Chapter 209

Saint Xi Encheng magic user prison.

Since being sent here, Gao De seemed to have been forgotten, having stayed in the dark cell for a full day.

During this day, the interrogators didn't come, and even the prison staff who delivered food hadn't come.

Gao De didn't know what had happened.

Maybe they were preparing to starve him for a few days first, letting him be unable to hold on and take the initiative to beg for mercy? Perhaps.

Gao De didn't think too much, but put all his attention into the rune patterns on the four walls of the prison.

With enough focus, even hunger would be shielded.

In the cell that never saw the sun, the concept of time also became blurred.

Don't know how long it had been.

"Clang!"

The door to the cell where Gao De was suddenly opened.

Two prison staff members, like stars holding the moon, followed a young magic user wearing a well-tailored robe and military uniform and walked in.

"What is this person's crime?" the young magic user asked.

Amnesty was never about pardoning all crimes regardless of severity.

Some crimes were not within the scope of pardon.

"He doesn't have an entry document... This person just entered prison yesterday; it seems he offended a noble minister above, which is why he was sent in," the prison staff replied respectfully and flatteringly.

"Offended a noble minister? Poor guy, but his luck is not bad, meeting us," the man laughed, then waved his hand and said casually: "Release him!"

"What's going on?" Gao De hadn't reacted at all, but the alchemical items restricting the flow of magic power on his hands had already been quickly removed by the prison staff.

"Congratulations, you are free," the prison staff said: "Why don't you thank the adults of the Holy Empire?"

Free? Holy Empire?

Gao De was completely stunned.

Walking out of the dark magic user prison, fresh sunlight bathed his body again.

Gao De didn't feel much joy; more of it was actually calm.

No one knew what he had figured out in the two days he was in prison.

Saint Xi Encheng, Gao De had only been here twice in total.

Once was more than a year ago, with Jielika's help, taking an airship from Bremen City to Saint Xi Encheng.

The second time was this time being escorted into the Saint Xi Encheng magic user prison.

But Gao De could clearly feel that the current Saint Xi Encheng was somewhat different from the past.

He squinted his eyes slightly, sizing up this city.

It seemed that everything hadn't changed, but it seemed that everything had changed.

Soon, Gao De understood where the change had occurred.

The flags that were originally hung high on the flagpole, representing the Saint Xi En Principality and the Jeros royal family, had disappeared.

Replacing them was a flag of a burning heart of fire and a black eagle flag in black and gold, hung half a pole higher.

Gao De didn't recognize the former flag.

But the latter, Gao De, who had taken geography classes, was very familiar with it.

That was the flag of the Holy Empire, the most powerful country on this continent.

"A black eagle on a golden background."

Gao De walked on the street.

Clearly, this once prosperous city was much more depressed today; there were far fewer pedestrians on the street, and even many surrounding shops were not open.

And in sharp contrast to this desolation: all the residential buildings in the residential area, almost every household's windows and doors, were hung with mini versions of the Holy Empire's black and gold eagle flags, looking as if it were a festival.

Most of those flags looked very rough, and only the flags hung in front of the detached houses that looked like wealthy families were more exquisite.

Obviously, these flags were all made by the people of Saint Xi Encheng overnight.

Even on some residential buildings, there were exaggerated slogans hung, such as: "Warmly celebrate the Saint Xi En Principality joining the Holy Empire and becoming the Saint Xi En Province under the jurisdiction of the Western Realm Governor of the Holy Empire," "Long live the Holy Empire," "Long live the Ice Flame Legion"... No one needed to be specifically told, let alone taught.

After the Saint Xi En royal family announced their surrender, the residents of Saint Xi Encheng accepted this fact at the fastest speed and used the greatest sincerity to please the new rulers of this country.

Gao De inquired a little and soon figured out the specific situation.

Having only stayed in prison for one day, the sky outside had changed.

It's just that this change of sky was like "pie falling from the sky" for him.

Gao De couldn't help but think of Mentor Mo Sen, who was high-spirited and highly praised the Holy Empire's political system in the "Nolan Continent Geography and War Geography" course.

He smiled in his heart.

I guess Mentor Mo Sen would never have imagined at that time that just one year later, he would wish to become a subject of the Holy Empire.

Occasionally, soldiers of the Holy Empire could be seen on the road.

These soldiers had hard faces, well-equipped, and possessed a temperament of iron-blooded bravery and confidence.

There is a saying that "a soldier's temperament is the temperament of this country."

From these soldiers, Gao De could glimpse a corner of the unique temperament belonging to the Holy Empire.

There was definitely a reason why so many people praised this country, not without reason.

And there must be a reason why the Holy Empire could transform from a barbarian country into the most powerful empire in the world, not out of luck.

Walking through several blocks, Gao De walked to the front of a magnificent chamber of commerce.

This chamber of commerce hadn't stopped business temporarily because of the Holy Empire's entry, and the doors were still wide open.

On the top of the door hung a conspicuous forged gold emblem, with the overall color tone based on gold and dark red.

The emblem adopted a circular design, with the center designed as an exquisite alchemical furnace pattern, with fire burning fiercely in the furnace, and starlight steaming above it; on the edge of the emblem, it was surrounded by a circle of mysterious alchemical runes.

And directly below the furnace pattern, it was written in human language as the abbreviation of Aokenli.

Yes, this was the location of the Saint Xi Encheng branch of the Aokenli Chamber of Commerce.

Even if it was just a low-level branch placed in a small principality, its scale was also extremely large, fully demonstrating the strength and financial resources of the Aokenli family as one of the four major chamber of commerce families in Linhai City.

Long nights have many dreams.

Although Gao De luckily took advantage of the Holy Empire to escape the cage.

The rulers of this city and even this country had also been replaced.

But Gao De was not prepared to stay in Saint Xi Encheng for long.

To be precise, he was not prepared to stay in the Saint Xi En Principality any longer.

One reason was that although the nobles of this country, including the Ese family and Dean Xie Er, had temporarily lost their status.

But their power and wealth were still there, not to mention that under the Holy Empire's concept of meritocracy, Xie Er En was highly likely to restore his position as Dean of Sairisi.

Gao De couldn't guarantee that he could sleep soundly after Saint Xi En changed rulers.

The second reason was that in the few days he was in prison, he had long had a plan for his subsequent development route.

The top priority was to find a suitable piece of territory.

Then, plant trees! Saint Xi En was no longer suitable for him.

He had to leave as soon as possible, and he wouldn't return to Saint Xi En in a short time.

Or rather, the next time he returned, it would be when he came to settle accounts with these people.

Therefore, before leaving, Gao De needed to first take away the things He Xi stored in the Aokenli Chamber of Commerce that were to be left to him.

The Aokenli Saint Xi Encheng branch was just a low-level branch.

Besides purchasing unique mineral products and raw materials locally and selling some lower-end alchemical items, it also did business similar to paid vaults and lending.

With the Aokenli family's endorsement, in this field, they had extremely high credibility, so they had always been the first choice for people in Saint Xi Encheng with needs in this area.

Gao De stepped into it and said softly to the receptionist lady who came up to meet him: "Hello, I want to take out the items stored in cabinet number 666 of the bronze vault."

"Okay, sir, please follow me."

Under the guidance of the receptionist lady, Gao De entered the bronze vault.

The light in the vault was soft, and rows of cabinets cast from deep metal were arranged in an orderly manner.

A faint aura of magic power permeated the air.

Gao De arrived in front of cabinet number 666.

Upon arriving here, the receptionist lady of the chamber of commerce retreated out of interest, leaving Gao De alone.

The chamber of commerce's vault didn't verify identity, but to take out items, one must have the corresponding secret order.

Of course, He Xi had already told him the secret order long ago.

Gao De entered a complex and precise secret order into cabinet number 666, which was also a type of alchemical item.

Accompanied by a slight clicking sound, the locking device of the cabinet was triggered.

The cabinet door made of precious magic-conducting metal opened automatically, revealing the things contained inside.

Experiencing the events of the past two days, Gao De actually had long guessed what was inside, with a 90% certainty that it should be rune constructs.

In fact, his guess was correct.

But it was not multiple sets of rune constructs.

There was only one set.

A set of rune constructs stacked together, shining with faint light, lay quietly inside.

It was composed of multiple parts, built with materials with excellent magic-conducting performance.

These magic-conducting materials could not only perfectly carry runes but also conduct and enhance the wearer's magic power.

On these parts, silver and white light intertwined, and the surface was covered with complex runes and patterns.

They were as delicate as silk, small yet surprising, arranged following specific logic and laws, possessing powerful power.

The overall look was similar to traditional battle robes, including multiple parts such as the head, body, and limbs.

Each part carried different rune attributes and effects, but they were more abstract and streamlined, and even smaller.

According to common sense, rune constructs needed to be customized according to the wearer's body shape and needs to ensure the best comfort and combat effectiveness, but the rune construct in front of him obviously didn't have a so-called customizer.

So in order to be suitable for the subsequent user to wear, it must have left out some precious rune counts to do adaptation design.

Gao De reached his hand into it and took out this whole set of battle-robe-style rune constructs that were obviously much smaller.

He concentrated his mental power on it slightly. In an instant, the surface of this set of rune constructs flowed with a layer of gorgeous light, and some information was instantly conveyed into Gao De's mind.

【Breath of the Wilderness】 (Fourth-rank rune construct): Rune effects: Level 4 elemental resistance, Level 4 sturdiness, Level 4 agility, Level 4 spell damage increase, adaptation and tolerance.

Construct effect: The wearer's physical recovery speed increased by 57%, magic power recovery speed increased by 62%, and spell casting magic power consumption reduced by 31%.

When the wearer's feet are standing on the ground, the above effects will double.

Gao De was stunned for several seconds before gradually coming back to his senses.

What He Xi left him was indeed rune constructs, but they were not third-rank rune constructs, but fourth-rank.

Unexpected, yet reasonable.

He Xi said that in order to verify the interference constant, he used all his savings.

Once the interference constant is correct, it means that the complete six basic rules of runes are established and correct.

Once the six basic rules of runes are established, it means that constructing magic arrays no longer requires "rune tuning" and can be completely constructed relying on logic and calculation.

This also means that the entire runology system will be completely overturned.

How to prove the correctness of the interference constant and the six basic rules of runes?

Following the above logic, the answer is self-evident: just overturn the existing runology system.

He Xi also did exactly that.

And he indeed succeeded.

He Xi, with the level of a third-circle magic user, crossed ranks to manufacture a fourth-rank rune construct.

The first and only fourth-rank rune construct in the entire world manufactured by a third-circle magic user.

In the field of rune constructs that requires the most precision, the six basic rules of runes could be established.

Not to mention in other rune fields.

Since then, a new runology system has been born.

Although, only Gao De knows about this matter currently.

************ On the fourth day after the Holy Empire's Ice Flame Legion occupied Saint Xi Encheng.

25th of the Fog Frost Month.

Another airship, like a sword piercing the sky, shuttled gracefully through the clouds and appeared over Saint Xi Encheng.

This was a peculiar airship that no one had ever seen before, and it wasn't big overall.

But the flat, streamlined hull shone with silver light in the sun, like a silver giant fish carefully carved, shining brightly, full of beauty and speed.

The most eye-catching part was the propulsion device at the tail of the airship.

It was a design never seen before, with several slender tail pipes spraying gorgeous pale blue flames, forming a sharp contrast with the propellers at the tail of common airships.

In short, this was an airship that made people know it absolutely belonged to high-end goods at a glance.

The airship flew into Saint Xi Encheng all the way and finally stopped over the airship base in Saint Xi Encheng.

It stood quietly there, motionless.

Many subjects in the city also looked up and saw this airship.

However, in their eyes, they all defaulted that this should be an airship of the Holy Empire, carrying big shots from the Holy Empire.

Such a high-end airship could only come from the Holy Empire.

At least before Saint Xi Encheng was stationed by the Holy Empire, they had never seen such an airship.

Until a large number of fully armed Holy Empire soldiers were dispatched and rushed to the airship base.

The Holy Empire officers with serious expressions even ordered the evacuation of the surrounding crowd and isolated this venue, and the original residents of Saint Xi Encheng vaguely felt that the situation was not right.

The mid-level officer of the Ice Flame Legion who rushed over looked at the airship in the sky, and his heart was also unusually surprised.

The speed of this airship was really too fast.

When their reconnaissance magic user discovered it from afar and sent back the news, it had already entered Saint Xi Encheng.

Considering the Aokenli emblem on the airship and the airship's advanced design, the senior officer did not order the legion's anti-aircraft troops to take action.

"Send a signal to contact the people on the airship and ask for the other party's identity and purpose," the Holy Empire officer who rushed over ordered.

Soon, the legion soldiers had moved over a special machine used for air-to-air communication.

It was a set of magic power equipment called an airship magic power communicator, which could transmit magic power signals of special frequencies through the air; as long as the other party's airship had matching magic power equipment, they could receive the signal and make a response.

And the airship magic power communicator was already standard equipment for all airships.

Soon, the message was successfully conveyed and a reply was received quickly.

"The Aokenli family is here to pick someone up..."

The mid-level officer of the Ice Flame Legion who received the reply couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Although the Holy Empire is powerful, it doesn't mean it's completely invincible.

At least the Golden Chrysanthemum Dynasty in the west and Linhai City in the south were still worth fearing.

Another ten-plus minutes passed.

Vice Legion Commander Helen of the Ice Flame Legion, who received the news, rushed over in person.

For this airship, the Ice Flame Legion could be said to have given enough respect.

Vice Legion Commander Helen also felt it was a matter of course.

Because the airship above was exactly the latest model of airship from Linhai City.

The person who could ride this kind of airship was undoubtedly one of the top-tier characters, even in the Aokenli family.

At least, the private airships of all officers in the entire Ice Flame Legion, including Legion Commander Fleming's private airship, were not as imposing and advanced as the one in front of him and couldn't compare with it.

Vice Legion Commander Helen was puzzled in his heart.

In a small place like Saint Xi Encheng, who was worth the Aokenli family, which was thousands of miles away, sending a big shot from the family to come and greet in person? After getting the superior's consent, the airship above finally began to descend.

But several magic users appeared one step ahead of the airship.

Before anyone could react, on the ground, in front of them, in the originally empty space, a brilliant light suddenly bloomed, like stars falling, reflecting everything around as if it were a dream.

This light quickly gathered and rotated, finally condensing into a huge circular teleportation gate.

It floated quietly a few feet off the ground, neither touching the ground nor floating too high. The edge of the teleportation gate was a circle of flickering two-dimensional annular runes, constantly flowing and changing.

The inside of the teleportation gate was filled with fog.

The next moment, several magic users wearing gorgeous magic robes walked out of the fog.

Their steps were steady, and their expressions were calm, as if they were long accustomed to such scenes.

Leading them was an old man who was elderly but spirited; he wore a gorgeous magic robe, and the robe was embroidered with complex rune patterns.

Seeing this scene, Vice Legion Commander Helen's heart also skipped a beat.

He understood what the teleportation gate in front of him was: the 6th-circle evocation spell 【Arcane Gate】.

Even in the Holy Empire, a 6th-circle magic user was an absolute core force.

Among humans, the number of 6th-circle magic users is one of the important indicators for measuring a country or force.

Undoubtedly, among this group of people from the Aokenli family, there was at least one 6th-circle magic user.

For such a lineup, Vice Legion Commander Helen didn't dare to have the slightest neglect.

He puffed out his chest, walked to the front of that group of people, and gave a military salute of the Holy Empire.

"I am Helen, Vice Legion Commander of the Ice Flame Legion temporarily stationed in Saint Xi Encheng of the Holy Empire. Saint Xi Encheng, including the Saint Xi En Principality, joined the Holy Empire three days ago and became a province under the jurisdiction of the Holy Empire. Your airship has entered the martial law airspace of this city. I don't know the specific purpose of your visit to this city?"

Hearing Vice Legion Commander Helen's inquiry, the old man who was leading first nodded indifferently, and then one of the magic users behind him stepped forward and handed a document to Helen.

Helen took the document, and the black-gold eagle pattern symbolizing the empire first came into view; he was instantly refreshed and read it seriously.

It turned out that this was a special passage certificate issued by the empire.

With this passage certificate, the airship from the Aokenli family above could legally enter any airspace within the empire's territory except for first-level airspace, and could land and leave freely.

In addition, there was a special note: the local garrison of the empire that received this document should try its best to cooperate with the other party's pick-up operation.

The authenticity of the document could be verified at a glance through the magic mark at the very bottom.

But the doubt in Vice Legion Commander Helen's heart was even heavier.

—What kind of person was the big shot from the Aokenli family in distant Linhai City coming to Saint Xi Encheng to pick up? It was actually worth launching such a big show?

Xie Er En was overlooking the academy below from the top floor of the Sairisi Magic Tower as usual.

The Holy Empire's descent from the sky caused him to temporarily lose his position as Dean of Sairisi Academy.

But he had adjusted his mindset in the fastest time and was confident that with his talent and performance over the years, under the Holy Empire's meritocracy system, restoring his original position was only a matter of time.

After all, for the Saint Xi En Principality, Sairisi Academy was a holy land for all magic users, but for the magic users of the Holy Empire, it was just a "village school."

Where would those big shots high above have any interest in the position of a "village school principal"? And the Saint Xi En Principality merging into the Holy Empire, in his view, could perhaps also be counted as a good thing.

Unlike those noble ministers, he, Xie Er, was a person who truly had talent, rather than relying on his ancestors to obtain today's status.

Relying on a big tree to enjoy the cool.

Becoming a subject of the Holy Empire, for him, was actually equivalent to changing to a bigger platform.

Just when Xie Er was still immersed in his thoughts about the future, the door of the room had already been knocked urgently.

Xie Er En frowned slightly, a bit dissatisfied with this visitor who disturbed his mood, but still quickly adjusted his mindset and expression.

It's not like other times now; try to keep a low profile as much as possible.

But before he could nod, the door was pushed straight open.

A group of people walked in.

Leading them was an old man who was spirited; Xie Er En didn't recognize him.

But he was very familiar with the figure accompanying the old man.

Ice Flame Legion, Vice Legion Commander Helen.

"This is the previous dean of Sairisi Academy," Vice Legion Commander Helen introduced to the old man beside him first.

After the old man nodded slightly, Vice Legion Commander Helen didn't wait for Xie Er to speak, and had already stepped forward, saying to Xie Er in a serious and commanding tone: "Xie Er En, this is Magic User Deng Lai Aokenli from the Aokenli family in Linhai City. He came to Saint Xi Encheng this time to pick up He Xi Aokenli, an important descendant of the Aokenli family who has been teaching at Sairisi Academy all these years."

The respectful facial expression Xie Er En had just made froze at this moment.

(End of chapter)