Chapter 210: Permanent Artifacts and the Savage Legion

After the sky was fully bright, the two mages, who had only gone to sleep in the early hours, finally woke up. They muttered a few complaints to Shaoke, then hastily dressed and left, with the female mage now thinking about how to handle the inquiries from the other mages back home.

In the following period, simple houses in the city were rebuilt once more, and a flood of merchants poured back into this somewhat damaged town. A large number of prisoners of war were guarded by soldiers, forced to fire bricks and quarry stone to construct new city walls. Of course, this construction work would take considerable time—at least the Blizzard Legion, during its remaining garrison period, would be unable to complete it. Since the last attack by top-tier professionals, the number of such individuals passing through this ruined city had noticeably increased.

Long-range sniping Divine Archers, Infiltrators skilled in assassination, trackers capable of prolonged pursuit and killing, and a large number of heavily armored warriors passed through here, along with ordinary cavalry rushing to the front lines. All these events made even the mages, who stayed in camp all day, feel the tension in the air. Fortunately, the sleazy officer, who had returned to his former state, reappeared at the mage camp, bringing some relief to the mages who had come out to relax.

Shaoke also resumed his former frenzy from the Death Station, often practicing spells with mages of the same rank in the newly built spell training grounds, and even sparred with those fifth-tier mages. This continued until the Blizzard 33rd Corps left this ruined city.

On the day of departure, the female mage Roman, whom he hadn't seen for nearly three months, brought him the empty stone bead at night. "If it weren't for my lack of ability, I could have completed this permanent magic item in just a month," she said, lying quietly in Shaoke's arms, holding the bead while letting his hand move over her chest, appearing quite content.

"I thought you had failed in making it, so..." Shaoke's hands greedily wandered over her body, silently savoring her softness and smoothness.

"A permanent magic item usable up to the seventh rank, crafted by a fourth-rank alchemist. Without the special methods provided by the military, even if I advanced to fifth-rank mage, I wouldn't be qualified to make such an item." The female mage squirmed gently, as Shaoke's hands had wandered too far.

Perhaps sensing her displeasure, Shaoke stopped his movements, took the empty stone bead, and began probing it with his mental energy. Unfortunately, he only felt a slight comfort from the mental energy penetrating the bead, with no other discoveries. He cast a questioning look at the female mage, waiting for her explanation, trusting that the bead's original ability to purify and slightly restore mental energy had not disappeared.

As he thought, the bead's original effects were fully preserved, and thanks to the female mage's special crafting method, its primary functions were enhanced. By incorporating a piece of hollow wood about ten thousand years old, it gained the ability to significantly purify mental energy and magic power.

The female mage explained in great detail, finally lamenting, "If I could advance to sixth-tier mage, I could add some special spells to this item." Her eyes grew distant, unsure if she would ever have the chance to reach that rank, feeling her progress had slowed due to spending too much time crafting various magical items, leaving little for meditation.

With a silent sigh, the female mage fell asleep in Shaoke's arms, needing a good rest after over three months of intense crafting and repairs. When she woke at dawn, she found the empty stone bead hanging around her neck again, its white bead nestled deeply between her fair breasts, causing some discomfort. After a moment's thought, she pulled it out and placed it on top.

Her puzzled inquiry was quickly answered by the male mage, who was reading nearby.

It turned out that while the female mage Roman slept, Shaoke had used the permanent magic item as she had instructed. During meditation, he felt a special fluctuation from the item, but once it entered his meditation space, it was quickly assimilated by the greatly expanded silver light, rendering the item's effects ineffective. Helpless, he had to abandon the item and began to worry whether future higher-level items would also lose their effect due to the silver light. Of course, Shaoke didn't say this; instead, he told her that due to his unique constitution, he relied on drugs to accelerate his advancement. This explanation pleased the female mage Roman, who rewarded him with a kiss.

Although the female mage didn't care much about the magic item, she was delighted by her beloved's gift, especially since she wouldn't have time to craft another soon. Shaoke's gift could speed up her advancement and reduce the time she spent on mental energy purification.

As large numbers of soldiers joined the brutal battlefield, more prisoners of war were used for construction, and many young, beautiful women from the enemy country were sold into major cities within the empire for merchants or nobles. However, the best ones were reserved for the frontline legions; no soldier dared to smuggle such captives, as the strict military law showed no leniency, regardless of one's family history of service or noble status.

Just before leaving the city, Shaoke exchanged a large number of copied precious magic books with a sixth-tier mage for some energy-restoring fruits, and also spent over half of his common gold coins and some valuable materials in the trade. This exchange netted him three magic bags full of fruits, which he estimated, combined with the remaining fruits from before, would cover his energy needs for the next five years—though this was an ideal calculation.

On the day of departure, the Blizzard Legion, ready to leave the city, finally welcomed the replacement legion—the Heavy Armor Legion. This legion was no weaker than the Blizzard Legion in terms of warrior strength, and even stronger in some respects, as each of its sub-legions had a unit similar to the Blizzard Warriors: the Barbarian Warriors. These barbarian warriors were composed of barbarians, wild tribes, and some special beastmen. They were tall and nearly twice as strong as Blizzard Warriors, and due to their unique aura, they could easily hunt down Blizzard Warriors of the same rank in battle.

The sleazy officer commented on them, "Those bastards only want real savage giants to join their legion, but can they gain the recognition of those giants?" Clearly, this remark was only made to the mages resting outside the camp; he dared not say it in front of the barbarian warriors, not only because he had suffered at their hands before but also because their commander was even more sleazy and crazy than he was.

Warriors four or five meters tall, clad in heavy armor, met the sleazy officer's Blizzard Warriors. A bald, short, sleazy-looking old man glared fiercely at the sleazy officer, while the barbarian warriors turned their heads toward the Blizzard Warriors. Due to their faceplates, Shaoke couldn't tell if they were staring back.

The Blizzard Warriors responded in kind, showing no fear despite being outnumbered and having lost to them before. This impressed Shaoke, who knew their reputation.

The two columns halted due to the standoff between the special units of both legions. The sleazy officer maliciously spat in the direction of the sleazy old man and laughed, "When I heard your legion was coming here, I wondered if you'd been replaced or died on some woman's belly." He burst into wild laughter.

The sleazy old man, however, raised his head high, spat a thick yellow phlegm forward, and stared up at a barbarian's chin, saying, "I never speak with failures, nor do I see them. All failures will be crushed by me." He then cackled, trying to provoke anger and start another fight.

The young sleazy officer was about to retort but then thought better of it, laughing wildly instead, and gestured for the other to pass through the newly built city gate first. "Another hundred years? Two hundred? Can you last three hundred? I'll definitely visit your eternal resting place later." He then led his fewer than a hundred Blizzard Warriors away, leaving a trail of dust.

The sleazy old man didn't stop cursing even as the young officer left, "I still have three hundred barbarian warriors; you have less than a hundred. If you encounter another top-tier battle, you'll never fulfill your words."

Thus, they continued hurling insults even after a great distance. However, Shaoke, talking with Roman and other mages by the carriage, noticed that the two legion commanders exchanged salutes and some items before parting.

The sleazy officer caught up with the mage team and asked a sixth-tier mage to cast an amplification spell on him. When refused, he turned to the other mages, but all, including Shaoke, declined with various excuses. Shaoke's reason was that he had never learned the spell and never would. "I only like to express myself with attack spells," he said, giving the other mages an easy excuse. Thus, the prolonged cursing gradually faded as the distance grew.