Chapter 379 Everything Normal for Now

After finishing these trivial matters, Shaoke returned to the underground and continued his experiments, soaking the stone statues in elemental water as usual. During this spellcasting, a black halo once again descended from the crown, merging into the stone statues. Unfortunately, these halos appeared for only a very short time, and each occurrence was brief. Nonetheless, three to five stone statues had strange runes appear on them. Of course, it all happened too quickly for Shaoke to notice.

Once this spellcasting was over, Shaoke selected a stone statue without runes and then proceeded with his spellcasting according to the arcane secrets he had obtained earlier. A six-pointed star magic array appeared beneath the stone statue as Shaoke chanted the spell, and after a short time, the array began to rotate slowly.

As the array turned, the stone statue gradually shrank, and before long, the entire statue turned into a mass of black powder mixed with golden specks, floating in the air. After a brief rest, Shaoke continued his work. He used a special vessel to collect the powder and evenly spread it over the other stone statues. Completing this task took an entire day and night.

As time passed, the powder, mixed with golden light, slowly merged into the stone statues. Under these circumstances, another stone statue developed a few strange runes. Shaoke knew that if he persisted, his experiment might succeed.

Over the following days, all the professionals in the stronghold grew busy. They patrolled the skies in groups or took teleportation arrays to other Wanderers Alliance strongholds. The busiest among them was the Blue-robed Mage. Of course, none of this had anything to do with Shaoke. During this time, members of the Mage Guild came once, but they were all turned into stone statues by Shaoke and used as his experimental subjects. As a result, whenever Shaoke walked outside the mage tower, almost all professionals saluted him with reverence and kept their distance. Shaoke, however, did not care at all.

One day, after Shaoke had once again crushed a stone statue without runes and applied the powder to others, the Blue-robed Mage suddenly sent him a message, calling him to the meeting hall to discuss some matters.

The meeting hall was at the top of the nearly hundred-story mage tower, where all the ninth-rank professionals of the stronghold had gathered. Notably, another ninth-rank professional had arrived. This brought the number of ninth-rank beings in the stronghold to twenty, a testament to their formidable power.

"Everyone, the Mage Guild has now begun attacking our allies. I think we must do something now," the Blue-robed Mage said without preamble, taking out a map that detailed the distribution of various Wanderers Alliances within the Luanyun Empire.

"Gather all Wanderers Alliances and permanently expel the Mage Guild from here," Shaoke said without looking at the map, quickly stating his solution. "I believe they will understand the consequences of the Mage Guild controlling this place." With that, he sat there calmly, spinning his staff in his hands.

The female warrior with the horn glanced at Shaoke with dissatisfaction. Within this stronghold, she was one of the few ninth-rank beings who did not care about Shaoke's power. "What benefit would they have to join the battle? Without benefit, they might as well wait until the conflict is over before acting, which would greatly reduce their losses." With that, she raised her wine glass and drained it.

The Space Mage frowned and said to the Blue-robed Mage, "Let them choose: join our Earth Alliance or be annihilated." His face twisted into a grimace as he added, "We must crush any thought they have of snatching the fruits of victory. No matter the cost, death or joining is their best choice." He then pointed to a few strongholds on the map and added, "These few Wandering Alliances are not far from us or our allies. We cannot allow them to remain neutral."

The Space Mage's words expressed the concerns of all the ninth-rank beings. If those alliances suddenly sided with the Mage Guild during the battle, they would face great difficulties. Of course, if those neutral alliances were powerful enough, they could join forces with the Mage Guild to destroy their families here. If that happened, many families without ninth-rank beings would be permanently wiped out on this continent.

For a time, the group began discussing while pointing at the map. The Blue-robed Mage listened with a frown, while Shaoke closed his eyes and rested quietly in his chair. After a long time, the discussion still hadn't ended, which greatly dissatisfied Shaoke. "Discussion here is of no value. Do you think any so-called strategy can have any effect in this situation? Join or perish—the choice lies with the leaders of those neutral organizations. Don't concern yourselves with their considerations."

"I don't have much time to stay here. Which alliance should we attack? We must decide quickly," Shaoke said with dissatisfaction, pulling his cloak over himself and activating his Mist Spell to obscure his form.

The ninth-rank beings helplessly shook their heads. They knew Shaoke had a strange temper, but they hadn't expected it to go this far. The atmosphere fell silent, until finally the Blue-robed Mage broke the silence. "Let's first rendezvous with people from other alliances, then go together to discuss matters with these neutral alliances." A ruthless expression appeared on her face. "As you said, destroy all who disagree." She then named a few individuals, including Shaoke, who would accompany her to meet with other alliances and carry out the so-called persuasion.

Once the decision was made, there was no delay. Ten ninth-rank beings stayed behind to guard the stronghold, tasked with preventing any surprise attacks from the Mage Guild. Shaoke and the others then took a teleportation array to another alliance. That alliance's gathering point was the Hebrew Wanderers Alliance, known as the "Beauty Country." The Hebrew Empire was one of the few large empires on the continent, with a large number of wanderers. The Blue-robed Mage's fearlessness of the Mage Guild was also due to the support of this empire's wanderers.

Of course, the Maple Leaf Empire's Wanderers Alliance also supported her.

The Hebrew Wanderers Alliance stronghold was many times larger than Shaoke's. However, it was only a massive peak, at least tens of thousands of meters high, with snow already forming on top. Ordinary residents lived at the foot of the mountain, while only professionals of the eighth rank and above could live at the summit. After teleporting, Shaoke and the others arrived directly at the mountain's peak.

The summit had no protective spells, but the ground was carved with countless magic scripts and a large number of arrays. Nearly a hundred eighth-rank practitioners hovered silently in the air, indifferent to the strong winds and snow. At the top, there was a huge hall, extremely ornate, supported by countless stone pillars hundreds of feet tall. Soon, a ninth-rank knight came to greet Shaoke and the others.

"Everyone, welcome," said the knight, riding a fifth-rank Magic Bell Beast, which hovered steadily in the air. The endurance of this Magic Bell Beast was immense; it could run at full speed for dozens of days and nights without tiring. When it ran, a crisp bell sound came from its body, but ordinary residents who heard it could suffer fatal harm.

Though these magical beasts were numerous, they were difficult to tame. Even some powerful knights rarely succeeded in taming a Magic Bell Beast. Of course, some had tried to steal cubs for rearing, but those raised in captivity could not compare to wild ones. Hence, a knight who could obtain such a strange Magic Bell Beast as a mount showed some special ability.

After saluting the knight, Shaoke and the others followed him into the great hall. Just as they entered, several more figures appeared on the teleportation array outside. They were also ninth-rank beings, though fewer in number, only four or five. Nonetheless, the knight still welcomed them warmly according to etiquette and guided them on their way. After all, this was his task. Fulfilling one's task was a basic requirement for every knight.

The hall was large, and Shaoke and the others found themselves in the main chamber. Capable of holding thousands, the space felt empty. However, hundreds of ninth-rank professionals were already there, gathered around a huge round table. With the help of two ninth-rank knights, Shaoke and his group found their seats. Then they sat quietly, waiting for the meeting to start.

Like everyone else, Shaoke began observing the professionals here. He spotted many that he had only read about in books: Illusion Mages, Elemental Mages, Glory Warriors, Glory Knights, and some special professionals such as Star Mages, Word Mages, Law Mages, Necromancers, and even seven or eight Prophet Mages and some Star Curse Mages. Of course, there were many more professions that we won't list here; these will be mentioned gradually later.