Great Court Magic Sage

Why did it decline?

The old man uttered a sound of utter bewilderment.

Everything was proceeding according to plan, and no matter what actions the conservatives took, they could not stop them. Everything was on the right track.

There's even the good news that the Zane Dungeon has expanded to the Warrior Country recently.

Yes, the appearance of the Zane Dungeon in the Warrior Country is great news for the old man, thanks to the existence of Lake Liurnia and the Raya Lucaria Magic Academy.

The old man believed that the appearance of the Zane Dungeon would definitely cause the Magic Faith Concentration in the Warrior Country to continue to rise, and might even reach a new peak.

"Where did something go wrong, or is there a problem with my improved magic? There's no reason for such a drastic drop in power."

He felt a pang of heartache; the decline was equivalent to more than six months of his hard work when the plan was just starting out.

No matter how hard he tries, he can't possibly figure it out now. The answer is that the answer lies in the Zane Dungeon that he has been longing for, which led to this result.

"We must investigate thoroughly; we absolutely cannot let this ruin our plans."

The old man drew several magical runes in the air, about to relay the news of investigating these anomalies to his disciples who were away. His disciples were all out there spreading the word about his improved magic, but for now, the promotion of magic could be put on hold.

Just then, the Crystal Ball on his table vibrated, and the old man glanced at it and turned it on.

The Crystal Ball emitted light, and a figure transmitting real-time information was projected in front of him.

The magnificent clothes and majestic expression projected onto the person was none other than King Bontou of the Warrior Country!

"Master Yuenka, it's still as dark as ever here."

Bontou looked around and directly revealed the old man's identity: the Great Court Magic Sage the Warrior Country's court.

Yuenka nodded slightly and continued drawing runes to inform his disciples, seemingly not showing any particular enthusiasm for the King.

Bontou clearly knew the other party's personality, so he didn't exchange any extra pleasantries and went straight to stating the purpose of his visit.

"The War Festival is approaching, Master. How is your 'Complete Book of Magic' coming along?"

"Time is a bit tight, but at least I can finish the prototype before the festival begins."

Yuenka's eyes, hidden beneath the shimmering stone hood, gleamed, and her voice, though muffled beneath the hood, seemed to emanate a sense of ecstasy.

"When it is truly mature, everyone will be able to learn all the magic, and people will be able to do anything with magic."

Bontou didn't react much to his grand vision, because he had heard it countless times; he had heard it almost every day since he started working with Yuenka.

"You'd better hurry, my father. He and his die-hard faction are also itching to use this festival to stop the reforms." Bontou's mind flashed to the image of his father, Fred, and he frowned and sighed.

"If we could tell the old King everything we know, the wise man would surely give up this futile struggle against us, but unfortunately, we cannot tell him."

Yuenka had already distributed the task of finding the source of the anomaly, and now he could finally look up at Bontou.

"As long as the Warrior talent of newborns continues to decline, the reforms will definitely continue. We don't really need to care about this War Festival; the plan will be achieved sooner or later."

"The newborns' talent for Warrior is gradually becoming unable to support the continuation of our traditions. This is like a vicious curse, or like a driving force urging us forward. Even now, I cannot clearly understand the pros and cons of this matter."

Bontou's tone was negative, but he quickly shifted his stance, speaking with an undeniable air of authority:

"'Achieve' and 'victory' can both mean the same thing, but I prefer the latter. This War Festival must be won by us."

His eyes seemed to be burning fiercely.

"Well."

The continuous, sleepless work had left Yuenka quite exhausted. He didn't tell Bontou about the unusual situation he had just noticed, but instead changed the subject and asked:

"What's the situation with the delegation that the old King sent to the Arnor Kingdom? Have our monitors sent any messages back?"

He was referring, of course, to the mission sent by the old King Fred to the Arnor Kingdom to learn about the spirit of Warrior.

When this matter was brought up, Bontou's expression became somewhat strange, and he organized his thoughts before saying:

"The monitor sent a message back saying, 'Never mind, I'll give you the letter, you can read it yourself.'"

Before long, a servant knocked on the door of the Mage Tower and brought in a letter. With curiosity, Yuenka opened it to take a look. He was genuinely curious about how the other country would teach the so-called Warrior spirit.

In his view, the so-called Warrior spirit is nothing more than recklessly charging at the enemy and swinging a knife like a brute.

However, when he actually read the contents of the letter, even he, with his vast experience, was taken aback.

On their first day in the Arnor Kingdom, King Anzi III prepared a lavish banquet for the delegation, a welcome that was completely unlike that given to a nation that had been at war just a few years prior.

Princess Serena personally received the delegation, King seemed to have entrusted her with the task of explaining the customs and culture of the Arnor Kingdom, but she kept talking about a Warrior named Ornstein, and then the whole day was over.

[Day 1: Listening to Princess Serena tell the story of Ornstein]

[The next day, we listened to Princess Serena tell the story of Ornstein.]

On the third day, as she continued telling the story of Ornstein, someone protested, so she began telling the story of the Four Knights of Gwyn.

On the fourth day, the delegation lodged a strong protest, so the Princess began showing them videos about the Zane Dungeon.

On the fourth, fifth, and sixth days, I watched the videos. My eyes hurt a lot, but the content was truly shocking.

On the seventh day, the real battle finally arrived. Unexpectedly, the King sent several adventurers to compete against us. Their fighting style... (a large section of damage)

[Damn it, this isn't what you call Warrior spirit! They're so fast!]

[On the eighth day, the day I am writing to you, Prince Temude and his two young dragon friends suddenly arrived and joined the delegation. I am keeping an eye on the prince's every move, hoping he will not do anything out of line.]

"This..." Yuenka hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Who is this Princess Serena?"

He knew who Ornstein was and was very familiar with his background story, but what puzzled him was:

How did Ornstein manage to tell such a short story for three days straight Serena, seemingly still wanting more?

That's simply amazing.

"Why did the Third Prince also come to the Arnor Kingdom? Wasn't he still in the sanatorium?"

"He's been fine for a while now, he's tough." Bontou's expression was a little grim.

The third prince, Te Mude, not only ran away to the Arnor Kingdom, but also abducted his two fellow patients, You Fei's two Dragon Disciples who were hospitalized with him.

No wonder You Fei has been looking at the sky in confusion lately. She had clearly informed her disciples of her return to the country, so why hadn't the two dragons come to see her yet?

Turns out they ran away to go have fun!

"It's like a farce," Yuenka commented after reading the letter again. "There's no need to worry about what kind of threat this mission can pose; it's nothing to be afraid of."

"Yes."

Bontou's lips curled up slightly.

"Nothing to fear."

The Warrior Country, Black Rock City, the Lord's Mansion.

Because of Lan Le's appearance in Black Rock City, Earl Gerhard handed over his most luxurious mansion to him for temporary residence, and thus it has now become the prince's temporary residence.

Since Prince Lan Le lives here, his entourage should also live nearby; it wouldn't be right to leave the prince alone here.

Aide Jia was naturally among these entourage members.

As a disciple of the Great Court Magic Sage, Yuenka, he not only had a rather luxurious residence, but also a respectable magic workshop, making him one of the highest-ranking individuals in terms of treatment.

Since obtaining the demons captured by You Fei and her group, he has been living in the magic workshop, conducting his research without ever leaving, showing no interest in the outside world, and focusing solely on his studies.

Inside the magic workshop, the faint, mournful cries of the demons echoed, and hot blood was often spilled on the ground, but it usually lasted only a few seconds before being cleaned up by magic that automatically swept the floor.

At this very moment, Aide Jia was groping the demon bound to the cross.

"The demons transformed from humans by the Fallen Devil Egg," he said, his fingers stained with blood as he pushed up his glasses with his palm. "No matter how many times I study them, I can't tell the difference between them and real demons. The Fallen Devil Egg is truly a magical thing. When will I be able to see the real thing?"

He took off his gloves, casually cast a Healing Magic on the demon, opened his notebook and wrote something. The text on it was magically encrypted, and no one without the password could see any of the text.

It's less of a notebook and more of a collection of scribbles he made when inspiration struck; the content is mostly disjointed, for example:

Three demons have been captured, but the rest ran away too fast to be found.

"I didn't expect there to actually be native demons near Black Rock City. This is something I can use to take the blame."

He was probably referring to Dorian, and a smile played on his lips as he spoke. However, his smile vanished when he saw the pile of pyroxene stones on the table, and he wrote in his notebook:

No matter how much I study pyroxene, I can't make any progress. Maybe I should consider changing my research direction, such as trying to look at the sky?

If pyroxene is a meteor, then perhaps the sky has some connection with it?

Aide Jia stretched, and then his eyes suddenly lit up. He then exclaimed in surprise to himself:

"Did the teacher send me a message?"

After a moment, having read the message from Yuenka, he nodded and said, "There's actually something happening that makes people fall in love with Weapon Skill again. This definitely needs to be investigated thoroughly. It just so happens that I haven't been out for a while."

He wanted to breathe some fresh air he hadn't had in a long time, and also to see how far the adventurers' farcical campaign around the Zane Dungeon was progressing, so he left the magic workshop where he had lived for so long.

"Have you heard of Beinal? It's said that most of the people entering the Zane Dungeon now are there to learn Weapon Skill from him."

"How could I not have heard of it? If I hadn't had a shift, I would have gone today. After I finished learning, I could go to the Glory Dungeon to learn the Weapon Skill of the heroes. That was my childhood dream."

As soon as he stepped outside, he overheard the conversation between two soldiers on guard duty.

"Huh?"

What did he just hear? Weapon Skill?

Aide Jia raised an eyebrow, walked over with a smile, and asked:

"Gentlemen, what are you discussing?"