I, a cultivator, have ended up in the wizarding world.

Chapter 132 Runes and the Sage's Apprentice

At dawn, the royal capital city of Eloscia awoke from its slumber.

Jemin changed into a simple mercenary uniform and walked out of the mansion alone.

Sunlight pierced through the thin mist, casting golden spots of light on the rows of houses. The sounds of children playing, vendors hawking their wares, and horses' hooves clattered together, creating a vibrant symphony.

Looking at the vibrant scene before him, Jemin couldn't help but sigh, "Ah... finally I don't have to stand there like an idiot anymore..."

These past few days haven't been easy for Jemin. Under the deliberate guidance of the three mission leaders, the negotiations have basically ended in arguments every day.

Occasionally, bad luck can escalate into a group fight.

The dwarves seemed drunk during the negotiations, but when it came to fighting, they were all incredibly enthusiastic, even more so than the orcs.

Even though Jemin was sitting in the audience, he was affected several times. At first, he didn't retaliate much to protect his image, but later he couldn't hold back anymore and punched anyone who came, leaving them bruised and battered.

Surprisingly, this actually worked quite well.

Later, even King Autorec III couldn't stand it anymore. He felt that if Jemin continued fighting like this, there wouldn't be anyone in the entire delegation who could represent them, so he hurriedly stopped Jemin's work as an observer.

This relieved Jemin.

So today, Jemin finally has time to properly explore the royal city.

Walking down the street, Jemin couldn't help but think about the three leaders of the foreign delegation.

"That's strange. What exactly is the purpose of these three people? To prevent the alliance between several civilizations? No, no one would be that stupid."

Indeed, although the negotiations seem to be going quite poorly, everyone, including Jemin, knows that humans will eventually make peace with orcs, and it is only a matter of time before the various races reunite.

As we all know, under normal circumstances, the relationship between countries is actually related to interests, and personal emotions have almost no impact on it.

The same applies even in other worlds, except that compared to normal interests, there is another additional factor affecting the relationship between nations in the Erosian plane: gods.

Strictly speaking, the will of the gods can also be considered part of national interests, and it is a very high priority.

With the will of the gods pressing down, the reunification of these countries is inevitable.

Most importantly, both the native gods of the Erosian plane and the wizards actually quite wanted to bring about a coalition.

After all, the best way to weaken the origin of a plane is to massacre the beings born in that plane. Only when the natives of the Erosian plane unite and wage war continuously can the wizards achieve their goals more efficiently.

Even the wizards' brief retreat from their earlier offensive was intended to give the natives of the Erosian plane a break, preventing them from becoming too tense and giving up.

However, no one expected that the nobles of this world would be so short-sighted. They started making underhanded moves as soon as their offensive slowed down, which ultimately led to the collapse of the Erosian Plane Indigenous Alliance.

Therefore, Jemin could not understand the thoughts of the three mission leaders. Regardless of whether they were apostles of the gods or spies disguised as wizards, they should have done their best to facilitate this alliance.

"Forget it, whatever those guys want to do, as long as it doesn't affect my own actions."

Shaking his head, no longer dwelling on these questions, Jemin began to carry out his actual actions for the day.

On the surface, he was strolling leisurely, but in reality, his senses were fully activated, sensing every pulse of the capital.

As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he could clearly sense the mortal aura permeating this enormous city.

The worldly atmosphere here is far greater and more complex than it was during the Golden Harbor period, almost to the point that it overwhelmed him.

The joy of the people, the greed of the merchants, the loyalty of the guards, the arrogance of the nobles, the despair of the beggars... all sorts of emotions, like streams of water, flowed into the talisman in his dantian, making it radiate an even more brilliant light.

He could feel that his absorption rate of worldly energy had increased at an unprecedented rate in this city.

"Is this the power of the heartland of civilization?" Jemin wondered to himself.

The atmosphere here was so overwhelmingly mundane that it made him feel somewhat disoriented.

Jemin's brow suddenly twitched.

I randomly turned into a quiet alley, where there were few pedestrians and only a few ordinary houses.

At the end of the alley, beside an ancient stone well, several withered trees entwined with vines looked particularly eerie.

Jemin walked to the well and seemingly casually looked down at the well wall, but in reality, his mental energy instantly spread out and penetrated deep underground.

He sensed something was amiss.

Beneath the well wall, hidden beneath mottled moss and soil, several subtle energy fluctuations spread out like ripples.

Those were not the sacred runes or mundane magic circles commonly found in the Erosian plane; their structure was unique, containing a power system that transcended this world.

"This is... a trace of a runic array?" Jemin was startled, but his face remained expressionless.

These runes were arranged in an extremely well-hidden manner; if it weren't for his superb knowledge of runes and keen perception, he would never have been able to detect them.

He observed it again discreetly, his mind filled with doubts. "It's basically confirmed that this is the rune system of the wizarding civilization, and definitely not from the Erosian plane."

These runes have very weak energy; they are probably just an inconspicuous node in a large magic array.

Without alerting anyone, he quietly left the alley and continued his "stroll".

However, having made his previous discovery, he began to deliberately extend his perception to every corner of the capital, paying particular attention to those seemingly inconspicuous places that showed subtle changes in energy.

Just as he was pondering this, a commotion arose on the street ahead.

"He is the Sage's disciple!"

"Lord Reiss! Lord Reiss has arrived!"

Jemin looked up and saw a group of residents surrounding a man with a thin face dressed in a scholar's robe.

The other person was smiling and greeting the surrounding residents, with a humble and refined smile on their face.

"Lord Reis, I heard you were advising His Majesty at the palace yesterday. You must have worked so hard!" A middle-aged woman handed him a basket of fresh fruit with a grateful smile.

Reiss gently accepted it, saying softly, "This is my duty as a citizen of the kingdom. Please don't stand on ceremony."

In the crowd, a ragged child accidentally fell and scraped his knee, crying loudly.

Upon seeing this, Reis immediately stepped forward and crouched down.

He reached out his hand, and a faint, soft light emanated from his fingertips, gently landing on the child's wound.

The child's wound healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, the pain disappeared, and the child stopped crying and started smiling.

"Alright, little one, be careful next time." Reese gently stroked the child's head, and his sincere care earned him praise from the surrounding crowd.

"Lord Reiss is so kind!"

"With the Sage and Lord Reis here, our kingdom will surely be victorious!"

"Yes, he always gives His Majesty the best advice. With Lord Reis, we have hope!"

Standing not far away, Jieming took it all in and silently assessed the situation in his mind:

"Tsk tsk... This method of winning people's hearts is far too old-fashioned. The performances of those shills around them are too stiff. They're all unqualified!"

"But... a disciple of the sage?"

The so-called sage is a rather special being in the Erosian plane.

The other party is not only powerful, but also extremely intelligent and charismatic.

It is no exaggeration to say that the first Erosian Plane Alliance was brought together by the sage single-handedly during the wizard invasion.

The origins of the sage are quite clear, and his life story has even been adapted into numerous operas.

It can only be said that he was indeed a very capable indigenous person, not a wizard spy.

But there's something strange about this disciple of the sage.

He recalled the information he had heard about Reis at the banquet: this disciple of the sage always offered "visionary" advice at crucial moments, guiding the king and his ministers in making decisions; some even said that he could foresee the future and point the way for the kingdom.

But apart from that, there is almost no other relevant information. All that is known is that not long ago, the sage suddenly announced that he had a disciple, which caused quite a stir at the time.

Seeing it with his own eyes now, Jemin was even more puzzled.

It wasn't his crude methods of winning people over—such methods are normal for high-ranking figures—that surprised Jemin. What truly surprised him was the faint sense of threat he sensed from the other party.

"What the hell? Did this world secretly update without my knowledge? How come every random person I run into is strong enough to threaten me? Shouldn't I be a genius?"

Seeing that the other person hadn't noticed him, Jemin slowly withdrew from the crowd and walked in another direction from the market.

Soon, he discovered similar runic traces again beneath an abandoned warehouse in another ancient market.

Then there was the backyard of a secluded temple, beside a forgotten drainage ditch... These runes were scattered throughout the capital, seemingly connected to each other, all pointing to a vague center.

Jemin's mind raced as he began to sketch out a rough outline of these scattered rune points in his mind.

These runes form a massive array that is interconnected, and its purpose appears to be some kind of large-scale energy transfer or conversion.

Night fell again, and Jemin returned to his mansion.

He entered the secret room shrouded in illusion, looking at the rough sketch of the underground rune network of the capital city on the table, his eyes gleaming with a profound light.

With his knowledge, Jemin quickly deduced that their arrangement seemed to be guiding or gathering some kind of energy, all subtly pointing towards the area with the most faith in the capital—the church district.

(End of this chapter)