Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 536: Chapter 335 A Corner of Gerns World Unveiled

’Perfect Bald’ placed a dozen thick magic books and a pile of ordinary noble books on the table, lightly patting them with his small hands, ”These magic books were all found in the Magic Tower. Rainfall said they weren’t of high level, so we made a copy and handed it over to William as well.”

Also, these ordinary books, aside from the mage’s diary, the rest seem to be novels.

It seems that the mages here also have plenty of leisure.

The noble house in the nearby town, after searching through it, only had a few dozen ordinary books, which we also brought back.

Mr. Hill would want these ordinary books too, right?”

Hill nodded, ”Of course, even if it’s ledgers or knight novels, I would want them.”

Many history books are beautified. Especially in a world with nobles, where they often hide the filth and bloodshed beneath a facade of righteousness.

Instead, knight novels of the same period can reveal a lot of truth; by comparing these with the family histories written by the nobles themselves, one can generally discern some reality.

Add in the nobles’ ledgers, and you can understand many things even better.

The little loli with a high ponytail smiled smugly, ”’Rain Falling on Mortal Dust’ said you would definitely come following the lead. That Great Demon who died first was clearly turned into rubbish by legendary magic imbued with the holy attribute.

In the blizzard with magic that can add the attribute to Strike Evil, there’s only Mr. Hill among all the humans in Teraxil.”

We all know Mr. Hill’s preferences, hehe~ The Magic Tower is so tall, many people see it.

When they rushed to the laboratory and storage, only we headed straight for the library.”

The corners of Hill’s mouth twitched slightly as he thought of the mage’s sincere smile from earlier, silently lamenting: those who play tactical games really need a heart.

Hill, indifferent, looked through each book, calculated the price of each one, and then paid the bill willingly, leaning by the door as he watched the little loli in black hop out cheerfully.

Compared to those who took gold and silver treasures, these Black Rose folks truly made a killing, not only completing a portion of their exploration mission but also earning more money from Hill.

Whether resisting or fleeing, a mage would definitely carry the truly valuable items on them; inside the Magic Tower, most would just be worldly treasures.

Unless sold to nobles, they simply couldn’t be sold and had to be sent to William for recycling.

The king’s recycling prices were always extortionate, just like with all games.

Hill closed the shop’s large door and couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh.

Someone who could be taken by Snow Cloud Peak to command all mages of the alliance must indeed be capable; a thick skin and a strong heart are essential qualities.

Hill didn’t have many puppets left; they were all high-level puppets made during the waiting period for the Star Gate to open. He had thought he wouldn’t have a chance to open the general store again since using high-level ones here would be a waste.

After thinking it over, he set up an ordinary shop core to collect miscellaneous goods and placed a high-level puppet in charge of reception.

Hill went up to the small attic partitioned out at the top of the Mushroom House umbrella cap; he set up a sign, and there would always be members of the Undead Tribe who saw it.

Although most of the Undead couldn’t enter and had to come to terms with it, there were always those who felt destined and, unwilling to be restricted even in a game, wanted to try breaking down the door.

Even if William would handle it, Hill wouldn’t want his Mushroom House to get damaged.

The Alchemy Huts he left behind for sale were all styles he liked.

The attic was just three meters high, a small space of fifty square meters, which Hill had arranged as a lounge.

Although not large, the Mushroom House was twelve meters high. Sitting by the window at the top of the umbrella cap, Hill still had a far view. Looking past two stories of the standard Alchemical Mini Tower, he could even see the valley mouth.

The sound of the Holy Rain continued to patter, the blizzard had already stopped.

The mages seemed to have received new tasks, rushing out of the camp to work outside.

They might be planning on setting up a series of chain-attack trap arrays before the demons arrive.

Hill saw many Undead Mages holding tablets, projecting Magic Array Diagrams, moving along while making gestures.

He could understand why most of the Undead Mages were cautious. The biggest feature of attack arrays is that they explode if drawn incorrectly, with greater explosions for stronger arrays, and chain reaction arrays could even kill an Archmage in full defensive gear.

Even though these Mages belonged to the Magister rank, their health bars weren’t that long, and their gear generally increased attack rather than defense.

These guys, who even make mistakes when tracing from a projection, had to be careful unless they wanted to be issued a return ticket by creating an array the wrong way.

Lounging lazily on the sofa, Hill passed the time by reading novels.

This family history of the nobles from a nearby territory was more outrageous than any Western fantasy novel he had read; Hill felt that even comparing it to King Noah of Teraxil was a bit of an insult to the king.

He took out a few of the miscellaneous writings unearthed from the Magic Tower, interestedly reading them. A magician who lived long certainly had unique insights.

Hill set up a book stall in the attic.

He finally decided to use the diary of this Mage as a timeline and cross-reference it with the noble family history, flipping through volumes of knight novels and arranging them chronologically.

Hill rolled up his robe’s long sleeves with gusto.

This world called Gerns was indeed flourishing, having its very own Magic Port!

Hill frowned, no wonder the World Tree said this universe was going to ruin. Demons or devils, none of them were fools; the Magic Ship, no doubt, must already be in their hands.

It was clear from the family history of Baron Daley that by the time of the third Clan Leader, devils had appeared.

From his nonchalant account, trading Soul Crystals with devils seemed to be a common occurrence.

If Hill hadn’t understood from the knight novels of the same period that the shiny trophies referred to Soul Crystals, he might have thought these nobles were fighting over Elemental Crystals.

But after understanding, Hill felt nothing but chilled to the core.

The noble wars that occurred every few years were indeed tacit wars fought by these fellows for the harvesting of ordinary people’s souls.

Such polite wars they appeared to be! Nobles absolutely wouldn’t strike to kill; those who lost could also retreat to their castles to lick their wounds with dignity, rallying their spirits to fight back in a few years.

The sorrow of enduring hardships and the joy of avenging great wrongs were so vividly described by these nobles, yet the price was paid by the commoners and slaves who were kept in the dark.

Even some newly promoted Professionals, who knew nothing, could be exploited to the point of losing their souls.

Hill looked at the description of a tavern singer in a knight novel, singing loudly that the soul of a mage was worth ten knightly wars, and he felt such sorrow.

What must those who understood feel in their hearts?

In this world, which deity protected these nobles? Common people daring to oppress Professionals, it’s simply inconceivable in a normal world.

The nobles of Teraxil, the worst being Knights, would definitely not dare to offend Mages lightly, let alone turn the souls of Mages into commodities for trade with devils.

Hill flipped through another knight novel and discovered that this world also had a Mage Association.

If nobles acted against Mages, they had to be very secretive, otherwise, if discovered by the Mage Association, they would be hunted relentlessly.

Hill browsed the miscellaneous notes of the Magician; this High-level Mage’s Magic Tower was established even earlier than Baron Daley’s, and by that time he was already an Archmage.

He was very wary of devils, feeling that they would definitely bring chaos.

However, his caution was limited to not dealing with devils himself; instead, he turned to Baron Daley to act as an intermediary.

From then on, Baron Daley became wealthy. This markup meant little to the High-level Mage, but for a Baron who wasn’t even a Professional, it meant a great deal.

From the third Baron to the thirty-sixth in the family history, they were diligently carrying out this task.

Initially, they just stealthily collected Soul Crystals with the vessels provided by the devils during wars, but as more nobles became aware of the advantages of dealing with devils, the occasionally obtained Soul Crystals were no longer sufficient.

Thus, the nobles of this world began their perpetual warfare.

A small friction could escalate into a war, and when the slaves and subjects of a certain noble were nearly depleted, his neighbors would tactfully pause, giving him time for recovery and repopulation.

Hill’s face was grim; both the High-level Mage, who looked down on Baron Daley, and the Barons, who beautified their own ugliness as battling for family honor, regarded the people as mere crops to be harvested.

Baron Daley’s gold and jeweled family history book disgusted Hill so much that he threw it directly to the ground.

Unrestrained nobles could actually fall so low!

He now understood why even the Gods of Time and Space thought the God of Nobility could be redeemed.

If it weren’t for him tightly restraining the nobles, making them struggle to become Professionals in the first half of their lives, Teraxil could have turned out just as bad.

Hill picked up the Magician’s notes, another hypocritical and selfish fellow, but compared to that despicable book that described how valiantly their knights fought and how many enemies they had killed, at least the notes seemed to be written by a person.

Indeed, in his diary, he mentioned the twenty-sixth Count Daley, who deceived a Mage and obtained a great deal of resources.

This High-level Mage, now a Magister, also furiously cursed in his notes: That idiot Daley, actually daring to lay hands on a Mage!

When the Mage Association came to settle the score, he even dared to seek my help!

Does he think I’m a fool? A noble who dares to lay hands on a Mage must die! If not for..., it would be normal for the entire Daley family to be dead!

Baron Daley, I can no longer cooperate with them, fortunately, the resources are still sufficient.

Those damn devils, I absolutely cannot seek them out myself, these nobles are no longer human.

Hill looked at the pile of codes, frowning. Which deity made a Magister so wary? Surely it couldn’t be Gerns itself?