Epilogue

Before long, the fleeing apprentices surged toward Miriya's side.

"Everyone, run!"

"Right, that person has already given a warning. If we don't run, we'll die."

"Stop dawdling and get moving. Don't anger that person and drag us down with you."

"Exactly. If you really can't accept it, go compete in the other two areas."

Listening to those voices, Miriya pressed her lips together and raised her right hand. A blue-and-green pillar of elemental light shot into the sky.

This was the signal to retreat.

At the edge of the giant crater.

After confirming that everyone had withdrawn, Lohr let out a soft breath.

Those seven steps might have looked effortless, but they had directly consumed forty-five percent of the elemental energy in his Sea of Consciousness.

If he had failed to frighten those people off, he would have had to fight while fleeing and find time to recover his elemental energy along the way.

He would probably still have won in the end, but once that chaotic situation unfolded, the Divine Power Crystals left behind by the hundreds of apprentices he had killed would likely have been snatched away amid the confusion.

"Luckily, everything went smoothly."

The corners of Lohr's lips curled up. He turned and walked to the center of the crater, picked up the space ring, and sent his mental power into it for a brief inspection.

A rough, circular space of roughly ten cubic meters immediately came into view.

"Ten cubic meters. The old men were finally generous for once," Lohr thought. I thought they'd just toss me a five-cubic-meter space ring and call it a day.

A one-cubic-meter spatial item was worth 50,000 Contribution Points.

A five-cubic-meter one was worth around 500,000 Contribution Points.

A ten-cubic-meter one required at least 2 million Contribution Points to exchange for.

These spatial items were also one of the important ways high-ranking wizards recovered Contribution Points.

So long as no Space Wizard appeared, their value would only rise, never fall.

Putting the space ring on the ring finger of his left hand, Lohr first stored the 197 grams of Divine Power Crystals from his bag inside it.

Then, following the fluctuations of divine power, he began collecting the Divine Power Crystals left behind by the thousand-plus apprentices who had been swallowed by lava.

"Fifty-three grams. Not bad, not bad."

"Seven grams. A little too little."

"Nine grams. Tsk..."

Lohr spent about an hour before collecting all the Divine Power Crystals.

Most apprentices had possessed very little, only a few grams or a dozen-odd grams.

However, the Divine Power Crystals from the five apprentices Lohr had specifically targeted added up to a full 2,800 grams.

Altogether, he had collected 4,237 grams of Divine Power Crystals.

It could be said that Lohr alone had obtained most of the Divine Power Crystals in this forest.

"With these 4,237 grams, the 700-plus grams I have stored with Levan, and my fifteen-percent share, I should have 8,000 grams of Divine Power Crystals."

Lohr thought, Converted into Contribution Points, 8,000 grams of Divine Power Crystals should be worth around 8 million. That should barely be enough to last me for a while.

Eight million Contribution Points might seem like a lot, but if he wanted to buy anything good, they would not go very far.

For example, a top-tier airship with defenses comparable to Third-Circle defensive wizardry, flight speed comparable to a Third-Circle Wizard, and offensive and defensive magic arrays inscribed by a Third-Circle Wizard could not be bought for less than 1 million Contribution Points.

Not to mention things like laboratory mice, knowledge of First-Circle rune combinations, Fourth Circle life-saving wizardry scrolls, and so on.

For Lohr, however, the greatest expense was actually the panel.

Putting points into mental power aside, with Level 8 meditation talent, his own cultivation was not slow to begin with. Combined with a few added points, he could improve rapidly in a reasonable manner.

But breaking wizardry limits and advancing their rank were two enormous pits.

The further he went, the more Charge Points he would need.

"Why do I feel even poorer the more Contribution Points I have?" Lohr sighed inwardly.

In truth, it was not that he lacked Contribution Points. Rather, after gaining more of them, his standards had naturally risen, and his eyes had turned toward better things.

For instance, he previously would not have even glanced at Fourth Circle wizardry scrolls and had been utterly disdainful of such external objects.

Yet now, without realizing it, he had already regarded them as something within his grasp.

After gathering the Divine Power Crystals, Lohr did not linger there any longer.

After running several dozen miles toward the hills, he casually found a place, set up the Adaptive Stone Wall and the Lava Eruption Magic Array, and began recovering his elemental energy.

More than ten minutes later, after his elemental energy had fully recovered, he set off again toward the hills.

Four hours later.

Upon reaching Levan's temporary camp, Lohr ignored the apprentices' greetings and strode directly into the stone hall at the center of the camp, making his way to Levan's council hall.

The moment he reached the entrance, Lohr found a group of people gathered around the long table. They were making quite a racket, and every one of them looked delighted.

"The boss is so righteous!"

"As expected of the boss, so generous!"

"He gave up his fifteen-percent share just like that and even contributed an extra 1 million Contribution Points for distribution. Impressive."

"Exactly, exactly."

"Hahaha, it's nothing. This time, it was also thanks to all of your help that everything went so smoothly!"

A group of apprentices surrounded Levan and showered him with praise, making him so happy that he could hardly tell which way was up.

"What good news is this?" Lohr raised an eyebrow and stepped into the hall. "Why not share it and let me be happy too?"

The moment the apprentices saw Lohr enter, they immediately shut their mouths and fell silent.

The atmosphere in the hall changed from cheerful to grave in an instant.

"Mentor, you're back!"

Levan, seated at the end of the long table, was the first to stand. He saluted Lohr, then said to the apprentices, "You may leave first."

"Yes, Lord Lohr. Boss."

"Understood, Lord Lohr. Boss."

All the apprentices rose, saluted Lohr and Levan, then hurried out of the hall.

After everyone had left, Levan smiled at Lohr. "Mentor, our competition for the spatial item in the hill region went very smoothly this time."

"I took five thousand apprentices out, and we obtained this space bracelet without much effort."

As he spoke, he removed the black bracelet from his wrist and handed it to Lohr. "If you didn't manage to get a spatial item, use this one for now."

"I have another bracelet outside, so I don't need this one."

Seeing Lohr return so early, he assumed that Lohr had failed to secure a spatial item and immediately wanted to give him his own bracelet.

"You think your mentor couldn't get a spatial item?" Lohr did not take the bracelet. He merely looked at Levan with a faint smile.

"There were simply too many people competing for the bracelet. You were alone, Mentor. Although you're definitely the strongest, you can't be everywhere at once..." Before Levan could finish, he suddenly saw Lohr shake his right hand.

A gleaming ring sat on Lohr's right ring finger.

"As expected of Mentor."

Levan immediately changed his tune, his face full of amazement. "Including the time spent returning, you should have taken less than an hour to obtain this spatial item, right? Amazing!"

"You're putting what you just learned into practice already?" Lohr shook his head helplessly and smiled. "All right, enough about that. Tell me what this fifteen-percent share and 1 million Contribution Points are about."

He brought this up not because he intended to criticize his student.

On the contrary, he was prepared to praise the boy properly.

When people worked under you, ensuring a fair distribution of benefits was indeed an extremely correct decision.