Negotiation Signal

With a plan in mind, Lohr continued toward the distant Flame Hills, where flames still burned, though he slowed down somewhat.

He needed to let the others return to the base first and tell that little fellow about him.

What happened next would depend on the little fellow's response. If he wanted to gather the elemental wizards and test his strength against Lohr, then he deserved a brutal beating.

Half an hour later.

The brown-haired wizard apprentice was the first to return to the base. He immediately headed toward the hall in the center of the base, built from rocks by the earth-element wizard apprentices.

As soon as he approached the entrance, he was stopped by two gatekeeping apprentices dressed in red wizard robes.

"Sten, weren't you hunting with Yajieding and the others?"

One of the young gatekeepers looked at the brown-haired youth and demanded, "Why did you come back alone?"

"Annel, Ihano, I have an urgent report."

Still shaken, Sten said, "Yajieding is dead. A lot of people died. We encountered a terrifying wizard apprentice. He..."

He recounted most of what had happened since they first saw the cluster of magic arrays, concealing only the fact that he had led Lohr to the base.

"1.4-ring spell?" Hearing Sten's description, the two gatekeeping apprentices drew in sharp breaths.

They did not care at all about 1.3-ring Elemental School spells. Once the runes were linked, they could easily wear such spells down.

But a 1.4-ring spell was different. It represented a qualitative change, advancing from the early stage of the first ring to the middle stage. Its significance was entirely different.

Most importantly, according to Sten's description, that person's spell was an area-of-effect spell, practically a perfect counter to single-element wizard apprentices like them.

"The Elemental School actually achieved another breakthrough at the apprentice level."

After a long while, Annel finally came to his senses. He stared hard at Sten and asked, "Did he follow you here?"

If that person had truly followed him here, Annel would have to discuss fleeing... retreating with that person.

There was no helping it. They truly could not beat him in a direct fight.

"I... I don't know." Sten did not dare guarantee that the man would not come, even though he knew their leader's grandfather was a fifth-ring wizard.

"Ihano, stay here and watch him." Annel turned to his companion and said, "I'll inform Lord Levan."

"Alright, hurry." Ihano nodded.

Annel turned and entered the stone hall. After passing through several corridors, he arrived in a grand chamber.

A long stone table stood in the chamber. At its far end sat a child of about eight years old.

The child stared at dozens of parchments spread before him, constantly writing and drawing with great enthusiasm.

Seeing Annel arrive, the child smiled. "Annel, did someone bring back Divine Power Crystals again? Let him in quickly."

As long as someone brought back Divine Power Crystals, he could receive a tenth of the share.

Although obtaining those Divine Power Crystals meant little to him, the feeling of gaining something was addictive.

"Lord Levan, I just learned something. Not long ago..."

With a grave expression, Annel did not respond to that remark. He directly reported the news he had just heard to Levan.

"What?" After listening, Levan's eyes widened abruptly. "You're saying there's an apprentice in this divine kingdom who can cast a 1.4-ring spell?"

"Yes, Lord Levan. I suggest that you secretly withdraw immediately to avoid danger." Annel offered his advice.

"What about the others? Are they leaving with us too?" Levan pursed his lips and said hesitantly, "And what should we do with the Divine Power Crystals?"

If only they could bring spatial rings into the divine kingdom, they could simply pack everything up and take it away.

Spatial rings could block the fluctuations of Divine Power Crystals, making them extremely convenient.

"No." Annel shook his head. "Withdrawing together would make too large a target. I suggest we disperse and leave separately. As for the Divine Power Crystals in the warehouse, we can distribute them directly to the others."

"If we give them the Divine Power Crystals now..." Levan frowned and said unhappily, "Annel, are you asking them to serve as cannon fodder?"

Those people had been calling him boss these past two days, offering him a tenth of the Divine Power Crystals they had risked their lives to obtain.

All they wanted was for him to exchange the other divine crystals for Contribution Points after they got out.

Now that danger had appeared, they were going to abandon those people and flee. He found that deeply difficult to accept.

Annel explained stiffly, "This is the best solution. You and they were merely making use of each other before."

"When they obtain divine crystals themselves, they worry about them being stolen. But leaving them with you is very safe, so it is only natural for them to give you a tenth share of the divine crystals."

"Now that they have provoked someone they cannot afford to provoke, they should not expect you to clean up their mess."

"At the very least, I should do something."

Levan shook his head. "How about this, Annel? Send the order. Find him, and I'll negotiate with him."

He truly did not care much about the Divine Power Crystals.

If he could use his share of the Divine Power Crystals to make Lohr spare the others, he was willing to do so.

"You cannot negotiate with him personally. It's too dangerous." Annel immediately objected. "If you insist on doing this, I can negotiate in your place."

His sole purpose in entering the divine kingdom was to protect Levan. Naturally, he could not just watch Levan make contact with such a dangerous person.

"If it really comes to that, I can contact Grandfather directly and have him take me out."

Levan sat back down in his chair and looked at Annel. "It's settled, then. Go find him, Annel."

"Yes." Knowing that Levan could contact that person at any time, Annel said no more and left the hall directly.

More than fifty li from the temporary camp.

"It's been half an hour already. Has no one gone back to deliver the news?"

Lohr looked at the camp standing beside the Flame Hills, now not far away yet still completely motionless, and found himself speechless.

He had let more than one brown-haired youth go at the time, yet even now, it seemed that not one of them had delivered the news to that camp.

This speed of information delivery was truly hard to judge.

Besides that, wizard apprentices occasionally passed by him.

After sensing the fluctuations of Divine Power Crystals coming from Lohr, not only did they refrain from attacking, they even offered a few envious congratulations before leaving without looking back.

"It was only a group formed two days ago, and all sorts of equipment hadn't become widespread yet," Lohr thought. "Comparing the systems of later generations with the present really does seem a little unfair."

Just as he hesitated over whether to slow down even further, Fireballs suddenly appeared above the camp beside the Flame Hills.

The Fireballs shot into the sky at a steady rhythm, as though they were trying to send some sort of message outward.

And every minute, the direction in which those Fireballs were launched moved farther from the camp, continuously spreading in all directions.

"Negotiation signal?" Lohr raised a brow, somewhat surprised by the decisiveness of that Yasen council chairman's grandson.

He had considered the possibility that the boy might flee directly. In that case, he could only take the Divine Power Crystals.

But now, if things went smoothly, he would gain even more.