Chapter 376 Return After Handling Matters

After Shaoke examined the cloak, he directly removed his own cloak and put it on, as if it had always belonged to him. Mage Roman and the White-robed Cleric could only helplessly roll their eyes, but they did not stop Shaoke's behavior. Fortunately, the Blizzard Legion and the Bloody Legion had already decided to give this item to Mage Roman, the developer, so Shaoke's wearing it would not cause any problems.

When Shaoke put on the new cloak with Mage Roman's assistance, the White-robed Cleric took another magic item from the box. This item looked very strange—a transparent, rhomboid crystal, about the size of a baby's fist. Shaoke recognized it at once as a special kind of rune stone item. Through Mage Roman, he also learned the function of this special rune stone.

It turned out that depending on the method of creation and materials, this rune stone could reduce general spellcasting time or a portion of it. When casting a spell, it allowed the spellcaster to reduce the chanting by one or several syllables, and it also greatly enhanced spell targeting.

Watching Mage Roman excitedly explain the uses of this magic item, Shaoke did not feel particularly pleased. He just looked at the item briefly, then placed it back in the box. "This is of no use to me. I already have other magic items to replace it." So saying, he took out his black crown under Mage Roman's puzzled gaze and showed it to her.

"Night's Glory," Mage Roman said after observing it for a while, finally uttering the name of the crown in a low voice. "The magic item we developed is, to some extent, an imitation of your item's functions, but it doesn't have as many functions." Saying this, Mage Roman handed the crown back to Shaoke and added, "It is said that in the hands of mages many years ago, this item was extremely powerful. I think you should study this crown more." Then she looked at the rhomboid crystal, sighed, and tossed it back into the box.

Her beloved was no longer interested in such things. Even if it were precious now, Mage Roman would not value it. But the Cleric beside her took out the crystal and handed it to Shaoke, indicating he should keep it. "Put it away. After all, this is something we developed ourselves. And it belongs to us. There's no need to leave it here for others to take for free."

After spending some time discussing with Shaoke, Mage Roman and the others accompanied the two female spellcasters to the Blizzard Legion to handle the necessary procedures for their departure. Meanwhile, Lan Wei'er stayed in the room to pack up the belongings, waiting for her mother and the others to return. "They will definitely agree to let us leave," Mage Roman assured Shaoke along the way, as she sensed he was a bit nervous.

Just as Mage Roman had said, when the Legion Commander stationed there from the Blizzard Legion learned that Mage Roman and the others wanted to leave, he readily agreed. However, before they left, people from the Bloody Legion also arrived. They repeatedly reminded Mage Roman not to leak the technology for mass-producing that special magic item, and then paid them a substantial amount of compensation. That included large quantities of magic materials and some books. Although these books were not originals, they were still very precious to Shaoke and the others. No family would disdain having too many books.

"Unless they plan to erase your memories of that magic item," Shaoke said to Mage Roman and the others as they left the Bloody Fortress and took a carriage toward the Luanyun Empire.

The White-robed Cleric sat behind the male mage, holding his head and gently massaging it. "That won't happen. This magic item will eventually circulate. There's no need for such meaningless actions." After speaking, she continued, "Moreover, we don't have a complete understanding of this magic item. Even if we tried to make it on our own now, we couldn't finish it. Most of our effort, Mage Roman's and mine, was focused on how to mass-produce it." She was about to explain further, but Shaoke stopped her.

"Rest for a while. There's still plenty of time on the road." He then lazily lay in the Cleric's arms and fell asleep. Mage Roman, holding Lan Wei'er, leaned against the side of the carriage, exchanged a glance with the Cleric, and closed her eyes to rest as well. As for when they would arrive at the Luanyun Empire, neither of them cared.

On the Wasteland Continent, although plants grew quickly and the land was vast, slowing down ordinary people's travel, every empire paid close attention to building roads. Take the Blue Feather Empire, which had just become a medium-sized country. They had mobilized tens of millions of people to start building roads, with the empire's prisoners joining the road-building army and working long-term. The situation in other empires was similar—cities were connected by wide, solid roads, and even small towns and villages had spacious roads linking them. Of course, the maintenance of these roads basically fell to the villagers.

It took five or six years for Shaoke and the others to reach the Luanyun Empire where they had started. This was not because the distance was too great, but because they stopped at each empire along the way to tour for a while and look for talented infants in preparation for building their family. In addition, the four spellcasters copied some unique low-level spell knowledge from each empire as the foundation for their future family.

One day, Shaoke and the others finally arrived at the Luanyun Empire. The barren land had no passersby, not even basic roads. The four had to travel on foot. Fortunately, they had enough magic bags containing a large amount of food, so there was no worry about supplies.

After another month of travel, they finally saw other humans. A small city stood on the barren land, with some green plants outside its walls. These plants had grown thanks to mages' improvements, which eliminated the remaining violent magical power in the land.

When Shaoke and the others were still a day's journey from the city, an Eighth Tier Warrior stopped them. "Honorable Mage, is there anything I can help you with?" The warrior observed Shaoke and the others, then quickly bowed to Shaoke because he could not discern Shaoke's strength. The ornate cloak and the Nine-pointed Star Magic Array that occasionally appeared in his eyes told the warrior that this person was not one to provoke. "Ahead is the Wanderers Alliance of the Desasi Empire. If you need rest, you are welcome to stay there. We will provide the best service." He then glanced at the Cleric and Mage Roman, but did not pay much attention to Lan Wei'er, an ordinary mage.

Shaoke nodded and led the way.

But Mage Roman thanked the warrior and explained that they were wanderers from the Blue Feather Empire. This news seemed to relieve the Eighth Tier warrior, since, at the higher levels, the Blue Feather Empire and the Desasi Empire had quite good relations. Of course, the war at the Bloody Fortress was not on their minds—it was a place to train fighters, and some sacrifices were necessary.

After learning of Shaoke's identity, the warrior released a magical signal for people in the city to come to meet them. Then, at Shaoke's request, he explained the current situation there.

It turned out that during the time Shaoke had been away, the Luanyun Empire had undergone some changes. The most obvious was that the Mage Guild had sent a large number of high-rank mages there. Additionally, some powerful families from the mainland had also sent many people, intending to establish their own strongholds.

"The Mage Guild won't even let this place go. They've already started recruiting some of the empire's wanderer alliances," the warrior said, looking quite angry. "It's not safe here. Some people roam around, hunting solitary professionals. I've heard they are backed by the Mage Guild and some large families."

The warrior kept explaining, and Shaoke and Mage Roman listened quietly. Before long, a huge spatial rift opened, and a Space Mage in a space robe stepped out. He was only an Eighth-order Practitioner, but he bowed to Shaoke and, at Shaoke's request, set up a teleportation array to send Mage Roman and the others ahead to the small city.

Shaoke then arrived there, reunited with Mage Roman and the others, and followed the Space Mage to the local Wanderers Alliance headquarters. Because Shaoke had just sent a message to the Blue-robed Mage about their return, she asked them to use the Desasi Empire's teleportation array to go back to their own stronghold, since the Blue Feather Empire's Wanderers Alliance had already established good relations with the Desasi Empire's Wanderers Alliance.

The people of the Desasi Empire warmly welcomed Shaoke and the others. After arranging attendants to serve them baths, and on the suggestion of a Ninth Tier warrior, they prepared a banquet to entertain Shaoke and the others. At the start of the banquet, the Blue-robed Mage arrived along with a Ninth Tier Space Mage.

"Mage Xueye, I thought you had run into trouble in the empire," the Blue-robed Mage said after bowing to Shaoke. Mage Roman and the others listened quietly. All participants at the banquet were professionals above the Eighth Tier, including over a dozen Ninth-rank professionals from the Desasi Empire. Shaoke introduced Mage Roman and the others in detail, explaining that they were his wives.

Here, Mage Roman and the others had the lowest status, but after a brief conversation with Shaoke, the Blue-robed Mage also kindly engaged with them in detailed discussion. Naturally, the conversation focused on some matters concerning Mage Roman and the others.