After some haggling and bargaining, Leilin and Sarth finally reached an agreement.
The Oukert Family would bear the full cost of constructing a Morning Star-level wizard tower for Leilin, as well as an Astral Gate, and in return, Leilin guaranteed that he would never reveal anything about the Star Dust Insects to anyone.
The two of them swore an Oath of the Eye of Judgment for this — it was naturally the Blue Mountain King who had insisted on it — but he failed to notice the faint trace of mockery in the depths of Leilin's eyes.
Finally, as an added bonus, Leilin also had Sarth provide a detailed account of the circumstances and events surrounding the allied forces' siege of the Ouroboros Ring.
Upon receiving this information, his brow visibly furrowed.
"Jupiter's Thunder…" After seeing Sarth off, Leilin leaned back on the sofa, rubbing his forehead, sinking into deep thought.
"I never expected it to truly be them. Why would the lofty Radiant Moon Wizards take an interest in the Ouroboros Ring?"
This was a question that, with Gilbert and the others missing, clearly no one would come forward to answer. Leilin could only mull it over alone.
…
After the celebration of his ascension to Duke concluded, the numerous envoys had not yet departed when another momentous occasion arrived.
The engagement ceremony between the Morning Star Warlock, Grand Duke Leilin, and Fleur, the head of the Blood Serpent Family!
For bloodline warlocks, choosing a spouse was always done with extreme caution, as it concerned the inheritance of bloodlines and even the rise and fall of an entire family.
And the engagement of a Morning Star-level warlock meant that a new line of Cormorian blood would spread forth, giving rise to another powerful family!
Although this family currently consisted only of Leilin and his fiancée, no one would deny the formidable strength of a Morning Star warlock family.
Not to mention that, according to certain whispered rumors, Duke Leilin's bloodline was extraordinarily pure, even surpassing that of the three previous Morning Star warlocks! And his fiancée came from a distinguished branch of the Cormorian family, with a pure bloodline.
The numerous envoys and warlocks seemed to already envision a super-powerful Cormorian family rising rapidly within the Ouroboros Ring.
Though they harbored private misgivings, these envoys outwardly displayed great goodwill toward Leilin's engagement and offered their sincere congratulations.
Once the engagement ceremony concluded, envoys from the various factions departed the Phosphor Marshes one after another. During this celebration and ceremony, they had witnessed far too much, and needed to return to report to their respective masters behind the scenes.
As for Leilin, he could finally enjoy a moment of leisure and attend to other miscellaneous matters.
"Your Grace!"
As he walked along the path, the numerous warlocks who caught sight of him from afar would immediately clear the way, bowing respectfully at the roadside.
Leilin maintained a solemn expression, at most offering a slight nod to some high-ranking warlocks, his bearing exuding boundless authority.
With his current standing within the Ouroboros Ring, he naturally passed through without any obstruction, arriving before a building that resembled a honeycomb, formed by many enormous interconnected laboratories.
This was the headquarters of the Technology Department. Upon seeing Leilin's arrival, a commotion broke out at the entrance, and then Shart, wearing spectacles, came forward to greet him, surrounded by numerous warlocks in white lab coats — a sight that made Leilin feel as though he had returned to the research institute of his previous life.
"Your Grace!" Shart bowed respectfully first. He was genuinely grateful to Leilin — after all, if not for the latter's sudden emergence, the entire Ouroboros Ring would likely have been destroyed.
"Mm! Take me to the Astral Gate!" Leilin nodded and said calmly, then followed Shart deeper inside.
After passing through layer upon layer of isolation measures and detection arrays, Shart led Leilin before a grand gate constructed entirely of Astral Stone.
The entire gate radiated a brilliance reminiscent of starlight, while the innermost surface was of a stony texture, with numerous luminous runes hovering above the surface of the stone gate.
"This is the Astral Gate that Lady Emma once used. We relocated it here…"
Shart removed his spectacles, his tone filled with an ineffable sense of wistfulness.
"Through repeated experiments by our colleagues, we can now confirm that the Astral Gate itself is perfectly fine. However, when attempting to set the coordinates, we encountered interference from an unknown force, making secondary positioning exponentially more difficult!"
"What level of power do you think would be required to accomplish something like this?" Leilin asked in return, his gaze sharp and penetrating.
"Perhaps…" Shart was a pure researcher by temperament — straightforward and to the point, never one to beat around the bush. "Only interference from a Radiant Moon-level Wizard could possibly cause three Elders to misjudge the situation!"
Radiant Moon level! Fifth-tier Grand Wizard! The moment Shart's words left his lips, the researchers following him could be seen swaying visibly, their legs clearly struggling to hold them upright.
Last time, it had merely been a single Morning Star warlock from their side who had acted, and combined with the allied forces, they had nearly brought about the Ouroboros Ring's destruction. If this time a Radiant Moon Wizard were to act in person?