Close Combat Mage Chapter 354

Merry Christmas! (For real this time xD)

Translated by: Taffy
Edited by: Frosty

Chapter 354 – Relay Station Regulations Pt. 1

Suo Jia let out a long sigh after reading the introduction to the shrine and the entire Greater Trade Routes, then continued to look through the book. Now…this extremely thick book only had one page left. Most of the beginning was all introducing things, without actually containing any information about the so-called Psychic Technique!

Upon flipping to the final page, finally…an usual magic array, as well as some additional notes, appeared before him. A quick glance was enough for Suo Jia to confirm that this thing really was an internal system magic!

This Psychic Technique actually used a special method that allowed the user and the receiver of the magic to mentally connect with each other and telepathically communicate. This didn’t require words or body language to be used.

After looking at it more closely a few times, once Suo Jia had finally confirmed that there were no errors, he let down the Diamond Dragon in his arms, so that it was sitting opposite him, and closed his eyes, activating the magic using the method described in the records.

Following activation, a pale blue, eye-shaped array appeared on top of Suo Jia’s forehead. The next moment…Suo Jia suddenly opened his eyes, and a psychic shockwave surged outwards, swiftly rushing towards the Diamond Dragon.

An indescribable feeling arose in Suo Jia’s mind. Without a single word or movement, Suo Jia was able to understand what the Diamond Dragon opposite him was thinking. In addition, the Diamond Dragon could also read Suo Jia’s thoughts. In that moment, both of them were completely stunned by this amazing feeling!

That wasn’t all. Suo Jia was shocked to discover that the most mystical part was not only did he know what the Diamond Dragon was thinking, he could even sense its body condition, its mood fluctuations, and could even see himself through the Diamond Dragon’s eyes, as well as feel the surrounding air currents through the Diamond Dragon’s skin!

At the moment, Suo Jia was no longer a human. He felt like both the Diamond Dragon and himself, as if their souls had connected and become one. Their minds thought and observed simultaneously. This kind of feeling was truly wondrous!

Finally, Suo Jia severed the psychic connection, and stared at the dazed Diamond Dragon across from him. Suo Jia couldn’t help but feel reluctant about ending it; this feeling was really too fantastic. However…in this dangerous situation, Suo Jia couldn’t possibly take any risks.

After getting a grasp of the Psychic Technique, Suo Jia stowed away the book. He had a strong urge to take out the trident to properly study it and get a better look at the so-called Divine Artifact to figure out exactly what godly abilities it had. Unfortunately…Suo Jia couldn’t guarantee that the Giant Icebear King wouldn’t sense it, or what its resulting reaction would be.

For lack of a better option, Suo Jia could only quietly wait. Now that he possessed the Psychic Technique, Suo Jia believed that, by tomorrow morning, he’d be able to properly communicate with the Giant Icebear King.

Time quickly flew by. In the blink of an eye, it was already the next morning. Finally…with a rumble, the Giant Icebear King lazily opened its eyes, turning to look over in Suo Jia’s direction, and drool instantly began to flow down from its mouth; this guy had probably been dreaming of eating honey!

Suo Jia faced the Giant Icebear King and calmed himself as he closed his eyes. With a flash of pale blue light, the blue eye once again appeared on Suo Jia’s forehead, and Suo Jia’s thoughts were finally able to connect with the Giant Icebear King’s.

“Hmm?” Suo Jia shot a doubtful look at the Giant Icebear King opposite him, and was shocked to discover that he could only touch the Giant Icebear King’s thoughts and read its mind. Suo Jia was completely unable to sense the Giant Icebear King’s bodily condition.

After contemplating for a while, Suo Jia realised that this Psychic Technique also depended on the partner. Suo Jia and the Diamond Dragon had reached such an advanced stage of communication because they mutually trusted each other completely and unconditionally. Otherwise, they couldn’t have reached such a powerful state.

However, the Giant Icebear King was different. From beginning to end, it maintained its intent to be Suo Jia’s enemy, keeping its mental guard up. Thus, although Suo Jia wanted to sense other aspects of the Giant Icebear King’s condition, he’d definitely be blocked, therefore success was impossible.

Fortunately, Suo Jia didn’t really want to understand too much either. As long as they could communicate, everything was okay. Suo Jia used the psychic ability to say to the Giant Icebear King, “Old friend, I can give you honey, lots of it, but…I don’t have much left. Can you bring me out of the valley? Don’t worry, I’ll definitely keep bringing you honey periodically. I can guarantee that you’ll have sweet honey to eat every day!”

After reading Suo Jia’s thoughts, the Giant Icebear King glanced at Suo Jia, then nodded. The concept of lying didn’t exist to a wild beast, just like how an animal’s actions while hunting didn’t contain any false movements. Thus, it didn’t even understand what lying was.

Since Suo Jia was willing to hand over honey, and even go as far as to promise to provide honey every day for it to eat, it had no reason to refuse to let Suo Jia go. The Giant Icebear King also knew that the honey wasn’t produced by Suo Jia. If it wanted to eat honey forever, it would have to keep Suo Jia alive.

Suo Jia couldn’t help but feel excited by the Giant Icebear King’s compliance, and began to pull out barrel after barrel of honey and pile them together in front of him. Suo Jia then walked up to the Giant Icebear King, and telepathically said, “Alright, this is all the honey on me. If you eat one a day, it’ll last you two to three years. If you still want to eat more, I have to go out and ship some over. That’s why…you should bring me out now. Otherwise, your companions will eat me as their snack, and you won’t have anymore honey to eat.”

The Giant Icebear King automatically nodded, and, through the connection, told Suo Jia to jump onto its back so that it could bring him out.

Suo Jia hadn’t imagined that the Giant Icebear King would be so agreeable. Excited, Suo Jia jumped onto the Giant Icebear King’s back with the Diamond Dragon in his arms, and they rushed out of the valley. In reality, magical beasts were all like this; as long as they understood one’s intents, they were innocent and cute.

From his seat on the Giant Icebear King’s back, Suo Jia looked around at the passing scenery in somewhat high spirits. Before they’d traveled very far, Suo Jia’s eyes suddenly lit up in glee as he spotted the fruit on the surrounding trees!

“Wait! Please wait!” With an abrupt shout, Suo Jia pressed down slightly with his feet, and leapt onto one of the large trees. Under closer examination, there were smaller plants growing on the tree trunk. Each of the plants had a snow lotus-like flower growing on top, with a brilliantly sparkling fruit in the middle!

That’s right, without a mistake, these were Freezing fruits. With Spirit Eye, Suo Jia observed his surroundings. That wasn’t the most exciting part, though. Suo Jia was elated to discover that there were mutated Freezing fruits, as well as Control fruits, in large numbers as well! All ranks from 1 to 10 were present!

Suo Jia obviously wasn’t willing to leave empty-handed. His hand quickly pulled out the Ten Thousand Year Ice Box, and filled half of it with Freezing fruits, and half with Control fruits, before stopping and jumping back onto the Giant Icebear King’s back to continue rushing out of the valley.

The Giant Icebear King didn’t pay any mind to Suo Jia’s actions; these were just wild plants that weren’t even uncommon. As long as the shrine wasn’t touched, everything was fine.

Suo Jia elatedly said to the Diamond Dragon, “Little pet, remember this place. If we run out of fruits in the future, we’ll come here to get some. Hehe…either way, you can fly. Like this, we never have to be afraid of running out!”

The Diamond Dragon’s eyes closed happily, and it nodded. Although its IQ wasn’t very high, it understood the importance of the Freezing fruit. A wild beast’s intuition was enough to sense that fact.

Throughout the journey, Suo Jia would constantly sigh in wonder at the Freezing fruits and Control fruits that could be seen throughout Icebound Valley. The reason why there were so many fruits here was simple, really: this place was too dangerous for people to come and pick them. In contrast, 400,000 people would pass through the area outside Icebound Valley every day, to the point where discovering a single one was already quite difficult.

Upon returning to Icebound City, Suo Jia’s group spent three days rushing back to Prairie Fire City. After filling all of their interspatial rings with Blazing Liquor, they finally began to rush towards the first checkpoint.

This checkpoint wasn’t a city wall or anything. Actually, if one wanted to reach the second checkpoint of the Greater Trade Routes, they had to take a boat out. The second checkpoint was on an island around a hundred kilometers away from the coast.

After a few days of swift traveling, Suo Jia’s group finally reached the second relay station of the Greater Trade Routes, Haise City. Upon entering the city, Suo Jia’s party felt a ton of malicious gazes aimed at them. When they examined their surroundings more closely, they realized that most of the people in Haise City were adventurers, and there were at least 1000 of them in total.

Chapter end