away from that area, or pretend to be injured and lie low for a few days!" Merlin appeared quite experienced.
……
The dark elves' offensive was far from limited to just the Eastern Dark Domain.
In the Northern Dark Domain, the wizards suffered even more terrifying attacks from the dark elves. Numerous cities fell, and it wasn't until several second-rank wizards intervened that the situation stabilized. But even so, the elves had pushed the front line forward by hundreds of miles, and they even periodically dispatched elite Frost Spider Knights deep into the interior, as though searching for something.
Over here in the Eastern Dark Domain, the situation was relatively stable.
Relying on the triangular defense of Dorun's three great cities and the endless reinforcements from behind, a balance was temporarily maintained.
Even so, the massive numbers of dark beast cannon fodder and dark elves had inflicted considerable casualties on the stationed wizards.
Not counting the apprentices, several full Wizards had even fallen.
As for ordinary people and Knights, their numbers were already impossible to tally.
In the blink of an eye, ten years passed.
By this time, Leilin had gone through several rotations and returned to the Alliance of Nature a few times.
However, during this period he had kept a very low profile, rarely taking action, so his reputation was not widely known.
But only he himself knew just how tremendous the progress he had made during this period of accumulation truly was.
"Leilin! The Earth Beast Hearts you asked me to find last time — I've obtained them. Fifty catties' worth, already delivered to your laboratory!"
A rune lit up, and Vantix's voice came through.
"Thank you! I'll contact you later!"
Leilin replied, a flash of delight in his eyes. "Finally found them! All the conditions are met now!"
He rushed to the laboratory. At the entrance, a wizard in black robes bowed respectfully. "These are the Earth Beast Hearts that Lord Vantix asked me to deliver. Please sign and receive them!"
"Mm!" Leilin nodded, accepted the materials, and after inspecting each Earth Beast Heart, he nodded with satisfaction.
With a casual wave of his hand over the parchment the black-robed wizard held out, a black serpent seal instantly formed.
Seeing this, the black-robed wizard bowed and respectfully withdrew.
Leilin entered the laboratory, simultaneously activating the isolation and defensive magical arrays. A layer of radiant light, shimmering with various runes, flowed ceaselessly around the exterior.
"Now that all the materials have been gathered, I can attempt to prepare the potion!"
Leilin's face broke into a smile, and he glanced at his status.
"Leilin Farell — Warlock, Second Rank — Bloodline: Kemoyin Giant Serpent — Strength: 21.1 — Agility: 14.4 — Constitution: 29.9 — Spirit: 127.9 — Mana: 127 (Mana determined by Spiritual Power synchronization)"
During these ten-plus years, he had practiced the Advanced Meditation Method every day, honing his Spiritual Power.
Moreover, he had a vague sense that through the continuous cultivation of the Kemoyin Eye, his original impetuous and reckless tendencies had gradually been corrected.
Previously, his advancement had been far too fast, inevitably leaving his foundation somewhat unstable.
But all of that had been made up during these ten years.