Chapter 729: Battle of Domains
As the Light and Darkness Domain unfolded, Lin Li’s surroundings rapidly turned into a black-and-white world, and the bright red color reflected off the flames disappeared from his domain. However, under the pressure from the Volcano Domain, Lin Li’s Light and Darkness Domain was much smaller than usual. At the border of the domains, one could clearly see the bright red flames and black-and-white color constantly trying to s.n.a.t.c.h the opponent’s territory like two armies in a close fight.
Lin Li continuously strengthened his Light and Darkness Domain while paying attention to the other Legendary-mages around. From a mage’s understanding of Laws. he could use the nomological power he had mastered to create a Magical Domain. Thus, the Magical Domain could be described as the total display of a mage’s abilities. Lin Li certainly wouldn’t miss such a good opportunity to judge other mages’ abilities.
Andoine was the first person Lin Li had encountered after coming to Anril. He was Lin Li’s mentor who had brought him into the world of magic. However, Lin Li didn’t know much about Andoine’s abilities before this mission—he only knew that Andoine was a level-23 Legendary-mage.
Andoine had fully expanded his Magical Domain now. A patch of green contrasted sharply with the burning flames around as countless plants started growing in his domain; vines stretched to the edge, fearlessly competing with flames for territory.
Thorn Domain! Lin Li was shocked upon seeing Andoine’s Magical Domain. Typically, only the elven mages who specialized in Nature Magic could use this kind of plant-related Magical Domain. Human mages were rarely seen using this kind of domain. This wasn’t because the Thorn Domain was weak, but the nature of its Laws determined the emphasis of this domain. Given that its Laws were related to the lives of plants, it was more suitable for pharmacists who dealt with herbs every day.
Looking at the plants that grew in the Thorn Domain with astonis.h.i.+ng speed, Lin Li secretly shook his head. Evidently, Andoine’s obsession with pharmaceutics had seriously affected his progress in magic. Although the Thorn Domain possessed powerful strength, its attacking abilities couldn’t be considered strong. Moreover, the Laws upon which the Thorn Domain was constructed were mainly extended-low-level Laws which were far less powerful than core magical mantras like Darkness and Light.
At Legendary level, the difference in terms of the strength of Magical Domains’ nomological power wasn’t very obvious. In fact, the strength of Legendary-level Magical Domains was determined by the mage’s understanding of Laws. The more one knew about Laws. the more powerful one’s Magical Domain was.
However, once one reached Sanctuary-realm, everyone’s understanding of Laws had reached the peak, and their Magical Domains started to transform into their ultimate form. By then, the strength of the Magical Domain’s nomological power was the underlying factor that decided the strength of the Magical Domain. As such, one could easily envision the performance of the Thorn Domain that consisted of low-level Laws when it reached the Sanctuary-level.
Lin Li wouldn’t say that Andoine’s choice was totally wrong. After all, everyone had different pursuits. Given that Andoine had pretty good relations with arbitrator Apophis, he might clearly understand what this choice meant to him. This could only show that his pa.s.sion for pharmaceutics had exceeded everything else, although his pharmaceutics level was terrible now.
On the other hand, Andoine’s compet.i.tor Rosen’s Magical Domain made Lin Li’s eyes light up. Thunder flames and gigantic boulders continuously resisted the Volcano Domain’s pressure. Even though Lin Li detested this old man who always picked on him, he couldn’t deny that the path Rosen had chosen was the one that mages should go.
Rosen had displayed an Element Domain that contained the elemental Laws of earth, fire, water, and wind. When he had incorporated all four elements into his Magical Domain, he had pushed the power of his domain to a terrifying level. Evidently, Rosen was much more determined than Andoine on his path of magic. Everything that he had done was to increase the strength of his magic with the pursuit of maximizing his magical power. For a mage, the most reliable power was certainly magic. While other skills could help, nothing could be as reliable as magic in the most crucial moments.
Of course, Lin Li didn’t think that Rosen’s Element Domain was perfect. Rosen’s biggest problem was that he was too ambitious. Earth, fire, water, and wind… Every element’s elemental Law was enough for a mage to spend his entire life examining it. However, Rosen attempted to completely master all four magical elements at his current level. In a way, he was taking a wrong path as well. Although Rosen’s path wasn’t in the opposite direction of his goal, it would make his goal seem so far away that it seemed impossible to reach.
Meanwhile, Aldwin had expanded his Flaming Storm Domain—a pure fire element Magical Domain. However, its Laws were extended Laws from the fire elemental Laws. Countless fireb.a.l.l.s fell from the sky like a storm, turning the ground into a sea of flames. The hot flames from the Flaming Storm Domain competed intensely with the Volcano Domain, trying to engulf each other.
Evidently, this was a domain constructed with mature Legendary magic. The rules in this Magical Domain were all based on Legendary magic. The greatest trait of a domain constructed with Legendary magic was that it was extremely powerful. It was like he had solidified Legendary magic into his domain; rarely anyone in the same level could compete with such a Magical Domain. However, Aldwin sacrificed the s.p.a.ce for him to level up in his pursuit for immense power. He would probably remain at his current level for his entire life, with no chance of improvement at all.
Lin Li was a level-23 Legendary-mage like Andoine and Rosen, but his experience in battling at this level wasn’t as much as the two’s. After all, after understanding the ultimate form of Magical Domains at the Seven-Realm Spiral as well as reading the Book of Eternity wholeheartedly in the half a year in the crack between s.p.a.ce and time, Lin Li’s understanding of Magical Domains exceeded the level that a normal person could hope for.
Although Lin Li had just reached the peak of level-23 when he left the s.p.a.cetme rift, his knowledge about Magical Domains had already reached Sanctuary-level. Thus, his foresight was no worse than a true Sanctuary powerhouse’s, and he could see many problems others couldn’t.
“Howl!”
The Fire Demon whose body was surrounded by flames let out a deafening roar. As his roar reverberated throughout the palace, the entire building seemed to be shaking slightly. After that, the Fire Demon retracted all his surrounding flames all of a sudden, and shot them out with even greater speed. The Volcano Domain was filled with violence and rage. He wasn’t using any skills, just suppressing the four Legendary-mages’ Magical Domains with pure strength.
Under the encroachment of the Volcano Domain, the palace’s ground was completely turned into a sea of golden lava from the heat. The lava poured to all sides like a flood discharge channel that was just opened, continuously expanding the Volcano Domain’s territory. Such scorching temperatures could make everything turn into ashes; even the most heat-resistant Infernal Magic Iron would probably melt into liquid under such heat. If not for the countless powerful defense mageweaths around the palace, even Osric’s proud invention wouldn’t escape the fate of destruction.
The battle of Magical Domains at such a level was more similar to collisions between domains. There weren’t many skills or tricks that one could use, and everything depended on one’s understanding of nomological power. Any control, any skill, and any trickery was totally useless now. It was like a head-on battle between two armies—the strongest was the winner.
In a flash, a large proportion of plants in Andoine’s Thorn Domain was engulfed by fire. The area of his domain was directly reduced by more than half. Andoine’s knuckles that held onto his magic staff turned pale, and veins popped out on his temples. Countless intertwining vines flooded towards his lost territory, fearlessly swarming towards the flames.
Typically, plants would be suppressed by fire. If it was only Andoine fighting with the Volcano Domain alone, the Thorn Domain would be instantaneously engulfed by the Volcano Domain. However, there were three other mages fighting against the Fire Demon, helping to spread out the damage. Moreover, Andoine’s Thorn Domain also consisted of many extended water elemental Laws. Thus, he wasn’t totally pa.s.sive when facing the Volcano Domain.
After all, Andoine was a level-23 Legendary master. Although the Thorn Domain wasn’t the strongest, he wasn’t shaken by the Fire Demon’s sudden attack. Countless plants grew in the Thorn Domain crazily and swarmed towards the sea of fire, extinguis.h.i.+ng the flames inch by inch. The Thorn Domain’s territory continuously expanded once again. Although it appeared to be extremely difficult, such Magical Domains founded upon low-level Laws had an advantage: relatively low consumption of mana and mental strength.
Rosen had also shown his Element Domain’s advantage by now. The domain that had incorporated the elemental Laws of all four elements wouldn’t be truly suppressed by any other Laws when the difference in ability wasn’t too big.
Facing waves of scorching lava, Rosen waved his magic staff solemnly. With no need for recitation, countless Thousand Miles of Ice spells turned the entire domain into an icy world. Under the boost of the Element Domain, the Thousand Miles of Ice, which wasn’t a very powerful magic, exhibited the strength no weaker than Legendary magic. Under the boosted Thousand Miles of Ice spells, the scorching lava gradually cooled down and solidified into black rocks covered in a layer of frost.
This was also possible because the other mages had helped to disperse the intensity of the Fire Demon’s attack. Otherwise, Rosen’s Element Domain wouldn’t be able to compete with the Fire Demon’s Volcano Domain with his diverse but shallow understanding of nomological power. Even now, Rosen seemed to be struggling. When the lava had cooled down into rocks, new lava swarmed out, and was once again cooled. It was like a game of tug-of-war—both sides were fighting over territory little by little.
While Rosen fought against the Volcano Domain’s attacks, he looked over at his compet.i.tor Andoine with a prideful smirk on his face. As Andoine’s compet.i.tor, Rosen was very clear what Andoine’s Magical Domain was like. He had always despised Andoine’s decision. As a mage who had forsaken the true meaning of magic, what right did Andoine have to compete with him for the position of arbitrator? Rosen firmly believed that his choice was the right path to reach Sanctuary-realm.
However, Rosen was rather alarmed by Lin Li’s Light and Darkness Domain. As the two fundamental Laws of the origin of the world, Light and Darkness Laws were thousands of times harder to grasp than elemental Laws. More importantly, these two conflicting Laws were put together and constructed into a stable Magical Domain. This had exceeded the typical application of nomological power, and the immense mental strength required to support such a domain could probably only be possible for a Sanctuary master.
Although Rosen didn’t want to acknowledge it, he was envious of Andoine for being able to find such a student deep down in his heart. Precisely because of this, Rosen couldn’t withstand Lin Li’s presence all the more. Although this was a compet.i.tion between Andoine and him, a genius Legendary-mage like Lin Li would undoubtedly provide great support for Andoine.
When the Fire Demon’s Volcano Domain erupted, Lin Li’s Light and Darkness Domain also felt the immense pressure from this terrifying attack. The black-and-white world was instantaneously invaded by a patch of red. The sea of golden lava on the ground contrasted sharply with the black-and-white world.
At that moment, Lin Li didn’t have the strength to observe the others anymore. After all, this Fire Demon was close to Sanctuary-level; even his aura felt similar to that of Sanctuary powerhouses. In this kind of direct collision between Magical Domains, the slightest mistake could result in death.
Suddenly, numerous figures rose from the swarming lava. As if an invisible hand had been playing around with the lava, monsters that were made of lava emerged, with lava continuously dripping from their bodies. They didn’t have faces, and only had a simple body and four strong limbs. Every one of these lava monsters possessed close to Legendary-level abilities. Without any team formation, the monsters walked towards Lin Li, beginning their attack on his Light and Darkness Domain.