Chapter 239 239: Book

In another part of the forest, two entities could be seen. One of them seems to have a body created from mud

This entity doesn't have a fixed form and just looks like a large blob of mud. Around it were corpses of tens of magic beasts

The corpses don't lack a magic beast at the 3rd cycle or even above that yet all of them were killed by this mud monster, showing off its might

As for the other entity, it was humanoid with black skin but on its body, jades could be seen. Its whole body was covered with jades as if they were embedded in its black-colored skin

In its eyes was a look of boredom as it watch its companion eat and swallow the corpses of the nearby magic beasts

"Murty, are you not done yet? We still have to visit other tribes! Damn it, these pathetic tribes are on the outskirts of the Drakery Forest but we have to enter this deep in the forest because you want to eat! We are wasting time!" The humanoid creature with jades that has a chaotic mixture of blue and red said in irritation

"I'm not full yet, don't disturb me, Pum!" The mud monster actually replied. It has the ability to speak like a human!

"Don't disturb you, don't disturb you! Fucking hell! You have been eating for days already!" Pum retorted in anger, the jades on his body trembling

"I'm eating because I'm hungry! Don't you know how weak my food is? I need to eat a lot of them if I want to be satisfied! If I'm not afraid of the Drake King, I would have ventured deeper and eat as much as I want!" The mud monster - Murty replied in dissatisfaction

"Damn it, I didn't expect that someone of my caliber would have to deal with these pathetic tribes in this way! If it was me, I would just kill them directly!" Pum grumbled

"It can't be helped. These tribes live in Drakery Forest, the worst place for them to live. If they enter deeper into the forest, they would encounter magic beasts at high cycle or even that eccentric Drake King!"

"But if they exit the forest, they would then enter the plain of the Giants. Only those that are above the Junior Rank could possibly escape this place!"

"But considering that these tribes are these pathetic, why do we have to deal with them? Because of humanity's guardian, we couldn't kill these weaklings directly and had to use Sage's plan. We have to sow discord in the dark if we want to kill them!"

Pum shrugged his shoulders and speaks with a tone indicating that he was just simply doing what he was ordered to while still feeling annoyed. "I heard it's because the Sage originally has a weak background but grew that strong. He doesn't want humanity to have its own version of the Sage. That's why he wants to annihilate these weak tribes even though they are far from being a threat"

"Heh... how could that be? Humans are weak! They only survived until now because of the Guardian!" Murty retorted, not believing that humanity would birth someone at the level of the 'Sage'

"You're really stupid! Humanity gave birth to the Guardian! Who could say that they can't birth another Guardian? That's why we have to annihilate them!" Pum said as he spits on Murty that was instantly enraged

The mud monster made tens of hands using its body that tried to crush its companion

"Ahh! Come on! We still have to slowly deal with hundreds of tribes in the Drakery Forest, especially the stronger ones! Don't waste time! I just spat on you, do you really have to do this?" Pum cried out as the mud hands approach him

——

No one knew what happened to Titane but it was good that his magic collapses as he lay on the ground

However, although Titane seemingly lose consciousness or even his life, the injuries that the Junior Mages sustained were still very severe

Seeing that their enemy was incapacitated, relief washed over them and they lose consciousness

This was especially for Stone Head. As the one that confronted Titane and tried to reach him, he was the most injured since he was the closest

Flamaz and Burning Fist were only slightly better than him but they also fainted. Only Chief was still conscious as she cautiously approached Titane

She checked the enemy's situation and saw the man dead. Titane's eyes were still completely wide open in anger but his body looks really dry aside from the blood that he bled

Based on what the Chief could sense, Titane's mana was completely used up, causing death and the dryness of his corpse

Although Chief already thinks that Titane is dead, she still uses her wand to blast open the man's head. Even if Titane was merely unconscious earlier, with his head blasted, he should be really dead by now

After making sure that the enemy was dead, Chief stared at the survivors. Only the people from the Waterside Tribe and Fire Force Tribe remained

Right Wind and Left Wind of the Windy Tribe, Rockim of the Earth Wrath Tribe, and Weaver of the Nature Lover Tribe all died

Out of the eight Junior Mages, only half of them survived. This was a huge casualty all brought by Titane suddenly reaching the 3rd cycle of the Junior Rank

At this, Chief sighed. With the death of the Junior Mages, the Windy, Earth Wrath, and Nature Lover Tribe would definitely have a hard time especially since winter is arriving. This was a painful loss

Suddenly, Chief stared at the unconscious Flamaz and Fire Fist with killing intent in her eyes

"Should I kill them?" She thought as just like other tribal people, she want the other tribes to be as weak as possible so that her tribe could swallow them or at the very least, not be threatened by them

But on second thought, Chief decided not to do that. If her Waterside Tribe become the only one that survived, who knows what the other tribes would do?

At the very least, the Fire Force Tribe would be able to share the possible resentment of the other tribes

With this matter finally finished, Chief called the apprentice mages responsible for preventing anyone from escaping and have them bring back either the corpses or unconscious people of theirs

——-

This day, the Metal Sword Tribe was annihilated, or more like almost annihilated. They should still have Junior Mages doing missions for the bigger tribes and after they return, only the remnants of their tribes would meet them

Their expression would surely be a sight to behold!

After Rezen treated the injured people of his tribe, he holed himself up in his hut and took out the book containing knowledge of magic to study

Now that he has a book that teaches him how to reach the Junior Rank, he definitely would study it

Rezen delved deeper into the mysteries of magic as his knowledge expanded

"I see, I see! So that's the reason why there are mages that focuses on close combat using their bodies and there are others that attack from a distance! It all boiled down to the type of blessing in their cycle!"

"Hmm? To reach the Junior Rank or advance in it, a corresponding magic circle must be used? This magic circle in very simple terms would 'inform' the universe that a mage wants to advance. While in the process of advancing, the mage would have to use their mana to either tamper their body or soul and if they succeeded and survived, the heavens would bless them"

"The free mana in the atmosphere would be absorbed by the advancing mage and their strength would improve. In every cycle of this blessing, a mage's strength at the very least would increase by 50%"

"But if a special magic circle is required when advancing, why haven't I seen Stone Head use it? Did I just not notice it since I was focused on running away?"

"Wait no, an apprentice mage or Junior Mage could still attempt to breakthrough and receive the blessing of mana/the heavens even if they don't know the magic circle model but the risk would be higher and whether the heavens recognize that they are attempting to advance is up to luck!"

"Hmm... luck, since Stone Head is a heavens' blessed, he shouldn't worry much about luck. That might be the reason why he swiftly advanced despite not being prepared for his advancement"

"Maybe the reason why there are so few Junior Mages in this tribe and the other nearby ones is because they are not aware of this? They have to leave everything to luck if they want to advance"

"And with this book, the twins of the Metal Sword Tribe might have suddenly advanced all because of this but... where did they even learn how to read? The only reason I could read this is because Ivy is translating the book for me!"