Shang and the Sweeper only looked at the Ancestral Mage.
There had been too many plot twists in the past minutes, and they had some issues with actually coming to terms with reality.
The powerful Ancestral Mage that wanted to kill them had now asked them for a job.
"You have a Light Affinity?" the Sweeper asked.
Even though he had long white hair and looked rather heroic, he had still cloaked his fists in Darkness Mana, which meant that his main Affinity was probably Light, but he also had some mastery over Darkness.
The Ancestral Mage nodded. "Correct," he said without any worries.
The Sweeper also nodded. "Hide your aura for a second. We are in a dangerous place, and we shouldn't talk here."
The Ancestral Mage only shrugged before suddenly vanishing.
Even though he hadn't moved, Shang and the Sweeper couldn't find him anymore.
They knew that he was here, but as long as he didn't use any additional Mana, it was impossible to find him.
His ability to stay hidden was shockingly terrifying, even better than the Sweeper's ability.
However, this wasn't actually as surprising as one would think.
First of all, the Ancestral Mage used two Affinities to keep himself hidden instead of one. On top of that, he had been able to join the Twilight Dusk Family, which automatically meant that he was in the top 1% of Ancestral Mages on his level.
And he was a Late Ancestral Mage in addition to that!
He could probably even fight Peak Ancestral Mages!
Someone like that could create a terrifyingly powerful organization, and organizations like the Natural Selection Company or the Temple of Blood would want to make him join them desperately.
But in the Twilight Dusk Family, he had only been an average soldier.
In fact, judging by what the Sweeper and Shang had seen, he hadn't even been that.
He had been a mere servant to some arrogant High Mage.
Such a powerful Mage was only good enough to serve some kid belonging to the Twilight Dusk Family.
The difference in status and power was immense.
Shang and the Sweeper flew towards the west. Luckily, due to the Dawn Seedling, nearly everyone belonging to the Natural Selection Company had retreated from this territory.
This was the Natural Selection Company's most profitable region, but when some snot-nosed brat from the Twilight Dusk Family told them to leave, they would leave.
As the three of them were retreating, Shang thought about his past.
'To think that I have once been part of such a powerful organization,' he thought as the Lightning Manor appeared in his mind.
After seeing the powerful Ancestral Mage, Shang was also reminded of Relon, the Supervisor of Area 23.
If this Ancestral Mage was already so powerful, how strong was Relon, someone that was managing quite a big territory?
Shang could only take a deep breath.
'I've barely reached the upper middle of the Temple of Blood, and I can already see a humongous peak in the distance.'
'In this world, there are between 500 to 1000 Archmages that have an equivalent Battle-Strength to me, and these are probably all part of the nine Empires.'
By now, Shang knew that there were ten Mage Emperors in the world but only nine Empires.
Eight of the ten Mage Emperors had their own Empires, but the last Empire was ruled by two Emperors, making them the strongest singular organization in the world.
'So, if there are 900 Archmages on par with me theoretically, there are about 100 Archmages per organization.'
'100 Archmages with a similarly powerful Battle-Strength to me per organization,' Shang thought.
The thought was humbling.
At that moment, the word Dawn Seedling appeared in Shang's mind again.
The person that had been able to command the Ancestral Mage around like a servant.
'Is this Dawn Seedling someone on my level?'
While Shang was thinking, the Sweeper found a way through the defenses, and they all slipped past them.
After flying for some additional minutes, Shang and the Sweeper stopped.
"We're safe now," the Sweeper said, turning around.
A moment later, the Ancestral Mage reappeared.
"So," the Ancestral Mage said awkwardly.
"Yes?" the Sweeper asked after some seconds.
"About that job," he continued. "What organization do you belong to? You seem pretty strong, and you don't have this leadership aura, which means you're not in a leadership position in your organization. Your job has to be pretty good if you're willing to work for them, right?"
Shang and the Sweeper remained quiet for a bit.
The Ancestral Mage felt a bit awkward since he couldn't see through the expressions of any of the two people in front of him.
One person's face was completely hidden behind a cloak, and the other person didn't have eyes, making his face seem as lifeless as a corpse's.
"The identity of our organization is sensitive," the Sweeper said. "I can't just tell you."
The Ancestral Mage raised an eyebrow. "Okay, then, how good is the job? Does it pay well?" he asked.
The Sweeper looked towards Shang and back at the Ancestral Mage. "The job I'm currently on took about ten days, and I earned around 300 Grade Six Mana Crystals."
Immediately, the Ancestral Mage's eyes widened, and his mouth opened a bit in shock.
"That's a lot," he said after some seconds. "I'm not sure, but I think that might have even been more than what I got in the Twilight Dusk Family. Don't quote me on that, though!"
The Sweeper's aura didn't change. "The payment isn't the reason why everyone wants to join the Empires."
"I mean, yeah, sure," the Ancestral Mage said, "but they should still pay pretty well, right? Speaking of, what actually happened earlier? I quit, right?"
The Sweeper nodded. "You did, and you ranted quite a bit to someone you called Light Bringer. In truth, I'm surprised that we are still alive somehow. She just left after your rant."
The situation had a bittersweet taste to Shang and the Sweeper.
They were quite confident that the Light Bringer left them alive because she probably forgot about their existence. They were simply too unimportant to care about.
On the one hand, they were lucky to be alive, but on the other hand, it also hurt a bit that they had been disregarded and ignored.
"What's a Dawn Seedling?"
The Ancestral Mage and the Sweeper looked over to Shang.
This was the first time he had said anything in quite a while.
"I still remember that since it's public information," the Ancestral Mage said, facing Shang. "It's actually pretty simple."
"Night Soldiers are Ancestral Mages, and they are the common employees of the Twilight Dusk Family."
"Light Bringers are Mage Lords, and they are the manager and leaders of the Night Soldiers. They are also part of the Twilight Dusk Family's main army."
"And Dawn Seedlings are younger Mages that are specifically being raised by the Twilight Dusk Family to become Mage Lords. To become a Dawn Seedling, you need one of two things."
"First, have a Space, Time, or Gravity Affinity."
"Second, be able to win against an average Mage two levels above your own. Of course, I'm talking about the average Mage outside the Empires."
"That's about it," the Ancestral Mage said with a shrug.
Shang nodded. "What about Mages that can jump three levels?"
The Ancestral Mage raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure if that is even possible, and if there are actually Mages that can do that, their existence would probably be kept so secret that I would have no way of knowing if they existed or not."
Shang only nodded again and looked away.
'During the last trial, I was able to beat a powerful Mage two levels above myself, which can be seen as a jump of 2.5 levels.'
'The difference between a jump of two levels and 2.5 levels is vastly greater than a normal person would assume. There might actually be over 100,000 Archmages that can jump two levels, but there might only be 500 that can jump 2.5 levels.'
'I don't think that the Twilight Dusk Family would raise such a powerful person to just be a Mage Lord. I assume that they would try to push these 500 people to become Mage Kings in the future.'
'Obviously, most of them will fail, but those are probably the only ones that have a shot at becoming Mage Kings.'
'So, I think the Dawn Seedlings are not the ones that are on my level.'
'There must be some hidden title for these people.'
