He only returned to Cowan Belen Manor late at night after the military meeting. He was exhausted and his head was spinning.
Sheerah hadn't slept either after learning of his return and had been waiting for him in the hall.
When she saw Claude alight from the carriage, she went up to him and gave him a kiss.
Sheerah didn't follow him to Shiks, so it had been a year and a half since they last saw each other.
Sheerah was really excited to see him again.
"Dear, why are you so happy today?" Claude asked curiously. Sheerah seemed a little too excited and passionate.
After a hot bath, Claude recovered a little and Sheerah served him the delicacies she had prepared for him. She finally explained why she was so happy. "Claude, did you know? I found information about advancement in the Shiksan royal family's magic tomes you got someone to give me?"
Claude finally understood why Sheerah was so happy. She wanted to share her findings with someone, and it was a secret she could only tell to him.
It was now the age of decline. The once glorious magic civilisation of this world had become nothing more than history and folklore.
Even if one could still learn magic and become a magus, there was still a ceiling above one's head, regardless of whether one was talented or average. A Fifth Ring magus was the apex of all magi.
When Claude first transmigrated to this world and came into contact with magic, his biggest dream was to become a magus and live a carefree life.
But the wheels of fate didn't move according to a man's will. Claude was now on a completely different path from his childhood dreams.
Even after reuniting with Sheerah in the past few years, he still managed to become a fifth-circle Mage under Sheerah's supervision after procrastinating on his cultivation.
However, he was already used to his military life, and magic had become dispensable to him. He did not use magic in his daily life either …
Among the magi he knew, Angelina was currently focused on raising her son and the twins Bloweyk left behind. In her free time, she would start researching herbalism again.
Liboyd and Sonia were also rune mages, but they used magic in experiments they were interested in. Liboyd researched mechanical power, while Sonia researched weapons and ammunition.
Bloweyk wasn't as talented as Claude, but he became a fifth-ring magus faster than Claude.
However, he didn't know how to describe Bloweyk at the moment. He used magic for combat and used it to support his special forces. He could be considered a modern battlemage.
As for Claude, given his high position, he didn't know how to use the spells he knew. He hadn't done any magic experiments in a long time.
To him now, it made no difference whether he had spells or not …
Sheerah was the only pure Mage who had been pursuing knowledge and progress in magic.
She had always wanted to break the shackles of a fifth-circle Mage and become an Archmage.
Back then, her mother abandoned the young Sheerah for the same goal and teamed up with other magi to excavate magic ruins in hopes of finding a way to become a Magus. Unfortunately, she died.
When Sheerah grew up, she also went to search for magic ruins and found her mother's corpse, but there wasn't anything she wanted in the ruins.
Even though Sheerah reunited with Claude in the dominion, he knew very well what she desired.
Fortunately, even if Claude couldn't help her with magic, he was still able to surprise her with the spoils of war he got from conquering cities and conquering territories.
For example, he destroyed Nasri and conquered Shiksan's capital, Saint Cyprian. The Nasri royal family and Shiksan royal family's centuries-old collection of magic books and materials, as well as many precious magic tomes, fell into his hands.
For Sheerah, the tomes Claude brought back greatly increased her knowledge of magic and broadened her horizons.
Especially those precious magic books. Many of them were left behind from the Magic Civilization Era. Any one of them could make a Magician go crazy for it.
It was a pity that they were locked up in the palace's vault by the two royals and didn't fall into the hands of the magi who really needed them.
Sheerah found detailed information about the advancement of magi in one of the Shiksan tomes. After reading it, she understood that there were many magi who knew how to become Archmagi during the last years of the magic civilisation. The problem was that they couldn't gather the large amounts of magic materials and resources needed to advance.
Back then, magic materials and magic minerals were basically monopolised by the noble magi families. Normal magi didn't have a place to gather them.
Therefore, any unexpected appearance or discovery of magical resources or materials would result in countless competitors, and it was very likely that a bloody battle would break out until the final victor emerged ….
Sheerah was amazed by the scarcity of magic resources and materials at the end of the magic civilization, but she was more interested in the knowledge, procedures, and steps of advancing as a sorcerer, as well as the huge amount of magic resources and materials needed for the advancement ceremony.
What made her happy was that after a thousand years, although many magical resources and materials had been changed by people or unknowingly, this magic book still had detailed records and verification methods for these magical materials and resources …
While Claude ate his fill and listened to Sheerah's explanations, Sheerah took out more than ten sheets of magic materials and resources needed for a magus to advance. The sheets of paper were more than two meters long.
Claude looked at the beaming Sheerah in shock. Was there a need to be so happy? Even if she knew about the materials and resources, would she be able to gather them?
Many of them had already gone extinct a thousand years ago. Even the magi back then couldn't gather them, so it would be wishful thinking to even think about it now.
"Of course I'm happy," Sheerah answered firmly. Claude had forgotten an important premise. During the last years of the magic civilisation a thousand years ago, countless magi were gathering magic materials and resources for advancement. They would often spend their entire lives collecting them, and even when they died, they wouldn't be able to gather enough to advance.
For example, if the magic materials and resources at the end of the magic civilisation were enough for a hundred magi to advance, then there would be ten thousand magi collecting them. All of them would be hidden away in secret chambers by the magi and no one would know about it.
In the end, the one hundred sets of magic materials and resources that were enough for a magus to advance were stashed away by the magi bit by bit. If they couldn't gather all of them, no one would be able to advance in the end. That was the fairest way.
However, due to the appearance of the flintlock six hundred years ago, countless magic knowledge was lost along with the rise of the firearm.
The common folk of Freia used their guns to chase away the magi who treated them like ants and happily welcomed a new oppressor.
In fact, the expulsion of the magi from Freia didn't give the people the peace and tranquility they yearned for. On the contrary, the curtains were drawn on the dark three hundred years that followed.
Countless lords, big and small, used their guns to ignite the flames of war across the continent. For revenge, to fight for territory, to expand their power, and for money, they started wars, driving the young men in their territories to become cannon fodder on the battlefield.
Nearly three hundred years of bloody war reduced the population of Freia by two-thirds. That was how the distribution of the various countries on the continent was determined and continued to this day.
For the past six hundred years, the word magi had become a taboo on Freia. Not a single magus could appear before the people anymore.
Even the royal families of many countries who colluded with magi did so in the dark.
After all, for the past 600 years, the people of Aueras believed that Magi were evil. The so-called harmless spells introduced by Aueras were only limited to a small number of people. Most people saw the registered Magi as magicians, the kind that could perform tricks.
The current Freia Continent was no longer the world of magi. Many of the precious magic materials and resources that had caused countless magi to fight over them a thousand years ago were no longer sought after by anyone.
While there were quite a number of magi on Freia, they mostly hid in the wilderness or lived their lives in obscurity.
Many mages did not know how to advance because of the incomplete inheritance. Some lacked practical spells, some lacked knowledge of magic materials and resources, and most of them had a monopoly of magic knowledge and a lack of communication, which led them to go astray in their magic training.
It was just like how almost all magi knew how to advance a thousand years ago. Now, they had to risk their lives to obtain it.
She told Claude that becoming a great magus wasn't a dream, as she found that many of the magic materials and resources on the list could be easily gathered.
For example, many of the items brought back from the royal treasury during the conquest of Shiks were magic materials and magic ores needed for advancement. More importantly, the ores had already been refined, which saved them a lot of trouble.
The people in charge of the warehouses didn't know that they were precious magic materials and only thought that they were part of the royal treasury's collection, so they shipped them back to the region.
Sheerah had gone to the warehouse to examine these magic materials. She was surprised to find that the ore ingots were labeled as potion test materials and metal forging test materials by the warehouse staff …
So, Sheerah used up nearly half a million crowns from Claude's account to buy all the magic materials and resource refiners from the region's warehouse in the name of testing Angelina's potions and Sonia's cannons' metal durability.
That was a win-win deal for the warehouse department. Not only did they give face to Claude, they also cleared out a few warehouses and sold off the expensive experimental materials that were difficult to sell. That way, they would be able to increase their reserves by 500,000 crowns.
Only Claude knew at that moment that he owed Minsheng Bank another 500,000 crowns in private debt. That was a huge surprise from Sheerah.
But since he had already bought them, he didn't mind. Claude didn't have any complaints about it, especially since it was Sheerah who spent it.
Even if he didn't have any extra income, he would be able to repay the loan in two to three years with the profits and dividends he had on hand.
"Dear, is this 500,000 crowns worth of magic materials enough for you to advance?" Claude asked.
Sheerah shook her head regretfully. "It's not enough. These materials can only be counted as half.
Also, you're wrong. These materials aren't worth the 500,000 crowns you think they are.
If they were sold in the underground magic market and were discovered by a magus who knew what they were, forget two or three million crowns, there would be people fighting for them even if the price was ten times higher.
You might not know this, but many of the magic materials in this batch are extremely rare and hard to find. For example, adamantine and earth crystal are magic minerals that are on the verge of extinction. Only a country like Shiks, which focuses on mining, would be able to find them.
"These are precious magic items that can only be found by chance. They aren't something that can be found just by digging a mine.
"Come to think of it, the warehouse staff of your military didn't know what they were and treated them as supplementary materials for potions and metal forging experiments. That's how I got such a bargain.
Do you know what he labeled adamantine as?
It's an extremely hard copper alloy. Earth crystals are what he called yellow crystals.
I basically bought these two treasures at the price of potatoes … "
Claude felt a chill run down his spine. He didn't blame the warehouse staff for not knowing what they were and selling gold as if it were dirt. The appraisers weren't magi, so it was understandable that they didn't know what magic materials were.
Claude's keen senses told him that Sheerah had gotten a great bargain this time. She only used five hundred thousand crowns to buy five million worth of precious magic materials and resources.
But the problem was that the materials she bought were only enough for her to advance. In other words, if he didn't get anything good from the other half, he would have to fork out close to five million crowns.
Those precious materials had always been priceless in the underground market. Not only did it cost money, but it also took a lot of effort to collect them.
Even though Claude had a lot of assets on hand, earning him one to two hundred thousand crowns a year, five million crowns was still a huge sum he couldn't fork out. That was equivalent to the total annual income of Aueras during the reign of Stellin X. Last year, he heard that Aueras only collected less than 1.2 million crowns in taxes.
Claude wasn't like King Fredrey I, who could get tens of millions of crowns from the nobles with just a decree of nobility and land selection fees.
He panicked at the thought of the five million crowns. He finally understood why so many casters risked their lives for magic materials and resources a thousand years ago. They couldn't afford it, so they could only use violence to rob it.
However, the region had just conquered Shiks. Which other country could they target next?
He wanted to tell her to stop wasting time and not advance, but he couldn't bring himself to say it when he saw how excited she was.
After a long while, he couldn't help but interrupt her. "Umm … Darling, how much do you think the remaining half of the materials and magic materials will cost?"
"Ugh …" Sheila was interrupted by Claude's interruption. Stunned, she looked at the distressed Claude and finally understood what he meant. She smiled brightly and said, "Claude, did you not hear what I said?"
Claude nodded with a pained expression. He was just thinking about how much money he had left to withstand her squandering, so he didn't pay attention to what she was saying.
"Didn't I just say that the magical materials I bought from the military's storage department are enough for three people to level up? The remaining half of the materials on this list is the quantity, not the price.
Most of the magic materials and mineral resources were common goods, such as Whiteroot Powder, which was very common, and many of them were now regarded as medicinal materials needed for pharmaceutics, which could be purchased in the market.
The real problem is the location for the advancement. We need a suitable magic tower.
I'm planning to renovate the inside of our manor's observation tower into a magic tower. I'll need time and effort to redraw the runes and magic formations for the entire tower.
So, in the next three years, I'll lead the low-ranked magi your family has groomed to renovate this observation tower. We'll need to purchase a lot of magic materials.
Don't forget that we're on Nubissia. This place produces many rare magic materials and resources even on Freia.
I've done some calculations. After collecting all the magic materials and resources produced on Nubissia, only a small portion of what's needed for advancement will be left.
When the magic tower is finished in three years, I'll bring the magi to the central highlands and western wastelands of Freia. The magic tome says that the remaining magic materials and resources are produced there. "
Claude breathed a long sigh of relief. So the other half of the materials and resources the prodigal woman mentioned was the quantity and not the price. He was finally relieved and said, "How about this? Give me the list of magic materials and resources produced on Freia's central highlands and western wastelands. I'll get someone to collect them.
I won't be able to trust you to search for them on your own. It's not safe there. "
Sheila was very enthusiastic and proactive that night. Claude enjoyed it, but he was exhausted.