Elite Mages’ Academy (Web Novel)

Chapter 359: Arriving At Gold City

Xiao Lin’s explanations were very in-depth, and Silverlight would occasionally voice a few questions. When they slowly got to modern history, Silverlight completely shut up, her cold face not showing a shred of emotion.

As Xiao Lin stopped as well, tacking “That’s all!” at the end, Silverlight seemed to have sighed in resignation before going into his Holy Soul Sword.

Xiao Lin was a little speechless, he had wanted to hear her views on the difference between the ancient and modern civilizations, but it seemed like Silverlight still had some apprehensions toward them. Thankfully, he did not lack time, so he could afford to be patient.

As for what level Silverlight’s power was at, Xiao Lin and Lilith discussed it in private. Silverlight had brought up before that she had lost a great deal of power after she was sealed, so Xiao Lin felt that her power level was around the Gold or Epic level.

“So are you planning on making her your personal bodyguard?” Lilith said with some annoyance. She had seen through Xiao Lin’s goal of inviting Silverlight.

“Who are you protecting yourself against?” Lilith asked curiously.

Xiao Lin did not reply to that; they were heading toward the largest city in the Silver Province: Gold City. There were various academies stationed there, even the various native kingdoms had their own stations there, so the situation was quite complicated.

As for who Xiao Lin wanted protection from, it was something that did not need to be said. Other than Asabanor, who was a huge potential threat, what had him worried was the fact that Dawn Academy seemed to have wanted to use the fact that he was with Lilith at Wildfire Town to handle him.

Even if Xiao Lin wanted to believe that the amicable dean would not do something like that, the whole thing still felt very unpleasant. As reluctant as he was, Xiao Lin still felt like he should have some preventive measures.

“How long has it been since we left Wildfire Town?”

“It’s been around half a month. Where do you think Asabanor is at the moment?” Even if they had wasted some time at Silverlight Lake, Lilith did not forget their initial goal for being at the Silver Province. Asabanor was her final target here.

“Why do you think Asabanor is here?” Xiao Lin asked.

“Revenge.”

“Right, the resurrection tower.”

“There’s also the starmetal.”

At that stage of their conversation, Xiao Lin could not help but recall the black resurrection tower in Wildfire Town, as well as that undead creature that kept resurrecting. Both of their moods plummeted at that moment.

They were quite glad that their entire journey had been within the vicinity of resurrection towers. Most of the Silver Province had been covered up by resurrection towers, which indicated that Asabanor’s assault was not as fast as they thought.

Getting to Gold City took up seven days. Even if the distance was a little far, they were no longer in a desolate landscape after leaving the mountains. The Silver Province had quite a prosperous trade industry, so there were quite a few inns around the area, and transport was not lacking either.

Of course, there was nothing as high-classed as unicorns. What they used were generally some regular gray-furred wolves. Those were magical wolves who had been trained, so their speed was fast, but they could not carry too heavy of a load, nor could they withstand long journeys. However, it was quite a good option for those that were looking to travel short distances.

New Dollars were used in the Silver Province, but under Ibeiya’s vague warnings, they exchanged their money for the local currency at an inn. To merchants that came from elsewhere, Planet Norma’s native currency was much more attractive than New Dollars since a good amount of those merchants came from territories that were not under the colonists.

They reached Gold City after a few days. The city was quite prosperous, even if it was quite far off from the likes of New Washington and Dawn City. It was about ten times larger than Wildfire Town, and there were no walls surrounding it. There were only a few sentry and archer towers in the vicinity which felt purely symbolic.

That level of defense would definitely not work against any attack that was remotely thought out, but no one dared to bring any armies into the Silver Province. All the academies were there, and anyone who dared to cause any trouble would incur the wrath of all of them. Even bandits who caused trouble everywhere they went did not dare to move inside easily. That was why Gold City had practically no defenses. The peace that the various academies maintained seemed to be quite well-received based on the number of merchants that were around. It had naturally caused the entire city to prosper.

Xiao Lin had learned quite a bit about the city from Lilith and Ibeiya, which was why he did not react when they reached Gold City and saw the various checkpoints in the city which were filled with fully-equipped soldiers conducting identity checks.

There were just identity checks; there were no body checks done at all. The soldiers in charge spoke in thickly accented Normese, indicating that they were natives. The checks were very simple. They would put a transparent jewel close to everyone before issuing a simple pass to everyone who went in the city. The guards would also repeat a warning that there would be checks conducted in Gold City, and those without a pass would be arrested.

“They are checking for death energy! If there’s any death energy on your body, the jewel will light up.”

Lilith recognized the use of the jewel. The purpose was quite obvious, which was to prevent any suspicious undead from entering Gold City. Asabanor would naturally not come here personally, but the humans who were controlled by him would not be able to enter either.

Xiao Lin was suddenly in a hard spot. With that kind of a check, their group would naturally not be able to get through. Ibeiya was obvious; even if the dark races were very different from the undead, they still exuded thick death energy, which would definitely cause problems. Xiao Lin’s Holy Soul Sword also had two undead spirits residing within it.

Even if they were Dawn Academy and Judge Academy’s students, which meant that they would definitely be able to get through if they explained the situation, Xiao Lin did not dare to cause any sudden problems before making sure what the current situation was.

So, they decided to temporarily avoid the checkpoints during the day, deciding to try to enter when night fell. Even if Gold City’s defenses were strengthened, with so many years of carelessness, the residents of the city had long since been used to a life of luxury.

Most of the city had dispersed when night fell, and night time would naturally limit everyone’s vision. Other than the occasional passing merchants, there were very few travellers entering the city.

Entering the city was a hard proposition. Even if it was native territory, they had used a lot of high-ranked magical scrolls, such as scrolls that illuminated large areas, revealed invisible objects, and stopped flying objects. Those scrolls were definitely not cheap, and it was obvious that they had been provided by the academies.

Those scrolls had basically cast an impenetrable net around Gold City, making it so that it was impossible to penetrate, and that any attempt would be noticed.