75 Everlasting City Siege (1)

[Everlasting City]

Although the capital of the Lark Barony called Everlasting City was not very huge, it was pretty famous throughout the Porfield Kingdom.

It must be said that the Lark Baron Household was a rising household. It had been founded by an advanced rank wandering acolyte who had accumulated countless achievements in the Porfield Kingdom. At first, he was just an advisor, but the King himself had decided to bestow nobility to him. Ever since, the Lark Baron Household has been earning influence.

The process of raising a household nobility rank was not so easy. It required more than just military power and achievements. It required influence, and political marriages. Only a handful of households could rise in nobility ranks, since it would require the king to bestow it directly in extravagant ceremonies.

Everlasting City was a pretty small city, with roughly 20 000 inhabitants. However, it was quite famous for its wide array of traders and specialized artisans. It included famed Tailor Establishments such as the [Big Oax] and [Blue Silk], esteemed blacksmiths such as the [White Hammer] and [Black Meteor] who had reached the intermediate realm in their trade, as well as many alchemist-in-herbs.

Everlasting City was also close to being a wandering acolyte point, with dozens of beginner acolytes coming and going from the city in search for knowledge, spells and magical ingredients. The fact that the Lark Baron himself was an old intermediate rank acolyte who welcomed all acolytes with open arms in long and vivid conversations about adventures and magical knowledge was common knowledge.

Wandering acolytes were different from apprentices belonging to the Ivory Tower. For instance, Arthur had access to thousands of books back in the [Ivory Tower], hundreds of them being written by Magi themselves.

As long as he contributed to the tower by completing missions, or paid the libarian enough magic crystals, he could rent those books, note down the important knowledge and meditate on his discoveries.

Wandering acolytes had no such opportunity.

Although elves, dwarves and orcs could somehow instinctively use some form of magic, it wasn't the same for humans. It could be said that humans only rose thanks to the legacy of thousands of years of experiments and studies. These extraordinary findings allowed them to exploit magical theories and complicated magic circles, allowing them to cast spells more powerful than the innate spells cast by other species. However, the prerequisites were enormous, and even geniuses left alone would not achieve half of what a below-average could do in an environment where magic was taught like in the [Ivory Tower].

To Wandering Acolytes, Everlasting City was an extraordinary place where they could get access to Baron Lark's personal library in exchange for books of equal value, magic crystals or magical ingredients.

Both parties benefitted from the trade. Baron Lark became wealthier and more famous, in addition to gain powerful connections that could help him strengthen his territory, whereas the wandering acolytes earned knowledge and spells. Sometimes, they would even receive pointers from the old Baron himself.

Since most of the acolytes were hiding their identity, Count Elderwood had been completely oblivious to their presence in Everlasting City.

As Count Elderwood led the charge to overwhelm Everlasting City, his army didn't even reach the walls before hundreds of his men collapsed on the ground.

It had only taken a couple volley of spells for more than two hundred men to die in less than a minute. Flame spells, Ice Spells, Shadow spells, sun spells...

The variety of spells was too much for the old Count to handle.

Although he had reached the advanced rank knight realm, the sight of a quarter of his army falling without him reaching the walls was an otherworldly return to reality. Retreating, this marked his second defeat since the start of this war.

Meanwhile...

Baron Lark laughed with his companions.

"I must thank you all, esteemed guests...Your presence makes me very reassured. I promise that once this war has ended, I will offer you a free pass to my personal collections of magical books and grimoires. Hopefully, you can find what you came here for...", Baron Lark promised to the 8 acolytes who had accepted to remain in Everlasting City in spite of the incoming war, "Naturally, I have also prepared a few rewards for your esteemed selves. It includes 20 magic crystals for each of you, three [Spiritual Potions], capable of regenerating your mana by 30 units upon consumption, and ten [Light Torches], very useful for underground explorations"

Among those eight acolytes, three were intermediate-rank acolytes.

Unlike intermediate-rank druids, acolytes were very powerful in combat, and they shined in siege battles, where their firepower made them extremely lethal to large groups of human soldiers. Plus, as wandering acolytes, they possessed plenty of battle experience. They might not possess the foundations and magical knowledge of [Ivory Tower] apprentices, and they might be lacking greatly in terms of equipment too.

However, the cunningness and vile tactics they have learned as wandering acolytes made them tough opponents.