Close Combat Mage

Chapter 120 – Future Route Pt. 2

Under the attention of more than ten thousand spectators, Mi Xiusa’s body was momentarily blasted off the elevated stage. Soon after, it flew another ten or so meters before finally smashing into the spectator stands. Fortunately, the spectators dodged in time, and so he only destroyed a chair and a table. However, it was quite obvious that he had already been beaten off the competition arena, and in this competition he was completely and thoroughly defeated.

Swaying while standing up, Mi Xiusa was gritting his teeth to bear the pain, and he resisted the pain covering his entire body with great difficulty. Up until now, he didn’t even know that he had already lost. He stubbornly shook his head, and with effort searched for Suo Jia’s figure. However, he soon discovered his surroundings…

“The victor of the inter-championship competition is, first year water system mage — Suo Jia!” Just as Mi Xiusa was dumbstruck, the head judge’s voice clearly passed through his ears.

With a loud booming sound within his head, Mi Xiusa painfully closed his eyes. From beginning to defeat, he was completely confused. This was really the case, as he didn’t even know how he was defeated!

Following the dispersing smoke on the elevated stage, Suo Jia lifted up his two fists high up in the air, and walked out with a firm and persistent expression; he won! He finally obtained victory, and stood at the peak of Holy Light Academy. In truth, he was only a first grade new student. He was merely a water magic student!

Following Mi Xiusa’s defeat, the inter-championship competition finally came to a satisfactory conclusion. After Suo Jia set a whole series of records, won a pair of Divine Needles, three nobility title promotions, as well as the one that he earned himself, in one day, Suo Jia’s nobility title rose by four levels!

In this way, Suo Jia stepped over the seventh-rank nobility title grant, became a seventh-rank lord, was granted the sixth-rank nobility title, and became a sixth-rank lord. In one year’s worth of time, Suo Jia madly entered the eight ranks, and from an ordinary person became a sixth-rank lord. This speed was completely unprecedented.

TL: I have no idea why he is a sixth-ranked lord instead of a fourth-ranked lord. The raw suggests that maybe you need two upgrades to go up a single rank.

Following the competition victory, Suo Jia’s name was forever recorded in the annals. At the age of eight, not only did he grasp the Meditation Technique, he also learned the Ice Sphere Technique, Glacial Armor Technique, as well as the Frozen Revolving Gas. This allowed him to become a top-notch Mage Trainee.

Maybe ordinary people did not understand too well what this implied, but basically, Suo Jia who attended a year of school could already graduate. He used a year’s worth of time to completely learn what others needed ten years for. This speed was already something that words could not describe.

Faced with this choice, Suo Jia did not know what was he should do. Should he continue to attend school? Or should he graduate at this point and become a Mage Trainee, explore the world, and adventure for knowledge and experience? This really was a difficult decision to make.

Although, he already won the academy’s championship, Suo Jia knew that he currently still didn’t have sufficient strength to enter the Greater Trade Routes. Just as Duke Wen Sha had said, he could beat 100 individuals with Suo Jia’s level of strength single-handedly!

After pondering for a while, Suo Jia finally decided not to graduate immediately. However, he would not go to the academy everyday to attend the classes anymore either. He wanted to retain his identity as a student but also the period of time he used to train. One must know…… after becoming a mage apprentice, studying is not as important as comprehending and understanding the magic.

The following month, Suo Jia entered closed doors training. He wanted to completely comprehend the Whip Hammer Technique he learned during the match. This will become Suo Jia’s attacking method in close range and midrange from now on. As for long range, that was a magician’s forte!

After Suo Jia secluded himself for about a week’s time, he finally had a little success in comprehending the Whip Hammer Technique. Meanwhile, the end of the year finally arrived and Suo Jia was finally 9 years old. He came out from the closed doors and celebrated New Year with his family before he secluded himself again. Without a single word nor seeing anyone, Suo Jia spent every single day in the underground training field. Nobody knew what he was doing, even when the fire wind girls came back a few times, he did not come out to meet them.

Half a year’s time passed in the blink of an eye, and the agreed time with the 10 big “Thief families” was finally here. Suo Jia came out from his closed doors training. He could ignore everything else, but the deal this time was of great importance. He had to personally witness it.

At the same time Suo Jia left the underwater training ground, the lords of the 10 influential thief families had already arrived. Pushing the door open, Suo Jia entered the tiny guest room and glanced at the 10 family lords who were sitting leisurely. Suo Jia couldn’t help but smile; he knew for certain that these guys would have some of the things he needed.

Seeing Suo Jia pass through the door, the lords of the ten great families turned their heads over in succession. Under everyone’s gaze, Suo Jia calmly sat at the host’s position. At the same time, he waved his hand to indicate the dismissal of the maids.

After the door had been shut, Suo Jia smiled and said, “I wonder… did everyone finished their preparations? If possible, I think…… you guys may bring forth your conditions now.”

Hearing Suo Jia’s words, the lords of the 10 great families pursed their brows in succession. At the same time, one of the lord opened his mouth and said, “Mister Suo Jia, even though your dagger is precious…… after going back and comparing it with the list of materials you gave us, we helplessly found out that the value of those materials are too high. With just those materials, we can trade for more than 10 daggers like this!”

Remaining calm and collected, Suo Jia looked at the family lord who was talking. In fact, Suo Jia was already aware that those materials could produce approximately 40 legendary ranked battle armors. How could their value simply be described by a single word, expensive? It was fundamentally something you could see but can not touch.

However, Suo Jia didn’t plan to shrink back at all. Looking at the 10 great family lords with a serene expression, Suo Jia dully said, “Indeed, I must admit that those materials are extremely precious. So much so that you can say it’s something you could see but can not touch. I must admit, just by comparing the prices, you could purchase 10 of these daggers with those materials!”

Hearing Suo Jia’s words, the ten great family lords couldn’t help but feel relieved. Even if the ten great family lords really wanted to have this dagger, they were not fond of being extorted by someone. A trade was possible; however, it had to be fair. They wouldn’t permit anyone to seize an opportunity to bite them.

Just when all the family lords were nodding their heads silently, Suo Jia opened his mouth once more, “However, I wish everyone can understand, the dagger in my hand is the only one in the world, there are no duplicates in this world. Even if the other daggers for thieves are powerful, on what basis are they more amazing than this dagger?”

Hearing Suo Jia’s words, the lords of the ten great families couldn’t help but darken their expression. That’s right, if this was just a legendary ranked dagger, they wouldn’t even care. No matter what, at least a legendary ranked equipment had value attached to them. Even if this dagger was not legendary ranked, it still possessed outstanding abilities. At this crucial moment, they couldn’t bear to give up on this dagger no matter what.

While smiling, Suo Jia looked at the lords of the ten great families before he continued, “According to my knowledge, the competition between the thief families that occurs every 10 years is about to begin. I believe…… with the help of this dagger, getting the championship wouldn’t be a problem. In other words, the importance of this dagger does not lie in itself. What it can provide everyone is the honor and benefits of the No. 1 thief family. I really wanted to know whether those materials are worthy of the honor and benefits you would gain from being the No. 1 thief family?”

“This……” Hearing Suo Jia’s words, all the family lords couldn’t help but respond vaguely. This was the most important point, no matter how valuable the dagger was by itself, it still had a limit. It was precisely as Suo Jia had said, the key point was the honor and benefits this dagger could bring about.

The ranking competition for the thieves was held once every decade. There was less than a month left until the next competition. Suo Jia’s timing was a perfect opportunity for this transaction to take place; the arrangement was really accurately planned. Whoever received this dagger would most likely obtain the first place throne among all the other major thief families. This throne signified not only glory, but excessive wealth as well!

Would becoming the head of the thief families for a decade allow one to gain many benefits? If a magic item was placed in another family’s commerce union, it could perhaps be sold for 100 gold. If it was placed in the head family’s commerce union, even selling it for 200 gold wouldn’t be overboard. Everyone would still scramble to buy it, as they all thought of the head thief family as one that’s able to travel to more dangerous locations, and thus gain better items. The actual reality of the situation was pretty much as expected.

Seeing the ten great family lords immersed in silence, Suo Jia heavily said, “I hope that everyone takes note that this time’s transaction has a fair basis. If you’re willing to buy it, then I’m willing to sell it. Nobody is being forced to purchase it. If anyone thinks it’s expensive, then you may leave now. I definitely won’t hold you back!”

Hearing Suo Jia’s words, the ten great family lords couldn’t help but bitterly scratch their heads. It was exactly because of this reason that they didn’t have any choice. This was clearly extortion under false pretenses. However, they weren’t able to break away. Whose fault was it that lacking this dagger would be unacceptable?

Seeing the ten great family lords’ agonized expressions, Suo Jia smiled and said, “If you want to obtain this dagger, then you must pay up first. If you aren’t willing to pay for it, you can’t even discuss it. If everyone thinks that this dagger isn’t worth so much money, then you should leave. I think…..that there are others willing to buy this dagger aside from the ten great families.”

Suo Jia’s expression suddenly turned cold as he said, “Please don’t think of this as blackmail. Why don’t you all think about it for a bit? If I sold this dagger to one of the top ten thief families, what kind of benefits would I gain? On the other hand, how much of a loss would you suffer?”

Hearing Suo Jia’s words, the ten great family lords’ expressions all became dumbstruck. Only now did they suddenly realize that Suo Jia didn’t have to trade the dagger with them. There were over a thousand thief families in all of Holy Light Empire. If Suo Jia was carrying out this transaction for benefits, then he could randomly choose a middle-level thief family to trade it to. Either way, he would still gain a huge amount of profit. There were many things that the ten great families were currently unable to provide him anyways!

After some contemplation, a white-haired elder stood up and said in a dignified tone, “We have received Mister Suo Jia’s camaraderie. We thank you dearly for granting this dagger to the ten great families and protecting the thief realm’s stability. Based on this alone, we are willing to accept any price, no matter how high!”

The elder then turned around and said to the other lords, “Regardless, the relationships between the ten families are quite close. We all have connections to each other. This championship throne can only be born within the ten great families. Everyone, please bid your prices. No matter who obtains this dagger, it definitely won’t have too great of an impact on us great ten!”