South of the Misty Forest, Inner Territory
Karien arrived in his "territory" after the teleportation, and upon looking up, he noticed that the area was now surrounded by fences, with the trees inside having been felled. Around the cave, a cluster of wooden houses had also been erected.
"Mr. Sixteen, you're back!"
Horus, dressed in a grey, form-fitting combat robe and looking rather thin, was chopping trees using wind blades. When he saw Mr. Sixteen arrive, he quickly brushed off the dust from his clothes and walked over.
"I've done as you instructed. All the trees inside the fence are down, and the branches and leaves have been mostly cleared away."
Horus had stayed in the Misty Forest for the past month, helping Karien build his territory.
Karien nodded, signaling Horus to sit at the wooden table. He then took out a cloth bag.
Although Karien hadn't agreed to be Horus's mentor, he had promised to help Horus become stronger by providing resources.
Horus's innate talent was decent, and as the son of a count, the resources available to him were unimaginable to ordinary people. However, as a noble, Horus didn't have to follow the difficult path of a mage. Nobles had more options available to them.
For Horus, practicing as a mage was more of an interest than a necessity. Moreover, he was still young—only 18 years old this year. To have reached the 3rd-tier of magic at his age was already impressive.
After all, the path of magic became exponentially more difficult the higher one went.
For example, a 1st- or 2nd-tier mage could rely solely on resources to advance, even if their aptitude was mediocre. However, from the 3rd-tier (or mid-tier mage) onward, magic cultivation no longer depended solely on magical elements. A crucial new concept was introduced: contracts.
These could be elemental contracts or faith contracts.
In nature, there were seven basic elements: Light, Dark, Wind, Thunder, Earth, Water, and Fire. Most elemental magic was derived from these seven elements.
Each element gave rise to a ubiquitous elemental spirit, and any mage could form a contract with an elemental spirit to gain the spirit's contracted magic. However, a mage could only form a contract with one elemental spirit.
Once contracted, the mage's magic in that element would be significantly enhanced, but magic from other elements would be weakened.
Apart from elemental spirits, a mage could also form a contract with a deity. For example, the God of Light from the Church of Light or the God of Darkness from the Dark Inquisition.
It's important to note that the God of Light was not the same as the Light Spirit, and the God of Darkness was not the same as the Dark Spirit.
Additionally, although a mage could only have one elemental contract, they could still worship a different deity, and the two didn't conflict. Faith contracts could be changed, but an elemental contract could not.
"Have you formed a contract with an elemental spirit?" Karien asked.
Horus shook his head. "I'm not particularly skilled in elemental magic. When I advanced to 3rd-tier mage, I did so through a faith contract."
Horus was the son of Count Jindao, and their family worshiped the God of Darkness. So, Horus had signed a contract with the Dark Inquisition to receive the magic from a faith contract.
After a pause, Horus added, "But perhaps because my prayers to the God of Darkness aren't frequent enough, my faith is not devout enough, my contracted magic is rather weak. This has made it difficult for me to set up the ceremony for advancing to a higher-tier mage."
Karien nodded slightly as he listened.
Although he himself wasn't a mage, during his time at the Galon Institute, he had encountered several colleagues and mentors who were higher-tier mages. From them, he had learned a great deal about contract magic.
"Then why don't you try making a contract with an elemental spirit? After all, the two contracts don't conflict."
Horus scratched his head. "That's exactly what I'm struggling with. But my affinity with the elements is quite balanced—Wind, Dark, Thunder, and Water all have a seven-star affinity."
"If I choose one element to contract with, my affinity with the others will drop sharply. This means the many spells I've already learned in those other elements will lose their effectiveness."
Hearing Horus's complaint, Karien kept a smile on his face, but inside, he was seething: What the hell, seven-star affinity across all elements? Damn it, damn it, damn it!
"This is indeed a tough problem, but sometimes to gain something, you have to lose something. You’ll have to make a choice."
Horus nodded. "You're right. I've been stuck at the 3rd-tier for two years now. If I had advanced to a higher-tier mage a year earlier, I wouldn’t have let that bastard of a brother take the title of Count!"
Two years stuck at the 3rd-tier? Karien was taken aback. This kid was only 18—he must've been a 3rd-tier mage at 16?
Really makes you feel inferior! Damn it!
"Mr. Sixteen, what do you think? Which of the four elements—Wind, Dark, Thunder, or Water—should I form a contract with?"
I'm just an ordinary person. How the hell would I know? Karien thought to himself, but he said aloud: "That’s something only you can decide for yourself. Others can’t make that decision for you."
"Alright." Horus nodded. "I'll give it serious thought."
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Looking around, Karien added, "The concentration of magical elements in the Misty Forest is hundreds of times higher than outside. If you practice elemental magic here, you’ll make much faster progress."
Horus clenched his fist, his face serious. "Yes, even with the 'Elemental Gathering' magic circle in our family’s estate, the elemental concentration only reaches about a hundred times the normal level. Training here will definitely be far more efficient!"
Well, with this kind of environment, no wonder his progress is so fast!
Karien opened the cloth bag on the table, revealing a magical device. "This is a magic device I just created. It can absorb the surrounding magical elements and condense them into a single point through a small vent. It maximizes the use of the surrounding elements to make your training even more efficient!"
Karien had named this device the "Elemental Hair Dryer." Inside it, there were numerous small "Elemental Gathering" magic circles, which could absorb a wide range of magical elements and then release them, much like a hair dryer.
It also had adjustable settings.
In the dense magical environment of the Misty Forest, this device would be incredibly effective. If it weren’t for the fact that the teleportation orb couldn’t transport people, Karien would have liked to bring Mia and the others here to train.
After listening to Mr. Sixteen’s detailed explanation, Horus took the Elemental Hair Dryer and began to follow the instructions.
When he pressed the button, a faint black mist began to emerge from the device’s vent.
“This elemental hair dryer, in addition to being able to condense all surrounding elements, can also sort the elements by type.”
“Currently, there are three modes: All Elements, Dark Elements, and Wind Elements.”
Elemental sorting was a significant challenge, and Karien had spent over a month conducting multiple tests to successfully separate the dark and wind elements. For now, other elements couldn’t be sorted yet.
The reason Karien focused on separating these two elements first was to make Mia’s daily training more efficient. After all, Karien couldn’t afford to provide her with elemental coins for training every day, and the elemental concentration at the Red Leaf Academy was far too low. So, Karien developed the Elemental Hair Dryer specifically for Mia.
Coincidentally, Horus was even better suited to use this device than Mia.
That’s why Karien had made a more advanced version of the elemental device for Horus, hoping to deepen their cooperation through this means.
Over the past month, aside from chopping trees, clearing weeds, and building houses, Horus had also been scouting the distribution of magical beasts around the area. Because Horus had the Isolation Orb, he could completely mask his presence.
This gave him a considerable advantage in the Misty Forest. As long as he didn’t encounter a Lord-level magical beast, he could move around without being detected.
Lord-level beasts were equivalent to high-level mages in terms of strength. Thanks to the Isolation Orb, Horus had already mapped out the area within a ten-kilometer radius. Apart from some mid- and low-tier magical beasts, the biggest threat to the region was the Sixth-tier Dark Lizard Beast, which Karien had encountered earlier. However, its roaming range was vast, and the chance of it passing through this area was low.
So, in general, this area was relatively safe. However, there were few rare high-tier medicinal herbs here—just an abundance of mid- and low-tier materials.
But for Karien, these vast quantities of mid- and low-tier herbs were enough for him to sustain his operations.
As long as Horus could help him defend this area, Karien could ensure a steady source of income.
This was also why Karien was willing to tailor the magic device for Horus, after all, mutual benefit was the key.
“The Elemental Hair Dryer has both dark and wind elemental sorting modes. If you don’t want to choose these two elements, I can do further research to create another elemental sorting option for you.”
Horus, holding the device, gently shook his head and said, “No, these two modes are enough. I’ll likely choose to form a contract with a dark elemental spirit, since its attributes are similar to the God of Darkness. I’m deeply grateful to you, Mr. Sixteen, for providing me with such a valuable magic device!”
Karien nodded and snapped his fingers.
Instantly, a stack of books appeared on the wooden table.
“These are all books related to elemental contracts. I’ve made some notes for you; you can refer to them. It might help you.”
Although Karien didn’t have much experience with high-level magic research, he was still a researcher at heart and had a good intuition for gathering and analyzing data.
So, he had already selected useful materials for Horus from the Royal City Library in advance.
Even though Karien hadn’t agreed to be Horus’s mentor, he still wanted to win him over and provide some assistance.
When Horus saw the books, his eyes lit up. He picked up a few and began flipping through the pages. “These are exactly what I needed! Thank you so much!”
Although the Jindao family also had many books in their library, Horus had always relied on professional teachers to guide him in magic, rarely studying on his own. Now, having fled to the Misty Forest, he had lost the comfortable resources he once had, and everything depended on his own efforts.
Placing his hand on the books, Karien continued, “You don’t need to thank me. After all, I asked you to stay here, and I’m providing you with magic devices and books because I need you to keep an eye on this place.”
“This territory is important to me, but I can’t stay here all the time. So, I need you to help me guard it. If you need anything, I’ll bring it to you.”
Horus nodded, understanding.
After speaking, Karien walked toward a large wooden chest beside the house, which contained the herbs and spirit wood Horus had gathered recently. He snapped his fingers, and both Karien and the chest disappeared.
Royal Capital, Adri City
Karien appeared directly in the Royal Capital, specifically in a warehouse.
To better sell his herbs, Karien had bought a warehouse on the outskirts of the city through the Unyielding Post’s Simon, using it to store the herbs.
The warehouse was small, but it already contained several wooden shipping crates, stacked neatly. These were all the results of Horus's labor. Inside, apart from various herbs, there was an abundance of spirit wood.
Although the trees in the Misty Forest didn’t have the same medicinal value as White Leaf Lan, they still grew in an environment rich with magical elements. From their sprouting to their full growth, they absorbed a strong concentration of magical energy. Thus, the wood had intrinsic magical properties, making it valuable material for many magical tools. It was often used in the crafting of staffs for apprentices or low-tier mages.
Furthermore, houses made from spirit wood, when combined with the right Elemental Gathering array, could increase the elemental concentration inside. So selling spirit wood would also bring Karien some profit.
After all, starting industrial research required a hefty upfront investment, but fortunately, his Valley Factory was already starting to yield some returns.
Turning his head, Karien glanced at another wooden crate. Unlike the others containing herbs or spirit wood, this crate held magical air conditioners. These were the first batch of products produced by the Valley Factory in the past few days.
These air conditioners were the first products Karien planned to introduce to the Royal Capital market.
After checking that the air conditioners were in good condition, Karien donned a black knitted headcap to cover his gray-white curly hair. Then, he put on a loose black robe, pulled up the hood to cover his head, and put on a white mask with a gear symbol drawn on it.
This entire outfit was a mechanical clergy costume that Karien had designed himself.
He knew that to preach in the Royal Capital, he couldn’t rely solely on remote control through letters. Many things would require his direct involvement. But, not wanting to reveal his identity, he needed a disguise. A mysterious clergy outfit was perfect for his needs.
Once dressed, Karien walked to the warehouse door, unlocked it, and pulled it open.
Outside, on the open ground, several horse-drawn carriages were parked.
Simon, with a shiny bald head and a nose reddened by alcohol, was sitting in one of the carriages. When he saw the warehouse door open, he quickly set down his pipe, jumped off the carriage, and walked toward the warehouse.
Placing his hand on his forehead, Simon nodded and greeted, “Mr. Sixteen!”