Chapter 126 Harvest

One of the three Ninth-Order Archmages had been killed, and the remaining two already knew their fate.

Their attacks were now desperate, each move a gamble for their lives.

This made the battle even more intense than when all three were still alive.

Unfortunately for them, Suren had seized every advantage. He wasn't about to give his enemies another opportunity.

If the battlefield were in Mafa, the two Archmages might have been able to attract reinforcements.

But because this was the Lu Ying estate, it was destined that there would be no magical support from the Celestial God Plane. Only more and more Allied Empire troops arrived.

Even a small number of Heavenly Eye Sect believers lurking in Cleminton City wanted to create chaos to relieve the two Archmages. Unfortunately, the Empire's intelligence personnel had been prepared for a long time and rounded them up before they could even act.

The enemies were already trapped beasts, and the Dawn group wasn't interested in a direct confrontation.

They attacked and retreated, using a patient and methodical hunting strategy.

When the enemy unleashed powerful spells, they temporarily avoided the brunt; when the enemy was exhausted, they would encircle and attack.

Although the two Archmages were very strong, they were completely helpless against this tactic.

They couldn't win in a fight, and they couldn't escape. They were trapped beasts fighting a desperate battle.

Even the Sub-Divine Spell-level time-space scrolls they used to save their lives were useless under Suren's restrictions.

In the Alchemy Plane, the laws governing magic scrolls would never exceed the plane's limits.

Even "Sub-Divine Spells" would be restricted by the ring.

Then there was the soul-locking cursed object. Before, Suren and the others weren't sure they could kill all these people, so they didn't use this sealing object. Now that the overall situation was settled, he directly locked the enemies' souls within the range of the lamplight. The enemies couldn't escape; they could only fight to the death.

...

It had to be admitted that the magic power of a Ninth-Order Archmage was truly profound.

They were top-level powerhouses who had already glimpsed the limits of human power. Their magic power no longer came solely from absorbing elemental power from their surroundings; they could already control certain rules.

When the Holy Domain was unleashed, it plundered elemental power like a whale swallowing the sea, endlessly.

Under these circumstances, Black Mister and the other Eighth-Orders were suppressed and felt very uncomfortable, and several times they were in precarious situations.

Fortunately, Mirror Mister, a genuine Ninth-Order, was standing in front, using his mirroring ability to copy and steal elements, which slowly exhausted the two Archmages' original magic power.

The great battle lasted for several more hours.

It went from dawn to dusk.

The outskirts of Cleminton looked like a nuclear explosion site, already devastated.

Finally, as they continued to grind down the enemy, an opportunity arrived again.

Mirror Mister found a chance to trap the Holy Light Archmage, whose magic power was exhausted. Black Mister once again found an opportunity to break the situation and seriously injured the enemy with one blow. Then, the Old Sword God Bartolo seized the opportunity and beheaded him with a single sword strike.

After killing one, the last one, the "Time Saint" Relf Zimmermann, was no longer able to make waves. After struggling for a quarter of an hour, he was finally beheaded.

From beginning to end, his time abilities had been restrained by Suren. Even when he used the suicidal "Forbidden Art: Time Atrophy" in an attempt to deprive the Dawn group of their lifespans, he didn't succeed.

In Suren's fully unlocked All-Knowing Eye, these spells no longer held any secrets.

What's more, after successively harvesting the souls of two Archmages, he had a clear understanding of this old Time Mage's methods.

When the trump cards were clearly understood, even the most powerful enemies became much less threatening.

...

The battle finally ended.

It was once again a time for the much-anticipated harvest.

"[You have stripped the soul of 'Relf Zimmermann']"

"[You have obtained the Ninth-Order 'Law of Time,' understanding of the Law +112457]"

"[You have stripped a trace of Divine-level 'Rule of Time' insight, learning some secrets of 'Divine Art: Time'.]"

"[You have mastered the 'Mysteries of Time Magic,' Time Magic experience +55324]"

"[You have learned some secrets of the 'Holy Order of Time'.]"

"[Spirit +40112] [...

"[You have stripped the soul of 'Alt Barker']"

"[You have obtained the Ninth-Order 'Law of Holy Light,' insight, understanding of the Light Law +154211]"

"[You have mastered the mysteries of Light Magic, mastering..., etc.]"

"[You have learned some secrets of the 'Holy Order of Light'."

"[Spirit +30112] [... ]"

Before long, the Dawn group sat panting on a small hillside.

The surrounding vegetation was withered, a lifeless scene. This was the result of the "Time Saint" Relf Zimmermann's last desperate attack, in which a large-scale Time Atrophy forbidden technique had deprived the vegetation of its vitality.

Suren, Mirror Mister, Pestoya, Pandora, Number Nineteen, Old Sword God Bartolo, "Blood Duke" Wordsworth, Black Mister... all the members of the Dawn group who participated in the battle were injured.

But in this battle, which could be considered a peak battle on this plane, no one died, which was the best news.

Although everyone's faces were exhausted, their eyes were full of joy after the great victory.

There was also a relieved smile.

As far as was known, there were only two Ninth-Order Alchemists in the Alchemy Plane.

But the Dawn group had just ambushed and killed three Ninth-Order Archmages.

No matter how you looked at it, this record was inspiring.

The members of the Dawn group also felt extremely proud.

"They're dead... It's unbelievable. We actually killed three Ninth-Order Archmages and nine Eighth-Order Grand Magisters."

"Yeah. It wasn't easy."

"Hey, Ninth-Order Archmages are really tricky. The pressure from the laws is really exaggerated. I feel like they were even more troublesome than the Eighth-Order dragons we hunted in the Dragon Kingdom's sea area before."

"Yes. But this battle has also been very insightful for this old man. The Ninth-Order realm, which was once out of reach, has become clearer to me. Tsk tsk, where else would you find such suitable opponents?"

From noon until now, the Dawn group had not only exhausted their enemies, but they themselves were also exhausted.

The taut string relaxed, and it seemed as if they no longer had the strength to lift themselves. Some lay down, some sat, some meditated, or leaned against stones; in short, no one could stand.

Even Mirror Mister was sitting on a large rock, meditating to recover.

Before, she had dragged three Archmages by herself the whole time, and the consumption was enormous. The blood clan had super-strong self-healing abilities. Although it was impossible to see any external injuries, in fact, the damage to her origin was not light.

Only Suren was the most relaxed. After panting a few breaths, he quickly recovered.

The super-strong recovery provided by the [Essac Alchemic Heart] allowed him to quickly make up for the depleted state of his body's dark spiritual power. He also gulped down a few mouthfuls of dragon blood, and the injuries on his body quickly recovered.

Everyone was adjusting their breathing and recovering, and no one had the energy to do much else, only occasionally chatting a few words idly.

But Suren began to busy himself with handling the corpses of the three Archmages.

The pyramid effect of the magic system was more obvious than that of the alchemy system. The stronger the magician, the more resources they had in their hands.

Just the value of the spoils from these three Archmages alone, Suren estimated, could equip several dozen well-organized fleets.

Not only were they valuable,

but those magical equipment were priceless treasures.

The robes, staffs, secret books, crystal balls... on the corpses, after appraisal, were all "Dark Gold" or "Legendary" grade, and there was even one piece of "Epic" grade equipment.

It solidified Eighth and Ninth-Order instant-cast magic. There was no need to chant magic spells or anything like that; it could be used by filling it with energy.

It was comparable to a sealing object.

In Suren's eyes, this was the most high-end equipment he had ever seen.

However, while he was busy collecting the corpses, what he cared about wasn't just these spoils.

But something else.

When he killed the three Archmages before, his All-Knowing Eye had discovered some anomalies.

If it was as he speculated, this might change the future situation of the Alchemy Plane - a "great discovery"?

...

Now the corpses were still warm, so it was a good time to test his ideas.

As a thought flashed through his mind, the ring on Suren's hand shone with a dazzling light. This was none other than the [Philosopher's Stone].

Then, in the doubtful eyes of the crowd, he made a series of hand seals, and a mysterious and extreme Nine-Petaled Star Alchemy Array suddenly lit up under his feet.

In addition to the one hundred percent equivalent exchange, the Philosopher's Stone also had a very important function, which was to condense "Cosmic Source Matter."

Professionals needed to fuse "Cosmic Source Matter" to advance to the Ninth-Order. This was an ancient alchemy technique that had been lost.

When the Philosopher's Stone was discovered in the Cursed Space of the Dragon Kingdom, this alchemic creature condensed a piece of [Cosmic Thirty-First Source Matter - Gloom].

So the question was, what exactly was Cosmic Source Matter?

Because of the collapse of civilizations and the destruction of knowledge, almost all of the alchemic knowledge above the Divine Order had disappeared for some special reason, or was hidden in places that humans couldn't touch. ... For countless years, the vast majority of people in the Alchemy Plane only knew about the function of Cosmic Source Matter.

That was, it was something that professionals must have to advance to the Ninth-Order.

But in reality, because they were using ancient relics and the alchemy methods were also lost, very few people really knew what the Source Matter was.

But Essac Duke, a thousand years ago, had systematically studied the essence of this thing.

He recorded his research in detail in his fifth alchemic handbook.

First of all, Essac Duke believed that the purpose of the alchemist's need for Cosmic Source Matter was to use this external object to assist them in touching upon the threshold of some cosmic rules at a deeper level.

Judging from the glorious ancient alchemic civilization, alchemists were able to advance to the Divine Order.

So, alchemists without a belief system could not believe in becoming gods. How did those ancient powerhouses condense their divine persona?

Essac Duke felt that the key was in the "Cosmic Source Matter."

After capturing a Fallen Angel and studying the power of the Divine Order, Essac Duke had another conjecture about Cosmic Source Matter in his notes.

He felt that Cosmic Source Matter was the cornerstone of condensing a divine persona.

In his notes, this demigod alchemist defined the divine persona as: the solidified embodiment of the world rules understood by the gods.

The divine persona was the embodiment of rules, and Cosmic Source Matter was to help alchemists understand the rules, so it was the cornerstone.

It was like the foundation of a tall building.

All of this logic was perfectly connected.

...

Suren had carefully read Essac Duke's five notebooks these days, and he was very familiar with the contents.

After he obtained [Fountain of Mimi] and gained "Wisdom," he felt that he was probably the person in the Alchemy Plane who could understand the descriptions of "rules" in the notebooks the closest to their original meaning.

Now that he had read the contents of these notebooks again, he also very much agreed with Essac Duke's point of view that Cosmic Source Matter was the foundation of the divine persona.

But the question came up again.

All alchemists needed Cosmic Source Matter to advance to the Ninth-Order.

What was it, and people didn't seem to be too concerned about knowing?

What was even more pressing was that, as it currently seemed, there might not be many of these things left in the entire Alchemy Plane.

The one found in the Dragon Kingdom before was probably automatically condensed by the Philosopher's Stone over countless years. ... Suren was already at the Eighth-Order, and he had great hope of advancing to the Ninth-Order, but he couldn't wait countless years for the Source Matter to condense.

So he had an urgent need.

How to quickly refine a Cosmic Source Matter that he needed?

Those ancient great alchemists certainly knew some special methods, after all, rules were not some untouchable secret for existences above the Ninth-Order.

But now there was no Divine Order in the Alchemy Plane, so what should he do?

Suren then connected the thoughts in the classics and came up with an idea: since Ninth-Order humans had already touched the secrets of the rules, then had their bodies themselves already condensed some special "things"?

Suren wasn't sure what those "things" were before.

But when he used the All-Knowing Eye to see the moment of death of the three Ninth-Order Archmages before, he vaguely understood something.

A divine persona was the embodiment of the rules carried by the god's physical body.

It didn't appear out of thin air, but was accumulated little by little before the gods became gods.

Therefore, Ninth-Order Archmages must have already condensed some power of rules in their bodies.

Then, if these corpses were refined with the Philosopher's Stone, would it be possible to quickly obtain the "threads of rules" needed for the Cosmic Source Matter?