Chapter 124 Promise and Coincidence

"The military truly miscalculated this time." Mage Roman's uncle lowered his tone (the source text here is unclear), then added with a hint of sorrow, "They didn't expect those Third-tier Mages to enjoy slaughtering mage squads in such large numbers at night. Indeed! Both sides acted simultaneously—these Third-tier Mages reached an unspoken agreement, abandoning their infighting to target other mages instead." After saying this, the mage drank another cup of wine before continuing.

"Especially last night—damn it, those bastards moved almost in unison. They attacked the camp where the Desasi Empire had gathered a large number of mages. And the Third-tier Mages of the Desasi Empire did the same." He patted his niece beside him, seemingly pleased with her good fortune. "As a result, the military discovered the situation. Heh! Unfortunately, nearly a thousand mages died in just one night—far more than the total casualties from the previous nighttime attacks combined. If this were the normal rate of attrition, I estimate it would take about half a year to reach such numbers!"

Upon hearing the mage's news, the mages resting in the tavern were stunned. They whispered among themselves, some excited about not having to face those special Third-tier Mages, while others worried for friends or companions on the battlefield.

Shaoke sat dazed in his chair, his mind in turmoil. After hearing the Fifth-tier Mage's news, he immediately recalled that Mage Roland had recently gone to the battlefield. Shaoke repeatedly comforted himself—perhaps Mage Roland was lucky and hadn't reached the front lines yet! He should be fine.

Mage Roman's uncle looked around smugly at the people shocked by his news. "I expect you'll receive orders to halt temporarily tomorrow morning. Heh! Alright, everyone, disperse. You're getting in the way of our chat."

Mage Roman put away her smile, which had appeared upon learning she wouldn't have to face those mysterious Third-tier Mages, and looked at Shaoke's worried face. "You don't seem happy about this news. Do you have a friend on the battlefield?"

"Yes. He just went there on a mission not long ago. I'm a bit worried about him—he's only a wide-area spellcaster, and he's never fought enemies in the wild before," Shaoke explained anxiously to Mage Roman.

"Mage Xueye, even if you're worried about him now, there's nothing you can do to help him here. Instead of filling your heart with worry, it's better to stay calm and hope he's lucky. That's the only thing we can do for friends on the battlefield right now," Mage Roman gently comforted him, hoping he would stop dwelling on these worries.

Watching the Fifth-tier Mage being surrounded by other mages asking for details, Shaoke changed the subject. "Why did you have to go to the battlefield even though your uncle is a Fifth-tier Mage? Given his status in the military, he should have been able to keep you from fighting the enemy."

Seeing Shaoke change the topic, Mage Roman smiled and explained. It turned out that once mages reached the front lines, regardless of their status, they were assigned tasks as usual and weren't allowed to stay idly in the fortress until they were promoted. There was some preferential treatment before reaching the Third Rank, but this no longer applied to those who had already been promoted to the Third Tier and remained in the fortress.

As the two conversed pleasantly, the topic shifted to Mage Roman's uncle—the Fifth-tier Male Mage.

"My uncle is an alchemy-type mage!" Mage Roman proudly revealed her uncle's specialization. "He specializes here in repairing magic items for other mages or crafting magical tools. The cloak you're wearing was made by him. It's almost identical to the ones used by the newly arrived Third-tier Mages!"

"Oh!" Shaoke listened in surprise to the news that came from her mouth. He hadn't expected Mage Roman's uncle to be an alchemy-type mage, and a Fifth-tier one at that. Many thoughts crossed his mind, but he first asked the most important question. "Your uncle crafts magical tools for those Third-tier Mages?"

"Yes," Mage Roman paused for a moment but readily admitted the news she had accidentally revealed. "My uncle often crafts tools for those Third-tier Mages. I think he learned this news from their companions who stayed behind in the fortress." Noticing Shaoke still wanted to ask more, she quickly leaned close to his ear and added, "Don't ask my uncle about those mages. He won't tell you anything."

The news that the fighting outside the fortress would temporarily cease quickly spread through the mages who left the tavern. This brought a sigh of relief to the Third-tier Mages who knew some specifics about the battlefield. They all knew that, whether from their own country or the Enemy Country, those special Third-tier Mages prioritized hunting down the ordinary Third-tier Mages leading the opposing side during battles. Often, a single Spell was enough to eliminate them, after which they began sniping the Second-tier Mages. Rumors of their brutality and bloodshed had long circulated among these well-informed mages.

After the two happily discussed recent events, they noticed that most of the mages surrounding Mage Roman's uncle had left. Only her uncle remained, sipping wine in small gulps. When he saw the two stop talking and turn their attention to him, Mage Roman's uncle loudly asked, "What are you two talking about? Moxier, have you started keeping secrets from your dear uncle?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Mage Roman took away the wine glass in front of him and signaled the maids not to bring any more wine. "Uncle, there's nothing I need to hide from you. I was just discussing with Mage Xueye how impressive the magical tools you craft are. He admires you greatly." She turned and winked at Shaoke, signaling him not to contradict her.

"Really?" Upon hearing his niece's praise, the uncle happily leaned over and patted Shaoke on the shoulder. "Hmm! Mage Xueye?" The Fifth-tier Mage waited for Shaoke to nod in confirmation that he hadn't mistaken his identity before continuing, "When you're promoted to Third-tier Mage, I'll personally craft a Shadowfire-type staff for you. Of course, the condition is that you must survive until your promotion to Third-tier, and your relationship with my niece remains good at that time."

Hearing a Fifth-tier alchemy-type mage promise to gift him a staff upon reaching the Third Tier, Shaoke happily nodded and quietly thanked Mage Roman. Although he didn't know exactly what the Shadowfire-type staff mentioned by the other party was like, seeing the rapid shifts of surprise, envy, unease, and excitement on Mage Roman's face told him that this staff was far superior to the standard ones the military issued upon promotion to Third-tier Mage.

After chatting a while longer, Mage Roman's uncle prepared to leave. "I still have some experiments waiting for me!" He pointed at Shaoke. "You can come to my place sometime to borrow some books. Hmm!"

After thanking the other party once more for his generosity, Shaoke and the female mage escorted him out of the tavern.

"Mage Xueye, let's head back too." Mage Roman couldn't stand the suggestive look her uncle gave before leaving, so she suggested returning to rest. Shaoke readily agreed, thinking it would be a good time to reflect on everything that had happened that night.

After escorting the female mage back to the barracks, Shaoke tightened his cloak, picked up his staff, and briskly walked toward the barracks designated for male mages.

Just as he was halfway there, dozens of eerie green flames appeared under the dim lantern light ahead, flickering in the wind as they drifted toward him. As these green flames appeared, Shaoke felt as if thousands of eyes were fixed on him. He sensed dozens of spiritual and magical forces, far stronger than Mage Roman's, locking onto him. He felt that if he took another step forward, those powerful locks would immediately turn into a series of spell attacks.

Soon, the figures of dozens of people draped in black cloaks emerged beneath the green flames. Then, he felt several powerful waves of spiritual and magical suppression emanating from them.

Shaoke quickly stopped and stood still, repeatedly mobilizing all his spiritual and magical energy to resist the increasingly intense suppression. "We're not far from the barracks. Who are you? Using spells isn't allowed in the fortress. Aren't you afraid the military will punish you?"

After struggling to utter these words, Shaoke gripped his staff tightly, waiting for the mages who had locked onto him to respond. However, they didn't ease their suppression or locks because of Shaoke's warning. Instead, over a dozen more powerful spiritual and magical forces joined in suppressing him, and the initial suppression intensified significantly.

The sudden surge in various types of suppression made Shaoke panic and cry out. If not for his staff supporting him, he would have collapsed to the ground, completely at their mercy.

Anger, resentment, panic, and despair—all sorts of negative emotions swirled in Shaoke's heart. Give up! What's the use of resisting? Biting his lip, Shaoke tried his best to ignore the negative emotions and forced himself to look up at the approaching figures.

The figures quickly passed by Shaoke. Each wore a wide cloak, covering their heads, hands, and even faces. On their backs, they carried long staffs. The eerie green flames floated just above a hand-shaped carving at the top of each staff. The flames, about the size of a baby's fist, flickered in the wind but never went out.

The cloaked mages soon passed him and quickly disappeared around the street corner. Shaoke felt the powerful locks vanish completely.

Shaoke could no longer hold on. He collapsed onto the stone-paved road, gasping for breath. If not for the sensation brought by his sweat-soaked clothes in the cold wind, he would have almost thought he had just been dreaming—even though mages rarely dreamed in their sleep.