Before long, the Silkworm Queen revealed her treasure-like, translucent body, floating around the airship.
Its appearance, undoubtedly, caught many who were monitoring the Ancient Grove off guard, as they quickly reported back to solicit countermeasures from the sorcerers behind them.
“Leader, it’s not good, the sorcerer aboard the airship has called for reinforcements.”
“Who?”
“The one who caused trouble at Lightning Cliff half a day ago.”
“Is it the one who, with only his beast pet, took out a team from the Black Crow Exploration Group?”
At an exploration team’s base, upon hearing their leader’s question, the underling tasked with surveillance incessantly nodded.
They never anticipated that the people on the airship would be able to summon such a strong individual, already marked by many forces of the Blood Plains as someone not to be provoked.
This was going to be troublesome.
“The focus now is on the treasures of the Blood-colored Restricted Zone. Withdraw for now, we’ll leave this matter alone,” the burly man commanded after pondering for a moment.
“Right away, I’ll withdraw the monitoring immediately,” the relieved underling replied.
Surviving in this world meant knowing one’s place, or else death could come swiftly.
Following the Silkworm Queen’s reveal, such scenes unfolded in various parts of Sweeping Light City, and Tim and Dorrey quickly realized that the monitoring measures and objects surrounding the airship had significantly decreased.
On the surface, the two could no longer sense anyone shadowing them.
Seeing this, Tim secretly rejoiced, feeling that the three Pan Iron Root saplings had been well worth the expense.
Of course, there would always be those in the city unwilling to give up, and attempted probes occurred in the dead of night, but no ripples were stirred, and henceforth the vicinity of the airship became increasingly tranquil.
The sorcerers of Ancient Tree Spine could finally focus on repairing the airship while they awaited the Blood-colored Restricted Zone to revert to its original state.
On the third day since the airship docked in Sweeping Light City, two young sorcerers made a beeline for the Ancient Grove.
“We’ve come to see Dean Marichadon,” one of the young sorcerers stated his intent directly before arousing suspicion from those on board.
“Where are you from?” The Silkworm Queen, who just happened to be patrolling outside, asked upon hearing this.
“We come from Thousand Lights City,” Aaron replied.
“Dean Marichadon said he will see you, come aboard,” the Silkworm Queen responded, conveying the instruction from inside.
Inside the temporary quarters, Ivan welcomed the two visitors.
“Aaron Lidia, Ford Steele, we pay our respects to Dean Marichadon,” they quickly declared their family alliances, being from the families of the Three Great Families based in Thousand Lights City.
“You are not wizards of the Mongna Ant Land Cottage; I am not fit to hold the title ‘Dean,'” Ivan responded with a chill in his tone.
In the past, members of the Three Great Families in Thousand Lights City had all been like leeches feeding off the Mongna Ant Land Cottage.
Even if he had reconciled with Dean Watkin, it was hard for him to feel any fondness for such parasites.
Hearing his response, Aaron and Ford exchanged a discreet glance, both sensing that this matter was likely in jeopardy.
“We were presumptuous, Lord Marichadon.”
“Speak, what are you seeking from me?”
“There has been a light tide explosion in the Blood-colored Restricted Zone. Some have used existing monitoring means to learn that treasures have appeared in the newly covered areas. We happened to learn some information, are you interested?”
“This sorcerer has no interest,” Ivan declined immediately.
Indeed, this matter has been causing quite a stir in Sweeping Light City, with rumors of many groups heading off to seek treasures. Explore stories on My Virtual Library Empire
However, Ivan did not hesitate to reject the offer.
“We apologize for disturbing you, then we shall take our leave,” Aaron and Ford, seeing his straightforward refusal, left the room somewhat forlornly and descended from the airship.
After moving some distance away from the airship, the two men complained in a low voice.
“Wasn’t he the one who invented the ‘Black Magic Wind Bundle Array’?” Ford then asked.
“Indeed, remember when he was just a newly minted official sorcerer, no, he was still a 3rd Class apprentice when he invented that thing, and now he can sit on an equal footing with Great Elder Watkin,” Aaron Lidia said.
Aaron was an Enchanter from the Lidia family and also the first person from Thousand Lights City to advance to sorcerer through the Black Magic Wind Bundle Array. He knew quite a lot about Ivan’s affairs.
It was precisely because he knew so much that he felt amazed, and somewhat admiring, too.
“Compared with him, we’re really nothing,” Ford lamented.
“He’s not the same kind of person as us; we can’t compare ourselves with him,” Aaron shook his head.
Indeed, the two of them had come to deliver news and curry favor, but given how the other party had acted, they had to abandon their thoughts and plan for the long term; harboring resentment was out of the question.
On the other side, Ivan did not care about the two men’s arrival or departure at all.
As for treasure hunting, in places like the Blood-colored Restricted Zone, experience was actually a more important factor than strength; for someone with no experience like him, seeking treasure would be sheer folly.
It could easily capsize in the gutter.
Naturally, Ivan wouldn’t foolishly rush over there, especially since he lacked nothing in terms of treasures.
Time passed day by day, and when the bloody light began to retract a week later, the Ancient Grove airship had long been repaired, only awaiting its relaunch.
“My lord, thank you for your care these past days.”
“Fellow sorcerers, until we meet again.”
Half a day later, the Ancient Grove airship resumed its flight in the sky.
Timly, Ivan made known his intention to leave, disregarding Tim’s attempt to retain him, and he boarded the swamp ant to leave the Ancient Grove once more, heading for the Chanay Continent.
“Lord Marichadon really is carefree,” Dorrey couldn’t help but exclaim as he watched the figure fade away.
“Stop lamenting, everyone brace yourselves. We absolutely cannot have any issues with the next part of our journey, otherwise we’ll be breaching our agreement,” Tim shouted to those around him.
With the Ancient Grove’s capabilities, as long as they weren’t tangle up by anyone at takeoff, once in the sky, ordinary people couldn’t catch up at all, and if they did, they could still get away thanks to its agility.
However, better safe than sorry.
Tim had to be more cautious than before. Next time, they wouldn’t be able to just happen upon Lord Marichadon again and request such strong support; everything had to rely on themselves.
…
Skirting around the vast area of the Blood-colored Restricted Zone, they then left the boundaries of the Blood Plains.
An endless expanse of yellow sand filled their view.
Leaving the Blood Plains behind, next came a dangerous territory—the Burning Fire Desert.
The Burning Fire Desert was uninhabited, save for poisonous magicalized creatures. However, these creatures preferred to hide beneath the sand and rarely showed themselves, making it difficult for them to reach the sky.
Another troubling aspect of the Burning Fire Desert was that it was easy to lose one’s way.
To Ivan, however, these factors were not a problem. It only took two days for the swamp ant to cross the vast desert and arrive at the edge of Chanay Continent.
“It’s no wonder the Chanay Continent is renowned far and wide, even the particle density in its remote areas is more than double that of Moon Pincer Peninsula,” Ivan discerned his direction and directed the swamp ant to press on.
After half a month of toughing it out in the open, Ivan finally arrived at his destination—the East Blade City.
The Chanay Continent covered a vast area, which sorcerers had divided into four regions: Eastern District, Western District, Southern District, and Northern District—each with its own Capital City. The East Capital was the very East Blade City before him.
There were no city walls to speak of in East Blade City, so it could be considered a super metropolis, occupying an area as large as an extra-large nation, with innumerable powers and formidable individuals within.
Ivan was well aware of this and decided that upon arriving in East Capital East Blade City, he would need to be more discreet in his actions.