Chapter 020: Spatial Mage

“The Dodge family is the family to which my cousin Karu belongs,” said Basha with a serious expression.
By this point, no matter how foolish Basha was, he could guess what Du Fan meant—namely, that Karu was behind the attempt to assassinate him!
“The Dodge family is the leading family of the Dodge tribe, which has nearly seven hundred thousand members,” Basha said, feeling his heart sink with each word.
At this point, Basha’s heart was in turmoil, filled with an indescribable mix of emotions.
At that moment, he recalled various past events.
Why did Karu tell him the location of the Golden Dragon? After all, that dragon was beyond his ability to handle at the time.
Why, when he tried to gather his people, no one showed up at first, but when they did, it was all Karu’s men.
Why wouldn’t Karu enter the Divine Ruins with him? And why didn’t he join them after entering?
Also, why, when he hired someone to attack him, his cousin Karu wasn’t even seen? Since returning from the Divine Ruins, he hadn’t seen Karu at all!
“Third brother, I think I understand now,” Basha said abruptly, lifting his head with determination.
“I think I understand too,” Du Fan said with a smile, and Naixiu smiled beside him.
The mages, on the other hand, continued to savor the sweet taste of goat milk.
“Since you all understand now, then you should know what to do next, right?” Elder Huhuerhan said with a smile, squinting his eyes.
“Thank you, Elder Huhuerhan,” Basha said sincerely. “I think I know quite clearly what to do next.”
“Hehe, Lord Basha of Basha City, there’s no need to thank this old man. After all, you are the only son of the Dwarf King. You must not bring shame to His Majesty’s reputation. Alas, although His Majesty’s rule isn’t favorable to some large tribes, most dwarfs still live quite well,” Elder Huhuerhan said emotionally.

With a slight movement of his wrist, an exquisitely carved jade plaque suddenly appeared in Elder Han’s hands. He handed the jade plaque to Basha, saying, “Lord Basha, this old man has lived for over seven thousand years. I can’t claim to be anything special over the years, but I think some tribal leader families still show me some respect. This jade plaque is my token of trust; I believe it will be useful to you in the future.” Then Elder Han spoke.

After thinking for a moment, Elder Han added, “You all seem in a hurry. Where are you heading? If possible, this old man would like to give you a ride.”

“We’re heading to the base of the Black Panther Knights,” Basha replied. “There, there’s the reserve force of the Black Panther Knights, along with two thousand elite archers from the elf race.”

“The base of the Black Panther Knights is about two days’ walk from here. This old man hasn’t used those things in thousands of years. I’m not sure if they can transport you there,” Elder Han said, squinting his eyes.

“Are you joking, Elder? Do you have a teleportation array here?” Du Fan guessed as soon as he heard Elder Han’s words.

“Ah, teleportation arrays again… But there’s no teleportation array that can take you to the Black Panther Knights’ base. It’s been over two thousand years since I last used them. I’m not sure if anything might go wrong,” Elder Han said, trembling slightly.

Without a teleportation array, what could be used for transportation? Du Fan was puzzled. But hearing Elder Han’s words, he was shocked—could it be that this old trickster intended to teleport them himself? If so, Elder Han’s identity became even more mysterious!

“I forgot to tell you. Thousands of years ago, this old man was also a magician, specializing in space magic. Ah, but I haven’t used those spells in two thousand years. I’m not sure if I can still cast them now,” Elder Han said.

A space magician! Those words of Elder Han shocked Du Fan greatly! After all, Space Tear Slash was essentially a form of space magic.

Space magic was even regarded as a divine domain, beyond the reach of ordinary magicians.

To encounter an old, toothless man who claims to be a space magician while walking on the road is as surprising as suddenly seeing a large piece of gold fall from the sky.

Seeing Du Fan’s surprised expression, Elder Hu Er Han suddenly added, “Actually, any magician who reaches the threshold of their domain can then start practicing space magic. It just requires starting over. As for me, I’ve had so much time and was bored, so I chose to practice space magic. I suppose among humans, lifespans are relatively short, so you probably wouldn’t do such a foolish thing as I did.” Hearing this, Du Fan was speechless. No wonder no space magician had been seen on the continent until now. It turned out that to practice space magic, one needed to first reach a high level in other magic before starting over. It seemed what Elder Hu Er Han said was true—having lived for over seven thousand years, he must have been extremely bored and chose to start practicing space magic again after reaching that level. “Elder Hu Er Han’s determination is truly admirable,” Du Fan said respectfully. “What determination? It’s simply because I’ve lived too long and have nothing to do. Also, I thought the chances of becoming a god were zero, so I did such a silly thing,” Elder Hu Er Han suddenly laughed. “Cannes Peak!” Basha suddenly pointed at a mountain in the distance. “Cannes Peak? How far is the Black Panther Knight Order?” Du Fan asked. “It’s right at the foot of Cannes Peak!” Basha replied excitedly. This group consisted of Du Fan, Naixiu, Basha, and others. Under Elder Hu Er Han’s space magic, they were instantly transported to a place where Cannes Peak could be seen from afar. The mountain seemed right in front of them, but it took the group two hours to reach its foot. “Second brother, where’s the base of the Black Panther Knight Order?” Du Fan asked as soon as they reached the foot of the mountain. “At the foot of the mountain on the other side,” Basha said. After walking to the other side, they spent another two hours. By the time they reached the Black Panther Knight Order’s base, it was exactly noon time for lunch. Their first impression of the base was that it resembled a huge slaughterhouse, with cows and sheep being cut into pieces and taken away by people. “Second brother, is this your Black Panther Knight Order base? It feels like we’ve come to a slaughterhouse!” Du Fan said.

“This is it. Look at those black panthers; there can’t be so many of them elsewhere. Also, this is exactly the time when we black panthers feed. Each adult black panther needs to eat twenty pounds of meat at noon. So, third brother, what you’re seeing now is what a slaughterhouse looks like,” explained Basha.

As Basha spoke, pieces of meat were continuously thrown to the fierce black panthers, which devoured them eagerly, finishing the meat in no time.

“Every time we feed the black panthers, we only give them enough to be 80% full. This way, first, they won’t get too fat, and second, there won’t be any waste of meat. So, third brother, remember this when you feed black panthers in the future,” said Basha as he walked deeper into the base of the Black Panther Knights, giving instructions to Du Fan.

Although they were just a reserve force, Du Fan noticed that these adult black panthers had a very close relationship with the dwarves. Many of the black panthers, after eating, relied on the dwarves to part their fur and remove lice from it.

“These reserve members have lived with their black panther companions since they were very young. As a result, by the time the black panthers grow up, they’ve already formed a very close bond with them. This early habit of living with black panthers is extremely important in training Black Panther Knights,” Basha continued to explain the training methods for Black Panther Knights.

“How long does it take for a black panther to reach adulthood?” Du Fan asked.

“Black panthers are only level three magical beasts. So, generally, a black panther that’s fifty years old can already be used as a mount,” Basha replied.

It seems that the Black Panther Knights can only consist of dwarven knights. If an ordinary person had to wait fifty years for their black panther to mature before riding it, they’d likely have gray hair by then, Du Fan thought. Looking at the black panthers again, he had a feeling that even humans could ride them. Although black panthers were larger than ordinary leopards, they still seemed a bit too small for a person to ride. Only someone as tall as a dwarf would fit properly. He wondered how the dwarf king had figured out this connection.

It was clear that Basha held absolute authority in the Black Panther Knights. Every Black Panther Knight he met would greet him with great respect!

The Black Panther Knights are a force that is 100% loyal to the Dwarf King! They are also 100% loyal to the King’s sons!
In the hall of the Black Panther Knights, around a huge table sat Basha, Du Fan, Naixiu, three magicians, and five officers of the Black Panther Knights.
Although Moses set out earlier than Du Fan and the others, the squad of Black Panther Knights he led, along with 2,000 elf archers, had not yet arrived.
From the night Moses set out until Du Fan and Basha arrived at the Black Panther Knights’ headquarters, only one and a half days plus one night had passed. Given the usual three-day journey time, Moses should have covered most of the distance.
Du Fan had also sent magical messages during that time, but either due to the long distance or the extremely complex terrain in the Twilight Mountains, those messages were not delivered.
“Lord Basha, based on what you’ve said, our entire Black Panther Knights order will immediately enter Level 1 alert status from this moment onward. If this matter is indeed related to the Dodge family, we will not spare them!” said a senior officer of the Black Panther Knights.
This officer was actually the commander of the reserve force of the Black Panther Knights.
Though called a commander, the total strength of this reserve force already exceeded 13,000 men!
That was more than the total number of members in the regular Black Panther Knights order!
However, to ensure that the commander of the main force was the supreme leader of the entire order, the leader of the reserve force could only hold the position of commander, second only to the main commander.
Book 38: War of the Alien Races