Chapter 194: Farewell to the Capital and the Legion

The bleak bugle call sounded for the first time in this small castle. Two mages swiftly retrieved their prepared packs and left the room. Their packs were not large; all important items were stored in the magic bags they carried, while only some necessities for the journey were placed in the external pouches they carried.

Hundreds of mages poured out from every corner of the castle. Black-robed Mages were the most numerous, followed by Golden-robed Mages, with White-robed Mages being the fewest. Of course, there were also mages wearing robes of other colors, though most of them were female. Mage Roman softly informed Shaoke, "After reaching the Fourth Rank, mages here can freely choose the color of their robes, though male mages rarely change theirs."

Among the mage ranks was a tall Bald Officer. When Shaoke looked at him, the officer nodded slightly in his direction and greeted Mage Roman. He then gathered around a Golden-robed female mage and a White-robed Cleric, continuously speaking to them, occasionally bending down to kiss their smooth foreheads. This intimate gesture made the two women blush, but they did not avoid his affectionate actions, instead gazing intently at the man before them.

As time passed, mages with Sixth Rank insignias on their robes appeared, among them a sparse number of Seventh Tier Mages. However, their robes were relatively uniform: all male mages wore black robes, while all female mages wore white robes.

A young officer standing at the front lightly counted the number of people and loudly called out to the Bald Officer. Finally, the Sleazy Officer standing nearby chuckled strangely and had the heavily armored Blizzard Warriors drag him out. Of course, they did this smoothly, as it was not the first time, nor would it be the last.

The mages simply waited quietly. When hundreds of warhorses and a few wide-canopied carriages arrived, the young officer allowed the mages to depart. However, the leader was not him, nor any mage, but that sleazy young officer. This made Shaoke doubt whether he could lead this team well.

A few Clerics boarded the carriages, and Mage Roman temporarily bid farewell to Shaoke, as according to the rules here, she was required to ride in a carriage.

Nearly a hundred Blizzard Warriors did not ride horses but instead carried sabers and heavy shields, following the mages' procession. The Sleazy Officer, under the protection of several Blizzard Warriors, approached the carriages, continuously attempting to converse with the female mages inside, hoping for some flirtatious encounter to arise. Of course, the outcome did not require our consideration, even though he had done this many times before.

Here, Shaoke had no familiar mages, and Mage Yisier was in the same situation. After a brief discussion, they rode their seemingly docile warhorses to the carriage where Mage Roman was, conversing with her inside. Inside were the Bald Officer's two wives and another young Cleric.

Through conversation, Shaoke learned that the bald officer's other wife was a special type of mage who had already successfully specialized, though the specific type was not disclosed to him. Out of respect for her, Mage Roman also did not explain this matter. Mage Yisier, however, conversed with them quite happily. In the end, Shaoke had to distance himself slightly to avoid their incessant discussions.

The procession advanced quickly. The pedestrians on the street showed no surprise at what was happening before them, as they were already accustomed to such situations. The tall Blizzard Warriors followed the procession swiftly without uttering a word, and Shaoke noticed that under these circumstances, not a single warrior unleashed their Aura.

Some children playing on the street shouted loudly at Shaoke and the procession, running hard in hopes of watching a little longer. If not for knowing they could not step onto the central road, Shaoke suspected they would have run right into their procession.

At the wide city gate, the merchants queuing to enter the city quickly made way. Even some larger merchant caravans followed the rules and cleared the path, allowing the Blizzard Legion's procession to exit the city swiftly. The warriors guarding the city gate and some mages quickly stood up, saluted, and watched the procession disappear from sight.

After nearly two magic hours of rapid marching, the procession's speed gradually slowed down. Fortunately, these warhorses ran very steadily, causing Shaoke little difficulty.

After all, at Bloody Fortress, Shaoke could only ride those temperamental warhorses for less than half a magic hour.

A camp stretching for several miles appeared before Shaoke's eyes after rounding a small grove. As the procession continued to approach, a violent magical fluctuation emanated from the camp. A crimson light pillar shot into the sky and exploded, forming scarlet snowflake patterns. At this moment, a Sixth Tier Mage, following the previous method, also released the same Spell, thereby confirming the identity of the procession.

A black torrent rushed out from the camp.

The galloping of thousands of warhorses once again reminded Shaoke of the scene from his first time, though that cavalry also belonged to the Blizzard Legion, it did not seem as spectacular as this one.

At the forefront was a monster covered in black scales, half again as tall as a warhorse, with two forked horns. After identifying it, Shaoke quickly found its description in the low-tier magical beast compendium. A Third Rank magical beast, the Thorn Beast. This type of beast is the mount of choice for most low-tier knights. Although its temper is somewhat fierce, considering its ability to grow to some extent and its proficiency in long-distance running, knights still favor it greatly for these advantages, especially since their battles often involve long-distance assaults.

Behind were nearly a hundred cavalrymen with similar mounts, apparently also part of the knight corps. However, Shaoke could not confirm whether these were the Blizzard Cavalry and Blizzard Knights he had encountered at Bloody Fortress.

The Sleazy Officer straightened his uniform, took out a scroll, and had a warrior protecting him deliver it to the other side, waiting quietly for a response for the first time.

A mage came forward from behind to verify the authenticity of the scroll. Only then did the procession, under the protection of this large-scale cavalry, enter the military camp. During this time, Shaoke continuously felt dozens of gazes probing him, and Mage Yisier beside him experienced the same. Fortunately, Mage Roman had previously told them that this was just a normal protective measure for new members joining the legion and would not occur next time. Therefore, Shaoke did not react excessively.

Under the guidance of some white-armored warriors, the mages orderly proceeded to the tents assigned to them. A large tent could accommodate four mages. This time, Mage Roman did not request to share a tent with Shaoke. Instead, she shared a tent with Mage Yisier and the two wives of the Bald Officer. Shaoke did not voice any disagreement with her choice.

This allocation left Shaoke occupying a tent alone, which secretly relieved him, as he was unaccustomed to living with others.

As night fell, a soldier brought news of a banquet. This banquet was prepared by the Legion Commander for the mages who had been away for two years. Additionally, some newly joined High-rank Warriors of this legion would also participate.

Shaoke did not refuse to attend such an event. After tidying up slightly, he followed the soldier to a massive tent. This tent could easily accommodate over a thousand people. Dozens of tables were arranged into long rows, piled high with exquisite food and fine wine. Hundreds of people engaged in low murmurs here, though the vast majority of the conversation came from the talkative warriors. The mages either sat alone quietly waiting or gathered in small familiar groups of two or three, discussing spell knowledge.

Shaoke quickly spotted Mage Roman among the crowd. She was conversing softly with several female mages. Shaoke's gaze soon caught her attention. She smiled at Shaoke and then continued her conversation. However, her companions keenly noticed this and followed her line of sight to find Shaoke. After looking him over, they resumed their conversation with her.

Everything seemed fine. Not long after the High-rank Mages arrived, new guests appeared at the tent entrance. A tall old man with silver-white hair and neatly groomed beard clearly showed the traces of time left on him. His somewhat wrinkled face looked very stern. His black eyes dutifully scanned the situation inside the tent, finally resting on Shaoke and nodding towards him.

Though somewhat puzzled, Shaoke still performed a Mage Etiquette towards him. The Senior Officer, escorted by several young high-ranking officers, nodded to the surrounding warriors and mages and continued towards the center of the tent.

"I am very pleased that we are gathered here again after two years, and I notice that our mage ranks have grown somewhat this time. Of course, many warriors and knights have also joined our Blizzard 33rd Corps from other legions. I believe everything here will not make you feel overly constrained." The Senior Officer gestured for everyone to quiet down and began his speech. "What is even more worth celebrating is that I have received news: this time, a young Cleric has joined our ranks, and two young mages have decided to change their profession to Alchemists. I believe with your presence, the mages and warriors of the Blizzard 33rd Corps will like it here even more."

The Senior Officer did not speak for too long. After sharing the first toast with the mages, he led several high-ranking officers and left. After all, his work was busy, and it was not suitable to linger here for too long. Everyone had already learned about the situation here on the journey, so they were not dissatisfied with his departure.