Even a novice can become a god

The temperature is getting higher and higher, and the climate is getting drier and drier. Nowadays, it's very difficult to see large patches of woods along the road. The three hours of marching under the scorching sun every day have become a test of endurance and physical strength.

Finally, a grove of woods came into view. In fact, it was just a small grove composed of only a dozen or so sparse trees. However, in the vast desert, this was already an extremely rare sight.

The light-armored cavalry squad, serving as the vanguard of the troop, hurried over to check it out.

Actually, there was really no need for any inspection. The branches and leaves of those few trees were so sparse that it was impossible to hide anyone in them. And the high ground temperature made it impossible to ambush underground, because no one could maintain much combat effectiveness in such an environment.

In the distance, a knight on horseback could be seen riding back. After listening to the report of that vanguard knight, the troop slowly started moving again.

The carriage of the princess and the prince entered the woods under the escort of the knights.

The cavalry team on the periphery of the woods faced outward, encircling the woods closely. Among them, a guard group composed of monks and magicians formed a barrier that enveloped the entire woods. Several magicians flew to the upper part of the woods, and Joe also ordered six mercenaries to climb to the tops of the trees to keep watch.

This was the third day since they left the Kingdom of Sophie. Three days ago, they had left their own homeland and entered the territory of this foreign country.

There was a vast wasteland between the Kingdom of Sophie and the Kingdom of Caoqi. This wasteland, known as the "Fire God's Pasture", had always been the biggest point of contention between the two countries.

Since the Kingdom of Caoqi had always claimed that the "Fire God's Pasture" was its territory, it kept provoking wars between the two countries.

Regarding this wasteland that had nothing, if it weren't for being the natural barrier between the Kingdom of Sophie and the Kingdom of Caoqi, the Kingdom of Sophie would have been very likely to give it to the Kingdom of Caoqi for diplomatic interests. But no one could guarantee that the Kingdom of Caoqi would not further invade the Kingdom of Sophie after losing this barrier.

The ambition of the Kingdom of Caoqi had always been a matter of great concern to all the countries in the world.

This desert covered a vast area. It surrounded the southwestern part of the Kingdom of Caoqi all the way to its eastern part, like a huge moat protecting the Kingdom of Caoqi.

Thanks to this defense, the Kingdom of Caoqi had once enjoyed a longer period of peace than other kingdoms. But now, this moat was hindering its further expansion.

No one denied that the Kingdom of Caoqi was the strongest country in the world. Its Holy Knights were the strongest among the three major knight orders on the continent, and its Swift Knights were also regarded as one of the two major light-armored knight orders, along with the Unicorn Knights of the Kingdom of Montita. The magical corps of the Kingdom of Caoqi was invincible, which was a solid foundation for its domination of the continent.

The chief magician of the Magic Association of the Kingdom of Caoqi was the Great Magister Kobe Leo. Many people said that he didn't deserve to be called a Great Magister at all. However, few people thought that he wasn't the strongest Great Magister in the world. (Of course, Chris absolutely thought that Kobe Leo was just a third-rate magician, which, in a sense, was indeed true.)

As is well known, to obtain the title of Magister, one must be proficient in all four schools of magic. Almost all Magisters and high-ranking Archmagicians were proficient in all four schools of magic, with the exception of Chris and Kobe Leo.

Chris was proficient in the three schools of fire, water, and wind magic, but she just couldn't master earth magic (considering her personality, it was really quite incompatible with the solid and steady earth magic).

Apart from being good at a sand spell, she only knew another earth magic called "Earth Wall Building", which she developed herself for building that huge laboratory.

And Kobe Leo was even more limited than Chris. He only knew fire and wind magic. Moreover, he couldn't even do well the most basic spells of the other two schools of magic.

The reason why such a magician could be called a Great Magister was entirely because he was the only magician in the world who could use forbidden spells. That forbidden spell was called "Doomsday Catastrophe", which was the ultimate fire magic.

Ryan really wanted to see this highly renowned magician. Of course, it would be even better if he could witness that forbidden spell.

However, he was the only one who thought so. Almost everyone was praying to get out of this terrifying land as soon as possible, and the Great Magister Kobe Leo was the last person they wanted to see.

As long as they completed the next seven days' journey, they would reach Caladon, the westernmost city of the Kingdom of Caoqi. But that also meant being in the midst of the enemy, so almost everyone hoped that this journey would be as long as possible.

The only people who wanted to reach Caladon as soon as possible, apart from the two royal members with important missions, were the leader of the escort team, the captain of the First Regiment of the Royal Knights, Haomeng.

For this diplomatic mission, to ensure the safety of the two royal members, the king dispatched the most elite First Regiment of the Royal Knights, which had the strongest combat capabilities, to protect the two envoys. Haomeng served as the deputy commander of the escort team, while the commander-in-chief was Joe, Ryan's immediate superior.

Even the princess and the prince treated Joe with great respect because of his imperial uncle status (of course, it was inevitable for them to gossip behind his back). The other knights also respected all the opinions put forward by Joe. At this point, Ryan always suspected that Joe was no ordinary person.

He had once asked other knights about Joe and learned more about him from them.

Ryan was different from other mercenaries. As a mercenary, he had no status in the army. Therefore, the regular army generally looked down upon mercenaries and never treated them kindly. Let alone the proud Royal Knights.

Most of the members of the Royal Knights were noble sons and daughters. Even if they were not noble-born, they were children of celebrities from high society who had received higher education, like Jestan's elder brother. Therefore, they would simply ignore ordinary mercenaries.

But Ryan was different. He had the identity of a magician. Although knights and magicians were nominally of the same status in the Kingdom of Sophie, since magicians were quite rare, they were far more valued than knights.

Ryan was quite lucky (of course, if what he had encountered could be called luck). The magicians he knew were all high-ranking ones. Among them, the lowest-ranking one was the superior magician, Belisa. Therefore, in Ryan's view, magicians were really ordinary and common.

In fact, even the court magicians who served as personal protectors around the king were only superior magicians. Magicians like the great magician, Piert, were extremely limited in number. Even the king couldn't order them around at will, which shows how lofty the status of magicians was. So Ryan, as a magician, was naturally treated differently by the knights.

Moreover, Ryan was extremely famous. Since that palace duel, the four trial students could be regarded as "famous throughout the world". Among them, Oliver had been appointed as a squad leader of the Royal Knights and would accompany Haomeng on the diplomatic mission and serve as his deputy.

The position of a squad leader of the Royal Knights was no less important than that of Jestan's father, the deputy governor of Newnar City.

Bena served as a specialized nursemaid for the royal family. For a profession that required at least intermediate-level clergy members, her age was really too young.

Jestan, due to his outstanding diplomatic abilities, was entrusted with the duties of an envoy second only to the two princes in this diplomatic mission.

Ryan had been excluded from the envoy list because of that one blunder. However, among the four, his name was the most well-known.

However, Ryan was quite troubled by this. After all, what was most circulated outside was his biggest mistake in life.

Obviously, every knight knew Ryan and was very clear about the rumors about him. Everyone wanted to tease Ryan a bit. So Ryan became good friends with almost all the knights soon after the diplomatic mission began.

Among them, the one who got along best with him was the squire knight, Jack, who was Jestan's elder brother.

But in Ryan's eyes, they didn't resemble each other at all.

Jack was a rather simple young man. There was not a trace of the shrewd merchant quality that often showed in Jestan. If Oliver was unavailable, Ryan would ask Jack about what he wanted to know. Moreover, Jack was Ryan's partner for practicing martial skills besides Oliver.

So when Ryan became interested in Joe's identity, he went directly to Jack to ask.

In the inner defense circle close to the princess's carriage, Ryan found Jack who was about to go out on patrol.

At Ryan's suggestion, a knight was replaced by Ryan. Jack led a patrol team of ten people towards the next campsite marked on the map. They had to reach there and conduct preliminary reconnaissance before the sun set.

The group spurred their horses forward rapidly. Since they had brought spare horses, they didn't need to conserve the horses' strength. While running, Ryan couldn't talk to anyone because the sandstorm in the desert made speaking extremely difficult. Everyone could only lower their heads and ride their horses forward swiftly.

The sun gradually declined towards the west, no longer as scorching as before. However, the ground temperature didn't drop at all. Galloping under such high temperatures, the warhorses soon grew tired. So when some horses gradually fell behind the troop, Jack ordered a horse change.

Ryan dismounted. Looking at the sky, he estimated that the main force should have already set off by now.

He asked Jack, "How much farther is it to the campsite?"

Jack made a rough estimate and said, "If I'm not mistaken, we've already covered two-thirds of the distance."

"Then, the rear troop will probably have a hard time reaching there before dark," a knight beside him said.

"We'll get there quickly and then send someone back to report so that the rear can speed up," Jack said.

At Jack's command, everyone mounted their horses again.

As the sun gradually set, the wind grew stronger. When they reached the campsite, each person was covered with a thick layer of dust.

After sending a knight back to report, everyone entered the campsite.

This campsite was located on a small lake isolated in the wilderness. Ryan could sense the surging underground river from deep within the earth. This was the only difference between him and ordinary people. Due to his far superior mental power compared to normal people, although Ryan couldn't use magic normally, he could keenly sense the aggregation and movement trends of various elements.

Thanks to this lake, it became the only forest around.

Under Jack's orders, the knights led their warhorses to the lakeside to drink water. Ryan and Jack climbed up an isolated hill behind the campsite and looked down from the highest point.

The lake, shaped like a crescent moon, reflected a dazzling light under the sunlight. The trees beside the lakeshore were lush and dense. Although the sky was filled with dust, it was all blocked by several not-so-high ridges around.

Along the slope, the lush greenery gradually seeped upwards. Halfway up the slope, there were mottled grasses and shrubs everywhere. All this in the desolate wilderness was like a bright pearl embellishing a vast black cloth.

Looking around, the distant gray sky seemed to be swept by countless dusts, or like thousands of demon shadows dancing wildly in the sky.

Ryan rested his head on his arm and lay on the slope. Jack walked around the slope, looking into the distance. It was unclear whether he was keeping watch or simply enjoying the scenery.

Ryan suddenly remembered what he wanted to ask Jack.

He asked, "Jack, do you know about Joe?"

"Hmm? Joe? Why do you ask about him?" Jack asked back.

"I just wonder why all the knights respect Joe so much. It's not entirely because of his noble status, right?" Ryan said.

Since there were many knights of noble status in the Royal Knights, and some noble families were quite ancient, in order to command such an army, the Royal Knights of the Kingdom of Sophie attached great importance to the education of knights' sense of honor. Every Royal Knight took pride in his identity as a Royal Knight and never boasted about his family's glorious history casually.

Therefore, hereditary status and noble background couldn't earn the respect of Royal Knights. Ryan had always been puzzled as to why Joe was so widely recognized by the knights.

"Don't you know Joe's real name?" Jack asked again.

Ryan was just a bit intolerant of Jack's habit. Jack always liked to ask questions in return instead of answering directly. But there was no way. To get an answer from Jack, he had to follow Jack's train of thought.

Ryan had long known that Joe's original name was Grien. But for Ryan, who knew nothing about noble genealogies, this was just an abstract term.

"I know. Grien. So what?" Ryan replied.

Jack sat down beside Ryan and said, "You seem to have been paying little attention to other people's surnames."

He turned his head to look at Ryan and continued, "You probably don't even know my surname until now!"

Ryan felt very embarrassed. Because he had always lived in a small town where everyone knew each other quite well and sometimes they were like a family. So as long as they could call each other by name, surnames became somewhat unnecessary. Thus, he had developed the habit of never paying attention to others' surnames.

Seeing his embarrassed expression, Jack knew he had hit the nail on the head and simply said directly, "Joe's real name is - Grien Teskink. His ancestors were one of the founding heroes of the Kingdom of Sophie and also one of the twelve heroes in the Victory Day battle."

Jack paused here. Ryan saw the same silly expression on his face that Oliver often showed. He knew that it would take a long time for a knight to recover once he fell into this state.

Sure enough, after a long time, Jack continued, "Grien Teskink himself was also one of the three great holy knights of Sophie. However, for some unknown reason, he gave up his knighthood and became a mercenary."

After speaking, Jack stood up and walked down the hillside. Ryan saw a rather dejected figure in him.

He didn't expect Joe to be so strong; he was actually a holy knight.

Ryan stared blankly into the distance. At this moment, a cloud of dust rolled in from afar.

He suddenly stood up. That was definitely not the sandstorm that often occurred in the desert; it should be a large cavalry unit charging towards them.

Since the beginning of the journey, Ryan had been repeatedly indoctrinated with various dangers that might be encountered during the diplomatic mission and the countermeasures against these dangers.

This diplomatic mission was not as easy as a happy outing in the suburbs from the very beginning. Besides the most worrying regular troops of the Kingdom of Caoqi, there were also large and small bands of thieves lurking in the desert.

Since this arc-shaped desert covered an extremely large area, with its two ends connected to two major oceans and being the border of four countries, all those who wanted to reach the Kingdom of Caoqi had to pass through this wasteland. Therefore, many desperate men gathered here, forming hundreds of large and small bands of thieves. Some of them were roving groups without a fixed territory, but most of them had their own spheres of influence.

Judging from the direction from which the dust cloud rose, Ryan didn't think it was the rear guard that had arrived. This was proven both by time and direction. Nor was it likely to be the regular troops of the Kingdom of Caoqi, because the dust was messy and disordered, not like a well-trained cavalry regiment.

Ryan issued a warning call. With the call, Jack and several knights ran up the slope.

They looked in the direction Ryan pointed, and a tense and gloomy expression appeared on each of their faces.

"It seems to be a band of thieves," Jack said, which was exactly what Ryan thought.

"So, what do we do now?" Ryan asked, after all, he was not a full-time soldier. Half a year ago, he was just a junior clerk in his father's store, never having imagined that one day he would fight alone on the battlefield.

"It seems we can only try to notify our main force," Jack said, turning his head to order two knights to prepare their horses for a breakout. Then he said to Ryan, "You go back with them too."

"What about you?" Ryan asked.

"It's impossible for everyone to get away; someone has to hold them off," Jack said before running down the slope.

Ryan and the other knights followed him down to the bottom of the slope, where four horses were already ready.

The two knights behind mounted their horses.

Ryan looked at Jack and shook his head, "I'm not leaving; it's much better to have a magician here."

"Are you trying to wait for death? You're not a knight, and there's no need for you to participate in this battle," Jack advised.

"I don't want to die, but I won't leave my companions behind," Ryan said firmly.

Seeing that he couldn't persuade Ryan, Jack ordered the two knights to set off immediately. The two knights chose different directions from the rear gap and left one after the other. They had to take a big detour and must not let the thieves discover them.

The rest of the people each led two horses, ready to break through at any time.

Ryan used the concealment technique taught by Joe to disguise the knights. Without careful attention, no one would associate this pile of bushes with a troop of knights.

Moreover, Ryan drew a magic array on the breastplate of each knight. It was the Illusion Magic Array that he learned from Chris's magic book, which could create illusions for moving objects. Although it didn't have much power, it could confuse the enemy during combat.

Gradually, the rolling dust cloud got closer and closer. Soon, it arrived in front of the campsite. Perhaps the thieves hadn't noticed the knights in the woods. Groups of bandits were loosely walking towards the woods.

Ryan and the others led the horses and gradually retreated towards the woods in the rear. As long as they weren't discovered by the thieves, they still had a chance to escape.

When they retreated to the edge of the woods, the bandits still hadn't noticed them. Ryan secretly rejoiced. Just at this moment, a sharp whistling sound pierced through the air. The knight on the outermost side was immediately split in two, and the two warhorses beside him were also cut into two sections. Blood and internal organs flowed out simultaneously.

Ryan looked up. Two magicians were flying in the air.

The second wind blade slashed down, and everyone dived into the woods.

After the wind blade split the treetops, it scattered into dozens of small wind blades, wreaking havoc in the woods. Branches and leaves flew all over the sky. The broken treetops plunged down, pinning a warhorse to the ground.

In the woods, all the bandits became active, with figures waving weapons rushing everywhere.

The knights drew their weapons, and Ryan began to prepare the only magic he could use. Although Ryan originally didn't want to use this magic again before fully understanding it, if he didn't use it now, he might never have another chance to survive.

So, after careful consideration, Ryan decided to take a risk and try.

As he chanted the extremely long spell and made gestures, he signaled Jack to mount his horse and prepare to break through.

Fortunately for Ryan, Jack was a very smart knight. He immediately understood Ryan's intention, and all the knights mounted their horses and prepared.

At this moment, there were no more wind blades slashing down from the air. Perhaps the magicians thought it wasn't worth using magic to cut trees.

They gathered their magical power, ready to launch an effective slaughter after the prey rushed out of the woods. The fierce bandits on the ground were getting closer and closer. Some even mounted their horses, preparing to surround them. If they weren't afraid of being accidentally injured by the magicians if they got too close, they would have already charged over.

Ryan's magic was finally ready. As he finished chanting the last spell, the "Chaos Crystal Wall" flew out of his hand and enveloped all the knights.

"Charge!" With this command, Jack led the charge out of the woods.

Dozens of wind blades tore through the sky and struck the troop of knights. They split through all the obstacles in front, and a small patch of woods was almost completely leveled.

Ryan had never expected such a fierce magical attack. One or two magicians probably wouldn't have such powerful attacking capabilities. Although the magical power of the wind blades was completely absorbed by the "Chaos Crystal Wall", the intense tearing sensation descended on Ryan again.

Thanks to his sufficient mental preparation, Ryan didn't faint this time. Perhaps gradually getting used to this pain, Ryan was actually able to continue riding on horseback. Of course, Jack and another knight clamped him tightly on both sides to prevent him from falling off the horse, which was also one of the reasons he could sit steadily on the horse.

Ryan turned his head with difficulty. There were a dozen or so magicians flying in the air, and more magicians were constantly floating up from the woods.

"So many magicians?!" said the knight beside him.

"It seems that this isn't a real bandit group," Jack expressed his opinion.

Indeed, if it were a bandit gang, there couldn't possibly be so many magicians.

In any country, magicians are a rare and respected profession. Although there are magicians who do evil deeds and join bandit gangs, such people are quite rare.

Basically, the laws of each country are quite lenient towards magician crimes. Moreover, being a magician is an enviable profession. Even if they do nothing, recognized magicians receive generous allowances from the government every month. For example, Victor managed to live off this loophole.