Chapter 340 The Title Is Really Hard to Think Of

After wrapping up this round of reflection, Shaoke still hadn't gained much. He then spent time flying around to get used to basic combat as an Eighth Tier mage. It wasn't until night fell that he slowly drifted down and tasted the meals prepared by the commoners. Fortunately, the local women had previously worked as maidservants, so the food they made tasted pretty good. Shaoke also spent some time each day hunting magical beasts in densely forested areas; the meat from these beasts, along with the improved wheat, became their food ingredients.

After the meal, Shaoke, who had already been promoted to an Eighth Tier Mage, returned to his small hut and entered a state of meditation. Nowadays, aside from studying spell knowledge and reading books, he spent all his time in his meditation space. This space had changed significantly from when it was first formed. Although its area hadn't expanded much, the once barren land was now covered with various plants. Large amounts of mental energy and magical power drifted lazily in the air. When they came into contact with the plants, part of them would be absorbed by them, promoting the plants' growth.

Some magical plants, after absorbing this mental energy and magical power, and quickly produced fruits. When these fruits ripened, they fell to the ground, and the mental energy and magical power contained within them would be released once again, drifting through the meditation space. The mental energy released from these fruits was several times purer than what had been absorbed. This was equivalent to many plants helping Shaoke with a slow purification process, reducing his workload to some extent.

After checking the ordinary plants, Shaoke focused his attention on a small hill in the center. He had personally shaped this hill, surrounding its base with many precious magical plants. Their purification efficiency was dozens of times higher than other magical or ordinary plants here, and Shaoke had invested significant effort into this area. In his estimation, the mental energy and magical power purified daily by the magical plants around this hill were equivalent to what he could purify in five magical hours of meditation. The reason for this was that the magical plants the Blue-robed Mage had found for him were extremely precious; otherwise, under normal circumstances, this level would be unattainable.

At the top of the hill was a large depression, where only one plant grew—the Yingluo Tree. This tree was extremely rare; Shaoke had only read about it in some books. Once this tree reached a certain stage of growth, it began to bear fruit, producing hundreds of fruits each time. Every time it bore fruit, its trunk would thicken slightly, and the number of fruits would increase somewhat next time. It was said that if the Yingluo Tree managed to grow for ten thousand years, it would undergo new changes, but such changes were not recorded in the books.

Because this tree’s effects were incredibly powerful—its fruits, when consumed regularly by ordinary people, could enhance their talent, and its branches and leaves were essential materials for making staves and valuable potions—this made its growth very difficult.

The Yingluo Tree in the depression at the top of the hill was already over three meters tall. Under Shaoke’s intentional guidance, large amounts of mental energy and magical power gathered here. After the tree absorbed these, it sped up the ripening of the fruits. The ripe fruits fell in large numbers into the depression, where, based on Shaoke’s original design, they quickly turned into a milky white liquid—a highly condensed representation of mental energy and magical power.

After confirming that all the plants in the space were healthy, Shaoke checked the altar, which acted as the sun, and the Eight-pointed Star Magic Array. Then he began to continue building his meditation space.

After a brief rest, Shaoke used his mental energy to extract a purple thread from the void. This thread was a thread inscribed with magical scripts that had once connected the altar and the Seven-pointed Star Magic Array. Through his mental control, the thread began to outline an extremely complex magic array. This time, as he outlined the array within his meditation space, it no longer caused space disturbances.

Perhaps because he had done this so many times, the thread quickly formed the structure of a magic array. Shaoke then chanted some incantations and formed some gestures, after which the array slowly floated into the air. At that moment, the arcane fire that had been burning continuously on the altar suddenly split off a portion, landing on this array. The array then floated beside the altar, forming something like a star in the real world.

After completing this, Shaoke quickly withdrew from his meditation space. Although what had just happened seemed easy and smooth, the mental energy expended was more than a newly promoted Eighth Tier Mage could sustain. After a short rest, Shaoke used medicine and meditated to replenish his energy. He then returned to his meditation space, using all his mental energy to sense every subtle change within it. This kind of sensing could deepen his control over his magical power and his understanding of some spell structures.

Over the next two years, Shaoke remained here, until the Blue-robed Mage found him again. This period of wholehearted study came to a temporary halt. During this time, Shaoke’s greatest gain was successfully deciphering part of the spatial spell books he had obtained from the underground city. Perhaps because he was a transmigrator, once these spatial spell knowledge was deciphered, he easily mastered them. However, he kept this hidden and did not want others to know that he could use spatial spells, as their power was incredibly powerful.

“You look terrible right now,” the first thing Shaoke said upon seeing the Blue-robed Mage. Indeed, as Shaoke had said, the Blue-robed Mage looked pale, and her ornate blue cloak was gone. However, she didn’t seem otherwise injured.

For the first time, Shaoke noticed that the blue crown on the Blue-robed Mage’s head and the staff in her hand were both constantly emitting a strange aura. This aura reminded him of the golden horn that had already merged into his altar, though it wasn’t as intense.

Thinking this over, he understood why the Flail Warrior had known about his possession of the fallen horn back then.

“Just some minor injuries,” the Blue-robed Mage said, twitching the corner of her mouth. “If your cleric were here, I believe I could recover within a single magical hour.” With that, she said no more, sat down in Shaoke’s room, and began to meditate. Shaoke stayed by her side, watching over her silently.

When the maids brought up dinner, the Blue-robed Mage slowly opened her eyes. “Your progress is really fast. Can you tell me about the situation in your meditation space?” the female mage asked, reclining lazily against Shaoke’s chest as she spoke, her uninjured hand gently running through her long hair.

“Of course,” Shaoke hesitated briefly before detailing the situation in his space. He then looked straight at her, waiting for a response.

“It seems everything is going smoothly. You should continue to work hard from now on. With good luck, you might be able to find a way to be promoted to the Ninth Rank and become a Nine-rank Mage.” As the Blue-robed Mage spoke, her complexion had improved significantly. She then sat up straight, lost in thought.

“Can I obtain the method for Ninth Rank promotion from you?” Shaoke asked after some thought. “Of course, I can pay a price.”

“Impossible,” the Blue-robed Mage quickly refused. When she noticed his expression stiffen, she hesitated before explaining, “Because I don’t have the method for Ninth Rank promotion either.” With that, she shrugged helplessly and said nothing more.

“Impossible,” Shaoke exclaimed, stunned. He simply couldn’t believe that this Eighth Tier Imprisonment Mage from the military department didn’t know the method for Ninth Rank promotion. It was too surprising. Moreover, he sensed that this female mage had close ties with the Death Mage Corps, so he didn’t think she wouldn’t have the method.

“If I had the method for Ninth Rank promotion, I would have already advanced,” the Blue-robed Mage suddenly said with some agitation, gesturing wildly. “I’ve been an Eighth Tier Mage for over five hundred years. My talent isn’t bad—far from it—but without a specific method for promotion, I’ve remained an Eighth-order Practitioner.” Her voice turned cold, and then she fell silent. But Shaoke could feel her body trembling slightly; her emotions hadn’t calmed down.

“To obtain the method for Ninth Rank promotion, you must undergo special wards placed in your meditation space by the Death Mage Corps or the Mage Guild. Then, after several hundred years of completing various tasks, you might have a chance to receive it,” the Blue-robed Mage finally shared after a long silence. “Some major families also have such a method. But similarly, you’d have to accept certain magical prohibitions in your meditation space, serve them for a period, and then you might obtain it.”

“Then our lives would no longer be in our own hands,” Shaoke said after a moment of thought, looking at the Blue-robed Mage with confusion. “If that’s the case, I think I’ll never be able to obtain those promotion methods.”

“Don’t you know about plundering?” The Blue-robed Mage gave Shaoke a mocking glance. “We band together, hunt down some Ninth-order beings, and with special spells, we can extract some of their knowledge.” The Blue-robed Mage’s face suddenly twisted with ferocity. “If one doesn’t have it, we kill ten; if ten don’t, we kill a hundred.” Her figure tensed up as she spoke. Perhaps realizing that these words were unsuitable for Shaoke, she changed the subject.

“Have you begun to refine your spellbook?” the Blue-robed Mage redirected the conversation.

“It’s been successfully refined,” Shaoke answered without hesitation. When he saw that she wanted to see it, he immersed his mind in his meditation space. In the depression at the top of the hill, the milky white liquid churned, and a palm-sized spellbook with a blue butterfly cover flew out. In the real world, a tiny spellbook flew out from the mage’s eye, quickly transforming into normal size and floating quietly in front of Shaoke.

Seeing that Shaoke’s spellbook had emerged from inside him, the Blue-robed Mage was very surprised. “Your talent is truly remarkable. I believe that deciding to ally with you was a very wise choice.” As she spoke, a faint blush appeared on her face, but it quickly disappeared.

The two mages then discussed various magical matters. Shaoke also asked about some previous doubts, receiving answers from the Blue-robed Mage one by one. More importantly, he learned how to repair a damaged spellbook and understood why, back then, the Blue-robed Mage and the others had used a magic item to absorb the golden light clusters left behind when the Eighth-order beings died on the plain.

It turned out that those light clusters were the external manifestations of an Eighth-order cultivator’s aura or meditation space after death. By absorbing these light clusters, mages or warriors could obtain some of the owner’s knowledge from their lifetime. Much of it was incomplete, but even so, absorbing these golden light clusters was of great help to most Eighth-order Practitioners. This was especially true for mages, because the absorbed knowledge would become deeply ingrained in the absorber, as if they had always known it. Thus, after a short period of adaptation, they could immediately use this extra knowledge to aid themselves.

After returning this time, the Blue-robed Mage stayed with Shaoke in the small hollow. They spent most of their time together, conducting research on spells.

Of course, the Blue-robed Mage focused primarily on bloodlines and crop research, while Shaoke devoted most of his time to deciphering the ancient original books. He hoped to find a way to be promoted to the Ninth Rank within them. He didn’t want to remain at the Eighth Rank for several hundred years due to the lack of a promotion method. As for whether he would even live long enough to have the chance to advance, that wasn’t something he was considering now.

One day, after Shaoke had just deciphered a few chapters on spatial spells, the Blue-robed Mage sent him a mental message saying that the Flail Warrior and another practitioner who had agreed to explore the ruins had arrived. They had to set out again.

The Flail Warrior, whom he hadn’t seen for years, showed no surprise upon meeting Shaoke, likely because the Blue-robed Mage had already informed him. The newcomer was a thin, gray-robed mage. From the insignia on his robe, Shaoke identified him as belonging to the Mage Guild. However, seeing the familiarity between the Blue-robed Mage and the gray-robed mage, he suppressed his doubts, planning to ask her later. But the Blue-robed Mage noticed his expression and explained first.

It turned out that the Mage Guild also had many mages who refused to be controlled by others, so they maintained strong connections with the Blue-robed Mage on certain matters. Although Shaoke wasn’t entirely satisfied with this simple explanation, considering that the newcomer’s participation wouldn’t cause any issues, he said nothing more.

After a brief exchange, the four Eighth-order Practitioners took to the air, heading toward the ruins that had become a water pit. Shaoke was now wearing the Eighth Tier robe and cloak given to him by the Death Mage Corps, which were enchanted with a Flight array, so he didn’t need to cast the spell himself.

A vast lake soon appeared beneath them. The Blue-robed Mage signaled the others to activate defensive spells. Pulling her newly made cloak tightly around her, she was the first to plunge toward the lake’s surface. Following her method, Shaoke and the other two Eighth-order Practitioners also dove toward the center of the lake.

At this moment, Shaoke realized he was no longer the weak Sixth Tier Mage he had once been. His powerful mental energy delved thousands of meters into the lake water until he detected the cave he had once explored, then nodded in satisfaction. By then, they had entered the water.

The four Eighth-order Practitioners each used spells or aura to propel themselves downward. Soon, large, strange fish swarmed around them, launching fierce attacks.

The Flail Warrior simply circulated his aura at a specific frequency, causing the fish that struck him to be instantly repelled. The other fish then eagerly devoured the remains of their companions. The Blue-robed Mage and the Gray-robed Mage also cast defensive spells that kept the strange fish at bay.

Although Shaoke also used minor spells to fend off the fish, he noticed that their numbers were growing. The Flail Warrior and the Gray-robed Mage were both watching him closely, curious to see how he would handle the situation. Seeing this, Shaoke gave a helpless smile. He quickly formed a hand seal, and a grayish-yellow mist formed within his defensive spell. He then hurled this mist outward. The strange fish that came into contact with the rapidly spreading mist quickly turned into skeletal forms. As the grayish-yellow mist consumed more fish, its expansion sped up further.

The Blue-robed Mage at the front paid no attention to Shaoke and the others. In less than half a magical hour, they reached the cave entrance. The Blue-robed Mage chanted a few incantations, and the massive stone blocking the cave slowly slid aside, while a transparent barrier prevented the water from rushing in.

“Alright, as we discussed, we need to open another treasure vault this time,” said the Blue-robed Mage. She took a transparent sheet of paper from her ring, chanted a few spells, and the paper quickly ignited, drifting rapidly into the passage ahead. Shaoke and the others also flew forward quickly, following the burning paper.

Along the way, Shaoke continuously released large amounts of mental energy to probe the surroundings. He noticed that the area was significantly different from his first visit, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what had changed. He felt uneasy, as if someone was constantly watching him. He didn’t keep this feeling to himself and mentioned it to the Blue-robed Mage.

“Every Eighth-order being here feels the same,” she said, pointing casually down the passage. “Legend says the owner of these ruins placed some surveillance spells here, but we can’t detect them.” After explaining some of the area’s peculiarities, the group fell silent, focusing on flying faster, closely following the paper.

This prolonged flight required Shaoke to constantly infuse his cloak with magical power and mental energy to maintain the flight array’s operation. The consumption was minimal; he estimated that the automatic regeneration of his meditation space’s mental energy and magical power could sustain this flight indefinitely.

Now he understood why Eighth Tier mages loved flying so much—not just to distinguish themselves from others, but also because the cost of flight was so low.

After an unknown amount of time, the passage began to widen, and numerous magic arrays and strange magical scripts appeared on the walls. Here, Shaoke felt even more clearly that someone was watching him from above. He also noticed that the other three had become more focused, unlike their earlier relaxed demeanor.

After turning another fork, the Blue-robed Mage at the front suddenly stopped. She hovered silently before a wall covered in magic arrays, while the burning transparent paper had returned to its original state and automatically flew back into her ring. “It’s here. Let’s begin,” she said, pointing at the wall covered in arrays, reminding Shaoke to follow the agreed-upon method to break through the protective spells here.

In Shaoke’s view, this method of breaking through was strange—it didn’t involve forceful dispelling but using a mage’s arcane fire to burn through the defenses. When asked why, the Blue-robed Mage explained, “The arrays here are ancient. Modern dispelling spells have no effect on them, so we have to use the most primitive method.”

Fortunately, the arrays were protecting only a wall, so the mages could burn through them without fear of damaging anything behind them.

The three mages took turns releasing arcane fire to burn through the arrays, while the Flail Warrior sat at the outer end of the passage, resting quietly. His duty was to prevent anyone from outside from barging in and disrupting their work, ensuring the safety of Shaoke and the others. After all, a mage who continuously released arcane fire for three days would be significantly drained.