The Caseli Magic Core

It was exactly what they had feared.

The man hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded. After their brief exchange of blows, he had gained some understanding of the group's strength. They were definitely not opponents he could handle. Thank goodness they had not protected those people as ordinary travelers would have, so he had not fallen out with them so far. Otherwise, if they ended up on opposing sides, they might be powerful, but he had an important duty to fulfill and could not simply run away. Getting himself killed would only make things troublesome. Judging by the group now, they were not hostile, most likely just curious. He did not know where they came from, but that was fine too. They did not know what he was doing here anyway...

At that thought, the man turned his wrist. A red light flashed, and the longsword plunged into the ground in front of Li Lin.

"A magic sword."

Li Lin did not pick up the sword. He studied it carefully for a moment, his gaze slowly moving downward as he examined and searched it bit by bit.

"The first layer? Not bad... to have mastered such a technique..."

Li Lin looked away and nodded to the man.

"All right, thank you."

"You're welcome."

The man's tone remained calm and cold. He extended his right hand and grasped at the air. The sword immediately flew up of its own accord and returned to his hand. He then nodded to the group in farewell and prepared to leave. But after thinking it over carefully, Li Lin called him back.

"Sir, I'd like to ask you something. You seem to have killed those people here because you were looking for something. Can you tell us what it is?"

"I'm sorry, that's confidential. It has nothing to do with you."

The man in black had given a perfectly reasonable answer, but Angela clearly disagreed.

"How can you say it has nothing to do with us? Male, we were resting here perfectly well when you drove those people over here without a word and sliced them into pieces. You've quite ruined my appetite. Do you think we can still rest properly in a place like this?"

Of course, though Angela was being somewhat unreasonable, she did have a point. The four of them had been resting here perfectly well, only to end up with three more dismembered corpses for company in the space of a few moments. Besides, three of the four were girls. Leaving Angela aside, Mina and Fina were not accustomed to such scenes. They were standing nearby now, visibly displeased. They had been priests, after all, and naturally could not understand taking lives so readily.

The man hesitated. Though the other party was not really in the right either, he was clearly no match for them under the circumstances. The man who looked like a scholar was one thing, but this little girl was a dangerous character who might strike at any moment. If they had not been strong, why would he have bothered with such a question? He could simply have turned and left.

Unfortunately, might made right.

"I'm looking for a magical item called a magic core."

Those who understood the situation were always easier to talk to.

"They stole the magic core from my master, so I pursued them specifically to demand it back. But now it seems they clearly hid it somewhere. It wasn't on them."

Hearing that, Li Lin raised an eyebrow slightly.

"The Caseli Magic Core?"

"Yes, that's what it's called."

Hearing the other party name what he was looking for so readily, the man was inwardly startled and naturally grew more wary. But Li Lin paid no attention to his reaction. He looked over at the corpses and shrugged.

"If that's the case, I can tell you that the magic core really is on them."

"But..."

The man frowned. He was a qualified assassin and thief, and he was quite good at finding things. He had searched the corpses inside and out without finding anything amiss. Of course, he had not found the magic core either.

Li Lin, however, clearly had no intention of explaining further.

"The last man you killed. Turn him over and cut open his spine. The third bone."

The man glanced at Li Lin. He did not know what the man before him was talking about, but he did as he was told. His longsword chopped down, then swiftly flicked upward, sending a ghastly white bone flying into the air. The man struck again, splitting the bone open. Then everyone saw a multicolored, jewel-like object floating quietly inside it, giving off a beautiful, gentle light.

"One last friendly warning: don't touch it with your body."

With that, Li Lin turned and sat back down beside the fire.

"Since you gave my little princess such a good time, I'm giving you this as a special gift. You may leave now."

"Thank you for your help."

The man's expression grew much more serious. Though he did not know exactly what had happened, his mission was complete, so he immediately took a piece of cloth and wrapped the little crystal in it. He thanked them, then turned and left.

"Master, what exactly was that?"

After watching the man disappear, Angela wrinkled her little nose curiously and asked.

"The Caseli Magic Core. A very fun thing."

Unexpectedly, Li Lin explained it to her in a very relaxed, humorous tone.

"Very interesting, very dangerous, but actually very boring too."

Although Angela was puzzled, Li Lin had no intention of explaining in detail. He casually waved his hand and murmured an incantation. A mist shot from between his fingers and immediately enveloped the corpses, swiftly dissolving and breaking them down. In less than half a minute, the chunks of flesh had returned to dust and earth, vanishing without a trace.

"Let's rest."

After "kindly offering" to dispose of the corpses and erase the evidence, Li Lin clapped his hands and lay back down on the ground to rest. Angela looked toward where the man had left, then down at Li Lin, who had already closed his eyes. She hesitated for a moment, then obediently nestled into Li Lin's arms and went to sleep. The poor sisters, however, had been put through half the night by this man and woman. Just when they were finally about to rest, someone had put on three consecutive displays of slicing living people to pieces in front of them. They were not like Angela and Li Lin, whose mental fortitude was so stable it was abnormal. Although Li Lin had erased the corpses with magic, the poor sisters could not sleep a wink all night and could only endure it.

Early the next morning, after Li Lin had breakfast, the group continued on their way. They were not in much of a hurry—or rather, Li Lin was not in much of a hurry. He had only returned to this world a few days ago, and it would take time to readjust and gradually fit back in. As for finding those weapons and helping the gods, Li Lin himself was in no rush. Gods could not be measured by common sense to begin with. As long as a matter was not too urgent, they would not ask about it even if it took years or decades. Besides, Li Lin was not a believer in the gods. They had merely asked him for help and could not really do anything to him. So however long Li Lin chose to dawdle, the gods would just have to wait.

The group had not prepared a carriage for this trip, instead traveling on foot. Unlike his body on the Morning Wind Continent, Li Lin's current body had been trained from an early age, so walking was not much of a challenge. The other three went without saying. If vampires were afraid of walking, people would laugh their teeth out hearing about it. Of course, the blazing sunlight beating down on them made Mina and Fina extremely uncomfortable, but all they could do was endure it.

"Endure it long enough and you'll get used to it."

That was what Angela said, though a little thought made it clear that it made no sense. If vampires could really endure sunlight simply by putting up with it long enough, they would probably have been running all over the streets by now. Had the sisters not been bitten and granted rebirth by a Vampire Species of Angela's rank, giving them resistance to sunlight from the very beginning, they would probably have already become two human-shaped lumps of charcoal, or gone up in ashes just like in the movies.

As they walked, however, the three girls were very happy apart from the scorching sunlight. Li Lin was giving them a detailed account of the Magic Empire's history and its glorious past. Angela had only just arrived in this world and was very curious about everything in it. Mina and her sister were natives, but they had lived in the Temple since childhood and received nothing but a brainwashing education. How could they know so much about events from thousands of years ago? Li Lin also wove in heroic legends from the period from time to time, and all three girls listened in rapt attention. Time passed unnoticed. As entertainment went, storytelling was naturally one of the easiest ways to pass the time, as long as both the teller and the listeners were engrossed.

"At that time, one of the Arcane Mages discovered the Caseli Magic Core..."

"Master, what exactly is the Caseli Magic Core?"

When Li Lin mentioned the Caseli Magic Core again, Angela could not help interrupting to ask. The sisters were also full of curiosity. After all, Li Lin had just mentioned in his story that the Arcane Mage had used it to control a dragon. Dragons appeared in legends on Earth too, and were a symbol of power, so all three asked out of curiosity.

"Just as I said."

Li Lin watched the plants swaying in the wind on either side of the road and answered casually.

"It's a perfect mind-control spell. It was originally created to deal with dragons-otherwise, why make it multicolored and sparkling?"

In this world, those who liked shiny things were either women or dragons.

"It's quite simple, really. Once a dragon gets hold of this stone, it'll naturally grasp it in its hand. At that point, the magic core will merge into its body. The dragon won't react at all. At most, it'll wonder where the stone went."

At this point, the corners of Li Lin's mouth rose slightly in a cold smile.

"Then the magic core will merge with the dragon's spine, become its source of life, and slowly take over the function of its heart."

"But what happens to its original heart?"

"Naturally, it becomes useless. And by then, the dragon's life is essentially in the caster's hands."

That was why Li Lin had described the magic core as interesting, dangerous, and boring.

It was naturally interesting that even a creature as highly resistant to magic as a dragon could not escape its effects.

But the Caseli Magic Core did not target dragons specifically. It targeted every creature that held it without distinction—and that made it dangerous.

Lastly, the magic core could control only one creature. Moreover, once someone learned its secret, they could attack from behind and destroy it, and naturally that would be the end of everything. That was why Li Lin had called it boring.

However...

"Master, you didn't make this magic core, did you?"

"Hm? How could I have? You can tell from the name that it was made by an Arcane Mage named Caseli. Why else would it have that name?"

"Why do I feel it's very much like your style?"

"I only made a few suggestions."

Li Lin spread his hands innocently.

"I definitely wasn't personally involved in making it."