Level: Mage Lv14 (14308 / 50000)
Among the experience he gained were bits and pieces from things like mage apprentices becoming Formal Mages, Bloodline Descendants leveling up, and all sorts of other miscellaneous system prompts he had muted. Altogether, they brought him close to completing a quarter of the journey.
However, every time Li De saw the enormous experience required to level up, he couldn’t help but shake his head.
At Levels 10 and 11, when mage apprentices became Formal Mages, it would still bring him a decent chunk of experience. But by Level 14, those sources had been drastically devalued, resulting in his experience growth slowing down significantly.
“Looks like I need to find a way to strike it rich if I want to speed up leveling.”
Li De shook his head and didn’t dwell on it further. Now that the spell modifications were complete, it was time to focus on the looming crisis ahead.
In the short term, he didn’t want to endure the soul-tearing agony again. The backlash from Tier 2 Spells was more than ten times stronger than that of Tier 1.
Thankfully, having reached Level 14, his soul resilience had increased significantly. Otherwise, it was doubtful whether he could have survived thousands of instances of mana backlash.
But there was a silver lining to it all, his Mental Sea and soul had become increasingly resilient through repeated backlash.
Li De even felt that he could now outright ignore some weaker mental spells, since none of them could possibly be more violent than the backlash that occurred directly within the Mental Sea.
Each backlash was the equivalent of him casting Mental Shock, a Tier 3 Spell, on himself. If that didn’t build resistance, nothing would.
---
“What exactly does this beastman disturbance mean? Could it really be as Niko speculated, that the beastman crown prince wants to take Green City to prove his worth?”
After closing his attribute panel, Li De once again pondered the recent events, feeling a bit of a headache. Because if that speculation turned out to be true, it would have massive implications.
Most importantly, these kinds of wars were usually extremely unique in nature. Once the other side launched their attack, they would be all-in, regardless of the cost.
This wasn’t a war for plundering resources. The beastman prince only needed merit.
Just take a look at those battles for the throne in China’s history among imperial sons, and you’d get the idea.
This was a special event, and ordinary logic wouldn’t apply. If the opposing side had truly set their sights on Green City, then the pressure he would face would be overwhelming.
Their goal had nothing to do with Dawn City, but it could directly inflict massive damage on his interests.
He stood up and walked to the window, both hands resting on the wooden sill. He looked down at the increasingly bustling streets through the open window.
His eyes were deep and contemplative.
“Let’s hope our speculation isn’t true. Otherwise, we’ll have a whole lot more to deal with this time.”
But the Crimson Mage Tower and the Dark Pact were his left and right arms, he absolutely could not abandon them. If the beastmen’ plan succeeded, the price he would pay would be too steep.
The Magic Factory would cease production of magic scrolls, and the ancient alchemical magic array built at the cost of hundreds of thousands of Gold Pucks would be a catastrophic loss.
Not to mention the Mysterious Shop he had built up over so long, with all the explicit and hidden networks of connections it relied on.
One could say that Li De’s interests were now tied to Green City. If Green City fell, the damage he’d suffer would be beyond estimation.
The only consolation was that, for now, it was still just speculation, the beastmen hadn’t taken action yet.
---
“Holy crap, did that patrol just spot us?? I’m telling you, Chang Wei, if this mission fails today, Grandpa’s gonna show you what it means to have your chrysanthemum split!!”
“You’re the one who insisted on peeking at that noble NPC taking a bath, and now you’re blaming me?? If you hadn’t wasted time, we’d have finished the mission already.”
“Enough, both of you shut it. Hurry up and get to work. This warehouse is where Risel City stores its alchemical bombs.
By the way, those two filthy-rich beastmen really don’t mess around. They burned three Legendary-grade Targeted Teleportation Scrolls in one go, holy shit. If we actually pull this off, and they’re that generous with the reward, it’ll be glorious.”
“Stop dreaming. You know how stingy these NPCs are. I’d be happy just getting a set of Perfect-grade armor.”
Three players wearing stealth gear that suppressed their presence had sneaked right up to a heavily guarded warehouse, right under the noses of bustling patrol squads.
Strangely enough, though they were right in plain view of everyone, the nearby soldiers clad in sturdy armor acted as if they hadn’t seen anything.
The three boldly walked up to the tall, fortified warehouse gate.
“Wait, are you saying that beastman really used a Divine Artifact to cast that spell on us? Look at these guards, they literally can’t see us.”
“No kidding. Of course they can’t see us. We’re in a separate dimensional plane. Hurry and take out the magic scroll, once it’s cast, we’re out of here.”
“Out of here? Don’t kid yourself. You think you can run from the blast radius of a Tier 5 spell?? And don’t forget, this warehouse is packed full of alchemical bombs. Alchemical bombs, got it?
Even if Glory’s gunpowder system is totally different from Earth’s, the destructive power is about the same.
This one blast could launch half the city into the sky.”
“How do you know Glory’s gunpowder isn’t the same as Earth’s??”
“I have a legit PhD in materials science. You think I wouldn’t know?”
“Then why don’t they have cannons and stuff?”
“Who says they don’t? Alchemical cannons exist. You just haven’t seen one.”
“Then they…”
“Are you done? Hurry up and finish the mission. I want to log off, I’m supposed to go shopping with my girlfriend.”
“Damn it, I don’t want to finish the mission anymore.”
After a round of bickering, the three players simultaneously pulled out magic scrolls and tore them open with a sharp rip.
Rumble~
Heaven and earth split.