Instant Kill of a Level 5 Mage

Ryan turned around and saw a middle-aged man with a Level 5 Mage emblem on his chest, his face dark and full of anger as he looked at the young man lying on the ground. The man twitched his lips and turned around, ready to explode in fury.

"Good! We saw two ordinary people here, so we came over to question them. But what do you know?" One of the mages hurriedly said to the Level 5 mage, Good. Good shot a glance at Quillen, who casually met his gaze without any concern. The man, still fuming with rage, soon noticed Darlis and Alice. He swaggered over to Ryan.

"Since when can non-mages enter the Mage Guild? Who allowed you two to come in? If you don't explain yourselves, don't even think about leaving today." Good immediately started yelling at Alice and Darlis. As for Alice's faint magical energy, Good chose to ignore it.

Ryan glanced at the man, irritated by his interruption while he was enjoying a quiet moment with Darlis. With a sly side glance, he mocked, "Which idiot forgot to tie their robe and is now blabbering here?"

It took a moment for the people around them to react. Quillen was the first to burst out laughing. "Haha, Ryan, you've got style!" The others, holding back their laughter, turned bright red with embarrassment.

"You little bastard, you're asking for death!" Finally, Good snapped, realizing Ryan was mocking him. Hearing Quillen's comment, Ryan had taken off his badge, which made Good assume Ryan had just tagged along with Quillen to learn something. He also thought that Ryan, a Level 1 mage, was no threat and could easily be incapacitated with a simple movement of his fingers. Good was about to release a Level 3 Earth Spike—a tier 3 earth-based magic that forms a conical spike—when Ryan, already feeling the magic's fluctuations, realized the man was truly intending to kill him.

"You're asking for it!" A cold glint flashed in Ryan's eyes. He raised his hand, and a flurry of wind blades shot toward Good, who was still in the middle of chanting his spell. Ryan's magic had already launched the moment Good began gathering his power.

"Stop!" Quillen sensed the fluctuation in magic energy and shouted, but before he could finish, he saw the wind blades slashing toward Good.

Good had been a Level 5 mage for over twenty years and had just been promoted. Most Level 6 mages were engaged in research and experiments, leaving tasks like this to Level 5 mages. Despite being a mid-level mage, Good had often been looked down upon by others, particularly because his status in the Mage Guild wasn't high. He had always been bullied by other mages, so when he saw a Level 1 mage like Ryan daring to challenge him, it only fueled his anger. However, Good wasn't planning to kill Ryan—he just wanted to disable him. According to the Mage Guild's rules, a higher-level mage could "teach a lesson" to a lower-level mage if the latter provoked them, as long as no one died.

But as Good finished his spell and prepared to strike, he suddenly found himself lying on the ground. A single word escaped his lips, and he fell silent, blood pouring from his body. Ryan glanced at Good's lifeless form, a slight frown on his face.

"Ugh..."

"Ugh, ugh..." The onlookers were completely stunned by the sight. A Level 5 mage, someone who would usually be highly sought after by noble families outside the Mage Guild, had died in an instant. It took them a moment to process the scene, and many of the lower-level mages began vomiting. Quillen, in particular, was vomiting so much he seemed to be struggling to stop, while Darlis and Alice's faces turned pale. Ryan quickly pulled them aside.

"What's going on here?" A figure wearing a silver mage emblem entered the scene, looking at the bloodied aftermath. This person, a silver mage, had the title "Steward" written in gold letters across his chest. Upon seeing the situation, he frowned and loudly inquired, though he didn't apply much pressure, understanding that using forceful intimidation among low-level mages could affect their future development. Nevertheless, the inherent authority in his voice was clear.

"Your Excellency, here's what happened," someone from the crowd quickly explained the situation. After hearing it, the silver mage sighed and looked at Ryan. This wasn't a secret anymore; the higher-ups in the Mage Guild were already aware of Ryan's presence. There had been rumors that the guild's elders were even on the verge of fighting over him, and somehow, news of his actions had leaked. Now, the guild was in turmoil.

"Well, this is a lesson for you all. Mages should always protect themselves before releasing magic. A Level 5 mage dying at the hands of a Level 1 mage is a disgrace to our Mage Guild. Now, let it be known, this was his own doing. He attacked first and got himself killed." The silver mage pondered for a moment, then addressed the crowd. In the end, Ryan was fined 100 gold coins for cleaning the mess up, which was deducted from his benefits. Everyone around, stunned, was left speechless.

"Man, I think we should avoid provoking this guy. Even the silver mage won't dare to act against him, and Good's death wasn't unjust."

"Yeah, he can cast instant magic—whoever tries to mess with him is asking for trouble."

"Seriously, he killed someone in the Mage Guild and only had to pay 100 gold coins to settle it. His background must be extraordinary."

"Is he that elder's illegitimate child?"

"I'm not sure, but his ability to cast instant magic is something Good could never compare to."

"I think we should spread the word about this guy's magic. Let everyone know not to mess with him—instant casting! I can barely manage to cast silently myself."

"Yeah, that's the way it is."

"Little brother, you can walk all over the Mage Guild now. You killed a Level 5 Mage and only had to pay 100 gold coins for it—I'm impressed, seriously impressed!" Quillen said as he and Ryan walked through the streets of Alliance City. The streets were paved with stone, and Darlis and Alice had regained some color in their faces. The area near the Mage Guild was filled with magic material shops, each selling various goods. The streets were busy, with warriors, knights, archers carrying bows, and even some orcs.

Ryan's attention was caught by a 3-meter-tall orc, wearing leather armor and wielding a massive axe, which seemed to weigh nearly a thousand pounds. It looked rough, but Ryan was curious. "Brother, how come there are orcs here? Aren't we supposed to be enemies with them?"

Quillen glanced at Ryan and answered, "These orcs are part of the Mercenary Guild. They come to live among humans when they can't make a living back home. As long as they don't break the law, the Alliance Empire allows them in. In fact, many orcs join the Alliance Empire every year."

"I thought orcs didn't have enough food or gold," Ryan mused. "But if we have money to fight them, why not hire them for work instead? They can work in mines, hunt magical beasts, or even build roads. Humans don't want to do the tough jobs, so we give those to the orcs. War costs lives and gold, and if we win, we still need to reward people. If our food is going to rot, why not trade it for orc highland furs, ores, or other goods?" Ryan walked alongside Quillen, explaining his thoughts.

Quillen widened his eyes in shock, then asked, "Wait, you want to sell food to the orcs? Won't that just make them stronger and more willing to attack us?"

Ryan smirked and replied, "Why would the orcs attack us if they're well-fed? What's the point of that?"

"Well..." Quillen seemed to struggle with the idea.

Ryan sighed and explained, "If the orcs are hungry, trading our excess food for their highland furs, ores, and other products can help. Even if the harvest is poor this year, we can give them enough food to survive the winter in exchange for valuable resources. Plus, we could set up a deal where the orcs pay back the food next spring. It helps reduce military spending while getting valuable items, like ores, magical cores, and fur—things we can sell for a lot of money. This helps us save gold while securing goods we need. We could even trade with orcs for fruits, which come from their highlands, or buy them with gold." Ryan pointed at a fruit stall nearby with prices at one gold coin per piece.

"You want to buy with gold?" Quillen exclaimed in surprise.

Ryan laughed. "Your thinking is too narrow. Why should it matter? If the orcs can use gold to survive, why not? Besides, we can trade food for things that are worth more. Don't you think this could be a good deal?"

Ryan glanced ahead and spotted a large shop with a sign indicating it sold magical beasts. He quickly pulled Darlis and Alice inside, leaving a bewildered Quillen behind. Quillen stood frozen for a moment, then slapped his thigh and hurried inside after them.

Inside the magical beast shop, Ryan saw various magical beast eggs, magical beast cubs, and even magical beast pets. There were over a thousand low-level beast eggs, and the shop was filled with dozens of attendants. Darlis and Alice were particularly intrigued by the magical beast pets, which were incredibly cute and quite intelligent. Darlis was especially drawn to a large-nosed, first-level Earth Magic Rat, which appeared to be a deformed creature. This deformity made it unsellable, as no one seemed interested in buying it. The rat had yellow-brown fur, a large red nose, tiny eyes, and almost no tail. The price was 1,000 gold coins.

"Idiot, buy that rat. It's worth more than a million gold coins," Niu Niu's voice suddenly came from Ryan's shoulder, startling him. He turned to see Niu Niu, sitting comfortably there.

Ryan was taken aback but smiled. "A million gold coins, huh?" His curiosity piqued, Ryan still wanted to haggle for a better price.

Approaching Darlis, Ryan gently asked, "Do you like this little guy? If you do, we can buy it." As Ryan spoke, the Earth Magic Rat stood up on its hind legs and clasped its front paws, looking up at Darlis with a begging expression. Clearly, the rat wanted to go with her.

Darlis hesitated, looking at the rat. "It's too expensive," she said, seeing the price tag of 1,000 gold coins, which was a huge sum. She reluctantly glanced at the rat but prepared to walk away.

"Boss, will you sell this Earth Magic Rat for 800 gold coins? If so, I'll take it. If not, I'm leaving," Ryan said loudly to the shopkeeper. The onlookers, who were browsing other magical beasts, stared at Ryan in surprise, thinking he was a fool. But Ryan didn't care about the gold coins. For Darlis, he'd buy whatever she liked, but he was still going to try to save a little.

The shopkeeper sighed and responded, "Alright, 800 gold coins it is." He knew the rat had been in the store for over a year, and while it was a mutated magical beast, it was still a low-level one.

"Let's sign an equal contract," Niu Niu advised from Ryan's shoulder.

Nearby, some onlookers noticed Niu Niu and Ryan and exchanged knowing looks, thinking Ryan was just a newbie mage who didn't understand magical contracts.

After Darlis and the Earth Magic Rat started playing, Ryan paid the 900 gold coins, and they continued to look around.

"Sir, if you're interested in higher-level magical beasts, we have some on the second floor," the shopkeeper suggested with a smile.

Ryan wasn't interested in the second floor and shook his head, focusing instead on the lower-level beast eggs. As Ryan approached the eggs, he realized he could sense their magical properties just by being near them. Most beast eggs had no clear attributes unless they were Level 4 or higher, which emitted faint magical waves. Ryan could feel the subtle differences in these eggs. He picked out one that was priced at just 10 gold coins, the smallest and least noticeable of the eggs.

"Boss, I'll take that one," Ryan said, pointing at the modest egg. The price tag read just 10 gold coins, making it the cheapest option.