Chapter 89: Extraordinary Times Call for Extraordinary Actions

Chapter 89: Extraordinary Times Call for Extraordinary Actions

At the entrance of the base.

Xie Man, Artur, and Cole looked uneasy, frequently glancing outside with apprehension.

Beside them, Madeleine and Gery held their weapons, their faces calm and composed.

The area around them was filled with numerous stone golems.

Before leaving the base, Su Nan had used a communication spell to ensure Madeleine and Gery would protect the base and the apprentices, in case Heb had any hidden tricks up his sleeve.

A few meters away, over a dozen new recruits huddled together, their expressions confused.

They had no idea what was happening and were suddenly called here.

As a result, they weren't particularly worried and even had the leisure to sneak glances at Madeleine.

Many were curious about the forest-born, whose appearance was so different from humans.

At that moment, a figure suddenly appeared at the base's entrance.

Madeleine and Gery instinctively raised their weapons, but they relaxed and lowered them once they recognized the person.

"Teacher!"

Seeing Su Nan return unharmed, Xie Man, Artur, and Cole heaved a collective sigh of relief and hurried over to greet him.

The new recruits, upon realizing that this was the legendary wizard and their future teacher, were startled and quickly bowed in respect.

"Sir Su Nan."

"Are the new recruits here?"

Su Nan smiled and offered a few encouraging words before waving them off.

"Alright, everything's fine now. You can go about your business."

"Yes, Teacher."

Despite their curiosity, the three young apprentices obediently stepped back.

The new recruits followed the three seniors.

Su Nan turned to Madeleine and Gery, nodding. "Thank you for your hard work."

Madeleine shook her head, then silently turned and left, heading back to the magic plant garden.

"You're safe, that's good." Gery smiled and also turned to leave.

"Meow!"

Su Nan felt a sudden weight on his shoulder as Amy appeared, her eyes wide with concern.

"What happened? I sensed a powerful energy surge from Flash City just now!"

"Nothing serious, just an enemy came calling, but I took care of it." Su Nan reassured her with a smile.

"An enemy? A wizard apprentice?" Amy's eyes widened.

Such a strong energy surge could only come from a battle between two wizard apprentices.

When its former master's students were still around, it had often felt similar energy surges on the training grounds.

"Yep." Su Nan nodded. "A third-level wizard apprentice."

"Third-level wizard apprentice!"

Amy was startled, but then became puzzled.

"Meow, you're only a second-level wizard apprentice. How did you defeat a third-level one?"

Su Nan rubbed the little cat's head and said with a meaningful tone, "I used the power of money."

The power of money?

Amy's small eyes were filled with confusion.

What kind of ability is the power of money?

Is it some kind of spell?

Su Nan chuckled, not bothering to explain, and patted Amy to let her play. He then headed toward the meditation room.

After a battle, it was time for the pleasant task of sorting through the spoils.

In the meditation room.

Under the bright, soft light, Su Nan examined the spatial ring in his hand.

Perhaps the owner hadn't expected the ring to fall into someone else's hands, as it had no secret lock. Su Nan easily opened the internal space.

The space was small, less than a cubic meter, but it was packed with items.

Su Nan took out each item and began to inventory them.

First, the money.

There were only a little over a hundred gold coins, along with a fair amount of silver and copper coins.

There were 112 gems in total, mostly medium to low-grade gems like tourmaline, jade, zircon, spinel, and topaz, but there were also over a dozen high-grade gems like rubies, sapphires, and diamonds.

There was even a rare emerald green stone.

The emerald green stone, also known as a shield stone, is a delicate, shiny gem that ranges from greenish-white to very dark green and is usually found only in extremely dangerous, dark regions.

The emerald green stone can greatly enhance enchantments for acid, cold, lightning, fire, or sound energy when used to create magical items.

It can also be used to set up magical arrays or create soul cores.

Of course, it can be used to make rune stones, though that would be a waste.

"Good stuff."

A smile spread across Su Nan's face.

High-quality gems are extremely valuable.

For example, this emerald green stone is worth at least 5,000 gold coins.

The other gems are estimated to be worth over 4,000 gold coins in total.

Just from the gems, Su Nan had more than made up for his expenses and even gained several times over!

One could say he had hit the jackpot!

In addition to the gems, the spatial ring also contained various jewelry items such as rings, necklaces, and bracelets.

Su Nan estimated that these items were likely used by Heb to create magical artifacts.

After tallying the money, Su Nan turned his attention to the books.

There were not many books, only a dozen or so, and all of them were second-circle spell model books.

These included Elemental Protection, Scorching Ray, Glitterdust, Second-Level Summon Monster, See Invisibility, Darkness, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Mass Fear, Toughness, Bull's Strength, Feather Step, and Levitate.

Su Nan guessed that Heb probably kept other books at his residence, carrying only the more important spell books with him.

After all, these books took up quite a bit of space.

"If I can find Heb's living quarters, I might be able to get more wizard tomes."

"But where does this guy live?"

"Perhaps the Golden Rock Marquis has some clues?"

After a moment of thought, Su Nan put the books away, temporarily setting aside his doubts.

Before today, he only had two second-circle spell books: Maugof's Acid Arrow and Shatter Sound Wave.

He had been worrying about where to find more second-circle spell books after advancing to a third-level wizard apprentice.

Now, someone had delivered them right to his doorstep, saving him a lot of trouble.

A dozen second-circle spells were enough to keep him busy for years.

Aside from the money and books, the spatial ring also contained several rare materials.

Many of these materials were unfamiliar to Su Nan, and he had to put them into the synthesis cube to get detailed information.

To his delight, the materials included rare metals needed for crafting magical rune cores, and there were five different types.

"Who knew how many years and how much effort Heb spent to collect all these rare materials? Now they're all mine."

Su Nan was overjoyed.

The total value of everything in the spatial ring was at least 10,000 gold coins.

He had truly hit the jackpot this time.

"Indeed, elite enemies do offer the best rewards."

After a moment of elation, Su Nan came back to his senses and recalled what Heb had said earlier.

"According to Heb, he must have met or known about many wizard apprentices."

"I wonder if these wizard apprentices are connected in any way?"

Su Nan frowned, deep in thought.

He knew a lot about the various wizard factions that would emerge a thousand years later when the wizards returned.

However, he was not familiar with the wizard apprentice organizations on the 1.0 version of the Starlight Continent.

After all, he hadn't experienced that version.

"Commissioning the Firefox Guild to investigate probably won't work. Even if there are wizard apprentice organizations, they wouldn't be known to ordinary people."

After a moment of fruitless contemplation, Su Nan shook his head and let it go.

If there were wizard apprentice organizations, he would eventually come into contact with them.

Taking a deep breath, Su Nan cleared his mind and continued his daily meditation.

Ultimately, strengthening himself was the most important thing.

As long as he was powerful enough, he wouldn't have to worry about any external threats.

"I need to advance to a third-level wizard apprentice as soon as possible. That way, many things can be put on the agenda."

After the wizard apprentice attack, Koy immediately sealed off all related information.

As a result, the incident did not cause any chaos in Flash City, and everything remained as calm as usual.

The Golden Rock Alliance also remained quiet, as if nothing had happened.

Only a few select individuals knew about the turbulent undercurrents beneath the calm.

The month of Spring Dawn arrived, and the snow began to melt.

Flash Province became increasingly bustling.

The army and various supplies were being deployed to the front lines.

The entire province was preparing for the impending war.

On the other hand, with the large number of gems he obtained from Heb, Su Nan's resources suddenly became much more abundant.

He took out the mid-to-low-grade gems, added them to the gems he had purchased from the Firefox Guild, and used them all to create stone golems.

The battle against Winter Frost Earl had already proven the formidable offensive power of stone golems on the battlefield.

These fearless, pain-resistant stone golems, once deployed in numbers, could even outperform an equal number of knights on the battlefield!

The reputation of the golem army was well-deserved.

As a result, Koy showed great enthusiasm in forming the golem army, providing all the support Su Nan needed.

By the month of Thunder, the golem army in Flash Province was already taking shape.

A total of three hundred stone golems were dispatched to the front lines, ready to be deployed in battle.

"In the past month, the spread of the disaster in Winter Frost Province has significantly slowed. The infected in Maple Leaf Province, White Tower Province, and Lake Blue Province have been completely eradicated. Now, these three provinces are preparing to launch a counteroffensive against Winter Frost Province to completely resolve the disaster."

In the study, Koy shook the battle report in his hand and then passed it to Su Nan, who was sitting across from him.

Su Nan glanced through it and nodded in understanding.

Clearly, with the death of Heb, the mastermind behind the infected, the tide of the disaster had lost its momentum and the spread had gradually come to a halt.

The infected were now like headless flies, and it was only a matter of time before they were completely eradicated.

Of course, due to the initial severity of the disaster, it would still take a considerable amount of time to fully suppress it.

Unless a weakness of the infected could be found, there was no way to end the disaster quickly.

"What did the royal family say about the Golden Rock Marquis?" Su Nan put down the report and asked.

"What else could they say? The royal family probably didn't expect us to match the Golden Rock Marquis. They might be a bit relieved now."

Koy smiled, opened a drawer, and took out a beautifully decorated parchment, placing it on the table.

"This is the letter of enfeoffment from the royal family, appointing me as the Earl of Flash. The royal envoy even hinted that once we completely defeat the rebels, the royal family will appoint me as the Marquis of Golden Rock, granting me the Golden Rock Province as my fief. At that time, the Grand Duke will hold a formal enfeoffment ceremony."

Su Nan raised an eyebrow. "That is indeed a generous reward."

Throughout the history of the Starlight Duchy, no noble had ever risen from a baron to an earl, and then to a marquis, within just a year, except during the founding period!

And it was a marquis with real power over a province!

It was clear that the royal family had offered an exceptionally generous reward this time.

"Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. The royal family still has the courage to act."

Koy said with a half-smile, half-grin.

"Maple Leaf, White Tower, and Lake Blue Provinces are busy dealing with the infected, and Bamboo Grove and Solomon Provinces lack the strength to take on the Golden Rock Marquis."

"The royal family is definitely afraid that the Golden Rock Marquis might gain too much power. These promises are to ensure I work hard to eliminate him."

Su Nan smiled without comment.

He knew Koy had another reason he hadn't mentioned.

The royal family was also afraid that the rebellion of the Golden Rock Marquis might inspire other marquises to have similar thoughts. Therefore, the Golden Rock Marquis had to be dealt with as a warning to others!

Even if it meant sacrificing a marquis's title.

Moreover, if the Golden Rock Marquis were truly defeated, someone would have to take his place.

And at that time, apart from Koy, who already controlled the Golden Rock Province, there would be no other suitable candidate. It would be better to go with the flow and appease the new marquis.

"Regardless, with this earl's title, many things I couldn't do before can now be undertaken."

As he said this, Koy's face showed genuine joy.

Previously, as a baron, he could only grant knighthood to his subordinates, even if they had achieved great military feats.

But with the title of earl, the possibility of granting titles to vassals had greatly increased.

For example, he could grant baron or viscount titles as long as he had enough land to allocate. He would just need to report it to the royal family nominally.

"When do you plan to launch the war?"

"Everything is ready. We'll start at the end of the month."

"I won't participate in the war. I need to go into seclusion for a while."

Su Nan's mental energy was at the brink of a breakthrough. He needed to focus on his seclusion for a few days to prepare for advancing to the third-level wizard apprentice.

As for the war, he wasn't particularly worried.

With Heb dead, the Golden Rock Marquis had lost his biggest trump card.

On the other hand, Flash Province still had the Black Rock Cavalry and the stone golem army.

In terms of military strength, Flash Province now held the upper hand.

The outcome of the war was almost certain.

"I understand. Go into seclusion with peace of mind."

Koy nodded seriously, understanding the priorities.

At the end of Thunder Month.

The long, harsh winter finally passed, and the snow had completely melted.

With the arrival of spring, the war that had been on hold for nearly half a year between Flash Province and the Golden Rock Alliance erupted once again.

This highly anticipated war predictably drew the attention of almost all the nobles in the Starlight Duchy.

Everyone knew that this battle would determine the fate of the Golden Rock Province.

The ultimate victor would undoubtedly gain full control over the entire Golden Rock Province.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end