Han Jin took out a fire element crystal from the space ring and slowly put it in his mouth. There were only three of them on the ship. Hogan was busy in the cabin, and Harley was the only one floating around on the deck. He didn’t have to hide his secret from a ghost that he could kill at any time.
Han Jin could now draw energy from sixth-grade magic crystals. This was a huge breakthrough! His cultivation method could be easily expressed in numbers. From one to two, it will be slightly more difficult as it is directly double the amount. As it increases from two to three, it becomes slightly easier, and from eight to nine, it only takes a couple of days.
Ever since he had absorbed the energy of the giant dragon, his vital energy had reached about thirty Xuan. It had increased to about fifty Xuan by the time they returned from the Tarasha Mountains. If you measured this with magic crystals, he could at least draw from about two or three sixth-grade magic crystals, along with a few fifth-grade magic crystals, every day.
Fortunately, Han Jin already had some status in this world. Otherwise, no one would be able to feed him! The number of crystals that Han Jin was consuming on a daily basis, if exchanged for gold coins, could feed about thousands of soldiers from the Riptide Regiment.
Plus, they were also lucky that Han Jin had just recently robbed a caravan that was from Holy Crown City and had gotten about four hundred sixth-grade magic crystals. Otherwise, it would be a problem for Sunier. They had never been rejected before when they had asked for help from the Mercenaries Association, which explained the large amount of debt that they owed to the association.
Han Jin had once suggested using the Dragon Crystal to pay off the debt but everyone had opposed it, especially Yalina. She put on a tough look and said that it wasn’t a big deal and that the debts were not worrisome. She also said that they should never give up on the Dragon Crystal even if the Mercenaries Association comes to them for the debt.
In fact, Han Jin was also reluctant about it. Although the crystal had caused him harm, he still couldn’t bear to let it go. The ‘harm’ as mentioned meant the destruction of hope. He had already started thinking about the future ever since the beginning. Along with the improvement of his realm, it would mean that he would need even more energy. The normal magic crystals may no longer be sufficient for him. Therefore, the Dragon Crystal was his final target.
But he had never thought that the Dragon Crystal would be of this size! It was the size of a basin! Even if his stomach could fit the crystal… what about his mouth?
Han Jin had tried using various innate arrays to help him breakthrough, but had later given up on it. The most suitable one would be the Spiritual Assembling Array. This array allowed him to absorb the aura of heaven and earth. It would form a unique spiritual vein which could help him absorb the energy of the Dragon Crystal. However, the issue here was that he didn’t have the required materials for it.
Even if he could replace the other materials for the array, he still needed a divine device. This was the most important part of the array. The divine device used must have a specific skill. For example the secretive Spiritual Assembling Array of Kun Lun. The device that they had used was from the Royal Cauldrons of the West. Where could Han Jin find one for his array?
Therefore, he had given up on this thought as well since it isn’t an urgent matter. There were still a lot of eighth and ninth-grade holy animals available, and they were much easier to hunt compared to the Giant Dragons. He could still go back to the Tarasha Mountains to hunt for them when his realm had improved. Didn’t they say that the mountains were filled with holy animals? Since there was nothing they could do about the quality, they could at least overcome it with quantity.
After a while, Han Jin slowly opened his eyes. All of the magic crystals’ energy had already been completely absorbed. At the same time, Harley drifted over. “Master, you’re not going to start?”
“What’s the rush? Just wait,” Han Jin softly replied. When the Yin and Yang element crosses, it is the time when the world’s vitality is the most active. The effect of spells casted during this time can be easily enhanced. In comparison to Han Jin’s plans, fifty Xuan of vital energy is definitely too little. Therefore, he had to find other ways to complete it.
“Master… master…” Hogan was panting as he ran towards him. “I found the room you requested for.”
“Which floor?”
“Second.”
“Which district?” There were too many rooms on the ship, so they could only be divided into districts.
“Sixth.”
“I’ll have a look at it later.” Han Jin paused. “Hogan, have you thought about how to divide the rooms into districts?”
“Not yet,” Hogan replied with a dull face. “Master, there are too many things to be done by myself…”
“Then, you should work harder.” Han Jin looked up at the night sky and stood up.
Upon seeing that Han Jin was about to release magic, Hogan and Harley carefully stood behind him so that they wouldn’t disturb Han Jin.
A soft whisper broke the silence. Han Jin’s arms swung around like a butterfly. Even with Hogan’s eyesight, he still couldn’t clearly see Han Jin’s movement. He could only see the faint shadows of his arms. The charms that were shot out one after another became a stream of bright light that sprinkled all over the deck. It was like a stream of water that was moving along the deck.
During the battle with Caroline and Betty, Han Jin’s speed had been close to the limit. However, his speed now was even faster than before. In the blink of an eye, he had already released about thousands of charms that had turned into streams that completely covered the entire ship.
He owed it all to his master. With his master’s teaching, Han Jin had been trained into an omniscient cultivator. The only thing that he lacked was energy. Once he had enough energy, he would truly be undefeatable.
At this moment, Hogan suddenly turned his head toward the direction of Isolated Cliff City. He wanted to say something, but he didn’t dare disturb Han Jin.
“Endless circulation of heaven and earth, open!” Han Jin roared.
For Harley and Hogan, the incantation that Han Jin was reciting was something that both of them did not understand. However, they could see that the streams that had been surrounding the ship were now circulating around Han Jin. The stream slowly parted into two. One part of the stream became even brighter to the point that they could no longer open their eyes, while the other part became dimmer and gradually disappeared into the night sky.
“Seal!” Han Jin roared again. His body sank as he sat on the chair. The streams of light all rapidly rushed toward Han Jin.
Hogan and Harley both felt the world spinning around them. They even had an illusion where even the sky above them was absorbed by Han Jin. At the same time, they felt that the deck of the ship was becoming bigger and that they were like ants staring at this terrifying world!
Han Jin sat quietly for a period of time. He then let out a long breath, and the feeling of exhaustion hit him again. However, he did restrain himself this time, and therefore, his condition wasn’t as bad as before. After all, he was trying to control thunder the other day; he could only do it with his entire effort.
“Master…” Hogan whispered.
“Yes?”
“Master, Moxinke and Cain are here along with a few knights. They seem to be very anxious, and are about to force their way in,” Hogan hurriedly reported.
As Hogan was reporting the situation to Han Jin, Moxinke, on the other hand, was swinging his sword out of anger. However, he didn’t really attack the gargoyles who were in front of him. He knew that these gargoyles were one of their own, but the gargoyles were being a pain in the ass. As soon as Moxinke got closer to them, they would start attacking.
“Fuck, what is that old fella trying to do?!” Moxinke couldn’t help it but yell as he was forced to retreat again. “Who will be responsible for this if anything goes wrong!”
“Maybe… Raphael is busy with something and doesn’t want to be disturbed?” Cain whispered. As a magician himself, he knew of the connection between Hogan and the gargoyles. Hogan must have known about their arrival, but they were still being refused in; there must be a reason for not letting them pass.
“I’m getting pissed off!” Moxinke didn’t care for whatever reason it was and started roaring, “Can you hear me? You are pissing me off!”
“What’s the problem?” A figure flashed in front of them, and all of a sudden, Han Jin was already standing in front of them.
“Raphael, is this… instant teleportation?” Cain stared at Han Jin in awe.
“I guess.” Han Jin changed the subject. “What is so urgent?”
Cain came back to his senses and said, “Raphael, these are Ronning’s men, and they have urgent military reports for you.”
“Sir!” One of the knights stepped forward and bowed down. “General has written an urgent letter to you. We dare not delay, so we had to disturb you at such an hour…”
“The letter?” Han Jin interrupted the knight.
The knight presented a letter to him. Han Jin opened the letter and started reading it under the moonlight.
In the letter, Ronning had described the recent situation in detail. The Allied Forces of Beitman had been completely annihilated. Along with Ronning’s preparations, their counterattack had been a striking success; as if they were just breaking through a bamboo fence. They then continued to conquer another three cities of their league. However, they had encountered some trouble when trying about to attack the last territory, Fort Maxine.
Fort Maxine was entirely covered in a thick black mist that was at least a dozen miles wide. The mist was so thick that it was impossible for them to even see their own fingers. Ronning had sent troops into the mist to scout the surroundings, but no one had managed to come out alive. Ronning had already lost about hundreds of soldiers just because of scouting the surrounding. In the end, even Guevara had to personally take a look. However, as soon as he entered into the mist, he was attacked by hundreds of magicians from the Abyss. If it wasn’t because of his strength, he may not have made it out alive.
Ronning wrote about Guevara’s opinion as well. This was a very bad situation! Fort Maxine must have either reached some kind of agreement or even formed an alliance with Zaganide. This would mean two things. First, Zaganide had changed his target and had given up on his hatred with his rival, Dismark. Second, Zaganide already had full control over the underground forces. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have enough time to deal with the things that were happening on the surface.
Due to the irreconcilable contradiction between the races, Black Raven City was in a state of utter waste. Almost all of the people who had originally stayed in the city had been killed. They had just occupied Beitman, but they didn’t even have the time to enjoy their victory. It was very dangerous if they were to go against Zaganide now.
According to Guevara, as soon as they are settled, they should attack Dismark first as he was the weaker one. Well, as the saying goes, you should always go for the softer one when choosing a persimmon.
This choice also showed Guevara’s character. He considered the entire situation instead of his own personal issues. If not, he would have convinced Han Jin to attack Zaganide.
At the end of the letter, Ronning said that he had decided to temporarily withdraw his troops and was asking for Han Jin’s opinion.
The other knights quietly stared at Han Jin. Maybe he hadn’t noticed it, but the rest of them were very clear that this was the first time Ronning had ever asked Han Jin for his permission for a military decision. This was a significant change for the Riptide Regiment. In fact, this meant that from this day onwards, the troop had a new owner!
“I agree with the withdrawal,” Han Jin made the decision. “Tell them to wait for me for about one and a half months.”
“Sir, to wait for another one and a half months?” The knights looked at each other.
