Chapter 317 Merely Some Instances

These mages had abandoned their solitary robbery methods and often formed groups to engage in frenzied plundering. Especially the teams composed of Seventh Tier Mages. They conducted even more frenzied raids in surrounding countries. It was said that one team not only occupied a small crystal mine controlled by a merchant in the Desasi Empire but also gathered a large number of ordinary merchants to form a loose merchant caravan, thereby using the caravan to collect magic materials for exchange with Shaoke for potions or magical knowledge.

According to the agreement with the Death Mage Corps, Shaoke did not teach these Wandering Mages any spells belonging to the Death Mage Corps. However, with the permission of the military department, some ordinary military spells were passed on, though not in large quantities. Fortunately, most of these mages preferred to exchange potions, so no serious problems arose.

As for those mages who liked to study magic items, magic arrays, or other more obscure fields, Shaoke recruited them at any cost. The five-story mage tower he had first built was opened to these mages except for the top floor, and he even provided them with some potions for their research. This also allowed him to conveniently harvest the fruits of their research.

However, the consumption of research items was enormous from any perspective. One-third of the magic materials Shaoke obtained through trade were consumed by these mages, while the rest was stored by Shaoke to prepare for the construction of a larger mage tower in the future.

One day, as usual, Shaoke completed all his daily tasks and then studied the Fallen Horn on the top floor of the mage tower.

This time, the scene shocked Shaoke deeply. The images were very blurry and different from before. A large number of Giant Beasts, hundreds of meters tall, gathered together, frenziedly charging forward. Even if there were huge cracks and magma on the ground, the beasts regularly used their horns to release golden beams, thereby calming the cracks.

Shaoke roughly estimated that there were hundreds of these frenzied beasts. After a long run, they finally reached a huge canyon. As the blurry images revealed, a towering figure stood in the canyon. Judging by its shape, Shaoke quickly determined that this enormous, unusual figure was a woman. She was nearly a thousand meters tall, holding a huge wooden club, and she swung it to meet the beasts. At that moment, Shaoke noticed that behind the female figure, seven or eight other equally tall figures charged toward the beasts.

Golden light enveloped the beasts, and they crazily rammed into the giants. It was a pure collision of brute force; the beasts did not release the golden beams they had used against enemies before. Although the collisions made no sound, Shaoke could still sense their intensity.

As the beasts crashed into the giants, the huge canyon partially collapsed. The melee began. The giants grabbed the beasts, threw them, and forcibly tore off their horns. Of course, the beasts' frantic attacks also injured the giants. At least the leading woman was knocked to the ground by the beasts, which tore off chunks of flesh.

The battle ended quickly, and the images grew even more blurred. When the last beast's thirteen horns were pulled off by the female giant, the images were almost gone. At that moment, the female giant suddenly waved the horn in her hand, easily shattering the lightning that had just fallen from the sky. Then she quickly used the horn to trace patterns in the air while speaking some strange language. The lightning disappeared, and the earth, which had been erupting with magma, closed again. Shaoke was then forcibly ejected.

This exploration left Shaoke with the most profound impression that humans had existed on this planet even before the Primeval Age. The people of that era possessed immense power, capable of closing earth fissures and dispelling lightning in the sky. Shaoke became obsessed with the pattern the woman had traced in the air with the beast's horn. He tried to memorize the pattern to improve his understanding of Spell Structure.

However, several attempts were disappointing. As he repeatedly recalled the pattern, it quickly disappeared from his memory. In the end, he only remembered that the towering female gestured in the air a few times, uttered a string of words, and everything else was blurred.

Frustrated, Shaoke withdrew from his meditation. Only then did he realize his head ached terribly. The pain made him want to collapse. Alarmed, he entered his meditation space again and began to meditate, hoping to alleviate the pain.

This meditation told Shaoke that the situation was dire. The huge altar floating in the center of his meditation space had developed many cracks, and even the Ancient Magic Script embedded in it had shattered. Some Arcane Fire continuously burned into those cracks, and this burning was the source of his headache.

Fortunately, Shaoke discovered that the burning of the Arcane Fire was actually repairing the cracks. Otherwise, he wouldn't have known how to redirect the fire to avoid the pain.

After several checks, no other abnormalities were found, allowing Shaoke to relax. He guessed that the cracks on the altar were closely related to the female giant's final actions. Of course, this was mere speculation, as everything in the horn was just images. Nevertheless, Shaoke was shocked by the power of that woman and the beasts.

Even in the memories of a giant beast that had been dead for who knows how many eras, those images could still inflict such harm on him—something no current mage could achieve. He even doubted whether the legendary figures themselves possessed such strength.

Perhaps due to the silver light mixed in the Arcane Fire, the cracks on the altar were completely repaired after just over a magic hour. However, this had cost Shaoke a great deal of energy. Fortunately, the precious fruits grown in the Cleric's mage tower had started to bear fruit, so he had plenty to use as medicine. Thus, his energy was quickly restored.

Shortly after recovery, the small scepter Shaoke kept on him began to tremble—a signal from the Eighth Tier Female Mage calling him.

Shaoke did not dare to delay and quickly activated the small scepter using an Arcane Secret. A figure appeared on the purple crystal at the tip of the scepter—the Eighth Tier Female Mage in her blue robe.

"Mage Xueye, come to the academy now, to the mage tower you control. We have some matters that require a group discussion," the Eighth Tier Female Mage said unhurriedly after Shaoke paid his respects. This time, Shaoke noticed that her attire was different—she wore a small, exquisite crown on her head, adorned with twelve peculiar gems. When he looked at it a bit longer, he felt dizzy.

The Eighth Tier Female Mage quickly noticed Shaoke's anomaly. She frowned slightly, removed the crown, and then reminded Shaoke again before closing the scepter communication, as she still had to notify others for the meeting.

After the Eighth Tier Female Mage's image vanished, Shaoke sat in his chair, pondering. He felt that the crown on the female mage's head must have come from the underground space they had explored two years earlier. What puzzled him was that he hadn't noticed where she obtained it, as the rooms they had entered were for storing magic materials, books, and herbs. Unless the crown had been hidden among those items. Shaoke frowned, deep in thought.

Since he had started gaining insights from the Fallen Horn's images, he felt that many things he dealt with now relied on intuition, which rarely led him astray. He didn't think his current guess was wrong. Of course, he lacked the ability to verify it.

After a short rest to dispel the somber mood brought by the horn's desolate scenes, Shaoke began preparing the essentials for departure.

Cape, staff, magic bag, pouch, and other odds and ends were quickly prepared. Then, wrapping himself in his cape, he left the mage tower and headed for the Fallen Academy, which had only been built a few years earlier.

Perhaps because no wars were occurring between the empires, many small merchants had gathered in the Fallen Capital. Some ordinary citizens had also moved there under the decrees of the major empires. Most of them didn't mind the relocation, as living conditions here were much better than in small villages or towns. At least here, they didn't have to worry about bandits or wild beasts from the forests attacking them. Of course, some residents were dissatisfied because they had to leave their beloved land and could no longer farm. Fortunately, there was plenty of work to keep them from falling into poverty.

The carriage Shaoke rode in moved slowly, giving him ample time to observe the changes on the streets. He believed that by observing the streets, he could gauge the living conditions of ordinary citizens in the Blue Feather Empire's controlled territory.

Of course, the result did not disappoint him—at least for now.