After hearing Leilin's words,
"I'll accept this gift of yours!"
"Thank you, Teacher!" Leilin bowed with a grateful expression.
"Mm! Of course, I won't take your things for nothing. After all, these ancient Blood Vulture eggs are quite precious!" Gilbert lowered his head in thought for a moment.
"How about this! Aren't you saving up contribution points to purchase a Construct Animation scroll? I'll trade with you directly — a scroll containing a sealed Fourth Level Wizardry spell should roughly equal the value of these things!"
Gilbert swept his hand across the table, and the numerous bloodline items vanished, replaced by a grey scroll covered in ancient, archaic patterns.
"Thank you, Teacher!" Leilin took the scroll and expressed his thanks once more — this time with considerably more sincerity.
"Furthermore..." Gilbert glanced at Leilin's ring, a smile playing on his lips.
Leilin scratched his head with an embarrassed expression, realizing that the other party had noticed the things he'd hidden inside his spatial ring.
......
That night, Leilin lay on his bed, gazing at the scroll in his hands, a look of satisfaction on his face.
"Trading those things for a Fourth Level scroll is a pretty even deal — I didn't really lose out!"
Then he glanced at the ring on his finger, collapsed onto his bed, and on the surface appeared to quickly fall into deep sleep.
But in truth, he was sneering inwardly.
What Gilbert had discovered was something Leilin had deliberately allowed him to find.
Inside his ring, he had stored only a single
But in reality, what he had handed over today didn't even amount to a tenth of his actual haul!
Not to mention the finger bone left behind by the Fifth Level ancient Serpent Woman.
The allure of such an item was so great that even Leilin didn't dare produce it — otherwise, clearing the hurdle at Gilbert's end would have been far, far more difficult.
No matter what happened then, it wasn't a situation he wanted to see.
After all, Gilbert had treated him fairly well, and he didn't want to fall out with his teacher or the Ring of the Ouroboros.
Self-interest was often the greatest factor behind schisms, and Leilin didn't want to use the finger bone to test the bonds of master and disciple or anything like that — he had simply steered clear of it. This was better for everyone.
Yes, his real haul — including things like the Serpent Woman's finger bone — wasn't on Leilin at all!
So even if Gilbert's inspection was airtight, it would be completely useless!
"Still, although the process was harrowing this time, I ended up getting what I wanted, and the other spoils were quite nice too…" Leilin lay on the bed thinking, and before long drifted into true slumber.
The Black Scale was fast. It had taken Leilin and the others over a month to travel from the Ring of the Ouroboros's territory to the City of Sin, but the return trip only took a little over ten days.
After arriving back at headquarters, Leilin exchanged a few pleasantries with his teacher and several senior apprentices, then used the excuse that the wizard tower on his territory was nearly complete to return to the Black Castle.
"Welcome home, my lord!" Pike stood before the black wizard tower, bowing respectfully to Leilin. His voice was as aged as ever, and paired with his youthful face, it produced a bizarre sense of dissonance.
"How is my wizard tower coming along?"
Leilin stepped forward and ran his hand along the black tower walls, admiring the intricate runes etched across the surface and the powerful energy fluctuations radiating faintly from within. A smile spread across his face.
"The overall structure of the wizard tower is entirely complete. All that remains is the activation of a few core components and the most crucial tower spirit! Those are all waiting for the master to carry out!"
Pike's answer pleased Leilin greatly. He took his work very seriously, and the task Leilin had assigned him last time had been handled excellently — he had successfully delivered the letter to Duke Gilbert, sparing Leilin from a grim fate.
"Very good!" Leilin nodded.
"Have Shluby come to my laboratory sometime. It's been quite a while since I've taught him anything new!"
He knew full well that Pike was getting on in years and had lost all ambition to advance. Every ounce of his hope rested on his grandson — no reward could compare to showing attention to Shluby.
"I'll thank you on his behalf, my lord!"
Sure enough, after hearing Leilin's words, a flicker of emotion surfaced on Pike's face, and he bent at the waist a full ninety degrees.
"This time, while I was away, I exchanged for an Animancy scroll from my teacher. Pass down the orders — prepare to break ground. I want to finish my wizard tower as soon as possible!"
Leilin issued the command in a calm, measured tone.
Your will shall be carried out!" Pike replied. All construction preparations were complete, and the remaining core materials had been gathered as well — everything was waiting for Leilin to return and take the lead.
Strolling through the interior of his wizard tower, Leilin carefully examined every corner.
The interior space of the wizard tower was vast. Leilin had built it entirely to the highest standards, and the facilities within were fully equipped — looking both exquisite and opulent.
Leilin went through floor after floor, paying particular attention to the two Positive and Negative Energy Pools, as well as the laboratory, the containment chamber, the ecological garden, and other areas.
"Chip! How is the scan coming along?" While looking around, Leilin had not forgotten to have Chip thoroughly scan and record every arrangement and wizard formation he observed, and then cross-check them.
"
Since the architectural blueprints had originally been designed by Leilin himself — refined through Chip's advanced computational modeling — the entire layout of the wizard tower was practically flawless, reaching a level where there was almost nothing to criticize.
The remaining areas for optimization were merely minor issues caused by imprecise construction or similar factors. No matter how perfect a plan might be, as long as it was carried out by human hands, unexpected problems would always arise. Leilin had long since made his peace with that.
"Everything else is fine — it's just the ecological garden that could use some revisions. Integrate the ancient environmental data I collected at Quicksand Castle into it!"
Leilin stroked his chin.
The wizard tower was not yet complete. Now was still the time to make adjustments. Once the defensive wizard formations were activated — and especially once the Tower Spirit was awakened — any further modifications would be truly impossible.
"Chip! Based on what I just described, design the revision blueprints!"
Tedious tasks like this were something Leilin had always preferred to hand off to Chip. He himself only needed to steer the overall direction.
"Task initiated. Retrieving original blueprints. Loading ancient environmental parameters into simulation. Generating new design..."
Chip processed at incredible speed, and within minutes it projected a new set of blueprints before Leilin's eyes.
"Hmm! It maximally leverages the original resources and configurations — I just need to add a few more items and wizard formations. That'll do!"
Leilin reviewed the blueprints several times and expressed his satisfaction with Chip's design.
He now had a large workforce under his command, along with a sizable number of stone golem laborers. He simply passed down the revision orders, and several teams rotated through day and night. After little more than ten days, the work was thoroughly completed.
Leilin stood beside the Negative Energy Pool on the lowest level, gazing at the intricate wizard patterns inscribed on the floor and the glow emanating from numerous rare materials — adamantine, mithril, and the like. His expression held neither sorrow nor joy, only a deep calm.
"Wizard Tower full wizard formation simulation complete. Rehearsed 341 times. Number of failures: 0!"
Deep in Leilin's eyes, the blue light of the Chip flickered for an instant.
"It begins!"
Leilin let out a soft breath and placed a concentrated energy crystal — one that radiated tremendous light and heat, like a miniature sun — into the groove at the center of the wizard formation.
Buzz!
The entire wizard formation immediately began to tremble, ring after ring of runes materializing out of thin air as threads of light coursed across its surface.
"Activate!" Leilin's Spiritual Power spread outward, connecting with the wizard formation.
The instant his Spiritual Power touched the wizard formation, Leilin felt as though he had opened a valve — vast quantities of elemental particles were being frantically absorbed by the formation, then channeled through intricate conversion pathways into the Negative Energy Pool.
Outside the Wizard Tower, Pike, Gubler, Sluby, and the rest of Leilin's subordinates had all gathered, their eyes gleaming with light as they watched the spectacle unfold.
The massive elemental tide seemed to form a vortex, drawn into the black Wizard Tower.
One wizard rune after another blazed to life along the tower's surface, carrying terrifying yet steady fluctuations, linking together with unwavering resolve.
Inside the Wizard Tower at that moment, Leilin was alone. He swiftly made his way to the tower's summit and gazed at the wizard formation and storage pools — almost identical in appearance to before, yet giving off an entirely different feeling.
"Next is the Positive Energy Pool!"
Another high-energy crystal was pressed into a groove by Leilin, and the same activation runes emerged from his hands, sinking into the surrounding walls.
Boom!
Above the Wizard Tower, the colossal elemental tide had nearly condensed into a physical form — elemental particles of every color shimmered with dazzling radiance, then quickly began to settle, forming two rainbows, one bright and one dark.
The luminous rainbow was drawn into the tower's peak, while the one tinged with dark gold sank into the earth below.
Buzz!
The Positive and Negative Energy Pools hummed ceaselessly, their elemental energy accumulating fuller and fuller, until it reached the halfway mark.
Two points of light, brilliant as stars, emerged from the tower's peak and from deep underground respectively, spreading steadily along the tower's body.
One by one, the numerous runes lit up, finally converging at the center of the Wizard Tower.
"The Wizard Tower's arrays are all activated! Currently running normally!"
The Chip's notification sounded, while Lei Lin now stood at the convergence point of the positive and negative energies. In his hands, a scroll of ancient appearance, adorned with strange patterns, materialized.
"Fourth-Level Wizard Spell — Construct Animation Scroll!"
"And, Chip, prepare the sub-agent!"
Lei Lin tore open the grey scroll. Light erupted in a blinding flash, and instantly, a terrifying suction force radiated outward from the scroll. The gaseous Spiritual Power within his sea of consciousness was consumed in massive quantities, barely stopping only when it was nearly depleted.