Chapter 500 - Field Integration
Until then, whether one held three or four pieces of the debris of the stars would be totally different situation. No one could guarantee whether Stars of Fury and the remaining three pieces of the debris of the stars would be quietly lying around at some corner, waiting for collection just like Holy Light, Gloomy Dark, and Raging Flames. Maybe they were in the hands of a powerful opponent, whereas he needed to exhaust all his knowledge and experience from the Endless World to obtain them.
It was imperative to collect Raging Flames and Polar Snow, but the collection of these two would certainly lead to the destruction of the entire natural Magical Domain. For a natural wonder with such uncanny craftsmanship, Lin Li couldn’t bear to destroy it so completely. It was an utter sin for a mage like Lin Li.
“Do you mean to take away those two magical weapons and also maintain this natural magical domain?” Upon hearing Lin Li’s question, Connoris secretly cursed Lin Li for throwing such a conundrum at him. A hard problem like this was even more troublesome than collecting the two magical weapons.
“Yes, think about it. I could use something like those ancient demonic runes you’ve given me back at the Throne of Darkness.” Lin Li suppressed his anxiety and tried to give Connoris some inspiration, be it useful or not.
“This is a divine place! I am not a god…” Connoris felt extremely helpless, but he had no choice but to help. He could only rummage through all his memories, hoping to find a solution.
“What about that demonic runes from the Throne of Darkness? Is that useful here?” asked Lin Li.
“No, no! That Throne of Darkness was the Magical Domain created by the Dragon of Destruction for its clone, but since it’s generally out of the sphere of Magical Domain and can be considered a magical item, it’s totally different from this natural magical domain,” said Connoris. He was getting a headache from all this.
“Then what should we do? This may be the only natural magical domain in the whole Anril. Are we really going to destroy it with our hands?” said Lin Li regretfully as he stared at this bizarre water and fire world before him.
Just then, an idea suddenly came to Connoris’ mind. He said, “How about we shift this natural magical domain inside the Eternal Furnace?”
“Shift it to the Eternal Furnace?” Lin Li contemplated. It was indeed a way, but the difficulty of its execution was immense.
Naturally occurring Magical Domains weren’t like the Throne of Darkness left behind by the Dragon of Destruction. The Throne of Darkness was sustained by the Dragon of Destruction’s power and had already been formed way back in the Dark Age. Even after the fall of the Dragon of Destruction and disappearance of the Lord of Darkness, the Throne of Darkness still remained standing. This natural magical domain was different. It was a nearly complete realm by itself. Polar Snow and Raging Flames were the two core mantras and also the center of this realm. It was even right to say that they were the strongpoints of this entire realm. Once they were taken away, the entire realm would naturally collapse as a result.
Therefore, even if this natural magical domain was shifted to the Eternal Furnace, it would inevitably collapse after Polar Snow and Raging Flames were collected, unless one was powerful enough to create another strongpoint. However, Raging Flames and Polar Snow were true artifacts representative of the powerful presence of the basic Rules of the water and fire worlds. Not to mention his current self, even if Lin Li could one day reach the Sanctuary-realm, he probably wouldn’t be able to create a new Raging Flames and Polar Snow.
Connoris felt that his thoughts were finally clear. He quickly said, “Though we can’t possibly create new strongpoints for this realm, we possess the Eternal Furnace and the fire wyrm’s magical crystal…”
Lin Li was stunned, and doubtfully asked, “So what?”
Judging from his tone, Connoris was pretty pleased with himself. He explained, “Though fire wyrm’s magical crystal isn’t as powerful as Raging Flames, it fundamentally displays the same fire elemental Rule. If you can get one more identical ice wyrm’s magical crystal, maybe we can replace Polar Snow and Raging Flames with them!”
Lin Li shook his head and laughed bitterly. “That’s an ancient fire wyrm’s magical crystal! Ancient wyrms are all at least level-25 in strength. Do you think it’s realistic for me to fight another ancient ice wyrm that’s at least level-25 with my current abilities? Besides, even if I really killed a level-25 and above ancient ice wyrm and got its magical crystal, how do I ensure that these two magical crystals can reach a true equilibrium here? You should know that this is a natural magical domain! Other than Raging Flames and Polar Snow, nothing can possibly maintain this absolute equilibrium.”
Aware of Lin Li’s doubts, Connoris wasn’t dejected in the slightest. Instead, he smiled and commented, “Heh heh, I’ve thought of it already! There’s no need for absolute equilibrium in the first place, you just need a bit of time. Hmm, that’s right, at most one second is enough.”
“Oh? How’s that?” Lin Li was stunned by Connoris’ words.
Connoris asked, “Do you remember what I told you before about shifting the Darkness Domain to the Eternal Furnace?”
Lin Li nodded, and replied, “I remember that, but we didn’t have time for that since we got out of the Abyss of Tharlen.”
“Then do you know what’s the most distinct feature of the Throne of Darkness, or in other words, the Darkness Domain?” Connoris continued to show off.
“Is it Engulfment?” Lin Li wasn’t annoyed by Connoris’ showing off. As long as he could get what he wanted, it didn’t hurt to satisfy Connoris’ emotional needs.
“Indeed, it’s Engulfment.” Connoris was very pleased that Lin Li played along. He continued, “The most distinct feature of the Darkness Domain is Engulfment: the ability to engulf everything. No matter how powerful this natural magical domain is, as long as the Eternal Furnace can integrate the Darkness Domain, you can use that one second for the Darkness Domain to engulf it completely. But after Engulfment…”
Hearing that Connoris stopped all of a sudden, Lin Li asked, “What happens after Engulfment?”
As a mighty ancient deity who had lived for millions of years, to say that there was anything one didn’t know was a total humiliation; at least the know-it-all Connoris thought so. Before this, he felt really embarrassed that he failed to recognize the magic gears beforehand. Later, he was even more ashamed and furious that he knew not how to collect the two powerful magical weapons.
Now, it was finally time to prove himself. Upon hearing Lin Li’s question, Connoris felt so at ease. He proudly replied, “The Engulfment of the Darkness Domain is different from that of magical domains like fire and water. The aim of its Engulfment isn’t destruction, but embrace.”
Lin Li nodded, and said, “I know about this. Go on.”
Speaking of Engulfment, any type of magical domain was capable of some ability that could be considered Engulfment, just that the characteristics of each ability were different. For example, fire used combustion as means to engulf things to enhance its own power. Meanwhile, water used infiltration as means of Engulfment. Be it horrendous floods or narrow streams, all of them were insidiously engulfed via infiltration. Wind used corrosion, and earth used burying. Every element had its own unique engulfment ability. However, under current circumstances, nothing was more suitable than Darkness Domain’s Engulfment.
Lin Li wanted to preserve this natural magical domain instead of destroying it to obtain its power. Thus, the all-embracing Engulfment of the Darkness Domain was the most suitable. To explain it roughly with a metaphor, when night fell and darkness loomed everywhere, did everything disappear in darkness? No, after darkness receded, everything was still there. Although this was only a metaphor which had many loopholes, it was good enough to show the all-embracing characteristic of the Darkness Domain.
Lin Li had quite some knowledge about the engulfing abilities of each domain, especially that of the Darkness Domain. This was because he held onto the debris of the stars Gloomy Dark, which had helped him to comprehend the laws of darkness greatly. However, to use a magical domain to engulf another magical domain was something Lin Li had never done, and he found it quite hard to imagine. Therefore, how to engulf, what would happen after engulfment… such questions had to be answered by Connoris who gave him this suggestion.
“It will be remarkable after Engulfment! The natural magical domain will completely integrate with the Eternal Furnace. That would be as good as the Darkness Domain!” The knowledgeable ancient deity Connoris was unable to contain his excitement just thinking about this.
Hearing Connoris’ words, Lin Li raised his eyebrows and wasn’t too convinced. He said, “But the Throne of Darkness is a magical domain created by the Dragon of Destruction…” What was the Dragon of Destruction? That was the Dragon Aspect of the Anril World! It held the purest power of the laws of darkness, and stood at the top of the pyramid in this world. Although the Dragon of Destruction was killed by the Immortal King, that didn’t mean that the Dragon of Destruction was weak. It only meant that the Immortal King was too powerful. There was also a significant element of luck involved in his victory.
“No matter how perfect and powerful the Darkness Domain is, it’s only created by the Dragon of Destruction. Unless you have truly mastered the laws of darkness or you’re an incarnation of the Dragon of Destruction like the Lord of Darkness, it’s impossible to release the true abilities of the Darkness Domain even after shifting it to the Eternal Furnace.” Connoris couldn’t conceal the pride in his voice.
After hearing this, Lin Li suddenly understood that Connoris wasn’t trying to say that the Darkness Domain created by the Dragon of Destruction was weak, but that a powerful item that couldn’t release all its power was no better than a weak one. The Throne of Darkness was created by the Dragon of Destruction. Even though Lin Li had obtained the Dragon Crystal of the Dragon of Destruction and occupied the status of Lord of Darkness and the Throne of Darkness, he didn’t create them by himself using the Rules overall. Hence, he couldn’t release the true powers of the Throne of Darkness naturally.