Roland was more and more into the simple lifestyle.
Every day, he went to class, read books at the library, studied magic theories, and conducted experiments at home.
Then, someone would make warm food for him.
He didn’t have to consider too many things but only needed to focus on what he wanted.
Such a lifestyle reminded Roland of his high school days, when he felt fulfilled and happy while he strove for something.
Therefore, after he boarded the flying boat, he felt hollow, both mentally and physically. He could only read the forum or make out with Andonara every day.
Fortunately, it only took five days for the boat to fly from the Red Magic Tower to the Holy Realm.
Five days later, after Roland got off from the boat, he felt that his legs were soft.
Alfred passed by and said with a smile, “Young man, take your time. A great life is waiting for you ahead. It’ll be bad if you overdo it now and ruin your health.”
Roland was lost for words.
Andonara, however, grunted angrily. “The things between us are none of your business!”
Alfred was a Legend, but Andonara was a Legend too, so she didn’t need to show respect to him at all.
If they were to fight, Alfred probably couldn’t beat Andonara, but since he could teleport, it was unlikely Andonara could capture him.
Seeing how protective of her love Andonara was, Alfred heaved a sigh and left.
He felt that the world was extremely unfair.
As a Mage, he had once been a young man too.
Why were none of the women he met when he was young as noble, strong, and clingy as her even though they were beautiful and gentle?
Also, when he was young, he was exhausted from all kinds of work that his mentor gave him.
But Roland was exhausted by a woman every day.
That was yet another heartbreaking comparison.
He wished that he could be young again and relive his life.
If that could happen, he would definitely steal a pretty queen for himself.
But of course, Alfred didn’t really think he could. He knew very well that women like Andonara were very rare.
Alfred was walking in the front, followed by three mentors and a dozen servants.
Roland was at the rear of the group.
The flying boat had landed in a very spacious square that was built with giant silver rocks.
But there were few people in the big square. Also, the square was surrounded by a circle of five-story-high buildings from which magic power was vaguely emitting. At this moment, a mentor waited for Roland for a moment and started to walk next to him, saying, “Roland, this is the Association of Mages in Fareins. This square is very big, isn’t it? It’s specifically built as a port for the flying boats.”
Roland looked around and saw nothing but the flying boat that brought him here on the vast square. “Such a vast square has been built for this one flying boat?”
The mentor, whose hair had already turned white because of old age, explained, “The Association of Mages in Fareins has twelve flying boats, including three large ones, two medium ones, and seven small ones. They’re all rented by other forces such as the royal family and the Church of Light.”
“The rental fee must be very high, right?”
“Of course,” said the mentor proudly. “Leaving aside the medium and small boats, the cost to rent a large boat for a month is sixty gold coins, excluding the magic materials consumed during the flight. The renter has to pay the magic apprentices who are responsible for flying and maintaining the boat too. So, you need to spend at least a hundred gold coins every month if you want to use a large flying boat.”
It was truly expensive.
The monthly tax revenues of Delpon were only slightly above a hundred gold coins. Cutting out the expenses to support the operation of the city, the profit was only about fifty gold coins.
Therefore, Roland couldn’t even rent a large flying boat with the monthly tax of Delpon. But Roland had other ways to make money; for example, with teleportation. He had thought of multiple strategies that could let him earn two to three hundred gold coins in a couple of days.
However, that was the most that the market could bear. After he made the three hundred gold coins, he needed to wait half a year before he could conduct this business again.
Noticing how shocked Roland was, the mentor gestured around them and said, “The blue buildings around the square are the headquarters of the Association of Mages of Fareins. Aren’t they huge? Almost all the Mages, totaling up to ten thousand people, who are above the level of Elite, live here. They help and teach each other. The best of them will be admitted by the Magic Towers. There are many geniuses among them. You’re free to talk to them if you have time.”
Roland slightly nodded.
In Hollevin, there were no more than ten thousand official Mages in total.
But in Fareins, the number of Mages better than Elite had already surpassed that Was that a facet of a superior country’s dominance?
Leading Roland, the mentor walked out of the square after a few minutes and came to the entrance of a square building.
Then, he gave Roland and Andonara each a blue badge.
It exuded the same magic waves as the blue badge Roland received at the dormitories of the Red Magic Tower, except that it was in a different color.
Those badges must’ve been made in similar ways. Roland funneled some of his mental power into the badge. Then, he helped Andonara direct her mental power into her badge too. Andonara’s mental power was actually quite enormous, but she didn’t know how to use it.
That couldn’t be helped. She wasn’t interested in that as a Warrior.
At this moment, the mentor grimaced. “It’s a tradition in the Association of Mages that new friends here need to find their room with their own wisdom. But of course, you’re free to ask for the help of the Mages here if you can’t find it. I hope you’ll have fun, Roland.”
The mentor laughed and left. Roland looked at the blue badge in his hand, which had a few interconnected lines. There were dots on the ends of each line.
These dots were of different sizes and didn’t have any pattern to them.
Andonara examined her badge for a moment and murmured, “This Association of Mages is too inconsiderate. They shouldn’t have left their guests here.”
Roland, however, smiled. “I think this is fine. Let’s take a walk together. We can get to know this place, and there will be time for us to go shopping.”
Andonara’s eyes glittered. It was truly a good thing that she could hang out with Roland now.
The Association was a considerate host after all.
Roland entered the enormous square building, only to be slightly surprised.
The building had only two floors. It was supported by enormous pillars. Every twenty meters, three enormous stone pillars in a row would support the thick floor above them.
Every pillar was fifteen meters tall, and the distance between the pillars was fifteen meters too.
Thanks to the equilibrium between their height and their distance, the building looked very harmonious.
The floor of the building was made of a unique smooth stone material. It seemed to be white, but when one looked down at the floor vertically, it would show dark, colorful light.
The colors weren’t vivid or dazzling. They made the building seem low-key but luxurious.
Roland estimated that the stone floor alone must’ve cost a fortune.
There were a lot of people in the building, but since the building was too huge, few people could be seen.
Because of the long distance, the Mages had to run if they were in a rush. Some also used Acceleration.
Some even cast Floating on themselves, before they simply jumped off from the stairs or the balconies.
Roland observed his fellow Mages.
Those Mages were observing him too… In fact, they were mostly observing Andonara. That was nothing to be surprised at. After all, beautiful girls were always the center of attention.
These Mages were quite “decent.” Though many of them noticed Andonara, none of them came to hit on her after seeing that she had a male companion.
Roland was glad that nobody disturbed them. He walked for a long time with Andonara in the enormous square building and saw a lot of things, such as an indoor spring which was created based on the siphon mechanism of magic elements, magic balloons that floated randomly, and wooden maids that could dance on their own but looked as terrible as the ghosts from horror movies because of the bad craftsmanship.
All in all, there were many things in this building
Andonara found them very interesting, but Roland wasn’t as intrigued. There were too many similar things in reality. He understood their mechanisms the moment he saw them.
Walking for another half-hour, Roland entered the second floor, which was a lot quieter. It was a long corridor dotted with a black door every five meters.
Roland led Andonara to a room that had the number 1002 on the door. He then put the blue badge to the lock.
The door opened. “When did you crack the secret of this badge?”
Andonara was slightly surprised.
She never doubted Roland’s cleverness; she knew that he would find out the secret.
But on their way here, Roland seemed to be admiring the wonders without examining the badge. “I had a rough idea when I got the badge.” Roland pointed at the blue badge and explained. “There are six dots that are in different sizes. You can consider them a senary number. Then, those lines are actually a simple map of the passages. With the number and the map, we can know where our room is by comparing what we see to the map.” Andonara’s beautiful eyes widened. “What’s senary?” Well… Roland scratched his head. It was truly a challenging task to explain what senary meant to a person who was partially illiterate.
At this moment, the room next to theirs was opened, and a female Mage walked out.
She was tall and blonde with blue eyes.
She was briefly stunned to see Roland. Then, she slightly bowed to show respect, because she could tell that Roland was a lot stronger than her.
After the courtesy, the female Mage was about to leave, but then she walked back after taking two steps.
Staring at Andonara, she said, “I’ve met you before!”
Andonara looked back at her. “That’s true. You look familiar to me too.”
