End of the Magic Era

To avoid bringing trouble to his tribesmen, Darri rarely returned to his tribe. When he brought food back, he had to consider whether the tribes nearby would notice and loot the food.

The old lizards had all died. In every battle, the old lizards led the charge, just to reduce pressure on their tribe. There were few children only because they didn't dare to reproduce, not without enough food. Hunting depended on the young and healthy lizards, who were the most important reason for the tribe's survival.

Lin Yun was rather astonished by their miseries too. He knew that the lizards were never united, but the lizards were known for their strength, and shouldn't be so miserable. Then, there was only one possibility. This lizard tribe had been exiled from a bigger tribe. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been living in such a barren land.

The magic battleships slowly descended, and the lizard tribe on the ground panicked. They had never seen such gargantuan machines; magic battleships looked like terrifying monsters. Some of the lizards fled in fear, and some crouched on the ground, showing their submission.

Lin Yun shook his head, and didn't show up. He asked Darri to go out.

After so many years, Darri was finally able to return to his tribe in daylight. With complicated feelings, he emerged with a lot of food. Then, roars spread out constantly from the tribe.

Thanks to the food and the strong supporter, what Lin Yun asked to investigate was soon disseminated by the lizards.

The lizards were never afraid of war. They never caused any trouble, and simply withstood all the humiliations because they couldn't afford any war. A small battle would've collapsed the tribe. Everybody would starve if nobody hunted. Usually, nobody was full except for the hunters. They could only keep themselves in the status of "not starving".

But the situation was different. They could eat however much they wanted, and fight anyone that emerged in their way. So, Darri's tribe became more confident. The word that anyone who had any specific leads about the 73rd God could exchange them for food had spread hundreds of kilometers away in only one week.

The news was still spreading. In only half a month, it had spread thousands of kilometers away. The other lizard tribes were disseminating the message too.

Nobody knew that Lin Yun's descriptions were the characteristics of the 73rd God except the 73rd God himself. Even if the 73rd God found that someone was looking for him, it would be fine.

Even if the 73rd God knew that someone was searching for him, he would never show up. Under these circumstances, there was no way that the 73rd God would reveal his identity.

All Lin Yun needed to do was wait for good news.

Having absorbed the drop of dragon blood, Darri successfully advanced into the Heaven Rank. He didn't rest or consolidate himself at all. Instead, he started looking for other lizard tribes, and continued disseminating the message.

Every lizard tribe that Darri visited became a center of information. Anyone who had intelligence could exchange it for food from those tribes.

Darri gave away a tremendous amount of food. He was reluctant to offer it every time. Little did he know that Lin Yun had prepared enough food to feed 10,000,000 people for years.

Also, most of the food was from crops in the Gilded Rose's own farms. In Noscent, such food couldn't be sold at all. The time wasted on growing the crops was more valuable than the food itself. Only food that contained mana was popular in Noscent. Even ordinary people were willing to eat food that contained mana if they could afford it. The food could improve their bodies, and increase their chance of having mage children.

Only the poorest ordinary people would eat such ordinary food. More often than not, the food was not eaten directly, but used to make alcohol or other materials. That was where food was consumed the most.

But in the underground world, even the powerful races always welcomed more food. Nobody could even stock enough food.

Lin Yun distributed food for investigation, and made fast progress. At least, the news spread out very fast. On the other hand, someone else looked miserable…

"Those wretched underground creatures all deserve to die…"

Levis, of the Storm Tower, gnashed his teeth. It had been half a month since he entered the underground world, and he had gathered a lot of loot, but not as much as he expected.

He planned to subdue a few local tribes, and let them collect resources for him, only to find that things didn't turn out as well as he anticipated.

When he just came, he subdued one of the minotaur tribes that had 8,000 members. It was a fairly large tribe in the underground world. The minotaurs were very strong. Nobody could stop them when they started charging in a battle.

The conquest went well in the first week. All the nearby tribes were conquered and suppressed. But things changed after the 10th day…

After all the minotaurs joined battle, they could only eat the food they stashed. The intense battles raised the food consumption too. 10 days later, there was a situation that shocked Levis. The minotaur tribe ran out of food. They only had food for three days…

The nearby half-beastman tribes were caught in the same crisis because of the unexpected battles. Everybody was starving.

As a Heaven Rank expert who didn't need to eat anything, Levis didn't expect such a situation. He intended to buy food with mana crystals, only to find nobody was selling so much food.

What about hunting? Not a chance. All the prey within dozens of kilometers had been eaten up. The rest migrated to other places if they didn't want to go extinct.

Then, on the 20th day, the minotaurs, who were known for their loyalty, betrayed…

When another battle began, the minotaurs joined forces with their enemies on the battlefield. They seemed to have forgotten that Levis was a terrifying extraordinary creature.

Then, Levis did something stupid with the mages of Storm Tower. He launched a slaughter because of fury, killing the minotaurs and their enemies together.

They killed 1,000 half-beastmen, and the rest all fled. The people of the Storm Tower had nobody to command again.

That was not the most painful part. What exasperated Levis was that two Heaven Rank half-beastmen emerged out of nowhere and attacked him. After he killed them, a stronger guy showed up, and slew a couple of Heaven Rank mages of the Storm Tower. He chased Levis for hundreds of kilometers.

For days, Levis had been hiding with the mages of the Storm Tower. He finally figured out what had happened.

Every half-beastman tribe was independent. It was fine even if they were asked to pledge loyalty to the Blood Elves. They might fight their compatriots fiercely on a battlefield as the most loyal soldiers.

However, that was on the premise that they were properly fed. It was the most fundamental rule. If one couldn't feed a loyal tribe, and even slaughtered the half-beastmen, one would be a public enemy of all half-beastmen, who all hated that.

The half-beastmen and the Blood Elves were in a terrible relation, and fought every time they met mainly because it had happened more than once that the half-beastman tribes that had pledged loyalty to the Blood Elves had not been fed, but killed…

After figuring out why he was hunted, Levis was so frustrated that he almost wanted to kill someone. He tried to buy food with mana crystals, only to find that they were the cheapest things in the underground world. The mana crystals below level 40 were like garbage…

He wanted to buy a lot of food in the underground world with mana crystals? Hehe. In his dreams…

Purple gold? Even less likely. There was no such thing in the underground world. In the end, having no alternatives, Levis took out the ultimate materials he had collected, only to find that the locals didn't recognize them. He peddled them for an entire day in a half-beastman city, but the highest bidder only offered food that was enough for 1,000 minotaurs to eat for 10 days…

He was a Heaven Rank expert from the Storm Tower who was responsible for this exploration, yet he had been caught in the awkward situation where he couldn't buy any food.

Levis had made a lot of preparations before the exploration. He carried the most precious materials and the best alchemy potions for emergencies.

He had brought everything except food. He didn't even carry any food that contained mana, not to mention ordinary food.

In the end, when he was hunted by another crazy minotaur, he had to compensate for what he did with a Heaven Rank potion. He then exchanged a Heaven Rank potion for food that was enough for 10 minotaurs to eat for 15 days.

Even so, the minotaur tribe that got the food was unwilling to serve him anymore. The people of the Storm Tower had to act on their own. All their plans had fallen through…

On the other hand, the Holy Light Alliance was even more unlucky. On the very first day after the three forces separated, the Holy Light Alliance's team encountered a battle between dark races and Blood Elves.

Dalton intended to capture and interrogate the heretics for useful information. However, when he invoked the power of holy light, the dark creatures and the Blood Elves attacked him together. Infuriated, he purged them without thinking…

He got himself into big trouble. One of the dead dark creatures was a Heaven Rank vampire, and a dead Blood Elf was the eldest son of the master of one of the Blood Elves' biggest cities.

Life for the Holy Light Alliance's team became quite miserable. At first, it was just a minor clash of the younger generation, but then their fathers were all involved. Both parties had terrifying experts. After the Holy Light Alliance's people were hunted for half a month, even level-6 Heaven Rank experts were showing up.

The Holy Light Alliance suffered a heavy loss. They didn't expect that the power of holy light was so hated in the underground world.

The Chester Family was the only fortunate one. Their power was based on the beasts they summoned. They captured a lot of beasts on a dark mountain, and established an army. But then they caught the attention of a strong beast deep inside the mountain. A couple of the explorers died before the rest finally got out.

None of the three forces expected the underground forces to be so powerful, or that they wouldn't be able to carry out their plans at all. After a whole month, all of them finally gathered together.

"I heard that someone gave away a lot of food in exchange for information. I didn't pay much attention to it at first, but then I found that the food was from Noscent. Someone else entered this underground world!"

Danason of the Chester Family reported his finding gloomily. Instantly, Dalton and Levis became grim too.

"Someone followed us into the underground world!"

Levis stood up with an awful expression, unleashing his mana, with his eyes full of killing aura.

Dalton solemnly shook his head.

"That's impossible. To open the channel we came through, they have to be good with the Realization Spell. If they didn't have the magic tool I had, they needed to be at least in level 6 of the Heaven Rank.

"If they'd opened the channel in any other way, I would've noticed it. They couldn't have followed us down here. They must've come here before as well."

Danason and Levis were both angry. They had encountered countless obstacles, yet the stranger easily offered the cheap food of Noscent for returns that were thousands of times more valuable.

The three of them had never eaten ordinary food since they had been born. They always ate food that contained mana, and rarely saw ordinary food, so it escaped their attention.

"Who's that stranger? They have food from Noscent, so they must belong to Noscent. They know that food is in demand here, so they were certainly here before. Damn it, what do we do? Should we leave just like this?"

Levis was getting angry. He had suffered more in the past month than he had ever in Noscent. He was already planning to go back, and Dalton was thinking the same.

Danason, however, shook his head.

"No. We cannot go back yet. We won't be able to keep this exploration a secret for long. If we go back right now, everybody will know about the underground world soon. Then, everything here will be a mess, and it will be hard for us to earn anything.

"Since we cannot continue the exploration, let's cooperate with the stranger. He has so much food, so he must've been here before. But he can't know the relics I'm looking for. Let's work together and dig out the relics first.

"We can get other things from here later. Before we go back, we must make arrangements in advance. When more explorers come, we won't have a lot of advantages."

Hearing Danason's words, Levis and Dalton were shocked.

No wonder that bastard generously offered so many gifts including a True Spirit Magic Tool. He was planning to explore the relics. Considering the price he had paid, the relics had to be extraordinary!

Levis and Dalton immediately saw through Danason's plan. He could take the Holy Light Alliance's and the Storm Tower's people into the underground world even though they would share the loot probably because of the relics. It wouldn't matter as long as he explored the relics.

He confessed the intelligence only because he couldn't explore the relics on their way. All the three teams could hardly travel further in the underground world. Next time they came, it would be impossible for them to explore the relics in peace. Nobody could tell who would gain the loot. The Chester Family might not be able to get anything.

Levis and Dalton understood everything. They didn't scold or blame Danason, but nodded in agreement.

"Indeed, we can only cooperate with the stranger. However, Sir Danason, can you tell us more about the relics?"

Danason didn't say anything, but changed the subject. "I'll tell you everything after we meet that guy. But don't worry. There are a lot of treasures in the relics. There's no way that he'll refuse us.

"My family once caught a Heaven Rank beast that escaped from the underground world. It told my ancestors about the relics. It's absolutely true."

Danason didn't expound on the subject, and Levis and Dalton couldn't pressure him. It was already a pleasant surprise that they learned of the relics. After all, the Chester Family wouldn't have asked the Holy Light Alliance and the Storm Tower to come along if it had been capable of exploring on its own.

Nobody could've foreseen that the underground world would be short of food, especially plants.

There was no sun here. The whole world was an enclosed ball. There was some light, but it couldn't help with the growth of plants at all. Only some rare races were able to grow crops here.

Lin Yun received a lot of information thanks to the food he distributed, but little was useful. Food was more powerful than anything else in this place.

The populous races were most attracted to such a huge amount of food. They sent as many scouts as possible to look for the target. Earning so much food by looking for someone was very easy. It was almost like they were picking food on the streets…