Chapter 198: Success and a Brief Account

After the magical fluctuations emanating from the ritual platform vanished, a burst of light suddenly shot forth from the altar, piercing through the female mage Roman without any obstruction. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of these fine threads—the mages couldn't quite make out the exact number. As the pale golden threads entered, Mage Roman began to tremble violently. Spell structures and incantations floated out from her body and were absorbed by the altar.

This situation did not last long. With the emergence of the last of the fourth-tier spell structures, Shaoke knew that the female mage had now lost almost all of her spellcasting abilities. From now on, she could no longer cast the spells she had once mastered. Finally, those pale golden threads swiftly wove an extremely complex magic circle above her. This circle caused Shaoke, who had been watching intently, to feel his meditation space undergo violent turbulence once again. He knew this was because his abilities were insufficient to observe such a formation. He quickly closed his eyes and withdrew the spiritual energy he had been emitting for detection.

Only when he felt the disappearance of the thread-woven circle did Shaoke release his spiritual energy and open his eyes to observe. The wide stone platform was now crisscrossed with dozens of cracks, and the magic circle on it was broken and unusable. The female mage Roman remained as she was at the beginning, with her arms outstretched, tears streaming from her tightly closed eyes. Shaoke did not know whether her tears were due to the sorrow of losing her spellcasting abilities or the joy of a successful class change.

The two black-robed mages floating in the air descended. They carefully examined the female mage's condition using special spells and calmly announced the successful advancement of Mage Roman. This news excited most of the mages present. Of course, Shaoke did not feel particularly excited; he was only pondering whether the female mage's actions were truly worth it.

The legion commander, who had been watching from the side, personally stepped onto the shattered stone platform and wiped the tears from the female mage standing on the altar. "Blessings upon you, my child. You have successfully changed classes," he said before gently kissing her smooth forehead as a gesture of blessing. The two black-robed mages hesitated slightly but also stepped forward to kiss the female mage's forehead and offer their blessings.

"Mage Roman, you have succeeded," the mages said one after another as they stepped forward to congratulate the female mage. When it was Shaoke's turn, the female mage suddenly embraced him and began to weep softly. This drew some envy from the male mages below. Of course, the sleazy officer, who was not allowed to approach and congratulate the female mage, jumped up and down frantically, loudly shouting for Shaoke to let go of her, claiming it was damaging the mages' image. Unfortunately, no one paid him any attention.

After conversing with the now somewhat calmer female mage for a while, the legion commander and the two black-robed mages left. However, the dilapidated altar was also taken away by a high-ranking officer under the legion commander's command. He ignored the powerful magical fluctuations emanating from it; a layer of deep red aura blocked the erosion caused by the altar's magic and the circle.

The mages exchanged a few more brief words with Mage Roman before dispersing. After all, she now needed to quickly familiarize herself with the changes after her class change to better serve the group.

This time, Shaoke followed the female mage Roman to the wooden hut where she lived, and the other three female mages returned with them. Although the sleazy officer was dissatisfied that Shaoke could enter the tents of the female practitioners, he had no right to barge in without an invitation. In the end, the sleazy officer grabbed Shaoke just as he was about to leave and, ignoring the mage's displeasure, quickly whispered something in his ear, letting out a series of low chuckles. This left the clerics and mages somewhat helpless. Although they did not get any information from Shaoke's strange expression, they once again concluded that the officer had said something vulgar. Of course, they did not share their speculation with Shaoke.

Upon returning to the room, Mage Roman nodded to Shaoke and the other companions before sitting on the bed to begin meditation. She now had to check whether some of the abilities after her class change had awakened.

The room shared by Mage Roman and the others was quite large—at least nearly twice the size of the male mages' quarters. Four large beds placed side by side occupied nearly half of the space. There were two fireplaces in the room, with copper pots hanging above them, apparently boiling something. The writing desks placed on one side were spaced apart. The four large writing desks made Shaoke wonder if they could also serve as experimental tables.

Mage Yisier invited Shaoke to sit on a high-backed chair nearby, poured him some wine, and asked him to wait quietly for Mage Roman to finish her meditation and share her experience. Time passed slowly. After waiting for nearly three magic hours, Mage Roman, who had been meditating, finally stopped.

Glancing at her companions and Shaoke, who were staring intently at her, a blush appeared on the female mage's fair face. "What's wrong? Don't you know waiting like this is a waste of time?" As she spoke, the female mage's small foot was grabbed by the white-robed cleric. Although they were close in private, with a male mage present, Mage Roman couldn't help but feel shy.

The mages' playful banter lasted only a short while, as mages possessed strong self-control. At this point, at Shaoke's request, Mage Roman began to describe the changes after her class change.

It turned out that after becoming an alchemist, although the female mage had lost almost all of her spellcasting abilities, she had made significant progress in crafting magic items. At the very least, her success rate had more than doubled, and the consumption during crafting had correspondingly reduced by more than half. Moreover, losing most of her spellcasting abilities allowed class-changed mages to focus more intently on studying the knowledge related to their new class, enabling them to progress more quickly.

Glancing at another golden-robed mage who was listening attentively, Mage Roman smiled and said, "Why don't you change classes too? That way, you'll have greater room for improvement in alchemy." As she spoke, she quickly retracted her small foot because the white-robed cleric had started pinching it again.

The golden-robed mage, another wife of the bald officer, shook her head. "I don't want to change classes for now. I think the process is quite painful. The thought of those golden threads piercing the body makes me feel I couldn't endure that kind of pain." As she spoke, the golden-robed mage touched her small face. Her body was particularly sensitive, and even a little pain was unbearable for her.

After chatting with the female mage for a while longer, Shaoke left. He felt he wasn't suited to stay among these women for too long, especially as their discussions turned to topics unique to women, which made him feel somewhat awkward. Fortunately, Mage Roman understood his situation and did not insist on him staying.

Upon returning to his own quarters, Shaoke carefully recalled the events that had occurred during Mage Roman's class change. He used a pen to record the event in detail in his spell record and then briefly inscribed it on a thin obsidian slate with an engraving knife. After all, this was one of the most important choices in Mage Roman's life.

The recording process was challenging. Many scenes were almost impossible for Shaoke to describe in words, especially the golden threads that appeared on the altar and the spellbooks of the two black-robed mages. He could only use pale language to repeatedly describe them from various angles. As for the magic circles, he had no way to depict them and could only sketch the few circles he recognized, providing detailed explanations of their interconnections.

The recording work lasted for several days. During this time, the female mage only visited briefly once, spending the rest of her time in her room consolidating the changes brought about by her class change. She had no time to stay with Shaoke. Of course, neither of them minded, as after becoming a fourth-tier mage, with proper care, they still had long lifespans ahead.

On this day, Shaoke finally completed the record of the events during the class change. He wrapped the slate in a box made of high-quality ironwood and stored it in his magic bag. Only then did he have the time to go outside and look around.

The camp had returned to its usual tranquility. A few low-rank mages were outside exchanging knowledge about spells, while the fourth-tier mages and those of higher ranks were nowhere to be seen. Shaoke guessed they were, like him, recording the details of this class change. After all, such an event was not something ordinary mages could encounter, and such records could greatly help mages understand some profound magical knowledge.

When the second-tier mages noticed Shaoke coming out, they gathered around after some discussion, hoping to receive guidance from this fourth-tier mage. Of course, they were unaware of what kind of mage Shaoke was; otherwise, at their level, they would never have sought his advice on spell-related issues. Fortunately, this time Shaoke did not refuse their questions and answered each one for the mages.

Just as he was answering the questions of these young mages, a soldier rushed into the mages' camp. "Mage Xueye, the legion commander requests your presence immediately. There is a matter requiring your assistance," the soldier said, quickly identifying Shaoke. After all, his attire was the most unique here, and the peculiar staff with its never-ceasing green flame made it easy for the soldiers to recognize him.

After taking the pale blue scroll with a snowflake imprint handed to him by the soldier, Shaoke quickly recognized it as an official command document from the legion. He bid farewell to the mages, returned to his room to pack a few things, and then mounted his horse to head toward the legion commander's location. Just as he was leaving the camp entrance, he encountered two other mages and proceeded toward the destination together with them.