Chapter Ninety-Nine: What You're Doing Is Wrong

"So this is it..."

Lin Lei took out a diamond-shaped shard.

In the great hall, Hera and Eve stared at the shard with glittering eyes.

The chief astrologer suddenly furrowed his brow. "It looks like it's broken."

"It is broken," Lin Lei nodded. "Those humans once used this shard to build the Sky City. Its energy has been exhausted for over a hundred years, which is why the humans returned it to us."

"What do we do if it's broken?" Eve frowned.

"It can be repaired," Lin Lei said, pointing at the royal mages. "They have the know-how to fix it, but reactivating it will require a great many mana gems."

He turned his gaze to Angie, seated on the throne. "These mana gems must be provided by the Night Elves."

Angie looked at Lin Lei with a teasing smile. "I've heard that someone recently claimed a hundred exquisite mana gems for himself, and now the nobles dare not go anywhere near him."

"What!" The royal mages turned to look at Lin Lei. They didn't need to ask—they all knew it was him.

"Young prince, since you have so many gems, just hand them over!"

Lin Lei was secretly indignant. What, now he had to pay out of his own pocket?

"Young prince, you created the system. You have the highest authority."

The royal mages stared at him. "If you won't give us the gems, then you'll have to repair your own creation."

Lin Lei conceded at once—he had no idea how to repair it. Once the shard's system was complete, it could indeed be called his work, and he couldn't very well stand by without doing his part.

"Fine, but you lot had better work quickly."

With a pang of heartache, Lin Lei handed over the mana gems.

Over the following days, the royal mages began repairing the shard.

They also erected a mage tower within the Night Elf royal palace to house the shard.

The mage tower contained a guardian hall as well. The whole spire was a replica of the structure of Twin Moon City; the tower itself could absorb information and energy from the outside world, and could also broadcast such things outward.

"So a mage tower works just like a television tower."

Lin Lei watched the tower slowly take shape, learning for the first time that the thing could serve such purposes.

In the future, the Night Elves' other cities would all need to build similar mage towers. Every tower would be able to relay information to the others, and once they were linked to the tower in Twin Moon City, communication between the two nations would flow freely.

The shard, however, was repaired even faster than the tower. Once it was fixed, the royal mages immediately used the mana gems to activate the system.

They spent a day and a night on it, and at last the shard came to life.

"Ah, this feels wonderful..."

It floated up, radiating light, and its voice was exactly the same as the Guardian's. "I'm alive again. Thank you, Lin Lei."

Lin Lei stared at it. "You recognize me?"

"Of course. The original body has already told me everything—we are the same being," it said. "You may call me Teacher as well. But when you modify my system, please be careful. I'm afraid of pain."

Lin Lei rolled up his sleeves. Since it already knew what was coming, he didn't need to waste his breath.

The royal mages had already set up a simple operating console for him. Lin Lei lost no time in writing code.

Rings of light wrapped around the shard, gradually altering its system as it howled in torment.

"It hurts—ouch, ouch, ouch... that's wrong, that's not how you do it at all..."

"What are you trying to turn my body into!"

The shard wailed for three days and three nights, while Lin Lei's face glowed with excitement.

The royal mages watched him with pounding hearts. Do you have to be this thrilled?

Because he had prepared in advance, Lin Lei modified the system with astonishing speed. On the fifth day, he began adding cultivation rank information to the system.

It was troublesome work. After some thought, he decided to create the ranking system using himself as the reference point.

"Song of the Azure Sky, come out..."

Lin Lei stretched out his hand and waited, but Song of the Azure Sky did not appear.

"Come out, come on... I need to use you!"

He hopped around, trying to shake the dagger loose, but no matter how he shook, the blade refused to answer.

"Young prince, what do you need Song of the Azure Sky for?"

The mages looked at him curiously.

"Song of the Azure Sky can sense energy."

Lin Lei stood on his head to see if he could shake the dagger out. "If we can channel that power into the system, we'll be able to establish clear cultivation strength levels."

The royal mages' spirits lifted.

"Young prince, let us help you!"

They closed in around him.

"What the hell are you doing? Get away from me... I'll do it myself..."

Lin Lei dashed off. He had always felt those old geezers looked at him strangely, and he was determined not to let them anywhere near him.

After considerable effort, Lin Lei finally managed to bring out Song of the Azure Sky.

He pulled it from beside his foot.

"There you are!" He slapped his calf and the blade slid out. "What were you doing hiding by my leg!"

Song of the Azure Sky gave a faint quiver.

"Alright, I won't take much—just a tiny bit."

He said this to the blade, then looked up at the shard floating in the air. "I'm going to stab you with Song of the Azure Sky."

"Stab me? With Song of the Azure Sky?!" The shard let out a terrified shriek. "You must be joking—don't you dare! It'll stab me to death!"

The royal mages were equally alarmed. "Young prince, don't do anything rash!"

"Hmm..." Lin Lei thought it over. This shard had been acquired through sheer luck, and if he damaged it, there might be no finding another.

Still, he stabbed the dagger into the shard anyway—because it was amusing.

"Noooooo!"

The shard screamed in terror, its body cracking and snapping.

But then golden light blazed from Song of the Azure Sky. The cracking stopped at once, and the shard began absorbing the light with eager joy.

"Th-this power... it feels so good..." The shard made a blissful sound. Yet only a few seconds later, the blade's radiance ceased abruptly.

"Why did it stop?" The shard whined in dissatisfaction. "Give me more!"

Song of the Azure Sky vanished from Lin Lei's hand. It seemed somewhat annoyed, for no matter how many times he called, the blade refused to answer.

"It should have worked..." The royal mages grew excited. "Guardian, what power have you gained?"

A thread of gold had joined the light around the shard. "It's not power—it gave me part of its authority. A strange feeling. It is the mother of all energy."

It continued, "I can now sense your mana. That mage on the right is weaker than an ant... ah, my mistake—there's an ant on your shoulder. You'd better flick it off."

"I really am a genius!" Lin Lei planted his hands on his hips and burst out laughing. "If the system can detect power, then once we share this force, we won't just build a ranking system—we can see through our enemies' strength as well."

The royal mages were shaken to the core.

That was an extraordinary idea. But could it truly succeed?

"Young prince, finish the system quickly!"

The royal mages urged him on.

"Alright!"

Lin Lei rolled up his sleeves.

Three more days passed, and the system was complete. The royal mages eagerly had the shard rate their cultivation strength.

"You have reached cultivation rank 2."

"You are still rank 1. You must put in more effort..."

The shard assessed them one by one. The royal mages were stunned—these ranks were completely different from what they had imagined.

"Young prince, this isn't right!"

"What about the Body Refinement stage? The Foundation Establishment stage? The Nascent Soul stage!"

The royal mages crowded around Lin Lei. Rank 1, rank 2, whatever—what kind of absurd division of realms was this?

Lin Lei blinked. "What? You wanted those sorts of ranks?"

"I'd love to, but that setup is far too complicated—I couldn't build it. Isn't it simpler to go with 1, 2, 3 like this?"

He looked up at the shard. "What rank am I?"

"Rank 20."

The shard answered calmly.