End of the Magic Era

Looking at the ashes, the ghoul angrily flung them away, and finally laughed loudly.

"You filthy crows, do you think I forgot what you did to me? I remember it vividly. You filthy and stupid crows ate two of my stomachs, one of my eyes, and one of my arms…

"I'm so slim right now exactly because of you idiots. You think I couldn't recognize you anymore after you changed your appearance a bit? How do you feel right now? Even the great Pluto won't be able to resurrect you…"

Lin Yun landed with a weird expression. He had finally realized that the ghoul wasn't exactly smart or observant, even though he had awakened his wisdom.

Those poor crows were probably no bigger than one year old. Yet, this silly ghoul mistook them for some crows that had once hurt him in the past.

Such undead crows, which were no stronger than level 20, did love feeding on ghouls. After all, ghouls were one of the few low-level undead creatures that carried some meat.

Normal ghouls were no stronger than level 10. They were similar to low-level skeleton soldiers. Naturally, the crows didn't hesitate to eat them. However, it had to have been a very, very long time since he was hurt by the crows…

If he had misidentified the crows, then it should come as no surprise that he misidentified Lin Yun too…

"Buddy, why are you silent again? Damn it, why can't I ever learn to start a fire? You were born in the darkness, yet you are capable of igniting a fire. You're truly blessed by the great Pluto…"

Lin Yun didn't know what to say. Pluto was a name that every intelligent undead creature in the Plane of the Undead knew. Respected as the God of Fortune by the locals of the Plane of the Undead, he was one of the oldest liches and the best businessman in this place.

When Bane conquered the Plane of the Undead, Pluto was the only one who didn't suffer any loss. Rather, he even made a fortune. He exchanged the soul fire of an ancient bone dragon with Bane for a large territory in the Plane of the Undead and the right to do business here. In his heyday, he even had a branch in Noscent.

However, there had always been few records about the Plane of the Undead in Noscent. The exchange wasn't described in detail. Everything about the Plane of the Undead seemed to be taboo. Even after Bane conquered the Plane of the Undead, he didn't send a governor to rule over it, and simply asked the locals to hand over materials regularly.

The only detailed records about the Plane of the Undead were the ways to kill the special undead creatures that couldn't be killed in other ways.

The other records were all about how chaotic the Plane of the Undead was, and how brutal the undead creatures were.

Lin Yun had thought that the descriptions were all true. However, after traveling with the ghoul named Emir for a while, Lin Yun realized that the books he read were untrue and rigged.

When Emir took him to a city that was at least 20 kilometers in diameter and three kilometers high, Lin Yun saw strange creatures entering and leaving the city, and believed that the books he read were absolutely unreliable.

The books he read in the library in Heiss City never mentioned such a place in the Plane of the Undead.

Didn't they all claim that the undead creatures were brainless idiots who had always been fighting for turf?

The city in front of his eyes had been built by emptying an enormous mountain of obsidian. Its scale was shocking even in Noscent. Lin Yun was absolutely dumbfounded to see it in the Plane of the Undead.

The obsidian was one of the best magic-resistant materials. To transform such a huge mountain into a city, no magic power could be used at all. The job had to be done with physical force.

But it was probably not a problem in the Plane of the Undead. Deploying 100,000,000 skeletons to dig the mountain was no big deal. If it wasn't enough, 100,000,000 zombies and ghouls could help.

They didn't need food or rest, and they were tireless and fearless. They were perfect laborers…

Emir grinned and looked up at the lofty city with admiration.

"Hey, Buddy, do you see the city that the great Pluto has built? They're all here for the auction. Right, do you know what auction means?

"Haha, I know you don't. Auction is the great Pluto's invention. A lot of good stuff will be displayed in an auction. You can exchange for it with your own stuff. Whoever offers the most valuable item will have it."

Lin Yun stared at Emir, and felt that his world had been turned upside down.

An auction in the Plane of the Undead, attended by a bunch of undead creatures?

Could they even attend any meeting without fighting?

Emir grinned and looked at Lin Yun proudly.

"Hey, Buddy, you're completely befuddled, aren't you? Haha, let me tell you. I was so smart that it only took me three years to figure out what the auction was about. You must remember not to cause any trouble in Pluto's city.

"You know what 'not cause trouble' means, don't you? It means that you must not kill those filthy idiots. See that hideous skeleton who's missing a rib on the left side? Does he not know how ugly he is?

"There's also that hideous banshee over there. Her head and her belly are so small. She's so hideous. I want to rip apart her head.

"Oh, right, do not rip apart those idiots, twist their heads, or burn them into ashes…"

Emir rambled on, and explained to Lin Yun about things that could get him killed if he didn't pay attention.

He even explained to Lin Yun what death meant for a long time.

Lin Yun was completely astounded by Emir, who was not just a rare gnome ghoul, but was also greedy. More importantly, his anesthetics were too strange…

Of all the undead creatures here, banshees and vampires were the only ones that Lin Yun didn't find ugly or strange. They looked acceptable to him.

There was a guy who had a huge stomach. His mouth was on his stomach, and there were two heads above his shoulders. His flesh was all rotten. Yet, Emir jealously thought that he was very handsome.

"Emir, I see that to enter Pluto's city requires tickets… Tickets are what they offer to the guards when they enter the city. Do you have that?"

Emir opened his mouth at Lin Yun, and stared at the gate for 10 minutes. Then, he stood straight in shock.

"Buddy, I don't. What do we do? Why did I not know that? Why do I not have a ticket?"

The black mist that covered Lin Yun's skin roiled. He covered his head in pain. He really didn't know how to communicate with Emir, who was downright stupid…

Lin Yun looked at the two five-meter-tall skeleton guards who had two heads at the gate. He then looked at the distance, where a skeleton warrior twisted the head of a skeleton mage, and swallowed his soul fire.

Then, the level-42 skeleton warrior picked up the skeleton mage's ticket, and burped as he entered the city.

The two level-45 guards at the gate didn't bother to look at it at all. They didn't seem to care what happened outside the city.

Lin Yun shook his head. Glancing at Emir, who was still shocked at his ignorance of the matter, Lin Yun noticed two banshees a kilometer away, and spouted a dark law rune.

Instantly, the two level-40 banshees were engulfed in the black mist that blocked their voices and waves. Three seconds later, they were gone, and two metal cards flew to Lin Yun.

The two cards were metal, and seemed to be made of the alchemy of the undead. The technology was quite shabby. However, the materials and making process carried the unique features of the undead creatures. Vague screams could even be heard from them.

Holding the two tickets, Lin Yun took Emir, who was still shocked, into the city. Instantly, he detected a terrifying pressure.

In this place, all his mana was suppressed in his body. He could only make use of a tiny bit of mana. This place was an enormous hollow in the middle of a gigantic obsidian rock. The power of magic was so weakened here that it was impossible to destroy the structure.

Entering the gate, Lin Yun saw a building that was more than 100 meters tall. It had thick pillars as supports. Also, there were shabby stairs that were made with obsidian around each pillar.

It was possible to climb to higher levels along the stairs. Obviously, the city had more than one level.

Some bizarre-looking creatures of the Plane of the Undead were walking here, but their population wasn't huge. Most undead creatures wouldn't awaken their wisdom until they advanced into level 40 and became extraordinary creatures. Many dark creatures, by comparison, gained wisdom before they reached the extraordinary level.

Most of the people on this level were dark creatures. All the undead creatures were above level 40.

Going to the top floor along the stairs, Lin Yun saw even more dark creatures and undead creatures, including skeletons, zombies, vampires, ghosts, skeleton beasts, abominations…

Apart from them, there was an undead dragon that was more than 100 meters long. A group of local creatures of the Plane of the Undead had gathered around a round platform, which was empty. More undead creatures were joining.

There were three level-47 undead creatures and two level-47 dark creatures. They were seated in the front. No other undead creatures dared to approach them at all.

Looking at the magic patterns above his head, Lin Yun became more and more curious about Pluto. Those magic patterns, along with the magic-resistant obsidian, could suppress all powers including mana and battle aura. Even Xiuban's physical strength would be mostly suppressed in this place.

That level-47 undead dragon could only unleash the strength of a Great Mage in this place. Even if it were to cast spells that didn't require external elements and mana, the spells would still be neutralized immediately.

No wonder so many undead and dark creatures had gathered here. Safety was what mattered most to them.

Here, everybody's ability to attack had been significantly weakened, but their defense was not weakened at all. It meant that nobody here would be killed even if someone wanted to cause trouble.

Even a level-47 undead creature couldn't kill a level-30 skeleton king in this place. All undead creatures felt safe here.

Also, in such a building which was purely made of obsidian, nobody could play any tricks, either.

It couldn't have been easy to find such a large piece of obsidian. At least, Lin Yun could not think of a place in the Plane of the Undead where such a huge piece of obsidian could be collected. It was clearly not originally in this place, but had been moved here. The effort involved had to have been terrifying.

"Emir, do you know what will be auctioned?"

That was a question that he had to consult with a local. However, seeing how Emir was looking around curiously, Lin Yun quickly abandoned the thought. That silly guy had obviously been bragging.

His mana had been mostly suppressed since he came here. It was very difficult for him to maintain the black mist on his skin, which required dozens of times more mana. Although he could afford the cost, his concealment was no longer perfect.

The level-47 vampire had looked at him three times. There was also a level-45 ghost that had glanced at him once. A level-44 skeleton king who was seated not far away had looked at him twice, with the soul fire burning in his skull.

Lin Yun frowned, and didn't say anything. Obviously, his aura as a living human had been noticed by those guys. The vampire, who was the most sensitive to living creatures, had definitely confirmed that he was a living person.

As for the skeleton king, he had probably detected Lin Yun's ability of Undead Predator. In this place, Undead Predator's power had been minimized, and it was already negligible. It was no threat for the level-44 skeleton king at all.

However, the two of them were seated very close to each other, and it was nothing unusual that Lin Yun's power was detected. He had acquired Undead Predator by killing skeletons, and it worked most effectively on skeletons.

He had nothing to worry about in this place. Those guys had been so significantly weakened that they couldn't possibly break his rune shield even if they were to attack him together.

A long wait began. The undead creatures made the best use of their advantage of insensitivity to the passage of time. They simply stayed absentminded, not caring how much longer they had to wait.

In another three days, more than 100 Heaven Rank undead creatures had gathered in this place, and even more dark creatures had come. There were altogether more than 80 Heaven Rank participants and 400 dark creatures that hadn't reached the Heaven Rank yet, but still had wisdom.

In the enormous space, the undead creatures and the dark creatures gathered in small groups. However, very few of them talked with each other. They simply waited in silence after they arrived.

At this moment, a skeleton creature who was wearing a hat suddenly appeared on the high platform in the center. He was the only undead creature here who wore anything that could almost be called clothes. There was a vague round mark on his ragged hat. He was also wearing a peasant's uniform, which seemed to have been sacrificed with an evil spell, and turned into a piece of magic equipment.

"The first item, a pure prairie elf virgin."

The soul fire glittered in the skeleton's head. A soul wave spread out, sending the message into everybody's head. Whatever race the listeners were from, they could definitely understand the skeleton.

Lin Yun frowned, and looked at the prairie elf on the platform who had been skinned. But of course, it didn't matter to the undead creatures or the dark creatures. She was described as pure only because she was never corrupted by the power of the undead, and she was not injured. She was in perfect condition.

However, her soul was gone. Her eyes were hollow, without the slightest soul wave. Her soul had been extracted forcefully by a terrifying undead creature without leaving the slightest trace. Technically speaking, she was a living body.

Lin Yun shook his head, and didn't intervene. Obviously, the vampires were very interested in the living body. Emir seemed quite interested too.

"80,000 soul fires."

A level-39 vampire bared his tusks, and made his bid excitedly.

The vampires of the Plane of the Undead didn't live as good a life as those in Noscent. There were living people and other creatures whose bodies were full of hot blood everywhere in Noscent. They could easily get their food.

However, it was very difficult to find anything alive in the Plane of the Undead except for the dark creatures. This level-39 vampire was hoping to swallow a living life to advance to level 40.

After the vampire made his bid, no other vampires made another bid. The other creatures who were interested in the prairie elf's living body all gave up on competing with the vampire.