Light of Heaven

Downs was a quick study, and Lein no longer viewed him with prejudice.

At first, Lein always felt he could only teach the kid magic at noon, thinking he'd be finished sooner or later.

Now, it seemed, Lein, a mortal, simply couldn't comprehend the pace of a genius's growth.

For a disciple of this caliber, Lein could only say: give me more.

As a Master, one's mindset could indeed change.

From afar, he left a parting instruction, "Don't try any other magic today, and don't overexert yourself." Then, Lein floated away gracefully.

He needed to leave quickly, as maintaining the facade of a Master was sometimes a strenuous task.

Only after confirming with the Fire Bat that he was out of Downs's sensory range did Lein burst into laughter.

"Hahaha! I've hit the jackpot!"

On his retina, system notifications flashed by at high speed.

This time, the [Never Tire of Teaching] system had spawned several subsystems.

First was [Talent Induction]: within Lein's sensory range, any young disciple with magical potential would be highlighted with an outline on Lein's retina.

Lein's frustration immediately surfaced: he still couldn't leave the valley...

The second was [School Address]: for some unknown reason, the system had designated this desolate, godforsaken valley as the main campus for the [Never Tire of Teaching] system. Teaching disciples here granted a 2x teaching speed. The elemental Induction ability of both master and disciple increased by 100%.

The third was what made Lein feel a bit strange: [Security Department].

Subordinate to the Security Department:

[Surveillance System]: the legendary Fire Bat King, and 24 Fire Bats.

[Dragon Head Gate]: a White Dragon head hung above, capable of deterring all enemies of or below high-tier.

[Active Defense Turret]: Tesla Tower, with a full-power range of 1.5 kilometers radius. Beyond this range, its final lethality depended on the Master.

The last was the [Elemental Pool] that gathered magic power.

The Elemental Pool belonged to the school, and as long as Lein didn't leave the school grounds, he could freely draw magic power from it.

This effectively fixed the bug where he, a so-called 'Legendary Archmage' Master, couldn't freely use magic.

What made Lein's teeth ache was that this [Elemental Pool] currently acted more like a battery. He couldn't even charge it with magic power effectively.

When Lein opened the Elemental Pool in the system, he was dumbfounded. The only two charging methods available now were:

One, to charge the Elemental Pool using the [Tesla Tower] during stormy weather.

Two, provided by the disciple...

Well, the miserable Downs, was charging the Elemental Pool, which had a total capacity of one million magic points, at a rate of 5 magic points per hour.

The problem was, a simple Level 2 magic spell required at least 500 magic points. What was even more infuriating was that when bound to the Elemental Pool, the daily usage limit for various spells was restricted, and they had to be spells that the Master or the disciple could cast...

If the system hadn't recognized the move Lein used to kill the White Dragon as a Level 7 Evocation Magic [High-Level Lightning Strike], this makeshift school wouldn't even have a powerful defensive spell.

Seeing this, Lein withdrew his gaze.

"Relying on the weather is unreliable. I need to do something to speed up the Elemental Pool's charging."

No sooner said than done.

Since he didn't have to teach his disciple today, Lein threw himself into the blacksmith's workshop and began making glass the old-fashioned way.

He had to admit, this abandoned blacksmith's workshop wasn't as bad as Lein had initially imagined.

First, the furnace temperature was extremely un-Science. It looked like a typical primitive furnace, yet it could easily reach 1500 degrees Celsius.

Second, the glass produced had fewer impurities than expected.

Lastly, the ventilation system of the workshop seemed to contain some kind of power that Lein couldn't detect.

Alas! At the end of Science, perhaps lies magic and metaphysics.

Lein stopped thinking about it.

After more than ten consecutive attempts, Lein finally managed to produce a passable convex lens.

Watching the large glass lump, about 60cm in diameter, gradually cool down, Lein couldn't be happier.

He didn't know how effective this convex lens would be. If the explanation for the [Elemental Pool] hadn't lied to him, as long as he injected a sufficiently concentrated [Light Element] into the ground at the center of the valley, it could also be converted into magic power and stored by the Elemental Pool.

The next day, when Downs, happily trotting along, came to find Lein to continue his lessons, he discovered his Master had gone up the mountain.

"Come, lend a hand!"

The master and disciple tinkered and hammered, and after half an hour, they finally managed to mount the basin-sized convex lens onto a 'Y'-shaped metal stand.

"Master, is this the convex lens you were talking about?"

"Mm." Lein wiped the sweat from his brow and smiled, " Downs, although in your eyes, everything I do is magic. But, is there a possibility that what I'm doing isn't magic at all, but the purest [Science]?"

Downs's expression was a bit strange.

Seeing his absent-minded look, Lein knew the kid was overthinking again. Downs was 17, the age of vivid imagination. Lein couldn't really fault him.

"As a person! You need to be down-to-earth, don't always think about reaching the heavens in a single leap. Where are there so many terrifying spells that can instantly kill a large group of enemies? First, consolidate the magic you already know..." Lein was lecturing when he suddenly heard the Fire Bat King's shriek.

Through the soul connection, Lein knew with absolute certainty: this was an alarm!

"What!?"

"Master! Look over there!" Downs's voice trembled, a rare occurrence.

His prized apprentice wasn't some greenhorn who'd never seen bloodshed. His performance in the battle at Ramanque City had been commendable.

A Mage who had seen battle was far superior to a purely academic type who only knew how to research magic.

Following the direction Downs pointed, and using his [Eagle Eye Technique], Lein finally saw the unwelcome guests who were charging at them.

A large group... of devils!

In the Chaos World, devils and demons were two different entities.

The former belonged to the lawful evil alignment, the latter to chaotic evil. Simply put, neither was good, but devils were more rule-abiding, more organized and disciplined in combat. Demons, on the other hand, were more numerous but preferred to fight wildly.

Lein's mouth suddenly felt bitter.

At this moment, he finally understood the saying: sometimes, a person's fame is like a pig's fattening.

Perhaps he had successfully intimidated the human nations.

The problem was, while the good alignment was willing to play by the rules with him, what about races that didn't?

Being a [Neutral] power wasn't easy.

If Lein had been a vassal of some human nation, he could have found someone to take the fall at a time like this. After all, if the sky fell, the taller ones would bear the brunt of it.

Now, he was that taller one.

Along the narrow mountain path, a devil contingent of over a hundred strong was advancing in an orderly fashion.

A male devil with typical goat horns and reddish-brown skin, leading the charge, arrived at the waterfall's edge. He glanced contemptuously at the lifeless White Dragon and chuckled.

He wore a magnificent red velvet robe, with gold trim on the collar and cuffs. Precious rubies served as his buttons.

With every step he took, a blazing footprint of fire appeared, as if he were treading a path in the fiery inferno rather than a cold mountain trail.

Behind him, two neat columns of devils were arrayed.

The front rank consisted of devils with green skin, stout and short builds. Based on the devil catalog Ganis had provided last time, Lein recognized these aggressive-looking creatures as Anzu Demons. In the Adventurer's Guild ratings, each one required a high-level adventurer party of average level 7 to contend with.

At a glance, there were at least twenty of them.

The rear rank was a large swarm of Tiger Bee Demons, which resembled wasps. These creatures weren't particularly strong, perhaps on par with Fire Bats, but their stingers were troublesome.

The system scan revealed a total of 218 devils of both types.

Without exaggeration, an army of devils like this could annihilate an entire earldom.

The half-devil man at the forefront of the procession, a hybrid of human and devil, cleared his throat and let out a harsh, croaking voice.

"Human mage! I am Falco Mephistopheles, son of the great devil Annak Mephistopheles! I care not who you are, nor what your strength may be! I command you now to surrender immediately, or your soul and your disciple's souls will be eternally roasted in the flames of hell."

The response to this bombastic declaration was a seven-colored beam of light descending from the clouds.

The beam appeared without warning in the clear sky, struck the mountaintop, and then, with a strange refraction, enveloped the creature calling himself Mephistopheles.

The half-devil, who had just made his arrogant ultimatum, froze.

The devils behind him also looked up at the seven-colored beam descending from the heavens. They didn't recognize the master and disciple on the mountaintop, but they recognized a similar technique.

An extremely unsettling feeling washed over the entire devil contingent. The sensation was all too familiar. A century ago, before the Holy Mountain of Light, a similar terrifying strike had shattered their physical bodies, forcing their despairing souls to return to hell and painfully start anew as lesser devils.

Who would have thought they would witness such a strike again in this remote corner of the world!

"[Light of Heaven]!?"

The devils let out a series of heart-wrenching screams, wishing they could shrink their burly bodies to the size of a fist or find a crack in the ground to burrow into.

Too late!

The seven-colored rainbow light swept across the narrow mountain path, barely wide enough for a single carriage, incinerating hundreds of devils.

As the dust settled, there was no sign of the devil army.

All that remained was the mountain path, smeared with devil flesh and blood, emanating an evil aura.

On the mountaintop, the two disciples exchanged glances.

"Downs, believe it or not, this was just a large convex lens used to focus sunlight."

"Master, I understand. This is also [Science]!" The good disciple said this, but his eyes clearly conveyed, 'I don't believe a word you're saying.'