287 Mountain Temple (1/2)

The two left the Merlin Manor and walked alongside the lake shore. They soon reached the bottom of the cliff. Now that they were close, they could see the canyon covered in fog. They were surrounded by mist and they simply couldn't see the end of the canyon.

”Hmm?” Lin Yun stood at the top of the canyon. He looked down with a heavy expression.

”What is it?”

”This fog isn't simple.”

”Yes…” William nodded when he heard this. ”It is said that this fog wasn't here originally. The Merlin Family's ancestor left the Ancestral Land and followed the first king to establish the Andlusa Kingdom. Once the kingdom was established, he refused to stay despite the first king's entreaties and returned to the Ancestral Land. He was never seen since then. From that time on, the canyon has been filled with dense fog…”

”It's not just that…”

Lin Yun shook his head before pointing with his Spiritual Magic Staff. The Elemental Amber flickered. Under the surge of mana, the fog suddenly raged.

William, who had already reached High Mage Rank, could now see a faint flicker within the fog. Countless mysterious runes were roaming within the fog. Most importantly, William could clearly feel the huge mana fluctuations within the fog created by the mana injected by his younger cousin. It was neither berserk nor fierce, it was heavy and calm, just like a mountain range extending in front of them. Even by just standing there they could feel the pressure.

”This…” As a well known member of the younger generation, William had gotten close to the Ancestral Land many times, even if he hadn't undergone the Bloodline Ceremony.

In the past, William had only thought that the Ancestral Land was extremely mysterious and filled with countless secrets.

But now, William felt that the Ancestral Land wasn't just mysterious. The secrets it held were most likely greater than he had imagined.

”Let's go take a look.” Lin Yun smiled and ignored William's stupefied expression. He followed the rugged, precipitous mountain path towards the bottom of the canyon.

The path was very long, and it took them almost an hour to reach the bottom of the canyon.

There were a dozen towers at the bottom.

The world at the bottom of the canyon was impressively open, and the landscape was more beautiful than they had been expecting. There was no end to this world. From the bottom of this precipitous cliff, a dozen towers could be seen spreading far in the distance. Faint mana fluctuations were emitted, quiet and mysterious. Lin Yun looked into the distance and noticed that the smallest tower was still seven floors tall.

'It looks like the foundation of the Merlin Family is deeper than I thought…' Lin Yun couldn't help sighing after seeing that scenery.

In Noscent, there was a strict norm concerning mages living in towers.

Mages could have two floors at most, Great Mages could have four, and High Mages could have six. Although this wasn't explicitly written anywhere, it had spread among mages over the years, and the mages strictly abided by it. The decorative design on mages' cuffs would also rarely be forged.

The world of magic seemed free and mysterious, but in reality, it was far more respectful of status than the secular world.

And the smallest tower having seven floors meant that the ones living in these towers were all Archmages at the very least.

Moreover...

Lin Yun noticed that the tallest tower had nine floors!

This meant that a Heaven Rank Mage had lived there.

But...

No mana fluctuation was emitted from that tower. It was deathly silent.

An ordinary person might be mistaken about this, but Lin Yun couldn't. After reaching the High Mage realm, Lin Yun became over ten times sharper when it concerned changes in mana fluctuations. He didn't even need to use the Magic Array to determine that the tallest tower had already lost its master.

In other words, the Heaven Mage of the Merlin family had already left, or he might have fallen. In any case, he wasn't present here.

But even if that tower had lost its master, just based on those seven-floor and eight-floor towers, it could be seen how frightening the foundation of the Merlin Family was.

They were all Archmages.