Supreme Magus novel Chapter 1004

Chapter 1004 Clever Plans Part 2

Kortus Dast was a mage in his mid-thirties about 1.73 meters (5’8") tall, with short black hair and ice-blue eyes. He found it hard to accept that such a young woman was taller than him and held his same rank, yet he managed to keep the edge off his voice.

"Negative, Sir. Aside from setting the perimeter, there isn’t much to do." Phloria actually had an eerie feeling in her gut, but preferred to keep it to herself.

’If I tell them and I’m wrong, I’ll be blamed for wasting everyone’s time while if I’m right, I’ll be blamed for not being able to prevent whatever will happen. I already learned the rules of this game during the past year.

’To undermine my success, they’ll make so that no matter the choice I make, it will be considered wrong in hindsight. I’ll share my impressions only with Friya, so that if the worst happens and we save the day thanks to her guildmates, at least her career will flourish.’ She thought.

Phloria was tired of playing nice and let others ride her achievements to further their career while she was stuck as a Captain. The moment Kortus dismissed the meeting, she joined her sisters for dinner, uncaring for all the disdainful looks the soldiers threw at her.

"Can you feel it, too?" Quylla asked. Even though she sat in front of the big campfire, she couldn’t stop shivering.

"Yes." Phloria said while rubbing her arms to get rid of the chill running through her body.

"Feel what?" Friya felt left out, so she Hushed their surroundings even though it was considered a rude gesture.

"After spending a long time in Kulah, both Quylla and I became sensitive to huge mana fields." Phloria said.

"It couldn’t be stronger than that of the academy." Friya raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "I’m not saying that I don’t believe you, just that it doesn’t make much sense. Everyone here is a veteran of several battlefields yet you’re the only ones affected. What makes Kulah so special?"

"It’s not a matter of how strong the field is, but how hostile it is." Quylla explained. "The Mana Reactor, the Golems, and even the gates, everything was designed to keep people out. We didn’t notice it at first, but after a while, you feel like there’s a blade constantly pocking at your throat."

"The good news is that whatever it is, the source of the mana field has nothing of the pure hatred and suffering that permeated Kulah. The bad news is that these kinds of things are never natural." Phloria said.

After killing her first human at barely fifteen during an academy’s exam, surviving Balkor, Nalear, and the Forbidden Magic ritual in Zantia, Friya had learned that, for a mage, optimism was the quickest way to the grave.

She doubled the guard around the camp and had her guildmates keep everything they might need at hand in the case the enemy trapped them inside a dimensional sealing array.

The army soldiers sneered at the excessive safety precautions the Crystal Shield took, considering them a bunch of paranoid rookies. The mercenaries, instead, considered the soldiers a bunch of morons.

Not only had their guild master yet to fail them, but she had also negotiated for that mission a payment equal to what the soldiers would earn in a month.

The night passed with no incidents, just as Phloria expected.