Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
On the twentieth of October, Abel traveled to Liante City.
It was especially crowded on this particular day. All the big organizations had sent men to come over here. Their motives differed. Some of them wanted to say goodbye to Abel, while others just wanted to make sure Abel was really planning on leaving the Holy Continent. Whatever the case, they all came to Liante City.
Three rank seventeen advanced wizards from the Lianty City branch waited outside of the circle. They were Wizard Lorenzo, Wizard Allenby, and Wizard Eddington. They all had smiles on their faces as they welcomed Abel’s arrival. They were very proud to have delivered a very talented advanced wizard to the center of the continent. If nothing went wrong, he would surely be of great use. Not just that, while Abel was capable of using lightning spells, he had yet to actually join the lightning clan. It’d be very promising if he was to join forces with them.
Wizard Lorenzo made a wizard’s bow, “Welcome, Wizard Abel.”
On a day such as this, he was not going to treat Abel as the emperor of the Kingdom of St. Ellis. Rather, he would think of him as an apprentice wizard preparing to leave the Holy Continent. They had been quite curious to have found someone with such achievement at the early age of less than twenty. It was quite rare, in fact, even by the record of the entire continent’s history.
Abel returned a wizard’s bow, “We’ve met again! A pleasure to have your help this time.”
Wizard Lorenzo laughed out loudly, “No worries, haha! You know what? We’d love it if there were advanced wizards who wanted to use our teleportation circle every single day! This is perfectly fine for us!”
Usually, only one advanced wizard would come out of the Holy Continent every few decades. If the advanced wizards were willing to leave the Holy Continent, most of them wouldn’t even choose to head to the central continent due to its danger. They’d rather enjoy a comfortable lifestyle where they were born and raised. Even without anyone paying them tributes, they could still find themselves in a comfortable position without necessarily serving any organization. This way, even those who passed the Miracle City tests would not want to leave the Holy Continent. It became so bad that the act of opening the teleportation circle was starting to feel like some sort of accomplishment.
Abel couldn’t help but sneer at his surroundings, “I’ve noticed that there are a lot of people that are concerned with me leaving the Holy Continent.”
Wizard Lorenzo replied in a reassuring tone, “The Liante City Wizard Union branch has always been a neutral organization, Wizard Abel, but don’t worry. The three of us are here to guarantee that all your interests here are protected.”
Wizard Allenby and Wizard Eddington said as well, “We’ve got you covered, Wizard Abel.”
Abel smiled and replied, “Thank you! I’ll remember the good things that you’ve done to me.”
Instead of using their ‘instantaneous movement” techniques, they all walked towards the Liante City Wizard Union building. This was a tradition here. As they trekked on, all the wizards that lived here would come out and say farewell to them. On this particular day, however, there had been many non-wizards that joined the spectators.
Abel kept smiling the entire time. He could tell that there were quite a lot of those with ill intentions, but he didn’t mind too much. There had been fewer people that followed them ever since they started walking. As the back half of the Wizard Union was a mana-filled environment, it became increasingly hard for non-wizards to enter. As for the wizards, only those who served the Wizard Union were allowed to enter for free, while the less senior ones would have to pay points to make an entrance.
They soon reached the inner part of Liante City. The mana was very thick here. It was actually just like the wizard community that was outside Harry Castle. This was even more shocking because many, many more wizards were here. It’d be very hard to keep such a high concentration of mana when so many people were absorbing the mana here. The large-sized mana gathering circle here must be much superior to the one at Harry Castle.
The assumption turned out to be right. Once Abel stepped outside the Lianty City Wizard Union, he could see thirty-six magic towers that were all about fifteen floors. Together, they formed a massive circle meant for producing and recycling an entire atmosphere of mana.
The towers themselves were unique; they were for rent and not for sale. Both the wizards and some head knight commanders would pay a fee to commence their training there.
Wizard Lorenzo introduced them to Abel, “Those super teleportation circles cost way too much, Wizard Abel, so we had to resort to setting this super-large spell circle. The thirty-six towers are for wizards that needed to use them daily. If there was a need to use the teleportation circle, they would form a massive mana-gathering circle to provide the needed energy.”
Abel said in awe as he wondered at the massive structure, “That’s a lot of work, I see.”
He was rich enough to afford the thirty-six fifteen-level magic towers, but the skill to build such a large circle was an entirely different story. This was not something that could be bought with wealth. Only the spell circle grandmasters could create such a super-large circle, but in all his time on the Holy Continent, he had never heard or seen any spell circle grandmasters. They must have come here from outside.
So, the Wizard Union was definitely the wealthiest organization in the entire world. Whether it was the Alchemy Union or the Blacksmith Union, no one was richer than the Wizards. The wizards possessed the most militarily advanced technologies and all the crucial resources on this earth. This could be seen from their fortresses. In the very center of the thirty-six towers, magic stone magic appeared right in the center of the whole Liante City. This was where no one other than the three guardian wizards would dare to come in.
The stone building was a sanctuary that was reserved only for its most worthy members. Anyone who tried to get close to it would either be killed by the large circles, or they’d be arrested by the law enforcing wizards for just trying to take a sneak peek. This was the safest place in all of Liante City. It could even be said that Liante City was built just for it. All the wizards and knights here had an obligation to serve this building.
The three guardian wizards stopped as they came to the door.
Wizard Lorenzo said to Abel, “I’ll be sending you here, then, Wizard Abel. Make sure you stand in the middle of the circle once you make your way in. I would advise you to use every defensive spell that you have. The super teleportation circle does put a lot of strain on your body.”
“Thanks for the advice, Wizard Lorenzo,” Abel said, then put a frozen armor on himself. Aside from ice crystal armor, he also unleashed an “energy shield” spell that surrounded his entire body. A golden spell ball appeared on his head when he was done.
“So that’s what the lightning wizards can do!”
The three wizards are quite jealous of Abel this time. They could also use the “frozen armor,” but since they didn’t possess the talent to use lightning spells, they couldn’t cast the “energy shield” spells even if they wanted to. Apart from possessing the right element to cast it, there was also the problem with not having enough talent to actually learn such advanced spells.
The “energy shield” was pretty much the lightning clan’s most signature defensive spells. While advanced wizards could master them through practice, if they did not naturally possess the lightning element, the effect would not be as powerful.
Abel watched the door that was in front of him. He could clearly see that there was an identification circle over there. Once he placed his wizard badge over it, a white light flashed across it and read all the inside. The message was then sent to Liante City to be verified. The entire process took about twenty seconds in total. The door opened slowly after a very strict checking procedure.
Abel walked inside the door. He could see that there was a gigantic square hall that was empty. There were countless very complicated circle runes on the ground that created a massive circle that was right in the middle of this hall. This was the super teleportation circle of Liante City. He saw the spell circle in front of him, and he couldn’t help but admire the grand operation. Whoever built this must’ve thought through a lot as to try creating as much space as possible for drawing the spell rune.
As ordinary as the floor tiles seemed, Abel could tell that each of them was quite precious themselves. This was because he could tell that they were made with circle alchemy ingredients. The alchemists that made them had to take a lot of time to make sure that each of them was the right density and weight and all that. He wasn’t all that familiar with this kind of material (most of what he read was public information made by the dwarves), but he could see the value behind them. It wasn’t just the cost of making these. The ones who made these definitely had to take a lot of time to sort them through clearly.
Abel observed the super teleportation circle very closely. He thought that if he could remember their pattern, it’d be possible for him to make his own shortly. He gave up on the idea pretty quickly, though. The super teleportation circle’s spell rune was just too completed. It wasn’t just one layer, either. All he could see was the topmost layer, but upon a closer look, he could see that there was a numbered circle sign that stretched to the layer that was underneath. And just when he thought about analyzing it, the wizards inside all thirty-six magic towers were already teleported outside.
The teleportation was done actively and not passively. This meant that more energy expenditure was needed. All thirty-six magic towers must do everything possible to ensure a constant supply of mana. The Liante spirit itself hosted the whole process. Due to the extreme level of complexity of the super spell circle, most ordinary wizards wouldn’t be capable of controlling the circle well enough themselves.
When the process began, thirty-six mana tornadoes appeared in the sky above Liante City. The mana gathering circles were switched on. The wizards nearby could clearly feel a loss of mana that was in the air. It’s not like the mana was leaking elsewhere, but the magic towers were sucking them in like crazy. Once the magic towers’ spell runes started flashing, golden lights could be seeing channeling through them. The golden lights became more plentiful as the mana started to gather. Eventually, the entire surface of the magic towers was covered in gold.
Once all thirty-six magic towers were filled with mana, they simultaneously activated the spell circle, generating thirty-six golden lightning pillars that emitted straight to the central building. Abel was standing right at the center of the super teleportation circle. He could feel that the entire building was trembling. The circle runes of the super teleportation circle began to flash under a golden light.
Dimensional cracks were starting to appear in the space around him. He really felt like escaping with his “instantaneous movement” spell. He wasn’t going to right away, though, because he felt that they wouldn’t appear right in the central area that he was standing at. He was just starting to grasp the type of materials that this building used, by the way. The name was dimensional rock. It was a special kind of stone material that was resistant against dimensional cracks.
After figuring out what stone this was, Abel became much less confident in creating a super teleportation circle. He couldn’t believe that there was a building that was made entirely with dimensional rock. “It’s like I’m a beggar who’s too poor to even imagine being rich,” he thought. Nevertheless, while he was too occupied with random thoughts inside his head, the super teleportation circle beneath him was already filled with golden energy. All the spell runes were starting to emit golden light.
A sharp, piercing noise swept through the air. It was like the energy of the entire hall was starting to go crazy.
Boom.
A wormhole appeared right out of Abel’s body. It was fairly strange. The wormhole quickly appeared and disappeared very quickly. When it disappeared, Abel also disappeared from the super teleportation circle. He could feel that the air in front of him was starting to go pitch black. The next thing he knew, he appeared in a channel that was full of glowing light. He tried to use his power of the Will for a scan, but he found that his power of the Will was somehow locked inside his body.
He had to resort to just his vision to observe this light-glowing channel. It felt surreal to him because, as a wizard, he trusted his power of the Will more than his own eyes.
After a second or an hour, whatever the case, he realized something, he couldn’t calculate the time he spent inside even if he had the world stone fragment’s ability. His eyes began to glow when he appeared in the middle of a super teleportation circle that was just as large. When he stepped on the ground, he could feel that the energy around him was extremely volatile. His defensive spells were being beaten violently by the energy that was around. If he didn’t prepare well enough in advance, not even his status as a head knight commander would’ve saved him from being greatly injured.
Realizing that the mana inside him was quickly being drained away, he tried to weaken the volatile energy’s attack point with his “frozen armor.” Simultaneously, his “energy shield” converted the attack points that were already lost into a loss of mana.
Slowly, the energy that was around him started to stabilize. He could feel that the golden energy from the super teleportation circle beneath him was starting to fade away.
…
The news of Abel leaving the Holy Continent spread very quickly. While his loyal officials and the citizens of the Kingdom of St. Ellis didn’t think too much about it, something fairly alerting happened. The Kingdom of St. Anwall and the Kingdom of St. Pierrt just announced to commence their joint military exercise. Apparently, it was so that they could practice drills to cooperate with each other.
This time, the joint exercise took place on a plain that served as the border between the Kingdom of St. Ellis and the Kingdom of St. Pierrt. It was an area where border clashes occurred very frequently. The intention behind choosing this location was quite obvious. The two kingdoms wanted to target the Kingdom of St. Ellis to see how it would react.
Before the exercise commenced, each of the two nations deployed ten thousand knights to the plain. They then waited for the drill to begin.
Head knight commander Bodley screamed angrily in the empire’s assembly hall, “They are taunting us! This is a humiliation to the will of our great kingdom! Hear me out, men. I have already requested the assembly to send out our own troops. We’ll flatten them all when we see them.”
One senator argued, “But General Bodley! His Majesty Abel has already told us to maintain the peace and stability of our kingdom! He told us not to openly wage war! Please, I implore you! Don’t act so brashly when they haven’t crossed our territories yet!”
Another senator had a different opinion, “In my opinion, I think we should send out the skyships at this very moment. We must obliterate those twenty thousand knights to truly demonstrate our might!”
The assembly quickly divided into two. There was the hawk that insisted on war, and there was the dove that preferred a pacifist approach. Senator Bennett couldn’t help but feel very dizzy when he saw the disarray that was taking place.
Dong Dong Dong!
He slammed as hard as he could with his wooden hammer. Luckily, it was enough to quiet the men down.
A Senator spoke in a grumpy voice, “Will you all be quiet? You are senators, not merchants. This is a place for civil discussion. You don’t have to interrupt one another to forward your opinions.”
Duke Ernest proposed a neutral solution, “How about this, Senator Bennett? We’ll have five sky ships carry ten thousand knight soldiers to the border. Once they were there, they will do military exercise WITH the joint forces of the two kingdoms. This way, if the two kingdoms really tried to do anything, we’d have every reason to retaliate immediately.”
Duke Ernest was a trusted advisor of Abel. His opinion brought up whispers among the other senators. After they raised their hands, Head Knight Commander Bodley brought the five skyships and ten thousand knights towards the crossing border. No one felt quite safe with this plan, actually. As Senator Bennett would have it, he was worried that the two kingdoms would turn the drill into an actual attack at any point.
…
“So why is a joint exercise at the Kingdom of St. Pierrt, your Highness?” Prince Lansi asked concerningly to his father, Emperor Aldous.
Emperor Aldous said calmly, “That’s not something you should be concerned with. This is a matter between nations, not a matter between friends. We must know what the Kingdom of St. Ellis would do without Abel at his throne.”
Prince Lansi didn’t quite understand. Abel left the Holy Continent already. At this point, everyone knew about the assembly system of the Kingdom of St. Ellis worked. The rules made it so that it was impossible to wage wars outside of its borders. It was explicitly stated that the great nation would only defend itself, which, if anything, restricted the Kingdom of St. Ellis from working flexibly in a lot of its diplomatic decisions.
Prince Lansi asked another question, “So you’re not afraid of starting a war?”
Emperor Aldous explained patiently, “I don’t blame you for asking that, Lansi. You’re a wizard, not a politician that’s learned about this. The Kingdom of St. Ellis is not going to start a war over one training exercise. We just want to see what sort of attitude the so-called “joint force” would take in this kind of situation.”
An intelligence officer rushed in to report, “Your Highness! We just received news that five ships carrying ten thousand knights have left Denan City! They are flying towards the direction of joint exercise!”
“What?” Emperor Aldous stood up from his seat, “I don’t understand. Has the Kingdom of St. Ellis gone mad without its king? Are they planning to start a war?’
There was no one to respond to him. Prince Lansi stood at the side as he didn’t know what to say. It took about five hours for this report to be delivered to him. During this period of time, the two kingdoms already retreated their troops in fear of an upcoming war. Not even the St. Ellis meeting assembly expected this situation, actually, because they didn’t think that Head Knight Commander Bodley would be so fast when he sent out the troops. It took him just half an hour to reach the border where the exercise was supposed to occur.
Most of the members in the St. Ellis meeting hall were officials that belonged to the former empire. They were all experienced in their own fields, but even Duke Enerst, the most experienced of them, didn’t think that St. Ellis would be so fast to deploy out their troops. On the other hand, the assembly meeting on the other side took about five hours to send out their troops. It was quite humiliating, actually. The supposedly-legendary joint force soon became a laughingstock to the entire Holy Continent.
Once the ten thousand knights in the Kingdom of St. Ellis fell, they realized that the joint forces on the other side were gone. They were too embarrassed about what happened, so it seemed. By deploying their forty thousand-or-so men to the original starting point, they had to use up even the ration they were using. This made the issue of a lack of food even worse.
One day later, when the forty thousand knights watched the five skyships and the ten thousand St. Ellis soldiers by the border, things became tenser. On one side, the St. Ellis military possessed an advantage in the sky. On the other hand, there was the largest knight army that consisted of official knights in the two empires. Now that the two kingdoms had made a miscalculation, they had lost the initiative to make a retreat.
At the border, things became extremely heated between the Kingdom of St. Ellis and the two empires. This was when training on both sides became a military stalemate.
Head Commander Bodley asked the sphinx knight that came to report, “Is there a reply over at the assembly, Officer?”
The sphinx knight bowed and replied, “The assembly is still forming their discussion, sir.”
“Damn!” Head Commander Bodley cursed, and the sphinx knight had to pretend that he didn’t hear about it. Yet, over at the meeting assembly in Denan City, the two sides were still spending quite a lot of time debating against each other. Even with Senator Bennett to make sure that the argument didn’t go out of control, neither side was really planning on backing down. This was the issue of having an assembly system, especially when the leader did not possess the decisiveness to call for a solution. Discussions were forced to come to a delay, and all sorts of affairs had to be done through inefficient dialogues, which, in essence, would destroy the advantage that the empire originally possessed.
And this was exactly what Abel was hoping for, believe it or not. He had been confident in protecting the territory of his empire. That was the case even if he was to leave the Kingdom of St. Ellis and the Holy Continent.
Now, when the empire assembly was continuing, the fifty thousand knights heard a dragon’s roar that came to the side. It was not infused with the dragon essence. The roar was simply to signal the humans that a giant dragon had arrived. Still, it was enough to make their mounts sit flat on the ground weekly. As for the human knights, they all stood up towards the sky on the ground.
Six giant dragons flew out of the clouds. There was Emmanuel, the blue dragon, Cornelius the golden dragon, Bridges the green dragon, Nathaniel, the red dragon, Finn, the blue dragon, Gabriel, the red dragon. As representatives of the dragons’ central force, they flew over the humans to announce their arrivals.
Cornelius, the golden dragon, announced, “The Kingdom of St. Ellis is a kingdom protected by the dragons. Anyone who tries to provoke the kingdom is provoking the dragons.”
No one would dare to disagree with what the giant dragons said. This was especially when there were not one but six of them that were flying directly on top of them. There had been cases where royals tried to provoke the dragons. The result of that was an entire domain being reduced to ashes. No one forgot their viciousness on the Holy Continent.
