Chapter 1: The Awakening of the Young Man! Thaumaturge...

  Aichi Kingdom south, Gu Xiang City.

  Unlike the vast majority of settlements in Aichi, the region where Gokaku City is located is not a mountainous area, but rather the only plain area in southern Aichi: "Golden Rose Plain".

  The ancient oak city belongs to the territory of the Oakhet family. Because the plain area has more convenient transportation, whether it is the ancient oak city or the other dozen cities located in the "Golden Rose Plain", they are all more prosperous and bustling than ordinary cities. This is also the center of culture and art in the southern border of the Aichi Kingdom, producing a large number of exquisite handicrafts, pottery, bone carvings, feather decorations, gorgeous clothes, woolen carpets... and many painters, singers.

  Compared with other cities in the "Golden Rose Plain", the most distinctive feature of Ancient Oak City is the giant oak trees that cover the entire city, towering over 40 meters high. These oak trees are nearly 400 years old and have grown exceptionally sturdy due to the unique soil and water conditions. On these oak trees, apart from being covered with many nuts, there are also many tree houses built for use as shops and inns. These tree houses either imitate the style of elven inns during the Dragon War era or the dwellings of beastmen, some luxurious, others simple and rustic, each with its own unique flavor, giving Ancient Oak City a sense of being a resort town from the Dragon War era.

  The last rays of the sunset had just completely disappeared over the "Golden Rose Plain", when a burst of loud laughter suddenly erupted from the treehouse tavern in an oak tree in the central part of the ancient city.

  In this cramped tavern that could hold no more than thirty people, at the central oak table, two burly men with their chests exposed were hugging two large wine barrels and drinking vigorously. One of them was clearly already out of it, the golden liquid he drank going down his throat accompanied by his coughing sounds, shooting out of his nostrils to form two small fountains.

  A dozen men sitting around the long table nearby looked at this scene and laughed wildly, these people all exuded a bloody and ferocious atmosphere from their bones, the scars on their bodies and the large wine cups in their hands seemed to label "violence" on their faces.

  In the pungent smell of wine, several people began to boast about their recent harvest, listening to the content that they defeated a team of wizards who were fighting with them and took away many spoils from the giant beast forest in the south.

  From these conversations, it can be inferred that the majority of people gathered in this tavern are combat mages who either accept commissions to venture into dangerous areas to complete tasks or directly plunder and rob other mage teams for spoils.

  In a corner of the tavern by the window, there was a man wearing a brown leather hat and having black long hair, his face looked especially pale. He was silently and unobtrusively drinking wine, without any decorations or marks on him. Only after staring at him for a long time would you discover that apart from his exceptionally pale face, his fingers were also exceptionally slender and pale, and extremely soft, as if they had no bones at all.

  Just as the man who sprayed wine from his nostrils fell heavily to the ground, in an instant when the atmosphere became even more intense, the woven bamboo door of the tavern was suddenly pushed open with a loud bang, and a woman wearing a black long gown appeared in everyone's line of sight.

  The woman looked very young, with burgundy hair, a petite figure, but curvaceous, through the black robe's neckline, you could see that she was wearing a grid-patterned tight-fitting undergarment inside.

  "Gulu"

  Several gulps and gasps for air immediately rang out, as several of the combat mages who had been the first to get a clear look at her appearance couldn't help but imagine what she would look like wearing only the tight-fitting net-like undergarment underneath her black jacket.

  "Don't provoke him!"

  "This woman is absolutely not someone to be trifled with."

  But almost at the same time, several people had already lowered their voices to remind their companions.

  Whether it was the black robe or the tight-fitting clothes inside, they were not ordinary goods. They looked like materials that were very rare in the outside world, and for a clear-headed practitioner, this young woman's body absolutely emitted a terrible aura.

  "If you don't want to get involved or accidentally killed, then hurry up and leave."

  "This petite woman was very direct and said: 'I am Donna.'"

  "What?!"

  "Leader of the Oakhurt family's squad of mages, Flame Maiden Donna!"

  “She is the Fire Girl! Once won the Starry Sky Warrior Cup champion...”

  "Boom!"

  In the tavern, the vast majority of people had just fallen into a state of shock and hadn't had time to react when one side of the treehouse's wall suddenly burst outward, countless splintered wooden blocks exploding out like a volcanic eruption.

  "What's going on!"

  In the midst of the shock, the people in the tavern saw that the one who had burst out by directly blasting open the wall was the pale-faced man wearing a leather hat who had not drawn much attention before.

  At this moment, under him, a black winged giant snake was standing upright, its body larger than the entire tavern.

  "What sorcery is this!"

  "What kind of dark magic is this, to emit such a terrifying aura?!"

  Just as the mages in the tavern felt their powers were no match for it and turned to flee in terror, another voice echoed through the air; "You think you can leave that easily?"

  As this sound rose, sixteen huge shadows suddenly appeared in the sky.

  Sixteen pillars, like giant oak trees, descended from the sky and formed a cage that trapped a black-winged serpent in the center as it fled at an astonishing speed.

  Inside these sixteen giant ice pillars, different whistling sounds are emitted, as if there were different dragon language scholars chanting inside.

  "This is Ice Dragon Town's Prison Technique!"

  "It's the White Tomb of the Tagore family!"

  "Bailing actually came too!"

  "Who is this person?! They're actually going to make Donna and Bairing that monster join forces against us!"

  Even the wine gushing out of his nostrils, the magician who had already fallen to the ground drunk, saw this scene and was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat and woke up immediately.

  "Violet Flame Burst!"

  The man standing on the giant black snake's head suddenly turned around, and as he let out a low hum, the black giant snake under him rushed out at an even faster speed, directly and heavily colliding with the ice pillar in front of him. At the same time, his two hands were clasped together, and purple flame balls the size of human heads continuously shot out from between his palms, charging towards Donna who jumped out from the rear Tree House Tavern.

  "Blazing Fist!"

  Dona's eyes were filled with cold light, and a dazzling purple-red magical aura burst forth from her hands, sweeping around her like a storm. Countless tiny wooden blocks outside her body suddenly ignited, turning into snow-white ash that hovered in mid-air.

  "Hiss....."

  A series of gasping sounds echoed through the air.

  At this moment, the sudden change here was discovered. The battle was no longer just about those who escaped from the Tree House Tavern, but all the nearby mages could clearly feel the terrifying power of the purple flame balls. And they also saw that the purple flame balls rushing towards Donna were all chopped into small pieces by fine white ash and disappeared without a trace.

  "This is a secret technique that can only be performed by a magician who has opened more than five mystic gates!"

  A number of people arrived from afar, brought by a whirlwind-like gust of wind, and they looked like extremely powerful magicians. As soon as they saw the scene of the duel, their faces all turned deathly pale.

  "Dona's strength has actually reached this point, what kind of person is her opponent! Is it worth her being so nervous?" A male practitioner with a youthful face and peculiarly small pupils like needle tips exclaimed in shock.

  "Where is Bailin?! I can only see his secret technique, but not him!" Another tall and sturdy practitioner was covered in cold sweat on his forehead, feeling a huge gap.

  "It's the Ice Mirror Technique." A plump, red-clad female mage with a pale face said: "He used the ice mirror to reflect and hide his true form. If you can't find his real location, as his opponent, it's fundamentally impossible to defeat him."

  ……

  "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"...

  In the instant when these few masters spoke, the black giant snake had already collided with the ice pillar, producing a shocking and earth-shaking response. The air waves and fierce winds formed by this impact expanded like a tide, sweeping across the entire city.

  The black giant snake began to disintegrate and turned into a thick black smoke, sixteen ice pillars snapped three of them, all the strange chanting sounds started to disappear.

  "Hah!"

  That pale, strange-faced man suddenly stopped his attack on Donna and vanished into the black smoke. In the next second, he shot out from the gap between the sixteen ice pillars.

  "I've said it before, wanting to leave isn't that easy..."

  A cold, arrogant voice softly sounded from behind the pale-faced man, but at the same time, a giant ice scythe that was equivalent to several people's height suddenly appeared in mid-air and slashed towards the man's body.

  The end of this giant ice sickle was a man in white clothes, with a faint white mark on the left side of his face, looking like a flying dragon.

  "Death God's Ice Scythe!"

  Several onlookers, including some cultivators, had their breathing almost completely halted. The massive ice scythe exerted an unimaginable pressure on them, as if it was about to slash out the spiritual energy particles within their bodies and crush them into powder.

  "Crack!"

  With no time to dodge, the pale-faced man's hands merged together, firmly clamping down on the giant ice scythe's blade.

  A powerful force slammed him to the ground, sending his body sliding backward, gouging deep trenches in the earth. At the same time, however, the pale-faced man's hands were filled with a dark glow that spread throughout his entire body, transforming into a suit of metallic black armor adorned with a ferocious dragon emblem on his chest.

  "Bang!"

  The massive ice scythe's blade suddenly appeared with countless cracks, and under his hands' pressure, it was about to shatter violently!

  "Fire in the hole!"

  Just then, Donna had arrived just behind the pale-faced man, her hands bursting into a raging fire that was several people high, instantly compressed into a tiny red gem-like particle that struck the pale-faced man's back.

  The pale-faced man's hat on his head turned into ashes in an instant, his pale face turned bright red, and his body stiffened suddenly, as if he was about to spew out flames from inside.

  "You can't catch me! Let's die together!"

  But in that instant, the pale-faced man suddenly let out a sharp and manic laugh. Many black ritual particles burst forth from his body, and his form withered away like a wilting flower. One of his hands, shrouded in a ghastly white aura, stretched out impossibly long, like a white python, and reached towards Donna's chest.

  "Hah!"

  Dona's right arm single-handedly blocked, and five deep blood grooves appeared on her hand.

  The wound did not bleed, but instead a grayish liquid, like mercury, seeped into her body.

  Dongna's face suddenly turned pale.

  At that moment, a blue figure suddenly fell from the sky.

  "Seal of Extinction, Sacred Boundary Dissolves!"

  Dona's body suddenly froze, stopping all movement. The person who had fallen grabbed her arms and a fierce blue light burst out of her wound. Those gray, mercury-like things were blown out and turned to ash.

  "Ah!"

  At this moment, many wizards who did not dare to approach but could see all the battle scenes in the distance were shocked and cried out.

  The pale-faced man's back split open, subtly transforming into part of a dragon's body, as if a giant dragon was about to emerge from his body. However, in an instant, his body suddenly burst apart with a loud crash, shattering into fragments like a pile of dry firewood.

  "Evil Dragon Cultist!"

  "He's a follower of the Evil Dragon Cult!"

  "Evil Dragon Cult members have appeared again! And they would actually show up in our Golden Rose Plain!"

  Many people involuntarily let out a scream of shock.

  "Thanks, Liszt."

  In such a shocking cry, Donna was very calm and even revealed a faint smile: "I didn't expect you to come too, and saved my life again."