<h4>Chapter 440: Geyzes City</h4>


    Located in the east-central region of the Western Archipgo, Thousand Leaf Coral Ind was rtively small, spanning only a fifth the size of the Viridescent Land.


    Thispact ind was home to three human nations, under the governance of the nearby Order of Star Knights.


    When Sein emerged from White Ste’s water gate, he found himself in the outer waters of Thousand Leaf Coral Ind.


    Sein gathered various information on the ind and pieced them together.


    Since Thousand Leaf Coral Ind was not part of ckhaven, the security in this region was decent.


    Under the protection of an order of the knights, the ck mages and ck knights to the north were deterred from causing significant trouble in the area.


    Despite this, the influence of ckhaven had gradually seeped into Thousand Leaf Coral Ind and its neighboring islets over the millennia.


    The human nations on the ind found themselves embroiled in skirmishes or full-scale wars every five years on average, heralding periods of chaos and darkness.


    During these turbulent times, ck mages from the north would oftene to collect the souls and remains of the fallen.


    For the ck mages, the aftermath of battles served as a vital resource for their dark practice.


    The ck knights of ckhaven, too, were frequent visitors, sometimes degenerating into outright banditry to plunder the spoils of war.


    Some ck squires also often disguised their identities to participate in this national war as mercenaries, intensifying and brutalizing the conflicts.


    Although the Order of Star Knights was aware of these, their proximity to ckhaven made it challenging to maintainplete control over the situation.


    The regions nearest to ckhaven experienced the most chaos. The severity of the unrest was such that even the presence of one or two Rank Four or Rank Five beings was not sufficient to restore order.


    However, the turmoil in the north-central Western Archipgo was rtively contained.


    The ck knights and ck mages crossing the border were mostly below Rank Two. Rank Three grand mages rarely engaged in such malevolent acts.


    No Rank Four or higher ck mage or ck knights from ckhaven had been seen to breach the border over the past twenty thousand years.


    The native powerhouses of the Western Archipgo were formidable in their own right.


    In fact, the local knights and mages of Rank Four or above in the Western Archipgo potentially outnumbered those of simr ranks in ckhaven.


    Several factors contributed to why ckhaven remained a persistent threat. These included historicalplexities, strategic considerations within the Magus Civilization, and the significant strength that ckhaven itself wielded.


    Despite ckhaven’s limited count of ck mages and knights between Rank Four and Six, there were overmages and overlords among their ranks.


    The cost of eradicating ckhaven through brute force alone would far exceed the toll of the war in the Neisse Star Domain by more than triple, ording to estimates by the Magus Civilization!


    In a world devoid of absolute purity, driving the destitute and the malevolent to ckhaven was a pragmatic and cost-effective strategy.


    Unbeknownst to Sein, there were other, more covert reasons for ckhaven’s persistence within the Magus Civilization.


    Throughout its history, ckhaven had made significant contributions to the Magus Civilization. However, these contributions remained underpublicized to maintain secrecy.


    Anything that had managed to persist for centuries, or even millennia, within the Magus World invariably had its reasons. The surface often masked deeper and moreplex truths.


    Although Thousand Leaf Coral Ind might seem like just another unremarkable ind in the Western Archipgo, its size was considerable for a Rank One mage like Sein.


    Strangely, histe mentor made no mention of this ind in the notebook he left behind.


    Sein surmised that this was likely Morsidor’s way of protecting his homnd from his enemies in ckhaven.


    Given the notorious reputation of ck mages and the fact that the ind was not part of ckhaven, revealing its location could have endangered its popce.


    After all, it would take little effort for a Rank One ck mage to devastate a small human city. This was an all-toomon urrence in the surrounding inds.


    The knights and mages native to the Western Archipgo were stretched too thin to offer adequate protection.


    Upon his arrival at Thousand Leaf Coral Ind, Sein disguised himself as a wandering knight,plete with a ck iron longsword at his waist as he began his search for Geyzes City.


    Combining his Aura Restraint spell with the special breathing technique and muscle restraint technique he developed from observing Tourmaline, Sein convincingly adopted the guise of a wandering knight.


    With a constitution scoring over two hundred points, Sein was strong enough to win an arm wrestle against a freshly promoted Rank One knight.


    Aside from theck of battle qi, Sein was actually not that different from a tough knight with a high constitution.


    The ind was currently embroiled in a national war involving all three human nations. With a poption exceeding two million caught in the strife, thendscape was marred by ruins and destion. The fieldsy barren, covered only by the bodies of the starved and the fallen.


    Amidst the peak of summer, the sweltering heat exacerbated the situation, giving rise to a gue that spread across the three nations on the ind.


    The convergence of war, famine, and gue painted a grim picture.


    It was hard to imagine that the Magus Civilization, known for its astounding influence over hundreds of millions across countless nes, would witness such dire circumstances within its core territories.


    Thousand Leaf Coral Ind’s plight was not unique in the north-central Western Archipgo.


    Compared to the further reaches north toward ckhaven, where thends were veritable wastnds of despair, it was still marginally better off.


    After two months traversing the ind as a wandering knight and being swept up in two local wars, Sein finally uncovered a lead pointing toward Geyzes City.


    ***


    In the northeastern reaches of Thousand Leaf Coral Indy the Delton Kingdom.


    Mounted on a warhorse, Sein approached an imposing stone city, its walls towering over twenty meters high.


    He had finally arrived in Geyzes City—the hometown of Master Morsidor.


    Over a century ago, Geyzes City thrived as the heart of the Delton Kingdom.


    While itsmercial activities were modest, the city’s agricultural sector was strong, with vast tracts ofnd surrounding the city ideally suited for cultivating buckwheat—a staple and specialty crop in the Western Archipgo.


    However, the tides of fortune turned for the Delton Kingdom when it suffered a devastating defeat in war and lost a significant portion of its territory a century ago.


    This defeat relegated Delton Kingdom to the status of the weakest kingdom on Thousand Leaf Coral Ind and transformed Geyzes City from a peaceful city into a frontline stronghold constantly threatened by conflict.


    The consequences of continuous warfare were dire, marked not just by casualties but also by widespread famine that ravaged the ind’s poption.


    Fortunately, unlike other parts of the ind, Geyzes City had thus far been spared from the outbreak of gue.


    However, the fresh bloodstains on the city’s stone walls indicated that a battle had recently taken ce there.