Territory Damaged

On the Saint Nor Continent, the reason why Mages are also called Mage Lords is that the current scene is just one of countless examples.

Roland's professional Level is also only five, but the destruction caused by his attacks is more than several times that of Artur.

Of course, this is also because the Armor Crab Leader is a water-element Magical Beast, and fire-elemental Magic already has a damage bonus against it.

But no matter what, Roland's attack still had a decisive effect, a result far beyond what Warriors, Rogues, or Knights could achieve.

Even with the credit for the Loyal Lion Mercenary Group and Artur's team fighting to the death to intercept it, it still couldn't hide the importance of a Mage on the battlefield, or rather, it couldn't possibly hide it.

Under the shocked gazes of those around him, Roland gracefully put away his magic staff and retreated from the battlefield again. Roland valued his own life more than anything else.

However, even with Roland's withdrawal, the outcome of the entire battle was already decided. After the Armor Crab Leader was severely wounded by Roland, it was quickly surrounded and killed by the remaining members of Artur's team.

The remaining twenty to thirty Armor Crabs, having lost their leader, immediately lost their will to fight and fled towards the sea. In the blink of an eye, the east coast of Rising Light Island returned to its usual tranquility.

Only the dozens of Armor Crabs and human corpses left on the ground told the story of the cruelty of the war between humans and foreign races.

"Commander O'Neal, you and your subordinates will be responsible for vigilance, and everyone else will clean up the battlefield." After the battle ended, Roland immediately issued orders.

With this lesson learned, Roland's understanding of the dangers within the Sea of Ten Thousand Islands deepened, and he no longer dared to be careless, allowing slaves and mercenaries, who were still ordinary people, to work openly by the sea.

With everyone's efforts, the messy battlefield was cleaned up in less than a moment.

The Loyal Lion Mercenary Group and Artur's team had killed more than seventy of the hundred-plus attacking Armor Crabs, and even their leader was permanently left on Rising Light Island.

However, the careless Roland also paid a heavy price. Ten slaves, seven mercenaries, and three Intermediate Warriors from Artur's team died in this sudden war.

This death toll almost reduced Roland's current territory by a tenth, which could be considered a heavy loss.

In fact, with Rising Light Island's current strength, Armor Crabs, which were only Level 2 Magical Beasts on average, could not have caused such heavy casualties to Roland. But Roland, in order to speed up the dock construction, had sent all the warriors of the Loyal Lion Mercenary Group to chop trees, thus neglecting the defense of the dock.

This ultimately led to the slaves and mercenaries, who were ordinary people, being unable to resist at all when the Armor Crabs attacked, and could only flee for their lives.

At this moment, looking at the row of corpses on the ground, Roland's earlier composure vanished, and his expression was uncertain.

Although he didn't have much emotional attachment, the gold coins were real.

The mercenaries and the three Intermediate Warriors were fine; even if they died, Roland wouldn't have to pay them compensation.

But the ten slaves were all Roland's property, worth over two hundred gold coins, which made Roland feel very heartbroken at the moment.

However, since the incident had already happened and Roland couldn't change it, he could only slowly adjust his mindset and remind himself in his heart that such a thing must never happen again.

"Commander O'Neal, Steward James, you two will be responsible for the cleanup work." Roland waved his hand weakly and then turned to leave.

At night, in the small settlement on Rising Light Island.

In a two-story wooden house, there was a simply decorated conference room. Roland sat at the head of the table, quietly listening to James's report.

"Reporting to Apothecary Roland, according to statistics, a total of thirty-six water-element Magic Cores were extracted from the Armor Crab corpses, including twenty-six Level 2 Magic Cores, eight Level 3 Magic Cores, one Level 4 Magic Core, and one Level 5 Magic Core."

"According to the latest Magic Core transaction prices in Highland City, this batch of Magic Cores is worth about sixty gold coins."

Roland heard this but showed no expression. After all, he was an Apothecary, and many potion recipes required Magical Beast Magic Cores, so he was very familiar with their prices.

It could be said that low-level Magic Cores generally did not have much value, especially for common water-element Magical Beasts like Armor Crabs. Their Magic Cores did not have any additional effects. They could only be used to extract the contained water-element to create Elemental Water, and they had no other significant uses.

Seeing that Roland did not reply, James carefully organized his words and continued, "Besides this batch of Magic Cores, there is basically nothing else. The Armor Crab shells are too hard and lack toughness, so they cannot be used to forge any equipment. Therefore, the profit from this battle is far from enough to compensate for your losses."

Seeing the nervous expression on James's face, Roland smiled and casually waved his hand, "Steward James, don't be nervous. The biggest gain from this battle is not the Magic Cores at all, but it has taught us that this is the Sea of Ten Thousand Islands, and the consequence of negligence is death."

As he said this, the smile on Roland's face slowly disappeared, and his serious gaze swept across the faces of the other three.

"Commander O'Neal, Captain Artur, from today onwards, put aside your other work. For the time being, your responsibility is to ensure the safety of the territory. Even if sea Magical Beasts attack again, you must protect the safety of the territory's slaves and absolutely prevent today's incident from happening again."

Facing the serious Roland, O'Neal and Artur did not dare to be negligent and quickly replied in unison.

Seeing this, Roland's expression improved considerably. Although Rising Light Island lost ten slaves in this Magical Beast attack, it had not fundamentally damaged its strength.

In fact, Roland was still very fortunate in his heart. Fortunately, the attackers today were Armor Crabs. If it had been a higher-level Magical Beast, with Rising Light Island's defenses today, perhaps not a single slave or mercenary on the dock would have escaped.

After comforting himself, Roland's attitude became more relaxed, and he did not become dejected because of this sudden blow.

He then slowly turned his gaze to Artur. Although his performance in the battle today was a bit too impulsive and reckless, otherwise his team would not have suffered such heavy losses, with a reduction of one-third of its members.

However, during the battle, he fulfilled Roland's orders without any discount. If it weren't for his interception, the Armor Crab Leader would not have been so easily severely wounded by Roland today.

Therefore, after this battle, Roland's impression of Artur had changed considerably.

"Captain Artur, how are your injuries? Do you need to rest for a few days?"

As if sensing Roland's kind attitude, Artur's spirits lifted.

"Thank you for your concern, Apothecary Roland. My injuries are not serious and will recover in a few days. I don't need to rest."

"That's good. For the time being, we will still need you to take care of the territory's defenses." Roland also showed his appreciation for him at the right time.

"I will obey your orders and fight to defend your territory to the death." Artur's attitude was very firm.

Roland smiled upon hearing this.

In the following period, thanks to the generous supplies sent by Leslie, various construction projects in the territory could be started simultaneously, so Roland rearranged the current manpower allocation for the territory.

However, with the loss of O'Neal and a group of other professional warriors, the various construction projects on Rising Light Island would inevitably be affected. But with today's lesson, even if the territory's construction slowed down, Roland still assigned half of the Loyal Lion Mercenary Group's personnel as defense personnel for the territory, specializing in ensuring the territory's safety.

After the meeting ended, Roland went straight back to his wooden house.

Roland, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed, immediately opened his current status panel.

[Strength]1.2

[Constitution]1.1

[Agility]1.3

[Spirit]4.552/9.015

[Mana]4.5/8.8

[Level]Level 5 Mage

In one month, Roland's mental power only increased by 0.5. This was after consuming two bottles of Tier 5 Spirit Agility Potion, which increased it by 0.37. This meant that in the past month, Roland had consumed six or seven bottles of Tier 4 Spirit Agility Potion for a mere increase of 0.13.

This rate of decrease was beyond Roland's expectations. After Nuwa's analysis, it was likely because Roland had consumed the Tier 5 Spirit Agility Potion, his tolerance to the Tier 4 Spirit Agility Potion had greatly increased, severely affecting its efficacy.

Facing this result, Roland was helpless but could only accept it.

However, after Roland successfully refined the Level 4 and Level 5 Fire Element Resonance Potions, his mana gradually caught up to his mental power, which made Roland feel much better.

Immediately, Roland consumed another bottle of Tier 4 Spirit Agility Potion, slowly closed his eyes, and entered a meditative state.

Although consuming Tier 4 Spirit Agility Potion at this point wouldn't increase his mental power much, it was a bit of a waste. But to Roland, even a tiny bit of mental power was still mental power, and he wasn't lacking these few bottles of Tier 4 potions anyway.

The next day, after a night's rest, Roland's condition had once again reached its peak.

Today, he still didn't start refining potions directly. Because over the past month, under Alice's tutelage, those twelve older children had finally managed to grasp some basic Common Tongue and Elemental Language, and could now perform preliminary meditation work.

Upon hearing this, Roland immediately summoned them all.

After a month's absence, the twelve older children, with ample nutrition, had not only grown a few points stronger but were also full of energy. Not only that, but under Alice's guidance, a spark of intelligence had appeared in their eyes, and they were no longer as dull as before.