Unfortunately for the Stormbringer Sage, the Noble Mage didn't appreciate his kindness and listened to him.

The Noble Mage continues to move, intending to enter the Eclipsion Realm, causing the Sage to sigh.

With a shake of his head, the Sage flicked his fingers, and he sent a single bolt of lightning. Compared to Claude's blood-red lightning, the Sage's lightning was more 'normal'.

It was electric blue in color, and it looked unassuming. It was not giving off any powerful or strong aura as one would expect from a Sage's attack.

Maybe this was actually a sign of being a very powerful mage. Any random attack you unleash could possess power that no one can resist, yet the target wouldn't even know how powerful the attack was.

Considering the earlier warning, the Noble Mage Kirl already expected that the old man might attack him.

As such, he was not caught off guard. He just didn't expect that he would be looked down upon by the old man who used an attack with only his own power as the source.

The power that Noble Mages come from their own and their surroundings, but most of it comes from manipulating the free mana around them.

Since the two of them were currently in the sea of void, the mana here is extremely chaotic, and even Noble Mages cannot control the mana from the void.

However, with how smart and innovative mages were and considering that most battles at the 4th rank happened in the void, they already made a device to aid them.

Most realms, after all, can only support up to the third rank. Realms that can give birth to Nobles, Royals, and Sages are far rarer in comparison.

As such, most realms cannot endure battles at the 4th rank. Even a fourth-ranked realm that can give birth to Noble Mages would still be greatly damaged.

Because of that, most mages opted to battle in the void if they had to. In that way, their realms would not suffer.

Since Noble Mages cannot control void mana, they invented a special artifact that can be said to be a must-have for Noble Mages.

The Mana Ring!

In Kirl's right hand, a blue ring can be seen. This was not his spatial ring but his Mana Ring.

This ring only has a single function, which was to absorb the mana from mana stones or even mana crystals if the Mage is rich enough.

The stored mana could then be used by the Noble Mage in the same way they utilize a realm's mana.

Even in cases where the opponent has a higher realm, which made it hard for a Noble Mage to control the ambient mana, the Mana Ring can also play a crucial role.

With a thought, a huge surge of mana came from the Mana Ring, and the Noble Mage used it to create a barrier.

However, to his shock, his defensive barrier was no different than a fragile paper in front of the old man's power.

Kirl used his Mana Ring to create the barrier. This means that he literally used more mana than he originally had to create the barrier.

However, the old man, without using any external aid, actually destroyed his defensive barrier just like that?

Not to mention, the lightning bolt seems not to have lost any power at all as it continued. Kirl wanted to dodge, but he found himself unable to move, and he could only look at the old man with fear.

"This… y-you're not a Noble Mage!"

That was Kirl's last words before the lightning bolt made contact with his body, and he instantly turned into ashes.

Just like that, a powerful Noble Mage died. While they are powerful, there are still many that are more powerful than them.

There are mountains taller than even a mountain that touches the skies.

—

Sea of Void.

"B-boss! Captain! A new realm! It's a new realm! We have detected a new realm not within the database! This should be an undiscovered realm at the third rank!"

Inside the void ship, the mage Beral, who has the job of scanning the nearby realms and checking if anyone already owns the realm, announced loudly.

He didn't expect that just a few months after the captain's last episode of rage, they would actually find a new realm.

One must know that even if a void ship were to travel decades or even a hundred years, due to how large the universe is, it is possible that they wouldn't discover a new realm.

In fact, it was not just a new realm that they needed. They need a realm that is 'alive' and has natives that they can sell, preferably those with intelligence comparable to humans.

If the realm does not have living beings, most of the time, the realm would be useless unless the realm has other treasures like rare minerals.

With these factors, it was extremely hard for slave traders to find a suitable realm, but once they did, their decades or even centuries of effort would be rewarded.

A virgin realm with untapped resources can be sold, or you can directly exploit the resources on them on your own. Either way, both would ensure a huge price.

"A new realm?"

Even the captain was surprised to know that they had already discovered a new realm after just a few decades.

It was even a realm with living beings!

Even if the realm doesn't have any rare treasures and minerals, just the fact that there are living beings inside already makes this trip worth the effort!

Compared to treasures like spirit plants and minerals that could take a long time to grow, most of the time, the living beings inside can be harvested more frequently for less time.

Some rare and valuable Spirit Plants take hundreds of years or even thousands of years before they fully mature.

However, it was different for the living beings inside the realm. If they were humans, in just a little over a decade, the next generation would appear and be ready to be sold.

In fact, even humans less than ten years old have their own market, as there are some depraved beasts that prefer them.

As such, the realm being 'alive' is such a great thing. A living realm with people inside is preferred compared to a realm with no life and only has things like minerals.

This news made the captain ecstatic, and he even roughly shoved the women away to walk close to the screen where the discovered realm was shown, along with some other data.

"Move closer to the realm, but make sure to still have an appropriate distance in case a being at the 4th rank appears" the captain ordered, and his crew naturally complied with his orders.

In fact, even if he didn't order them to be careful, the crew themselves would not dare get too close to the discovered realm.

While enslaving realms was a profitable job, it didn't mean it was without any danger. In fact, it was actually very dangerous.

If you were to discover a realm and rashly enter it, you might suddenly find yourself killed.

These virgin realms can have different cultures compared to the rest of the universe. What one considers a normal action might be considered an action worthy of death for the realm's natives.

As such, slave traders seldom enter the realm rashly and try to spy from the outside to learn more about it.

While the initial report indicates that the discovered realm is only at the third rank, it doesn't mean that the realm would only have beings that are at most comparable to Great Mages.

No, that will not always be the case. While a realm at the third rank can at most support the existence of Great Mages, it doesn't mean that a native with a heaven-defying talent could not be born.

Enough talent can breach the gap of mana level and resources. It was not unheard of for a third-ranked realm to give birth to a native at the fourth rank.

Aside from that, it was also possible that there were other mages at the 4th rank that had already discovered this realm but didn't enslave it and just started living peacefully inside.

There could be many things that happened and could happen. As such, when slave traders discovered new realms, the first step was not to rashly enter the discovered realm but rather to investigate.

Using the various technology and magic artifacts in the ship, the slave traders started scanning the realm for signs of life at the fourth rank and above.

If they were to discover a lifeform at the fourth rank, the slave traders would not dare invade and attack. They would instead report this to the Noble Mage who supports their crew to wait for the next course of action.

As for what would happen if the discovered realm does not have a lifeform at the fourth level. Well then, they would be suffering from bad luck.