Ignox
Multi-coloured carpets and pieces of furniture gave off a slight aroma within a luxurious room, as if there had been some special incense burnt here that gave a simple yet elegant feeling.
Leylin surveyed the surroundings and nodded in satisfaction. Though he had been a guest here before and already experienced the VIP rooms of the Lyas Family, the grandeur of this room had reached a whole new level. This had once been Eam Lyas’ mansion. Of course, once Leylin revealed his intentions to stay overnight, he had arranged this place for him with the fastest speed possible.
Leylin currently stood before a huge oil painting, observing the portrait of a blue-haired Warlock. The man in the portrait looked somewhat similar to Eam; it was probably the founder of his family.
After being focused on for a period of time, the portrait’s eyes flickered, revealing an expression full of terror as if it was alive. However, it could not speak nor move, and only watched Leylin imploringly.
“Mm! The slight remnants of a conscient…” Leylin nodded, taking in the oil painting. “There seems to be a secret semi-plane as well, with the bloodline and body of an ancient mature Thorned Thunderbird. Looks like this must be the final trump card of the Lyas family…”
Eam had no way to withdraw this important mechanism in such a short time. He must’ve been counting on Leylin not discovering it, or caring for the more luxurious items, which was why he’d failed to conceal it.
“Interesting… Interesting!” Leylin stroked his chin while sitting on the sofa, allowing the portrait to heave a sigh of relief before it returned to its previous frozen expression.
Leylin truly held no malicious intent towards something like that. Though a rank 6 bloodline would’ve been very attractive to him at rank 5, he had currently reached the peak of Breaking Dawn, almost entering the realm of laws. He cared nothing for it.
“Brother Leylin, this couch is so comfortable!” Sophia was holding a little bear bolster, rolling on the sofa like a mischievous little child. However, the crafty glint in her eyes made it clear that she had other intentions.
The sisters had always thought well of Leylin, especially Sophia. She had practically glued herself to his side. Furthermore, even though Belinda had her doubts about this, it was a matter of time before she accepted him. Perhaps there was another one coming his way.
Of course, Leylin naturally accepted benefits that fell at his feet. He stroked his chin, his lips arching at an angle. With a wave of his arm, the surface of the oil painting was covered by a layer of darkness, “Sister Sophia, do you want to play a fun game with me?”
……
The time of pleasure soon passed. Sophia’s legs had gone weak, and she had to be taken away by Belinda. While leaving, the snake girl glared hard at Leylin, a myriad of emotions hidden in her look. Aegnis herself had watched on like it was all a show, but she too didn’t understand why a blush had appeared on her cheeks.
‘What clever women they are,’ Leylin thought in evaluation as he closed the door apathetically. These women had been smart enough to leave him in privacy.
“Come out!” Leylin now looked extremely calm as his eyes shifted to the cupboard.
*Plop! Blop* The ground seemed to melt in an instant, emitting black bubbles. A layer of orange appeared, crawling through the room. In the blink of an eye, the room had changed around Leylin. Watching it, a thought sprang to his mind. ‘Is this some space folding apparatus?’ He stroked his chin.
In this new environment, a black door of light appeared from the cupboard and was pulled open. A Magus wearing a swallow-tailed coat and a hat slowly walked out with a walking stick in hand. The man wore a pair of golden spectacles with round lenses, a complicated and intricate chain linking to them from behind his ear.
“Nice to meet you. This humble servant here is called Ignox,” The Magus who came forward took off his hat and bowed elegantly.
‘A being of laws, who has only just reacted to me now? That’s beyond my expectations,’ Leylin sized up this person with interest. Through his comprehension of laws, he had evidently realised that the body of this person was merely a form that the other party had chosen at will. The main body, on the other hand, was merely a bundle of mist with a complicated black ring of light at the middle that had some unique rhythm, enveloped by the dense power of laws. A deep and dark aura emanated from it like a bottomless abyss, intimidating and overwhelming.
This was a true rank 7 Magus, a being that had completely grasped a certain law!
“I am Leylin Farlier. Greetings, my Lord!” Leylin was not that surprised that this being had arrived. The soul force of those who comprehended laws could scan the entire central continent in an instant. Though it could not be used to scan every single ant on the ground, immense energy waves could not escape its detections.
Leylin himself hadn’t concealed the aura of his laws, something that allowed him to easily be sensed by others who at such ranks. This encounter was his goal; for better or worse, he was from the Magus World and he had to make contact with the original beings of laws there.
“Tsk tsk… the power to devour all mass… and such a terrifying bloodline force… I hadn’t seen such a bloodline source before…” Ignox’s eyes showed his astonishment, “Even without having passed through the boundaries to become an existence of laws, Mister Leylin’s strength isn’t lacking at all when compared to us.”
Leylin accepted Ignox’s flattering without hesitation. His body was now incomparably close to rank 7, and on top of the mysteries of his devouring law, his other abilities put him on par with a rank 7 law-wielding Magus.
“Our Magus World hasn’t given birth to a new rank 7 since the ancient war! Mister Leylin’s existence is truly a cause for celebration!” Ignox seemed very excited.
“I’m only a minor Warlock from the south coast, and I know little regarding the world of rank 7s and higher. I hope Mister Ignox can properly guide me,” Leylin’s words were humble.
“But of course! As the higher ranks of the Magus World, it is our duty to help each other!” Ignox nodded solemnly, “Also, there are some things that I need to warn you about. While you’ve yet to completely enter rank 7, your strength has already reached that point, which is why some restrictions apply to you.”
“That’s reasonable, I won’t go against them,” Leylin nodded.
Ignox noticed there seemed to be a loophole in Leylin’s words but he paid no heed to it, laughing while not the least bit concerned, “It’s very simple. You cannot deliberately prevent the Magus World’s World Will from recovering. Also, each of us has a fixed region whose defense we’re in charge of, and you’ll need to thwart the invasions of any beings of laws. For instance, I’m in charge of the first to fourth levels of the subterranean world. Other than that, even if you were to massacre a whole continent nobody will bother with you!”
Leyln’s eyes twinkled. “Is the World Will still dormant? Is it because of the ancient Final War?”
“Yes, the ancient Final War! The dusk of the Gods and the fall of the Magi’s glory,” Ignox narrated in a singing voice, a trace of fear in his words.
“What exactly happened during the ancient Final War?” Leylin asked urgently.
“You will find out the specific details soon enough. To sum it up, the two worlds fought in order to achieve the chance to reach rank 9, and a large number of existences of laws fell…” While Ignox said this in a relaxed manner, Leylin could picture the mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Even at its peak the Magus World wouldn’t have spawned an existence of laws in a thousand years, but so many had died.
“After the war, our World Will sank into a deep sleep. The combined conscient of the World of Gods and the higher gods was the same. They even engaged their crystal system and prevented any outsiders from spying on them. Left behind, we first withdrew to the subterranean world, guarding the World Will as close as we could while comprehending laws,” Ignox said.
“Is the Magus World’s Will sleeping at the earth’s core?” Leylin stroked his chin, ‘The nearer the place is to the World Will, the more conspicuous the laws become. The world origin force will also take care of Magi. It’s no wonder that those existences of laws stay deep underground and won’t come out!’
“After signing the contract, Lord Leylin will become a part of us too!” Ignox got to the point, “I am here to notify you about this. There’s about a decade until we’re done with the preparations for the contract, and when the time comes we’ll send you an invitation!”
He seemed to never have considered Leylin’s rejection. Of course, Leylin wasn’t foolish enough to make enemies out of the existences of laws in the Magus World.
“I understand,” Leylin nodded solemnly.
“And the area of governance?” Ignox rubbed a large ruby in his hands, “Lord Leylin came from the surface world, so how about taking care of that area? The danger is at a minimum there, and there aren’t any other existences of laws guarding it anyway…”
“Danger at a minimum?” Leylin had no idea whether to laugh or cry at this point 1. Perhaps getting him to guard the surface was purely from Ignox’s good intentions.
Of course, this matched Leylin’s plans, and so he agreed without hesitation, “Of course!”
With the important business done with, Ignox and Leylin continued to chat, his enriching and wide knowledge astounding Leylin. The important matters to be noted after reaching rank 7 were extremely beneficial to him. When he had to leave, Leylin felt reluctant to part with him.
1. He found it both funny and embarrassing