End of the Magic Era
chapter-119

"I did tell you that you had to pay the price for trying to use the loopholes in the soul contract. You are no exception, even as a Soul Lifeform. You should be glad that you didn't tamper with that soul contract too much, or else what you signed wouldn't have just been a master-slave contract…"

Lin Yun was a bit regretful as he said this.

The only place that had been tampered with was the section with the true name, where the Soul Walker hid his true name, disguising it as Jalax.

In Noscent, soul contracts were the most impartial contracts. If one of the parties interfered with the soul contract, then a loophole could appear in the entire contract. No matter how well they did it, and no matter how big the exploit, since the Soul Walker tampered with the true name, Lin Yun would be able to make use of that loophole, but only on the true name section.

What Lin Yun did was very simple.

He only reversed the position of the two names.

The contract was still a contract, and the contents didn't change, but the positions of master and slave had been completely reversed.

This was also why Lin Yun said that the Soul Walker should be glad.

If the Soul Walker had made bigger changes, Lin Yun would have had more leeway when exploiting the loophole, and it might not have been as simple as a master-slave contract at that point.

Something like an eternal contract that couldn't even be broken through reincarnation, or a blood oath making them share their lives, or enslavement without anything in return. In short, it wouldn't be as fair and relaxed as a master-slave contract.

"You… How did you find out?" The Soul Walker withdrew, his voice shaking. The master-slave contract was already in effect. He wouldn't attack Lin Yun even without the Flame Shackles.

Moreover, he didn't have the power to attack Lin Yun. Otherwise, he wouldn't have tried to use magic to impersonate the Desolate Overlord, and he also wouldn't have been so helpless against the Flame Shackles.

"This is a secret…" Lin Yun smiled, not answering this question.

Only Lin Yun himself knew that he had nearly been duped.

This had been a brilliant trap.

At first, Lin Yun had truly believed it that he was facing a projection of the Desolate Overlord, because the true name of the Desolate Overlord wasn't something spread in this era, it would be known 20,000 years later.

But the Soul Walker exposed a flaw.

The Desolate Overlord, Jalax, was an existence above the Heaven Rank, so why would he lower himself to sign a master-slave contract with a Great Mage?

But that flaw still wasn't enough. After all, the behavior of an existence like the Desolate Overlord wasn't something that a Great Mage could predict.

Fortunately, a second flaw was exposed.

It was the true name on the contract.

Lin Yun immediately knew that there was a problem with the contract. The true name Jalax only had endless power in the God and Devil Language, yet the contract's true name was written using Nesser Language.

Thus, Lin Yun probed him.

Lin Yun tried to haggle with that suspicious Desolate Overlord, and surprisingly succeeded.

After the Desolate Overlord roared in anger, he actually agreed to change the time limit of the contract to one hundred years.

If at that time, Lin Yun still hadn't been able to see that this was a trap, then he really wouldn't have deserved that second chance. A frightening existence like the Desolate Overlord, how could it be willing to haggle with a human Great Mage?

Lin Yun used True Eyes, and sure enough...

"Shouldn't it be your turn to explain yourself?"

"There is nothing much to explain, I only drew an alchemy array, waiting for despicable thieves like you, that's all." Although it had already signed the master-slave contract, the Soul Walker was clearly unwilling to accept it. His words were still filled with ridicule and disdain.

The Soul Walker truly felt that all this was unacceptable.

As a True Spirit Magic Tool's Soul Walker, he had already been in this prince's tomb for a thousand years. For some special reasons, he had already exhausted his mana a few hundred years ago, and it looked like his Incarnation would soon disappear. So the Soul Walker came up with a way.

He used the last of his power to draw an alchemy array in front of the Jade Rock Door to act as bait.

In order to make the bait realistic, the Soul Walker did indeed connect the Runic Shield and the alchemy array. In other words, that alchemy array really could control the Runic Shield, but he had left some tricks when devising the mana source. It looked like the supplied mana would be poured into the alchemy array, but it was in fact intercepted by the Soul Walker...

But the Soul Walker truly didn't think that there would be such a miserly person in this world.

He only had two level 5 mana crystals!

The Soul Walker almost cried when the mana of those two level 5 mana crystals was poured into his body. 'What could I have done with two level 5 mana crystals? That wasn't enough to cast half a spell when I was at my peak!' he thought.

'Damn you!' he cursed in his mind. 'Once this Lord Shawn had made you sign the master-slave contract, I would have humiliated you, miser! This Lord Shawn even turned into the Desolate Overlord. Yet this Lord Shawn was unlucky…'

Up till now, Shawn felt that if that damn human had been a bit more generous and had given it a bit more power, it wouldn't have had such a pitiable ending.

"Turns out True Spirit Magic Tools can also run out of mana…" Although the Soul Walker didn't explain anything, Lin Yun thought about it for a moment and figured out the entire process. He couldn't help chuckling, "You are truly unlucky…"

Shawn exploded with rage when he heard Lin Yun laughing.

"You think you won? You became Lord Shawn's master in vain. Have you forgotten, Lord Shawn is the Incarnation of a True Spirit Magic Tool!"

After saying that, the Soul Walker turned into a mist and disappeared into the ring.

It was followed by a burst of proud laughter echoing in Lin Yun's ears. "Hahahaha, ridiculous human, now you know the power of Lord Shawn. You signed the master-slave contract with Lord Shawn, but you forgot that Lord Shawn is the Incarnation of a True Spirit Magic Tool. If you have the skill, then make Lord Shawn come out from the Magic Tool…"

But he hadn't expected that Lin Yun wouldn't show any signs of being flustered at all, his smile unchanged.

"Sure, if you like hiding in the Magic Tool, then you can hide in the Magic Tool forever. But I guarantee that if you dare to come out, you'll never regret it…" After saying that, Lin Yun reminded the Soul Walker, "Oh right, I forgot to tell you, I'll be twenty this year and I am a Great Mage. Many say that I'll become a High Mage at 40, and maybe after a few hundred years, I might become an Archmage. I heard that Archmages can live for a millennium and then some. I wonder if you'll be patient enough to wait for my death?"

"Human, don't waste your time scheming, I already waited for more than a millennium in this tomb. As far as I'm concerned, waiting another thousand years would at most be another period of slumber."

"Slumber? That's good. If that's the case, I don't need to supply you with mana. Moreover, to let you have a good sleep, I won't let you be disturbed at all. I'll tailor an alchemy array to isolate you from all kinds of mana emission. That way you'll have a very deep sleep. Who knows, maybe you'll be able to sleep until your Incarnation dissipates…"

"..."

The Soul Walker fell silent.

Waiting a thousand years truly was considered nothing to a True Spirit Magic Tool. It would just be a long period of slumber at worst. But having no mana supply whatsoever was something the True Spirit Magic Tool couldn't accept. The last time his mana had been exhausted, his Incarnation almost dissipated. How could the Soul Walker accept falling into such a condition again?

"In fact, what's wrong with changing masters? That prince already died a thousand years ago, could it be that you, a True Spirit Magic Tool, want to keep living in memories of the past?" Lin Yun noticed the Soul Walker's attitude mellowing and knew that he should use some persuasion.

"That fucking prince!" The Soul Walker unexpectedly burst out in anger. "Don't mention that lunatic, Barov, to me. He was always paranoid, saying that our world was heading towards its end. But now, the world is still here, while that lunatic met his end! Yet he still locked this Lord Shawn in this pitch dark tomb for a thousand years. What memories? Lord Shawn can only recall facing death at his hands!"

"..."

"Human, don't waste your time on scheming. You want Lord Shawn to serve you. No can do. Look at yourself, look at how weak you are, an insignificant Great Mage. You want to control a True Spirit Magic Tool like Lord Shawn, but do you think you are like that lunatic, Barov? Let's do it like this. Human, you take responsibility for supplying Lord Shawn with mana, and if Lord Shawn is in a good mood, I might let you borrow some power…"

"Sure!" Lin Yun had been waiting for this sentence.

He had been afraid that the Soul Walker would be determined to hide in the ring. Besides the previous method of locking him away from any mana source, Lin Yun didn't have another way to really punish him. If he used that method, neither side would win. The True Spirit Magic Tool's Incarnation would dissipate, and Lin Yun would have to pass on a True Spirit Magic Tool.

Now that the Soul Walker had agreed to cooperate, everything would be a lot simpler for Lin Yun.

The Soul Walker's claim that he would only let Lin Yun borrow some power if he was in a good mood… This was just Shawn acting pretentious. They had signed a master-slave contract, so if Lin Yun died, Shawn wouldn't have an easy time. At the very least, he would lose a rank, downgrading to a Spiritual Magic Tool from a True Spirit Magic Tool...

Also, Lin Yun was just a Great Mage at the moment so it would be very difficult to use a part of the power of the True Spirit Magic Tool. If he really tried to use the full power of the True Spirit Magic Tool, he would be drained of energy.

As for when he would be able to completely master this True Spirit Magic Tool...

Lin Yun estimated that it would be when he reached the High Mage Rank at the very least. At that time, he would have fused his nine Magic Arrays into one, and his fighting strength should be around that of a 9th Rank High Mage. He should have a chance of completely mastering the True Spirit Magic Tool at that point.

As for now, a portion of power was already enough...

Moreover, what he wanted to use now wasn't the power of the True Spirit Magic Tool.

"Lord Shawn, can I ask you a question?" Lin Yun picked up the ring on the floor and carefully put it on his left hand's ring finger.

This was due to a superstition spread among mages. All mages believed that the ring finger had unfathomable power, and thus they would always wear their most powerful magic ring on that finger...

"This… Depends on Lord Shawn's mood…"

"..." Lin Yun inwardly cursed. After taking a breath, restraining his urge to sever the mana supply, he muttered, "I only wanted to ask how to open this Jade Rock Door."

"This shouldn't be…" The ring on his hand let out a surprised sound. "You seem quite smart, Human, why would you need to ask me such a silly question?"

"I am Mafa Merlin. You can choose to call me master, or Merlin. But never just call me Human again, or else I might forget to supply mana if I'm annoyed…"

"You actually have to threaten Lord Shawn with such a weak supply of mana…" The Soul Walker snorted twice unhappily. But afterwards, he changed the way he addressed Lin Yun. "Okay, Merlin, now let Lord Shawn tell you how to break through this Jade Rock Door… Oh right, Lord Shawn will say in passing that the name Merlin is very silly…"

'Fuck you…'

Lin Yun felt a vein pulsating on his forehead. He breathed roughly a few times, resisting the urge to curse. "You can't say that!"

"Your attitude is not very good, Lord Shawn is a bit unhappy…" The Soul Walker originally wanted to keep acting pretentiously, but before he could say anything else, he felt the supply of mana being cut off. Shawn, who had felt his strength recovering during this short time, immediately became tactful.

"But it doesn't matter, Lord Shawn's mood is pretty good. I won't lower myself to argue with you. Don't you see, this alchemy array was actually created by Lord Shawn's power. It was specially created to deceive stupid humans like you. If you input a lot of mana, it would only be supplied to Lord Shawn, and as for the true method, you can find it on the Jade Rock Door…"

Lin Yun inwardly cursed, 'Fuck, these Soul Lifeforms are too shameless…'

The Soul Walker's reminder was clear to Lin Yun. The Jade Rock Door didn't lack an opening mechanism. But some shameless Soul Lifeforms used an illusion to hide it.

Lin Yun walked over with a gloomy face, and sure enough, after the power of the Soul Walker dissipated, a circular mechanism appeared on the originally smooth Jade Rock Door. A riddle was written around the circle in Nesser Runes. Just as Lin Yun planned to solve the door's riddle, the voice of Lord Shawn echoed out.

"No need to look, Lord Shawn can tell you the answer to such a simple riddle. Left three times, right four times, try it out, Silly Human… My bad, Silly Merlin…"

Lin Yun simply chose to ignore it.

But his hand still moved according to the instructions of the Soul Walker. Left three times, right four times. Immediately afterwards, the entire Jade Rock Door began to move with a rumble. After a short while, a big arena appeared in front of him.

"No way…" When Lin Yun saw that huge arena, he became aware of the trouble awaiting him. That Great Mage from the Cloud Tower wrote at least half a page on this huge arena.

"Haha, Merlin, your luck is pretty good. After going through the Life and Death Door, you only have a 10% chance of walking into the Dark Arena. Such a low probability and you actually met it, let this Lord Shawn guess what kind of opponent you'll come across, okay?"

"It would be better to guess when I'll cut your mana supply." Lin Yun unhappy scolded.

"Damn you, you dare to threaten Lord Shawn!"

Lin Yun chose to ignore this pretentious and long-winded True Spirit Magic Tool, and after scratching his nose, he stepped into the Dark Arena.