Chapter 125 Structure and Leakage

He had no idea how long he'd been sitting on the ground. It wasn't until a carriage passed by that he was brought back to his senses. The coachman observed Shaoke from the carriage for a while, then jumped down and said, "Sir Mage, do you need help? I can take you to the military camp, right now."

Shaoke shook his head and said softly, "Thank you, but I'm fine for now." With the coachman carefully helping him up, he slowly stood up. "Thank you!" He took out a gold coin and handed it to the coachman, then thanked him once more before using his staff for support and slowly walking away.

After walking for a bit, Shaoke felt the pressure brought by the group of mages who had just passed by gradually dissipate, and his strength seemed to have recovered as well.

As soon as he returned to his room, he immediately sat on the bed and began to meditate, hoping to release the pressure those mysterious mages had imposed on him. During this meditation, he always felt that forming the array was somewhat difficult, and even after the array had been operating for a while, he still couldn't return to his previous level.

Although Shaoke knew this was caused by the excessive mental suppression he had just experienced, he didn't expect such a condition to occur. Previously, the mental suppression from the Seventh Tier Mage had only slowed him down at the beginning of meditation, but he recovered after the array had circulated a few cycles.

Was it because it lasted longer? Shaoke pondered this question for a long time but still didn't know how to resolve it. In the end, he simply allowed the meditation array to operate at a slightly slower speed than before.

The long meditation quickly stimulated the silver light wandering on the diamond array, and several strands of light splintered off and landed on the array. Shaoke watched as the silver light fell onto the array and wandered across it, and the previous smoothness was restored.

Since its discovery, the silver light had already brought Shaoke many surprises. This time, it easily restored his meditation speed, which excited him greatly. After all, even a slight increase in meditation speed would accelerate his advancement.

Carefully diverting a portion of his attention to guide a small amount of mental energy into the diamond array, Shaoke once again observed the changes inside.

The diamond array formed a vast space filled with silver light points. Suspended at the center of the space was a vastly magnified spell structure of "Death Gaze." Scattered silver light wandered rapidly across it, occasionally bursting into light points, but soon the spell structure would absorb some light points, forming new fragmented silver light.

Quietly sensing the mysteries of the spell structure, the complex line structures and special magic script all made Shaoke feel the profound wisdom of the mage who had created this spell structure.

Modern mages no longer regarded reading books as a method of cultivation like those mages thousands of years ago. Instead, they focused solely on cultivating mental energy or magical power to advance as quickly as possible, thereby abandoning a vast amount of related spell knowledge. The result of modern mages doing this was the loss of a great deal of knowledge accumulation and innovation, leading to the fact that for thousands of years, the mages of the Blue Feather Empire had not created any new spells, not even the lowest-tier ones.

Insufficient stamina was now the biggest problem hindering Shaoke's progress. He had just immersed himself in the operation of the spell structure for a short while when the large consumption of energy from meditation forced him to withdraw from the inner space of the diamond array.

Shaoke skillfully took medicine to speed up his stamina recovery and used meditation methods to restore his energy. Once he had recovered enough, he once again observed the spell structure inside the array. Repeating this process, Shaoke soon forgot the fear and unease brought by those mysterious mages.

After a night of meditation, Shaoke, full of energy, quickly arrived at the large gathering ground where Mage Roman had said they would assemble. The vast ground was clearly a place for ordinary soldiers to drill, but today it was occupied by thousands of mages.

Looking at the large number of mages before him, Shaoke was momentarily dazzled. He had never imagined that so many mages would gather here today. Fortunately, the higher-ups were experienced. Dozens of large wooden plaques were raised around the ground, indicating where each group of mages should assemble.

After successfully finding the assembly point, Shaoke discovered that hundreds of mages had also gathered here. Similarly, the names of the leading Third Tier Mages were listed. Following the signs, Shaoke found that all the mages in their team had already arrived, except for him and Mage Roman.

The mages whispered among themselves, waiting for the Female Mage to arrive. After exchanging a few words with them perfunctorily, Shaoke tightened his cloak and retreated to the edge of the circle, silently recalling the contents of books he had read before to pass the time until the Female Mage arrived to announce new orders.

Immersed in recalling knowledge, Shaoke didn't notice the passage of time. It wasn't until a companion who had noticed him gently patted him that he realized Mage Roman had already arrived and begun announcing the news he was already aware of.

Shaoke nodded to the mage in thanks and silently listened to the new news brought by the Female Mage. Mage Roman put it very simply, merely mentioning that the military had new orders and that missions were temporarily suspended. As for the time of the next mission, it would be notified separately.

The mages who heard this news were not surprised, as the news brought by Mage Roman's uncle last night had quickly spread throughout the mage camps in the entire fortress. However, these Second Tier Mages were not qualified to know the specific reasons. Therefore, after Mage Roman finished announcing the orders, someone quickly attempted to ask, "Respected Mage Roman, may we know why?"

Female Mage Roman smiled slightly. "According to the orders, you are not qualified to know. Well, let's disperse for now! It will become crowded soon." She lightly tapped her staff to get the attention of the mages who had received the news and were about to leave. Thousands of mages leaving the ground together would indeed be somewhat crowded, as the width of the camp gate was limited.

After letting those mages leave, Mage Roman smiled and signaled for Shaoke to follow her away from here. However, the Female Mage did not take Shaoke away from the gathering ground but instead led him toward the wall nearby.

"Let's go up first. You've never seen such a scene before." Mage Roman pointed to a wooden staircase nearby. "Do you know how many mages are in this ground? We can be considered to have escaped a disaster this time. Thousands of mages!" the Female Mage sighed.

Following where the Female Mage pointed, Shaoke saw a black stream of people slowly squeezing through the relatively narrow camp gate, then dividing into several thin black threads, quickly dispersing into the various streets of the fortress and disappearing.

"I never imagined there would be so many mages here." Shaoke sighed as he looked at the large number of mages.

"Hehe! Actually, these mages are only a small part of this fortress. You should observe the fortress carefully and not stay cooped up in your room all day." Female Mage Roman smiled and reminded Shaoke. "It can be said that all the Low-rank Mages of the entire empire's military are gathered here. Well, it's just that they rarely come out together."

The two chatted for a while longer. Watching the ground, which had just been crowded, now only had a few mages conversing, Shaoke sighed, "There are so many Low-rank Mages belonging to the military. How many low-tier mages are there in the Mage Guild? If they joined this battle, I think our losses would be greatly reduced."

"The Mage Guild actually does not belong to the Blue Feather Empire. The mage guilds in other surrounding countries also cannot be controlled by their emperors. So, we don't know their exact numbers." The news inadvertently revealed by Mage Roman stunned Shaoke. He hadn't expected that the Mage Guild, which had more mage power than the military, was not under the empire's jurisdiction. No wonder they didn't come to the battlefield!

Mage Roman quickly changed the topic, shifting to discuss some issues about spells, as if forgetting what she had just said. Of course, Shaoke took this opportunity to ask her about some of his own doubts, carefully listening to her answers.

"Mage Roman, I encountered some mysterious mages yesterday. I feel they are the special-type Third Tier Mages you mentioned." After receiving all the answers, Shaoke hesitated for a moment and, under Mage Roman's surprised and concerned gaze, detailed what had happened the night before.

"Yes." Mage Roman stepped back slightly and examined Shaoke carefully. Although she knew he hadn't been harmed, she couldn't help but observe him again. After confirming once more that he hadn't been injured, the Female Mage finally let out a long sigh. "Mage Xueye, I have to say you are very lucky. The mages you encountered were indeed those special-type Third Tier Mages. They don't care about the rules of this fortress at all. I've heard that since their arrival, many mages have been easily killed by them, including many Third Tier Mages."

"It's a good thing you weren't crushed by their mental and magical suppression; otherwise, you would never be able to advance further in your magical cultivation." The worry on the Female Mage's face gradually faded, replaced by surprise that Shaoke had been able to resist their powerful suppression. She had once faced the full suppression of such Third Tier Mages at her uncle's place, but after she had exhausted all her mental energy, her uncle stopped the other party's mental suppression. Otherwise, she would have suffered severe mental trauma, which would have harmed her future progress and even affected her future advancements.

Although she knew that Shaoke had definitely not faced the full suppression of those Third Tier Mages, she was still amazed that he had only been slightly affected.

Although Shaoke wanted to ask Mage Roman for more information about these mages, the Female Mage once again blocked him, saying that his strength was insufficient and he was not qualified to know these details.