Chapter 209: Preparations for Exchange and Mage Roman

Once he shook off that bad thought, Shaoke got down to work. The silver stand was packed with candles, but the mage had turned off the crystal lamp. After all, when running, the crystal lamp gave off slight energy fluctuations, which often made mages busy copying think an enemy was casting a spell and stop working. So crystal lamps and other ordinary magic items, mages stopped using.

For this copying, Shaoke chose modern magic script, since this script used less mana and mental energy to write, so it sped things up a bit. Also, Shaoke didn't pour too much mana or mental energy into the text while copying, and he didn't set any trap spells on it, so the copying went pretty smoothly. Of course, that didn't count the time spent figuring out the magic books.

A long time later, soldiers delivering meals interrupted Shaoke's work. Arriving with dinner was a tired-looking Mage Roman. After the soldiers left, Roman threw her arms around Shaoke and kissed his cheek over and over, happy her loved one was back safe. Naturally, after a quick moment of intimacy, Mage Roman, at Shaoke's invitation, ate the so-so dinner together. Still, they didn't complain about the bland food.

After a little wine, Mage Roman started asking about what Shaoke ran into during the mission. She'd already heard that a team out on a mission had run into a fight among top-tier pros and took heavy losses.

Leaving the leftovers lying around, Shaoke picked Roman up and started telling her about the fight they'd faced during the mission. The female mage didn't break free from this behavior, which didn't seem very mage-like, but lay there softly in his arms, listening to his story.

When Shaoke was done telling his story, Roman finally let go of his arm, which she'd been gripping tight. "Those top-tier pros are really something. I hope the military hits back for this and finally sends some top-tier experts into the Esuoer Empire for a fight too." After saying that, as if in a huff, she shook her little fist hard.

"The civilian casualties in the city this time were bad, and a lot of merchant caravans got hurt in the fight, with tons of supplies wrecked." Female Mage Roman said softly, telling him what had happened here, then added in a low voice, "I heard that to take out an enemy Nine-rank Mage, our two Eighth Tier Mages both got badly hurt. They were the same mages who helped me change class last time."

At that, the female mage frowned. Having been in the Blizzard Legion a long time, she knew how important an Eighth Tier Mage was to a legion. This time, both Eighth Tier Mages were badly wounded, which would make things tough for the 33rd Corps. Plus, one of the Eighth Tier Mages had been temporarily brought in from another legion by the Legion Commander at a huge cost, and no one thought he'd get hurt so fast. The legion would have to pay a price for this again.

Gently rubbing Mage Roman's forehead, Shaoke smoothed her frown.

"Don't keep frowning like that; you'll get wrinkles." As soon as Shaoke said that, Female Mage Roman pinched his thigh hard, then sulkily stood up and sat on a soft stool by the fire pit, staring blankly at the flames.

"Is your work really heavy now?" Shaoke hesitated a moment, then sat on the ground beside the female mage, adding firewood and charcoal to the fire pit to warm things up. "You should rest more; you look kind of tired."

Female Mage Roman didn't answer. She just looked Shaoke over again, and seeing his cheeks were a bit fuller, nodded in satisfaction. Then she pulled off her tall leather boots, showing her small feet in white socks, and casually put them by the fire pit before replying, "Some magic items need fixing and upkeep. Lucky they haven't asked us to make a ton of magic items yet; otherwise, I don't know if I'd have time to sit here chatting with you!"

After a bit more talk, they went quiet. Finally, when Mage Roman said she wanted to leave, Shaoke said no. Faced with Shaoke's stubborn insistence, the female mage had no choice but to agree to stay. But she needed to go back and tell the other mages and work a while before coming. Only then did Shaoke let her go.

The room was left with just Shaoke again. After calming down a bit, he got back to work, starting to figure out the magic books again and copy them onto high-quality elemental paper.

The copying went on late into the night, when snow started falling from the sky again. The soldiers were still busy building shelters. As for the regular folks, under some officers' orders, they did less tiring jobs, like cutting trees, gathering dirt, or making food. Whether any regular folks left this world from the cold that night wasn't something the mages cared about. But the next day, soldiers on guard duty said the teams hauling bodies had worked all night, and word was the new cemetery didn't have room for more people, so they had to open another burial ground.

Not long after Shaoke changed the candles, Female Mage Roman showed up at his place, carrying a small golden staff.

"Are you copying these books?" the female mage asked, puzzled, pointing at the books and paper on the writing desk. "Don't you know you're wasting your time?" She really didn't get why, since he had the books, he'd bother copying them.

After thinking a bit, Shaoke told Female Mage Roman his reasons. When she heard he'd tasted the fruit that could keep the body from being worn down by mana and mental energy, the female mage said enviously, "I've heard that fruit is really rare. In the capital, I've heard nobles look for it to show off, and they gave it a nice name, but I can't remember it. It was said in that old noble language." She sighed softly, clearly jealous of the nobles' luck, since they had enough money and connections to get precious drugs mages wanted. How could she not be jealous?

"I brought back a fruit for you." Shaoke took out one of the fruits the Sixth Rank female mage had given them for free before they left. It was a fist-sized, light blue fruit with tiny shiny spots on its skin, looking really nice. This was one of the high-tier drugs that could keep a mage's body from being hurt by mana or mental energy.

"Can I eat it now?" Mage Roman's eyes lit up. Having heard about the fruit's effects from others, she happily took it and looked at Shaoke uncertainly.

Since she'd never taken it before, she didn't know what it did, so she needed Shaoke to explain.

"Yeah, but there are some side effects." Remembering his first time eating these fruits, Shaoke felt a chill go through him, so he didn't hold back and told Female Mage Roman everything he knew, hoping she'd think it over. After thinking a while, the female mage decided to take it here, but she also wanted to taste the other fruits.

Shaoke hesitated a long time before finally taking out the other fruits. Although he'd had a different reaction from others because of the silver light when taking them, he had no reason to think the female mage's meditation space also had that special stuff that could trigger all the effects. "Take this fruit last." Shaoke pointed at the light blue fruit, reminding the female mage.

But the female mage shook her head with a smile, ate the light blue fruit right away, and carefully wrapped the other fruits in a blue velvet cloth, putting them in her pouch. "I'll study these fruits when I get back; maybe I'll find something!" As soon as she said that, she felt the side effects Shaoke had mentioned—a slight itch spreading from her bones all over her body. "How do I fix this side effect?" the female mage regretted not asking for a solution at the start.

Hearing her question, Shaoke laughed, which he didn't do often. He picked up the female mage and put her on the bed. "Massage. I haven't learned that special massage technique, but I think it's not much different from some military massage methods. I'm sure it can help you." To make his point stronger, he added, "Even if it doesn't fix it completely, it won't hurt your body, and it might even make the fruit work better."

After taking off the female mage's golden mage robe, Shaoke started massaging her. Too bad it didn't work well, and the ant-like itch eventually made the female mage let out low cries. She started squirming a bit on the bed. Big drops of sweat rolled down her smooth skin onto the white sheets, and Shaoke's massage got faster. He now regretted letting the female mage take that fruit.

After about the time it takes to drink a glass of wine, the female mage was still squirming a bit, but her low cries had turned into a series of tempting moans. Finally, when Shaoke massaged her private area, a strong tremor ran through the female mage's body, and then Mage Roman stopped squirming, lying still, breathing hard. Watching her body rise and fall, Shaoke felt the side effects were totally gone, so he relaxed and moved on to other things.

"Mage Xueye, you didn't tell me this fruit had such side effects." As Shaoke truly entered her, the female mage, after a soft moan, couldn't help complaining. Of course, that complaint faded fast, because what came next left her no energy to keep talking about other stuff.