Zither Emperor

Chapter 7 – Milan Institution for Magic and Martial Arts (I)

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On both sides of the street stood many kinds of tall buildings – the moment one subsided, the next one rose. A diversity in e pedestrians could also be clearly seen. Not only did Ye Yin Zhu see warriors, he also saw several mages. This kind of situation wasn’t something that could even be sought in Arcadia or Wavast. It clearly indicated how prosperous and powerful Milan’s strength was.

Inside Milan City, only nobility could ride magic beasts. As neither Ye Yin Zhu or Ge En possessed titles of nobility, they could only walk.

“Look, there’s the Mercenary Guild.” Ge En’s voice brimmed with excitement. To mercenaries, the Mercenary Guild was their holy land.

Ye Yin Zhu looked in the direction Ge En pointed at and saw a tall, imposing building at the end of the street. It was truly difficult to determine how big this huge domed building was just from looking at its front. However, just from its appearance, it was excessively large, being at least a hundred meters wide in the front and close to thirty meters high. Also located at the front was a huge perimeter wall circling the building. At the center of the building was an emblem: a gold shield overlapped with a pair of crossed double-edged swords. It flickered with a dazzling light as the sun shone down upon it. Even though the building was quite distant, the emblem was clearly visible.

As one walked within 500 meters of the Mercenary Guild, the surrounding crowd began to thicken. Many different kinds of mercenaries continuously traveled back and forth from the building. Ge En led Yin Zhu forward, breaking through the crowd with great difficulty to enter the Mercenary Guild. The pressure from the crowd actually increased instead of fading away as they passed through the entrance. At least a hundred staff members wearing black uniforms kept the interior of the guild orderly.

This was an extremely spacious hall, its height reaching 20 meters or more. Huge crystal windows on both sides of the hall allowed sunlight to enter. Apart from the one side with the entrance, the remaining three sides were lined with stone step that led up to counters approximately two meters tall. The elevation allowed staff members to have a towering view of the interior. This meant the majority of the mercenaries needed to walk up to the stone step counters to talk with them.

Ge En whispered, “Yin Zhu, you can tell that these peacekeepers are not strong. Except within this building, no one dares to offend them. If anyone dares to cause a disturbance, their Mercenary License would be immediately revoked. To the left is the mission retrieval center, and unlike other Mercenary Branches, only D rank missions or higher exist. If they’re not a D rank mercenary company or higher, they are not qualified to accept a mission here. To the right is the mission reward center where the commissions are obtained. The side closest to the middle is the mercenary guild’s registration and promotion counter.

On both sides of the counter, even though it was the inner counter, there were several people waiting in lines. Ye Yin Zhu and Ge En walked up to the inner counter, intending to join the line. Suddenly a loud exclamation came from the inner counter.

“S rank mercenary company. Two S rank mercenary companies are born…… ”

Although it was originally concentrated, the crowd of mercenary companies parted like tidewater, exposing the inner counter. The sudden exclamation had the mercenaries from the mission retrieval counter and the mission reward center also gather around. Amazed gazes were cast towards the end of the opened pathway.

Altogether, three individuals walked out from the counter. Obviously, they just recently accomplished a mercenary company upgrade. Walking in the middle was a mage wearing a gray magic robe. He appeared approximately 50 to 60 years old with a slim stature and simple facial features. His white hair was neatly combed and gathered at the back of his head. Walking as light as a feather down the path, his two eyes were brimming with an intimidating aura. No one dared to face those eyes head on. The most frightening thing was the tremendous elemental magic undulating around his body. Because it was excessively compressed, Yin Zhu felt that this mage’s elemental magic aura was somewhat viscous. The individuals the mage’s eyes swept over immediately became stifled. A violet whirlwind engraved emblem rested proudly on the left side of his chest, fully reflecting his strength.

“A Great Mage, he is actually a Violet Rank Great Mage.” Ge En’s eyes almost popped out. As they were at the peak existences on the continent, every Great Mage that emerged would became the center of attention.

Ye Yin Zhu and Ge En’s train of thoughts were completely different, however. In his mind, he secretly thought, ‘This elemental mage has reached the Violet Rank. Is this his strength?’ Yin Zhu’s eyes could barely make out the profoundness of the mage’s spiritual force. Grandfather Qin didn’t have an elemental magic aura as great as this, but his spiritual force was apparently stronger.

At the Great Mage’s side stood a male and a female, both quite young. The youth on the left was approximately 26-27 years old, his whole body protected by an exquisite silver armor that covered everything except the joints. With his broad shoulders, he appeared handsome, but also somewhat ice-cold with long golden hair draped and scattered over his shoulders. To the right side of his waist rested a sword hilt. What Yin Zhu took note of the most was that on the left side of his chest, there was something violet-colored that he had previously come across; it was the exact same Silver Star Dragon Cavalry Commander engraving Ao Si Ding had. To the right side of the Great Mage was a young girl who appeared to only be 16-17 years old. With neat, short hair cropped at the ears, she appeared valiant and formidable. The faint pink magic robe she wore could not completely conceal her already matured figure. Her delicate, charming face expressed a prideful look. Two watery blue eyes flickered with the light of an old soul. She pulled at the Great Mage’s hand with a smile on her face. What Yin Zhu paid attention to the most was that on the left side of her chest was a magic emblem. To his surprise it was yellow. To reach the Yellow Rank at such a young age was absolutely shocking. The Yellow Rank emblem was indicative of an advanced mage. Even if it was merely at the primary level, it was sufficient enough to amaze.

“Uncle, if the mercenary company had a Violet Rank member, could it become a S rank mercenary company?”

Ge En replied, “Violet Rank member is necessary for the S rank mercenary company emblem, but that’s not the only requirement; it is like how the Iron Brambles needed you to come assist in upgrading the mercenary company rank. S rank mercenary company would also need at least one Violet Rank, but they also need to have extraordinarily powerful strength.”

“Oh. So that is to say, S rank mercenary company is also nothing much,” Yin Zhu indifferently stated. His two grandfathers were both Violet Rank. To his understanding, Violet Rank was not an unattainable level. After all, his zither magic cultivation equivalent, the Violet Zither Heart, was not the final level.

His voice fell, and Yin Zhu’s face slightly changed. He stepped to the side instinctually, a strand of light wind passed through where he once was. Yin Zhu raised his head and looked up in time to face the Great Mage and the glowering young girl at his side. Obviously, she had heard Yin Zhu as at that moment, the party of three was passing by Yin Zhu and Ge En.

“What are you doing?” Yin Zhu asked with slight anger. If not for his quick reaction, he would have been in the path of the windblade. Although it was only a wink of Red Rank magic, it was enough to destroy the clothes on his body.

The young girl arrogantly lifted her head. “Did you not say that an S rank mercenary company was nothing much? I want to know what rank your mercenary company is. You’re only a Red Rank mage, that’s all, and you dare to talk nonsense here.”

Ye Yin Zhu stared at her blankly. “What nonsense? I am merely stating a fact, nothing more. What’s wrong with Red Rank? Didn’t you ascend from Red Rank as well? Which cultivation does not require this ascension.”

“You……” The young girl released the Great Mage’s hand, fiercely walking up to Yin Zhu. Wind had already begun condensing around her body, capable of exploding at any time.