Sword God in a World of Magic

"Oh, hey! You're still alive!" One of the Peak Ancestral Mages shouted to a Mid Ancestral Mage with a smile.

The other Ancestral Mage floated over and nodded. "Yep, and I also made quite a bit this time. I completed three trials."

The first Mage let out an impressive whistle. "Impressive," he said. "Anyway, did you get Maruda?"

The second Mage slowly shook his head. "Couldn't find him."

"Huh, he's normally one of the first ones that return. I thought that you got him," the first Mage said.

"Nope," the second Mage said again. "It would suck if he suddenly dies. I wouldn't get my payment and his wealth."

"Speaking of," he added as he looked at the gathered Mages above the surface. "I also don't see my contractor."

The first Mage shrugged. "Maybe they're still in a trial?"

The other Mage just furrowed his brows. Then, he turned to Lucin, who was looking at the ocean. "Lucin, who are we still waiting for?"

"There's one more Peak Ancestral Mage. She's choosing her rewards right now. I don't think it will take longer than a couple of minutes," Lucin answered.

When Lucin said that, several other Mages raised their eyebrows in surprise.

Wait, basically everyone was already here?

They looked at each other and counted.

Twelve Peak Ancestral Mages.

Two Late Ancestral Mages.

Two Mid Ancestral Mages.

One Early Ancestral Mage.

Three Initial Ancestral Mages.

one they were

had started with 36,

be about 30

was quite a

the first two levels in the

within expected parameters, but 80% of Early

What happened?

of the extremely rare group trials with a chance

Ancestral Mages that had been

left one

killed a lot

But who?

an Early Ancestral Mage couldn't possibly kill that many Initial

voice

three Initial Ancestral Mages had been at that level for quite a time to accumulate power, and they had

of them focused on inspecting the wildernesses and noting down locations of trials to make a lot of money. She even had several deals with other Clouds. In exchange for her safety in the Wilderness Hunt, they would

detrimental to her business, which was why everyone

Ancestral Mage was

Ancestral Mage's biggest customer, and he specialized in a wide

the other, earning a lot of stuff which he would then

find certain extremely rare materials

no sense for him to kill so many other Clouds since that

judging from the auras of the first two

left the third

a woman with light-blue hair, and they all

new Cloud that had asked the leading Bolt about the Deep Crevices

had joined just a couple of decades ago and that her powers

knew that she had an Ice Affinity, but they hadn't seen

that still

seen her fight in the Wilderness

noticed all of this, and they

thankful that they had traveled mostly together

could earn more by combining their businesses