Crack!
The black spider totem began to slowly dissipate, and
"You've grown old..."
Boom! The black sigil shattered into points of light and exploded, and the old man's face instantly went pale. Several of the plant roots behind him snapped, and a milky-white sap oozed from the wounds.
When the old man raised his head again, he seemed to have aged even further. Gray-black death spots had even begun to appear on his body.
"Has this body's life force finally reached its end?"
The old man looked at the spots on his skin and let out a bitter laugh, though the sharp gleam in his eyes hadn't diminished in the slightest.
"
A long, weary sigh echoed from the old man inside the cave. Then the light went out, and everything returned to darkness.
...
Ailin returned to his room.
Under the dim glow, rotting floorboards and mold stains in the corners blended together, giving off a foul smell.
As a Third-rank Apprentice, he had been assigned a single room, but this kind of environment was clearly intentional harassment!
But Ailin no longer cared about that. He kept replaying the scenes he had witnessed today in his mind.
Patrols, the detection array, the young man, those eyes...
"I've definitely seen him somewhere before! But why can't I remember?" Ailin rubbed his head hard, then clutched his temples. Veins bulged beneath his skin, and he began to scream in agony.
The excruciating pain nearly made Ailin's vision go black. He nearly passed out, collapsing to the floor and writhing there until, after several minutes, the agony gradually subsided.
Hot sweat dripped continuously down Ailin's face as he hissed through his teeth.
"It's happening again! This thing again! Ever since I came back from the wastelands, I've picked up this affliction, and every time it weakens my soul talent a little more..."
Crack!
At that moment, the floorboard beneath him seemed unable to withstand the abuse and flipped up.
A dark luster immediately caught Ailin's eye.
"What... is this?" He curiously pried the black object out and placed it in his palm.
It was a ring, covered with ancient runes, its surface a dull, somber color that made Ailin's heart skip a beat.
"A ring?" Ailin curiously turned it over. "There seems to be a faint energy fluctuation. Is it a Magical Item?"
Just owning a single Magical Item — even a low-grade one — would be enough to keep him alive in a war. At the thought of this, Ailin's breathing grew heavy.
Suddenly, a piercing pain shot through his finger. With a cry of "Ah!", he nearly flung the ring away.
"What the—?" Ailin stared in shock at his index finger. The tip had been pricked, and a drop of blood fell onto the ring.
On the edge of the black ring, a small thorn had appeared — clearly the culprit.
Whoosh! The moment the blood touched the ring, it was absorbed like water hitting a sponge. The black ring flashed once, turning even more ashen, and even the faint energy fluctuation it had been emitting vanished completely, as though it were nothing more than an ordinary, powerless object.
"Could this be... the legendary bonding ritual?" Ailin rubbed his head, not entirely sure.
He didn't know much about Magical Items, but he knew that some very high-grade ones couldn't be used by their new owner directly — they required a specific ritual. And the catalyst in such rituals was most often blood.
"Haha! Kid, you're thinking in exactly the right direction!"
At that moment, a voice rang out directly inside Ailin's mind.
"Who? Who's there?" Ailin looked around in shock but saw no one.
"I'm right in your hand!" the aged voice replied.
"You're... the ring?" Ailin's eyes went wide.
"That's right! Kid, how about we make a deal?" The old man chuckled.
"No! I won't make any deal with you, and I certainly won't sell my soul!" Ailin's expression was firm.
Wizards were not a cloistered people. Ailin had heard plenty of stories about ancient or otherworldly creatures that liked to strike pacts with humans and collect their souls.
"Oh really? So you don't even want to repair your soul talent?" The old man let out a sinister laugh.
"Repair? Repair my talent?" Ailin's heart began to pound.
"The mysteries of the soul are all within my grasp. If your talent had been lacking from birth, that would be more troublesome, but in your case it's an acquired condition — it can still be reversed..." The old man explained in a calm tone.
"Who exactly are you? Why would you help me?" Ailin suppressed his excitement, though suspicion still lingered.
"I am the ancient legendary Great
"An incomplete memory?"
"Yes. My original body has long since perished, but a shard of memory was preserved within this ring..." The old man seemed to sink into reminiscence.
"As for why I'd help you — I've already told you. A deal!"
"What do you want?" Despite his desperate desire, Ailin kept his guard up.
"Relax. You're practically a dead man already — what could you possibly have that I'd want? I'm not some demon who enjoys collecting souls!"
Merlin chuckled. "I need you to gather my other fragments. In return, I will not only repair your deficiency but also impart a complete high-grade Meditation Method and help you become a full Wizard..."
"A high-grade Meditation Method? A full Wizard!" Ailin's heart surged with joy, then immediately ached.
These were things he had once had hope of obtaining, but now...
"Your other fragments? What do you mean?"
"My original body created many magical artifacts, and left soul shards within each one. It seems that, anticipating great danger, he made preparations in advance. You need to help me collect them..."
Seeing Ailin hesitate, old Merlin added another reassurance: "Each item you find will be of tremendous help to you. Besides, your current strength is far from sufficient to undertake this task, so I will do everything I can to boost your power!"
"What are you trying to do? Resurrect yourself?" Ailin guessed.
"Heh heh... The rules of death are not something a mere Wizard like me can reverse. I simply have some unfulfilled wishes, which is why I've been hiding and waiting, unwilling to fade. Once you've gathered all my fragments, you need only accomplish one thing for me, and we'll be square. I swear it upon my soul essence!"
"No need for oaths — I'll help you!" Ailin's face hardened with resolve.
"You're right! I'm a dead man walking, so what do I have to lose? But letting that woman enjoy herself in peace — I refuse to accept that!" Ailin's eyes turned red.
"Haha! Good! Though I've fallen, my vast reserves of knowledge remain. With those, you can become the greatest genius in the entire Dark Polar Region! Rising to power once more won't be difficult at all!"
Great Wizard Merlin laughed heartily inside Ailin's mind.
"Then! Shall we sign a contract? Under the Eye of Judgment!" The wild fury drained from Ailin's face as he calmly proposed his condition.
"Agreed!" Merlin, inside the ring, fell silent for a moment before responding.
A sharp gleam flashed in Ailin's eyes, and he immediately summoned the phantom of the Eye of Judgment.
"Under the witness of the Eye of Judgment..."
Two voices reciting oaths rang out from the room.
...
"That's done!"
Meanwhile, in his laboratory, Leilin smiled as he looked at the Eye of Judgment's binding that had just materialized on his body. He produced a vial of Filthy Bird feather solution.
That ring, of course, had been deliberately sent out by him.
The old Merlin attached to it was merely a semi-intelligent program, but it was more than enough to fool a greenhorn like Ailin. Moreover, at certain critical moments, Leilin could directly control it remotely.
All in all, it was a knockoff cheat item paired with a mentor figure.
"With this, how big a storm will you stir up in the Dark Polar Region, I wonder? I'm looking forward to it!" Leilin smiled faintly, deep, inscrutable colors swirling in his eyes.
...
In the midst of tense anticipation, the ordinary citizens outside Duolun City had finally all been evacuated. In just a few more days, a massive horde of Dark Beasts would surround the city, and shadowy figures could already be glimpsed among the beast ranks.
"Lord Leilin! Duke Vantix invites you to the city wall!" A middle-aged man in golden armor said respectfully to Leilin.
This middle-aged man served Duke Vantix — the pinnacle of mortals. The ducal household even harbored several full Wizards among its retainers, and the Duke himself was a Second-rank Wizard and descendant of the Vantix lineage.
But even so, he still had to bow his noble head before Leilin.
"Understood!" Leilin slowly closed the massive book in his hands and made his way to the city wall.
Since this was the first attack, not only the military commanders and nobility but even the Wizards had assembled here en masse.
"Lord Leilin!" Vantix hovered in midair and called out to Leilin.
Leilin smiled and flew up as well, hovering alongside Vantix as they gazed at the dark line in the distance surging toward them like a tidal wave.
"Impressive, isn't it?" The ones at the front were all cannon fodder, their energy levels still too low to warrant any change in Vantix's expression.
"Truly impressive." Leilin looked down at the hundreds of thousands of low-level Dark Beasts below the city walls and let out a soft breath.
He hadn't expected there to be so many Dark Beasts in the outer regions. This was only the number from this area alone — a rough calculation suggested that the total Dark Beast population had reached an astronomical figure.
"The Dark Beasts, humans, and the other races — the land simply cannot sustain all of our numbers. That's why, every so often, wars erupt between our various races..."
A Second-rank female Wizard beside them spoke, her voice soft.
"Human versus other races, human versus Dark Beasts, and all manner of mixed conflicts and alliances — this has happened countless times throughout history..."
"This war has no victors and no losers. It ends when the surplus numbers on all sides have been sufficiently depleted..."