Chapter 294 Forceful Expulsion and Demands

Mage Xueye (Snow Night Mage), are mages the only ones who read books?" The fat merchant from the Naxi Family looked at Shaoke with dissatisfaction, rapidly spinning an item similar to a scepter in his hand. It seemed that if Shaoke could not give him a satisfactory answer, today's matter would not end like this.

Shaoke paid no attention to what the Naxi Family's local leader said, nor did he bother about the gazes of leaders from other organizations or alliances. He took a small sip of red wine and said, "Since everything settled down here six years ago, the friends and lords present have jointly established rules for the areas under our Blue Feather Empire forces' control. I think in just five or six years, no one should have forgotten them!" Having said that, Shaoke waved his hand to signal the fat merchant from the Naxi Family to sit down, but the other man ignored him, still standing there staring at him oddly.

After a brief pause, Shaoke looked at the fat man and twitched the corner of his mouth, saying, "In the areas we control, any form of fighting, plundering, or extortion is prohibited." At this, Shaoke suddenly raised his voice, "Every one of us abides by this most basic rule, but this year I have discovered that within the area controlled by the Naxi Family, this rule has been changed." He then shifted his gaze to the fat man and said, "Have you never read a book? The more chaotic our controlled areas become, the fewer wealthy people will come here to do business or live. Do you want our controlled areas to return to the situation of many years ago?" Having said this, Shaoke fell silent, knowing that everything had succeeded.

Shaoke's words made the faces of the people from other organizations and alliances turn grim. After all, since the most basic rule of forbidding nighttime conflicts and other rules were established, their gains here had increased significantly, and they had consumed much less manpower. More importantly, the area under their control had expanded greatly, earning them some rewards from the empire's high authorities. If this rule is broken for the first time, there would be a second time, and such a prospect worried them.

"Is that so?" An Eighth-order Practitioner who had been sitting in his chair with eyes closed suddenly opened them wide and glared fiercely at the Naxi Family's local leader. "If what that mage said is true, you can take your people and leave here right now; this place will not allow you to stay even one more day." After saying that, the practitioner glanced at his peers and quickly received their agreement.

"It was just a small misunderstanding," the fat merchant said anxiously. "There will definitely be no next time. Killing that wandering scholar that time was really just an accident." Having said that, the merchant turned his pleading gaze towards several alliance leaders who had previously had good relations with him, but they all averted their eyes.

"Your subordinates did not just kill one scholar; they also killed many small-scale mercenary groups. If I remember correctly, within the area under your jurisdiction, the taxes you levied on merchants were twice as much as what we levied." At this point, Shaoke raised his voice again. This made Mage Roman, who was sitting behind him, inwardly frown. She noticed that this male mage had become even more unscrupulous than before.

In the obsidian hall, silence fell once again. The fat merchant frowned deeply. After receiving no help from anyone, he shook his head in disappointment. "What I've done is nothing compared to the severity of your arrival here." Having said that, the fat merchant bowed slightly to the several Eighth-order Practitioners, indicating that he would lead his men away from the Fallen Imperial Capital that very night, and then he left. He knew he had no ability to argue. Since the other party already knew, no matter how well he concealed the traces, the Eighth-order beings here had ways through spells or other arcane secrets to reconstruct what had happened that day. Rather than that, it was better to take his people and leave now.

The departure of a family did not cause much sorrow among the others; on the contrary, they were very happy that another organization had withdrawn. Only in this way could they gain more control area, thereby obtaining more benefits and possibly facing some rewards from the higher authorities in the future. As for the matter of fighting against the forces of other empires, they selectively forgot about it, after all, the Naxi Family was considered the weakest among them.

Shaoke placed a map drawn on paper on the large table in the center, then pointed out the area controlled by the Naxi Family and began discussing with the others how to divide the other party's possessions. Of course, under the supervision of the high-order beings, this division was completed quickly. At least, before Mage Roman beside him could finish a glass of wine, everyone had already divided the area through exchanges or purchases and various other methods. Finally, following Shaoke's proposal, all the leaders left the banquet early to take over their new territories.

The departure of these leaders did not mean that the Eighth-order Practitioners would leave. After those people left, they all stood up and gestured for Shaoke to lead them to see the newly built laboratory. They had long known that Shaoke was building this, but they hadn't expected him to make improvements this time. This time, they came to inspect the specific results of the improvements.

The high-order practitioners did not try to test the defensive spells inside the stone tower. Instead, holding the stone tokens that Shaoke had given them, they slowly followed him upward. Along the way, two Eighth-order Mages took an interest in examining the magical array carvings on the surrounding walls. After finding no unusual changes, they remained silent, because according to Shaoke, the changes to the laboratory were only made in the central control room; the rest was just adding some defensive magic arrays and traps. These things, given some time, mages proficient in magic arrays could easily add them.

The observation of the third floor ended quickly. The results disappointed the Eighth-order Practitioners greatly. It turned out that this design method had already been designed tens of thousands of years ago. However, because it consumed twice as much magic materials as the previous one, the higher-ups had rejected this design.

After obtaining this result, Shaoke shrugged helplessly. Finally, after apologizing to the several Eighth-order Practitioners, he personally saw them off. However, the Eighth-order Blue-robed Female Mage stayed temporarily, as she still had some matters to discuss with Shaoke, matters that required his personal help.

"Honorable Mage, is there anything I can do for you?" Shaoke noticed the hesitation of the Blue-robed Female Mage and quickly began to ask.

"This kind of tower you built, can you design it to be a bit taller? Hmm! Just about a hundred or more times taller than the current tower." The Blue-robed Female Mage hesitated for a moment and quickly stated her thoughts. "I want you to design a high tower like this for me. Can you do it?" After saying that, she quietly looked at Shaoke, her light blue eyes appearing so clear.

The request of this Eighth-order Confinement Mage surprised Shaoke greatly, and even Mage Roman beside him was astonished; she did not know why the other party needed such a tall stone tower. Of course, neither of them asked, as they were not qualified to do so.

"Honorable Mage." Shaoke looked somewhat uncertainly at the high-rank mage before him. If what she said was followed, the stone tower would be over a hundred meters tall. "If that's the case, the amount of magic materials consumed would be prohibitively large." At this, Shaoke quickly stated the consumption of his own five-story stone tower, then quietly waited for her reply. He did not believe that this Eighth-order Female Mage could immediately produce so many precious magic materials for the construction of a stone tower.

"One hundred years." After thinking briefly, the Eighth-order Blue-robed Female Mage quickly stated her decision. "In one hundred years, you must design a high-rank stone tower for me. Hmm! Remember, the stone tower must have Eighth-order magic arrays carved on it." Having said that, the female mage frowned and fell into thought.

"We have no ability to carve Eighth-order magic arrays on the stone tower," Shaoke answered quickly. "If according to your request, carving magic arrays on the stone tower requires a large number of Eighth-order Spellcasters." He then added, "The design of the stone tower is actually very simple." After that, Shaoke fell silent because he noticed that the female mage was looking at him with a dissatisfied expression.

"I'm just asking you to modify it according to the energy supply system of a large laboratory. If you succeed, I will give you a substantial reward." At this, the female mage suddenly sighed, "If those people had continued designing back then, I wouldn't have to wait a hundred years." After saying that, she let out a long sigh.

Then the female mage described in detail the stone tower she wanted to Shaoke, and finally took a thick book from the ring on her finger and handed it to him. "This contains some construction design principles for large laboratories. I believe you can manage it." After that, she quietly waited for the male mage's reply. She actually did not understand the structural design of such things, nor did she want other high-rank mages to study it. Because such research would take a considerable amount of time, and none of the high-order beings would spend that kind of time. Of course, she also decided to have some high-rank mages from the Bloody Fortress conduct research in this area as well; if possible, she felt that the construction time might be greatly shortened.

"As you command." Thinking that he would also build such a stone tower in the future, Shaoke readily agreed. "Honorable Mage, but designing such a thing requires a lot of time and magic materials, and right now I have no magic materials at all." Having said that, Shaoke looked at the female mage awkwardly. Fortunately, she understood his difficulty and then told him that she would prepare some experimental magic materials for him later, which greatly relieved Shaoke.