Do You Know How Much They Cost?!

"Everyone should have heard our god's voice. Each of you may now claim one for yourselves and activate it here. The remaining rings will be sent to the Royal Mage Association and the Mage Legion. If you have acquaintances, go to the association and claim one as soon as possible."

Archmage Andrew wore a solemn expression, the sacred aura seeming not yet to have faded from him.

At his words, the mages quickly and orderly stepped forward one by one to receive their own Magic Net Rings.

Prayers rang out everywhere.

Light screens flickered.

Enter nickname.

The discussions within Magic Space instantly drew everyone's attention.

"So many people are already using it?"

"What the hell is this post?! Someone is actually discussing Water Sphere on a Miracle Creation?! I take back what I said earlier. Water Sphere has so many different variations!"

"Brother, what's your nickname? Add me as a friend first!"

"This is incredible! The people at the Watcher's Wall camp can actually communicate with us 'southerners'!"

"It can even be used like this?! Put out a bounty for magical materials, send them to the Rune Society of the Dawn Kingdom, and you can get 3,000 Gold Shields!"

"Praise the goddess! Praise the Technology God! I feel like the world will change because of this!"

As Archmage Andrew watched it all, the corners of his mouth could not help but rise.

When he had activated the Magic Web for the first time and first seen the internet, he had worn the very same expression.

It truly was miraculous!

With that thought, he could not help reaching up to stroke the ring on his finger.

About an hour later, Archmage Andrew brought the remaining rings to the royal palace.

"Excellent, Sir Andrew. Your faith in the Magic Goddess has received unprecedented proof. From today onward, I will entrust every matter concerning the Magic Goddess within the Graycastle Empire to you, our esteemed Archmage."

The Graycastle Emperor's expression remained unchanged, but if someone had used a transcendent's senses to examine him, they would have discovered that his heartbeat had accelerated greatly, his eyes brimming with burning fervor.

"In this miracle, our god bestowed a total of 50,000 Magic Net Rings upon the Graycastle Empire. Of those, 118 have been given, in accordance with the god's instructions, to the believers who participated in the prayer ceremony. All the remaining rings are here..."

Andrew quickly relayed all of the god's decree.

The Graycastle Emperor was silent for a moment. "The god's decree must naturally be obeyed. Reserve 10,000 Magic Net Rings for the various Mage Legions and knightly nobles across the realm. You will oversee the rest. I will have an area prepared at the Royal Mage Association for distributing the Magic Net Rings."

"Rest assured, I will have every ring belonging to the Mage Legions and knightly nobles across the realm activated within five days."

Andrew nodded slightly, indicating that he could accept this arrangement.

So-called knightly nobles were not knights who owned land, but military nobles born from knighthood who had earned illustrious merits in battle. They were often stationed along the Graycastle Empire's borders, guarding the empire's territorial security generation after generation.

Such a swift method of communication naturally had to be used for national defense. That was the bottom line.

While the Graycastle Emperor pondered how to distribute these miracles from the Magic Goddess and the Technology God, in the Dawn Kingdom, a young viscount stood atop the city wall on a snowy night, his eyes filled with gravity.

"My lord Viscount, you should still go to the count's territory. I will guard this land. If... if the territory falls, you can still ask the count's forces to come... They are not nobles. They will not follow the nobles' rules of the game!"

The guardian knight's expression was resolute, as though he had already cast aside all concern for his own life, yet he could not help trying to persuade his lord.

"Where do you think they came from? Would mercenaries have that many transcendent individuals? That many spellcasters?" Viscount Rost took a deep breath. "I have exchanged half my fortune for Mana Bombs from Hedy the Coffin Bearer. She is the Magic Goddess's and Technology God's agent in the mortal world. I refuse to believe..."

Before he could finish, he instinctively sensed waves of malice coming from nearby.

As a Mid-Order Mage, he became alert in an instant.

Danger was approaching!

Hostile individuals were lurking nearby.

Their number was unknown.

But there were definitely many of them.

Seeing his expression, the guardian knight immediately became alert as well. He activated Eagle Eye Technique and scanned the surroundings.

Before long, he fixed his attention in one direction.

They were a group of thugs dressed as mercenaries and commoners, but any transcendent individual would have noticed that every one of them was a knight or mage with transcendent power... Though most were merely knight attendants, there were already over a hundred of them. For any viscount's territory, that was a catastrophe akin to utter annihilation.

They charged forward all the way, seemingly unconcerned that the castle's master would notice them.

The guardian knight hurriedly sounded the alarm, telling the soldiers on the wall to take up their ranged weapons.

"Adjust the formation. Throwers, move forward. Leave a position for one Mage Apprentice beside every thrower. The Mage Apprentices will activate the Mana Bombs, and the throwers will hurl them out. Do not care what type of Mana Bomb it is. Throw them all! Keep throwing until everyone below falls!"

Viscount Rost's words left everyone present—whether guardian knights, soldiers, or the Mage Apprentices who had come to the castle walls for the first time—somewhat dumbfounded.

What kind of tactic was this?!

They had never heard of it!

But when they recalled the viscount's explanation that these Mana Bombs all came from the gods, that they supposedly needed only a thread of mana to activate and would unleash a substantial spell attack once thrown, they gradually understood the order.

Even so, they still found it rather unbelievable...

Could this really work?

Yielding to the viscount's authority, they finally adjusted their positions and reformed the "battle formation."

By then, the thugs were already very close to the city wall.

Several mages had remained in the rear and begun chanting.

As mana continuously gathered, the viscount gave the order. The Mage Apprentices hurriedly picked up the Mana Bombs from the ground one after another and poured in a thread of mana, but nothing changed at all. They even suspected they had made a mistake... As for the throwers, they were merely ordinary soldiers with strong arms, and they looked around in bewilderment.

Viscount Rost directly snatched a Mana Bomb activated by an apprentice beside him and hurled it out with all his strength. With a thunderous boom, a Flame Vortex erupted not far beneath the city wall, followed immediately by screams.

Seeing this, the soldiers finally reacted. They copied his example, throwing out the "crystals" held by the Mage Apprentices one after another.

Flame Vortices, dancing vines, surging ice spikes... All kinds of spell effects appeared crazily below the city wall.

There was almost no pause at all.

Below the wall, the mages who had been chanting and were about to cast their spells onto the wall and at the city gate were blasted into disarray one after another. Many fell directly to the ground, their lives and deaths unknown.

At the sight, Viscount Rost's soldiers grew more and more excited, constantly throwing out Mana Bombs. The Mage Apprentices rapidly pulled the crystals from the boxes one by one. The entire process flowed smoothly, like an assembly line.

Anything that moved became a target for their bombardment.

It all happened within those brief few minutes.

When it seemed that not a single thing below was still moving, Viscount Rost finally snapped out of his shock and suddenly shouted, "Stop! All of you, stop! Can't you see there are no enemies left?! Do you know how much each Mana Bomb costs?! Stop right now!"