The Lord of the Rings: Lords of Middle-earth.

"Then I'll have to trouble you..." Caslo said somewhat reservedly, looking at the shy Ajax. Although he had always hoped that Roland would give him and Ajax a wedding blessed by everyone, he still couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive when the time came.

"Alright, you two can stay in Swiftstream City for the time being. Your brother can handle things with Lu Long!" Roland waved his hand dismissively. However, Dos Anthony, who was eavesdropping nearby, grinned. Good grief! He's getting caught up in the drama himself?

"What? You're not willing?" Ajax raised her eyebrows and stared at Dos Anthony, whose expression was strange. An aura of superiority instantly spread out.

"Yes! Yes!" Dos Anthony nodded frantically, practically kowtowing! This made Roland, who was standing nearby, curious about what he had experienced under his sister's care when he was a child.
"Alright, that's settled then!" Roland waved his hand to dismiss everyone. He had to go back to his sweetheart. He had given Nyx such a big fright this time, and he figured it would take at least ten days to half a month to coax her back to her senses.

……

Roland walked briskly back to his bedroom. This unexpected death not only frightened Nyx, but also made Roland cherish the people he loved and who loved him even more. While he was thinking about how to appease his beloved girl, the system screen suddenly appeared in front of him.

"What? Go die somewhere else if you have nothing to do?" Roland had absolutely no liking for this system that was withholding his hard-earned money.

"The vulnerability has been fixed! The compensation mechanism has been updated!"

"Compensation Reward: One sixth-tier sage with random attributes!"

Roland had been calmly anticipating what kind of compensation the damn system might offer, but when he heard the word "Sage" at the end, he couldn't sit still any longer! That was a Sage! The existence of a Middle-earth bomber!

Roland, who had originally been full of ideas to appease his wife, had now lost all interest in doing so. A sage had disrupted his peace of mind; a sixth-tier sage meant he always held a powerful forbidden spell at his disposal! The intimidation factor was immense. Crucially, this forbidden spell could be replenished; it only required a cooldown.

"I wonder where this sage comes from..." Roland frowned in thought. According to the distribution of forces in the Lagrange Empire that can produce sages, only the Holy Tower, the Imperial Royal Academy of Mages, the Mage Temple, and the Forbidden Spell Alliance are capable of cultivating sages. He just didn't know which of these four factions his sage belonged to.

Judging from these factions, the Sages of the Holy Tower have extremely strong individual combat power, because the single-elemental mages who come out of the Holy Tower are all of the Light or Holy element, and the multi-elemental mages will also contain one of the Light or Holy elements! And the Light and Holy elements are precisely the top-tier elements with high burst damage!
The mages graduating from the Imperial Royal Academy of Mages are also quite good. These mages, trained by the royal family, are labeled with their respective noble affiliations from the moment they enter the academy, giving them a stronger sense of identification with their noble lords. Most of them serve the nobility, or rather, many are of noble blood! Furthermore, the academy's knowledge is more systematic. While they may not possess the same level of combat experience as other factions, they are more than capable of serving as city guardians. Therefore, most owners of mage towers are precisely those from the academy; only the immense wealth of the nobility can support the construction of those towers! The Mage Temple is even more formidable. As the resident mages of the Mage Temple in each node city, they not only shoulder the responsibility of selecting new apprentice mages but also bear the duty of city guarding. This faction of mages is quite diverse, with a wide range of skills! However, due to its vast coverage, many self-taught mages are mixed in, even including many sages from the temple who are self-taught mages…

As for the last Forbidden Spell Alliance… Roland didn’t think much of it. This faction was a small alliance of fifth and sixth-tier mages who mainly practiced bloodline inheritance, that is, sons passing on their fathers’ professions… Therefore, this faction had never been very large. Moreover, as the only neutral force in the empire, the Forbidden Spell Alliance never participated in wars unless you attacked them directly. However, no one underestimated the fighting power of this faction. After all, was an alliance of mages who could cast forbidden spells an ordinary organization?
The above four groups represent the entire Lagrange Empire's potential to cultivate sages: special attribute groups, royal nobles, ordinary commoners, and advanced professionals. This also encompasses all avenues for mages, as mages are different from knights. A powerful family might be able to cultivate a hero or overlord behind closed doors, but it could never cultivate a sage! The birth of a sage requires not only immense wealth but, more importantly, a vast accumulation of magical knowledge and guidance from predecessors.

This is why nobles hold onto the advanced skills of other professions while allowing the forbidden spells and runes of mages to become commonplace. After all, even if you know them, you can't use them, while other professions can truly improve through time and talent! The reason why everyone refers to mages as "Lord Mage" is because of their scarcity and the high cost of acquiring them!
If Roland were to choose, he would prefer the Sages of the Holy Tower and the Sages of the Academy. The Sages of the Temple are like a lottery, with the possibility of drawing an unorthodox, unorthodox one… The Sages of the Forbidden Spell Alliance are mostly members of the Military Court; guess what they're researching all day long? Various forbidden spells large enough to restart on a duchy-level scale were researched by these guys under the guise of neutrality. Roland wouldn't dare use a Sage who spends all his time tinkering with unstable forbidden spells! Therefore, the Sages of the Academy and the Holy Tower are more stable and suitable. Although they might be a bit more conventional, they have the advantage of being fully configured from the start…

……

"Boom!" A dazzling pillar of light rose up, and a giant earth boar with its skin torn open and smoke billowing from its body collapsed to the ground. This kind of high-level magical beast is one of the most common high-level magical beasts in the entire Central Plains. After all, its powerful reproductive ability is enough to make up for its lack of combat power.

"Damn it!" A man dressed in white robes slowly walked over, holding a platinum staff. The transparent magic crystal at the top of the staff shimmered with golden light, which swept over the man's body and formed a shield that enveloped him.

"A mere high-level magical beast dares to attack me?" The man took off his robe and hood, revealing a calm face. The man, who looked to be about thirty years old, had short black hair and his eyes gleamed with a sharp light. He glanced at the lifeless magical beast and said disdainfully.

"The orcs of the Misty Mountains are still so disgusting..." The man, after taking out the magic crystal, felt nauseous as he looked at the orcs that had appeared.

"Slick-haired bastards, they're really ugly!" The man couldn't help but unleash a barrage of high-level magic on the mountainside, as if a sun had been lit up. Various light magic spells were unleashed in turn, and finally, after a wave of magical chaos, the man smiled again after the orcs were completely wiped out, leaving not even a trace of dirt.

"It's time to go back to the empire. I wonder which emperor has re-established the country?" the man said, shaking his head with some curiosity.

The seventh day of my wandering...