Chapter 316 The Fallen Horn’s Gains Are Not Just This

You are already a Seventh Tier Mage.” Mage Roman sighed helplessly. “A mage only needs to reach the Third Rank to fully establish their own family, yet you have delayed until now.” After speaking, Mage Roman fell silent, merely using her hair to trace something on Shaoke.

“But establishing a family has nothing to do with the Cleric.” Shaoke didn’t know what to say, for he had never considered the issue of founding a family.

“If I become pregnant, the child’s bloodline will absolutely be that of the Roman Family.” Mage Roman lifted her head, staring intently at Shaoke and added: “Only children you sire with other women can be considered as inheriting your bloodline.”

“I want our child to inherit the title of the Roman Family, so that’s why I did this.” The female mage said no more after that. Instead, she turned her head to watch the White-robed Cleric’s spellcasting process. She did not want her own actions to prevent the bloodline of the man beside her from being passed down. She felt that Shaoke’s bloodline, after several generations of selective optimization, could greatly aid in the establishment of a mage family.

“Is the bloodline of the Roman Family really that dominant?” Shaoke suddenly sat up, noticing that the White-robed Cleric’s spellcasting was nearly finished.

“Perhaps it is.” Mage Roman quietly embraced Shaoke from behind. “Since tens of thousands of years ago, all children born into the Roman Family have possessed the talent of a Spellcaster, though the degree varies. And from that time onward, no matter which mage they were born to, every child has had white hair—this has never changed to this day.” After speaking, she gently bit Shaoke’s shoulder and continued: “Many other families that have been passed down for hundreds of thousands of years have also experienced such situations.”

The two discussed the issue of bloodlines, and the White-robed Cleric’s spellcasting concluded shortly after. When she woke up to see Shaoke and Mage Roman watching her, she shyly curled up under the covers, but Shaoke pulled her out and held her in his arms to comfort her. Of course, the mages did not go too wild that night, as they still had plenty of time ahead. Now they each had their own matters to attend to and began to busy themselves.

After a brief moment of intimacy, they donned their robes. The Cleric and Mage Roman, both somewhat tired, fell asleep first, while Shaoke took out the golden horn and began his usual exploration.

After long research, Shaoke discovered that this horn could not indefinitely withstand the mana and mental energy he poured into it. Instead, after reaching a certain limit, it refused to accept any more external energy. At first, Shaoke was unwilling to accept this and often tested it by injecting mental energy. After more than a year of effort, the golden horn finally responded under the stimulation of his mental energy.

Hmm, though it wasn’t entirely due to mental energy alone—a large part of the credit went to the silver light within the Arcane Fire. During one test, a silver light suddenly burst from the Arcane Fire that was burning the entire altar. Following his mental energy, it swiftly entered the golden horn, leading to greater gains on his part.

Today, Shaoke again followed his usual method, concentrating all his attention on the large mass of Arcane Fire. As time passed, the burning purple Arcane Fire began to undergo subtle changes. One after another, silver light flew out from the fire and, guided by his mental energy, quickly merged into it before being injected into the golden horn hanging on his chest.

Following this mental energy infused with silver light into the horn, the desolate atmosphere once again swept over Shaoke. At that moment, the mage’s mind was filled with a residual memory from the horn: a massive beast, hundreds of meters tall, slowly walking across a barren land. Lightning and storms frequently swept through the sky, the lightning constantly striking the ground, leaving a pit dozens of meters deep. The ground often split open, spewing crimson magma, some landing on the towering beast, some elsewhere.

Suddenly, a huge bolt of lightning struck at the Giant Beast. The beast made no attempt to evade; it merely tilted its head slightly, and from the countless enormous horns on its head, a faint golden light was emitted. This light easily shattered the lightning and tore a small crack in the sky.

The beast walked for an unknown time, and Shaoke continued consuming his mental energy to observe it in detail through the horn.

The first thing Shaoke observed were the numerous horns on the beast’s head. These horns were no different in shape from those of a Snow Deer, but there were thirteen main ones, each branching into thirteen prongs, each prong further dividing into thirteen smaller horns.

Based on his observation, the smallest horn was dozens of times larger than the one hanging around his chest. Moreover, these horns were covered with numerous twisted characters. Shaoke dared not observe them for long, as prolonged viewing could easily cause his mental energy to collapse.

After walking for a while longer, the beast smashed through a huge boulder, and the scene in the horn began to blur. This was because Shaoke’s mental energy could no longer sustain the memory image within the horn.

Forced to withdraw from the observation, Shaoke’s mood turned as sour as usual. He had observed many times before—the giant beast walking alone across the desolate land, with only a few dozen encounters of it engaging in fierce battles with other beasts. This time, he clearly noticed that after the boulder was shattered, a huge beast approached from afar, heading directly toward the master of the horn. Based on his experience, if he continued watching, he would witness a brutal fight between the two huge beasts. Such scenes often greatly aided his understanding of Spells.

Shaoke quickly dispelled his disappointment, then sat cross-legged on the bed, resuming his Meditation to recover. The two female spellcasters beside him seemed to have been forgotten, though this was partly due to the influence of the information contained in the horn.

Through his mental probing, he not only observed the external appearance of the giant beast but also, by close observation, sensed some strange fluctuations emanating from it. After Shaoke partially understood these fluctuations, they greatly helped him in spellcasting. At the very least, he could now cast most ancient command spells. Additionally, his understanding of the Ancient Magic Language had deepened considerably.

Shaoke and Mage Roman stayed in the Fallen Academy for over ten days. During this time, Mage Roman grew deeply fond of the environment here, as it was ideal for her research on magic items. The elemental pool and other experimental equipment here were far superior to those in the first mage tower Shaoke had built. Moreover, due to the requests of their daughter and the White-robed Cleric, Mage Roman ultimately chose to live here long-term. The original mage tower was left solely for Shaoke.

Shaoke was somewhat dissatisfied with this outcome, but considering the abundant free time he would have when living alone, he eventually agreed. Of course, Mage Roman’s choice was also because living together would somewhat hinder each other’s progress. Thus, she decided to stay at the Cleric’s mage tower. However, Shaoke would still visit the three female spellcasters regularly.

Over the next two years, the academy operated smoothly, with many young people learning a great deal of knowledge. Although some of them might never have the chance to use it, under the guidance of old scholars, they learned simple Blue Feather script, and some could even write the common language of the continent.

Perhaps because the academy drew away young people and children who would otherwise not join the military, public order in the Fallen Capital improved even more than before. At the very least, ordinary people could walk alone on the streets without encountering dozens of thefts in a row. Although some petty theft still persisted, the leaders of various organizations, including Shaoke, were quite satisfied.

After all, with better public order, more merchants would come, and they could extract more taxes. Of course, in Shaoke’s understanding, this tax was essentially a form of protection fee.

After the Blue Feather Empire built this massive academy, though the other four empires also established academies in their respective territories, their scale was far smaller than that of Shaoke’s group. This was not a matter of finances, but of conflicts among the major organizations. Of course, although Shaoke’s organization also had numerous conflicts with others, the alliance of several powerful organizations managed to resolve and suppress these conflicts to a certain extent. However, in Shaoke’s view, these conflicts would eventually escalate to a point where his organization would need to engage in a frenzied battle, as they had offended the most people.

During this period, the robbery organization Shaoke had founded years earlier expanded considerably. Many Wandering Mages joined it, including a large number of Sixth Tier Mages and a few Seventh Tier Mages, though the latter were few. To date, only five Seventh Tier Mages had joined Shaoke’s organization.