City of Sin

Book 2, 108

Wealth(2)

A wave of mana blasted out of the portal with an explosion, carrying dozens of figures alongside it. In the lead was Gaton, decked out in full battle gear with the heavy sword that instilled fear in all enemies in his hand.

The surge of energy from the teleportation had been quite strong. Even though the people who came out were using their own energy to counter it, the wave of mana had left them dizzy and disoriented.

The stronger one was, the faster they would recover from the shock. Gaton was back to normal almost immediately, but he still let out an angry roar. The portal had been formed three metres off the ground, so as they were shot out of its centre they awkwardly fell down. To make things worse, this small island had one and a half times the gravity Norland did!

Even as the roar was still resounding through the island, the people behind Gaton all fell to the ground in a mess. Even though he himself managed to stabilise himself before he fell, he was knocked down by Kaylen who was covered in heavy armour. Finally losing his balance, he fell to the ground as Sharon watched on with glee.

Gaton pushed aside the heavy Kaylen who was pressed on top of him, hurriedly tidying his hair and taking big steps towards Sharon. He gritted his teeth, “This isn’t funny, Your Excellency!”

Sharon continued laughing proudly, only pausing with great difficulty to say, “But I’m having a good laugh!”

Gaton turned around to find his subordinates still in a daze. Most of them had thick, heavy armour on, so it had been a recipe for disaster. They were still piled one atop the other, struggling to get up, but these struggles only exacerbated the problem. Looking at the stone platform that was three metres high, he flew into a rage once more. He waved his hands as he roared, “Your Excellency, why would you build a teleportation gate that was three metres in the air?!”

The legendary mage’s face seemed to well with regret as she blinked, “About that... I’m not really good with magical calculations so I made an error with the foundation. Look, it’s only off by a bit...”

Hearing the words ‘magical calculations,’ a dark aura covered Gaton’s face. He immediately ended the conversation about the portal’s height, instead turning to admire the scenery of the island.

This island was Sharon’s semiplane. Every legendary mage had their own, but as proved by the Deepblue Sharon was quite special. Naturally, her semiplane wasn’t normal either. He had visited another legendary mage at their plane before, it had only been a deserted island that was roughly a few square kilometres in area. Based on area alone, Sharon’s island was twenty to thirty times larger.

And just like the area, other aspects of this place were far grander as well. Take the elemental pools for example. A normal legendary mage had three or four, but she had a magic lake and a pond for every major element. Even that could barely digest the mana from the lake, so she’d even built a few pools that created potions! Even if Sharon retired one day, she could just sit on the liquid of these pools and sell a diluted version to make a fortune! The time it took to just mix this liquid with some common laboratory liquids was almost negligible.

Besides, even if the elemental pools contained the same attributes as he had seen before, they seemed a little different this time. Gaton squinted his eyes to look at them, quickly discovering an anomaly, “Your Excellency, these pools are a metre wider than the last time I had the pleasure of standing here, and that was just a year ago! Could you let me go to the bottom and look at how much the elements have crystallised?”

“Forget about it!” Sharon’s eyes glowed as she rejected him outright.

“The other legendary mages have elemental pools that are only slightly larger than bathtubs; it takes them ages to condense an elemental crystal. You have a full ten, and they’re full and proper ponds! The only thing I don’t understand is where the water from atop that mountain flows from, I’ve seen nothing!” Gaton offered high praise as he stroked his short beard, once more looking at the strange trees scattered all over the semiplane.

“It looks like you got a new batch of energy absorption trees. Tsk tsk, they really grow so fast in such an environment. Your Excellency, I’ve searched through a dozen planes, but why haven’t I so much as heard of these trees?”

Sharon let out a grunt, absolutely refusing to answer the question.

Gaton’s eyes glazed over with passion as he looked at the peripheral forest, “Your Excellency, let me dig out a few of these trees and take them home!”

At that moment, the lock of hair on Sharon’s forehead stood up, “You’re welcome to try!”

Gaton laughed a few times, dropping the topic. The unbelievable effect of these energy absorption trees was the source of this semiplane’s growth. Having visited another legendary mage’s semiplane, Gaton knew many other legendary mages would be willing to work under Sharon for fifty years in exchange for a single one of these remarkable trees. They had long lifespans anyway, but only Sharon had these trees.

This forest was the source of the plane’s growth. As long as these trees were around, Sharon would have unlimited access to magical supplies. He knew well how valuable they were, so Gaton was only using them as a way to agitate Sharon.

He was still unsatisfied, his gaze lingering over every blade of grass, every piece of wood, and every inch of land in the semiplane as he inspected everything thoroughly. A close, unrestrained inspection of Sharon’s semiplane did wonders for the growth of his own abilities. This place followed special laws of her own making, and even if her path to power could not be replicated it was a valuable experience for all who were still seeking the door to the legendary realm. Even if one had already crossed through, her experience would still be extremely valuable.

As his eyes fell on a steep cliff on the snowy mountain, he was suddenly startled. He recalled that the place had been much shorter the last time he was here; in fact, it had grown by tens of metres. It was protruding out, its top even broader than the mountain summit. One could already see the vague beginnings of a pillar being formed, with many caves at the top.

Gaton was a powerful figure who had travelled through many planes. He realised the protrusion was abrupt at a glance, and upon closer inspection the structure looked familiar even if it was a few times smaller. A shocking thought floated up in the back of his mind, and when he looked at it again his gaze was completely different.

“Your Excellency...” Gaton slowly spat out a breath, speaking as slowly as an old man who was about to bite the dust, “Are you planning to build a dragon kingdom here?”