Chapter 25: Planar Path
And all this was just with a raw Abyssal Magic Diamond that had been roughly treated...
If one fell into the hands of a Great Alchemist, the radiance of the Abyssal Magic Diamond would really blossom. Those peak alchemists could even use Abyssal Magic Diamonds to craft Spiritual Magic Tools!
Spiritual level, what kind of concept was that...
The best magic tools circulating on the market were mostly Superior level, yet the cheapest of those would be bought for over ten thousand gold. And above the Superior level, there were still the Excellent and Inheritance levels. It was the Spiritual level that many Great Alchemists spent their entire lives pursuing, the goal of creating a Spiritual Magic Tool.
The Spiritual level, as the name implied, would give the items spirituality. Those Magic Tools weren't just pieces of equipment anymore, they were connected with their owner's blood, and their power could even be compared to that of a High Mage.
In other words, having a Spiritual Magic Tool was equivalent to having a High Mage aid you in battle!
And now, there were as many as three Abyssal Magic Diamonds in front of Lin Yun...
This was simply unthinkable!
If these three Abyssal Magic Diamonds were brought out into the public eye, all the alchemists of Thousand Sails City might go completely crazy!
'Hold on, what's that…' Just as Lin Yun was getting dazzled by his find, Lin Yun suddenly noticed some runes carved in between the three Abyssal Magic Diamonds.
Lin Yun studied the stone wall for a bit and roughly understood what was going on. This was an alchemy array built upon six runes. The specific effect was to extract mana from the three Abyssal Magic Diamonds, but things were more complicated when he followed those runes down.
There was another alchemy array under the three Abyssal Magic Diamonds, but the structure of this array was a hundred times more complicated than the previous one, and it was a hundred times more expensive, too.
Each rune was written in Void Ink, while a few of the mana circuits even used Soul Burning Ink, not to mention the over 20 magic nodes. Even Lin Yun could barely distinguish them from one another. It seemed to him that the effect of this alchemy array was to use the Abyssal Magic Diamond's mana to keep the space stable.
'Space?' Lin Yun looked back at those three Abyssal Magic Diamonds, suddenly realizing something.
'No wonder…'
The questions in Lin Yun's mind got their answer upon recognizing this alchemy array.
Lin Yun didn't need to study the array any further to know that behind these three Abyssal Magic Diamonds on the stone wall was a path.
A Planar Path!
The so-called Planar Path was a passage between planes. In fact, as early as the 3rd dynasty, some people had suggested that Noscent wasn't the only world in the boundless universe. But those theories had no physical evidence to back them up at the time.
That was the case up until the end of the 3rd era when some mages brought it up again and tried to prove the existence of different planes. In the last hundred years of the 3rd dynasty, the Crimson Tower finally opened a Planar Path.
Afterwards...
There was nothing afterwards. The powerful group of mages from the Crimson Tower set foot on the Planar Path, but they never returned. The entire Crimson Tower fell apart overnight and finally died out due to endless power struggles created by the void left behind.
After that, speaking of Planar Paths was a taboo topic for a long time.
Up until the current times, many years later.
All kinds of magic research would progress day after day, mages would grow more powerful, and ambitions would keep rising, especially when some lucky guy brought back all kinds of rare resources from another plane. Plane colonization would become something the mages of this era would jointly work on. Each plane hidden behind those Planar Paths would become gold mines in the eyes of the mages.
But only a few Planar Paths were known, and they were mostly in the hands of Noscent's most powerful forces. Trying to gain control of one would be courting death.
Thus, each time a new Planar Path appeared, countless forces would fight over it because to them, a new Planar Path meant a new opportunity for endless wealth. They were willing to pay an unimaginable price for the sake of a new Planar Path.
At that time, why had Lin Yun agreed to take over the Flashing Gold chamber of commerce when he figured out which era of Noscent's history he was in? It was because Lin Yun wanted to establish his own Planar Path by taking advantage of the power of his Flashing Gold Chamber of commerce. To a mage, there was nothing more enticing than a private plane.
That wasn't just an opportunity to get endless wealth.
Completely controlling a private plane would allow a mage's starting point to be elevated, letting them rise above all livings. It was the power of an entire plane! This was also why, at the peak of Noscent's magic civilization, the mages close to being omnipotent would still endlessly campaign for the chance to get a plane of their own!
And Lin Yun had ended up finding an unknown Planar Path hidden inside his own house...
'Seems like these three Abyssal Magic Diamonds can't be moved…' Despite this painful fact, compared to a whole plane, three Abyssal Magic Diamonds couldn't compare.
Lin Yun was almost certain that these three Abyssal Magic Diamonds had been brought back from the other plane by Locke Merlin. In Noscent, the value of the Abyssal Magic Diamonds was inestimable, but they might be everywhere in some other plane.
Lin Yun stopped thinking about the Abyssal Magic Diamonds and started focusing on the alchemy array on the stone wall. The level of that array was very high. Lin Yun estimated that an average Great Alchemist would be unable to reach this level of achievement. It was most likely the work of a peak Great Alchemist, or even a Master Alchemist.
In the last twenty years, Lin Yun had mostly just tried to survive, while the remaining time was spent on trying to improve his knowledge of magic. He had only hastily read through the alchemy books, since materials were so scarce. Besides filling his brains with alchemy knowledge, the times he had actually crafted something from them could be counted on his fingers.
Something like this Master level alchemy array was very difficult for Lin Yun to decipher.
After about half an hour, Lin Yun's gaze moved away from the stone wall.
'Sure enough, it really is a Master Alchemist…' After analyzing the structure of the alchemy array, Lin Yun was certain of it. That array was definitely the work of a Master Alchemist.
But fortunately, that Master Alchemist didn't place any obstacles on that alchemy array to prevent others from analyzing it, maybe due to confidence, or just on a whim.
Thus, given enough time Lin Yun managed to completely crack the runes.
When Lin Yun whispered the opening Nesser Runes, the three Abyssal Magic Diamonds suddenly blossomed with a dazzling radiance. In that instant, the entire room shone red. And it could clearly be seen among those red lights that the space around him was starting to distort. The fierce magic fluctuations were raging in the hidden chamber. That kind of berserk energy felt literally tangible, and even the air seemed to shudder.
At the same time, the three Abyssal Magic Diamonds began to grow ever more dazzling. The array was operating frantically, trying its best to suppress these berserk magic fluctuations.
Opening a path to another plane was tantamount to ripping space apart. If just a hint of power leaked out, it wasn't something a small hidden chamber like this could bear. If not for the Master level array suppressing it, let alone the small room, even someone on the level of a 9th Rank Mage like Lin Yun might be instantly destroyed.
With these two destructive forces fighting each other and mutually suppressing each other, the surrounding space was distorted to the extreme and a black crack appeared, gradually expanding.
This was a Planar Path!
Lin Yun didn't hesitate and immediately rushed in!
Time was of the essence. Although the three Abyssal Magic Diamonds were invaluable, they were far from enough to maintain a Planar Path continuously. This was equivalent to forcibly connecting two different planes, so the power requirement could only be described as frightening.
Lin Yun estimated that this Planar Path would last at most 30 minutes. If he didn't return within the thirty minutes, he would be stuck in that unknown plane forever.
There was nothing he could do about it, as Lin Yun wasn't one of those mages at the peak of Noscent magic civilization. They could pass through planes freely by that point, but Lin Yun didn't have that skill.
When Lin Yun rushed into the Planar Path, he felt a blur before his eyes.
It was followed by the world changing right before his eyes.
His surroundings were no longer the narrow hidden chamber, instead being replaced by a vast and endless black land. The sky was dark, and besides a dark red crescent moon, there was not a single trace of light. A thick, putrid smell filled the air, giving the feeling like the entire world was rotten.
'What is this place?' Lin Yun was vigilantly checking his surroundings while his brain was quickly sifting through his memories. He had heard of such a plane before.
But before he could remember, a small sound came from his feet, like a snake was moving through the grass.