Strongest Mage with the Lust system

Chapter 846: Revelation of Looming Danger

As the group entered the palace, they saw Gene, Noah and Nyra walk out.

Gene’s eyes lit up when she saw them. Quickly hopping over to Esme’s side, she grabbed her hand and swept a dissatisfied glance at everyone,

”You guys finally stopped cultivating, huh? I thought you weren’t going to stop until you reached Supreme Realm. I was so bored—ow, ow, ow! Stop it Granny, it hurts.”

Esme didn’t let go of her ear and continued twisting it, ”You little minx. How many times do I have to tell you to focus on cultivation instead of wasting your time on playing around, huh?”

”I’m sorry, Granny. I’ll be serious from now on.” Gene looked at her with puppy eyes which made Esme sigh and release her ear.

[If you want to accompany us when we march on the Thunder family, you need to get serious about becoming stronger, little Gene.] She transmitted.

Gene’s expression turned solemn when she heard this.

”I’m going to cultivate. Sister Nyra, tell them which is my room so they won’t come disturb me.” Saying this, she released Esme’s hand and rushed inside the palace.

Swoosh!

But just a moment later, she returned, a sheepish look on her face.

”I, uh, cousin. Give me some mana stones to cultivate with.”

While Esme shook her head in exasperation, Max chuckled and flicked a spatial ring toward her. ”Here, cultivate well.”

”Will do.” Gene seriously nodded and rushed back in.

...

The group toured the palace and Max realized something—All rooms had high grade mana gathering and purification formations.

Though because the space inside the tower didn’t have mana, the formations wouldn’t be able to gather it, they could extract mana from the mana stones and purify the impurities within it for them to absorb.

As they wouldn’t have to waste time on purifying the mana themselves, their cultivation speed would be several times faster.

’This is good.’ Max nodded in satisfaction. As long as they had enough mana stones, except for Esme and Garima who needed to increase their law comprehension to increase cultivation bases, everyone’s cultivation progress would be easier and smoother.

’The tower should be able to absorb the mana from outside, no?’ asked Max. If the tower could absorb outside mana, their need for mana stones would diminish quite a bit.

[It should be. However, due to being half destroyed, the tower has lost many of its functions including the mana gathering from outside.] the Tower Spirit answered calmly.

Max was silent for a while before he asked, ’Can... it be restored?’

The Tower Spirit went silent, making him think it was impossible. Just as he thought it was a real pity, Tower Spirit conveyed a message, [Restoring it to its former glory would be very difficult. But if you really want to, you have to reach the Quasi-Ascension realm at the very least. So, focus on becoming stronger for now.]

Max’s eyes lit up when he heard it was possible to restore the tower. Then when he heard the latter part, he raised his brows curiously while his heart thudded as he asked, ’What’s the Quasi-Ascension realm? Is it above the Supreme Mage realm?’

This was a realm he had never heard of before, so it had to be above the Supreme Mage realm. While it was only logical, he was having a hard time to believe.

What did it mean that he needed to be stronger than a Supreme Mage to barely qualify to repair the tower? Moreover, he could tell it was only one of the requirements.

[Yes, but you shouldn’t think about it right now. You have a very long way to go before you can reach that realm however...] The Tower Spirit sounded hesitant and in the end didn’t finish the sentence.

Max suddenly had a feeling that whatever it was about to say was of utmost importance and he had to hear it otherwise he would regret it in the future.

’However what senior?’ he stopped walking and urgently asked.

Esme, Ella and Rima, who he was currently accompanying in exploring the palace to find rooms for them also stopped and seeing his expression, they grew worried.

”What’s wrong, Max?” Rima asked, gently holding his hand.

Max didn’t reply, completely focused on hearing the Tower Spirit’s response.

[Do you really want me to say it?] Tower Spirit asked after a moments’ silence.

’Yes.’ Max affirmed.

[Alright, but let me say this first—Because of my weakened state, I’m not too sure whether what I felt is correct, but you are in a very dangerous situation.]

’What do you mean?’ Max asked.

[You have a supreme treasure in the depths of your soul. Previously, it had been activated, so there had been no problem since it could conceal itself from people’s perception and it’s Karma, but because it is now dormant, it can no longer do so.]

Thud!

Max’s heart fell when he heard this. He knew the Tower Spirit was talking about the Lust System.

Taking a deep breath, he focused and looked at Rima, Esme and Ella. Noticing their concerned looks, he smiled and rubbed Rima’s cheek, ”Everything’s alright. I was just asking the Tower Spirit whether there was any way to repair the tower.”

”Oh?” Rima relaxed, ”So, can it be repaired?”

”Yes, though it’s not quite possible right now.” Said Max with a sigh before smiling, ”But it’s already good news that it can be repaired.”

”That’s right.” Rima nodded and thoughtfully said, ”I feel this tower is a very powerful treasure. If we can repair it, it’ll be very beneficial to us.”

Max nodded and continued exploring the palace. After a while, Rima chose a room for herself and after giving Ella a knowing smile, she entered it.

Ella blushed red.

Max acted as if he hadn’t seen anything and continued accompanying Esme and Ella. Just a short while later, Esme also chose a room. Max gave her all the high grade mana stones he had to cultivate with.

Esme looked at the spatial ring and bit her lips but didn’t reject it.

”I’ll soon recover my ascension pillars. Then I’ll be able to protect you better.” She said, taking a deep breath.

Max smiled, ”Don’t burden yourself too much. Cultivate in peace and leave the rest to me.”

Esme nodded, hugged him tightly, nuzzled her face in his chest before inhaling his masculine scent. She then broke free of his embrace, gave Ella a smile and entered her room.

Ella stood there with her head lowered, blushing. She knew neither Rima nor Esme were teasing her, but she couldn’t help but feel embarrassed and nervous.

”Come, let me select a room for you.” Max grabbed her hand and led her away.

...

An hour later, Ella was fast asleep with her body resting against Max, who was communicating with the Tower Spirit, his expression grave.

At first he had thought Ella wanted to make love with him but when they entered the room, he felt her becoming increasingly anxious. Not knowing what was going on, he, despite not wanting to, used his bloodline to sense her emotions and realized what she needed wasn’t sex but emotional support—his comfort and assurance.

So, he led her to the bed and conversed with her for a while. As they talked, she relaxed and slowly fell asleep in his arms.

’Senior, who is capable of sensing it in my soul? Monarchs? Supreme Mages? Can they sense it without actively scanning me?’ Max asked, slightly hopeful.

[Most Emperors and Monarchs shouldn’t be able to sense it without scanning you, but Supreme Mages, even the Quasi Supremes and those with innately sharper senses, even if they are Monarchs and Emperors can sense it.] The Tower Spirit responded.

Hearing this, Max deflated. While he hadn’t encountered many people with special abilities yet, he wasn’t one to rely on his luck as doing so was useless.

”How troublesome!” he muttered, rubbing his temple.

Should I just stay in the outer region?

The thought crossed his mind but he immediately discarded it. He needed to find the Divine Energy and also help Esme exact her revenge and save her people. So, he had no choice but to go to the core region of the central plains.

Just as he was lost in thoughts, the Tower Spirit’s voice rang in his ears, [Help me recover my core energy with that energy of yours. Once I have enough energy, I can open the Tower’s first floor. At that time, you’ll be able to store me in your spiritual space and I’ll be able to conceal its aura to some extent—at least Emperors wouldn’t be able to sense it even if they actively scan you.]

Max’s eyes brightened when he heard this and quickly asked, ”What about when you open the second or even the third floor? Would you be able to conceal it from the Monarchs and Supreme Mages?”

[You are thinking too much. Although your energy is extraordinary, it’s not omnipotent and can’t help me recover my core energy. I also need Divine Energy. If it was not for the fact that there are still some remnants of Divine Energy left in the Tower, your energy wouldn’t have been able to even help me recover enough to open the first floor.]

”You have Divine Energy?” Max’s heart thudded.

[Give up on that thought. Even if I was willing to sacrifice myself and give you that energy, the amount I have left isn’t even a tiny drop compared to the ocean’s worth of energy it needs to recover.] The Tower Spirit retorted, its voice decidedly frosty.

Seeing it seemed to read his mind, the atmosphere became awkward, so Max changed the topic and asked,

”How much Nascent Energy do you need to open the first floor?”