Seventy years have passed, Leo can no longer sense the aura of the Godslaying Staff at the core of the tree; instead, he has established a connection with the entire Tree of Life.
Connected by Bloodline, it felt as if the Tree of Life was an extension of my own body—exactly the same feeling I had when I held the Godslaying Staff!
Seventy years later, the Godslaying Staff and the Tree of Life have perfectly merged together!
The enormous heart, hundreds of meters tall, atop the tree canopy is the very head of the once- Godslaying Staff, the heart of the Goddess of Darkness destroyed by the protective Purple Flame of the Purple Flame Stigmata Wizard.
However, it is no longer a simple flesh and blood heart; it is a combination of plant and flesh, a mutated heart that is more resilient and tenacious.
The energy it absorbs with each jump comes entirely from the energy within the branch of the World Tree buried underground.
This was beyond Leo's expectations; back then, the Tree of Life spent nearly a hundred years but still couldn't absorb much energy from the branches of the World Tree.
But with the blessing of the Godslaying Staff, the speed at which it absorbs energy can only be described as exaggerated. In just seventy years, the once two-thousand-meter-long branch of the World Tree has been reduced to only half its original length.
The remaining half of the energy will no longer require seventy years; it can be fully absorbed in about half the time.
At that point, Leo's new staff will be complete!
"Keep breathing in, keep breathing in, you'll have the energy to play with me when you're full," Leo said softly to the Tree of Life.
The Tree of Life carefully shook its branches, nodding happily in agreement like a child.
After learning about the progress of the Tree of Life, Leo moved into the Ice Palace and enjoyed a solo lunch served by Ice Sprite.
He will rest here briefly before returning to the New Earth.
"Dean,"
Charlotte appeared before the Ice Palace.
" Charlotte, you've worked hard all these years. Let's increase your salary by 10%." Leo took the initiative to welcome Charlotte into the lobby.
For the past seventy years, Leo has mostly stayed on the other side of the New Earth and rarely returns, leaving Charlotte to manage everything here.
The academy is currently operating smoothly without any errors or omissions, all thanks to Charlotte. Leo could never be too grateful.
"Dean, this is all I should do."
Charlotte's face relaxed a little when she heard that Leo was going to give her a 10% raise; every little bit more she could earn was a bonus.
I've come to report some things to you.
"You say it," Leo said.
Charlotte said, "Because of your past achievements, Dean, many Stigmata Wizard want to make special deals with you."
"The Dean has given instructions not to accept any form of mission or transaction. I can turn down most transactions, but there are some transactions involving fifth or sixth-level Stigmata Great Wizard that I really cannot make decisions for you; you will have to decide for yourself."
Leo had already encountered the deal with the Stigmata Wizard that Charlotte mentioned before he even went to the New Earth.
After all, he killed a level four Purple Flame Stigmata Wizard with the strength of Level Three Great Wizard. Regardless of how he killed him or how much exaggeration there was, any intelligence report would state that Leo's strength far exceeded that of a normal Level Three Great Wizard.
When some Stigmata Wizard encounter particularly difficult situations, and are unable to act on their own, they often seek help from stronger Level Three Great Wizard.
Is there anyone stronger than Leo, who can single-handedly kill Level Four Stigmata Wizard?
Of course not.
Leo was practically the perfect candidate tailor-made for them.
Leo fled to the New Earth and never returned in order to avoid the frequent transactions by these Stigmata Wizard.
Before leaving, he told Charlotte that he would not accept any deals or missions.
After killing the Purple Flame Stigmata Wizard, he was left with less than 50% of his strength, so he dared not make a deal with those Stigmata Wizard.
None of the things they did to find Leo were easy. Not to mention Leo, whose strength had greatly diminished, even Leo at his peak might not have dared to accept it.
With the Special-Class Wizard Medal, no Stigmata Wizard could force him to comply if he refused.
However strong Leo's words were, he couldn't shake the fact that he was only a Level Three Great Wizard.
When dealing with transactions involving high-level Stigmata Wizard, one must exercise caution, since he cannot remain Level Three Great Wizard forever; he too will eventually become Stigmata Wizard.
Knowing one's place, maintaining a proper attitude, and not offending anyone are Leo's principles.
"Let me see it," Leo said.
Charlotte immediately handed over a pre-recorded document containing the names of all the Stigmata Wizard who had contacted the academy and the details of their proposed transactions.
Most of these deals involved the desire for Leo to participate in their expeditions. With Leo present, it would be equivalent to having half a World Lord, which would minimize casualties among the other expeditionary forces.
Paying the price of Level Three Great Wizard and hiring someone with the strength of half World Lord —by all accounts, these Stigmata Wizard have made a huge profit.
However, Charlotte politely declined all these tasks, saying that Leo was busy with his experiments and had no plans to participate in the expedition for several hundred years. She added that if the Great Wizard Leo wanted to participate in the expedition, he would definitely ask them first.
With Leo's current strength, he is no longer required to participate in the mandatory century-long expedition; he can participate whenever he wants.
Leo could even negotiate with the Stigmata Wizard, and would only participate in the expedition after the Stigmata Wizard offered a satisfactory price.
Simply put, Leo can now decide most of her own life and destiny, and is subject to very few constraints.
There's no need to look at the expeditionary trade mission; Leo doesn't have any expeditionary plans at the moment.
The remaining tasks are all rather unique.
For example, a Level-Five Stigmata Wizard named Raging Blood Fangs invited Leo to his academy for an exchange program lasting ten years, for a price of five thousand energy crystals. If Li Xi was not satisfied, the offer was negotiable.
This price is extremely high; a normal Level Three Great Wizard Dean's salary is only 200-300 energy crystals per year.
He doubled Leo's offer, and it was still negotiable.
Most of those who wanted to communicate with Leo were from the Body Refinement Wizard side. Leo knew that their purpose in trading was to see the gap between himself and the top-tier Level Three Great Wizard.
As for their opinion, they'd definitely fight.
Leo kept his distance from fighting, and even if he had the thought, he would wait until he had fully recovered.
Besides expeditions and trade exchanges, there were a few other people who wanted Leo to help them with certain matters.
For example, capturing a major fugitive, quelling a global rebellion, or searching for some treasure.
The most interesting thing is this.
" The Falling Stars Stigmata Great Wizard wishes to invite you on an expedition to a medium-sized world. The price is 30,000 energy crystals. There is only one condition for the transaction: protect the Falling Stars Stigmata Great Wizard's sole descendant, a Level One Lesser Wizard, during the expedition."
The mission involves hiring Leo with 30,000 energy crystals to protect the descendants of Level-Six Stigmata Great Wizard.
Even the relatives of Level-Six Stigmata Great Wizard cannot be exempted from the mandatory century-long mission, and Level-Six Stigmata Great Wizard cannot descend into a medium-sized world. For the sake of their descendants, they actually paid such a high price to find Leo.
What's even more interesting is that this deal was initiated ten years ago, and the expedition is expected to take place 30 to 40 years from now.
To reiterate, if Leo still possessed his peak fighting strength, he would definitely have accepted this deal.
Thirty thousand energy crystals!
This is already a sum that would tempt Leo!
Unfortunately, Leo could only politely decline.
He personally wrote a polite reply to Charlotte and gave it to her to pass back. He repeatedly explained that his injuries had not fully healed, and that if he had not been injured, he would definitely have chosen to make the deal. Finally, he expressed his hope that he would have the opportunity to thank the Stigmata Great Wizard Stigmata Great Wizard in person in the future, and thank him for valuing him.
"Is there anything else I need to take care of? If not, I'm going back to New Earth."
Leo dared not stay Heavenly Capital longer than necessary due to his injuries, fearing that he might be ambushed at his home by some wizards.
I've heard that wizards have traveled from afar to challenge Leo at the academy more than once, but Leo keeps his distance from those battle maniacs.
"Some wizards have been wanting to return to the New Earth for a while, so they might as well go back with the Dean this time," Charlotte said with a smile.
"As expected of the butler of Green Cottage, you really know how to do business. Go and inform them that I will open the spatial passage in ten days, and we will return together," Leo said with a smile.
"Yes, Dean, I'll go and inform them right away."
Charlotte wore a smug smile, pleased that she had saved herself another sum of money.
Leo Leo his own resources to open the spatial passage, while the wizards had to pay a certain fee to return.
This time, their return together meant that they paid Leo's fee for two things, and all the fees paid by the junior wizards became pure profit, indirectly generating revenue for the academy.
Ten days later, Leo and three thousand Wizard Apprentice returned to the New Earth.
Leo quickly sensed the entire academy the moment the spatial passage appeared, and only after finding no changes did he relax.
During the year he was away, he was very worried that Yaoyao would blow up the academy.
As soon as Leo sat down in his room, Yaoyao appeared on Leo shoulder. "So, did you figure it out?"
"I've figured it out. That's the Land of Rules for the New Earth, the place where one can ascend to become the World Lord. The golden pool is the planet's primordial energy."
Leo told Yaoyao about the information he obtained from the Knowledge Trading Platform, which caused Yaoyao in surprise.
"So, as long as you go back in and absorb more of the planet's energy, you can fully recover from your injuries," Yaoyao Yao said.
"Not only that, planetary energy is the purest primordial power, which is extremely beneficial for enhancing Bloodline power."
"My original size in my Vengeance Giant form was only sixty meters. If I absorb more, I might be able to push the Vengeance Giant form to its limit."
Leo narrowed his eyes slightly. Level three limit! This was something he hadn't even dared to imagine before, and now it was right in front of him.
I wonder what heights the third-level limit can reach!!