142 Gamble Part 1 (1/2)

Saleen and Lex looked at the tens of thousands of notes, both unwilling to give them away. These notes from the mages had a large amount of information on magic beasts in them and described more than one hundred thousand magic formulae.

The Figaro formula was the basic theory behind all magic. However, that did not mean that by learning the Figaro formula, one did not need to learn the others. There were over ten thousand basic sequences in the Figaro formula alone, and they were even more complicated than the changes in the stars.

A mage could study for all of their life and still not learn all of the formulae, much less create so many of them. However, all of the magic notes in this hall carried related information, and if they were separated, their value would drop steeply. Seeing that Lex was not saying a word, Saleen knew that she was unwilling to give them up.

”How about this? You can choose to take everything from either the second or third story.” Saleen proposed a solution, something that Sikeqinya merchants often used. They were used to dealing with large trade deals, and if a merchant wanted to take all of the goods from a certain month, aside from paying for them, they would need to give up the next month’s goods to the other party as well.

The prices of goods fluctuated, and thus, taking everything first could lead to either massive losses or massive profits. It was a gamble, and aside from needing a merchant’s eye, one needed luck as well.

Lex said without hesitation, ”I want the second floor.”

The value of the items on the third floor might have been greater. That was usually the case for magic towers like these. However, Lex was not about to give up knowledge on the modification of magic beasts. For a mage, this information might have all seemed the same, but for a country, there was a completely different meaning.

Saleen took one last look at the books and notes on the second floor and called out for Sika and Nailisi before turning to leave. He was afraid that if he stayed any longer, he would regret his decision.

Lex continued gathering the information on the second floor while Saleen went up the stairway to the third floor with his ice plate armor and water shields.

Opening the door tentatively, a killer aura struck him. The water shields on his body seemed to expand vigorously into a giant ball, blocking the entryway. At the same time, he released another water shield as the water shield which had blocked the entrance was crushed by the killer aura. He released a third spell without hesitation.

Now that his magic chords had grown, he could release nearly one hundred Grade 2 spells. Sika and Nailisi were behind him and he could not retreat. He could only release spells one by one to counter the aura.

Thankfully, the defensive abilities of his water shields had reached Grade 4 and water-type defensive magic was the strongest type, making them hard to destroy. The killer aura was stopped by the magic shield for a short while, and using this time, Saleen was able to release a Grade 2 magic shield.

Retreat was not an option; however, the killer aura did not seem to be stopping. While releasing over ninety-six spells, Saleen could only back up a few meters at most.

Saleen toughly persevered. On the exterior of his body, a giant transparent bubble repeatedly expanded. He had no idea of the properties of the killer aura coming from inside the third story of the magic tower, and his magic shields were unusually weak under its attacks.

Saleen broke out into a cold sweat. He had been too careless. There were so many things that were unknown in this world. He had just advanced to Grade 4 and he had already become so full of himself. Even if Lex realized the danger, she would not be able to rush here in time. The water shield would barely be able to last for half a second before breaking.

Sika had already grabbed her cudgel from her back and Nailisi was clenching her teeth nervously, wanting to revert to her demon form. However, all these things could not help Saleen. His body no longer carried the strength of the water shields and once his magic chords were depleted, his body would instantly be crushed.

Saleen held the clan badge in his left hand. At this moment, he could only fight with all his strength. If the badge’s method of absorbing energy ended up being the same as it had been on the first floor, he would die.

Just as the ninety-fifth water shield was crushed and Saleen was about to use the unknown energy inside of the badge, the killer aura coming from the door suddenly disappeared.

Saleen’s body shook. Consecutively releasing all of those spells had nearly completely depleted his magic chords. He might have done so during training, but his life had not been in danger during those times and he had not been as nervous as he was now. The pressure of imminent death had placed a lot of stress on his body and if he had not constantly used the badge to train, his body would have fallen apart first, even before his focus or magic chords.

The scene of the third floor of the magic tower came into view. It was also a hall and was empty except for a skeleton at its center. The skeleton was almost eight meterss long and half of it consisted of the bones of its tail. It had an interesting structure with two sets of wings. A complicated magic pattern had naturally formed upon its abnormally elongated skull.

The entire skeleton of this magic beast was not too big and the bones of the tail were thick. Without the tail, it was probably a meter longer than the Grade 4 magic beasts in the forest.

There were no other items on the third floor and Saleen began to regret his choice. He had almost given up his life earlier. Would he only obtain this magic beast skeleton in exchange for all of the magic notes on the second floor?

”Saleen, it was this thing just now,” Sika said, pointing at the skeleton.