Rank 19

*Rumble!* The pirates witnessed a marvellous scene outside the forest. The thick red fog that shrouded the forest transformed continuously, dissipating to reveal the original lay of the land.

The earth trembled as numerous small cracks and even pits appeared in the ground. At the very center of the island, the bare mountain peaks issued a wrathful roar. Fiery lava shone faintly as it flowed over with agitation.

“This is bad. Earthquake! The island is about to erupt… My Lord! Where is the lord?” Calon didn’t care at all about those worried native slaves and pirates. He rushed to the border of the forest in search of Leylin’s figure. This wasn’t due to loyalty; he knew that if he dared to abandon Leylin and flee in secret, the enrage Scarlet Witch would flay him alive!

The island was flooded with an aura of death and despair. Many creatures fled from the thickets, the small cracks in the rocks, and through underground caves to escape. It became an exodus, and even the little ants had bored out from their tunnels beneath the ground.

“d.a.m.n… d.a.m.n! How could these natives have settled their tribe on a volcanic island? Why weren’t there any signs before?” Large droplets of sweat beaded on Calon’s forehead.

However, the G.o.ds above seemed to hear his prayers. Just when Calon was prepared to abandon everything and flee, he finally spotted Leylin’s silhouette near the forest border.

“Oh, thanks to the Ocean G.o.ddess! My lord, you’ve finally appeared, let’s quickly leave this place!”

Leylin seemed rather distracted however, and he caressed his forehead as if he didn’t hear a single word that Calon said. Just when Calon was considering carrying this lord’s body away, Leylin’s eyes finally regained their vigour, “This place is now useless, let’s go!”

“Yes Sir!” Calon’s eyes were overflowing with hot tears. He felt as if he had just heard the most pleasant words he would ever experience in his life.

The pirates were masters of handling s.h.i.+ps. Although they had wasted quite a bit of time, they still managed to leave Nightmare Island before the volcano fully erupted.

*Rumble!* Strong black flames rose into the skies, covering the bright white moon. Only in the skies of Nightmare Island would the moonlight become purple on the light of the full moon, and now it would never happen again.

The fiery red lava flowed in streams resembling human arteries as they snaked across the entire volcano. It even spread relentlessly to the area outside of it.

‘I never thought that the island was on a fire ley line. Once the dreamforce suppressing it was gone, the volcano immediately erupted… Perhaps this eruption was even more berserk because of the long suppression. This entire Nightmare Island probably won’t exist any longer…’ Leylin looked expressionlessly at the distant island, which was now engulfed in lava. Right now, all his attention was captured by the A.I. Chip’s information records.

[Beep! Sustained unknown influence, scanning has suffered interference. Effect has been temporarily lost!]

[Beep! Intense interference… Currently…]

‘The third level of the lock relates to memory. It made the A.I. Chip unstable for a while too… Really terrifying…’

However Leylin s.h.i.+fted his attention to the densely packed prompts below it:
[Beep! Host’s truesoul has suffered unknown interference, probability of radiation to the body in the Magus World is 98.77%! Initiating separation! Experiencing interference… Separation has failed, unable to complete the task!]

‘Ah…’ Leylin breathed in a lungful of cold air, ‘So even my main body’s truesoul was affected. Dreamforce is truly nefarious and frightening.’ After displaying this record, the A.I. Chip’s information seemed to flow even more smoothly. It seemed as if the earlier interference had completely disappeared.

[Beep! Host has absorbed a great amount of energy essence! Determined to be mutated dreamforce! Initiating absorption!]

[Beep! Host has absorbed mutated dreamforce! Spirit+1!] [Beep! Host’s arcanist ranking has increased, currently rank 19. Arcane Energy+10. Obtained Feat: Dreamscape View, Obtained Specialty: Illusions] [Beep! Host’s soul has advanced. Level 6 Weave fully a.n.a.lysed. Host has obtained all rank 6 spell models and is immune to forgetting them. No materials are required to cast rank 6 spells.] [Beep! Host has advanced to rank 19. Spell slots obtained: rank 9: 1, rank 8: 1, rank 7: 1.]

Below these messages were introductions to the two feats.

[Dreamscape View: Host possesses the ability to see through Dreamscape, can now look straight at the souls of other people. Any concealment will be rendered immaterial, and nothing can hide from the host’s eyes.] [Illusions: Host automatically grasps illusions, granting an additional 20% to the power of illusory spells.]

The A.I. Chip once again refreshed Leylin’s stat window:

[Leylin Faulen, Age: 24. Race: Human, Rank 19 Arcanist. Strength: 15. Agility: 15. Vitality: 15. Spirit: 19. Arcane Energy: 190. Status: Healthy. Feats: St.u.r.dy, Erudite, Intermediate Perfect Body, Dreamscape View. Specialties: Arcane Energy Detection, Arcane Amplification, Illusions] [Progress of Weave a.n.a.lysis: Level 0 100%, Level 1 100%, Level 2 100%, Level 3 100%, Level 4 100%, Level 5 100%, Level 6 100%, Level 7 77.99%, Level 8 38.21%, Level 9 0.11%.] [Spell Slots: Rank 9(1), Rank 8(3), Rank 7(5), Rank 6(???), Rank 5(???), Rank 4(???), Rank 3(???), Rank 2(???), Rank 1(???), Rank 0(???)]

‘I’ve finally reached rank 9 of the Weave. Is this the limit of the Weave’s casting ability?’ Leylin shut his eyes and sensed the Weave’s network across the entire World of G.o.ds. After the first 10 levels of the Weave, after rank 0 to rank 9, there seemed to be an even more vast world out there. However their souls were tightly shackled, unable to continue connecting to the Weave.

“It looks like the forbidden domain of the G.o.ds exists past rank 9,” Leylin muttered to himself.

He had his own hypotheses on what came after the ninth level of the Weave. It could very well be the G.o.ds’ divine spell network, the ‘personal’ network that the G.o.ds had made for themselves.

‘Using the Weave to transmit divine spells? It could very well reduce the consumption of the G.o.ds considerably, and make it easier for them to cultivate followers. Ha, these G.o.ds have calculated it all very well, however…’ Leylin controlled himself from speaking any further, as it was not something he could deal with at his current level.

‘I’m close to becoming legendary now. Being rank 19, I’m only half a step away. I should refine my own power as quickly as possible, stepping into the domain of legendaries. Only true legendaries have a say in the continent.’

A rank 20 only had a few extra spell slots, not much different from a rank 19. The difference came in the refinement of their power, something that allowed them to perfect their theory.

Leylin thought of records chronicling the advancement of wizards. Although every legendary could still advance further, they had all walked to the peak of their own paths. Their theoretical knowledge was extremely rich.

‘It’s even more complicated to become a legendary arcanist. I need to condense my theories into a skill tree or a circulating energy loop. However, this won’t be a problem for me. All that’s left is the work on refining energy…’ Leylin touched his forehead, a puzzled expression on his face.

The previous situation with the third level of the dreamscape lock surfaced before his eyes once again. Only now, his forehead gleamed pure white, as if there were no abnormalities.

‘The final gift, what on earth did it mean?’ His visit to the nightmare world had allowed him to absorb a great deal of dreamforce, and pushed his ranking to rank 19. However, Leylin was not granted his greatest wish of obtaining the Nightmare King’s inheritance, and the method to avoid the exhaustion of dreamforce.

‘Was this created by Dreamscape?’ Leylin looked at his hands. The white palms contained unyielding power, but Leylin felt that his corporeal body had already been perfected to its limits. However, at every day and in every moment, he still tirelessly absorbed the nearby light and electromagnetic waves to refine his power. This was all to break through his bottleneck.

‘After walking out of Nightmare Island, I keep feeling that I have changed greatly. Yet I can’t place my finger on how exactly I’ve changed…’ Leylin’s eyes held a trace of suspicion.

“Where are we headed, milord?”

“Mm, let’s go to Pirates’ Cove first!” Leylin replied. When he turned his head however, all he saw was Calon who had fallen to his knees in shock, his complexion deathly pale.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing! There’s nothing wrong! Your humble servant has bad eyesight!” Calon had a flattering smile on his face. He left at lightning speed while murmuring to himself, ‘I must have drunk too much rum, how can Lord Leylin have three eyes? And those blood-coloured patterns on his face, ha… Haha…’

Calon shook his head with all his strength, as if trying to shake the memory of Leylin out from his head. However, he discovered that no matter what he did, his arms and legs still involuntarily trembled. He could only crawl his way back to his bedroom with the support of the wall.

“Three eyes and blood-coloured runes?” What Calon did not know was that his mutterings in the s.h.i.+p’s hold had all been heard by Leylin. After he left, Leylin conjured up a water mirror with a wave of his hand.

What appeared in the mirror was the appearance of a young n.o.ble. His complexion was a little wan, with sky blue eyes as deep as the ocean. His golden curls fit with his thin lips, and he was handsome, without any abnormalities whatsoever.