"Master! That is the headquarters of the Misty Forest!"
On the outskirts of a small basin, old Eiron pointed toward a forest shrouded in dense fog at the basin's center, his expression one of deep reverence.
He had already been completely subdued by Leilin, reduced to a servant-like existence.
Xiling followed behind with a complicated expression, along with several Third-rank Apprentices including Ober and Ilya, their faces flushed with excitement.
A Second-rank
All of this filled them with a sense of pride by association.
"The Misty Forest is at least a mid-tier academy with powerful magical array defenses, not to mention several guardian creatures and contracted beasts holding the fort. Shouldn't we…"
Eiron betrayed
"Nothing is needed! I'm enough on my own. Remember—without my orders, no one is to set foot inside this basin!"
Leilin's expression turned solemn. Then, his entire body dissolved into a gust of wind and vanished into thin air.
*Hiss…* A faint sound reached their ears, and Xiling and the others watched as a phantom serpent materialized in midair. The great snake coiled upon itself, its form gradually taking on the terrifying visage of a demon lord—and the demon lord's face bore an unmistakable resemblance to Leilin.
Half an hour passed. When they were finally granted permission to enter the Misty Forest, all they saw were rotting corpses!
Several enormous high-energy creatures, each the size of a small hill, lay dead on the ground, their bodies not yet fully decomposed, giving off a foul stench.
"Your task is to search this place thoroughly. Take anything of value!"
Leilin slowly descended onto the corpse of one of the giant monsters. Against that backdrop, the sight was nothing short of chilling.
"Yes! Yes, Master!"
At first, Xiling had wondered why Leilin brought along a batch of apprentices. Now she understood.
…
After ransacking the Misty Forest, Leilin arrived near the headquarters of the Eight-Legged Spider Academy.
This time, Sgrily accompanied him.
The same Leilin who had subdued even Eiron was hardly going to let Sgrily escape.
"Go! Announce the dissolution of the Eight-Legged Spider! All members are to be folded into the Alliance of Nature!" Leilin ordered Sgrily.
"Yes, Master!" Sgrily bowed respectfully, clearly terrified of Leilin.
He accepted even such orders without hesitation.
As for the subordinate academies under the Misty Forest, Leilin had no intention of wiping them all out.
They couldn't possibly know about the Frost World affair anyway, so it made sense to subjugate them all and bolster the Alliance of Nature's strength.
The Misty Forest's wizards had all been annihilated. Under the wide-scale, indiscriminate assault of Leilin's second-rank innate spell, Gall of Deadly Poison, not a single living thing remained in the entire basin.
It could be said that the Misty Forest Academy had been completely erased from the face of the world.
Watching the academy headquarters smoldering in the distance and Eiron's figure heading off to suppress the remnants, a cold smile curved the corner of Leilin's lips.
"Next, perhaps it will be the Second-rank Wizards' turn?"
When was the last time such large-scale attacks—even the outright annihilation of an academy—had occurred in the entire Eastern Dark Pole Domain?
No matter how sluggish the major academies might be, they would have to step forward.
Moreover, according to the latest intelligence, the
"But what of it?"
A disdainful smile traced across Leilin's lips. "The more things stand in my way, the more I must act!"
"The grand coalition against outside enemies doesn't just constrain the Alliance of Nature—it constrains those major academies even more!"
"Would they really be willing to lose a Second-rank combat force at a time like this? What is a mid-tier academy and its subsidiaries compared to a newly ascended Second-rank Wizard? Besides, we hold ample evidence proving the Misty Forest struck first—they even attacked our headquarters and caused massive casualties…"
With both power and evidence on his side, even the major academies would think twice before making a move.
Leilin understood this point perfectly.
After waiting another dozen minutes or so, Sgrily and Eiron returned.
"Master! The Eight-Legged Spider has been fully dissolved. Here is our advanced Meditation Method, Abyss Breath!"
Sgrily knelt respectfully on one knee and offered Leilin a black crystal.
"Mm. Well done." Leilin took it with a casual air, and a wisp of silver Spiritual Power spread across its surface.
Destroying these academies and strengthening the Alliance of Nature was only one aspect of his plan. Leilin's primary objective was to collect advanced Meditation Methods!
As time ticked by, Leilin's brow furrowed—a sight that sent a shiver through Sribly.
"Only three layers?" Leilin sighed. This meditation method of the Eight-Legged Spider Academy shared the same flaw as Xiling's Crystal Mask—it was not only extremely difficult to cultivate, but also comprised only three layers.
This meant that the wizards of the Eight-Legged Spider Academy could advance no further than the Third-rank at most—anything beyond that was impossible!
"Your subordinate is ashamed! Our advanced Meditation Method truly only has three layers! And I myself have only reached the first layer, where I can channel the power of the Abyss to infuse my body…"
Sgrily lowered his head and quickly explained.
"I know!" Leilin was well aware. This Abyss Breath primarily utilized Abyssal energy to continuously reshape the body into a form more suited to the Abyss. Sgrily's half-human, half-spider appearance was the result of imitating a creature unique to the Abyss.
This was merely the first layer of Abyss Breath. According to the meditation method's description and the Chip's calculations, if one could advance this meditation method to its highest level, the body would instead return to its origin, restoring a normal human appearance.
But by that point, the wizard would have been completely transformed by the Abyss and could well be called a "Son of the Abyss"!
Of course, all of this was merely the Chip's estimation.
And by Leilin's own estimate, reaching the level of Son of the Abyss would require cultivating Abyss Breath to at least the fifth layer!
To be frank, it was not even certain whether this advanced meditation method had five layers at all!
"Still, this is an advanced Meditation Method with one more layer than the Crystal Mask. It will help fill out the Chip's advanced meditation method database!"
Leilin put away the black crystal.
Because ancient wizards were passionate about studying the myriad phenomena of the world, seeking patterns and power, and frequently communed with beings from other planes, many ancient advanced meditation methods carried a strong extraplanar aura.
As for this Abyss Breath, Leilin estimated that it had deep ties to the Abyssal world—and had perhaps even been released directly by some powerful being within the Abyss.
"There are still three small academies subordinate to the Misty Forest, and fifteen rankless academies. Split into three groups—Eiron and Sgrily will each lead a team to sweep the rankless academies. Leave the small academies to me!"
"Yes, Master!" The surrounding wizards bowed in unison.
Leilin nodded. Eiron was at the peak of the First-rank, and Sribly had achieved semi-elementalization—against rankless academies, they were overwhelmingly terrifying forces.
With these two leading the charge, those rankless academies were doomed.
Moreover, once these newly pledged wizards had committed to this undertaking, they would have no path of retreat—they could only remain under Leilin's banner.
…
A few days later, explosive news spread across the entire Eastern Dark Pole Domain, rocking the wizarding world and continuing to ripple toward the other four domains.
The Misty Forest—a mid-tier academy with thousands of years of heritage, numerous contracted beasts and guardian creatures, dozens of official wizards, and Gus, a peak First-rank Wizard, at its helm—had been destroyed!
And the perpetrator was none other than the Alliance of Nature! According to hushed rumors, the Alliance's honorary professor had broken through to the Second-rank!
When a peak First-rank Wizard was already a regional overlord, the Second-rank was the lifelong aspiration of most official wizards—and the true pinnacle of power protecting the underground human race!
A Second-rank Wizard existed only within those major academies, where one or two ancient immortals remained as trump cards.
And the Alliance of Nature had been nothing more than a small academy!
For a time, the entire Eastern Dark Pole Domain fell silent.
Under Leilin's deterrence, the Alliance of Nature's subsequent actions proceeded with remarkable smoothness.
Not only had they struck down all of the Misty Forest's subordinate academies in one fell swoop, wiping away every trace of the organization's existence, but a large number of wizards had also joined their ranks, catapulting the Alliance of Nature's strength to that of a mid-tier academy—and that was without even counting Leilin himself.
Meanwhile, the operation to seize the Misty Forest's remaining mines and resource points was proceeding in an orderly fashion.
This naturally did not comply with the Joint Council's regulations, which stirred undercurrents of dissent.
But under Leilin's forceful suppression, the Alliance of Nature acted with brazen independence, dispatching forces in every direction without the slightest hesitation, their power swelling day by day.
As for such trivial matters as absorbing new factions, Leilin naturally couldn't be bothered to manage them personally—he simply issued a few casual orders to his subordinates.
Though all these newly joined wizards were nominally under the Alliance of Nature's banner, serving as professors or visiting instructors, in reality they took orders from Leilin alone.
Xiling's authority had been squeezed to its limits, but she could do nothing but smile bitterly at the situation—there was no room for complaint.
Leilin's sudden promotion to Second-rank meant that his sheer power alone could render Xiling's earlier schemes moot—and when it came to political maneuvering, Leilin, who had clawed his way up along the South Coast, was no less adept than Xiling.
Under such circumstances, Xiling had no choice but to resign herself to the situation.
Moreover, owing to her special status, these wizards still treated her with a measure of respect, and they would not refuse her requests on minor matters.
And the fact that these wizards were still nominally under the Alliance of Nature's banner offered Xiling some small measure of consolation.