Chapter 1046: Milestone (33)
Crack, crack……!!
The Lightning Key spun with a brilliant golden radiance.
Each flash of the exquisitely ornate key caused the surrounding air to intensely heat up.
It was as if the key’s very existence acted as a catalyst, enhancing the properties of the lightning itself.
‘Just bringing it out into reality for a moment grants this much power?’
An amplification artifact with the power to drastically elevate the might and nature of lightning magic.
If it possessed such performance even without fully engaging the Lightning Unraveling Spellcraft, there was potential to use it in many more ways.
“This can’t be……”
In the Magic Tower’s underground hollow, only Lennok and the Thorben Magic Tower Lord remained after the mercenaries had departed.
The Thorben Magic Tower Lord stood with his mouth agape, staring at the Lightning Key as it glittered and spun before his eyes.
“It is the sentient lightning embedded within the heart of the Hall of the Thunder God.”
Lennok explained, holding up the key.
“Its master was a spellcaster known as the Lightning Emperor, a Transcendent from the First World who mastered a power called Lightning Unraveling Spellcraft.”
“……No, that’s not the secret history I need an explanation for.”
The Thorben Magic Tower Lord looked at Lennok with a bewildered expression.
It was a rare reaction from the Thorben Magic Tower Lord, who typically paid little mind to others’ words or actions.
“Any spellcaster who has entered the Hall of the Thunder God would surely know about this key. I, too, know what it is.”
Akendrias El Thorben was an 8-level Grand Master, a Great Mage who transcended hierarchies and served as the Thorben Magic Tower Lord.
As the very person who had informed Lennok about the Hall of the Thunder God and encouraged his entry, he naturally knew its true identity.
He must have also known that the Lightning Emperor’s existence was not an enlightenment fully etched into the sanctuary.
“This was never even an enlightenment in its complete form to begin with. What in the world did you do to draw this entity into reality?”
“I persuaded the Lightning Emperor himself and reached an agreement.”
But Lennok replied nonchalantly, even after hearing the Thorben Magic Tower Lord’s words.
“To borrow your words, I exchanged the causality of lightning as payment.”
“……”
“I confirmed that the sanctuary of the Hall of the Thunder God did not collapse when I touched the key. However, I felt it necessary to inform you, the Thorben Magic Tower Lord, of this fact.”
Lennok said, holding up the Lightning Emperor’s Key.
“Since you were the one who told me about the Hall of the Thunder God, I should inform you of the outcome after the deed is done.”
“……I understand your concern, but there’s no need to worry.”
The Thorben Magic Tower Lord, who had been silent, crossed his arms.
“While it is true that it held great significance within the sanctuary, strictly speaking, it was not a power fully etched into the sanctuary itself.”
“……”
“It is a lightning sanctuary that has been connected across worlds. As an existence left in an incomplete form, its disappearance would not shake the sanctuary.”
“If there are no problems, then there is something I wish to test now that I have this key.”
Lennok said, gripping the Lightning Emperor’s Key.
“This key is the result of the First World’s answer being left in reality through the Hall of the Thunder God. As it stands now, it is essentially a medium connecting both reality and the Hall of the Thunder God.”
“Hmm…”
“Therefore, I intend to use the Lightning Emperor’s power to experiment with the enlightenment of the Celestial Lightning that you spoke of.”
Although he had obtained the Lightning Emperor from the sanctuary, Lennok had no intention of abandoning the modification to a Celestial Lightning Body that the Thorben Magic Tower Lord had mentioned.
He simply wished to acquire it himself, rather than inherit it in its complete form.
Lennok intended to test a method of transforming his constitution into a Celestial Lightning Body with the help of the Lightning Emperor’s Key and the Thorben Magic Tower Lord.
“Not my entire body, but my left arm—more precisely, only my forearm below the elbow.”
Lennok said, rolling up the sleeve of his left arm.
“I once housed an artifact called the Phoenix Hall in this arm, which is now serving as the power source for my Tower.”
“……”
“Even if the worst happens, I can use the Tower’s power source as a backup to restore my biological data itself.”
Attempting to change Lennok’s constitution through the concept of the Celestial Lightning Body was not without risks.
All forms of spellcraft resistance, including Lennok’s Targeted Resistance.
The physical penalty intimately linked to Lennok’s talent.
It was inevitable to incur risks from the moment he directly intervened to attempt such a transformation.
Lennok had clearly defined the body part for cultivating Celestial Lightning to minimize such dangers.
While it didn’t significantly matter which arm to prioritize between his right and left, his right wrist bore the High Priestess’s authority passed down by Seina Naydree.
There was no reason to experiment with his right arm, risking the loss of the Stigmata that would serve as a key when dealing with the Cult in the future.
However, the Thorben Magic Tower Lord shook his head with a complex expression, even after hearing Lennok’s words.
“I don’t know what to say. I thought the problem would be solved once you gained the enlightenment of Celestial Lightning from the sanctuary, but I didn’t expect you to bring out something even greater…”
“……”
“But, yes… if you have that, then it’s true there is a method we can try.”
The Thorben Magic Tower Lord, who had been lost in thought, grinned and drew upon his mana.
“As this Arch-Dragon’s Shikigami, could you momentarily expand my permitted range of activity?”
“What are you planning?”
“As you said, this key is essentially a medium connecting both reality and the Hall of the Thunder God. In that case, we can use it to directly access reality that is linked to the Hall of the Thunder God.”
Crack!!
The moment Thorben extended his hand, a vivid blue electric current surged forth, spreading out before Lennok like a colossal gate.
“And isn’t my Magic Tower, which uses the power of the Hall of the Thunder God itself as its power source, still located within this city?”
“……”
“The innermost power core of the War-Mage Tower, which uses the Hall of the Thunder God’s output as its raw material.”
The Thorben Magic Tower Lord gestured with his eyes towards the key in Lennok’s hand.
“Follow me. I’ll show you something interesting.”
Crackle……!!
Lennok, holding the Lightning Emperor’s Key, plunged it into the electric current the Thorben Magic Tower Lord had conjured.
The lightning was forcibly opened by the key, spreading out like an electrical pathway right there.
The moment they touched the thick Lightning Radiance, both their forms accelerated as if being sucked in.
Whoosh!!!
With an intense ripple of lightning, they traversed space and moved into the interior of the War-Mage Tower.
Lennok landed in a wide corridor with a sharp tearing sound, observing his surroundings.
“I thought the entire Tower was half-destroyed, but such a large-scale facility still remains in the War-Mage Tower’s depths.”
A clear corridor where everything visible shimmered with a blue light.
The interior space was far vaster and more expansive than he had imagined from the outside.
Lamps illuminating the corridor crackled like lightning, and a faint thunder rumbled.
Beyond merely being deserted, it was a quiet stillness, as if standing in the middle of a cathedral.
“The mana density and accumulation rate… it’s incredibly high. It feels not just oppressive, but heavy.”
Lennok murmured, gazing silently down the corridor.
“An ordinary wizard would find it difficult to even use magic here. Was this environment created intentionally?”
“This way.”
The Thorben Magic Tower Lord, walking ahead, guided Lennok with familiarity.
They walked down the quiet corridor, where no one stirred, until they reached a three-way fork.
At the fork stood a statue of a goddess, hands clasped in prayer.
Huuuuum……!!
While Lennok gazed at the goddess statue, which emitted a strange resonant hum, the Thorben Magic Tower Lord turned right.
Walking down the right fork, a massive wooden door, occupying an entire wall of the corridor, came into view.
Crack, crack……!!
Hundreds of talismans, glowing vivid blue, were densely plastered onto the door, sealing it tightly.
It seemed the talismans’ power was suppressing the aura seeping from the door’s cracks.
“We’ll pass through the Elixir Vault and the Lightning Scripture Archive to enter the Thunderbolt Reliquary. The doors are designed to open only if you follow the correct sequence for entry.”
The Thorben Magic Tower Lord, pushing open the door adorned with blue cloth, said with a grin.
“No one will bother us for a while.”
“Bother us? You make it sound like we snuck in—”
Lennok was about to retort, but he shut his mouth at the sight of the immense quantity of elixirs spread before him.
An area easily spanning dozens of meters.
Hundreds of shelves lined the room, laden with various medicinal herbs, elixirs, and pellets, piled up like mountains.
“This is…”
Rooooar……!!
Elixirs and pellets, equal in value to gemstones, were sorted and stacked as if they were market produce.
The auras emanating from the elixirs and pellets clashed and merged, forming a powerful current of vital energy.
Even Lennok had never seen so many elixirs and pellets gathered in one place, creating such an anomalous phenomenon.
Though he consistently collected medicinal ingredients and catalysts, Lennok never stored such a massive quantity in one location.
Was the oppressive mana within the Tower meant to suppress the clashing and surging of these powerful auras?
“This is where we’ve sorted and accumulated the spoils acquired during our War Business.”
The Thorben Magic Tower Lord said, leading the way.
“It’s a secret archive opened to select wizards who show progress or great achievements in our endeavors. It’s been a long time since I myself visited.”
“……”
“Let’s see. Shall we begin right away?”
The Thorben Magic Tower Lord, holding a wrapping paper near a shelf, casually grabbed a handful of pellets from the shelf.
“First, we need pellets for mana recovery and vitality enhancement. Everything needs a solid foundation, after all.”
As he swept his hand, pellets poured out in a cascade beneath the wrapping paper he held.
“Flying Spirit Pellets, Individuated Stone Oil, Eightfold Thunder Horn, Amitabha Divine Water… You’d get an earful if you just took them freely, but this isn’t the time to be picky about opportunities like this.”
“……”
“An elixir capable of filling your blood vessels to their very ends with lightning qi and cold qi. Next.”
He quickly picked out a dozen or so elixirs into the wrapping paper, loosely tied it, and tossed it to Lennok.
While Lennok caught the package, the Thorben Magic Tower Lord moved without delay deeper into the vault.
As they went further in, sturdy glass display cases appeared instead of shelves.
Inside the display cases, living medicinal herbs and plants were being cultivated under artificial light.
Snap!!
He opened a glass case and pulled out an herb by its roots. Then, he tore off the plant’s leaves with his bare hands and grasped them.
The Thorben Magic Tower Lord, having pilfered precious medicinal ingredients from the vault and handed them to Lennok, immediately exited.
They returned from the fork that led to the vault and, without hesitation, headed for the corridor on the left.
“Next is the Lightning Scripture Archive.”
Thud!!
As they opened the door, densely inscribed with ancient characters, and entered, a vast archive greeted Lennok.
It wasn’t just wide; the tiers of shelves for books were stacked so densely and extensively that they were countless.
Lennok, holding the package of elixirs and potent medicines, his eyes gleamed at the intense mana emanating from the shelves.
“An archive storing grimoires and research records on lightning magic, then.”
Most of the books stored within the archive were grimoires emitting intense mana.
And every single one of them was an artifact recording research into lightning magic or lightning-attribute spellcraft.
Unlike Lennok, who had modified lightning magic himself, these were the records of wizards who had researched magic within the Tower’s lineage.
“This place is rather interesting. May I look around for a bit?”
“Hmm? Are there any grimoires here that you wish to have?”
However, the Thorben Magic Tower Lord seemed to feel no particular sentiment for the books in the archive.
Instead, as if Lennok’s interest in the Lightning Scripture Archive was unexpected, he merely pulled out grimoires from various parts of the shelves with a flick of his hand.
“Let’s see. Falling Thunder Confluence Script. Electric Enclosure Resonance: Harmonics. Lightning-Attribute Demonic Scroll. One Principle Penetration True Scroll…”
The Thorben Magic Tower Lord placed four grimoires onto the load Lennok was carrying, smiling proudly.
“These are artifacts recording the achievements of lightning wizards who pursued heterodoxy or unconventional paths. Time is tight, so just take these for now.”
“Why are you giving me these grimoires?”
“Because most of the research journals and records here, even combined, wouldn’t amount to your single achievement or understanding.”
The Thorben Magic Tower Lord replied nonchalantly.
“In that case, wouldn’t the examples of wizards who deliberately pursued unconventional paths be more helpful to you?”
“……”
“Rather, I don’t understand why you’re interested in other wizards’ research.”
As Lennok lost for words and gave a wry smile, the Thorben Magic Tower Lord chuckled, stroking his beard.
“If I had achieved so much on my own, I wouldn’t have listened to a single word from anyone else for my entire life.”
“If that were the case, what I learned wouldn’t have been lightning magic to begin with.”
Lennok replied, turning his back.
“I seek answers within myself, but I don’t believe there’s no meaning in what others have achieved. Rather, I constantly try to perceive new possibilities through them.”
“Hmm…”
The Thorben Magic Tower Lord rubbed his chin with a contemplative expression.
“The more I listen to you, the more curious I become about what your Domain truly envisions. I don’t think that is the kind of Foreknowledge a human can possess to begin with.”
“……”
“Well, if you can’t speak of it, then don’t. The reason you couldn’t use your Domain when you fought me is likely connected to that very issue.”
Thorben said so, then turned around without hesitation.
“Now that preparations are roughly complete, let’s move immediately.”
They exited the Lightning Scripture Archive and returned to the fork.
Passing the Elixir Vault on the right and the Lightning Scripture Archive on the left at the three-way fork, they headed for the Thunderbolt Reliquary located in the center.
As the door to the Thunderbolt Reliquary opened, the space abruptly expanded, revealing a massive, cavernous hollow.
Standing in the middle of the hollow and looking back at the door, it appeared as tiny as an ant from such a vast distance.
Lennok, standing in the empty, hollow center, turned to the Thorben Magic Tower Lord and asked.
“What is this space used for?”
“Regarding that, I suppose I have no choice but to explain it now.”
As Thorben raised his hand, the door to the Thunderbolt Reliquary far in the distance closed with a thud.
In the suddenly quiet center of the hollow, the Thorben Magic Tower Lord’s expression turned serious as he faced Lennok.
“In truth, this War-Mage Tower does not belong to Thorben. To precisely distinguish its origins, it is an artifact crafted in Ars Nova.”
“…Are you saying this aerial fortress was originally the property of the central city?”
“Indeed. Its design purpose was not a Magic Tower, but a strategic mobile battleship capable of flying across the entire continent.”
The Thorben Magic Tower Lord gave a wry smile.
“It was an imperial legacy directly bestowed upon me by the central imperial family when I was young.”
“……”
“Though it has undergone countless modifications to the point where its original form no longer remains, it is still an Ars Nova vessel, so its fundamental functions persist.”
Thorben said, pointing to the hollow where Lennok and the Thorben Magic Tower Lord stood.
“That function is to imitate and mimic the Boundary Line of the World itself.”
“The Boundary Line of the World, you say…”
“While it can’t compare to the Alliance Leader’s Glass Garden, surely this much would be helpful?”
Lennok had already heard that name before.
It was the place where he had last sent Lapis during their visit to Vulcan under the alias of Cheonbeon.
It was the very boundary line where this world met the Outer Sea, a forbidden place where all concepts blurred, chaotically intermingled, and distorted.
Wasn’t it there that Lapis last encountered the memories of Transcendent Sight and awakened as a Lighthouse Keeper?
What did it mean that this Thunderbolt Reliquary could mimic the environment of such a Boundary Line of the World?
Realizing the Thorben Magic Tower Lord’s intention, Lennok immediately asked.
“Surely, you don’t mean to blur the boundaries between my Mental Image and my physical body, to have me reconstruct my body myself?”