Versatile Mage

—

The wind in autumn was soothing. The cars driving past occasionally would sweep the fallen leaves scattered on the ground into the air.

“Son of a b**ch, were you trying to show off your sports car!?” a young man yelled furiously from the side of the road.

Beside the young man was a man wearing sloppy clothes. He had pierced ears and his hair looked stylish. He also had a faint tattoo on his face. He must have great courage to have a tattoo on his face.

However, the courageous man did not dare show his temper. He stood with his head lowered. He did not dare to snap back at the seemingly ordinary young man who was scolding him.

As a matter of fact, no one would dare to say a word when an enormous white wolf more than ten feet tall was standing beside them!

“Bud…buddy, can you please put your wolf away? It’s disrupting traffic and scaring the people, too. I know that you have the license of a Hunter Master, but you have gathered a huge crowd…” A few traffic policemen tried to resolve the conflict, but they too did not dare speak too loudly.

“That’s what he gets for mocking me!” Mo Fan spat.

Mo Fan was planning to visit the Hunter Union. Since the place was not too far away, he decided to go for a run for a little exercise. To his surprise, the man with piercings went full torque and drove past Mo Fan while raising his middle finger!

Mo Fan was immediately enraged. He summoned the Flying Creek Snow Wolf right away and intercepted the man’s car in only a few seconds.

Were the people of his country blind? He had won the World College Tournament for the country, yet not only did they fail to recognize their hero? The man even gave him a middle-finger while driving past him, forcing him to ruin his image!

“Piss off, the next time I see you, I will tear your car apart!” Mo Fan snapped at the man.

“Yes, yes, I won’t do it again!” The man was utterly relieved. He immediately pressed hard on the pedal to leave the place as soon as possible.

“You’re still speeding? Don’t you know how to drive slower!?”

“Ok, ok!” The man immediately stepped on the brakes and obediently drove the sport car away like it was an electric scooter. The car slowly faded into the distance.

The traffic policemen were relieved. Didn’t they always say Advanced Mages would usually behave themselves? They would not bother being too fussy with normal folks. Why did they stumble into an Advanced Mage that seemed to enjoy stirring up trouble? The whole street was screaming after seeing his imperious frosty wolf!.

Besides, there was no ride that would catch more attention than the man’s Summoned Beast.

“Speaking of which, your wolf looks quite familiar. He looks like the wolf that the winner of the World College Tournament Mo Fan Summoned,” one of the policemen noticed.

Mo Fan smiled. Finally, someone that watched TV! He had such a brilliant performance in the World College Tournament. It did not make sense that no one would recognize him when he was walking on the street!

“It really is, friend; are you Mo Fan’s fan, too? You even dyed your wolf the same color as his Flying Creek Snow Wolf!” another policeman spoke up.

“…” Mo Fan had the urge to feed the two policemen to his wolf. Did he really look so different on screen and in real life!?

He had no one to blame but himself for rejecting all the personal interviews. It was quite difficult to see a participant’s face clearly on the screen during the matches of the World College Tournament.

—

—

Mo Fan proceeded on his way to the Hunter Union. The man that Mo Fan had taught a lesson just a few moments ago had left his car on the side of the road. He quickly went into a dimly-lit shop.

He went to a corner and smiled as he said to a skinny man with a long chin hiding in the shadows, “I’ve tested him. He’s just a hot-headed fool, he can’t endure the slightest provocation.”

“Humph, that’s not hot-headed, that’s something wrong with his brain. Otherwise, he would not dare to do such thing to my brother!” the man with a long chin said.

“Shall we proceed with the plan?” the man with piercings asked.

“Go ahead,” the man with a long chin said.

As soon as he finished the sentence, a man wearing half a mask slowly walked out from the shadows. His eyes were flickering with hatred, as if it had set his eyes aflame.

“Just do as you please, we’ll handle the rest!” the man with a long chin said to the masked man.

“I swear I’m going to make him pay!”

—

Mo Fan went to the area reserved for Hunter Masters as soon as he reached the Hunter Union.

Hunter Masters were close to the apex of the hierarchical pyramid of the Hunter Union. Most Hunter Masters were Advanced Mages and above. The place was less crowded than the hall where normal Hunters did business. Every Hunter Master would be accompanied by a Hunter Mistress in heels and black stockings. The Hunter Mistress would serve the Hunter Master a glass of wine.

Mo Fan’s rank was not low, either. The Hunter Master was classified into levels by the number of stars they had. Those with seven stars could register to be a Senior Hunter. However, they must have made great contributions or completed extremely difficult quests to become a Senior Hunter…

Exploring the Taklamakan Desert was considered a difficult quest by the Hunter Masters. Lingling had made it clear that they would have to join a party on their expedition to the Taklamakan Desert, as the few of them were not enough to take on its challenges. Mo Fan had no choice but to pay a visit to the Hunter Union and see if there were any teams planning to go on an expedition to the Taklamakan Desert.

“I would like some information about the teams that are heading for the Taklamakan Desert. Give me their information, and most importantly, their contacts,” Mo Fan said.

“Sure, mister… do you need anything else?” the Hunter Mistress asked with a smile.

“Oh, give me another cup of this, it’s quite nice,” Mo Fan pointed at the wine that he had already finished.

The Hunter Mistress was startled. She nodded and brought a new glass to the bar.

“Xiao Tu, what do you think? It’s rare to see such a young Hunter Master, he’s pretty cute too,” the beautiful bartender said.

“He’s just a nobody,” the Hunter Mistress sneered.

—

Mo Fan carefully went through the list and saw a familiar Hunter Group on it.

“Golden Battle Hunters… aren’t they the Hunter Group that was almost wiped out on Chongming Island against the Black Vatican? They are planning an expedition to the Taklamakan Desert too?” Mo Fan raised his brows.

The Taklamakan Desert was a ‘hell difficulty’ dungeon for most Hunters. Not many parties had managed to complete it successfully. It was necessary to gather a whole group of Hunters to go on an expedition!

Clans, associations, institutes, Hunter Groups, and many other organizations had to establish their reputations to attract new Mages to join them in order for them to grow stronger and expand their influence.

Many people were aware of the existence of Hunter Groups. They were groups of Mages that would do things that normal people did not dare to do. It was likely that the Golden Battle Hunters were planning to be one of the first to sample the crab. If they managed to set their flag in the infamous Taklamakan Desert, their reputation would grow significantly.

Most importantly, the places that no people dared to go were most likely full of resources, too! They would make a fortune if they happened to find a magic ore vein, an Elemental Sacred Land, an energy source, or an oasis full of incredibly useful herbs. They could use the money to retire, buy more resources, or bid for auctioned magic equipment that they had long yearned for. Either way, every Mage was in need of money!

“Their leader Ge Ming is leading the party. It seems like they are actually serious about the expedition!” Mo Fan murmured.

The leader of the Golden Battle Hunters, Ge Ming, was a Super Mage. Mo Fan would feel a lot more at ease with such a strong Mage leading the party.

Most of the demon beast territories in China had been explored by Hunters to a certain degree, including the Qinling Mountains, Kunlun Mountain Range, Tianshan Mountain, Dongting Lake, and the Dunhuang region. Many people had learned the distribution of the demon creatures, at the price of many lives. As such, even though it was extremely dangerous to visit those places, they could still explore as long as they avoided the nests of the demon creatures.

However, the terrain of the Taklamakan Desert kept changing. The authorities of the Hunter Union had deemed all information about the distribution of the demon creatures in the Taklamakan Desert to be unreliable for the last three years, as most groups that strictly stuck to the ‘safe routes’ had failed to return. As such, it was necessary to come up with the latest distribution of the demon creatures in the Taklamakan Desert, and clear a safe path across the dangerous desert to prevent Hunters from barging in like headless flies and dying horrible deaths!

Current maps with the distribution of demon creatures were extremely important to Hunters. Even the strongest Hunter would die if they accidentally stumbled into the nest or territory of a Ruler-level creature!

The Golden Battle Hunters were a courageous bunch, daring enough to take on the Black Vatican, and now go on an expedition into a wasteland full of unknowns. They were basically walking on the fangs of demon creatures…

“Lingling, do you have the Golden Battle Hunters’ leader’s contact number?” Mo Fan asked.

“Yeah, he did come over a few times to look for you, saying that he wants to thank you in person, but you were never here,” Lingling said.

“They are going on an expedition to the Taklamakan Desert, let’s go with them!”

“Sure, but we have to make sure if their routes are safe. If they chose the wrong path, we are all going to die,” Lingling advised him.

“They must be prepared since they have the guts to go and are making the information public. Going with them is better than wandering aimlessly!” Mo Fan declared.

The Taklamakan Desert was mostly a red zone, with purple dots scattered across the map.

A group of Advanced Mages could still go on an adventure in a red zone, but if they accidentally stepped into the purple zones, they would have zero chance of surviving!