Giant Serpent’s Breath Potion
Ten years was a long time.
In this period, besides training in his meditation technique, Leylin constantly absorbed more information regarding Twilight Zone to supplement his A.I. Chip’s database.
Given that he was already a rank 2 Magus, he was respected everywhere. To his benefit, most guilds simply gave up all the information they had to him.
In addition, he’d exchanged his contribution points for large amounts of the best research in Twilight Zone. This new research synergized perfectly with the data he had already stored from the south coast.
“A.I. Chip! Begin experimentation on brewing the “Giant Serpent’s Breath” Potion!” Leylin’s eyes flashed as he commanded. Immediately after, with a pat of his spatial pouch, all sorts of ingredients filled the table.
The Giant Serpent’s Breath Potion was an unexpected gain from the storage of a small-scale guild in Twilight Zone.
It was originally an incomplete recipe for an ancient spiritual force potion. It was originally not named such, but Leylin and the A.I. Chip had modified to suit Warlocks in general, and his own Giant Kemoyin Serpent bloodline in particular. Thus, it had been renamed after all the changes.
In other words, he had adjusted the foundations of the ancient formula to suit his individual needs.
After he’d advanced to become a rank 2 Warlock, all the previous ancient potions he had gathered, such as the Tears of Mary, were now useless to him.
On the other hand, this Giant Serpent’s Breath was the fruit of ten years of laborious research. It was a potion capable of increasing the spiritual force of Warlocks.
Pitifully, Leylin had been unable to find a substitute for the heart of the Earthen Fiend until now, and he was not able to proceed any further. Training in ancient high-grade meditation techniques was about relentless effort which would eventually pay off. Time was of the essence.
But at this point, the improvement in Leylin’s spiritual force had begun to slow down.
This was common when cultivating using high-grade meditation techniques. The farther one went, the more difficult it was to advance. Sadly, the increasing intensity of the war, as well as the deaths of several official Magi had left Leylin feeling a rising urgency.
The heart of the Earthen Fiend came at the right time!
After ten years of hard work, all the hidden damage to Leylin’s body had been healed. He could now continue to advance his strength using potions. This was obviously a good thing for him.
But that was not all. Leylin shut his eyes and took over Merlin’s role in Aaron’s ring.
Aaron was now ten years older, but due to the unique ability of Magi, he still looked rather young on the outside.
“Finally… I’m finally back!” Aaron stroked a roadsign, looking emotional.
This was where the headquarters of his guild was located. Seeing the unchanged architecture, Aaron felt like nothing had changed.
“Ha, Aaron? Are you not dead yet? Weren’t you at Dolon City? Why are you back? Did you desert your position?” a young magician with an aquiline nose said with an incredulous look on his face.
Immediately, large numbers of acolytes came out of their rooms, following behind a young man, as if grouping around a revered leader. Behind him was a young woman who was glancing at Aaron with a complicated expression.
The magician at the center was dressed in luxurious robes. Although he only had the energy fluctuations of a level 3 acolyte, he wore quite a few magic artifacts.
“Aaron?” He furrowed his brows, and then looked at the woman behind him. “Is this that Aaron?”
“Yes!” The young woman nodded and grabbed the young man’s hand, “But I no longer have any relationship with him. I was the one to suggest that he go to Dolon. Did you forget that?”
“Ah, yes, that did happen!” The young noble patted his head.
Aaron, who was watching this, looked increasingly gloomy.
“I don’t care how you came back. Just remember this—she’s mine. Behave, or else…”
The young man yawned, bored. Waving Aaron away just as one would a beggar, he prepared to leave. The surrounding acolytes all snickered, matching his actions.
“Hehe, what a great show!” Aaron suddenly lifted his head, and the spiritual force of an official Magus suddenly burst out of his body, sweeping across the area.
Many of the acolytes were paralyzed and fell to the ground, not even daring to move.
“Ah… An official Magus!” The young noble’s expression changed, while the facial muscles of the woman twitched.
She had never imagined that the trash she’d abandoned would one day come this far.
Her regret lasted only a moment before it morphed into fear and resentment.
‘Destroy him! Destroy him!’
She may feel betrayal and resentment now, but such was the truth. The young woman’s expression distorted further.
“Which Magus has arrived?”
*Xiu!* A black figure flashed, and all of a sudden, a white-haired old man appeared.
“Mentor, I’m back!” Aaron bowed towards this old man.
“Ah! You- You’re Aaron!” The old man rubbed his eyes, thinking he had seen an illusion.
……
A few hours later, in the old man’s office.
“Haha, this is great! Not only have you regained your innate talent, you’ve also used the simplified version of Blazing Heart to advance into an official Magus, and even accumulated enough merits points to return…”
The old man’s face was flushed red, and it was evident that he had communicated with the people at Dolon.
While Aaron accompanied him in his laughter, he was sneering deep inside.
Information about him was not a secret. If his mentor had been keeping tabs on him, then he would long since have found out. This display meant that this ‘mentor’ of his had assumed he would die at Dolon and had long since given up on him.
However, he was an adult who had experienced a decade in the warzone. He had long since grown adept at hiding his inner emotions.
“Mentor, I would like to apply for access to train in Blazing Heart, as well as the treatment that official Magi in the guild have!” Aaron spoke indifferently.
“Ah, that’s right! You should train in that since the simplified version is useless after you become an official Magus!”
The old Magus nodded, “As long as you pass the test to confirm your meditation technique, everything you request will be granted!”
Aaron touched the black ring on his finger and laughed nonchalantly. Techniques to check for the aura of a meditation technique were invented by these guilds to screen traitors and spies.
Deep down, he was communicating with Merlin, “Grandpa Merlin, why do we have to ask for Blazing Heart?”
Over the past ten years, as Merlin saved Aaron’s life multiple times and taught him a lot, the two had grown very close.’
“Even if you train in Sacred Flame, you’ll still need to put up a front!”
Merlin appeared in Aaron’s mind in the form of an old wise man as he slowly explained the situation, “You were initially a worthless acolyte without a high-grade meditation technique. If you didn’t gain a guild’s high-grade meditation technique as a front, how else would you explain your advancement from now? Also, don’t forget the guild’s resources. I have a magic artifact’s blueprint for you. If you can craft it, it will definitely increase your strength by a huge margin!”
“What magic artifact?” Merlin’s words piqued Aaron’s curiosity.
“Meteor Sword, a high-grade magic artifact. Although I still have the designs of more powerful artifacts, they’re all too much for you right now…” Merlin said nonchalantly.
Aaron nodded. With his current strength as an official Magus, it was practically impossible for him to make magic artifacts. Only rank 2 Magi had the opportunity to have a high-grade magic artifact, and for him to get one this early was already very lucky.
“I have to help find Grandpa Merlin’s other fragments sooner.” Aaron was currently feeling extremely proud of his achievements.
……
[Beep! Recorded the high-grade meditation technique, Blazing Flame. Saving into high-grade meditation technique database!]
A few days later, the A.I. Chip prompted thus. Aaron had received the high-grade meditation technique, which meant that Leylin got it as well.
Although Leylin salivated over the power of destiny, the high-grade meditation techniques of other guilds still attracted him greatly.
Other than to keep away unwanted suspicions, this was another reason he didn’t use his own acolytes for this experiment.
As a bonus, Leylin was now bringing into reality the sword he had designed.
Meteor Sword was a Warlock-exclusive weapon he had designed for himself. He had drawn inspiration for it from Rays of Dawn, the middle-grade magic artifact of the south coast. He had spent much time and effort on it, and it could be said that most of the time he had spent in Potter Town had been dedicated to this experiment.
However, the materials for this Warlock-exclusive weapon were far too hard to find. Even Leylin did not possess all of them.
Hence, he intentionally disseminated the blueprint parts to his ‘apprentices’ learning Sacred Flame, using them to gather the materials.
Their ability to see the future gave them a high success rate at this.
“I also lack some raw materials for my potions. I can get them to look for those as well!” Leylin touched his chin and had an idea.
The seeds he had planted were now beginning to bear fruit. Through distributing numerous ‘grandpas,’ he had picked out a few talented acolytes and taught them the modified version of Sacred Flame. He was now gathering all the information from their foresight without being anywhere near them. After collating all the information, Leylin managed to roughly discern what the future held.
He had even seen himself in some of the acolytes’ predictions. Of course, these scenes were all intercepted, so the acolytes were unable to receive them.
Suddenly, Leylin’s brows furrowed.
He saw a scene in front of him. A blonde female acolyte’s eyes were rolling back, her body trembling uncontrollably.
Scattered images were sent to Leylin.