Chapter 130: 100,000 Runes
The most annoying part was that what Lord Shawn said was entirely true.
Lin Yun really had relied on Lord Shawn's help to come back alive from Barov's tomb, so Lin Yun couldn't say anything about that...
The mechanism of the Reincarnation Eyes and alchemy puppets truly had worked as Lin Yun thought. Each time he touched the Reincarnation Eyes, another batch of alchemy puppets would be alarmed, and each group would have one or two more than the previous group. There weren't many at the start.
Thus, after each fight, Lin Yun only needed to rest for a few hours before he could touch the Reincarnation Eyes again. Lin Yun had already accumulated over ten thousand runes by the seventh or eighth wave. At the same time, he had formed the 3rd Magic Array.
With three Magic Arrays, he could already complete six Formations. Moreover, the might of each Formation surpassed the elemental Shock Burst.
But as Lin Yun's fighting strength quickly rose, so did the number of alchemy puppets.
After Lin Yun touched the Reincarnation Eyes for the 15th time, the number of alchemy puppets reached over thirty. Against such a large number of puppets that fought with the strength of 9th Rank Great Swordsmen, even though Lin Yun had formed his 3rd Magic Array, it still gradually became more strenuous.
Lin Yun had no choice but to slow down his rhythm.
He would spend at least a day to digest and reflect before daring to touch the Reincarnation Eyes again.
After half a month passed, Lin Yun had already formed his 4th Magic Array.
But from that point on, Lin Yun felt like he was walking on a tightrope, as the fights had changed. Each time the alchemy puppets appeared, there would be no less than several dozens, and moreover, they wouldn't be limited to the Great Swordsman type. There would always be one Great Mage puppet for every ten Great Swordsmen puppets.
This wasn't as simple as just adding one or two puppets...
The appearance of a Great Mage puppet destroyed most of the tactics that Lin Yun had prepared. He had no choice but to rethink his plans. These were two completely different types of puppets, and just a tiny bit of coordination between them was enough to make the fight a whole level harder.
Thus, Lin Yun once again sank into a bitter struggle. It took him three hours to put an end to that wave of puppets.
He knew that with the appearance of that alchemy puppet, his future days wouldn't be as relaxed.
And he was right. After the twentieth day, Lin Yun would need to recuperate for two days before he dared to touch the Reincarnation Eyes again, and the battles he encountered were even more challenging. And in the final fight, among the puppets that were similar to Great Mages and Great Swordsmen, three High Mage puppets appeared.
Although Lin Yun had formed his 5th Magic Array by then and had the strength to contend against a High Mage, three of those puppets appearing at the same time still put him in a very difficult spot. In the end, he had to rely on Lord Shawn to lead him out of that fight alive.
So Shawn definitely had something to complain about.
Shawn had been absorbing mana from those mana crystals during that month and had recovered about 10% of his strength, but after helping Lin Yun out, the painstakingly accumulated power had been completely expended. So Shawn put forward a bold request, that all the level 18 mana crystals Lin Yun had obtained would be his to enjoy!
Lin Yun spent a lot of time and patience getting Shawn to leave him six.
But to Lin Yun, the mana crystals weren't the most important things.
His harvest on this trip was really amazing.
The greatest reward of all wasn't the Spirit Devourer Magic Staff, Shawn, or even forming his 5th Magic Array. His true reward was the huge amount of runes he had accumulated from touching the Reincarnation Eyes a few dozens of times.
He estimated that he had accumulated over a hundred thousand runes!
If this spread, it might even scare High Mages silly. For a mage, there were two kinds of important things to accumulate. The first was mana, and the second was runes.
Mana depended on meditation, while runes came from knowledge.
There were no easy shortcuts for these two kinds of accumulations, especially when it came to runes. It was like that for every mage, they would have to spend a lot of time and effort to let themselves possess more runes.
Because more runes meant stronger power.
And it was to an even greater extent when it came to Lin Yun with his Magic Array.
The amount of runes needed for the Magic Array would make any Great Mage feel desperate, but at the same time, the might of the Magic Array would make any Great Mage turn green with envy.
But now, even Lin Yun's Magic Array couldn't convert any more runes. After forming the 5th Magic Array, Lin Yun temporarily stopped, because he could feel that it was gradually becoming too difficult for him to control this kind of frightening power. He would have to spend some time to adapt to his power.
Lin Yun already had five Magic Arrays, and at the same time, there were still several tens of thousands of runes that had yet to be converted.
From the amount, it could be imagined how fierce the fights he had experienced in the prince tomb were.
Lin Yun believed that even the future Great Mage of the Cloud Tower couldn't compare to him when it came to the number of times he had touched the Reincarnation Eyes.
It could already be said that Lin Yun's path to becoming a High Mage was free of obstacles... All he needed was time.
Once he reached the High Mage realm, with nine Magic Arrays fused as one, he would even be able to fight an Archmage with Shawn in hand.
At that time, he would finally consider his power sufficient.
'Next time I go to the Bone Plane, I should look for a way to get the Book of Death...' After reminiscing about the battles in the tomb, he left the alchemy laboratory.
On his way out, he came across William coming back from the Mercenary Guild.
"Cousin! Wait!" William hurriedly called Lin Yun and warned with some concern, "That Raven Watson seems to be returning to Okland..."
"So?"
"I mean... After Raven Watson returns, the Watson Family might make a move. You know, the Nether Iron Vein in your hands is the focus between the two families. Raven Watson's return might bring some troubles to the Gilded Rose..."
William's worry wasn't without reason.
The power of the Watson Family in Okland even made the Merlin Family feel a bit of strain. If they really wanted the Nether Iron Vein, then let alone the Gilded Rose, even the Sage Tower would be under great pressure.
"You are saying that Raven Watson might bring other people over?"
"Yes."
"Good, let's guess who that Raven guy will bring over..." Lin Yun thought for a bit before telling William Merlin to take a seat. "I feel that he would bring two High Mages at most. There is no need to worry about those, I'll be able to handle them."
"Understood." William nodded.
Although a Great Mage talking about handling two High Mages sounded very strange, when thinking about it, this Great Mage wasn't just any Great Mage. Just earlier in the Gilded Rose's lobby, he had grabbed a 9th Rank Great Mage and dealt with him like he was punishing a kid. It didn't seem as farfetched when considering this.
"Naturally, we shouldn't rule out that the Watson Family might be extremely determined and have Raven lead a large group over..."
"Right, right..."
"But that's even simpler."
"Ah?" William froze, feeling rather confused. 'Why would it be simpler if a large group came over? Isn't a large group more difficult to deal with than two High Mages?'
"Think about it, if Raven Watson comes leading a large group over, what would Thousand Sails City's forces think? At that time, I might not even need to make a move, as those forces would resolutely handle them."
"This is also..." William thought about it and felt that it was sound reasoning, but he quickly recalled a very frightening possibility. "What if..."
"What if the Watson Family sends an Archmage?"
"Yes..."
"This is even simpler than dealing with a large group."
"Eh?"
"What would the Merlin Family do if an Archmage from the Watson Family came?"
"..." Hearing this, William immediately understood.
Indeed, what would the Merlin Family do?
After all, these two forces had struggled for a very long time. Although a balance was kept on the surface, in reality, they were already fighting to the bitter end. If the Watson Family sent an Archmage, then the Merlin Family would dare to destroy the Watson Family.
This was almost certain...
Under the endless struggles between the two Families, to dare send their most powerful fighting strength away was simply taking off one's pants to get fucked.
In fact, this was a common problem for all forces.
It was like that for the Watson Family, but it was also the case for the Ash Tower, the Black Tower, and others...
Each powerful force was faced with a similarly powerful opponent.
They kept each other in check. This was the current situation. If a force wasn't kept in check, it would have already unified Noscent.
Naturally, if one only had to move a finger to eliminate the Gilded Rose while conveniently grabbing the Nether Iron Vein, then there definitely wouldn't be any power that would turn down the opportunity. Let alone the Watson Family, even among the peak forces of Thousand Sails City, who would dare to say they'd never had such an idea?
The problem was that the current Gilded Rose already couldn't be eliminated that easily. Not to mention the huge wealth they brought in through the monopoly of the alchemy market in Thousand Sails City, the fact that there was also that unknown young Master Alchemist hidden behind the Gilded Rose was enough to stop them from acting recklessly.
The resources that a Master Alchemist could use were too horrifying...