Chapter 139 Third Tier Equipment

Shaoke once again thanked the other party, then asked the question he had suppressed for a long time, "Are those mages in the Mage Corps the mysterious Third-tier mages who appeared in the previous 'Night of Death' War? Do they really have the ability to single-handedly kill an ordinary Fourth-tier Mage?"

"Yes, although I don't know where you learned about these things, I can tell you that everything you said is correct." The Seventh-tier Mage quickly answered Shaoke's question, feeling ashamed for not having thought of this aspect earlier, as the feat of killing a mage of a higher rank—something never recorded in writing—could only be accomplished by the mages of this corps. "Even ordinary combat-oriented Fourth-tier Mages are capable of killing their opponents, albeit at a certain cost," the mage added.

After hearing the Seventh-tier Mage's explanation, Shaoke raised another question, "Is it achieved through spells unique to the military?" He then nervously awaited the other's response.

"Don't think that the unique spells within the military are powerful; the spellcaster is the most fundamental factor. When you can successfully hunt down a mage of the same rank, I believe you will understand. If a mage lacks the resolve to face death in battle, they will never be able to kill an opponent of a higher rank." The mage smiled at Shaoke, "After all, the mages there advance by stepping over the corpses of countless mages of the same rank."

Following Shaoke's question, several other mages also raised their own questions, all of which were satisfactorily answered. As the Seventh-tier Mage provided increasingly detailed explanations, Shaoke finally made his decision: he would join the mage corps the mage had mentioned, where he could hone himself at the fastest pace, even if the threat of death could not deter him from this choice.

After a while longer, prompted by the Seventh-tier Mage, the mages gradually made their decisions. Only a handful chose not to join the mysterious mage corps. Under the Seventh-tier Mage's orders, they pledged on their honor as mages not to disclose what they had heard today before leaving first.

The mages who, like Shaoke, had made the same choice remained at the Seventh-tier Mage's request to undergo some necessary joining procedures.

Seeing that only a few mages had left out of the dozens present, the Seventh-tier Mage was secretly satisfied. He believed that if the subsequent batches of mages maintained this selection rate, he would surely be rewarded by the military once again.

"Death Mage Corps," the Seventh-tier Mage announced slowly under the gaze of Shaoke and the others. "The specific task is: after a two-year adaptation period, when beginning to carry out missions, within one year, you must hunt down twelve foreign mages at designated locations. If the mission fails but you survive, all privileges will be revoked, and you will be expelled from the Death Mage Corps."

After listening to the Seventh-tier Mage's introduction, Shaoke and the others remained silent. Finally, the Seventh-tier Mage took out a stack of papers and distributed them to the mages, saying, "Sign this agreement, then return and wait for further instructions. Stay in your original lodgings. As for the agreements signed with the various legions, I don't think you need to concern yourselves with them." With that, he leaned back in his chair to rest, as there were still several more batches of mages who needed his persuasion. Now, he had to prepare for the subsequent work.

Shaoke carefully wrote his full name on the paper, then read the contents of the agreement once more before imprinting it with his Mental Imprint, allowing the agreement, which transformed into a flame-like form, to brand itself onto his arm.

After the mages completed this, the Seventh-tier Mage allowed them to leave. He didn't care to think about how they reacted after leaving.

After leaving the courtyard where the military was located, the mages who had just signed the agreement departed alone. Shaoke then noticed that almost all of these mages were draped in black cloaks, covering their entire bodies tightly, much like himself, as if hoping to hide from the sight of others.

He had no regrets about his choice. Ever since he had learned about this from Mage Roman, he had begun to consider it, ultimately following the thoughts deep within his heart to make this uncertain decision.

Not long after Shaoke returned to the courtyard, while reading about alchemy, a soft knock on the door disturbed him once again. Suppressing his displeasure, Shaoke welcomed the guest inside.

The guest was an ordinary Second-tier Mage. The mage quickly sensed the host's displeasure and hurriedly handed over a long, narrow box he was holding to Shaoke, saying anxiously, "Respected Lord Mage Xueye, these are the items allocated to you by the military. Please inspect them." He then stood there nervously, awaiting the host's response. He knew that the mage before him was not like ordinary Third-tier Mages; he had learned something of his peculiar temper during his ongoing execution of this task.

Frowning, Shaoke took the long box, thanked the other, and gestured for the guest to leave quickly. He did not wish to be disturbed further. Seeing this, the Second-tier Mage promptly left Shaoke's room and hurried back to the military, once again feeling fortunate that he had not been reprimanded by these Third-tier Mages like other messengers that day.

The long box was longer than a normal staff, with a slightly wider and thicker surface engraved only with a few simple magic scripts, devoid of any other decorations or even magical traps. This spared Shaoke the trouble of dealing with any complications when opening it.

Gently opening the box, Shaoke found that the interior was lined with high-quality crimson velvet. At the top lay an unusual staff, which was the reason for the box's excessive length.

The staff was about an elbow longer than a normal staff, with a black shaft as thick as a baby's arm, densely engraved with magic scripts and some unrecognizable magic arrays. A dark green magical conductive material was perfectly inlaid into these scripts. The top of the staff resembled a claw formed like an adult's hand, with a small piece of high-quality green gold crystal firmly embedded in the center. Unfamiliar magic scripts slowly rotated inside the green gold crystal, occasionally revealing tiny magic array structures.

Looking at the staff before him, Shaoke felt a sense of familiarity. After casting a detection spell for magical items, he found nothing amiss with the staff and picked it up. The staff was very light, almost weightless in Shaoke's hand. Although he could not identify the material of the staff itself, he knew it was extremely precious.

A faint magical fluctuation became fully apparent as Shaoke probed with his mental energy. Unlike other staves, this one did not exhibit strong external fluctuations. Moreover, he noticed that these fluctuations dissipated quickly into the air once they extended beyond the staff itself.

Beneath the staff was a black robe, different from those of other Third-tier Mages. It had one more Third-level protective spell than other Third-tier robes, and on the shoulder area, there was a fist-sized flame embroidered with dark green thread.

After inspecting everything, Shaoke found a scroll and a black cloak at the very bottom. Since the cloak was almost identical to the one he was wearing, he first examined the contents of the scroll.

The text on the scroll was brief, simply stating that these were the basic provisions of the 'Death Mage Corps,' followed by a simple introduction to the usage methods and some of the magic arrays on these items. Finally, it mentioned that the learning of Third-level Spells still required them to wait for some time. As for when the subsidies would be distributed, it was not specified, only noting that they would be issued together when the Third-level Spell training began.

After a moment of hesitation, Shaoke finally decided to equip these items on himself. Stroking the robe that Mage Roman had helped him find, he stored the cloak allocated by the military back in the box, though he did not fully understand why he did so.

After carefully studying the applications of the staff and robe according to the instructions, Shaoke began to operate them as described. The tones of the Ancient Magic Tongue drifted through the air, and streaks of dark green light quickly emerged from the staff as he chanted, swirling and floating toward the top, finally converging in the center of the claw to form a fist-sized Green Flame, floating quietly in the air.

A trickle of mental energy and magical power slowly transferred to the staff, sustaining the flame's burning.

Seeing this, Shaoke immediately realized that this was the origin of the flames on the staves of those mysterious mages he had encountered that night. Excited, he nearly released a spell in the room to test the staff's specific effects, but fortunately, he caught sight of his discomposed reflection in the mirror opposite him, reminding him that this was not the place for casting spells. He then attempted some of the robe's functions, but due to unfamiliarity with many of the incantations, he could not fully activate all the robe's features. This would require him to master certain Third-level Spell knowledge before he could successfully unlock them.

Maintaining the flame on the staff for an extended period quickly drained a significant amount of his mental energy and magical power. Since this was not beneficial for the growth of the Three-pointed Star Magic Array in his Meditation space, he wisely stopped this solitary display and began studying other auxiliary functions of the staff instead.

Time slowly passed amidst his slight confusion about the future and the joy of feeling different. He repeatedly ignited the flame at the top of the staff, only to have to extinguish it each time due to prolonged consumption, then recover his expended energy to await the next ignition.

The light in the room gradually faded. After adding enough firewood to the fireplace, the flames provided sufficient illumination for his simple activities within the room.

When the frequent and prolonged meditation caused instability in his space, Shaoke once again deeply missed the presence of the silver light. At least with the calming effect of that silver light, he would not have to worry about the newly formed meditation space becoming unstable due to various reasons.