Grinding EXP From Fireball Skill

Cultivating under the blazing sun, the growth of his Mana quickened noticeably.

Before he knew it, the sun had vanished, leaving the sky filled with the glow of countless stars.

Li Wei left the moon behind him, watching it recede into the distance.

They flew continuously for three days and three nights.

Saint Xi descended, breaking through a sea of clouds to reveal an unbroken range of snow-capped mountains.

This mountain range separated the Extreme North Icefield from the Northern Wastelands.

Li Wei opened his eyes and looked down, able to see the Beastman tribes living on the other side of the mountains.

The Beastmen looked up and saw the Giant Dragon flying overhead. They were all frozen in shock, not even noticing the items they were holding fall from their hands.

"Dragon! Dragon! Dragon!"

Some of them ran wildly, chasing after Saint Xi.

Before long, Saint Xi had disappeared from the Beastmen’s sight.

Li Wei patted Saint Xi’s back. "That’s enough," he said. "We just needed to let them know we’ve left the Extreme North Icefield."

Hearing this, Saint Xi acknowledged him with a cry.

She began to slow, descending toward the ground.

Just before landing, her body was enveloped in light, shrinking as she transformed into her human form.

The figures of Li Wei and Saint Xi vanished into the vast Northern Wastelands.

News of the Dragon Race’s appearance in the Northern Wastelands spread like wildfire, quickly reaching the lands of the Human Empire.

「Central Earth Continent.」

The rich and fertile Jade Territory.

Within a massive manor that occupied an entire hillside.

The Empire’s oldest and most senior Prince sat upon his throne, listening to a subordinate report on the news of a Giant Dragon in the Northern Wastelands.

"Very well. You are dismissed."

"As you command."

The Jade Prince had lived for over a thousand years.

In the entire Human Empire, only a handful of people knew how he had managed to live so long.

But now, the Jade Prince was facing the threat of death, his long life finally coming to an end.

He gazed out the window at a lush, green tree.

’How he wished his own life could be as enduring as that of a tree.’

The Jade Prince turned his gaze back to the letter before him and murmured, ’Locks, did you fail?’

’What kind of opponent did you encounter? For even you to have died there...’

He crumpled the letter into a ball and threw it to the floor.

’Dying is one thing, Locks, but you even lost the Demon Dragon King’s Armor of Sighs. Damn you.’

’Now, I suppose I can only rely on him.’

The Jade Prince walked outside.

"Ah, Giant Dragons," he mused. "Such enviable creatures. Powerful and long-lived."

...

「Holy Mountain of Light.」

Inside the Saint Hall of Light, the Saintess and Minos stood before a statue of the Light God.

Minos’s head was bowed as he recited a prayer to the Light God.

After a moment, the Saintess spoke. "Minos, I think it’s best if you go yourself. Bring him back to me."

Minos nodded. "I understand."

The Saintess added a warning, "Be careful. There may be a terrifying power hidden in the Extreme North Icefield, one we are not aware of. The Eight-winged Angel Russell has been missing for half a year."

Minos replied solemnly, "I will be careful."

The Light Divine Sect had learned of the Eight-winged Bright Angel Russell’s disappearance from a Divine Spirit.

However, the specific reason for his disappearance remained unknown.

All they knew was that the Eight-winged Bright Angel Russell had gone after an Apostle of the Demon God.

However, the power of a Demon God’s Apostle alone should not be enough to defeat an Eight-winged Bright Angel, who wields the power of the Gods.

This could only mean that the Extreme North Icefield likely concealed an unexpectedly powerful force.

Minos left the Holy Mountain and headed for the Northern Wastelands.

「West Desert Wastelands.」

On the Ancient Battlefield, countless Undead began to stir.

They marched toward the Human Empire.

The realm was in turmoil.

A great war was about to break out in the Northern Territory.

On the other side of the Human Empire, another war was brewing—one that could change the global balance of power.

The Crystal atop the Elemental Tower blared an alarm.

Every Mage stared, wide-eyed, looking up.

This was the first time the Elemental Tower had ever sounded an alarm.

The last major incident, when a Legendary Witch Lich led millions of Undead to assault the Elemental Tower, hadn’t even triggered the alarm.

All the Elders of the Elemental Tower gathered, their faces grim as they discussed the movements of the Undead from the Ancient Battlefield.

"We can be almost certain. All the Undead from the entire Ancient Battlefield are moving toward Storm City."

"Damn it, what is he trying to do?"

"I’ve said it before: he’s no longer human. We can’t judge him by human standards anymore."

"There’s no use saying that now. We need to notify Storm City and the Human Empire immediately."

"All Legendary Mages, except for Zhu Feng, are to prepare for Forbidden Curse strikes along their path."

Naturally, the Elemental Tower could not simply allow the Undead from the Ancient Battlefield to assault the Storm Wall.

Their intent was to use Forbidden Curses to eliminate the greatest number of Undead over the widest possible area.

However, even Forbidden Curses, renowned for their vast area of effect, would be unable to stop the Undead Calamity.

They could only slow the advance of the Undead.

Individually, the Undead were weak, but when they gathered in massive numbers, they would spontaneously generate a supernatural phenomenon: the Death Sky Curtain.

The Death Sky Curtain would drastically weaken the damage inflicted upon the Undead by Forbidden Curses.

Any living being that fell within the Death Sky Curtain would also be swiftly converted into one of the Undead.

This was the true nature of the Undead Calamity.

A supernatural disaster.

「Maple City, Sixth Floor of the Mage Tower.」

Li Wei’s Illusory Body, which had taken Torresta’s place to watch over the Mage Tower, opened its eyes.

Ever since Torresta’s death, the Maple City Mage Tower had gone through a period of turmoil.

The turmoil only ended when Li Wei’s Illusory Body assumed the form of Torresta and took command of the Mage Tower.

However, there had always been those who suspected that the real Torresta was already dead.

People were constantly testing the illusion, trying to determine if it was real or fake.

Fortunately, the power Li Wei had left in the Illusory Body was sufficient to handle their probing.

As time passed, however, the power of Li Wei’s Illusory Body waned, while the enemies probing the Mage Tower grew ever stronger.

It was beginning to feel overwhelmed.

After all, when Li Wei had created the Illusory Body, he was merely a Tier Four Mage.

’But there was no need to worry now.’

’Because the real him was about to return.’

The voice of the Magic Butler echoed up to the Sixth Floor.

"Tower Master, the vice dean of the Magic Academy, Kamal, requests an audience."

"Send him up."

The Magic Academy was a Professional Academy that had recently been established in Maple City.

Previously, Maple City had only a Knight Academy, a Warrior Academy, an Assassin Academy, and an Archer Academy.

It wasn’t until Otz invited several powerful Mages from the Central Earth Continent that the Beixuan Kingdom was able to establish its own Magic Academy.

To compete with the Mage Tower for students, the Magic Academy constantly sought to undermine the Mage Tower’s influence.

Otz simply turned a blind eye.

After all, the Magic Academy was under his control, whereas the Mage Tower had always been semi-autonomous, following his orders only when it suited them.

Otz had long been displeased with this arrangement.

In the past, Otz’s own power had been too weak to do anything about the Mage Tower.

But as the overall strength of the Beixuan Kingdom grew, Otz no longer considered the Mage Tower a significant power.

In the time Li Wei had been away, Otz had already annexed the Nanzhe Kingdom.

The Macher Kingdom, too, was on the brink of collapse.

The Beixuan Kingdom had become the main power in the Northern Territory resisting the Beastman Empire.

As a result, it had garnered the attention of the Human Empire.

Once it annexed the Macher Kingdom, the Beixuan Kingdom would become the sole kingdom holding the line against the Beastman Empire.

This would grant them the most important voice in the Human Empire’s frontier affairs.

Of course, the arrogant nobles of Central Earth had never considered the lands beyond the Ice and Snow Great Wall as territory of the Human Empire.

They looked down on the kingdoms of the remote and barren Northern Territory.

The Empire’s noble lineages, stretching back thousands of years, had long since grown decadent and corrupt.

They only wanted to protect their own little plots of land, possessing no ambition whatsoever to expand the Human Empire’s borders.

They failed to grasp the importance of having a voice in the Empire’s frontier matters.

Only a very small minority within the Empire still held any great ambitions.

And one of this small minority stood behind Otz.

Kamal appeared on the Sixth Floor of the Mage Tower.

He looked at the back of the man he knew as Torresta, a hint of displeasure in his eyes.

’A mere Tier Four Great Mage, putting on such airs?’

’Who does he think he is, putting on airs in front of *me*?’

Kamal performed a nobleman’s bow. "Torresta," he said, "have you considered the matter we discussed last time?"

Without a moment’s hesitation, Li Wei’s illusion replied, "Give up. It’s impossible. It will always be impossible, no matter how many times you ask."

The Magic Academy wanted to absorb the Mage Tower.

Ostensibly, this was to centralize resources for teaching magic, providing the mages of the Beixuan Kingdom with a better learning environment.

But anyone with eyes could see their rapacious ambition.