If Heaven hadn't given birth to me, I would be arrogant.

Given Zong's arrogant and domineering personality, he naturally wanted to teach Zong Ze a small lesson. However, every time they just straightened up, Old Madam Zong and Madam Zong would suddenly appear and give the father and son a good scolding. Meanwhile, Zong Ze would hide behind the two "lionesses" and chuckle to himself.

So seeing his son's bewildered expression today, Zong Kuang was naturally very pleased. He laughed loudly and continued, "Those 200 men are the mage squadron of our Zong family army. Although, apart from the captain who is an intermediate mage, the rest are all novice mages, they are still unique in the private army!"

"A squadron of 200 novice mages?" Zong Ze was finally moved. You must know that apart from the royal legions of the major empires and the garrison legions of the duchies, the private armies of the other noble families on the entire continent had very few mages.

Just like the private army of the Fox family, who tried to suppress his finance minister alongside Long Xiaotian. The Fox family was a true old aristocratic family, with the grandfather being a duke. It was said that their 5,000-strong private army only had three novice mages, yet these three were treated like treasures by the entire army. This was only because the Fox family controlled the finances of the Rune Empire and constantly sought ways to enrich themselves, thus enabling them to afford to support those three mages!

In other lords' private armies, even a novice mage is treated like a precious treasure, feared to suffer any harm. It's well known that mages are considered the most expensive profession on the entire continent. It's said that the funds required to support one archmage are enough to train two sword gods.

Now, a squadron of 200 mages has appeared within their own elite Tiger Legion. Zong Ze estimates this is a secret of the Zong family army; outsiders couldn't possibly know. It's important to understand that even the Empire's Royal Legion only has a squadron of 200 intermediate-level mages. While intermediate-level mages may seem more powerful than their own novice mages, over time, their novice mages will eventually reach the level of intermediate mages!

As a member of the Holy Word Continent, Zong Ze couldn't learn martial arts or magic. However, having thoroughly studied the continent's history, he was very clear about the continent's hierarchical system. Martial arts training began with the Martial Artist, with nine levels. After level nine, one advanced to Martial Master. At level six, Martial Masters advanced to Martial Madmen, and at level three, Martial Madmen advanced to Martial Saints. Martial Saints only had two levels, after which one advanced to Martial Gods. It was said that above Martial Gods was the Martial Venerable, on par with the legendary Grand Magisters who cultivated magic.

The ranking system for magic is similar to that for martial arts, only the names are different. Level nine is for magic apprentices, followed by level six mages, then level three magicians, level two archmages, and finally archmages.

On the continent, as long as you're not like Zong Ze or Teng Yun from back then—completely useless in both martial arts and magic—everyone can choose to cultivate either martial arts or magic. All you need is the talent. Of course, because of the strict requirements for mental strength, the number of mages is less than one ten-thousandth of those who cultivate martial arts, which indirectly contributes to the rarity of mages on the continent.

However, whether you cultivate martial arts or magic, as long as you are diligent, reaching the intermediate level of martial arts master or intermediate level magician within your lifetime is absolutely not a problem. But if you want to continue to advance, that cannot be achieved through diligence alone. That requires talent and advanced cultivation methods.