The Golem Mage

Though it had been a while since the Snow Lion Pride began its retreat after the lion type demonic beasts realized there would be no war today, however the mages atop the city gates were still stunned.

Old Man Alderic, in particular, felt numb from the shockwaves running through his mind.

The black-armoured mage guards standing with them stared at the Gordon brothers with eyes full of reverence, as frontliners in the constant conflict against second-dimension creatures, these guards had built up a deep-seated hatred for the demonic beasts and orcs that ruled this region after lost battles against them in the past.

But despite their resentment, they lacked the strength to do anything significant, this outpost had not gone to war in a long time, and the higher ups seem to have long since accepted their role as defenders in every attack—grateful just to hold onto this patch of land.

And this was all because the mages from the academy, especially the mid and high ranks benefited from residing in such a mana-rich environment greatly, over time, many of the guards had buried their thirst for revenge, even if they had lost someone close to them, they simply endured in silence.

But today, hearing that the Gordon brothers had actually stolen from an Overlord—not an ordinary demonic beast, but the leader of a powerful pride of many lions was something else entirely.

The idea that an Overlord could suffer a loss, even through theft, felt surreal to them.

"Let me get this straight, you little punks entered the second dimension, and the first thing you did was steal from an Overlord? Not just any beast, but a leader with an entire army under him?" Old Man Alderic said, narrowing his eyes.

Alec and his brothers exchanged looks, unsure if this would lead to praise or punishment.

"Hmph... It's honestly unbelievable," Alderic continued.

"What you just did, even many high ranks wouldn't dare try it. No matter their chances, they'd hesitate. But you fearless brats not only stole from him—you pissed him off enough to lead a monster wave back to the city."

"Good!!! Like master, like disciple. Wait—no, even your master never reached this level of madness, offending an Overlord? You lot have officially overthrown and inherited the title of Troublemakers of the Abyss from your master," Old Man Alderic said, pacing as he spoke.

His tone bounced between sarcasm and backhanded praise, keeping their emotions swinging from pride to guilt.

"Now that I think about it, you guys already have bounties on your heads... and you're just Tier 6 mages, me a Tier 8 Mage doesn't even have a bounty yet! Wow." Edward chimed in,

"At this point, you no longer have any excuse to enter the second Dimension, if I see you lot near the space portal again, I might just run mad from the stress of having to do damage control." Alderic continued.

The Gordon boys couldn't tell if he was threatening them or celebrating their banishment, but one thing was clear—Alderic was serious, because like their master who had a bounty, he rarely entered the second dimension and now similar reasons was being applied to them, and their own bounty even came from an overlord which seems more of an overkill when people thought of how they were still Tier 6 mages

Alderic feared that letting these kids return might trigger another disaster.

If they could summon this much trouble at Tier 6, what chaos would they unleash when next they were given a chance?

"Now, before I forget—you lot are the reason this city lost so much today," Alderic said, his expression shifting again.

"We just used a hundred mid-grade natural power stones to activate the shield. Just so you know, you'll be held responsible for that. For now, I'll pay for it myself—but that means you owe the logistics department."

Though his voice was stern, there was a glint of satisfaction in his eyes.

If there was one upside to this mess, it was that he finally had a way to pressure Alec into talking to his clan in helping the academy craft proper spirit equipment sets.

The logistics department had long suffered with outdated low-rank gear on their shelves, and since the academy lacked a high-quality forger or a student talented enough in that profession, this was his golden opportunity.

The mages from the academy often had to rely on external forgers to fulfil their forging needs when they needed a new spirit equipment request they couldn't get in the academy, it had always been a source of inconvenience for Alderic.

However, from the information Terran had provided him, it seemed the Gordons clan might have what the academy lacked.

Terran had claimed that the clan's smithy was staffed with forgers of very low skill, but both he and Alderic suspected that was a smokescreen to hide the clan's true forging master.

After all, both Alec and Brandon were known to possess top-grade Tier 5 spirit equipment sets, even Knight and Agnes—which were less prominent members of the group in the academy—had Tier 4 spirit equipment sets that didn't come from the academy.

While those sets might no longer fully match their current power levels, it still proved the Gordons had access to a highly skilled forger within their ranks.

As Old Man Alderic's excitement grew at the thought, Alec finally raised his right index finger slowly, speaking in a cautious tone.

"Please, if you don't mind me asking… what's the exchange rate for one high-rank power stone to a mid-grade power stones?"

The moment Alec asked that question, silence fell across the group, it was at that moment they all realized—they still didn't even know what had actually been stolen.

But Alec's mention of high-rank power stones made them wonder if that was what had provoked the Overlord.

Still, they couldn't understand why an Overlord would go so far over a few high-rank power stones.

At that level, such resources were common and often mined in vast quantities under an Overlord's territory, mostly used as rewards to empower subordinates.

Then Edward turned the question back toward Alec, his voice steady.

"If you don't mind me asking… what you stole from the Overlord Snow Lion—was it high-rank power stones?"

"Natural high power stones," Arthur answered quickly before Alec could.

They'd been under pressure all this time, but now that it was time to speak up, Arthur didn't mind doing some bragging—especially as he saw the shocked expressions on everyone's faces.

The moment Arthur mentioned natural power stones—and of high quality at that—everyone around sucked in a sharp breath, their minds nearly imploding from the shock, each natural power stone could be broken down into at least ten regular power stones of the same rank, usable for cultivation or various high-level activities.

The weight of that value alone was staggering.

While the crowd was still reeling from the revelation, one voice cut through the silence—unsatisfied with just knowing the type.

"How many natural power stones did you lot manage to get, by the way?" Old Man Alderic asked, his tone deceptively casual as he was trying to see how many power stones had been able to drive an the overlord mad enough to send a whole pride against the Gordons boys.

"Hmmm… should be around 550 to 600," Alec replied, scratching his head lightly.

At that moment, it felt like reality had glitched. Minds blanked. Jaws dropped.

The silence that followed was almost reverent, as though the sheer number had punched the breath out of everyone present.

Many of the veteran mages wanted to crawl into a hole and bury themselves, the Gordons boys had hauled in more wealth in one trip than most of them combined over years of dangerous expeditions. No wonder the Snow Lion King had placed a bounty on them.

Alderic didn't even try to scold them anymore, he had a number in mind and felt he was overestimating them enough but he still didn't realise he was underestimating them.

He simply turned toward Alec with a straight face.

"…Alec, we'll need to talk. Privately." Old man Alderic said as he felt the conversation could not continue in such an open place anymore, even the topic of the energy shield was discarded as he dragged all the Gordons boys.