novelThe Power of a Scroll (1)
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Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Saleen sat in his own carriage. The Qin Emperor had not only gifted Viscountess Lex with authority over ten camps of troops, but he had given her one thousand swordsmen as well. The Qin royal swordsmen were similar to the sacred knights of the Holy See in that they were bound for life. Their everyday necessities were provided by the country, and the sole purpose of their lives was combat.
No matter their background, a swordsman could become a middle-grade officer if he trained to become a high-grade swordmaster. If he became a normal swordmaster, he would be a low-grade officer, and his children would be looked after by the country. For many commoners, this was a huge incentive.
However, the process of selecting a royal swordsman was unusually strict and their number had always been maintained at one hundred thousand or below. In the past four hundred years, it had almost always been kept below fifty thousand.
Aside from having resources, loyalty to the country was very important too. Typically, the son of a royal swordsman could easily become part of the next generation of royal swordsmen. For a commoner, the chance was slim. Because many children of the wealthy did not have the right of succession to serve the royal family, joining the royal swordsmen was a decent alternative.
Saleen's war carriage had been specially designed for mages, and was similar to the one that Viscountess Lex had. A person could look out and see everything around them, and it could fit up to ten people. Since the expedition had officially started, Lex could not allow Saleen and the others to be in her carriage. Soldiers had been arranged to protect her instead.
For Saleen, this was decent treatment. Aside from Sika and Nailisi, there were six other swordmasters in the carriage. One of them was Tenesee. Around Saleen's carriage, a small team of one hundred swordsmen had been arranged for their protection. Saleen had no idea why he was suddenly being treated so well, but he believed it had something to do with Joey.
Ten combat mages followed behind the carriages. Due to the special designs of the war carriages of the Qin Empire, they could be combined to form a simple fortress if enemies were encountered. Even a magic beast swordsman from the Cloudflow Empire would find them difficult to break.
The one thousand swordsmen that Lex had brought along were already moving towards the town up north. When they reached it, the Bitter Water Army would be expanded to two thousand people. Together with the reserve troops, that made almost three thousand troops in total.
With combat power like this, they would not need to be afraid of any attacks by the wealthy from Hadisai City. The Qin Emperor had planned it out well. The elites from Hadisai City did not exceed five thousand people. With half of them having been called upon by the emperor, only two thousand five hundred of them were left. At least two thousand would be left to defend the city, and the remaining five hundred would not pose a threat to the Bitter Water Army.
Even if there were any assassins, there was no need to worry. An assassin's strengths were in hiding and burst attacks. However, in an army, an assassin's function was very little unless they were one like Bain.
Saleen had not expected Lex to entrust Tenesee to him. Tenesee was a high-grade swordsman. He was not old and did not look older than thirty. Someone like him would be the limb of Lex in the future. Saleen now knew the importance of a swordsman to a mage. He did not take this time to practice his magic. Instead, he struck up a conversation with Tenesee.
"Tenesee, where have you been these past few years?"
"Cloudflow." Tenesee did not say more than he needed to. His answer was unusually simple.
"Have you seen any magic beast swordsmen?" Saleen was unaffected. He would be able to find ways to interact with Tenesee. As expected, upon hearing this, Tenesee began talking more.
"Yes. Cloudflow doesn't have many places with war horses. There are quite a few magic beast swordsmen."
"Swordsmen aren't mages. How do they form a bond with these magic beasts?" Saleen asked curiously.
"There is no bond, so long as they can defeat and tame the magic beasts. Hence, a magic beast swordsman isn't that scary. Their magic beasts are usually relatively low-grade."
Saleen thought back to the silver grand swordmaster that had been captured with Lex's tricks. The magic beast he had with him had only been a Grade 6 one. This only confirmed his thoughts. A bond of magic was only used on intelligent creatures. For low-grade magic beasts, a bond would be a waste of a mage's focus.
No wonder so many mages would rather create a puppet than tame a magic beast. A puppet did not need to eat or drink. It did not need to be taken care of and could be discarded whenever one wanted. However, a magic beast was a living being and bringing it around could prove troublesome.
The Qin Empire's army did not have official infantry troops. Even the infantry troops were required to ride horses, and their movement speed was very fast. For combat purposes, large number of mages could cast a Haste spell on thousands of cavalry. This allowed the Qin Empire's cavalry to be one of the fastest among all of the countries.
Before long, the entire army had left the capital and was moving towards the north. One hundred thousand people could not move together, and the forward troops of ten thousand soldiers were in front by at least one hundred miles. Following them were the main armies. They were separated into three groups, with each group consisting of thirty thousand people. At the back, there was a group of ten thousand people serving as rear-side sweepers.
Even with a group of ten thousand people, they would not all gather together at once. They were split into ten smaller groups. Two of those groups were mages camps, and two hundred mages were arranged there. These two groups were the main groups of the entire swordsmen camp. One of them consisted of support troops while the other consisted of reserve troops that were made up by cavalry.
The one that affected the speed of the army were the reserve troops. They usually only had war horses, and some even needed to ride on carriages. Within the Qin borders, this would not be a problem, as they had sufficient roads to choose from. In places where cities were sparse, however, the roads would be treacherous and the support troops would affect the speed of the entire army.
However, there was no other choice. When taking down a city, the support troops were at the forefront and they had a high rate of fatalities. No army would have their elite troops be in the first wave to attack a city. Additionally, the support troops were responsible for taking care of the war horses and swordsmen, allowing the elites to maintain relatively higher abilities in combat.
The armies that had come on this expedition would be able to reach the border in one month's time. However, if they wanted to go past Loulan, they would need one additional month. In that time, more of the wealthy would answer the emperor's call and send armies into Loulan. By that time, the entire Loulan Duchy would have almost two hundred thousand Qin elites and more than five hundred thousand support troops. If they counted the militia that were called upon in Loulan, the army would reach almost a million troops.
The emperor not only needed to consider the situation in Loulan, but he also needed to invade Cod Crace Duchy. So long as the combat affairs went smoothly, more wealthy from the Qin Empire would join them in order to snatch that land.
In the past two centuries, the number of commoners in the Qin Empire had exploded, and many members of the wealthy were looking to expand their influence. It was the same for other countries, and the seeds of instability had been planted since long ago. The chaos from the black mages had simply been a means of ignition. In lands such as Phoenix which were separated from the rest of the world, conflict did not matter that much. However, if Loulan were to break out into chaos, all of the countries would not be able to stand by and do nothing.
Saleen quickly became familiar with the other six swordsmen. Viscountess Lex had not been discreet about him bringing the green dragon's magic nucleus to Bitter Water prefecture, and everyone had a good impression of Saleen.
Saleen described the time he fought against the Red Line bandit gang, and even Tenesee was impressed. At that time, Saleen had only been a Grade 1 mage. Against the bandit gang, there had been a high chance of him losing his life.
Following the army forward, Saleen interacted with the swordmasters in the morning and practiced magic fervently while they were resting at night. He was at the edge of Grade 3 and would soon be able to break past the barrier.
Saleen knew it was because he possessed too little experience and had too little time to practice. However, Joey had helped him modify his body, and the jump between Grade 3 and Grade 4 was minimal. There was not even what mages would call a threshold.
Hence, Saleen was not anxious. It was only a matter of time before he became a grand mage. In the meantime, he wanted to grasp more Grade 3 magic.
When mages fought, they would not always release magic of the highest possible grade. In reality, many grand mages fought using low-grade magic. If a person could use an Acid Sputtering spell to kill their enemy, why would they use an Elemental Storm spell instead? Magic chords were limited, and using the smallest amount to get the greatest effect was the way to go in magic combat.
Saleen was not stupid enough to charge to the forefront of a battle. He already had six Grade 3 spells in his demon magic book, and if he really needed to attack, that was what he was going to use. He had also researched the bronze magic book that he had found in the temple. Regrettably, he had found out that unless he became a grand mage, he would never be able to use the bronze magic book as a weapon.
This proved the value of the demon magic book. It was not limited to any grade, and so long as one could release a certain spell, they could store it in the book for future use.
As for the magic scroll that Lanny had given him, Saleen could not bear to use it. He was only a Grade 2 mage and this odd looking scroll could release magic that was two grades higher. This meant that even if he had someone successfully process this empty scroll, he would only be able to release a Grade 4 spell.
The scroll was a one-time item and Saleen had a plan. The next time he saw Joey, he would have him process a Grade 10 scroll for him. That way, when he reached Grade 8, he would be able to release a Grade 10 spell a single time.
So long as a person used it correctly, a Grade 10 spell could kill any elite under Grade 9 in the Myers Mainland. Even for a Grade 9 mage, it was unusually dangerous to encounter a Grade 10 spell.
The troops had started turning, and Viscountess Lex's troops began separating from the expedition army, moving southwest. The emperor's expedition army moved directly west into Loulan Duchy.
Bitter Water Prefecture had large roads on both its eastern and northern sides. , however, on its western and southern sides, there were only small, treacherous paths between the mountains where the terrain was unfavorable. The Bitter Water Army went around Hadisai City. Even though it showed weakness, it saved them a lot of trouble. If the Hadisai City Army wanted to attack the Bitter Water Army, they would need to travel at least five hundred miles. Moreover, the emperor had sent away more than half of the elites from Hadisai City, so they would only be able to send out less than a thousand troops. Lex was not worried at all.
Saleen, on the other hand, was slightly worried. Had the silver grand swordmaster that had killed Earl Mokolari returned to Tanggulasi? If not, would he attempt another assassination? If he made another attempt, even though Lex had many soldiers by her side, the silver grand swordmaster would also be more cautious and would not easily fall into any traps.
The only ones who could really fight against the silver grand swordmaster were Faerun and the others. For a mage like Saleen, the most he would be able to do when it came to fighting the silver grand swordmaster was put out fires.
However, it seemed that Faerun had taken quite a few Grade 8 magic scrolls from the emperor's storage room. Magic scrolls that could be stored for long periods of time were rare items. If the silver grand swordmaster were to face Faerun, he could not be confident that he would win.
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