Chapter 15.2 – The Mage a.s.sociation
Li De gave a slight smile and said, “It seems that although you have been in contact with magic for a decent amount of time, you still do not truly understand magic. Among the magic tools, gold ranked is already a fairly high level. Magic tools are divided into a total of six cla.s.ses: G.o.d cla.s.s, sub-G.o.d cla.s.s, dark-gold cla.s.s, gold cla.s.s, silver cla.s.s, and bronze cla.s.s. Although gold cla.s.s is only ranked fourth, you should know that if you were to sell that gold-ranked cane on the market, it would fetch over 1000 purple-gold coins. Dark-gold magic tools are extremely uncommon, while G.o.d and sub-G.o.d cla.s.s equipment is extremely hard to get, even for the President. All he has is one sub-G.o.d level magic cane. According to rumours, true G.o.d cla.s.s tools are only held by the Ice Snow G.o.ddess’s top bra.s.s worshipers at the Ice G.o.d’s PaG.o.da. The form is unknown, but it is likely it’s not a staff.”
Nian Bing looked at the Icicle rod in his grasp, and his heart trembled. ‘If it’s like this, then what level will my Morning Dew Knife be at, if considered a staff? I’m afraid it is at least a dark-gold ranked treasure.’ After all, the Ice Snow G.o.ddess’s stone obviously had a much better quality than the gem on the Icicle rod.
“Many thanks to all, Magic Scholars and the President, for your guidance. I will definitely strive hard in cultivation so that I may soon become a powerful mage.” After this tiger balm speech, Nian Bing’s thoughts had already flown to the Mage a.s.sociation’s library. Right now, he had already received the necessary Ice magic spells and only needed to commit them to memory.
Li De smiled slightly and said, “Everything that should’ve been given to you has already been given, so the ceremony is completed. Now, I will tell you the a.s.sociation’s rules, in order to save you from treading wrongly. You must commit the most important rules to memory. First of all, as a mage of the Ice Moon Empire Mage a.s.sociation, no matter the time, you must unconditionally obey the a.s.sociation’s a.s.signment. In the case that the a.s.sociation discovers a crisis, you must act as a Mage Corps member. As for the specific position, it depends on your current mage rank. The point is, you need to abide by your orders. If not, not only will your mage rank be revoked, but you will also receive strict discipline from the mage a.s.sociation.”
Nian Bing nodded. Since he’d been given so much power, it was inevitable that it would come with responsibilities.
Li De continued, “Moreover, when the Ice Moon Empire meets a crisis, as members of the Ice Moon Empire Mage a.s.sociation we have an obligation to help the Ice Moon Empire resist its enemies. In this kind of situation, you also need to unconditionally accept conscription and become a mage of the Ice Moon Empire Corps. Of course, in these circ.u.mstances, the Empire will pay you an additional compensation, and the remuneration will be significant. If you perform a meritorious deed, there will also be a further prize.”
Hearing such words, Nian Bing’s misgivings arose. ‘Since this is the Mage a.s.sociation of the Ice Moon Empire, shouldn’t the empire’s interest be first? Why is it, then, that in the rules the first tenet is rather to unconditionally listen to the orders given by the Mage a.s.sociation? From what I can tell, it feels extremely strange. Could it be that what benefits the Mage a.s.sociation does not benefit the empire？’
Li De continued to speak, “Lastly, after becoming a mage of the a.s.sociation, if the a.s.sociation needs you to a.s.sume a certain office, you need to comply and await further instructions. Of course, in your current circ.u.mstances, the a.s.sociation won’t set you up in a post. Right now, the most important thing is for you to work hard and raise your own magic power. You must strive to quickly reach the realm of Magic Scholar. If you become a Magic Scholar, you will possess great authoritative power in the Mage a.s.sociation, and you will also be rewarded by the a.s.sociation’s Elders.”
Nian Bing didn’t let his feelings show on his face, nodded his head, and said “I will definitely comply with the orders of the a.s.sociation. Are there any others?”
Li De said, peacefully, “These three are the most important. As for the the other rules, they are merely minor clauses. Once you’ve reached the realm of Magic Scholar, the a.s.sociation will naturally give you more authority, and of course, you will also be allowed to comprehend more of the affairs of the a.s.sociation. See, right now, all five great empires of the continent have their own Mage a.s.sociations. The Ice Moon Empire, as a result of having the Ice G.o.d’s PaG.o.da, has always been known to have the strongest magical ability in the five empires. However, they don’t know that the Mage a.s.sociation and Ice G.o.d’s PaG.o.da do not have mages of the same domain. The Ice G.o.d’s PaG.o.da only has a hundred Ice mages, but they also take orders from the Ice Snow G.o.ddess’s worshipers. If you don’t count them, in the Five Empires, the Ice Moon Empire’s Mage a.s.sociation is actually the weakest. The a.s.sociation has a total of one Magister, eight Magic Scholar Elders and thirty-nine Great Mages including you, with the rest being Elementary mages that number a little over a thousand. Overall, their strength is still very far away from the Ice G.o.d’s PaG.o.da. As for the other four empires, they all have at least two Magisters, especially the Harmonic Flower Empire. They have as many as three fire Magisters, and word has it that the oldest fire mage alive is Prince Rong of the Harmonic Flower Empire. His strength has already approached the Descended G.o.d rank. Therefore, in order for us, the Ice Moon Empire Mage a.s.sociation, to not fall behind, you need to work even harder to cultivate. Once your strength has grown, the a.s.sociation’s position, and even the whole empire’s will be more advantageous, do you understand?”
Hearing Prince Rong, these words, Nian Bing’s flesh couldn’t help but twitch a little. How could he not know the might of the Harmonic Flower Empire’s Mage a.s.sociation? It was his hometown! At that time, if it had not been for Prince Rong dispatching great numbers of mages to hunt them down, he and his father would not have had to flee like stray dogs. Due to his father’s aching heart, they went to the Ice G.o.d’s PaG.o.da to rescue his mother, However, his father ended up in trouble instead. The Harmonic Flower Empire and Prince Rong were part of the reason for the pain embedded deep in Nian Bing’s heart.
“Nian Bing, what are you thinking about? Are you all right？” Li De restlessly called out.
Nian Bing returned to the present?, and hastened to say, “Ah! Sorry, I was thinking that if, one day, our Ice Moon Empire Mage a.s.sociation can also be of the same calibre as the Harmonic Flower Empire’s Mage a.s.sociation, I think that the Ice Moon Empire’s position would not be much different from that of the Ice G.o.d PaG.o.da.”
Li De let out a sigh and said, “That is merely a wish. To actually achieve such a feat is easier said than done. Cultivating one excellent mage requires a great amount of time, and the number of true geniuses out there is pitiful. Right now, those who desire to cultivate magic are becoming more and more scarce. Martial arts is much easier to master in comparison to magic. Apart from being unable to perform large scale destruction and long-range attacks, martial arts does not have a very obvious weakness, like magic. As outdated as it is, I sincerely doubt that after a hundred years, an outdated cultivation method such as magic will still continue to exist on the continent.”
Off to the side, one of the Ice Magic Scholar’s eyebrows began to wrinkle and deeply said, “Li De, you talk too much. The ceremony has already ended, let’s leave it at that.”
Li De came to and hurriedly said, “Oh, right. I’m just an old geezer. Nian Bing，the ceremony has already finished; you should go meditate. I heard Shi Jiu and Ling’er say that you were hoping to learn a few ice magic spells. Come with me; I will bring you to the collective a.s.sociation’s library. There, you can find all the things that you need.”
Hearing those words, Nian Bing could not help but feel extremely happy. What he desired most was finally here! He hastily made a sound in answer, and left the main hall of the temple with Li De. As he walked by the magic scholar’s side, he heard a faint whisper in his ear. “Boy, I’ll wait till you’re done; come to my quarters to find me. I’m staying in the a.s.sociation’s lodgings’ westernmost room. Remember, you definitely must come! Understand?”
Nian Bing’s heart stirred a little, of course, he couldn’t answer at this time. He could only silently nod his head behind Li De’s back and walked out with Li De . It was clear that this was the first time he had seen the Ice Magic Scholar, so why would he want to meet alone with him? Could it be that he had some sort of objective? Never mind, right now he has already become a member of the Ice Moon Empire’s Mage a.s.sociation, so he wouldn’t dare to stir up trouble now. Besides, he first had to go to the library to learn some useful things for him to use.
With Li De’s guidance, Nian Bing bypa.s.sed the tall building near the ceremonial hall they had just left behind, and walked towards the very back of the Mage a.s.sociation. From here on, everything was enormous. The back had a skylight, all the lofty buildings having been built extremely close, and connected one with another. He wasn’t sure why, but such buildings gave people an oppressive feeling.