Chapter 290: Consequences of Deciphering and a Deal

The mage did not remain confused for long. Finally, Shaoke gritted his teeth and sat up sharply to resume interpreting the book. The content within was even more complex; the scribe had embedded varying degrees of spell traps in almost every character, causing even greater trouble for Shaoke's interpretation. After at least one magic hour had passed, he had only successfully interpreted a single line of text.

The main reason for this was that this book was an original from the ancient era. Every time Shaoke successfully interpreted an ancient magic script, he could receive some information from the scribe at that time. Of course, this information was very vague, requiring the mage to continuously use his mental energy to sense these magic scripts in the future to grasp all the information within to a certain extent.

The tedious interpretation continued until late at night, and during this time, none of the three female spellcasters came to Shaoke's room. Only the maidservant who had once accompanied him to bathe brought him some food and then left as he requested.

It was not until dawn was approaching that Mage Roman, dressed in a golden robe, entered Shaoke's room. She looked somewhat angry at Shaoke, who was meditating, and finally let out a helpless sigh as she sat down on the chair in front of the writing desk, quietly waiting for him to wake up.

Upon seeing Mage Roman, Shaoke stopped his work and asked her the purpose of her visit. When Mage Roman spoke worriedly about her fear of retaliation from the Orpheus Family, Shaoke thought for a moment and then revealed the message that the Eighth Tier Female Mage had conveyed to him.

Shaoke's explanation visibly relieved Mage Roman. Finally, the female mage walked to the bedside, took Shaoke's hand, and just gazed at him without a word, saying nothing more. Shaoke then took out the comb she had given him years ago and carefully combed her silver-white long hair.

"Xueye, are you hiding something from me?" Mage Roman tilted her head slightly to facilitate his work. "Can I know?" she asked, tightening her grip on his hand. "I heard from the maidservant that you've been here all day; perhaps you should go outside and at least have some simple conversations with the other mages."

Shaking his head to refuse her inquiry, Shaoke put down his work and pointed to the book casually thrown on the bed, saying, "In a day and a night, I've only interpreted less than a third of the first page of this book." He did not explain that as he interpreted, he received more and more information, which further slowed his pace. Then he comforted Mage Roman, telling her that he had simply become so immersed in interpretation that he lost track of time.

Shaoke's reply only made Mage Roman fall silent for a brief moment. Finally, she asked him about his future plans so that she could make necessary preparations in advance.

This time, Shaoke did not hide anything. He detailed his future plans to the female mage, but this aroused some doubts in her. Therefore, after organizing her thoughts, Mage Roman voiced her questions.

"Why only take a few streets? I think with our strength, we should be able to deal with most organizations here," she said. Then she paused uncertainly. "Is it because of those Eighth-order Practitioners? But... they shouldn't get involved in the conflicts among us low-rank mages." After speaking, she fiddled with Shaoke's fingers quietly, then added, "Was it that Eighth Tier Mage of the empire who warned you?"

In response to her speculation, Shaoke eventually briefly mentioned a small part of the Eighth Tier Female Mage's explanation. He finally added, "There is no need for us to fight for too large a controlled area; that would invite attacks from organizations of other empires. We just need to follow my previous method and recruit some low-rank mages. I think no one will say we are wrong."

Mage Roman could not fully accept Shaoke's explanation. But seeing his resolute expression, she ultimately tacitly agreed to his decision. Of course, this was because she knew his personality too well.

In the following days, before the next trade with the Wandering Mages, Shaoke and his group fought with some organizations from other empires according to local customs and successfully seized some of the areas they controlled. This was mainly because their team was composed entirely of Sixth Tier Mages, unlike other organizations that had a mix of a few mages and a large number of warriors or other practitioners.

When Shaoke felt that his so-called private organization had occupied a certain amount of controlled area, he finally stopped expanding. This was not only because the area was too large and there was a shortage of lower-level personnel, but also because right after they seized a small area controlled by the Mage Guild, the Eighth Tier Female Mage sent a message through the small device to Shaoke, ordering him to stop further attacks. Because if he continued attacking, the people from the Mage Guild would send a large number of Seventh Tier Mages to attack his organization.

According to Shaoke's orders, more than sixty Sixth Tier Mages who had left the military were assigned by Shaoke in certain proportions to the areas they controlled. Their main task was to ensure the safety of the merchants and ordinary residents in these areas, and in return, they received a high remuneration or rather tax according to a fixed proportion. Although these mages were not entirely satisfied with such orders, they still accepted Shaoke's appointment because they had no right to resist in any form.

However, by doing so, those mages gained much more freedom to a certain extent, because Shaoke, as their leader, never bothered to check on their specific situations. He only collected some precious magic materials on time and ignored what these mages did or planned to do on a daily basis.

More than half a month passed. Shaoke and the three female spellcasters counted the precious magic materials collected from the merchants, and finally divided them according to a certain proportion. "This is mine," Shaoke said, pointing to the pile of magic materials he had picked. The pile looked small but was very precious. "These are for the other mages," Shaoke nodded at the slightly smaller pile of magic materials. Finally, he fixed his gaze on the smallest pile and said to Mage Roman, "These are for the Blizzard Legion. Hmm! Our situation here is very bad, so we cannot obtain large amounts of magic materials to pay the legion."

Shaoke's words made the three female spellcasters roll their eyes. Only Lan Wei'er, who was unaware of the situation, carefully stroked the gems and crystals, as she liked these shiny things. Mage Roman gently twisted Shaoke's arm and ultimately basically agreed to his distribution. However, she slightly adjusted the proportions, reducing the part belonging to the other mages by more than half. And these were all allocated to Shaoke.

According to Mage Roman's explanation, the Blizzard Legion had paid these mages a large amount of medicine and some magic materials, and when these mages delivered the magic materials to Shaoke and his group, they certainly had deducted some materials. Therefore, there was no need to allocate so many items to them.

After that, things became much simpler. Mage Roman took out the magical communicator given to her by the Blizzard Legion, replenished its energy, and transmitted some basic information about the situation here. Finally, as the mages enjoyed dinner, they waited for the Blizzard Legion's reply.

The reply from the Blizzard Legion did not arrive until late at night. Through the display of the magic item, the legion had made some changes to their team's mission. The mages were to obey the leadership of the Eighth Tier mages within the empire in everything here. After some discussions among the higher-ups, they decided to let that Eighth Tier female mage, who specialized in binding magic, directly lead the team. Moreover, unless necessary, they were no longer allowed to send messages to the Blizzard Legion through this magic item. As for the magic materials, the legion decided not to collect them; instead, the mages themselves would control the distribution, using these materials to further expand their influence here and meet the experimental needs of the mages.

This result satisfied Shaoke and his group very much. Although they were somewhat puzzled by the change in the Blizzard Legion's mission, they did not spend too much time thinking about it. After all, it was a decision made by the high-level people, and they currently had no qualification or ability to understand such matters.

Late at night, following the usual routine, it was the day for trading with the Wandering Mages. This time, Lan Wei'er was left at the manor, protected and watched over by a dozen or so familiar mages, while Shaoke led the three female spellcasters out of the city.

Perhaps due to the somewhat frenzied battles among mages in the previous period, street conflicts had noticeably decreased. But according to what Shaoke learned, those large-scale conflicts had all moved outside the imperial capital. The conflicts here were merely private disputes or fights over plundering valuables.

The green flame staff made some knowledgeable practitioners on the street quickly leave the area, while other practitioners who were unaware of the situation did not recklessly attack Shaoke's team, which was clearly composed of four spellcasters, but instead watched them warily from a distance. Shaoke, however, did not hunt any of these practitioners this time, because Mage Roman had advised him that there was no need to tangle with these low-level practitioners, not only because it would waste time, but also because they had no value.