"Where are we?"
"Likely within the hidden demiplane of some
Lin Leyland gently closed his eyes.
His astonishing perception spread outward, allowing him to deeply sense the fluctuations of the dimensional anchor: "Mm! This demiplane was already on the verge of dissipating. It was only sealed all this time, until we opened this place and activated the entire plane — which also set it on a countdown to destruction…"
In Lin Leyland's mind, he was genuinely fascinated by this kind of spatial folding technology.
From the Arcanists' arrangements alone, one could see that after the localization efforts of the Rule Wizards, the Arcanists had combined the advanced technology and experience of two worlds to create many remarkable things.
"What a shame…"
A hint of regret flickered in Lin Leyland's eyes. This demiplane's area was minuscule, barely the size of two football fields, and it was already on the verge of decay — it held no further value.
Otherwise, once this demiplane were exposed, it would probably drive other Legendary Mages to fight tooth and nail over it.
If one built a mage tower within a demiplane, it would make for an exceptionally well-hidden and stable lair.
Furthermore, after ascending to godhood, the demiplane could even be transformed into a Divine Kingdom!
Of course, given this demiplane's condition, such a transformation was clearly no longer possible.
"A demiplane? Destruction? That kind of spatial storm!"
Helen shuddered. The dimensional storm produced by a plane's destruction would be nearly impossible to survive, even for a Legendary-ranked powerhouse.
"Mm! But we should still have over three sandglass hours…"
Lin Leyland snapped his fingers. A layer of Endure Environments spell-light enveloped his body.
A demiplane's environment was not necessarily the same as the Material World — it could be far more extreme.
Of course, this demiplane that had been modified by the Arcanists likely wasn't like that, but Lin Leyland still preferred to be safe rather than sorry.
Only after seeing Lin Leyland do this did Helen belatedly follow suit, wrapping herself in a layer of protective light as well.
Boom!
The silver-glinting metal door swung open, revealing a honeycomb of rooms stretching out before Lin Leyland and Helen. The floor was spotless, polished enough to reflect their own images back at them.
"The intelligence I had only goes this far. What about you?"
Lin Leyland glanced back at Helen.
"I only ever saw fragments in our ancestor's notes..." The bitter smile on Helen's face deepened.
"Then it looks like we'll just have to search through them one by one..."
Lin Leyland looked up at the glowing chandelier overhead. "The energy core here is still active — there may be defenses the Arcanists set up or something similar. Be careful!"
Although there might be an Arcanist's inheritance hidden in this place, most of those
"Rest assured, my lord!" Helen nodded, and then her slender figure vanished into one of the corridors.
"She's still clinging to hope, it seems..."
Lin Leyland nodded, then shook his head, clasped his hands behind his back, and casually walked into a room.
The moment the two of them split up to search on their own, in a hidden chamber somewhere within the demiplane — the Arcanist laboratory — a pale blue screen flickered to life.
It displayed the footage of Lin Leyland and Helen's appearance, and lines of glaring red characters scrolled across its surface.
"Ding! Intruders detected! Initiating Level-One defense protocols!"
"Arcane Element Pool reserves at 1.09%! Unable to initiate... Legend Golems, Extradimensional Banishment Arrays — all missing!... Switching to Plan B..."
"Alchemical Golem scan complete — integrity at 34.17%! Beginning recharge!"
"Recharge complete! Activating Standby Defense Mechanism No. 0331!"
After those cascading lines of text finished scrolling, somewhere within the demiplane a long-sealed door burst open with a thunderous crash. Then an alchemical golem nearly three meters tall stepped out.
"Unit 2133 standing by! Orders received! Beginning operations!"
A burst of blood-red light flared from the golem's eyes, and a screen materialized in mid-air—it was clearly a projection of Helen.
The alchemical golem emitted sounds like cracking joints. Then it began to chase after a figure in one direction.
Boom! Boom!
A faint tremor passed through the area, catching the attention of Lei Lin, who was reading.
"Hmm?!" Lei Lin set down the several incomplete manuscripts in his hands, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face. "It seems the defense mechanisms of this demiplane laboratory haven't been completely destroyed... This will save me quite a bit of effort..."
In truth, aside from deducing that an Arcanist had existed here, Lei Lin knew nothing else about the entire ruin.
With the looming deadline of the demiplane's collapse, he couldn't take away too many things.
But the presence of an intelligent core or a tower spirit represented the greatest wealth of the entire laboratory!
Putting down his things, Lei Lin walked directly toward the source of the tremor.
...
"Help me, Lei Lin!"
Helen, who was fleeing for her life, saw Lei Lin approaching and immediately ran toward him, her eyes lighting up.
Lei Lin looked at the disheveled Helen, especially at the beast-hide scroll clutched in her hand—it radiated the energy fluctuation of a high-level Magical Item! Not an alchemical artifact, but one with true energy fluctuations similar to the magical items of the Wizard World!
Given how Helen clutched it as if she'd die before letting go, it must be a rather decent item, though the current Lei Lin couldn't care less about it.
Dong! Dong!
At this moment, the alchemical golem that had been chasing Helen appeared before Lei Lin.
It resembled a medieval armored knight, but it had two small cannon barrels mounted on its shoulders, giving it a rather fantastical style that blended magic and technology.
"Ding! Target One detected! Initiating annihilation protocol!"
Upon spotting Lei Lin, a terrifying blood-red light emanated from the golem's eyes.
"Miniature Magical Cannon beginning charge!"
A terrifying layer of energy particles continuously condensed within the cannon barrel on the golem's shoulder, sending a faint but unmistakable sense of danger through Lei Lin.
"This style! It really is completely different from current technology!"
An expression of keen interest crossed Lei Lin's face as his body blurred into motion.
BOOM!
The miniature magical cannon on the golem's shoulder erupted, its searing radiance enough to melt even the metal floor beneath.
Whoosh! Lei Lin's body was struck by the brilliant beam, but it immediately dissolved into a dark shadow that burst apart.
"It's a Greater Illusion!" Helen crouched to the side—at this level of combat, there was absolutely no way she could intervene.
"Still, as long as we can buy some time, Lord Tifa waiting above should be able to come down. With her Legendary-level strength..."
Hene Helen was still calculating, gripping the scroll tightly in her hands, when she suddenly gasped in shock, her mouth falling wide open.
"After tens of thousands of years, to still maintain this level of power—quite impressive!"
With a flash of light, Lei Lin appeared directly behind the alchemical golem, studying its somewhat battered armor and the alchemical symbols and circuits within.
"What a shame... the energy here has long been nearly depleted. Otherwise, even a Legendary-tier team wouldn't have stood a chance getting in..."
The passage of time is the most terrifying attack of all!
After the erosion and wear of ages, even the Arcanist's defenses had developed critical vulnerabilities.
"Besides, Tower Spirits that are completely different from the
Lei Lin sighed, a faint glow gathering at his fingertip, and pressed it directly onto the puppet's body.
[Ding! Intrusion protocol initiated! Scanning target ports, searching databases—information barrier detected!]
The Chip also issued its mechanical voice at that moment.
The Arcanist had derived most of its heritage from Wizard traditions, and its construction naturally embodied many Wizard principles. Even with its improvements, to Lei Lin it all looked like child's play—let alone with the Chip's assistance.
Following the puppet's connections, Lei Lin's consciousness instantly traveled along the demiplane's network and arrived in the core control room.
"Alert! Alert!"
At that moment, in the previously hidden core chamber, blindingly massive blood-red text had already flooded the entire screen.
"Foreign information source intrusion detected! Attempting to alter core permissions! Denied! Activating defensive firewall!..."
"Firewall activation failed! Initiating self-destruct sequence... Countdown: 3, 2,... Ding! Core permissions modified, primary loyalty target changed to Lei Lin Fairlan, self-destruct sequence suspended!"
"What... what's going on?"
To Helen waiting outside, the entire spectacle seemed like some bizarre illusory performance.
After Lei Lin made contact with that alchemical golem, the entire demiplane began to tremble. Even the lights flickered erratically between bright and dim, while massive blue arcs of electricity and sparks shot out in all directions—it truly felt as though the end of the world had arrived.
But then, everything returned to normal.
"Follow me!" Lei Lin now carried a distinctly different air about him, having seized control of the entire laboratory's core authority. The commanding presence in his voice made Helen all the more convinced.
Then, Helen was surprised to discover that Lei Lin led her to the heart of the laboratory as though he knew it by heart—every verification check and coded door yielded to him effortlessly, as if he were the original owner of the place.
"Identity verification passed! Welcome, Master!"
The terrifying door, carved with an angel on the left and a devil on the right, swung open with a thunderous crash.
Helen followed behind Lei Lin, casting one lingering, fearful glance back at the door.
"That was at least a Legendary-level curse, and we just passed straight through it?"
This effortless ease left her somewhat incredulous, while simultaneously she felt that the secrets surrounding Lei Lin were only growing more numerous.