Chapter 181

Chapter 181: The Hunting Ground of Experts

Just minutes after entering the Sea of Three Towers, blood began seeping from Midi’s eyes, nose, and ears.

The air here brimmed with pure magic, pressing down on his body like the crushing depths of the ocean. Worse, pure magic’s corrosive force ate through skin, muscle, blood, bone—even the magic within him.

Even with the small golden sword inside him, Midi couldn’t resist. His only option was to absorb and balance the pure magic. But he couldn’t stop here. This wasn’t the Lionheart Arena’s inner chambers or the Autumn Ancient City villa’s fortified training ground. Danger lurked everywhere in this wilderness.

Midi wiped the blood from his face with a handkerchief, careful not to let a drop fall. Eyes bloodshot, he sprinted through the silent forest.

After nearly half an hour, his face streaked red, Midi found a rocky hillside dotted with caves. No animal tracks or foul smells—safe. He shot sword energy into five hidden caves, waited, then chose the deepest one.

The cave narrowed at the entrance but widened inside, twisting past jagged rocks. Midi crawled dozens of meters until he reached the end. He swept his Black Sky sword to clear the ground, sat cross-legged, and focused inward.

Harmonization meant matching his inner magic to the outside. Here, his body was like a glass container. The small golden sword’s aura inside him was water; the pure magic outside was heavy mercury. Without balance, the "glass" would shatter.

To survive, he had to let the "mercury" seep in. Simple in theory, deadly in practice. Pure magic raged like a storm. Taming it demanded perfect control. Most adventurers, even at peak level 50, failed—too slow to harmonize, their bodies crushed before finishing.

Only those who met strict magic standards during transmutation could endure. The weak stayed exiled outside Sky City. True experts—those who’d walked the path since transmutation—claimed this hunting ground.

For Midi? No challenge. The small golden sword’s aura, though weaker than pure magic, outshone any adventurer’s. With minimal effort, he soothed the raging magic.

An hour later, he opened his eyes. Alongside the small golden sword—forged from Ultimate Intent, magic, and the demon god’s power—now swirled tempered pure magic, roaring through him like a storm.

Midi’s small golden sword, a manifestation of his mysterious demon god, swam freely through the warm, strong winds like a fish in water, radiating contentment. Wherever it passed, faint golden traces dissolved into the pure magic, dyeing it gold.

Though pure magic within his body was easy to wield, it couldn’t truly be called his own until his first awakening. Now, as the small golden sword dyed the winds of pure magic gold, it consumed this high-level magic to nourish itself.

A natural circulation of pure magic now flowed both inside and around Midi. As long as he remained in Sky City, this nourishment would persist, strengthening him continuously until he reached his pre-awakening limits.

Sensing the ocean-like surge of magic within him, Midi sighed.

He remembered his past life.

Back then, despite crossing the threshold of his second awakening, his qualifications hadn’t been poor. Yet after entering Sky City, he’d needed eight hours to harmonize with the magic. Worse, the pure magic had already diluted by the time Sky City appeared over Arad. In the current undiluted environment, it might’ve taken over ten hours.

This life was different. He’d harmonized in one hour. The gap in power was staggering.

*This time, I can protect them.*

Fina’s fiery red hair and Alice’s icy gaze flashed through his mind. A soft smile touched his lips, his eyes warming—but only for an instant.

Cold vigilance returned as he became the Demon Swordman once more. Stretching his body, he wiped away dried blood and erased traces of his presence. After a deep breath, he slipped from the cave and vanished into the Sea of Three Towers like mist.

Midi hadn’t come here to sightsee. As a reincarnator, he needed no lessons about Sky City’s monsters. His mission was to gather intelligence during Sky City’s "connection" phase, particularly the locations of rifts, then adjust West Coast strategies accordingly.

Though he’d painstakingly found one rift, others surely existed. Pinpointing their West Coast positions would grant him absolute power. He could establish a forward base at the optimal rift, funneling experts into Sky City for training, awakening, and resource gathering. He could monitor other rifts, attack when opportune, even bury them to deny rivals.

Yet navigating the Sea of Three Towers wasn’t simple. This wasn’t empty wilderness. Intelligent beings thrived here, their power dwarfing Arad’s average. Sky City’s creatures breathed pure magic from birth, their growth and ascension fueled by it. Even below level 50, their magic density surpassed anything on Arad.

This was a hunting ground for experts. Survival here demanded absolute power—a truth that lit Midi’s eyes with fire.

Scheming with West Coast’s comfortable maritime families and arrogant Arena factions bored him. He craved raw battles in these primal woods. Instead of wealth or political games, he’d wield his sharp sword for victory. No subtlety—just overwhelming force.

Here, bathed in dense magic, he could unleash his full power without restraint.

A thunderous roar shattered the silence.

Birds erupted from trees only to drop midair, as if struck by invisible arrows, splattering against the ground. Even Midi’s battle-hardened skin prickled with goosebumps.

This was no ordinary roar.

It carried the fury of a dragon.