He had been very envious watching Li De improve Mage Hand before and had wanted to try researching it himself.
He wasn’t greedy, he also started his research with Mage Hand. But even that spell, with only 30 magic nodes, nearly cost him his life.
At first, Harrison’s minor adjustments were fine, and the mana backlash was still manageable. But once he modified over a dozen nodes, the magic model collapsed just once, and his Mental Sea nearly exploded.
If it hadn’t been night at the time and if he hadn’t been carrying Mana-Infused Blood, even as a vampire, he very likely would have ended up a vegetable.
Spell backlash to the Mental Sea often touches the soul, and that kind of damage is irreversible. This is why mages are so deeply wary of modifying spells, it’s simply too dangerous.
Since that incident, Harrison never dared touch spell modifications again. He knew this wasn’t a power he could peer into. Just because Li De could do it didn’t mean he could.
“Patriarch, what spell did you modify this time?” Harrison couldn’t help asking, his eyes full of curiosity and anticipation.
Whether it was Mage Hand or Small Fireball, after Li De’s modifications, their effects had improved dramatically.
Those two spells had now become required learning for spellcasters in Dawn City, even ordinary life-class mages had to learn them.
They were incredibly helpful for spellcasters between Level 1 and Level 5.
“You’ll see in a moment.” Li De laughed heartily, not elaborating further.
He was really looking forward to Emi’s and Harrison’s shocked reactions. After all, these were results born from countless failed attempts. Not showing off a little would be an injustice to the hardworking night-shift staff of Crimson Moon.
Just as the two of them came downstairs, they were greeted by an imposing, towering figure walking in.
Grote, who had been in Green City all this time, had returned. This Son of the North had grown even more robust, and compared to the slender, graceful bodies typical of vampires, he was a total outlier.
“Good evening, Lord Progenitor.”
Li De smiled without asking why Grote had suddenly returned. “You’re just in time, come with me.”
Huh?
Grote was puzzled by Li De’s enthusiastic look, but after glancing at Harrison behind him, he obediently followed.
Li De didn’t stand on ceremony. He simply beckoned for the two of them to follow and then transformed into a bat and took flight.
Though Grote was a pure warrior through and through, vampire racial talents didn’t require magical study.
Moments later, a swarm of bats soared over the city toward Moonlight Plains.
The residents below weren’t surprised. Some didn’t even spare them a second glance.
In a vampire-ruled city, if there was one thing in abundance, it was bats. They had long grown tired of the sight.
Every time Li De transformed into a bat, he felt a strange sense of wonder. At that moment, he was all one hundred of those bats, sharing their vision, their perception, and he could control each one as he pleased.
These bats were like his limbs, ready to follow his command. The sensation was indescribable.
Bat Transformation was an incredibly powerful escape skill for vampires. When faced with a powerful enemy, suddenly turning into hundreds of bats and scattering in all directions allowed them to burst into speeds approaching 300 km/h, equivalent to a top-class sports car.
As long as the enemy didn’t unleash some overwhelmingly destructive area-of-effect spell, at least three to five bats would escape.
And if even one bat made it out, the vampire could be reborn.
A century ago, during the war with Green City, Transcendent Mage Locke had killed over a thousand vampires with a single spell. The Vampire Progenitor of that time only survived thanks to this talent.
However, since only two or three bats managed to escape, he lost the vast majority of his power. Those few bats were even corrupted by Transcendent magic, causing his strength to decline severely and his level to regress.
That was the beginning of the vampires’ long, miserable decline, a history that lasted decades, until Li De inherited the Vampire Progenitor’s legacy and finally brought it to an end.
The fact that Li De had restored the vampires to such a powerful state was, in a way, his tribute to that tragic boss of the past.
---
A few minutes later, they arrived at the Dawn Mage Tower.
Eight rainbow-colored auxiliary towers surrounded the central main tower, forming a layout that was both beautiful and tinged with indescribable mystery.
Mage Towers had always been symbols of power and authority. Anyone who walked out of here, even a servant, wasn’t someone you could afford to provoke.
Because this was the domain of the mages.
Although the status of spellcasters had dropped significantly in Dawn City, becoming more approachable and grounded, only the saintlight vampires were true nobility in this city.
Even so, the deeply rooted influence of tradition still gave the spellcasters who walked out of the Dawn Mage Tower a high level of respect. In the eyes of the residents, the tower’s status was on par with City Hall.
On the seventh floor of the main tower, Emi, who had been arranging magical materials, looked surprised when he saw Li De appear out of nowhere, clearly not expecting a sudden inspection. He immediately stepped forward to salute.
“Good evening, Lord Progenitor.”
“Good evening, Emi. How many vampires are still inside the Mage Tower?”
Li De gave a slight nod and glanced around the room. The seventh floor was the highest level of the Mage Tower, and the interior was clean and tidy.
Gray oak floorboards with natural wood grain covered the floor. The black walls radiated strong mana fluctuations, clearly etched with powerful magic arrays.
Two desks were placed around the room, and several large bookshelves stood nearby, displaying hundreds of magical materials.
Everything exuded the distinct atmosphere of a magical world.
Before Emi could respond, Li De walked over to the wide glass windows, clasped his hands behind his back, and gazed intently from the 27-Blade-high top floor toward the distant Dawn City.
Under the pitch-black night sky, magical lamps and torches had already been lit within the city. Especially in the city center, bright lights shimmered faintly across the night.
The scene now was worlds apart from the pitch-black desolation of the beginning. The signs of prosperity were already showing, true flourishing days weren’t far off.
“Your Majesty, there are currently only 30 bloodline descendants inside. The others have gone out to capture more population.”
As the highest-priority task on the agenda, the population raiding operation had been proceeding in an orderly fashion, completely unaffected by other matters.
Li De nodded, then glanced around the room. Though the Mage Tower was spacious, it still didn’t meet his requirements.
“Let’s go to the small plaza below the Mage Tower. Today, I’ll show you all what magic really means.”