Chapter 69: Share the Same Robe

Library.

“Your Highness, Boge will be overjoyed by your favor.”

Anliya’s face lit up, and she lightly kissed Xia Mingyu’s cheek.

“Sese.” Yilisi, half-hidden behind her book, couldn’t help raising it slightly—but still couldn’t conceal her heterochromatic eyes.

“Yilisi, come here!” Xia Mingyu, resting his head on Anliya’s lap, waved his hand without looking back.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Yilisi swiftly put down her book, forgot to put on her shoes, and ran barefoot to Xia Mingyu’s side, kneeling neatly.

What do I do? What do I do? Is His Highness going to make me give him a knee pillow?!

Though her expression remained calm, her heart was already in turmoil.

She didn’t mind the knee pillow—after all, he was the first person to compliment her eyes and give her flowers—but wouldn’t it hurt if she held it too long? She was just a frail, weak little girl!

“Yilisi, do you know what the advanced profession of a farmer is? I checked the books on blessings on the shelves, but none of them mention it.” Xia Mingyu asked.

Thank goodness, he’s not asking me for a knee pillow.

Yilisi exhaled inwardly, yet felt a faint pang of disappointment.

“Your Highness, I recall the farmer’s advanced profession is the Harvester. About ten years ago, the kingdom sent people here to seize forbidden books and took away many volumes, including one that likely recorded the farmer’s blessing.”

Yilisi thought for a moment before answering.

She was still a child then, and because she spent every day reading in the library, she remembered this incident.

“I see,” Xia Mingyu’s expression grew increasingly grave.

He had only suspected before, but now it seemed certain—the king of this nation was deliberately suppressing agriculture!

But what benefit could that possibly bring him?

Would letting all his subjects starve and live in misery help his rule?

“Yilisi, do you know the conditions for a farmer to advance to an extraordinary profession?” Xia Mingyu pondered a moment, then asked in a low voice.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I may have seen it in a forbidden book once, but the time has passed too long—I’ve forgotten.” Yilisi shook her head.

It seems the plan to cultivate extraordinary farmers and solve the food problem once and for all is impossible… Xia Mingyu sighed.

“Anliya, go back to sleep. I’m going to begin meditation.”

Looking out at the night sky, Xia Mingyu saw Anliya off from the library.

“Yilisi, why aren’t you back in bed yet?”

Seeing the silver-haired girl still kneeling on the floor, Xia Mingyu asked in confusion.

At this hour, she should’ve already returned to her room to sleep!

“Lately, for some reason, my father and stepmother seem very happy, so they’re making so much noise at night I can’t sleep.”

Yilisi's face contorted in pain.

Who knows why—they scream all night long!

Even when I cover my ears with a pillow, I can still hear them clearly, so I dare not return to my bedroom. I’ve been sleeping on the library’s hammock instead.

Xia Mingyu: “...”

He felt a slight twinge of guilt.

“Yilisi, the books mention that becoming a mage requires two things: sufficient mana and awakening one’s innate magic. Could you explain the latter in detail?”

Xia Mingyu frowned.

The books in this world were just like textbooks on Blue Star—vague at every crucial point.

“To become a mage, the most essential thing is to comprehend true magic. The spells we now cast by stacking blank mana with magic runes are, strictly speaking, merely sorcery—not true magic.”

“True magic manifests as an intricate pattern formed by the fusion of countless magic runes, called a magic diagram.”

“The innate magic is the first spell a mage awakens spontaneously, shaped by their own spirit and mana traits. Only when using their innate magic can a mage cast it directly, without drawing the extremely complex magic diagram.”

Yilisi explained slowly.

“Most spells in this world were recorded by ancient and modern mages who copied their own innate magic into spellbooks; only a tiny fraction were created by top-tier mages.”

“If Your Highness wishes to awaken your innate magic, the fastest way is to study spellbooks and sense the magic diagrams recorded within them.”

After hearing her explanation, Xia Mingyu fell into thought.

The magic system in this world was truly strange!

Most spells weren’t invented—they were merely recorded by other mages who had awakened their own innate magic.

“Does Black Wolf Castle have any spellbooks?”

“No. Spellbooks require rare materials like magic crystals and beast hides, and are extremely expensive—even Black Wolf Castle doesn’t have any.” Yilisi shook her head.

Her father had once mentioned buying her a spellbook, but she refused.

First, because they were too expensive; second—both she and her father knew that even with a spellbook, she could never advance to mage, for the gods forbade it.

“Advancing in profession really demands resources everywhere,” Xia Mingyu sighed inwardly.

Forget it—he’d better just meditate diligently and refine his mana. After all, his current mana was still far below the mage threshold.

Later, he sat cross-legged facing the bright moon in meditation, while Yilisi went to sleep on the hammock.

The night passed without incident.

The next morning.

As dawn broke, Xia Mingyu left Black Wolf Castle with Boge and entered a nearby dense forest.

He needed to test the ability “Share the Same Robe”—preferably where no one could see.

Here, the trees towered high, their canopies layered and blocking the sunlight, while morning mist lingered around—truly a quiet, secluded spot.

“Your Highness, thank you for your favor. I shall give you everything I have.”

Boge had learned he was to be ennobled, and his face flushed red as he knelt on one knee.

His gaze toward Xia Mingyu burned with fanaticism—as if Xia Mingyu ordered him to die right now, he’d gladly hurl himself against a tree.

But soon, his expression turned to shock and disbelief.

Because Xia Mingyu was unbuttoning and taking off his clothes.

Boge: “??? ”

Does His Highness have that kind of preference?

Fortunately, he quickly realized his mistake—His Highness was only removing his outer robe.

Then Xia Mingyu gently draped the silk robe over Boge’s shoulders and murmured in a low voice:

“Who says we have no robes? I share mine with you.”

“When the king raises his army, I mend my spears and halberds.”

As Boge listened to His Highness’s voice, strange visions flooded his mind—he seemed to witness a terrifying army, ruler and subject united, charging forward in war chariots, the dust from their wheels blotting out the sky.

“We share the same foe!”

With the final words, the silk robe draped over Boge dissolved into countless light points, converging onto the top of his status blessing.

Under Xia Mingyu’s gaze, the text slowly changed—from white “Commoner” to emerald green “Share the Same Robe.”

(End of Chapter)