Astral Experiment

Numerous heatwaves congregated within his sea of consciousness.

Leylin saw the silvery stream of Hydro Phase spiritual force circulate wildly. Even the core nucleus body glowed with strange crimson runes. It had only lacked just that little bit in the centre that would render it complete!

“Activate Crystal Phase spell formation!” The Crystal Phase spell formation set up at the center of the room immediately rumbled, the crimson runes on it lighting up one after the other.

Leylin began to shiver uncontrollably. Compared to the previous few spell formations, the feeling that came from this Crystal Phase spell formation included a terrifying compressive force, as well as a chill that dug deep into his bones.

Streams of icy air flowed into Leylin’s sea of consciousness, combining with the boiling spiritual force.

On one end, there were waves of heat, but on the other end, streams of cold. Leylin felt like his brain had expanded and seemed on the verge of exploding.

With the alternating cold and heat, a huge transformation happened in his sea of consciousness, the boundaries constantly stretching outwards.

Much of the liquid spiritual force shrunk under the immense compressive force, and was refined further by the constant waves of heat and cold, glimmering with sparkles. This led to the formation of crystals, marking a shift from the Hydro Phase to the Crystal Phase.

Crystal Phase spiritual force was unique to each Magus, and Leylin paid attention to his own. It was made of dark, nearly black crystals, that held a hint of the crimson of fire inside them, denoting his affinity with these elements.

The liquid spiritual force turned to crystals, and decreased in size by several folds. The warm rush of the Diamond Jellyfish stimulated the generation of even more spiritual force, filling up the gaps.

[Beep! Host body breaking through current gene limitations. Stats in all areas increasing.] The A.I. Chip’s voice rang. It had been monitoring him as per usual.

After entering the Crystal Phase, the entire body would experience a complete transformation as a foundation for advancing to the Morning Star realm, and this was only one of the changes.

“As expected, it’s an advancement that affects even the genes,” Leylin’s expression revealed his elation. Amongst lower-ranked Magi, there were few opportunities to break through the limits of one’s genes, and it was thus very precious.

[Beep! Host body’s spiritual force has exceeded threshold, advancing to Crystal Phase Magus. Recalculating stats!]

The A.I. Chip’s prompts came one after the other, and by this point, the waves of heat and cold had calmed and gradually disappeared. Within Leylin’s sea of consciousness, a black crystallised spiritual force covered the area, seemingly indestructible.

His stats had been refreshed once more.

[Leylin Farlier. Rank 3 Warlock (Crystal Phase). Bloodline: Giant Kemoyin Serpent. Strength: 35, Agility: 35, Vitality: 50, Spiritual force: 351.7, Magic power: 351.7 (Magic power is in synchronisation with spiritual force).]

Leylin observed the newly refreshed stats that the A.I. Chip had come up with, and nodded in satisfaction.

“Strength and agility have both increased by five points in one go, which is already pretty good. As for my vitality, if not for finding precious materials such as the blood dragon fruit, I wouldn’t be able to achieve these numbers…”

His spiritual force had completely broken through the threshold of 350, allowing him to enter the Crystal Phase.

Leylin raised his arms. He could sense the modifications Crystal Phase spiritual force would grant his body. This was just the beginning, and though the effects had slowed and were not as obvious as when he had broken through, these imperceptible changes would result in a terrifying accumulation of strength over time!

‘Senior Lucian advanced to the Crystal Phase when he was five hundred, and that speed is already considered rather quick in the Ouroboros Clan. Senior Robin is now only three hundred, and his advancement had shocked the clan, earning him a reputation as the most powerful bloodline talent in the last three hundred years!’ Leylin tidied up the room while forcing a smile.

‘I’m only two hundred and am much too young. If my speed of advancement is let out, it will definitely cause another huge ruckus!’

A Magus who had advanced to the Crystal Phase a hundred years before Robin did, without the help of external influences, would definitely shock even Gilbert. But what Leylin urgently needed now was strength, and he had no choice but to break through.

‘I need to wait for a while longer. When the war begins, everyone will be focused on the battles. Though my speed will still cause a commotion, it will definitely be smaller than if news were to leak now.’ With his mind made up, Leylin decided on not leaving for a while, holing himself up in his tower.

With the concealing spell formation he had set up, as well as the amplification from his Magus Tower, nobody would know that he had secretly advanced to the crystal phase unless Gilbert himself came and checked.

This hidden strength would definitely cause enemies who had misjudged his abilities to be in for a huge shock!

At this thought, a smirk rose about Leylin’s lips, “I really am quite curious as to who will be the first to barge in…”

……

The underground of the Magus Tower was separated into many little rooms, forming many laboratories. The facilities were first-rate even in the central continent, and Leylin had only been able to achieve this by spending many magic crystals and resources. He even owed quite a few favours.

In the past, a few less important laboratories were open to a few high-ranked Warlocks that were under Leylin.

Now, however, this layer was empty. The Magi who usually remained in the Magus Tower had followed Leylin’s command and left for a while. Even his disciple, Snoopy, had been chased out.

In the innermost, largest and most advanced laboratory, Leylin stood silently, drawing a rune on the floor.

Though he had simulated this activity a great many times with the A.I. Chip, he was still extremely focused while he drew, concentrating on the rune and lines on the ground.

Compared to the other spell runes used in the central continent, what he was now carving evidently held the style of another dimension. Some parts were even a mess of disorganised figures and lines, but closer inspection revealed that they were strangely three-dimensional.

Only when the last stroke was done did Leylin sigh slightly, looking at the spell formation that had no mistakes. “It’s finally done!”

The long time he’d spent on carving had resulted in a thin layer of sweat on his forehead. With his current vitality, this should have been almost impossible.

[Scanning completed, confirmation that there are no errors.] The A.I. Chip’s voice sounded at this moment.

‘Then, the preparations for interplanar experiments are complete,’ Leylin thought as he stroked his chin.

He had gone out and went through the trouble of finding an astral stone. Was it all not for the purpose of preliminary astral experiments? Hence, after he advanced to the Crystal Phase, he had been impatient to begin his research.

All experiments related to the astral plane were dangerous, and this held true even for preliminary ones. Hence, Leylin had no choice but to disperse all the Magi in the tower. This was to eliminate all external influences so that he could concentrate on the experiments here.

Interplanar experiments were a high-level research that only Morning Star Magi could conduct. They were connected to the glory of the ancient era, and Leylin ambitiously hoped to make use of this research.

Hence, this preparatory research work was vital.

Even this research had very stringent requirements. A high-grade Magus Tower, Hydro Phase strength and astral stones were the most basic requirements..

Though the requirement for the Magus was merely to have reached the Hydro Phase, Leylin wanted to be on the safe side. He waited till he had advanced to the Crystal Phase before he began the research.

The more powerful he was, the safer he would be. This was indisputable.

The information for the preparatory work regarding the astral gate obviously came from Duke Gilbert. By aiding him in many experiments, Leylin had gained valuable experience.

At the heart of this giant interplanar spell formation was the smaller astral stone that he had gained from Vance. The blue lustre on its surface seemed more powerful.

Leylin took in a deep breath and checked everything once more. Only after ensuring was fine did he issue the command. “Tower genie, begin charging!”

[Confirming authority. Magus Tower preserving 10% of energy as base reserve. Remaining energy will be used on the spell formation.] The tower genie rapidly reported.

The Magi outside watched this marvellous scene. The runes on the giant black Magus Tower dimmed one after the other. Besides a very dim glow, it had basically stopped operating.

After its construction over a hundred years ago, this was the first time that this had happened. It immediately gave rise to the panic of residents who knew nothing. This Magus Tower was a safeguard to them, and was the thing that could preserve their lives and safety.

Kubler, who had stayed behind in Onyx Castle, had no choice but to dispatch patrolling officers to put down these worries.

“Grandfather, will Mentor’s experiments be successful?” Snoopy seemed to know more and asked Parker.

“How can the mysteries of the astral plane be something we can pry into? As long as we successfully activate the spell formation, the lord’s experiment can be counted as a success!”

Parker forced a smile, “The energy required to probe into the astral plane is much too terrifying. Regular Magus Towers cannot withstand it, but don’t worry about that. The lord’s Magus Tower uses a top-grade set up of positive and negative energy pools, and there shouldn’t be much of a problem in terms of resources.”

*Buzz!*The giant Magus Tower trembled, and terrifying elemental tides formed two large rainbows, one dark and one light. One disappeared into the crest, the other into the base.

“Tower beginning charging, and positive and negative energy pools are revolving!” The genie reported.

Snoopy was no stranger to this scene, but now he could only silently pray, hoping that his mentor’s experiment would be a success.

He felt a hint of pride at this.

Out of the entire continent, there were few Magi who could do even some of the preparatory experiments into probing through the astral plane alone as a rank 3 Magus. His mentor was one of them!