Early in the morning, the weather was already dreadful.
A cold air mass from the Odin Icefield came crashing in, arriving in the Northern Continent two months earlier than usual. Rain poured down with a whoosh, and the sky was gray, the earth was gray, the buildings were gray, and so were people's moods. It was as though the riotously colorful summer of just days ago had become a memory from a thousand years past.
But with mages around, weather was no problem at all.
Lin Qi changed into a magnificent formal suit and strode steadily out of the main building at No. 1 Glory Street. Damp vapor rose all around him, gray mist seeping from the ground and winding through the air like ghosts. Lin Qi looked up at the sky, then lightly clapped his hands. A squad of mages from the Vias Mage Tower promptly marched out in formation.
Ever since Esco and Farland had joined the Longshan Family, even more mages from the Vias Mage Tower had flocked to the wealthy Longshan Family. In terms of the number of mages it possessed alone, the Longshan Family now commanded half the mages in the entire Vias Commercial Federation. Apart from lacking a demigod-level mage at its helm, the Longshan Family's Mage Corps was large enough to rank among the top five on the Western Continent.
Three hundred and sixty mages stood upon the vast lawn of No. 1 Glory Street, magic light glimmering over every one of them. They raised their staffs high and began chanting in unison. Wave after wave of supple magical fluctuations spread in every direction, while brilliant yet gentle beams of light shot into the heavens, swiftly piercing the rain clouds and driving them apart in all directions.
In the blink of an eye,