Chapter 159 Gains and Items

With the calming effect of the silver light in his meditation space, Shaoke managed to prepare the Elemental Hand spell while rapidly advancing, just before the Fireball reached him. A massive gray hand abruptly caught the fireball, slightly shrunken from mana consumption, and, under Shaoke's control, squeezed it violently. The meeting of the two spells inevitably caused an explosion, scattered flames rained down quickly on the surrounding trees, with some even falling on Shaoke himself. Fortunately, the defensive spell protected him from harm.

Not content to be suppressed by his opponent, Shaoke swiftly left his initial position, ignoring the mental sense still locked onto him, and instead chanted an incantation, preparing Green Flame Manipulation. Boosted by the Ancient Magic Tongue and enhanced by hand techniques, he controlled the spell as precisely as possible. The greenish flames suddenly transformed into dozens of thumb-thick jets, rapidly advancing toward the mage. Obstacles along the way did not affect the spell; the green flames deftly avoided the trees and swiftly coiled around the mage.

The rapidly spreading flames not only obscured the vision of both mages but also assailed their mouths, noses, and eyes due to the thick smoke produced.

The mage failed to cast a spell in time to defend himself, only hastily casting a spell to disrupt before frantically attempting to evade. However, the Green Flame Manipulation did not lose its target due to his evasion; instead, under the lock of Shaoke's mental power, it quickly coiled around the mage.

The fragile defensive spell rapidly collapsed under the scorching flames, and then the dozens of green flames pierced through the mage's robes and cloak, burrowing swiftly into his body as he looked on in terror.

Shortly after, the black-robed mage died amidst miserable screams, his body shrunk by half, presenting a horrifying sight.

Upon confirming the target's death, Shaoke struggled to bend over, unrestrainedly releasing his mental energy to probe his surroundings, then ran toward the mage he had just killed. He needed to obtain a token and leave quickly before the fire spread, aware that other mages might have sensed the conflict.

A black three-pointed star copper badge was taken by Shaoke from the pouch at the original owner's waist. After a brief inspection, confirming it was virtually identical to his own, he placed it in his own pouch, then removed the pouch containing items from the other's waist and hung it on his own.

The other mage, who had been struck against a tree by the wind pillar, was finished off with a Scorching Ray from Shaoke. After confirming his death, Shaoke performed the same actions. Naturally, he felt no unease doing any of this.

Taking advantage of the fire not yet fully spreading, Shaoke, after plundering the valuables from the corpses, picked up speed and ran into the distance, avoiding other mages who might come to investigate.

Swiftly deactivating the other defensive spells on his robe, Shaoke relied solely on the Feather Fall spell attached to his cloak to escape toward the outskirts, while maximally releasing his mental energy to detect his surroundings.

Only after running for a small half of a magic hour did Shaoke gradually slow down. Leaning against a tree to catch his breath, he deactivated the spell on his cloak, keeping only Shadow and Blur active. These spells could somewhat conceal the fluctuations of his mana or mental energy, aiding him in evading searches by other mages.

Detecting no other mages nearby, Shaoke began meditating to recover from his earlier expenditure. A complex three-pointed star magic array quickly formed within his space, and with the addition of silver light, the array accelerated its operation, thereby enhancing recovery efficiency.

Before reaching the limit of his meditation space's endurance, he had fully recovered. Only then did he have the chance to glance back at the battle site. The towering flames had already extinguished, with countless black dots circling in the air. Shaoke recognized them as fire crows, creatures that fed on flames. Whenever a large fire occurred, they would gather in flocks, circling the area, and depart swiftly once the flames vanished.

The two black three-pointed star copper badges bore strange characters at their centers. Shaoke studied them for a while but could not decipher the script. He surmised it was the common writing of the two mages' homeland, similar to his own badge, except his bore the unique script of the Blue Feather Empire.

Carefully placing the two badges into his own pouch, Shaoke forcibly suppressed the urge to inspect the other two mages' pouches, as now was not the time to examine the spoils.

As time passed, the red dots on the magic item representing Blue Feather Empire mages grew increasingly numerous. After adjusting the display range of the magic item, Shaoke found similar situations elsewhere.

Perhaps another mage had also detected Shaoke's location and was moving toward him. However, by evening, Shaoke realized through the item that the distance between him and that mage had only slightly decreased, astonishing him with the vastness of the mission area. He estimated that, if all went smoothly, it would take four or five days of travel to meet that mage.

After killing another second-rank magical beast, Shaoke retrieved its magic crystal and left the area to find a temporary shelter—a shallow pit clearly blasted by a spell. After gathering some weeds and dry leaves to line it, Shaoke hastily ate some rations and planned to rest there.

Before that, he set up sufficient alert wards around the area and began studying the pouches carried by the two deceased mages.

Scattered crystals, one or two unused spell-sealed crystals, some boxes containing medicines, and most importantly, two spellbooks and some spell records. As for other miscellaneous items, Shaoke only took some food and discarded the rest, as carrying them would affect his mobility.

Shaoke briefly examined the two exquisitely crafted spellbooks before placing them, along with the spell records, into his own pouch. Now was not the best time to decipher them. After completing this, he inspected the two spell-sealed crystals. Through interpretation and identification, he found one contained a Fireball spell, and the other a second-rank defensive spell. Briefly wondering why the two mages hadn't used the sealed spells in time, he dismissed such idle speculation, as their original owners were already dead, and knowing the reason wouldn't change anything.

When Shaoke emerged from meditation, dawn was breaking. After a quick stretch, he packed his belongings and resumed his journey toward the approaching mage.

A spell fluctuation—an intense spell fluctuation emanated not far from Shaoke, exciting him. He thought it was another clash between two mages, allowing him to eliminate the survivor after their fight and obtain two more identity badges.

After moving a short distance backward, Shaoke suddenly felt locked by the detector's mana. Thread-like mana swiftly coiled around him, signaling its owner that everything was ready.

Faced with this situation, Shaoke quickly activated all support spells on his robe and cloak, releasing his maximum mental energy to probe and lock onto his opponent along the mana lock. He then took out two rune stones and a fire stone, activating them to float around his head, enhancing mental control and fire power.

Behind a large tree over a thousand meters away, his mental energy quickly locked onto the target, who had already begun preparing an attack spell. Shaoke did not cast any interference spells but instead moved straight toward the mage's direction, beginning to prepare his own spell. This time, he again chose Green Flame Manipulation, the spell he deemed to have the greatest overall power.