Inside a cold drinks shop on the commercial street.
A handsome man sat across from a foodie girl, looking for all the world like an ordinary couple — yet the words they exchanged were enough to scare any bystander to death.
For reasons unknown, the surrounding customers and waitstaff seemed unable to hear Leilin and the girl's conversation, carrying on about their own business as though nothing were happening.
Occasionally, a few pretty girls or waitresses would fix the girl across from Leilin with eyes full of resentment.
If looks could kill, that girl would have died many times over.
"Hee hee… This is the feeling! Being envied! It's so wonderful, so perfect, so blissful!"
The witch was cheering, little stars practically sparkling in her eyes.
But Leilin was not about to be fooled by such a facade. He knew perfectly well what kind of cunning old monster sat across from him — a creature so devious that even Jaysia had very likely been played to death by her.
"Cut the act! So — Fifth-rank Witch, ruler of the Thunder of Jupiter — what exactly did you invite me here to discuss?"
Leilin crossed his arms on the table, shielding his expression, and spoke in a low voice.
The witch opposite him was none other than the current ruler of the Thunder of Jupiter — and very probably the one who had gotten rid of Jaysia to seize the position.
Not long ago, she had personally contacted Leilin and arranged this meeting. Out of a desire to gather intelligence, Leilin had come.
"Wait till I finish this ice-cream strawberry pie first! I've been craving this new series for ages! In my era they didn't have anything like it. The wizard who invented ice cream was a genius!"
The girl was still fighting to stuff a slice of strawberry pie — its surface loaded with cream pudding — into her mouth, her fingertips smeared white with ice cream.
"Let me introduce myself first! I'm
The girl announced casually.
"Chip! Search!" Leilin's eyes flickered.
Given the vast store of records Leilin had plundered from the entire
She was either using a false name, or she had a far more famous alias — her real name lost to the dust of history.
"So, Melinda, you called me out here… just to have cold drinks together?"
Leilin's gaze cooled slightly.
"All right, all right!" Melinda forced down the pastry in her mouth, quenched her thirst with a cup of apple juice, and finally stopped eating. She picked up a few napkins and wiped the crumbs from her fingers.
Once she finished those few gestures, the impression Leilin got of Melinda changed abruptly — as though she had suddenly matured, radiating a unique aura of presence.
"Little wizard — killing my disciple was quite impressive of you!" She looked at Leilin like a kindly mentor encouraging a junior.
Leilin rolled his eyes: "You were the one who killed him, not me." He was entirely unfazed by her split-personality routine.
Having existed as a spirit for thousands of years, even the wisest wizard would undergo certain peculiar changes. Melinda's case was comparatively mild.
Historically, there had been incidents of spirit wizards emerging from ruins and immediately going on疯狂 rampages, perpetrating blood-soaked horrors.
"Oh? …Oho ho ho!!! I almost forgot — poor little Jaysia. I warned him, you know — forging the Pool of Laments is an extremely dangerous process, especially when the energy drops to the threshold. All the spirits will backlash against you… sigh…"
Melinda shifted into a near-tearful act, as though she truly mourned Jaysia. Seeing this performance only strengthened Leilin's conviction that she had deliberately plotted Jaysia's death. He resolved to stay as far from this woman as possible.
"Regardless, Jaysia's fall and the ceasefire between the Thunder of Jupiter and the Ouroboros Ring — both are good things. So, what else did you bring me here for?"
Leilin was losing patience. He cut straight to the point.
"Very well! Would you be interested in helping me slaughter a Throne?" Melinda seemed to sense his impatience and finally got down to business.
"Slaughter a Throne? You madwoman! Meeting you today was the worst decision I've ever made!"
Leilin's expression changed. He stood up immediately.
"Hee hee! Wait, little wizard! Big sister was only joking before. But joining forces against the Throne of Flame does genuinely serve both our interests — doesn't it?"
Melinda seemed to have swapped souls yet again.
"Do you have some grudge against the Throne of Flame?" Leilin appeared to 'suppress' his anger and sat back down.
"The truth is, my original fall had a great deal to do with the Throne of Flame…" Melinda said with a bitter smile, revealing a piece of hidden history.
"And the relationship between you warlocks and the Throne of Flame needs no explanation. So — interested in cooperating now? My understanding of the Throne of Flame far surpasses anything you could hope for. Besides, I also have…"
An hour later, Leilin left the cold drinks shop — having been strong-armed by Melinda into paying the bill for every single drink, which left him rather speechless.
Once he was out of the city, he didn't spare Melinda another glance. He transformed into a streak of rainbow light and departed.
Even at high speed, Leilin was still turning over what Melinda had said.
According to her account, she and the Throne of Flame had once been close friends, but a falling-out over certain matters — culminating in a backstab from the Throne of Flame — had led to her death and her current existence as a lingering spirit.
Later, she had encountered Jaysia, helped him become a Fifth-rank Radiant Moon
Now, having used some means to resurrect herself, she would inevitably become the Throne of Flame's target again. Even if she had temporarily sealed her aura with a secret technique, it would soon be detected — hence her desire to recruit outside support.
Leilin didn't believe even a tenth of this story!
But his situation was somewhat similar to hers: he had become the Throne of Flame's enemy without quite meaning to. Securing necessary allies was something he could endorse, so he played along.
"Wait, and you'll see my sincerity!"
Those had been Melinda's parting words, but Leilin remained deeply skeptical.
For this dark witch who had very possibly revived herself by betraying her own student, he maintained an ample sense of wariness. Since he himself was hardly a paragon of virtue, he found such scheming, manipulative wizards especially contemptible — perhaps because like recognized like.
"I've been waiting for you!"
BOOM! Violent fire-element particles surged to沸腾, spreading before Leilin like a vast crimson ocean.
The countless flames assembled into an enormous face, and a wave of power beyond the Fifth-rank descended, blocking Leilin's path.
The scorching flames even burned through time and space, reducing the surroundings to a swirl of chaos.
"The power of Laws! The Laws of Fire! A Dawn Sun Wizard — you're the Throne of Flame!"
The words tumbled from Leilin's lips. Inwardly, he was cursing Melinda frantically: "That woman! That woman!"
But the great face wasted no words. Crimson light enveloped him at once.
A Sixth-rank Dawn Sun Wizard could begin to touch the Laws, and once the Laws were fully mastered, one would advance to the Seventh-rank!
An attack imbued with the Laws of Fire was something Leilin, in his current state, could not resist.
In virtually an instant, every layer of his defenses crumbled. A colossal will — like a mountain crushing an egg — invaded his body, penetrating all the way into his sea of consciousness.
"Detonate!" Leilin's face hardened. A force of annihilation swept through his sea of consciousness, forming a terrifying storm.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM! The violent explosion was nonetheless swallowed by the crimson flames.
Faintly, a voice drifted over: "So it was only a clone? Impressive concealment technique!"
Even the voice stirred the fire-element particles, driving their concentration in the area to a terrifying level.
[Ding! Soul Imprint self-destructed!]
Inside the Morning Star space, the Chip reported without emotion.
Leilin, for his part, watched the final images relayed by the clone with great interest.
For him, the loss was nothing more than a single clone. Given sufficient resources and the Chip, along with a bit of time, clones of this caliber could be mass-produced. But data on a Dawn Sun Wizard's attack was an exceedingly rare commodity.
A clone's death cost its master nothing more than a sliver of soul force. If the original body were to fall, however, it would deal a severe blow to every other clone — the two outcomes were fundamentally unequal.
"The Throne of Flame! An existence that commands the Laws of Fire!" Leilin murmured.
Data and formulae flooded his pupils, gradually reconstructing the Throne of Flame's combat parameters.
"Chip — if I were to encounter the Throne of Flame in my current state, simulate the engagement!"
[Ding! Simulation commencing…] Accompanied by the Chip's prompt, scenario images proliferated before Leilin's eyes. The future seemed to fork into infinite paths at that moment.
A complete projection of the future exceeded even the Chip's processing capacity. But simulating a single segment — from the opening of battle onward — was something the upgraded Chip could handle with reasonable confidence, even against a Dawn Sun Throne.
[Ding! Simulation complete. Current outcome probabilities for a confrontation between the main body and the Throne of Flame: 15.7% — escape after severe injury; 45.3% — main body perishes, opponent lightly injured; 39% — outcome indeterminate.]
The Chip delivered its verdict.