End of the Magic Era

Lin Yun, however, stopped Myers with a weird smile.

"Where do you think you're going? Have you come to your senses? Are you ready to talk?"

Lin Yun stopped Myers, and spoke to Lord Shawn, who had been petrified.

"Lord Shawn, translate my words into the soul language. I believe it should be able to understand."

Lord Shawn was immediately stunned.

"It? Are you referring to that horrifying monster? It can understand? That insane guy is a beast that does not have any intellect… Intellect… Damn it, are you implying that the monster is intelligent?"

"Cut the crap. Just translate my words. The language of the souls is universal. It's the expression of your consciousness. As a soul entity, you're naturally endowed to speak that. Don't tell me you can't."

Lin Yun interrupted Shawn. Lord Shawn's expression changed in shock. However, it listened to Lin Yun's command, and translated the words.

Immediately, Myers, who was casting spells crazily, paused for a moment, and then attacked again.

Seeing that, Lin Yun put on a big smile.

The thought had occurred to Lin Yun many times, but he'd never had the time to consider it carefully. It was not until he fought Myers for a while that he recaptured the idea that flashed in his head earlier.

The idea was that the monster was not one that acted on animal instincts as recorded in history!

Because of his preconception that the monster was brainless, all his plans and thoughts were on a wrong basis. So, everything was wrong, and not the truth.

The truth was that the monster boasted its own wisdom. The enormous mana crystal and soul were not an amalgamation of soul power; they already underwent a qualitative change, and gave birth to wisdom.

That monster was the only intelligent life in this plane. That was why it let nature run its course in this plane until enough creatures were born. Then, it would tear apart those creatures, and swallow their souls. After that, it would fall asleep, and wait for its next waking and eating.

The detailed records of this plane weren't left until 1,000 years after its discovery. Nobody knew what happened during the previous millennium.

When there were detailed records, the monster wasn't intelligent, so there was only one possibility.

At the beginning, the monster's soul already had a qualitative change, but it wasn't very intelligent, not even as intelligent as a normal human being. At this critical moment, human beings found it.

Then, it was 1,000 years of war and conflicts. Its massive yet unfocused soul ebbed, and its intelligence dwindled. It degenerated into a monster that only had instincts.

Therefore, at that moment, there was no way to eliminate the monster without completely destroying the plane. To develop the plane, the monster could not be woken up.

For a long time, the plane had been developed in such a manner…

If the monster was a crazy monster that only had natural instincts, then Lin Yun would have to give up this plane despite all his efforts. He would have to destroy all the creatures in this plane that were under the monster's control, and then collect all the resources he could find. After that, he would have to leave and wait for the monster to fall asleep.

However, the monster turned out to be intelligent, which meant that it was possible to negotiate with it. Wisdom and rationality meant that it had a lot of weaknesses…

Wearing a smile, Lin Yun dodged Myers' crazy attacks. In the sky, the Hand of Destruction had already been half charged. The waves of the destructive power had already caused a terrifying cloud to form in the sky. The clouds turned into a vortex, and surrounded the Hand of Destruction.

The monster seemed to be done with waiting. Dazzling crystal brilliance surfaced on Myers' skin. Then, 1,000 crystal balls appeared around Lin Yun. At the same time, the space around him was pressing him, and preventing him from escaping. He could only be torn apart by the crystal stings from the balls.

His Natural Demiplane's projection appeared above his head, and the power of laws sprayed down. The laws that the Natural Demiplane and the pillar accommodated fell at the same time. The power of earth, fire, water, and wind was rolling, as if it was establishing another space around Lin Yun. It was pushing the oppressing spatial power away.

Lin Yun casually stepped out, and left the range of the crystal stings' outburst.

He then looked back at Myers with a mocking smile.

The Natural Demiplane's projection, when used as defense, could even pass through Agalon where the laws of space were changed. It could certainly let Lin Yun survive in this place.

Although the power that the monster used was enormous, its understanding of the law of space was quite primitive. It had the power because the plane was part of the monster's body. However, the power was just its natural instinct, and the monster didn't have a deeper understanding of the law of space at all.

It didn't require a lot of power to break the blockage, and it only depended on one's understanding of the law of space.

After Lin Yun dodged the attack easily, the dark and scary power finally burst out of the Hand of Destruction's barrel. A thick gray pillar of light descended from the sky.

The pillar of light brutally hit the land in the center of the plane. Immediately, the earth was shaking, and the space was cracking. All matter that was hit by the pillar was obliterated. Soil, magic crystals, beasts, rocks…

Everything was obliterated when hit by the pillar of light. Even the gravity around the pillar of light seemed to be gone. The river of time was flowing at a lower speed. Dust, stones, bodies, and everything else was floating.

The pillar of light entered deep underground, obliterating everything in its way. In only three seconds, it had pressed three kilometers into the ground…

At this moment, the entire plane was trembling. The earth was trembling. Everything was trembling. The crystallized beasts all stopped moving, and the entire plane seemed to be collapsing…

A dozen seconds later, the gray pillar of light vanished, but the earth didn't stop shaking.

Looking at Myers, who had stopped fighting, Lin Yun sneered.

"I think I attacked in the wrong direction. I didn't hit your mana crystal and soul. Oh, I got it wrong. Your mana crystal and soul are not in the center of the plane, but a bit away from the center…

"Lord Shawn, translate."

Lord Shawn quickly translated Lin Yun's words. Three seconds later, Lord Shawn looked back at Lin Yun in surprise.

"Sir Merlin, that monster is truly intelligent. He says, 'almighty being, stop hurting me, what do you want to talk about?'"

Lin Yun narrowed his eyes. Countless thoughts rolled in his head. From his reply, Lin Yun confirmed that the monster hadn't gained wisdom for a long time. It was only as smart as an innocent ordinary person…

"I'm not here to hurt you; I'm here to help you. I'm only showing my ability to destroy you. As long as I destroy this plane, which is your body, your mana crystal and soul will be defenseless. It will be very simple to destroy your soul.

"However, it couldn't have been easy for you to gain wisdom. I don't want you to walk on the wrong path. I'm here to help you. Your way of growth is completely wrong. In the end, you will lose your wisdom, and you won't get any stronger. You'll be stuck as what you are."

Lin Yun expressed his kindness patiently. A few seconds later, the monster replied.

"Almighty being, you can take anything away as long as you don't hurt me."

Lin Yun immediately shook his head.

"No, no, no. You're mistaken. I'm here to help you. You don't need to pay anything. This is called benevolence, you know? Every intelligent creature should know what benevolence means.

"Basically, it means that I prefer protecting you from getting hurt to hurting you, even though I'm stronger than you.

"To gain more wisdom, you must first understand what benevolence means. I'm wiser than you, so I am benevolently trying to help you."

Lord Shawn stood on Lin Yun's shoulder, and looked at him in utter shock with his mouth open.

Damn it, why does Merlin seem so genuine when he's tricking others? I was almost fooled. This stupid and innocent monster probably will fall for his trap…

After speaking, Lin Yun thought of something and landed. He took out a bunch of alchemy devices, and started to make a potion. He even spouted a mouthful of blood and some of his soul power into it.

After a complicated process, a bottle of potion that emitted strange waves was produced.

Myers descended from the sky, and looked at Lin Yun's actions without doing anything. Lord Shawn, on the other hand, couldn't bear watching it any longer. It covered its eyes with its claws, and seemed to be in pain…

Damn it, Merlin is so mean. He's making such a potion right in front of this guy. He added his blood and soul power into it without worrying that the monster would notice anything at all…

Oh my God, this monster will be tricked by Merlin. As soon as the monster lets the potion touch his soul, only 300 bottles… No, maybe only 100 bottles will be needed before the monster's soul is essentially contracted under Merlin's control…

Lin Yun didn't conceal anything when he added his blood and soul power. He was just taking advantage of the monster's ignorance.

"This is the product of wisdom. Your soul is too big. Although it's big, it contains too many impurities, which is the reason why you cannot get smarter. You can try letting your soul touch this potion. Then, your soul will be purified.

"Just have a try. Believe me, this is me benevolently helping you."

Lin Yun wore a friendly smile. He meant what he said. That was exactly the effect of the potion. However, additional ingredients had been added to the potion so that the monster's soul would be reassembled during the purification. During the reassembling, Lin Yun's blood and soul power would be melted into it. Then, he would be able to control the monster better than a contracted animal…

In the distance, Xiusi, Reina, the legion mages, Xiuban, and everybody else looked at Lin Yun with their mouths open. They were utterly shocked…

"Sir Merlin is so shameless and cunning…"

Xiuban gazed at Lin Yun and mumbled to himself, coming up with a bunch of adjectives because of shock…

Lin Yun didn't care what other people thought. Besides, even if they said anything, the monster probably couldn't understand. Even if it could understand, it wouldn't get their implications.

The monster had just awakened wisdom, and didn't know much. It only had natural instincts, and was still acting on instincts even after it gained wisdom. It didn't get anything from the souls it swallowed. If it had swallowed some mages' souls, then it would've been much more terrifying.

Unfortunately, this plane had never been discovered before, and no intellectual creatures had ever come. When the mages came here earlier, the monster hadn't awakened yet. After it was finally awakened, it was able to swallow Sunny's soul, but Sunny's soul was already corrupted by the power of hell. It could only swallow her basic soul power.

The bloodline transplanters of the Thorny Crown were only controlled. Their souls were still confined in their bodies. Sheldon, who had been killed, didn't have anything left of his soul, which was ripped apart by a crazy Xiuban. The monster couldn't swallow his soul even if it wanted to.

If Lin Yun had been facing a monster that only had natural instincts, he would've had to escape because he didn't want to destroy this place.

However, if the monster was intelligent, it was possible to negotiate with it. Furthermore, this monster turned out to be intelligent yet ignorant. It seemed ready to be ripped off. Lin Yun would regret it if he didn't set up this horrifying monster that was practically acting on its natural instincts just like before.

"I have the power to destroy you, but I didn't destroy you. I'm here to help you. If I'd wanted to destroy you, you would've vanished.

"I can wait for you here while you try this potion. Your soul is enormous anyway. You'll be fine even if it's damaged a little bit. After you try it, you'll know that I'm telling you the truth.

"Of course, the purification of the soul can be very painful. However, as an intellectual creature, it shouldn't be a big deal to endure some pain for greater wisdom, right?"

Lin Yun had truly given up the thought of destroying the monster, and was genuinely hoping that the monster could grow stronger and smarter. He meant everything he said. Even if the monster were to examine Lin Yun with his instincts, it would be convinced.

The monster was silent for a few minutes, as if it was considering a question that was too complicated for it. A few minutes later, a stone worm emerged from the underground world, and opened its mouth towards Lin Yun. Lin Yun put the potion in its mouth without being scared.

The stone worm disappeared into the underground world, and moved all the way to the spherical space where the monster's mana crystal was through the rocks.

An hour later, the worm arrived at the spherical space, and spouted the potion that Lin Yun made. The potion then floated towards the enormous mana crystal. Inside the mana crystal, an illusionary eye was floating, and emitting misty soul power.

The power stretched out of the enormous mana crystal, and squeezed the bottle. The potion in the battle sprayed on the surface of the mana crystal, and gradually seeped inside through the tentacles that the monster stretched out.

Instantly, the monster's soul screamed in agony. Its misty tentacles were torn apart. Its soul power within a radius of a dozen meters was ripped apart. Then, the shredded soul power was reassembled with the help of the potion, with a lot of impurities being removed.

The monster seemed to have never experienced such soul damage, and didn't know what was going on. It was exasperated. The power inside the mana crystal burst out, and the entire plane was shaking.

However, a few seconds later, the monster's shredded soul was reassembled. As the power of the potion spread throughout its soul, the monster was no longer angry. It seemed to have understood what pain meant in only a few seconds. It was a lot smarter than before.

The terrifyingly huge soul had obviously shrunk. However, the monster realized that the potion was truly helpful, and it understood what Lin Yun meant earlier.

Pain was inevitable, but it would bring forth greater strength and wisdom, which was more important. At least, the monster was able to understand what pain meant.

Its gargantuan yet illusionary soul had been more condensed. Even the appearance of the soul had changed a little bit. The dispersing soul power around the eyeball was gathering into a second eyeball.

The monster was thrilled at its growth. To be intellectual meant to know what anger and happiness meant, and to be able to consider and communicate.

The man was capable of destroying it, yet he didn't destroy it. Instead, he helped it gain greater wisdom and soul. Naturally, the man could be trusted.

It seemed that the monster just realized what trust meant too…