The Golem Mage

811: 811 811: 811 It had been over two days since the Blood Moon Battle, though Estonia City had returned to a semblance of peace, but a heavy silence lingered for those who were still mourning and for those still infected by the zombie virus.

Many of the infected hadn’t received the Gordons’ healing pills on that day, and now they stood at the edge of their limit, their only fate if untreated soon would be death by beheading.

But before that grim sentence could be carried out, enforcers from the Gordons clan moved through the city as envoys, distributing healing pills according to each mage’s realm enough to last them for the next 9 days.

They made it clear the debt would be forgiven entirely, as long as the recipients’ clans attended the upcoming Gordons clan auction.

For the smaller clans, many of whom had been swayed by long-standing rumours about the Gordons, found this unexpected generosity from the Gordons as a shock, and it didn’t take long before they began comparing the Gordons’ benevolence to the harsh stance of the city hall, which continued pushing for the immediate execution of the infected.

Each act of goodwill from the Gordons only served to mount pressure on the City Lord, who found himself dragged into the Gordons’ orbit no matter how hard he tried to resist, and with every passing day, his resentment grew.

Meanwhile, the one behind all this, the mastermind responsible, had gone into closed-door cultivation.

Immediately after returning from the battlefield, the elders of the Gordons clan had all mysteriously vanished, leaving Alec to handle the aftermath alone.

They had slipped away under flimsy excuses, not wanting to be around when Alec began distributing the promised rewards, watching him shoulder responsibilities that should’ve been theirs would only bring them shame but that wasn’t the only reason.

In truth, they had grown far too comfortable leaving all these jobs they dreaded to Alec.

Fortunately for Alec, he had help Agnes took charge of organizing the reward process, forming a line of the surviving mages with the Tier 1s going first.

Arthur made his rounds, asking each person how many enemies they had slain and recording the answers on the scroll Alec had prepared.

And just like that, they began reporting their numbers, those lucky enough to have slain enemies above their realm were especially proud, bragging openly, though it didn’t matter if they’d landed the final blow or fought as part of a group, as long as they had contributed, Alec had made it clear their names were to be included in a separate scroll.

For every two zombies of the same realm defeated, they were awarded one cultivation pill of the corresponding tier.

If they had helped battle a zombie a realm higher than theirs, they received a pill matching that higher tier, and those who delivered the killing blow were given two pills of that level, also the one with the highest kill in each realm received an additional ten cultivation pills corresponding to their realm.

This system applied from Tier 1 all the way to Tier 6, and Alec personally oversaw the distribution, ensuring every deserving mage was rewarded.

When the process was complete, he instructed them all to return home and enter closed-door cultivation.

As the rewards settled in their hands, the atmosphere in the Inner court turned festive.

The Gordons’ inner courtyard was the only place large enough to accommodate all of them along with their waiting families which buzzed with joy.

Everyone was reunited with mothers, wives, children, or siblings, proudly sharing stories of their contributions in the war and how the young master had honoured them by awarding cultivation pills for their efforts.

Alec stood quietly, watching each person leave the courtyard.

For once, he allowed himself a moment of pride.

He hadn’t gone easy on them, he had trained them relentlessly to harden their minds and prepare them for the brutality of war, but even so, the difference in their auras now compared to two weeks ago was stark.

Each and every one of them exuded a subtle, sharpened killing intent the kind that only real battle veterans could produce.

Most people would simply find their presence intimidating and find it hard to stare at them for long, but Alec, who had unconsciously wielded killing intent many times, could see it for what it was and why they were so intimidating, a faint traces of dark red fog was clinging to their bodies, the lingering shadow of killing intent.

And this intent was hidden from the naked eye, only when Alec focused deeply could he truly see how much their killing aura had grown.

They were nothing like the inexperienced group of mages he’d been handed just weeks ago on the back mountain of the Gordons clan.

No, now they were veterans battle-tested mages who would pave the way for the next generation of the Gordons’ battle mage division.

“It’s true what they say… a thousand rounds of training can’t compare to one true life-or-death battle,” Alec murmured as he continued using the system to monitor their growth which seems to have been influenced by him.

This was the real reason he had handed out the pills, each one of them had fought under his command in an intense war, and the number of kills they’d accumulated made their progress undeniable since the system regarded them under Alec and helped them accumulate experience.

Though the system had delayed their breakthroughs during the heat of battle, but that suppression wouldn’t last forever.

Now that the conflict was over, it would soon lift the restrictions, allowing their true growth to manifest.

And this was what Alec wanted to avoid, while it was normal for mages to advance slightly or even break through to a higher realm after a war, it would raise suspicion if nearly ninety percent of those who fought under him suddenly improved all at once.

Especially since he hadn’t led just one Tier of mages this time but he had commanded every Tier from 1 to 6, that kind of widespread improvement would draw attention, and eyes would inevitably turn toward the Gordons clan, questioning the source of their rapid advancement.

That’s why the pill distribution wasn’t just a reward, it was a strategic misdirection.

So when people came to investigate the sudden progress of the Gordons mages after their seclusion, the pills would be the obvious explanation, shielding the truth behind Alec’s real methods.

Their first thoughts wouldn’t be to question the irregularities behind the simultaneous breakthroughs within the clan.

No, they would naturally assume it was the result of the mages having fought a brutal, high-stakes battle, followed by being given cultivation pills to aid their recovery and advancement, that narrative was much easier to believe and exactly what Alec intended.

After setting all of this in motion, Alec entered closed-door cultivation that very night, making himself virtually inaccessible even to his master, Terran Dutch, who had finally decided it was time to visit Alec and his other disciples the next day.

Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t meet any of them, as on Alec’s advice, they too had all gone into seclusion.

Once Terran explained who he was and presented his teacher’s badge, the Gordons verified his identity and provided him a guest quarter where he could wait for his disciples to emerge from their cultivation, he was really treated with respect as the Patriarch thought he was the main reason Alec became more dazzling, even going far as to share some of his favourite wines with him, as Terran bonded with most of the Gordons elders during that drinking session.

In truth, it felt like the entire clan had disappeared into seclusion freeing the elders from their usual activities.

Few were seen walking the grounds after receiving their rewards from Alec, and when it became clear that this massive cultivation wave had been Alec’s directive, the Patriarch made the decision to once again seal off the clan from the outside world.

Causing those watching the Gordons for signs of movement utterly baffled, unsure about what was happening behind those tightly closed gates.