Close Combat Mage
chapter-167

Chapter 167 – The Domineering Corps Pt. 1

Suo Jia’s thoughts weren’t very complex. In reality, his words meant that he just wanted Duo Mei to be loyal to him, not at all what Duo Mei thought he meant. After receiving her promise, Suo Jia nodded in satisfaction, but he didn’t realize that this was equivalent to accepting Duo Mei’s feelings!

Typically speaking, when a girl said to a boy that her life was his, and her spirit after she died was his, she was definitely his without question. At least, she thought of herself as such; she was basically saying that she would marry only him. Unfortunately, although Suo Jia was smart, he was lacking in this field, and thus didn’t understand the implication of Duo Mei’s words.

The next morning, Suo Jia first went to various unions to establish new names: the Golden Angels merchant group, the Dark Angels thief group, and the Blood Angels mercenary group. Each new group had its own flag as well; the flags all had the image of an Angelic Six-Winged Phoenix holding a war blade in her hand. The only thing that differed between the flags were its colors; the thief group was a black angel, the mercenary group was a crimson angel, and the merchant group was a golden angel.

There was a reason for Suo Jia’s actions; if he did this, everyone’s sense of belonging would grow stronger. In addition, their cohesiveness would also increase, since all of the names and flags represented them. They’d eventually cherish these three groups the same way they cherished themselves, and make sure that the flags were never sullied in any way.

Also, for the sake of keeping it a secret from the public, Suo Jia didn’t want them to return to Holy Light City any more. This place had too many spies, and Suo Jia couldn’t possibly keep secrets here. He knew that the only way to protect his secrets was to possess his own territory. It was clear that the White Villa was not truly his; the one that actually controlled it was Wen Ya!

According to Suo Jia’s orders, the girls split between Glory City, Tidal Granary City, and White Fields City separately to form a merchant guild hall, a mercenary guild hall, and a thief guild hall as their bases. Communication was kept through the transmission of letters.

A few days later, the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes set out once more. This time, they didn’t have a set period for their excursion; they would never need to return again. Suo Jia had already calculated it properly: after a few days, the imperial family would bestow him a piece of land. There, he would establish his own circle of influence. This place would be his real territory!

After the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes left, Suo Jia returned to his usual lifestyle. He spent 6 hours every night meditating, and dedicated 6 hours to Zhiyao techniques. Suo Jia knew that, based on the frequency the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes got into fights, these potions would be consumed at a frightening rate! If he didn’t make more, the supply would fall short.

Suo Jia didn’t consider selling these potions outside; selling the Life Potions was already enough. The potions had many advantages that would be lost once others knew about them. Currently…in the entire world, only the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenix corps had this advantage. This was Suo Jia’s greatest capital, as well as what the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenix corps relied on most heavily to seize the Gold Triangle.

Suo Jia had already calculated it; although at a current standpoint, he seemed to be losing a lot of money, the amount that they’d earn after dominating the Gold Triangle would be immeasurable. In addition, conquering the Gold Triangle meant that they had to utilize the advantages of the three great potions as best they could!

Suo Jia’s evenings were already completely occupied, which meant that his days were obviously also busy. He’d spend them training in the Ice and Snow Pact while meticulously studying alchemy. When he was resting, he’d practice magic. This was Suo Jia’s schedule; not a single subject or second was overlooked within the 24 hour time period every day.

Suo Jia never considered going to school. Although the academy also taught alchemy, following their procedure was too slow. Moreover, their method was too unrefined; it was possible that even after learning for 3-5 years, he wouldn’t improve much. This was clearly not enough to meet Suo Jia’s needs.

Suo Jia’s methods were very simple. First, he purchased a set of alchemy teaching materials to understand the basic knowledge. He then went to the library and borrowed all the alchemy-related books. With Suo Jia’s current rank and status, something this minor could be done with only a few words.

At the same time, Suo Jia once again issued a request through the various unions to gather all books about alchemy. At the same time, he also requested the unions to gather clues about the whereabouts of Atlantis equipment set parts, as well as the Fire Phoenix set parts.

In that moment, Suo Jia’s money, which had poured in like water from the Life Potions, poured straight back out. After half a month, the White Villa’s backyard now had a special new building: Suo Jia’s personal library!

The library only had one floor. Its overall area wasn’t small, and within the spacious library were rows and rows of bookshelves displaying various types of books. However, all of the books were related to alchemy in some way.

Suo Jia would rush to this building every day, lie down comfortably on a sofa, and quietly flip through books with a neat pile of notes next to him. Two of the maids stayed by his side and would help him as he commanded them to.

After only a single month, Suo Jia managed to finish learning all the basic knowledge about alchemy. However, alchemy knowledge was as vast as the sea. Learning only the basics was equivalent to learning 1+1 in maths. What he had to learn next was real alchemy. The path that Suo Jia still had left to walk was very, very long.

Suo Jia also didn’t attend the past year’s King of Kings Tournament, since he felt it no longer had any meaning. He was already the highest ranked Knight; going any higher would require him to have military achievements or other meritorious contributions. There were no other ways he could rise in rank.

Suo Jia didn’t know who last year’s champion was, but Suo Jia hoped that one of the two girls would be this year’s champion. After their training from the past year, they would definitely be able to defeat all their opponents with ease.

Putting aside Suo Jia, who was studying diligently, the group of Angelic Six-Winged Angels were currently facing a long line of caravans with excitement shown on their faces. There were bodies littered all around them, and blood had already dyed the entire ground red. There were only a few hundred carriages still stopped there.

This was a secluded trade route 200 km away from Tidal Granary City. It was also the 58th merchant group that the Angelic Six-Winged Angels had successfully robbed. However, this merchant group was also clearly the largest one!

After flipping through the items, one of the girls ran to the girl with #1 marked on her and said respectfully, “#1! The merchandise has all been gathered.”

#1 gently parted her mantle, revealing a sweet and charming face. When one looked more closely, it was clear that she was very beautiful! Ever since Suo Jia had gifted her with the necklace, she had finally become the boss of the group after a month of painstaking training!

Why had she become the boss so easily? Actually, the reason was simple. Firstly, the Fire Phoenix Necklace had greatly helped. Secondly…the entire set’s best equipment were owned by her. Among the whole group, only she wore the completely linked equipment set. The others only had a few links each.

In reality, the current equipment set that Duo Mei was wearing wasn’t at all inferior to any peerless experts in the Greater Trade Routes. Considering the great benefits she gained from it, it’d be strange if her equipment wasn’t ranked #1. The reason she had been #9 previously was only because she hadn’t yet gained the fully linked equipment set.