Chapter 396 The Mage’s Disappointment (Merry Christmas)

They embraced each other and sat casually on the ground. When the cooks came over again, they invited the mages to dine. By then, it was already time for the evening meal.

One day, while the mage was diligently interpreting some other books, the Blue-robed Female Mage sent him a message. She said that construction on the station was about to begin, and all professionals above the Eighth-order had to participate. At Shaoke's request, Mage Roman and the White-robed Cleric did not go. They stayed behind not only to research and develop some magic items with the Alchemists but also to teach the young children necessary knowledge. Of course, under Shaoke's direction, the mage station also recruited some physicians who gave the young children detailed lessons on physiological knowledge, emphasizing its importance.

Although the three female mages were unhappy about Shaoke leaving, his reassurances convinced them to let him join the construction work. Lan Wei'er and Anling also participated in it. Naturally, some necessary Eighth-order Practitioners remained stationed at the Blue Feather Empire's Wanderers Alliance station to prevent external mercenaries from causing trouble. However, ever since the empire was established, Eighth-order and above professionals had frantically destroyed numerous mercenary bands that engaged in wanton killing and unethical practices within the empire, as well as merchants who hoarded goods and raised prices. As a result, the security environment in the Barbarian Empire had improved significantly. Thus, these Eighth-order Practitioners mainly served a preventive role.

In the designated area, more than a dozen giant teleportation arrays floated in the air, supported by stone slabs. Shaoke and the others arrived there through these arrays. By then, tens of thousands of professionals above the Eighth-order had gathered. Unfortunately, however, the highest-ranked among them were Ninth-order beings. Those of the Tenth-order and above had either gone elsewhere or, bound by rules set by higher beings, remained hidden in their stations, not daring to leave casually. Of course, if special circumstances arose, these high-level professionals would still act.

Massive piles of magic materials were scattered haphazardly on the ground. Some mages had already gathered to begin sketching the formation. These formations were used for basic construction, creating mountain peaks on the flat land. Meanwhile, warriors and other professionals, following the suggestions of planners, set out to hunt magical beasts or search for basic materials in mountain ranges within other empires.

After obtaining blueprints and tasks from the planners and construction technicians in charge of station planning, Shaoke and his group began working. Although they were all Eighth or even Ninth-order professionals, they had to follow the advice of architects and scholars who were less powerful than them.

Because the station was planned to be extremely large, the formation inscription consumed a great deal of time. A warrior used his weapon to break the ground, swiftly cutting a deep crack more than a person's height, following the lines on the blueprint. Then mages used spells to stabilize the outline. After that, other mages began inscribing magic script and drawing formations within the stabilized lines.

Simply drawing the basic formation pattern took the group nearly half a year. Although the number of mages was high, the area of this formation was enormous—dozens of times larger than the empire's station. Of course, the resulting station would also be dozens of times larger.

After this work, all professionals except the mages were sent to other empires to gather magic materials and capture magical beasts. Meanwhile, Shaoke and the other mages added various magic materials to the magic script and patterns within the deep trench. This work continued until a year later, when it was finally completed. After that, all spellcasters floated in the air at designated positions and, at a signal, began chanting the incantation together.

As the incantation was chanted, countless magic scripts condensed from the sky, falling into the person-deep trench and merging with the scripts and formations already there. This process lasted for an entire magic hour before everyone stopped spellcasting. The trench, which had been person-deep, now appeared much stronger, radiating powerful magical energy.

During his spare time, when Shaoke released his spiritual detection to probe heaven and earth, he found that the number of captured images from previous spellcasters had increased significantly. He recorded these details carefully. Of course, other spellcasters also engaged in such perception activities after finishing their trivial tasks. The images they detected were eventually recorded and handed over to designated people, who would organize them into books for future generations. Naturally, this was a lengthy task, but everyone believed that as time passed, every alliance and every family would grow stronger.

Whenever they finished processing magical materials and magical beast blood, the mages would float in the air and continue chanting the same incantation. This continued for a full year before the work temporarily paused. By then, the person-deep trench had turned into a crystalline structure, appearing very beautiful. When viewed from the air for a long time, even Shaoke, who possessed strong spiritual power, would feel dizzy. This powerful formation was constructed by linking hundreds of thousands of identical small formations using inscription techniques.

One day, while Shaoke was in his tent teaching his two daughters some spell knowledge and sharing insights gained from inscribing the formations, the Blue-robed Female Mage and the alliance's only female warrior entered his room. "Mage Xueye, something has happened to Mage Meigan," Mage Roman said quickly. "Some time ago, they went to a forest in the Yisage Empire to capture high-level magical beasts, but they clashed with a family there. That family was very powerful. They injured Mage Meigan and killed seven or eight Eighth-order Spellcasters from our alliance." The female mage added, "I think we can't just let this slide. That family must compensate us adequately, and the Yisage Empire must pay a price as well."

"Therefore, all alliances have agreed that we must prepare enough Ninth-order beings and then go to the Yisage Empire," the female warrior, who carried a horn, continued the Blue-robed Female Mage's topic. Clearly, war was about to break out again. Shaoke did not agree immediately but instead hesitated and asked a counter-question.

"Is it because we lack sufficient magic materials for building the station, so you decided to resort to robbery?" he asked, staring intently at the Blue-robed Female Mage. He didn't want her to deceive him in such matters.

The female mage nodded. "Yes. Although we had prepared for this station's construction, all the magic materials from every alliance combined only sufficed to complete a tenth of it. We have no other choice: either we, the Ninth-order beings, gather materials ourselves, or we find a reason to wage war and plunder."

"The Yisage Empire is too far from us. Would other empires allow us to pass if we mobilized large armies? And would they allow us Ninth-order beings to pass through?" Shaoke asked, standing up and gesturing for the Blue-robed Female Mage to step outside for a private conversation.

However, he stopped Lan Wei'er and Anling from following, telling them to stay inside and continue recording his knowledge.

"Those aren't the issues. The problem is that we Ninth-order beings all have an obligation to participate in this war," the female warrior added. "If everything goes smoothly, we will receive an extra share of the magic materials obtained there." She glanced at the Blue-robed Female Mage and continued, "The operation begins in three days. I'm just here to inform you in advance." With that, she left first.

Shaoke stood quietly outside the tent. The weather here was not as cold as in the Blue Feather Empire; it was quite warm. Yet at that moment, the mage tightly wrapped himself in his cloak, as if afraid the warm breeze would hurt him. The Blue-robed Female Mage sighed, embraced him tightly, kissed his forehead, and then left without saying a word.

"Father?" Sensing Shaoke's bad mood, Anling came out of the tent. She removed his hat and tidied his disheveled long hair, saying, "Wearing this hat doesn't look good. Let me and my sister trim your hair. It's almost dragging on the ground." She then pulled him into the tent without asking why he was upset.

The two daughters did not cut his long hair short but carefully trimmed it, making it look much smoother. Shaoke sat silently, brooding over what had just happened. He realized that everything he had hoped for had not materialized, nor had what the Blue-robed Female Mage wanted. Perhaps many wanderers like him had also failed to achieve their desires. Thinking this, the mage looked at his two daughters, told them he was going out, kissed and blessed them, then left the tent. He floated into the air and flew slowly into the distance. Lan Wei'er wanted to follow, but Anling stopped her.

"Father doesn't want us to come. Let's stay here and study diligently. We need to advance to Ninth-order Mage as soon as possible so we can help him," Anling said. She then returned to her seat and continued recording and understanding the knowledge Shaoke had imparted.