After a prolonged period of travel, Leylin found it hard not to admit that the light Magi territory was generally more prosperous than that of the dark Magi. The commoners in the light Magi territory also enjoyed more peace and stability.
In regards to government administration, the light Magi had to do much more than the dark Magi in order to keep a firm hold on the vast and rich territory
According to the map on the A.I. Chip, Leylin would reach the market place of the light Magi domain, Teljose City, by today.
Leylin had few opportunities to change out of his black robe. He changed out into a clean set of leather armour.
The exquisite armour comfortably fit Leylin’s well-proportioned body, and brought about an air of heroic spirit, making him look more masculine.
The light Magi instinctively viewed the dark Magi as their adversaries, so Leylin did not wish to incur any trouble by doing something rash.
Although it might only be a trade centre, there would surely be people, like the dark Magi, who were there to sell their contraband items. Leylin took extra caution and kept a low profile.
Following the horses, Leylin forged on ahead. He observed that the pathways became wider and wider, and the people used a larger variety of transportation devices to aid in their travels.
Upon further observation, he came across a variety of new and odd things.
For example, he observed a female Magus on a winged steed, and an old geezer on a hot air balloon. Hanging from the hot air balloon, there was a banner, which read, “Welcome to Hookety’s miscellaneous goods shop, we have a supply of…”
Furthermore, Leylin even saw a few machines that resembled the components of futuristic vehicles. The machines, which carried a bunch of dwarfs, roared and rumbled loudly as it sped along the road.
146 - Jenna
Amongst those who were travelling on the same route as Leylin, there were not only magicians, but also many regular people.
Most of the regular people rode on horse carriages, and they stored large amounts of vegetables and fruits at the back.
Even though they might treat magicians with much respect, it was obvious that they held no fear when facing them. It seemed that in the light Magi domain, magicians were often revered, yet were on close terms with the civilians.
This situation somewhat puzzled Leylin. In a kingdom where the dark Magi ruled, the mere mention of Magi would give rise to thoughts of terror and bloodshed. Even an acolyte would be enough to scare away a whole town of people.
“By the looks of it, the fact that light Magi and regular humans are able to coexist harmoniously is true!” Leylin glanced at a farmer who had taken off his hat to greet him, and nodded in acknowledgement.
“And…” His blue eyes shone, “There is no trace of radiation in his body. Does this have to do with the purification tower?”
In the area under the light Magi’s rule, white lofty towers were erected a distance away from each other. The towers were able to neutralise the radiation from magicians, which was vital in allowing magicians and regular humans to mingle within this area.
As for the area ruled by dark Magi, Leylin had once seen inside the library at the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy, the designs for the Purification tower. But, it was apparent that the dark Magi were disinclined to build such a thing in their own territories. Besides the problem of the costs of constructing such a tower, Leylin guessed that the dark Magi liked to rule the commoners with a bloody and terrible regime.
As the mount was continuously flying, Leylin felt that his horizons was continuously expanding.
Green waves, almost like the waves of an ocean, was rippling in the breeze, giving off a thick atmosphere.
Here was the Teljose Great Plains which covered an area of several thousands of square kilometers and had several cities with population larger than 100,000.
And the Teljose City was located in the middle of this huge plains, and was the central zone of this huge region.
“The vegetation is lush and abundant here!”
Leylin heaved a heartfelt sigh. The closer he got to the Teljose City, the more lushly the crops were growing, as if they were fond of people. There were even wheat plants which were as tall as a man — seeing which Leylin felt moved.
“Isn’t this very amazing? Are you a Magus from outside this region?”
A red pony suddenly drew to a halt besides Leylin’s own saddled mount, and the female Magus sitting atop this red pony, spoke to Leylin.
This female Magus wore a white, Chinese-styled gown, and wore a necklace strung with pearls and precious stones around her neck. Her appearance was quite ordinary, but on her face, she wore a gentle smiling expression.
Leylin had experienced this feeling of tranquility a few times.
Although this female Magus radiated the energy waves of a rank 1 Magus, she had very little actual combat experience. There was only one layer of innate defense spell upon her body, which appeared to suffice for her.
“That’s right, Miss, I come from afar and am a wandering Magus! You can call me Leylin!”
Leylin put on a harmless smile as he introduced himself.
“My name is Jenna, I’m a local Magus of Teljose. You are surprised upon seeing these many crops, aren’t you?”
The female Magus smiled and struck a conversation with Leylin.
“Indeed, you seldom see wheat grow this tall and let’s not forget the quantity… “Leylin’s face suffused with a puzzled expression.
“This is a Magus’ blessing! In a while you can experience it by yourself!”
The female Magus wore an expression of mystery but also expectation.
“I’m looking forward to it!” Leylin smiled briefly.
He could judge with just a look that this woman is like an innocent sheep, lacking the experience of meeting Magi of her peers and extremely curious about everything.
Just like a young lady from a large family, that has wandered off.
Afterwards Leylin stopped observing these matters, as the City of Teljose was appearing in front of Leylin’s eyes.
In Leylin’s line of sight, there first appeared a black dot.
Afterwards, that black dot increased in size as if it turned into a dark cloud, enveloping the whole sky.
Leylin’s jaw dropped — he saw a tall and erect mountain, reaching through the clouds and standing quietly on the plains.
Leylin had seen a lot of large mountains in his past life, but he was sure that he’d never seen a mountain so large that it could cover the skies.
In addition, on that large mountain there were numerous tightly packed buildings and black dots moving around on the many layers on that mountain.
At the foot of the mountain, a large tall city wall was erected in a circular fashion. A visual estimate gave its height at a couple of dozen meters and that it was entirely made out of grey granite. It looked extremely impressive.
At the giant peak of the mountain, there were layers of luxuriant snow. Smoke was continuously emitted from the peak, as if it was going to erupt at any given moment.
“An active volcano! Teljose City is erected on an active volcano!” Leylin gasped.
“Correct! Keep on looking around!”
The Magus Jenna pointed towards the opening of the volcano with a laugh.
Boom!
Countless black smokes were rising, the whole volcano was coming to life. Just like a mythical giant laughing sadistically at the sky.
A giant pillar of smoke rushed into the sky, coloring part of the sky black.
“Strange, why were there no tremors?”
Leylin came to sudden realization, “this must be the work of the Magi of Teljose City?”
“Correct, continue to look!” Jenna pointed towards the black clouds, “Magus’ blessing will soon descend!”
Rumble!
A soft rain was arising, tiny droplets of black rain were falling through the breeze.
Back rain fell on the ground, turning the
whole ground ashen grey.
Soon a couple of farmers ran out from the fields, kneeled in front of Leylin, Jenna and other Magi and kowtowed respectfully as they said, “We thank our lords, the Magi, for our harvest!”
“This is volcanic ash?!”
Leylin’s body started to emit grey light, it enveloped the giant steed and kept the black rain on the outside. He extended his right hand to collect a drop of grey rain drop and started to examine it.
“Looks like some artificial things have been added to it, it resembles nitrogen-based fertilizer!”
Volcanic ash was naturally nutrient-rich, which was conducive for plant growth. Coupled with some other things the magicians had added, it was no wonder crops here had an astonishing form and output.
“That’s right, the Magi control the Teljose Volcano’s eruption. They transport and evenly distribute the volcanic ash across the plains and fertilize the land. As for resources such as geothermal energy, the Magi will collect them and convert them into a source of power for Teljose City. Hence, the alternate name for Teljose City that I love even more — Nightless City!”
Jenna explained
“….. This technology is simply amazing!” Leylin murmured. Teljose Volcano, as compared to the biggest volcano Leylin saw before his reincarnation, was much broader. To control such a big live volcano, they needed constant maintenance and magic spell formations, which exceeded what Leylin could have thought of.
Furthermore, to directly control a volcano as a power source and a place to live… This kind of design and boldness left Leylin feeling admiration towards these Magi.
“But, please forgive my bluntness, I’ve once travelled to the eastern region. The magicians there don’t seem to spare a thought for the normal people…”
Leylin properly expressed his curiosity.
“Yes, magicians are a group of intellectual people. They did this because it was for their benefit.” Jenna nodded her head. “The way we see it, the normal people that are alive are also a type of resource. Besides, as long as there is sufficient people, they can serve us at all times, procuring resources, and in addition, sow our seeds and producing acolytes of excellent quality, increasing new bloods…”
“Hence, in the middle of our light Magi region, not only were there Magi who specialised in solidification innate spells to be used for helping to prevent all kinds of natural disasters, there’s even a full-time Magus in charge of farming land and increasing harvest yield…”
“This… this really is…”
Leylin wore a shocked expression while secretly releasing a breath of relief.
Although Jenna seemed pure and straightforward, she still considered herself superior to regular humans, similar to how the dark Magi thought.
The one difference they had was in their system.
Akin to the herding of sheep, dark Magi tended to operate in a more boorish manner and would reap the harvest at irregular intervals. In comparison, light Magi adopted a micro-management style, taking special care of each and every sheep.
But they both had the same purpose — to obtain the needed materials from regular humans.
Just based on this process, Leylin felt that the regular humans in the light Magi region had a more comfortable life, compared to those living in Poolfield Kingdom.
However, although Leylin could lament over the hardships faced by the regular humans, it did not mean that he thought of reducing the power and authority that the Magi held; it was foolish to advocate an ideal of achieving equality between all humans.
Not mentioning the mysteries and strength of the Magus world, even Leylin himself only believed in one truth — that one’s status would determine one’s course of action.
Leylin himself was a Magus and fully supported the privileges and political power that all Magi had. As for those who had delusions of overthrowing the Magi in power, they would be killed immediately.
As part of a higher tier in the social pyramid, it was only natural to consciously defend the rights and privileges of that social class.
Naturally, there were also the strange ones who chose to betray their peer’s interests, and would eventually be abandoned by their own peers.
Leylin concluded that: unless there were any signs of the Magi falling out of power, he would definitely not betray his peers.
“Very surprising, isn’t it?”
Jenna laughed, “Seems like you’ve always been travelling around the dark Magi region. But once you’ve arrived at the Nightless City, you’ll need to learn to acclimatize, and adapt to the new rules…”
Jenna’s words implied that she had discovered Leylin’s true identity.
But Leylin only picked up his eyebrow and didn’t seem to care in the slightest.
Teljose City, or reputed for being a Nightless City, on one hand was the accumulation of the light Magi’s hard work, and on the other hand was supported by the dark Magi.
If the dark Magi was totally removed, then Nightless City’s total trades would immediately fall by more than half!
No trade center would reject a dark Magi member from joining them.
147 - Prophecy
From what Leylin gathered, dark Magi from all over the continent disguised themselves in order to enter Nightless City each day. Their aim was to trade items, amongst other activities.
The guards of the city turned a blind eye to their actions.
It could be said that Nightless City’s prosperity was largely dependent on the dark Magi.
Within the city, as long as dark Magi did not intentionally reveal their identity, light Magi would not bother about them.
Hence, Leylin simply smiled and told Jenna, “I came to the Teljose Plains to seek a peaceful way of life. I’m willing to abide by the rules here.”
“Nightless City is a fertile and beautiful city. I’m sure you’ll like it here!”
Jenna laughed and said.
Leylin made small talk with Jenna and managed to gather quite a lot of exclusive information about the city.
Leylin had seen a glimpse of Volcano City in the afternoon, but it was only after the sky dimmed that he reached the gate.
At the moment, there were rows of people queueing up in front of the gates of the city.
The numerous heads seemed like ants as they were separated into different groups and entered various entrances.
Leylin noticed that beside the many small doors, there were also several huge passages. The gates to the city itself were over ten metres high, and the passageways were closed.
“These doors are for giants and large creatures, so they aren’t usually open!” Jenna explained at the side.
“As for us, we are official Magi, so we are able to enter by the prestigious pass!”
Jenna explained as she led Leylin to a smaller door which was quieter.
As for the doors on both sides, there were even a dozen guards with the strength of level 3 acolytes, their bodies radiating the energy waves of their magic artifacts.
“Respected Lords, may I ask if it is a temporary or permanent lodging…”
Warlock of the Magus World 1-596 Page 114
