A mage's journey begins with a battle mage.

Chapter 93 Promotion and Spirit Weapons

The negotiations failed, and the Fishman Kingdom will pay the price for their foolish actions.

Harvey looked distressed as impeachment letters rained down on him, all accusing him of failing to protect the tea trees.

However, there was also good news: the high-level mage stationed in the tea tree planting area was only seriously injured, and he successfully escaped after killing five high-level murloc professionals.

These foolish murlocs have no idea what they've done, and now they're about to face the wrath of the alchemists.

"Reinforcements are on their way, resources are unlimited! I don't want casualty reports, I want the Fishman Kingdom dead!"

The words of the legendary alchemist, Edvale, founder of the Ascension School, echoed in Harvey's mind.

The legendary alchemist's most prized creation was the Water Tea Tree.

Now the planting area has been destroyed. But what's been destroyed isn't just the planting area; it's a slap in the face!

War behemoths, move out!

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

On the airship, Jiang Shuzhou chatted happily with the other alchemists.

The other alchemists marveled at the solid theoretical foundation of this newly recruited alchemist, and they also shared their insights with Jiang Shuzhou without reservation.

The large number of alchemists who came here were not just here to exchange and learn; including Jiang Shuzhou, all the alchemists were invited by the Ascension School to attend the ceremony.

"Gentlemen, we are about to reveal to you the secret of promotion!"

Corey Nora, a newly appointed high-ranking alchemist of the Ascended School, teleported himself directly through the Astral Plane to Velisco in order to reach it as quickly as possible.

That's quite dedicated.

Suddenly, waves surged on the calm sea, and enormous creatures emerged from the water—first one, then more.

Four colossal war beasts emerged one after another, with only one of each species on display.

Corey Nora then began to introduce the war behemoth to everyone present.

Of these, the one that interests Jiang Shuzhou the most is the island tortoise, a creature evolved from a sea turtle and possessing immense strategic value.

The island tortoise is as big as a small island, but its shell is not naturally uneven. Instead, it has been transformed by alchemy to be exceptionally smooth, and is even engraved with magic arrays and defensive runes.

The island tortoise possesses extremely high defensive capabilities, making it a veritable mobile fortress. Moreover, it also possesses a high-level spell called Island Creation. If it stays in a certain place long enough, it can use this spell to create a permanent island.

This has great strategic significance for the Mage Alliance's war against the Murloc Kingdom.

Other war monsters are not as eye-catching. The giant shark is a huge shark with a mouth full of sharp teeth.

The upper body of the sea monkey is that of an ape, while the lower body is that of a giant fish.

The only one worth mentioning is the dragon whale. It looks like an ordinary whale, except that it is red all over, can breathe fire in the sea, and has tremendous strength.

This is a combination of dragon bloodline and marine life. Although Jiang Shuzhou didn't know what use it was to breathe fire in the sea, could it be used to roast prey before eating it?

However, since it was a magical flame, it wasn't so easy to extinguish, so it was barely manageable.

"Truly an alchemical miracle!"

"A stroke of genius!"

All the alchemists present were extremely excited. "If I hear the Dao in the morning, I can die content in the evening." Such an exciting demonstration was worth the price of admission, even if it meant death!

Jiang Shuzhou had a different opinion. He had actually seen the masters who had been forged from flesh and blood. Of the war behemoths created by the Ascension School, only the Island Turtle was worth looking at. The others were just shoddy work, with no designs that could impress anyone.

Soon, the ceremony ended, and just as the alchemists were about to return to Velisco, a two-meter-tall, burly man called out to them.

"Gentlemen, don't be in such a hurry. The war behemoths of the Ascension School are just an appetizer. Why don't you take a look at our steel torrent?"

Where did this person come from?

Seeing that everyone present was looking at him, the burly man laughed and then introduced himself.

"My name is Ralf, from the Spirit Machine School. Gentlemen, flesh and blood are weak and feeble; why not witness the mighty power of machinery!"

The ultimate goal of the Psionic School is to create and control a mechanical god, which is clearly different from the ideals of the Exalted School. Therefore, the two sides are often at odds, but it is only a difference. Both sides have maintained a certain degree of restraint and have not engaged in a war between the two schools.

On the distant horizon, one after another, massive ironclad warships sailed toward this place, while in the air, countless armed airships, like layers of clouds, obscured the sky.

Everyone was startled when they saw the towering fortress in the middle of the ironclad warship.

"Isn't this thing a sea fortress?"

"The cost of just this one ship is estimated to be more than ten times higher than the combined cost of the war behemoths from before."

"Is the Mechanical Engineering School here to support the Ascension School? Their entourage is even bigger than the Ascension School's own; they're here to sabotage us!"

What love-hate relationship, what bickering lovers? They got their academic advancement slapped in the face, and it turns out their arch-enemy contributed the most, right?

Looking at the vast fleet in the distance and the airships blocking out the sky opposite, Jiang Shuzhou was speechless.

They're all fucking rich! This one airship alone is probably worth millions of gold coins, not to mention there are hundreds of them.

Sure enough, once the cannons roared, gold poured in.

Seeing the surprised expressions on the faces of the alchemists present, Ralf could no longer suppress his smile. Looking at Corey's ashen face, he was completely grinning.

"We're all brothers! If anyone dares to bully a member of the Ascension School, our Spirit Machine School will definitely stand up for them!"

Although Corey's face was ashen, he knew that if he turned hostile at this moment, he would have truly lost, so he maintained his composure.

"Not at all, the Spirit Machine School is indeed inseparable from our Ascension School. I thank you in return."

With a sarcastic remark, Corey immediately used teleportation to return to Velisco. He needed to request more reinforcements; two of each type of war beast were no longer enough, he needed at least five, no, five wouldn't do, he needed ten!

Now that everyone had left, Jiang Shuzhou exchanged mage marks with several alchemists of the same rank in the arena and then chose to depart.

After all, this time I not only witnessed the ceremony and broadened my horizons, but I also watched a good show. It's just that the two sides didn't start arguing, which is a bit of an imperfection.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"How is the situation?"

Bishop Mereges looked at Angelo in front of him. They hadn't seen each other for a while, during which time Angelo had been in charge of the military preparations for the Storm Sea.

"It's done."

"Not bad, child, you've finally made some progress."

"Really?"

"It seems you haven't improved enough."

"..."

After a moment of silence, Bishop Meregius coughed lightly, bringing the atmosphere back to normal.

"The Mage Alliance is ready for war. Negotiations have failed, and now it's time for us to begin as well."

The Merfolk Kingdom's repeated delays greatly displeased Bishop Mereges. Finally, at his urging, the archbishop abandoned the idea of ​​an alliance, and they prepared for war.

"Your Excellency, this is a letter from the Fishman Kingdom."

The guard handed Bishop Meregius a letter; the paper was damp and smelled fishy.

"Couldn't these fishmen have used waterproof paper to write to me?"

Bishop Meregès opened the letter, read it quickly, then sneered and tore it to shreds.

Now you're scared, but it's too late!

The letter was simple: it requested the protection of the Alliance of Saints, for which they were willing to pay three times the price previously negotiated.

You don't know you're wrong; you just know you're going to die.

Bishop Meredes clearly did not want to let them off so easily.

You fools! I'll wipe you all out, and all of this will be mine!