Chapter 19 : Chapter 19
Chapter 19: Underground Palace Abode, Mana-Gathering Array
At the lowest level of the Underground Palace,
The dim yellow light illuminated the gigantic statue, which was none other than the ancient Archmage—Isno.
Beneath the statue, Jiang Lin held a longsword and focused intently on inscribing runes. Under his carving, a massive Mana-Gathering Array was gradually taking shape.
Beside Jiang Lin hovered a blurry remnant soul. It was Trelis, once the ninth headmaster of the High Tower, a Ninth-Tier Archmage, and one of the foremost mages on the Atre Continent.
At this moment, he was patiently guiding Jiang Lin in the construction of the array.
“As a common array, the Mana-Gathering Array is practically a necessity in all powerful magic arrays. It can even be said to be their most basic component.
“You use small Mana-Gathering Arrays as the matrix, and then build magic arrays with offensive effects on top of them.
“So in general, the strength of a magic array is also closely related to the quality of its foundational Mana-Gathering Array.”
Trelis’s voice echoed through the Underground Palace. At this moment, he was like a rigid old mage, staring intently at Jiang Lin as he inscribed the array before him.
As a Ninth-Tier Archmage, he had more than enough confidence when it came to constructing such a simple foundational magic array.
“You need to leave a groove here for a Magic Crystal, otherwise how will you establish a Mana Link?”
“Yes, exactly like that. Just follow that fire-element magic book when you carve it. The magic array in there can unleash power no weaker than a Forbidden Spell.”
And so, no one knew how much time passed.
On the ground, Jiang Lin had already constructed a complete foundational magic array.
Grooves had been left at the edges of the magic array and at each of its core points for embedding Magic Crystals.
This was also the key to how the magic array communicated with the Magic Web.
Jiang Lin slowly set ten Magic Crystals into it. Gradually, those Magic Crystals quickly began to glow, and at that very moment, the magic runes connected to them also began spreading pale-purple Mana Circuits.
As the violet radiance began to bloom, waves of magic runes slowly gathered on the ground and gradually rose into the air.
Jiang Lin could sense that mana fluctuations had already begun emerging within the array.
But he did not hurry to step into it. Instead, he turned his head, smiled at Trelis beside him, and while Trelis was still staring blankly, Jiang Lin walked behind the statue, wrapped a corpse with Spiritual Power, and slowly brought it over beside the magic array.
Jiang Lin casually tossed Trelis’s corpse into the magic array.
After a while, there was no reaction at all.
Only then did Jiang Lin walk into the magic array with peace of mind and sit down cross-legged.
This whole series of actions left Trelis’s remnant soul speechless.
This man was clearly so powerful, yet he was cautious to an absurd degree...
“Oh, right.”
Jiang Lin’s voice rang out again, startling Trelis badly.
Trelis immediately became flustered again. “You promised me!”
“I know. I just wanted to find a body for you.”
Jiang Lin smiled faintly as he looked at the blurry remnant soul, then took out a Spirit-Grade Longsword.
“This sword just happens to be missing an artifact spirit, so you can take the role.”
As he spoke, his Divine Sense stirred, and his hands rapidly formed seals.
In an instant, a Spiritual Power Restriction was set inside the longsword. Trelis only felt a powerful suction dragging his remnant soul toward that strangely shaped sword.
“No—!” Before he could finish speaking, his voice vanished.
Jiang Lin smiled and lightly tapped the sword with his finger.
“I only found you a place to stay. There is no need to be so frightened.”
Trelis’s voice came from within the sword, filled with uncertainty and shock.
“What a strange feeling. Where is this...
“This kind of structure... I have never seen anything like it before. Not even a dwarven master could forge such a weapon. This is truly unbelievable...”
Jiang Lin ignored his shock. With a casual flick of his hand, the longsword let out a humming clang and embedded itself into the statue, where it swayed slightly as flickering sword shadows shimmered around it.
“From now on, you will be called the Sword of Trelis. If you want to come out, you may come out and have a look around. Of course, while I am cultivating, you had better not disturb me.”
After saying that, Jiang Lin ignored him and began carefully sensing the mana within this magic array.
It was not that this world lacked Spiritual Energy. Rather, it existed within the Magic Web.
The Magic Web was everywhere, but without establishing a connection, the Spiritual Energy within it remained bound.
That was why Jiang Lin had previously found things so strange.
That veil covering heaven and earth was probably the existence of the Magic Web itself.
And now, with this Mana-Gathering Array,
He could extract the Spiritual Energy from within mana, then cultivate by circulating his cultivation art.
This was undoubtedly a major breakthrough. Although his cultivation efficiency was far inferior to what it had been in Zhongzhou,
Jiang Lin was already very satisfied. As long as he kept cultivating within this Underground Palace, returning to the Mahayana Realm was not impossible.
It was just that he still needed a large amount of Magic Crystals to support the magic array.
Magic Crystals were the key resource.
After entering this Underground Palace, he had found no treasure, but inside Trelis’s bracelet, there were more than a hundred high-quality Magic Crystals.
Ten had been used up in constructing the array, leaving a hundred and ten.
That should be enough to sustain him for a while.
Now it depended on whether this magic array could restore his strength to the late Foundation Establishment Realm.
Foundation Establishment was the first great threshold, and the amount of Spiritual Power it required was enormous.
Whether one’s strength would be great or not also had much to do with how solid one’s Foundation Establishment was.
So if these Magic Crystals could allow him to recover to the late Foundation Establishment Realm, that would already exceed Jiang Lin’s expectations.
For the current Jiang Lin, Trelis, this mage from the High Tower, was undoubtedly a useful asset.
At the very least, he could help him gain a clearer understanding of the forces of this world and its powerful experts.
Jiang Lin sat cross-legged in the center of the magic array, cultivating with his eyes closed.
Not far away, from within the longsword embedded in the statue of the ancient Archmage Isno, Trelis’s figure slowly emerged.
He stared blankly at Jiang Lin, who was sitting cross-legged in the center of the array.
This powerful fellow, who looked very much like a Demi-human, was actually absorbing mana within the magic array.
Even for a well-informed Archmage like him, this sight was rather astonishing.
A mage at his level could already store mana within the body, but this was the first time he had ever seen someone rely on a magic array to store mana.
Was mana from the Magic Web not something that could be drawn at any time?
Slowly, Trelis began to notice something strange.
The mana within the array was merely gathering there, yet it was not decreasing by much.
Then what exactly was he absorbing? Could there be something within mana that could also be absorbed?
Combining that with the strange method Jiang Lin had used earlier to control him, Trelis gradually sank into thought.
This was probably the source of Jiang Lin’s power. That was why he needed Magic Crystals to construct a foundational Mana-Gathering Array,
so that he could absorb a unique kind of power from the Magic Web.
He was not from this world.
That was the most crucial point.
Trelis thought to himself that if he ever got the chance in the future, he absolutely had to try this method.
This might be a major discovery, one significant enough to shock all mages.
This world did not contain only powerful professions like mages. There were probably even more terrifying existences.
Like the outsider before his eyes.
On this matter, Trelis was nearly obsessed.
That included the reason he had come here in the first place, which was to find the secret to breaking through the ninth tier.
But he had never expected this place to be nothing more than a trap. That Archmage Isno truly had an abundance of twisted humor.
She had built Underground Palaces all across the Atre Continent.
He had never found a single real one! Damn it.
Since the ancient war, namely the War of the Hundred Races, not a single human mage had been able to break through the ninth tier.
Although the War of the Hundred Races had established humanity’s dominant position, humanity’s strongest profession had instead gradually begun to decline.
“I wonder whether the present High Tower has any tenth-tier existence.”
A trace of sorrow flickered in Trelis’s eyes as he muttered while looking at the dimly lit Underground Palace.
“I have been trapped here for nearly three hundred years...”
His gaze gradually fell toward the center of the array. Jiang Lin was still sitting there cross-legged without the slightest movement, as if he had fallen asleep.
Trelis watched intently.