Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 419: Deep in the Icefield
The Eye of Illusion raised his hand and threw the empty food cans out of the airship casually.

The astrologer frowned slightly and complained softly, "Jin, please stop throwing garbage down from high altitudes."

"Hey, if this were in the city, I wouldn't do this...but what does it matter in the wilderness? It won't hit innocent people anyway."

Duncan, sitting cross-legged in the airship's cabin, holding a cup of hot tea, patiently advised his reckless student, "I remember telling you before that many magical creatures have a strong sense of smell. If we don't want hordes of magical beasts to sneak into our camp when we land and set up camp at night, it's best not to leave anything with our own scent for them..."

The necromancer Michelle suddenly understood. "Mr. Duncan, no wonder you ask us to burn and bury the garbage we leave behind every time we leave the camp. Is this the reason?"

Duncan nodded, rolling his eyes at the embarrassed student. "Yes, even ordinary hunters without any magical powers understand these survival techniques. After all, in the wilderness, the roles of hunter and prey can change at any time."

The brothers White and Black, who were in charge of piloting the airship, tacitly switched seats and sat down next to Duncan. They respectfully asked, "Sir Duncan, please tell us about your experiences taming powerful magical creatures while studying Transfiguration."

Because they did not belong to the same spellcasting faction, and this level of casual conversation did not involve the core issues of secret spells, it did not seem presumptuous or rude. Duncan smiled and raised the half-empty teacup. Michelle quickly understood and took the teapot from the portable stove to refill it with hot water for him.

"When I chose the art of illusion as my major in spellcasting when I was young, I anticipated that this path would be extremely difficult..."

Compared to elves, human spellcasters inherently lack an affinity for natural elements, which means they have natural comprehension flaws and cognitive shortcomings when constructing illusion spell models by simulating magical creatures.

In addition, although the elves do not have obvious hostility towards humans, they are extremely closed and conservative in academic terms. They are not willing to actively communicate and impart magical knowledge in this area. As a result, the human magic world has always been at a disadvantage in the development of the illusion casting faction.

For a spellcaster like Duncan, who comes from an ancient wizard family, abandoning the family's long-standing arcane spellcasting faction is equivalent to starting from scratch and learning on his own.

"Back at the Orland Royal School of Magic, I studied with Mr. Franken, who also specializes in illusion. After successfully advancing to the intermediate level, I joined the Wizard Alliance and traveled to the demonic battlefield in the Evil Moon Mountains. Through combat, I gained the experience and know-how to advance to the higher levels..."

Duncan's rambling was filled with sighs and emotion, prompting the Eye of Illusion to interject, "Combat spellcasters, in moments of life-or-death crisis, have a high chance of breaking through their own limitations and gaining inspiration and the key to advancement... This is what you told me yourself, Teacher, and it's proven to be effective."

He and Melissa naturally followed Duncan's teachings and advice, and sought precious opportunities for themselves to be promoted to higher levels as battle mages.

Black and White exchanged a puzzled glance, "I've often heard people say that battle mages are most likely to advance through combat, but no one has ever figured out the origins of this rumor..."

Duncan chuckled and said slowly, "Most ancient wizard families with long histories have this kind of saying spread among them. As for its origin... that's a long story." He smiled and raised his alchemical prosthetic limb, which shone with a silvery-white metallic hue. "Mr. Asdalen, the Lord Mayor's Chief Advisor, is familiar to you, right? In fact... he and I may have come from the same ancient wizard family."

The Eye of Illusion was stunned for a second, and said in disbelief: "What? How come we don't know? Teacher, Mr. Asdalen... is rumored to be an ancient vampire!"

"Half-blood! Don't be so rude." The astrologer tugged at the corner of his clothes and reminded him in a low voice.

As early as the Dragon War, the wizard family of Arsdalen moved to the North to live in seclusion, and established a wizard kingdom called the Kingdom of Eternal Night deep in the wilderness. Among the family branches they left in the South, the wizard family that Duncan came from may be one of them.

However, ancient wizards had no classification of research and combat types. All wizards in the Kingdom of Eternal Night... were strictly speaking combat mages, and they had to go through direct confrontations with powerful enemies and achieve self-ranking advancement in life-and-death battles.

"I understand!" Illusion Eye couldn't help but stand up. "No wonder you took the initiative to lead this exploration mission. Teacher... you also want to find the legendary Kingdom of Eternal Night, right? Perhaps it's the ancient wizard kingdom founded by your ancestors."

Duncan smiled and nodded. "Mr. Asdalen is also very concerned about this. After all, that was his former home... and it just so happens that the first stop of this exploration mission is to find the Kingdom of Eternal Night, so it can't be considered as me doing my job for personal gain."

The astrologer said worriedly, "But we've been flying north for almost half a month now, and apart from the boundless wild forests and the occasional encounter with a tribe of evil orcs... we haven't seen even a trace of the ruins of the ancient wizard kingdom."

As soon as she finished speaking, Michelle, who was in charge of driving the airship, shouted at the observation window in front of the pod: "Just as I said! Everyone, a large evil orc tribe has been discovered in the valley ahead. Should we fly over directly, or..."

After taking off from Spark City, they headed due north almost exactly as planned. From the third day after takeoff, they began to discover traces of the evil orc tribes one after another. These savage primitive tribes were as populous and widely distributed as rabbits in the wilderness. Tribes of all sizes were spread across the entire ice field, and they often migrated back and forth for reasons such as grazing herds and internal conflicts. Their activities could be seen wherever the exploration team went.

Most of the time, the exploration team chose to ignore it and flew directly over their heads at an altitude of hundreds of meters. There was no need to land and cause trouble for themselves.

The Eye of Illusion also walked to the observation window, squinted his eyes and stared towards the distant valley. After a moment, he took out the telescope and confirmed again and again without giving up.

"I'm afraid we really have to land this time..." He turned to report to Duncan, "Teacher, the evil orc tribe in the valley ahead looks like they're fighting a group of desert refugees, and they seem to be in a bad situation..."

The refugees from the wasteland are also fellow humans. As human spellcasters, we should lend a helping hand to them, especially when they are facing invasion and massacre by foreign races.

(End of this chapter)