Close Combat Mage

Chapter 294 - The Leader’s Jurisdiction Part 2

Ten minutes later, the battle finally ended. Xiang Yun sat down with an agonized expression, his gaze locked onto that milky-white, pug-like Diamond Dragon in Suo Jia’s arms. He had been completely unable to deal with that little creature.

The Diamond Dragon’s Ice Seal couldn’t actually seal Xiang Yun. After some preparations, he was able to break out of it with just a wave of his blade. But it was still quite annoying; with the Diamond Dragon obstructing him, it was impossible for Xiang Yun to smoothly attack. Every few steps he’d have to dodge or use his blade to shatter ice. He’d almost gone crazy from annoyance.

That wasn’t all. Suo Jia had ended up jumping onto the Diamond Dragon’s shoulders and constantly attacked Xiang Yun with Mysterious Ice Arrows. Whenever Xiang Yun tried to get close, the Great Frost Wyrm would activate Ice Seal and Diamond Charge to block him. Moreover, the Diamond Dragon’s sharp ice claws and thick, long ice tail wildly attacked Xiang Yun at close range. For a while, Xiang Yun couldn’t even get near Suo Jia.

Faced against an Ice Seal every attack and a Diamond Charge at any time, as well as the Great Frost Wyrm’s large body filled with brute power, Xiang Yun wisely conceded.

With the Diamond Dragon, Xiang Yun couldn’t approach Suo Jia at all. As a mage, Suo Jia could activate long ranged attacks without restraint once he was at a certain distance. A warrior had no odds of success to speak of. Suo Jia’s Mysterious Ice Arrows alone were enough to exhaust Xiang Yun completely.

Suo Jia smiled at the gloomy Xiang Yun and said, “Oh, Xiang Yun, you don’t have to be too depressed over it. If we had done 1v1, I definitely wouldn’t have matched up to you. Only the combination of me and my Diamond Dragon was enough to force you into admitting defeat. In reality, you didn’t actually lose!”

Xiang Yun forced a smile and replied, “You don’t need to comfort me, a loss is a loss. The Diamond Dragon is your secret weapon, and we didn’t have any restrictions in our battle. As long as you defeated me, anything you did was fine. Just like I said earlier, the victor is the king!”

Xiang Yun suddenly became more focused as he said sincerely to Suo Jia, “Alright, since I lost to you, then you are our group’s leader. Our future plans will be decided by you!”

Suo Jia didn’t bother with any pleasantries, and nodded. “In that case, I’ll simply say this: if there’s anything wrong, or if anyone has better opinions, please suggest them. Although I’m the leader, every member’s suggestions need to be heard. My responsibility is to combine everyone’s ideas together to bring up a final verdict.”

“Yes…” Xiang Yun praised, “You’re right. As a captain, the most important part is to organize your group members’ ideas and suggestions and make the final decision.”

Suo Jia nodded and said in a serious voice, “We’ve pretty much finished what we needed to do in Amin City. Next, we should rush to Falan Empire. After making proper preparations there, we’ll enter Tagan Desert to reach Loze City. From there, we can step into the Greater Trade Routes. What does everyone think?”

Nicole, Roger, and Xiang Yun all passed Suo Jia’s suggestion. Following that…they tidied up their things, and after replenishing some supplies, left Amin City to head directly to Falan Empire.

After a period of time, their group successfully reached Falan, and after replenishing their supplies once more, they entered the world’s most sinister place, the hardest area to survive in—Tagan Desert!

It was certain that the journey would be difficult. Fortunately, every warrior was used to hardships. Although it would be arduous, a treasure hunter like Nicole would be able to smoothly lead their group to find the hidden oasis within Tagan Desert, and locate its sole city—Loze City!i

Loze City was the starting point of the Greater Trade Routes. All those that tried to enter the Greater Trade Routes would have to gain information about it at this city. Only after recording their name and receiving a token would they be able to formally enter the Greater Trade Routes. Otherwise, even if one successfully passed through the Greater Trade Routes, who would know?

After reorganizing themselves in Loze City for three days and replenished enough food and everyday products, Suo Jia’s group split up to go to their respective unions for a verification of their occupation. Not just anyone was allowed to enter the Greater Trade Routes; if one didn’t reach a certain level, they wouldn’t even be qualified to register.

Without any effort, Suo Jia passed the Great Mage verification. Nicole also unsurprisingly passed her treasure hunter verification. But Roger and Xiang Yun had some more difficulties.

Strictly speaking, Roger and Xiang Yun were both warriors. However, Roger didn’t use any weapons, and Xiang Yun didn’t use battle qi. There was absolutely no way to verify their statuses as warriors. But they had such super powerful strength, so with lack of better option, the two could only participate in other occupation verification tests.

“Other occupations” referred to uncommon occupations. There were countless types of people that entered the Greater Trade Routes with unique abilities, but didn’t count as a conventional-type warrior. In order to differentiate these people, there was an “other occupations” verification!

After the verification process, each person received an occupation title. Suo Jia’s title was Lv 2 Occupation—Great Mage, Nicole’s title was Lv 2 Occupation—Explorer, Roger’s title was Lv 2 Occupation—Leg King, and Xiang Yun’s title was Lv 2 Occupation—Knight Errant!

Afterwards, without even eating, the four of them rushed to Loze City’s lord’s residence to register that they’d confirmed their qualifications. Of course, they couldn’t possibly meet the city lord, they just entered the residence and went through matters specifically related to the Greater Trade Routes before registering.

Suo Jia walked up to the front desk and announced the reason for his visit. Although it was obvious why his group had come, as it couldn’t possibly be for anything else, the staff member was astonished after seeing the young faces in the group.

The staff member looked at Suo Jia hesitantly and carefully said, “Young friend, not just anyone can enter the Greater Trade Routes. For a mage, you have to receive an occupation verification of above Lv 1 to qualify for entry.”

Suo Jia didn’t get upset over the other party’s looking down on him. He merely pulled out the four forms from his pocket and passed them over to the staff member. Looking at the four forms in shock, the staff member couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. The four people standing there were clearly only children, but they had all already reached the strength of Lv 2 Occupations; it was really too ridiculous.

The staff member shook their head and after binding the forms together, picked up another form from the table and passed it over to Suo Jia. “Alright, since you’ve all passed the occupation verifications, you’ll need to fill out this form next.”

The four of them accepted the form to inspect it more closely. The first page was to choose their identities once inside the Greater Trade Routes. There were many choices, such as merchants, thieves, adventure groups, mercenary groups…depending on the different statuses, the things they could do in the Greater Trade Routes varied.

There were actually many checkpoints in the Greater Trade Routes. Unless one was truly unrivaled, these checkpoints couldn’t be passed with just force. Passing through required one to complete a series of challenges. Completing the Greater Trade Routes wasn’t as simple as just walking through it.

There were dangers in every step. Getting through a checkpoint required one to do many things. Merchants had to complete enough business transactions and earn enough money to buy a path guide and pass. Thieves could only rely on stealing. In short, each status had different requirements to pass.

Suo Jia looked at the long list, and then raised his head to look at the other three members. Seeing Suo Jia’s questioning gaze, the three of them immediately began to argue noisily. Nicole suggested entering as an adventure group, Roger suggested entering as a mercenary group, and Xiang Yun suggested entering as a thief group. They all stuck to their own opinions, unwilling to relent to anyone else.

Originally, Suo Jia had also wanted to enter as an adventure group. This was the only identity that would allow them to search through the Greater Trade Route’s paths in all its entirety, and it would make it easier for him to find his father’s whereabouts. Now, after various experiences and long deliberation, Suo Jia decided on the tactics he would use.