Above the mage!

Chapter 493: Taking Chestnuts from the Fire
Everything proceeded as Gaode had anticipated.

Having awakened his [Adaptive] expertise for over two years, he has gradually progressed from being completely clueless at the beginning, to passively adapting, and now to actively developing it. He has become increasingly adept at using [Adaptive].

This is a typical late-game specialty.

When it first awakens, [Adaptive] provides no benefit whatsoever, and its effect is extremely limited even in the first year.

In addition, their adaptation speed is relatively slow, making them seem unworthy of the title of "super specialty".

But so far, through [Adaptive], he has achieved six physical evolutions.

With six enhancements, the strength of [Adaptive] is certainly above that of a first-class specialty, if not super-class.

The significant improvement in adaptation speed further enhances the applicability of [Adaptive].

Most importantly, even with this already formidable strength, for [Adaptive], it's only the beginning.

With dedicated development, how much benefit will adaptive technology bring to Gaode Maps a hundred years from now? A thousand years from now?
After a little thought, I felt that "the future is limitless".

Perhaps the strength of [Adaptive] is even greater than that of Super Speciality?

While enduring the mental pain brought by the blue flames, Gao De's mind wandered.

In his perception, the excruciating pain from the blue flames had begun to gradually subside.

After a full half hour of this, the excruciating pain in his soul completely subsided.

But this does not mean that his mental damage has been fully recovered.

Even physical injuries cannot heal on their own in just half an hour, let alone mental injuries.

More haste less speed.

Gaode has no intention of "flying into the fire" again until he has fully recovered from the psychological damage.

Otherwise, it would be very bad if you caused damage to your very essence due to being too eager for quick success.

The soul is unlike the body; it is an absolute forbidden zone.

Under normal circumstances, the human body does not have the ability to heal itself; that is, once the soul is damaged, it is a permanent injury.

This also shows that Sarah's third-ring feat of healing mental injuries is extremely powerful, at least a first-class feat, and possibly even a super-class feat.

The mental damage caused by the blue flames will take some time to recover, and if one does not directly touch the blue flames but observes them from a distance, the improvement in blue flame tolerance will be relatively limited.

Gao De then stopped his reckless probing at the edge of the blue flames and simply turned back home.

He got up early and didn't leave for too long, so when he returned to the Fire Knife, it was right in time for the morning rush hour.

Everyone is enjoying their breakfast.

With the [Divine Berry Technique+], Gao De could use Gemberry Sweet Berry to meet his nutritional and calorie needs, but he ultimately chose to go to a restaurant for a meal.

After all, in a place like this, eating fish at the same table with someone is far less noticeable than eating berries alone.

Breakfast on the "pirate ship" is as simple as a pirate's creed: a plate piled high with charred grilled fish; a ceramic bowl filled with boiled shellfish, oysters with their shells half-open, clam meat scalded slightly by boiling water, and conch shells with their tails cracked open to reveal spiral-shaped tender meat.

These are all things that don't require any special seasoning; you can just peel off the shell and pop them into your mouth, carrying the most primal, sweet and briny taste of the sea.

As for staple food, due to the existence of Blue Flame, the land area on Blue Flame Islands is extremely valuable, and using it as arable land would be too extravagant, so there is no such thing as staple food.

Occasionally, the only food available on the dining table was emergency rations looted from merchant ships: such as pickled cheese and dried peas that could be stored for a long time.

The only drinks served were alcoholic beverages.

This is because, under normal circumstances, drinking water on board is prone to spoilage and odor, quickly developing a smell and becoming covered in algae, making it extremely inefficient to store.

Moreover, when drinking water is truly needed, a simple water-making technique can solve the problem, eliminating the need for special water storage.

However, there is no spell called "Brewing," so many ships carried alcoholic beverages as their drinking water.

Gao De took a sea bream with crispy skin and tender flesh from the iron plate, its skin still covered with charred sea salt, and then chose a table with an empty seat to sit down.

He had just sat down for a short while when Bao Zai swaggered in.

He took the food he needed and sat down casually next to Gao De, slapping a full wine bag in front of Gao De.

"Want some?" Bao Zai raised an eyebrow and tapped the wine pouch with his knuckles.

The bag was made from shark swim bladders and had a dark red sheen after being soaked in red seaweed juice.

Gao De glanced at Bao Zai, then nodded.

Baozai chuckled, pulled out another rum pouch, bit off the cork with his teeth, put the pouch to his mouth, and suddenly pulled his arms in—the pale golden rum shot into his mouth like a thin arrow, and his Adam's apple began to bob.

After taking a big gulp, Baozai let out a satisfied hiss and said, "People here don't drink like you guys do. We don't follow those rules about tall glasses. We just raise our hands and chug it down. It's so much easier."

The wine bags from the Blue Flame Islands are typically made from the vesicles of fish or marine mammals. They are then soaked in the juice of a type of red seaweed and dried, resulting in a bag that is both tough and lightweight, as well as leak-proof. This makes them extremely durable and capable of holding nearly two liters of wine.

The method of drinking it is also quite unique, just as Baozai just demonstrated, it is done by squeezing.

It looks simple, but beginners often don't dare to squeeze hard enough, causing the liquor to spray out of their mouths and end up spilling half a bag of liquor all over their chests, making onlookers burst into laughter.

Gao De imitated Bao Zai by opening the wine bag, squeezing it into his mouth, and gulping down half the wine bag before stopping.

The beverage was classic rum; the taste wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either.

"Great job!" Bao Zai praised, then casually asked, "I saw you came to the island this morning?"

“Yes,” Gao De nodded, “telling the truth”: “Everyone says that the [Spell Bottle] is most likely still sleeping in some corner of the island, so I thought I’d go look for it, maybe I’ll find it.”

He said earnestly, "Because I've always been very lucky."

Baozai naturally didn't believe that Gaode could find the [Spell Bottle] that so many people had been longing for for so many years without success, but on the surface, he still asked with a very high EQ, "Then you found it?"

"No, Ash Island is so big. I'll go up to the island to take a look when I have some free time this afternoon." Gao De casually laid the groundwork for his island visit that afternoon.

"Good luck then, but remember to stay away from Blue Flame," Bao Zai said with a smile.

Just then, another burly man swaggered into the restaurant, his face beaming with pride.

The people eating in the restaurant greeted the big man as he entered, even the bodyguards called out his name: "Kane, you're back so soon, did you get the bounty?"

The burly man waved his hand. "Simple. That Valentine is known as the Night Falcon, and he claims to have an extremely fast casting speed, but he's still not as fast as my magic gun."

Then he noticed the unfamiliar face next to Baozai. "Who is this? The new recruit the boss just took in?"

"He's not a newbie, the boss invited him to help out." Hearing Baozai say this, Kane's gaze immediately changed, scrutinizing him with a hint of suspicion. "So young, helping out?"

Even as a newcomer, Gaode looks excessively young.

But that's none of his business.

But if it's about helping, then it's related to him, or rather, to most of the Gold Coin Hunters.

—Most of them were people who had a blood feud with Davy Jones and wanted revenge.

For such an important and dangerous task, the outside help that the boss invited was actually such a young mage?

Is it reliable?
Despite the doubts, Sarah's prestige is undeniable. To openly question the outside help Sarah brought in is to question Sarah herself.

Therefore, Kane kept his suspicions to himself, took a plate of grilled fish from the iron plate next to him, filled his two wine bags with wine, and sat down opposite Gaode with a thud.

“I just got back. This is our first time meeting. Shall we have a drink?” He pushed a wine bag in front of Gao De.

Without saying a word, Gao De picked up the wine bag and uncorked it.

In no time at all, he gulped down the whole bag of rum and then let out a long, comfortable sigh.

The smell of alcohol mixed with heat wafted from his nostrils, but his eyes were remarkably clear.

Adding to the half-bag of rum that Baozai handed him earlier, that's about three liters of rum in total.

Such a massive quantity immediately drew astonishment and admiration from the other bounty hunters who witnessed it all.

Although drinking capacity has no direct relation to strength or ability, they still inexplicably felt that Gao De suddenly seemed much more reliable.

After a satisfying meal, with nothing else to do, Gaode returned to his cabin. After thinking for a moment, he put on a "Comfortable Sleep+" mode and fell into a deep sleep once again.

"During a comfortable sleep, the patient's natural recovery speed will be doubled."

This is the spell effect of [Comfortable Sleep+]. Under normal circumstances, this doubling of the natural recovery speed for injuries only applies to the physical body.

The reason is as mentioned earlier: the human body simply does not possess the ability for the soul to heal itself.

In other words, the initial value of the recovery speed of mental injuries is 0. Even if it is doubled or increased a hundredfold, it is still 0.

But things are different now. With the adaptive effect, Gaode's mental injury recovery speed has broken through 0, so it should be able to benefit from the "Comfortable Sleep+" buff.

As soon as the idea came to mind, Gaode immediately began testing it.

When I woke up again, it was already noon.

The first thing I do after waking up is to use my ability of "precise perception" to sense my current state.

[Your spirit has been damaged by Abaddon's blue flame energy. Your spirit recovery ability has been increased by 3.2%.]

Firstly, in the past half day, the ability to recover from mental injuries has increased from 1.6% when I first returned to 3.2%.

Another encouraging point is that, just as he expected, the [Comfortable Sleep+] buff worked successfully, and the mental damage caused by the blue flames has been basically recovered.

With this joy in his heart, Gaode disembarked again and landed on Ash Isle.

Because of the foreshadowing during breakfast, many of the bounty hunters on the Fireblade knew that "Gold" was planning to try his luck on Ash Isle.

They definitely didn't think highly of Gao De and didn't believe he could find the [Spell Bottle].

But you'll always feel dissatisfied if you don't try it yourself, so they all understand Gaode's mentality and are no longer curious about Gaode's behavior of heading straight to Ash Island.

After landing on the island, Gao De went to the spot he had been in that morning and once again cautiously reached out his hand towards the burning blue flame.

This time, however, it wasn't a quick touch and they separated; instead, they remained in contact for a full two or three seconds.
After resting for nearly an hour, until the pain that had pierced the depths of his soul subsided, Gao De summoned Boeing and returned to the Fire Knife.

The Wrath of the Dead auction will take place from the 1st to the 7th of Dark Moon.

There are three days left before the auction begins.

Over these three days, Gaode quietly repeated its actions:
Land on Ash Isle, face the blue flames, and after recovering, return to the Fireblade and use [Comfortable Sleep+] to speed up your soul's self-healing.

Once the psychological damage has almost completely healed, the above actions are repeated again, day and night.

Repeated direct contact with the blue flame has allowed Gaode's tolerance to blue flame energy to grow rapidly.

14.5%——15.7%——17.8%——20.1%——26.7%——.——46.7%
Abaddon's blue flame energy is of such a high level that even fifth-ring mages have to avoid it, which shows its strength.

Therefore, even though Gaode's tolerance to the blue flame increases rapidly, the blue flame can still provide him with great stimulation and maintain high-speed growth. At most, he only needs to extend the contact time with the blue flame slightly.

As his tolerance to blue flame energy rapidly increased, his ability to recover from mental injuries also improved simultaneously.

The improved ability to recover from mental injuries means that Gao De can recover to his peak condition more quickly and then challenge Blue Flame at a higher frequency.

The more frequently the Blue Flame is challenged, the faster Gaode's Blue Flame energy tolerance will increase.

Under this virtuous cycle, although the adaptation speed of mental injury recovery inevitably slows down, the speed at which the blue flame energy tolerance increases is unusually fast.

On the third day, the last day before the Anling Festival auction, Gao De, whose Blue Flame Energy Tolerance had exceeded 50%, was able to come into contact with the Blue Flame for more than three minutes without changing his expression.

So, he stepped into the area covered by blue flames for the first time and began to search for the [Spell Bottle].

This was both an excuse he used to cover up his constant trips to Ash Isle and his true thoughts.

It's impossible for a second-circle mage not to be tempted by such an extraordinary artifact that even the Pirate King could be captivated by it.

In his eyes, the blue flames that restricted others became "good fire."

If it weren't for the blue flame, how could he possibly have gotten this [Spell Bottle]? It would have been found long ago after Ash Isle was turned upside down.

Unsurprisingly, his tentative, small-scale search yielded no promising results.

To find the [Spell Bottle], you have to do a thorough search.

Of course, for Gaode Maps, this is only a matter of time.

As long as the [Spell Bottle] is indeed still on Ash Isle, it will eventually fall into his hands.

However, Gaode Maps had to temporarily suspend its adaptation and treasure hunting features.

Because his real purpose for this trip was to attend the Funeral auction.

(End of this chapter)