They walked into a two-story square building with nothing in it but a sloping slab of stone leading to the second floor.

  Kaka looked at Roland with a hint of a smile on his face.

  There was a path to the second floor, but with such a smooth slab of stone as the stairway at a rather straight angle, it would be impossible to climb up without a bit of kung fu.

  Roland chuckled. “It can’t be helped. It’s my first time, I’m inexperienced at building a house with magic-I’ll get it after a few more times.”


  Kaka went to the wall, knocked on it, and found that it was thick and hard-the thickness was estimated to be around thirty centimeters. Although the defensive ability certainly wasn’t comparable with castles and the like, living in a house like this in the middle of nowhere, even if the conditions weren’t very good, was ten times better than living in a cave, or around a campfire under a tree.

  “If this catches on, in the future, Mages who specialize in Transmutation will become extremely sought after in the mercenary world.” Kaka looked at Roland with profound admiration. “Even if one doesn’t know any attack magic, as long as one knows this spell, they will be the guest of honor of all the mercenaries, and if one knows Language Proficiency, then their position in the mercenary group won’t be any lower than the commander’s.”


  As someone in the magic world, Kaka knew all too well how exaggerated this ability to build a house in just a minute or two was.

  Now that he was building a house, he could just as well create terrain if he was in a battle.

  For example, providing archers with high ground and on-the-spot battlements.

  Or, he could create swamps to block enemy movement.

  Wait.

  With enough imagination, this magic can have all sorts of variations.

  “Don’t restore this stone house, leave it there,” Kaka said, touching the wall, enthralled. “I think this thing will spur me on and make me aware of how big of a gap there is between me and the top Mages.” “Leave it here? Can you keep living here?” Roland said, slightly stunned. “Looks like you successfully turned in the derivative spell?”


  “Yes,” Kaka said happily, “First the six Archmages vetted the magic, and they all agreed that ‘my’ spell was quite groundbreaking, and finally the headquarter’s chairman came along, affirmed the spell, and promised that tomorrow this significant event would be announced to the entire Association of Mages, and broke the rules to grant me the title of Elite Mage.

  “I’m going to receive the award tomorrow.” Kaka looked at Roland, extremely grateful; there were even some tears in his eyes. “As soon as it’s announced, I’ll get the headquarters’ support, and the previous failures of duty will all be wiped away by the headquarters, and more importantly, even without my family, the headquarters will always be one of my backers in the future. Besides, I don’t think my father will just give up on me in the future.” “That’s good.”


  “It will be some time before the rewards from the headquarters are distributed,” Kaka said sincerely. “How about you stay here until then?”


  Roland remembered that the last time rewards sent to him by the headquarters had been delayed for two months. Even if it took almost a month to transport it from the capital to Delpon, there was still a month’s preparation period.

  He thought about it and decided to let it go. “I’m heading back to Delpon, just send me the reward sometime later.”


  “Sure.”


  Kaka was a little disappointed. He felt that Roland was the first real friend he had had in twenty years, the kind that he could open his heart to. There was no friendship between nobles; there was even less affection amongst kin.

  This was why he valued this friendship and hoped that Roland could stay here longer.

  However, Roland was leaving and he couldn’t force him to stay.

  “Then let’s go to the tavern for a few drinks together later.”


  Roland said with a smile, “Sure.”


  Though he said a few drinks, in reality…… they were drinking heavily.

  The fruit wine had a low alcohol level, about the same as beer. Although he was a Mage, as his level increased, Roland’s constitution also increased—this little bit of alcohol had no effect on him anymore.

  On the other hand, Kaka was only level two, and his constitution growth wasn’t as high as Roland’s, a Golden Son, so he started to get tipsy after drinking some more.

  Then he placed a parchment book in front of Roland. “This is the information and model of Long-Distance Teleportation you wanted to see. I applied to the headquarters at noon to borrow it for the day.”


  Roland’s eyes lit up. He immediately found a clean table beside him and slowly opened the single-sheet parchment book into a giant piece of parchment. Then, he turned on the system’s photo function and took pictures of the densely packed nodes on it.

  About five minutes later, he closed the parchment back up and handed it to Kaka.

  Kaka smiled drunkenly and placed the spellbook in his garment pocket.

  They drank for another half-hour, and Kaka’s vision had become quite blurry. Kaka bobbed his head and said, “Roland, I know you will become a legendary Mage someday. Others may fall midway, but you Golden Sons are different, you are immortal, and the only thing that limits your growth cap is your self-control. And you are one of the hardest working Mages I’ve ever met.”


  Roland nodded; he also felt he was quite diligent. It wasn’t self-glorification, but an objective fact, and he wasn’t guilty of admitting it.

  “I don’t know if you’ll still recognize me as a friend after you become a legend.”


  Roland reached out and patted Kaka’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I will. I, Roland am not the kind of person who forgets his poor friends when he gets rich.”


  Kaka laughed softly and happily and didn’t say another word; the impending parting made him a little upset.

  To Roland, Kaka was also a friend, and parting was not something that was too hard to bear. After all, now that Long-Distance Teleportation was already in hand, as long as he studied it diligently, he could learn it in a short period of one or two months, or half a year.

  Once he learned it, he would be able to teleport everywhere and wander around, and it would only be a small matter to come to the capital, so there was no need to be sorrowful now.

  He parted with Kaka at the tavern.

  Roland walked to Princess Veronica’s manor. He planned to take Mijil to Delpon, which was his own territory, and at the Magic Tower, Mijil could be well taken care of and also learn magic, killing two birds with one stone.

  But on the way, Roland met Antis, who was patrolling with a group of soldiers.

  Upon seeing Roland, Antis nodded at Roland, and his mouth opened as if he wanted to say something

  Roland waved to him in greeting.

  Antis hesitated, shook his head, and said no more, leaving with the patrol.

  “Something about him seems strange.” Roland frowned but didn’t think much of it.

  He soon arrived at Veronica’s manor and met this Princess Taiping[1].At this time, Veronica had changed into a gown, appearing very dainty and lovely, and had emerald earrings pinned to her ears, as if she were going to attend some kind of party. “I’m here to pick up Mijil.”


  Veronica looked at Roland with some surprise. “I thought it would be for a month, it’s only been a day.”


  “Things have gone awry.” Roland shrugged.

  “Suit yourself.” Veronica smiled indifferently. “Any interest in coming to the party with me?”


  “I have to get back.”


  Veronica wore an expression as if she were looking at an idiot. “Are you unable to understand the subtext of a lady’s words?”


  “You simply want me to be your male companion and help you block pursuers,” Roland sneered. “Not interested.”


  [1] A Tang Dynasty princess that was known for her beauty