Crystals
After hastily keeping the items on his bed, Leylin performed his routine meditation, then fell into a slumber.
It was a very deep sleep. When he finally woke up, it was already midday of the next day.
Leylin thought for a while, dressed up in a comfortable gown, and headed into the wilderness.
Along the path between the villas, Leylin followed the map he had obtained the day before, and walked towards the fourth level of the Nightless City.
“Good day sir!”
The red-headed old geezer, whom he met yesterday, was pruning his lawn. Upon seeing Leylin approach, he smiled and greeted Leylin.
“Hello!” Leylin felt a strong spiritual force propagating from within the old red headed geezer’s body. It did not feel like that of a budding Magus but that of someone who had halted in rank for a long time, and had accumulated a lot of essence.
Furthermore, looking at the traces of energy particles hovering around the old geezer, the A.I. Chip had estimated that he was at least a semi-converted elemental Magus.
The old geezer’s power level was similar to that of the clone from the Lilytell family that had been hunting Leylin.
“I wonder, what is his true battle prowess?”
The light Magi were better in the matters of theory and research. Leylin did not get the slightest feeling of similarity of a dark Magus from the old geezer. Obviously, he was a light Magus.
Being in a higher state does not necessarily mean that the fighting capabilities are high too. This was proved by the fact that despite having an elemental conversion of only 1%, Leylin managed to barely defeat a semi converted elemental Magus.
“My name is Crew. It has been a long time since any new neighbours have moved in!”
The old geezer smiled and placed his shears on the ground. From the looks of it, he was very excited to see Leylin.
“I am Leylin, and I have just arrived at Nightless City. It is a tranquil city and I love it here!”
Leylin bowed slightly as a sign of respect.
From the old geezer’s body, Leylin felt a sense of peace. The old geezer also had a heavy scent of books and scrolls, and had the temperament of a scholar
In the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy, all of the instructors brought about an air of intractable chill. The acolytes were afraid of them.
“Haha…you made a good choice!”
Upon hearing Leylin’s words, the old geezer’s wrinkly face creased with laughter.
“Where are you headed?” The old geezer sat down on a stool in the gardens. ”Would you like to drink some red tea with an old geezer?”
“No thanks, I would like to have a stroll in the city and take a look at the trading district!”
Leylin rejected the old geezer’s suggestion with a smile on his face and left the area.
“This is really a peaceful city, maybe I should stay here for awhile!”
Leylin wandered around the streets.
The third zone of the Nightless City was very different from the first two zones, especially the Magi’s quarters. All of the villas were widely spaced, and they were adorned with eye-catching symbols.
Besides, the third zone’s city walls were constructed using meteorites.
The meteorites were not only visually attractive, but were also capable of absorbing loose energy and radiation.
According to estimations from the A.I. Chip, the city walls exceeded an amount of two million magic crystals to construct. It left Leylin speechless.
There were significantly less people in the third zone. Occasionally, official Magi and their attendants could be spotted.
Leylin even spotted a few bodies that were intertwined with the energy of vengeful spirits and fresh blood.
Obviously, Leylin was spotted by the others as well. It was easy for those of the same kind to spot each other.
However, due to the rules of the Nightless City, and perhaps for other reasons as well, Leylin and the other dark Magi only exchanged looks from the distance, and left their positions in haste.
Leylin reached the fourth zone of the city after passing through a heavily guarded gate.
Many different types of stores dotted the vicinity. Occasionally, Magi could be spotted entering and exiting the stores.
The Magi that passed through the area had energy levels of official Magi and above. Not a single acolyte was seen.
“From the looks of it, this is the trading district set up for official Magi!”
Leylin was very pleased. The light Magi region was the trade center of the south coast, and Nightless City was one of the biggest cities within it. Congregated in here was some of the best the south coast had to offer. With an endless amount of resources available, it would definitely satisfy his needs.
Leylin looked around at the various store signs as he walked along the path towards the center.
“Old Gelling’s medicine store!” “Cape of good hope refined gold goods!” “Clothes manufacturing shop” “Refined gemstones store” “Mythical creature trading store…”
Leylin was bewildered by the large variety of shops available.
However, he followed the information obtained yesterday, and made a beeline straight towards the fourth zone’s central plaza.
Smack dab in the middle of the district packed full of stores was a large open plaza. Eighteen pillars that were as thick as the human skull were erected around it.
Occasionally, there were Magi on the plaza using their hands to feel the pillars with their eyes shut. It was as if they were interacting with something.
Some of the Magi that looked directionless and lost gained a sense of purpose in their movements after interacting with the pillars. They hurried along their way out of the market or towards a certain shop.
“We have reached the trade plaza!”
Leylin let out a gasp, and a flash of expectation came over him.
Following which, he queued behind a red-robed, middle-aged man.
There were only a scant few Magi on the plaza, so Leylin’s turn came quickly.
Leylin took in a deep breath, and stood in front of the pillar, his palms pressing upon it.
*Buzz Buzz!*
The moment his palms felt the rough stones on the pillar, Leylin experienced an extremely ice-cold spiritual force creep from the pillar and bore into his forehead.
Leylin’s skin slightly stretched, and a few streaks of dark rays passed by. He felt as if he had been suppressed while the spiritual force bore into him.
“Data transmission interface detected, awaiting permission to enter”
“Allow it!” Leylin commanded.
Following which, a large amount of scripts and diagrams were circulated into Leylin’s mind like a message. The information converged into what seemed like a hefty book.
Leylin’s spiritual force gingerly touched the book and flipped to the first page.
“Material types” “Finished goods types” “Knowledge types” “Potion types”…
What entered his vision first was a densely packed index catalogue. Leylin hesitated for a while, before opening the “Knowledge types” segment.
*Bang!*
A silver light flashed. Following which, a lot of sub-clauses appeared before Leylin’s eyes.
“High level dwarf enchanting studies”
“Comprehensive details for flame runes”
“Introduction to crafting of medicines”
“Soul research date”
……
Many different branches of high-level academic knowledge appeared before Leylin.
There were many branches of discipline which Leylin himself had never heard of before. The names appeared to be very strange to him.
“However, there was no data on high level meditation. There was also no information in regards to the advancement of a Magus. It looked like it was intentionally hidden…”
With a slight flash in his eyes, Leylin turned to the “Material types” section.
Blue-gold stone, bayern flower, essense of wilted tree, black rose, heart of light blue lizard. There were many materials, some of which he had never heard of before, and some of which even had depictions that were very realistic looking.
“Search—crystallised Darkness energy particles!”
Following which, the majority of the data disappeared, and only a few lines of information from the hefty book remained.
“Looking to buy egg of a Fire Ingesting Bird at a favourable price, can choose from the following for trade: I have wood spirit 200 grams, crystallised Darkness energy particles 100 grams, Firestone 800 grams, Rotten Cloud medicine, and various types of liquids…”
“Store sells the following: crystallised Darkness energy particles, dragon grass, ghastly sunflower…”
On the hefty book, only these two statements appeared. It looked pathetic.
“There is only such a minute amount, and one of them only accepts the egg of a Fire Ingesting Bird for trade!”
Leylin frowned.
In order to increase the elemental conversion rate, other than relying on hard work, the A.I. Chip suggested that he could also ingest crystallised energy particles that suited his elemental affinity.
This sort of high energy concentration crystals were only formed in nature under very strict elemental conversion criteria.
Once a Magus ingested the crystals, he would be able to increase the rate of his elemental conversion.
Through this method, Leylin would be able to rapidly increase his elemental conversion rate, and fix his shortcomings.
However, these type of crystals were very valuable. Furthermore, the Darkness elemental ones were very rare, causing the whole database to only contain two lines of information in response to his query.
“Whatever. This is better than having to go search for the information myself.”
While Leylin was using his spiritual force to reply to the message selling the crystals, a small messaged appeared: Elm Street #231!
This was the address of the shop from earlier.
Leylin threw a high-grade magic crystal into the stone pillar’s interface.
A considerable fee was needed when information was obtained from the trading plaza. Leylin rolled his eyes at the fact that the profitable areas were dominated by the powers behind the Nightless City.
Upon analyzing the situation, Leylin found that he was not willing to part with another high grade magic crystal to obtain the contact information of the trader requesting the egg of fire ingesting bird.
After leaving the trade plaza, Leylin found the small shop written on the message in no time.
The tiny shop was rather inconveniently located in a small alley. If not for the definite address, Leylin would not have found it.
The shop was dimly lit and its floor was dusty.
The racks in the store were filled with transparent glass jars. Different types of organs and tissues were submerged in a faint yellow liquid within these glass jars. Leylin even saw a few that resembled a human embryo.
“What do you want?”
From the sales counter, a female witch wearing a tall pointed hat walked out. Her face was filled with fine wrinkles and her nose was hooked like an eagle’s talons.
“I was looking at the trading board. Are you selling crystallized Darkness particles?”
Leylin asked with anticipation.
“Whoa! Look what I found, a Magus that majors in the cultivation of Darkness energy particles…”
The old female Magus laughed out as fire green light appeared in her eyes.