“Teacher, let’s talk about the ancient alchemical magic array instead.”
Hearing that, Spark scratched his messy hair and pulled himself together a little.
“Of course. How much more Gold Pucks do you want to invest? If you can put in 200,000 per month, I swear it will be finished before next spring.”
Li De’s face stiffened. “No, I don’t want to keep pouring money into this bottomless pit.”
Spark was startled. His somewhat hazy drunken eyes immediately became much clearer, and he hurriedly spoke up.
“No, you can’t stop now. This magic array is already one-fifth completed. It won’t even take half a year to finish. Why would you stop?”
Hearing this, Li De couldn’t help laughing bitterly. So that was the truth. Now, after investing three to four hundred thousand Gold Pucks, only one-fifth was done.
Just how much had this guy been understating all along?
No wonder he’d said that building two arrays capable of resisting Transcendent magic would only cost a million Gold Pucks.
Close to two million to build just one, now that made sense.
He hadn’t understood back then how terrifying high-level combat strength was. He had simply and naively assumed it just meant being a bit stronger.
But after seeing Kap in person, he finally realized, Level 18 was already that powerful, so how monstrous would Transcendent be?
A magic array capable of resisting a Transcendent, just thinking about it made it clear how terrifying it would be.
Spending over a million Gold Pucks was a lot, but compared to Transcendent power, it was still a bargain.
“So, what you’re saying is, I need two million Gold Pucks to ever see this magic array completed?”
Hearing this, Spark, knowing he was in the wrong, began trying to justify himself. “You can’t think of it that way. Just consider, now that you’ve earned so much money, you need powerful strength to protect it.
I can’t stay in Green City forever. If I leave for a while and someone decides to come after you, the Crimson Mage Tower will have no strength to resist.
This is spending money to buy safety.
Can you really put a price on your own life?”
You make an excellent point. I have no rebuttal.
Li De couldn’t help giving his cheap teacher a mental thumbs-up.
“And besides, the magic array I’m building now isn’t the original one. I have an old friend in Nolan’s capital, he’s already stepped into the Transcendent.”
At this, Spark’s expression turned slightly unnatural. Clearly, the fact that his old friend had entered Transcendent before him was rather irritating.
“After I started building this array, I specially asked him to have a look at it.
He happens to be a member of the Mage Association in Nolan’s capital. He gathered five Transcendent mages with deep knowledge of magic arrays.
One of them was even a Legendary, who participated in the refinement and improvement of this array.
The current magic array is the improved version. Its defensive capabilities are much stronger, and its overall performance has been vastly enhanced.”
As he spoke, Spark gradually became more and more pleased with himself, his expression growing excited as he began enthusiastically explaining the array’s various abilities to Li De.
“For example, the defensive capacity, before, once you activated the defensive shield and it broke, that was it. Now it’s different. Now the mage can actively channel mana to reinforce the shield, so it costs much less than relying solely on magic crystals. And besides that…”
Li De listened for a long while without saying a word, then looked at Spark deeply.
His teacher really was something, he actually had connections all the way into the Nolan Empire’s capital, and could even get a Legendary mage involved.
That was a Legendary, one of the highest-level powers in any nation.
Even the Nolan Empire, with its hundreds of millions of people and tens of millions of troops, had only two or three Legendaries.
Every Legendary was an absolute giant. Even the King of the Nolan Empire would have to greet them with the utmost respect.
Gods, because they were too powerful, normally could not descend to the Glory Main Plane. If they did, they would be rejected by the plane’s will.
Even mighty gods could not withstand the main plane’s will and would be at serious risk of irreversible injury.
So, on the Glory Main Plane, there were no gods walking about. The temples were only tools and weapons for the gods to spread their glory and gather believers. In a godless main plane, Legendaries were the pinnacle of combat power.
“Teacher, I will continue investing in the magic array, but I need you to give me an exact figure.”
He had already invested hundreds of thousands of Gold Pucks, the cost was sunk. Stopping now would be far too uneconomical.
Besides, this magic array’s functions and power were both incredibly enticing to him.
And now that he wasn’t short on money, continuing the construction wouldn’t hurt.
Moreover, Spark hadn’t been wrong about one thing: in this world, only strength was the truth. Without strength, no matter how much wealth you possessed, you were nothing but a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Hearing this, Spark revealed a broad smile.
“You brat from the Kachar family, I knew I wasn’t wrong about you.
No need for more, 2 million Gold Pucks will be the ceiling. That will be enough.
You will have a Mage Tower beyond anything you can imagine.”
“Teacher, I trust you won’t disappoint me.”
In the end, Li De still couldn’t resist the temptation.
He willingly swallowed the big promise Spark had painted for him.
A magic array improved by Legendary research, anyone would be moved.
Spark was grinning from ear to ear.
Seeing Spark’s expression, Li De also showed a bright smile.
Spark seemed to have forgotten that he was building the magic array for the Crimson Mage Tower without charge, Li De was paying, true, but the beneficiary was also Spark himself.
Spark was essentially free labor, yet he was this happy about it.
“Teacher~”
Just then, a delicate figure appeared at the door.
The little girl with eyes as pretty as rubies was wearing a white mage’s robe today, looking fresh and lovely.
Petite in build, her exquisite little face was full of delight.
After coming in, she trotted over to Li De, her eyes filled with boundless joy.
Seeing little Isha, Li De revealed a gentle smile, reached out, and pulled the little girl to sit beside him, then fondly rubbed her small head.
Just like with Vina, Li De’s affectionate gesture made Isha very happy. The girl closed her eyes slightly, leaning her head against Li De’s palm, her expression brimming with contentment.
She hadn’t seen Teacher in such a very, very long time.
“Big Sister Vina~”
After enjoying the cool comfort of Li De’s hand, she opened her eyes a little and looked at Vina standing behind Li De. Suddenly, the girl grew a bit shy and greeted her in a tiny voice.
Vina couldn’t help smiling warmly at such an adorable sight.
At that moment, Laurent, who had come in with Isha and Betty, also stepped forward to salute.
“Good day, Lord Li De. Good day, Lord Spark. Good day, Miss Vina. Good day, Miss Isha.”
Although Laurent was doing quite well these days, in this place, he was without question the one of lowest status.
Spark and Li De were the highest tier. Betty’s sheer power meant a single look from her could make his legs shake. Isha and Vina were Li De’s most trusted and cherished people. He didn’t dare provoke any of them, and couldn’t, even if he tried.
Seeing Laurent’s expression as if he had something to say but was hesitating, Li De immediately sensed it and gestured with a smile.
“It’s all right, just speak plainly. There are no outsiders here.”
The information Laurent knew didn’t involve Dawn City, so there was no reason to keep anything hidden.
But then, Laurent’s next words made everyone in the room freeze in place.
“My lord, in the north, a massive number of undead have appeared, their numbers have reached several hundred thousand.”
‘Several hundred thousand undead??’ Li De’s eyes sharpened.
The undead had long since been driven back to the Undead Plane by the heroes of the Glory Main Plane.
Why would they appear at this time? Was someone trying to trigger an undead scourge?