Chapter 166: The Astrologer’s Gift

It had been two days since the Mage Guild had taken over the Blackmoon Castle.

“Work harder. That is the last area. I will try to clear out that manor before the end of the day and bring back the meteorite fragments.”

Allen commanded the Blackmoon Knights from in front of the ruined walls of a house.

The manor he was staying in was formerly a part of Blackmoon Town. It was smashed by a meteorite and burned to ashes two days ago due to the astrologer’s spell.

Scorched marks could be seen everywhere. The ground was riddled with large pits. There were broken beams and fragments of the walls in the pits. They ignored those. Their target was the meteorite that stretched hundreds of meters above the ruins. The astrologer, who had performed a platinum-tier earth-elemental spell, summoned the meteorite from the sky. There were ring-shaped patterns on it, shining with a platinum-colored light.

There were more than ten manors near Blackmoon Castle. Most of the meteorites have been cleared and excavated in the past two days. Only the last manors had not been removed.

Haha!

Under Allen’s order, a man who looked like a giant bear appeared in front of the meteorites and punched them out fiercely. His fist landed on the meteorites with a thick combat aura. With a muffled bang, a bottomless pit was formed, long snake-like cracks spread in the surroundings, causing the meteorites to break into pieces.

At that moment, the Blackmoon Knights opened their arms and carried the broken meteorites toward the direction of Blackmoon Castle.

After two days, those Blackmoon knights who had reached the gold-tier were all full of vigor and vitality. In two days, the hybrid Phoenix, Emperor Cluck, had laid about 200 Phoenix eggs. Aside from Lucas and the others who had already consumed the Phoenix eggs, Watson also gave the other 50 Blackmoon Knights a Phoenix egg each.

Out of the 200 Phoenix eggs, there were only 150 left. Meanwhile, the strength of the Blackmoon Knights had improved by leaps and bounds compared to two days ago.

One of the Blackmoon Knights was responsible for transporting the meteorite fragments weighing over 10,000 catties, and he did it with one hand. There were three pairs of combat aura wings on his back. It included a pair of sky-blue water-elemental combat aura wings wrapped in lightning, a pair of black dark-elemental combat aura wings, which were deep and black, and a pair of phoenix wings.

The three pairs of wings with different colors were exceptionally gorgeous. The Blackmoon Knight looked like an angel who had descended from the divine realm. He held the meteorite with one hand and did not seem to be struggling at all.

“Gorman has transported a meteorite. I’ll give you one point. You now have a total of ten points.”

Allen, the person in command, took out a small notebook from his pocket and recorded something.

“Thank you, Captain Allen.”

The man named Gorman nodded to Allen. “May I inquire how much of a difference there is between myself and the individual with the most points?”

His name was Gorman. He used to be a bronze-tier guard at Wilber Liszt Manor. He excelled at using water-elemental combat aura to generate lightning. He was known as the Blue Lightning. He was arranged to transport meteorites due to his quick speed. That task was worth one gold coin, which was worth one point as well. Watson was the one who determined the monetary value of the position. He had already transported eight meteorites in the past two days.

He questioned Allen, who flicked over a few pages of notes and answered, “Currently, the person with the most points is Liszt. He has 20 points. It will be difficult for you to surpass him.”

“Twenty points. That’s precisely twice what I have.”

Gorman was a little disappointed. He spotted a handsome warrior in silver armor with three pairs of combat aura wings on his back as he peered into the distance. They included dark-elemental, wind-elemental, and Phoenix wings. As he flew across the skies, he carried an entire meteorite. He was traveling pretty quickly in the direction of Blackmoon Castle.

Gorman had previously been fond of his moniker Green Lightning. For one to be compared to lightning was already a high accolade for a bronze-tier warrior. It was not until he entered Blackmoon Castle that he understood that his talent was insignificant.

Everyone there was a monster.

“Break!”

The gigantic bear-like man had just smashed a meteorite not far away. He destroyed another meteorite with his palm the size of a cattail leaf fan and shattered it.

“As expected of William,” the other Blackmoon Knights exclaimed. He is only a gold-tier warrior, but he has the strength to smash a platinum-tier rock. Such strength is very admirable.”

“Monstrous bear!”

William was the only man amongst the Blackmoon Knights with the strength of more than 100,000 catties. People said that he could lift a small mountain with his full strength. After all, the meteorite that the astrologer summoned was from platinum-tier magic. It was only when one’s attack reached the pinnacle of gold-tier that one could break it. Only he could do it among all the Blackmoon Knights.

The reward for breaking a meteorite was also one point, but it was much easier than moving it.

There was also the vice-captain, Liszt, known as the Breath of the Wild Wind.

His pace was as quick as the wind among the Blackmoon Knights. When he was not carrying heavy loads, his speed was comparable to that of sound.

Finally, there was Allen. As the captain of the Blackmoon Knights, his overall strength was the strongest, and he was in charge of command. That job had a ten-point reward.

Gorman sighed inwardly. He could not compete with William in terms of strength, and he could not compete with Allen in terms of intelligence. The only thing he could commend was his speed, but he was also a long way from Liszt.

He lowered his head to gaze in the mirror. His entire body was encased in lightning, and each step he made left a deep, burnt pit on the ground. He was not fatigued, but he was not moving rapidly either. After all, a 10,000-catty weight was no trivial matter.

He had to acknowledge that he was not the type of person who would settle for being average.

He had worked hard to earn the captain title at Wilber Liszt Manor in the past. When he first joined Blackmoon Castle, he was primarily interested in the castle’s resources. However, after a few battles, he had utterly treated that place as his home.

If there were one person that he admired and deserved his lifelong service, it would be Watson. It was precisely for that reason that he desired to get stronger and share some of his strength.

“Young Man, looking at your sad face, is there something troubling you?”

An elderly voice called out from the side. Gorman whirled around to see the astrologer stroking his white beard as he snuck up upon him.

“Greetings, Lord Astrologer.”

Gorman bowed his head respectfully.

“No need to be polite. Let me ask you, are you worried that you are not as good as the other Blackmoon Iron Cavalries?”

“There is no need to be courteous. Are you worried that you are not as good as the other Blackmoon Knights?”

“How do you know?”

Gorman was surprised.

The astrologer looked as if he had seen everything. “Don’t you know how many years I’ve lived? I can tell you that it’s not that you’re not strong enough, it’s just that you haven’t found the right way to use it! Water and lightning elements have a superior characteristic—explosion. Have you ever seen a lightning strike in the sky? Even though it’s fast, it’s fleeting.”

“Lord Astrologer, you mean—”

“My meaning is very simple. You don’t need to compete with others in terms of speed—you can’t compete with the wind that lasts for a long time or a mountain of rocks that stand on the ground. But you still have your advantages.”

The astrologer stretched his right hand outward, and a streak of lightning extended from his palm. It wriggled and weaved into a card. A mage in a moon-white robe was depicted on the card; he held an olive branch in the shape of a lightning bolt. The olive branch was twined with two snakes that had turned against each other. His left hand pointed to the sky, and his right hand pointed to the ground. Roses and lilies bloomed under his feet as a long river meandered under his feet.

“I am a mage. I don’t know much about warrior training, but all professions are the same in the end! Lightning is short-lived. It’s precisely because it’s short-lived that it can erupt with unparalleled power. In my hand, I have a gold-tier item called the mage card, which teases fate. On it is a picture of the god Hermes, who once stole lightning. It embodies the pure essence of the lightning element’s power. You should strive to comprehend it well.”

The astrologer flung forth the gorgeous lightning card with a casual swish of his arm. The card became a lightning bolt and wrapped around Gorman’s right palm to form a lightning-shaped seal.

“Lightning is instantaneous. It is powerful because it is short.”

Gorman’s eyes lit up as he murmured the astrologer’s words. Yes, he had always misunderstood lightning. He had always assumed that lightning represented speed, but it did not. Lightning truly exemplifies explosive power.

As he understood it, a large amount of information regarding the usage of lightning-elemental combat aura entered his mind; it caused him to touch the incantation mark on his right hand subconsciously.

Bang!

His body transformed into a deformed lightning bolt abruptly and vanished with a muted sound. When he reappeared, he was already 1000 meters away.