All-Class Anti-Mage - - - - -

No matter how upset Roland was about Yang Zhen sharing their intimate conversations, she still gave no discounts in helping him. On the same night that Babala returned, she took the teleportation array to the Saga capital. No one knew what Roland and Ubantu discussed, but the day after the girl returned to Prague from the imperial palace, a decree was issued from the capital: Princess An Guo’s title was changed to Princess Zixia.

Soon, Princess Zixia’s envoy arrived at the Blue Moon Legion’s base-Nobi City.

Looking at the so-called envoy sent by Princess Zixia from the Saga Empire, Anda, the marshal of the Blue Moon Legion, couldn’t help but smirk, and his words dripped with sarcasm, “I’ve never heard of a Princess Zixia. Ubantu can’t even produce an heir himself, yet he thinks he can go outside to find an imperial heir. It’s simply laughable.”

The envoy was not angered; he gazed respectfully towards the direction of the Saga capital and spoke with reverence, “Your Majesty’s broad mind and Princess Zixia’s wisdom are not something simple-minded individuals can comprehend. A firefly will always be a firefly; how could it understand the brilliance of the bright moon?”

Anda’s expression shifted as he caught the mocking tone in those words, which was far more refined than his earlier remarks. The reason Anda harbored such deep resentment towards the Saga imperial family was that the Blue Moon Legion’s nation had been annihilated by them. While their ancestors had superficially abandoned their national vendetta for the sake of humanity, their hearts had always been consumed by this hatred.

“Get to the point. That… whatever her name is, Princess Zixia-”

“I don’t care what princess it is. What does she want you to come here for?”

The envoy smiled and paced back and forth without answering until Anda’s face was full of rage and he could no longer contain himself. Finally, the envoy said softly, “The princess has heard that your Blue Moon Legion plans to launch a large-scale sweep of the Beast Language Forest and has sent me here to discuss a condition with you!”

“What condition?” Anda was not surprised. The plan to sweep the Beast Language Forest was not a secret, nor did it harm human interests, so he had not particularly kept it confidential.

“To temporarily abandon this plan!” the envoy said earnestly.

“What a joke! The Blue Moon Legion is not a dog of the Saga Empire; what right does she have to command us?” Anda paused slightly, then his anger surged. If he weren’t afraid of provoking the wrath of the Saga Empire, he would have wanted to kill this envoy.

“You see what this is, Marshal Anda!” The envoy extended his arms. In his left hand was a space ring, while his right hand remained in a fist.

“Do you think I, as a member of the Blue Moon Legion, haven’t seen what the world has to offer?” Anda’s expression darkened, showing signs of imminent eruption.

“I have ten million gold coins in this space ring, and my right hand… well, it’s just a fist,” the envoy said with a faint smile.

“What do you mean?” Anda looked completely puzzled.

“This is a choice for you: will you take the ten million gold coins in the space ring and refrain from deploying troops for a month, or will you choose the fist in my right hand?” The envoy suddenly emphasized the last part!

A threat! This was an outright threat! Anda’s face turned red with fury as he slammed a table to pieces. If he chose to unleash the fist and continue his invasion of the Beast Language Forest, it was certain that the Saga Empire’s million-man army would not hesitate to flatten Nobi City!

“You wouldn’t dare! The Holy City church has clearly stated that humans cannot wage war among themselves; otherwise-”

“Then… Marshal Anda, you might try choosing the fist.”

The envoy’s tone was laced with temptation, making it sound as if the fist was quite appealing. But Anda’s complexion slowly paled; he was afraid to gamble!

If the Saga Empire truly sent troops, they might face only a verbal reprimand from the Holy City. They could not directly eliminate a royal family. But Nobi City was different; it was merely a small town that could not even compare to a third-level city on the Firmament Continent!

“I… I choose the left… left hand…” Anda slumped into his chair, as if all his strength had left him. The envoy did not speak another word; instead, he placed the space ring on another intact table and walked straight out of the hall.

Just after the envoy left, a handsome young man emerged from a side room, his face filled with concern as he looked at Anda. “Father, why would the Saga Empire take action over the Beast Language Forest? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Joga, there’s still so much for you to learn. Do you really believe the Saga Empire acted solely for the Beast Language Forest?” Anda’s expression was remarkably calm, devoid of the earlier rage. It seemed that the earlier display had all been for show.

“Then what was their reason? Was it for the Blue Moon Legion?” Joga questioned.

“Yes, exactly for the Blue Moon Legion. Just watch; while we have gained ten million gold coins, new pressures will soon follow,” Anda said as he shook his head with a sigh.

Joga wasn’t oblivious; he understood the precarious situation the Blue Moon Legion was in. A heroic army reduced to nothing more than a magical beast hunting legion was already undignified enough, and now they had to contend with constraints from both the church and the Saga Empire!

“What kind of pressure will we face? What should we do?” Joga asked anxiously.

“I don’t know, but I have a strong feeling that the Blue Moon Legion is heading toward its end…” Before Joga could voice his shock, Anda continued, “This suddenly emerged Princess Zixia is the one who will end the legend of the Blue Moon. And that envoy just now is no ordinary person…”

In the hall, the father and son fell into silence, a sense of desolation spreading through the air…

As for the envoy, he returned to Agada riding a flying magical beast. After using the teleportation array to shift back to Prague, he wiped away his disguise and removed his hat, letting his black hair cascade down. Roland wore a playful expression on her face as she muttered to herself, “So this is what it feels like to dress as a man-it’s thrilling!”

Sitting in front of the vanity and removing her makeup, Roland caught a glimpse of the worried expression in the mirror and gently sighed, “Yang Zhen, I miss you. What are you doing right now?”

…

Yang Zhen wasn’t having an easy time. After listening to Babala recount the events in Prague, he wore a gloomy expression the entire day. He trusted Roland’s abilities and wasn’t too concerned about the Blue Moon Legion’s plans; what worried him was the potential encounter with the girl-he feared he might end up looking like a swollen pig’s head. Even without Babala telling him, he could imagine how furious Roland might have been at the time.

“Sigh…” Yang Zhen let out a helpless exhale. After zoning out for a while, he climbed onto the large stone platform to study the runes. This cave had been left behind by Sword Saint Guli and Mage Saint Traz, and he even suspected that Traz might be one of his teachers.

The reason he struggled with understanding the runes was his current level as a runesmith. To be more specific, it was because he hadn’t passed the exam for promotion and, in his memory, he lacked the right to inherit knowledge from his teachers. Becoming a runesmith master was already quite impressive in the Firmament Continent, but it was far from Yang Zhen’s ultimate goal.

The concept of a crystal core substitute required support from runes; however, the runes he currently understood weren’t up to that task. So, Yang Zhen was pinning his hopes on the runes present on the stone platform, believing that if he could decipher them, he might discover a solution for the crystal core substitute.

“Yang Zhen, do you think Babala might have said something wrong?” the barbarian walked into the cave, clearly unhappy, and looked at Yang Zhen, who was bent over the stone platform.

“Don’t overthink it; you did well. According to the intelligence we have, the Blue Moon Legion remains inactive, which means Lan’er has succeeded,” Yang Zhen replied without turning around. He continued to examine the runes on the stone platform.

“That’s not what Babala meant. Babala doesn’t understand why Miss Lan’er said she wanted to kill you. Babala must have gotten something wrong for her to be so upset,” the barbarian expressed, guilt weighing on him as he sat on the stone platform.

Hearing this, Yang Zhen realized that if he didn’t clarify things, the barbarian might end up feeling even more guilty about the misunderstanding. It wasn’t his fault; if there was someone to blame… it was just the universe playing tricks on people!

“It’s not what you think. That statement holds many meanings, and one of them is quite unique. When she said she wanted to kill me, it actually means she misses me a lot,” Yang Zhen turned around and, against his better judgment, tried to console Babala.

“Oh, I see! Considering how Lan’er looked at the time, she must have missed you to the point of going crazy,” the barbarian agreed naively, never once doubting Yang Zhen’s words.

Yang Zhen let out a silent sigh of relief. He turned to continue observing the runes when he heard Babala say something that made his scalp tingle.

“You must be from the Bidel Mage Guild.”

“How did you know?” Yang Zhen asked, startled, worried that the barbarian might get carried away and cause some trouble. But Babala, aside from looking a bit distressed, did not seem overly excited.

“Babala went to Prague this time and saw the scroll you used the other day while riding Lulu. They said this kind of Composite Generation One has just been released. However, you had it half a month ago, so you must be from the Bidel Mage Guild.”

Yang Zhen felt like banging his head against a wall. Anyone who claimed that barbarians were dumb would have to deal with him. If Babala could grasp such a convoluted issue, it was clear that the barbarians weren’t actually stupid; they were just… too innocent!

“I-”

“You don’t need to feel guilty. Babala knows you are a good person, and Marshal Anda and Young Marshal Joga are also good people. Miss Lan’er is a good person, and Pipi is a good person…”

Yang Zhen thought to himself, “Great, you just listed a bunch of good people without explaining why I shouldn’t feel guilty.” He gently patted Babala on the cheek. It was good that he was so innocent and didn’t dwell too much on hatred. If everyone were as simple-minded as Babala, would there still be so much turmoil in the world?

It was precisely because people were too clever and calculated that they often complicated what should be simple… Wait a minute-simple? Complicated? Yang Zhen suddenly placed emphasis on these two terms, and his mind became extraordinarily clear. Yes! He had been overcomplicating something that was simple!

Runes were like a community of humans. Working together on the same task was vastly different from separating and doing their own things! Yang Zhen excitedly hugged the barbarian tightly, realizing that it was Babala’s appearance that had awakened him! Why did he need to view the runes on the stone platform as a collective? Why not just break them down into individual parts?

Now that he understood, Yang Zhen looked again at the runes on the stone platform. Although they still felt somewhat unfamiliar, the obscurity had vanished. Each separated rune had reverted back to the most fundamental strokes: left-falling, right-falling, horizontal, vertical, bend, and hook!