92 Chapter 92

Rest of Aaron's journey was same as before. Nothing much happened. He explored some of the cites on his way.

He noticed a trend though. As he kept moving towards the central cities, the number of mages in each city was significantly larger than cities Aaron had initially encountered.

On the other side, most mages were either stationed or killed at the border. But this side seemed to be much more peaceful. As a result the number of mages Aaron came across were much, much larger.

Another thing he noticed was the level. The number of mages were indeed larger, but most were low leveled. He didn't have a clue as to how the average level of mages was on the other side to have a comparison.

Soon he was about to enter the territory of the central state. Central state was the main region of the continent. It held the 5 central cities and the Head quarters for the mage families as well as the mage association.

Although central cities might not be the largest human city, they were the most important to mages. Mages were also used to the life of luxury. To provide that luxury they needed the support of lots of common people as well. As a result, a fair bit of humans could be seen making the journey to and from the cities. Making the traffic on the roads significantly greater than what Aaron was used to seeing.

What made central state so vital was the location of mage stone mines. Other parts of the continent had mines as well, but they weren't as many as in numbers.

The number of mines in central state alone surpassed all other mines across the continent. Also the overall quality of mage stones mined here was much higher than the other parts.

This caused most mages to develop cities nearby these mines. This was what gave rise to the 5 central cities. Each of the city oversaw mines near them and each represented the five areas with the highest concentration of such mines.

This was another reason why the number of common people were high in numbers as well. They were the people who did the actual mining. No mage would be ready to work in a mine with the social position they held.

The main produce of these five cities as a result were related to mage stones. The fulfilled the general requirement of mage stones for the mages across the continent. Both as a currency and something the mages required. Also due to the high availability of mage stones of higher quality, artifact making was lucrative business here.

Each faction had their own expertise. Some were proficient in making floating vehicles, while some were more proficient in making magical tools. Some made one use offensive artifacts while some made the lighting apparatus.

It wasn't that other factions couldn't produce what one faction did. Everyone had different class of mages. So most products weren't exclusive. It was just that they were more proficient in making some artifacts than the other factions.

Only something like the Jhonson family's mage system was an exclusive product. Each faction had some closely guarded products which was the one of the main point of struggle between them. It also somehow balanced their powers with each faction keeping the other in check.

Aaron also saw a change in scenery. Most of his journey was filled with greenery. Forests, farmlands and grasslands were the major components of his travel. But as he continued towards the central state the greeny gave way to a rising plateau made of hard stones and rocks.

The vegetation was sparse and the air was dry. The temperature also seemed to increase as he journeyed further.

Another thing he noticed was the presence of guards on the roads. They were there to keep the traffic on the road and not stray towards the mage stone mines.

Mage stones was a valuable commodity. Whovever owned a mine protected it with all they had.

This also signalled that Aaron was nearing the end of his journey. A journey which took him nearly 5 months. He could have made it earlier if he pushed thoroughly like he did at the starting, but having slowed down gave him a lot of much needed experience.

He came across the culture spread across the continent and was introduced to common traditions and cuisines. This would help him a lot to pose a normal mage who grew up on the continent.

Another thing he came across in his journey were other people who were trying to pursue science. It might have been because of the availability of books because of them being nearer to the central cities. But no one Aaron found was close to Devito. He still made them offers to come find him at Tulip city. If possible Aaron would like to have a whole team of people working under him. It would increase his chance of success.

The last gate Aaron used took him to Tulip city. What awaited him there, Aaron would soon find out.