Chapter 226

"Hum~~"

In the underground phase transfer room of Swan Castle, twisted spiral light appeared again, and a figure slowly emerged.

This person had extremely lustrous blue-gray long hair, crystal-blue eyes, long eyelashes like small fans, handsome and intelligent features, and a petite yet delicate figure.

She wore a plain gray thick cotton long dress, the hem reaching fifteen to sixteen centimeters below the knee, revealing black tight pants embroidered with some silver patterns, and on her feet were ordinary warm cotton shoes.

This was Naya, the lifelong councilor of the Nawat Guardian Council.

Aside from her somewhat out-of-place winter attire, she also carried a bulging backpack.

Upon appearing, her steps were a bit unsteady; just as she was about to fall, a Mage Hand reached out and gently supported her body.

Immediately after, a stream of pure faith power poured in, quickly replenishing her greatly depleted magic.

This was Luosen.

While replenishing her power, he could feel Naya's magic breaking through into the Legendary realm again, maintaining at the Legendary+1.6 level.

Soon, he had replenished about forty percent of her magic.

Naya let out a long breath: "I'm much better, thank you, Mage Luosen."

Luosen then released the Mage Hand, glanced at Naya's backpack, and said: "Mage Naya, you don't need to bring all the copied books at once; that's too dangerous."

While speaking, he extended his hand in an inviting gesture, indicating for her to follow him.

While following Luosen behind him, Naya looked around the underground chamber, curious: "Are we now in the underground of Swan Castle?"

Yes.

Luosen led Naya through the not-so-spacious underground corridor, all the way up to the guest hall of Swan Castle.

The guest hall was spacious and bright, with a constant-temperature magic array operating stably 24 hours a day.

In terms of decoration luxury and refinement, it far surpassed Naya's Tranquil Manor.

Not to mention, the entire side of the lounge featuring a single-direction transparent crystal glass wall made one feel very comfortable and also very luxurious.

Please have a seat, Mage Naya.

Luosen extended his hand in an inviting gesture while walking to the wine cabinet of the guest hall, asking: "What would you like to drink, madam?"

Naya glanced around the spacious, exquisite room: "Just bring me a light-flavored fruit wine."

Luosen poured her a cup of Mondania's specialty strawberry fruit wine, and poured himself a cup of Xia'er's maple dew wine.

Using the Mage Hand to pass the drink over, he plopped down in the drake-leather chair opposite Mage Naya, took the backpack she handed over, which contained the five books he had previously requested to be copied.

Luosen actually didn't care about those books anymore, but he had to keep up appearances.

His face was full of gratitude: "Mage Naya, you personally delivering these books makes me deeply grateful, and I greatly admire your reputation."

Naya took a light sip of the fruit wine, a reserved smile on her face: "It's not my reputation; it's the reputation of the Nawat Republic."

We Nawat have always been the kind who repay grudges and return kindness.

Master Luosen fought desperately to slay demons for us and even sent such a precious treasure; we naturally must give an equivalent return.

As she spoke, she pulled out a newly synthesized sample from her pocket, and also took out the crystal guardian staff that Luosen had given her.

We have indeed succeeded in synthesizing it, and it is indeed effective, but the quality is hard to improve; we tried many methods to no avail, and various flaws always remain, far inferior to the crystal torrent staff you crafted.

Luosen took the sample, examined it closely, and then infused it with legendary power to feel it carefully.

He found that its storage density was about thirty percent of that of the crystal torrent staff, its focusing performance about seventy percent of the staff's, reaching legendary +2 level.

It is usable and certainly counts as a good thing, but everything suffers when compared.

This time, Luosen won't reveal the true secret, but he still offered a feasible method to improve quality:

"Master Naya, I actually encountered the same problem as you, but I solved it with a clumsy method."

"Huh?" Naya looked curious.

Luosen then said: "Look, when we synthesize magic crystals, if we let the crystal grow in the alchemical liquid, it will eventually become quite large, up to fifty centimeters at most, right?"

"Right." Naya, having studied the gem synthesis process thoroughly, knew Luosen was correct.

Luosen said: "Then we should synthesize larger crystal chunks; if luck is good, there will occasionally be patches of excellent or even perfect quality."

"Then we cut out that portion separately for further processing, and we can obtain a high-quality legendary artifact."

After a pause, Luosen added: "The crystal torrent staff I gave you was made exactly this way."

Naya understood and couldn't help laughing: "Oh~~ I said how you could make something this good—turns out you're just gambling on luck."

Luosen spread his hands: "Exactly. Moreover, the lower-grade crystals cut off aren't wasted; they can still be used, just with slightly inferior properties, right?"

"Indeed."

Naya smiled and nodded: "I'll pass this news to my husband later to relieve his constant worries."

Luosen chuckled: "Actually, we could totally have Master Spin come along as a guest; why trouble the lady to go alone?"

Naya shook her head: "He's busy every day synthesizing legendary crystals; he simply has no time. Moreover, I wouldn't feel at ease leaving this to someone else."

After a pause, her expression grew stern again, her eyelashes fluttering like a small fan, and she said seriously: "I have some bad news I must tell you."

Luosen also grew solemn: "Madam, please speak."

"Sasmar, the current Grand Guardian Mage, highly acknowledges your talent, Master Luosen, and insists on inviting you to Nawat to become one of its members."

"To achieve this, he even resorted to some despicable means."

Saying this, Naya's face showed a hint of guilt and embarrassment; she had to lower her head and drink to hide it.

"As far as I know, he sent people to the Radiant Empire."

"Although I don't know the exact content of their talks, I believe you can roughly guess Sasmar's methods."

Luosen could certainly guess: "He wants the Radiant Empire to defeat me, so I can't become this Duke, and even can't stay in the De Rui Tan plane, forcing me to go to Nawat."

Naya nodded slightly, feeling unable to face Luosen, and turned her head to look at the splendid glass curtain wall on one side of the reception hall.

Outside the curtain wall lay a meticulously maintained garden; it was midsummer in the De Rui Tan plane, and the garden was in full bloom with extraordinarily brilliant sea‑rose blossoms that, when the wind blew, rose and fell like azure waves.

To be honest, it is truly beautiful, a man‑made scenic wonder that Naya had never seen before.

Although she had only just arrived, she could clearly feel that, purely from a material standpoint, this great lord who controls thirty million people was far more pleasant than the lifelong councilors of the Nawate Guardian Council.

Because Nawate pours too many resources into fighting demons, it is not considered wealthy materially.

Moreover, his power is even greater, because his affairs are basically not subject to restraint.

And this discovery made her admire the young mage opposite her even more.

Because he could have safely stayed in the rear and enjoyed life, yet he disregarded the danger of soul shattering and repeatedly chose to face the demons head-on.

Therefore, regarding his current material enjoyment, she felt only a little envy, but no jealousy.

Because this is the honor he deserves.

As Naya was immersed in her thoughts, the other's voice came again from beside her ear.

"Mage Naya, you need not blame yourself for this."

"Actually, when I chose to oppose the Lord of Nethershadow, I already vaguely foresaw that today's events would happen, but this is my own choice, and I have already prepared myself to bear it."

Naya startled: "Choice?"

Luosen nodded: "Yes, of course the Lord of Nethershadow once proposed a deal with me, offering some void knowledge in exchange for my silence, but I did not agree."

Naya felt ever more ashamed, feeling she could hardly lift her head: "Ah, Nawate has disappointed you, Mage Luosen."

Luosen shook his head: "Mage Naya, I said, don't blame yourself for this."

"We are all mortals, and mortals are flawed—isn't that what the sages say?"

Naya's heart jolted, and then she heard the Duke say: "Although this will indeed cause me some trouble, I am not entirely without recourse."

"In fact, whenever I think of Mage Alena and Mage Seglin burning their souls before me, and all the fallen blood-soul heroes, I feel that the minor trouble I now face is utterly not worth worrying about."

"One need only press forward bravely, leaving the rest to the Creator's judgment." Naya listened quietly to these words, a feeling of reverence welling up in her heart.

Yes, it is reverence.

She had lived over eighty years, and this was the first time she had felt such emotion toward a second mage besides the saints.

But soon after, she felt a bit hot, feeling sweat continuously pouring out of her whole body.

She naturally should feel hot.

Who let her come unprepared, wearing winter cotton clothes in midsummer? Luosen saw Naya's cheeks flushed red, her forehead covered with fine beads of sweat, couldn't help laughing, and raised his hand to point to the bedroom beside them.

"The bedroom leads straight to the bath, and there is also a changing room inside, with summer attire prepared for your figure. Please change quickly, Mage Naya."

"Then pardon me, I'll return shortly."

Naya hurried into the bedroom, and less than a quarter of an hour later she came out again, having changed into a lake-green low-cut thin dress with lace cuffs.

It was very exquisite and very fashionable, far prettier than the plain dress she had originally worn.

She obviously liked it, but was not quite used to it; her expression was somewhat shy, a faint blush on her smooth white cheeks.

Luosen politely admired and naturally applauded, saying: "Very beautiful, Mage Naya."

Naya lightly pursed her red lips, lifted her head, and exchanged a glance with Luosen.

Although his demeanor was open and frank, the archmage's sensitivity let her faintly sense a hint of heat hidden in his eyes.

She felt a secret delight, thinking to herself: "It seems I still have some feminine charm, able to draw the appreciation of this duke lord."

She was no young girl; she knew that when men admire a woman's beauty, it inevitably carries desire, merely a matter of how deeply or shallowly it is hidden, so she did not feel offended.

But she also had no intention of taking things further, after all she was already married.

After sitting down again, she had already composed her thoughts and said seriously: "No matter what, this is the trouble that Nawate has brought upon you."

"As compensation, I bring you a moderately useful spell, concerning how to use legendary power to assist low-ring mages in breaking the ring barrier."

"I think you'll understand as soon as you hear it; precisely because of this spell's help, Nawate has produced so many high-ring mages."

"In Nawate, a mage who can cultivate to the fourth ring by normal means can generally use this spell to break through to the eighth or even ninth ring, and if one is a top-tier genius capable of breaking through to the fifth ring on their own, they can reach the tenth ring."

"If one can rely on themselves to break through to the sixth ring as an absolute peak genius, then they have the qualification to become a legendary mage."

"Of course, the use of the spell has some limitations."

"For example, for the same mage, it can be used only once a year; otherwise it will greatly damage the soul."

Luosen's eyes lit up hearing this: "Mage Naya, your spell helps me immensely—I simply don't know how to thank you enough."

It is truly enormous, able to greatly increase the number of high-ring mages in the Natural Alliance, and also greatly increase his personal prestige in the Arcane Realm.

One could almost say it directly paved the final step for him to become emperor of the Natural Empire.

Naya was very straightforward: "I need paper and pen, Mage Luosen."

Luosen immediately brought them over, and without leaving, sat beside her watching her write the spellbook.

This is rather overly intimate; normally only close friends would do so.

Naya also felt it, but she had an excellent impression of Luosen, thinking he was merely eager to see the spellbook's contents.

So she pretended not to notice, focusing solely on writing the spellbook.

The spell was extremely exquisite, and naturally also very tedious; she wrote a full twenty pages in one go.

When she finished writing, Luosen also finished reading.

He closed his eyes to ponder, then used Laifu's computing power to run some verification and deduction, afterward discovering several points that could be optimized.

He didn't hide it, directly pointed them out, and then wrote out the better method.

Naya examined it seriously, while casting a spell to test it, and indeed found that the arcane performance had improved, and by at least 2%.

It seems little, but it is a further step up a hundred-foot pole, and moreover he had only spent half an hour total before and after to work it out.

Naya couldn't help praising: "Mage Luosen, your arcane talent is truly amazing—no wonder you could rely on your own strength to advance to the tenth ring."

After saying that, she suddenly realized the two were actually sitting right next to each other, so much so that their thighs were pressed together.

The summer clothing was thin, and Naya clearly felt the firm, sturdy muscles on his thigh, instantly feeling a faint flutter of anxiety.

In her heart surged a secret thought: "This is much stronger than my husband."

Her husband, Mage Spinn, is a research mage, always meticulous and slow-paced in his rigorous nature; naturally a genius in arcane research, but lacking much wild passion.

In this regard, the Duke beside her was another extreme.

He is both a genius mage and a wild warrior; although he doesn't want to admit it, the fact is, this Duke far outshines her husband.

The reception hall fell silent.

At some point, Naya felt the Duke beside her put his arm around her waist; her heartbeat quickened slightly, she wanted to stop it, but for some reason she didn't.

She also didn't know what she was thinking; she felt a little afraid, but also a strange sense of anticipation.

Somehow, they ended up kissing.

They kept kissing for a while, until Naya finally came to her senses, raised her hand and shoved Luosen hard, pushing him away.

The two still didn't speak, just gazed at each other.

The summer air was scorching hot, making people's souls feel boiling hot.

Half a minute later, they kissed again, and this time Naya did not push Luosen away.

After a long while, Naya lay on the spacious soft big bed, lazily said to Luosen: "This matter is known only to us two; if you dare tell my husband, I will completely turn against you."

"I certainly won't hurt the feelings of Master Speng."

Luosen was admiring the beautiful scenery of the garden.

"Can you really handle the troubles of the Radiant Empire?"

Naya asked very bluntly, no longer as refined and cultured as before.

Luosen also answered bluntly: "Of course I can."

Naya expressed some disbelief: "The Radiant Empire's magical achievements are very advanced; their flying devices fly high, fly fast, and can even become completely invisible."

"I know. We also have similar devices; perhaps our invisibility isn't as good as theirs, but we definitely fly faster and higher than they do."

The investment in the Aircraft Manufacturing Bureau never stopped; in less than a year they burned through 5 million Ogre money.

Moreover, the Natural Alliance recently saw an influx of many genius mages, who greatly boosted the research progress of the Manufacturing Bureau.

The flying devices recently crafted have already reached the sound barrier in top speed.

"Then I can rest easy."

Naya breathed a sigh of relief, then earnestly said: "I still say the same thing: try not to cause too much loss in the civil war, lest the demons across the sea take advantage."

Luosen gave a faint smile: "That is inevitable. Unless we possess an overwhelming power that completely avoids the drain of attrition, I will never move to unify the White Continent."

"Your tone is really bold, but strangely, I still find myself willing to believe you."

He paused: "I still have to wait nine days before I can return to Nawart; during these days I want to see your Weilan."

"Feel free to look; I'll personally take you to see."

Luosen also intends to briefly showcase Weilan's development potential, so that Naya's faction will have more confidence in him and support him more firmly.

Naya was quite satisfied with Luosen's attitude; seeing him always up to mischief, she couldn't help exclaim: "Ah~~ I finally see your true colors now; you are just a philandering mage!"

"I am indeed philandering, but didn't you, madam, also like it? You just said so yourself."

"Screw you!"

This chapter should have an extra; the QQ group will have it within three days.

(End of chapter).