Mercenary Wars

Chapter 18 Enchanter

With Ryan's help, Gao Jianuo moved into the craftsman's house at the Grey Eagle Camp that same day.

As a pharmacist, he lived in a single room, which was not spacious but much better than that of a soldier.

"I have something to remind you of," Ryan said. "You'd better get the pharmacist badge issued by the Pharmacist Guild as soon as possible. The higher the level, the better. The monthly salary for a second-level pharmacist is 20 silver coins."

"I understand." Gao Jianuo nodded.

Ryan remembered something: "Oh, right, there's an investigation mission next month to go to the Stoneclaw Mountains east of Nanhai Town to investigate the traces of forest trolls. I'm the deputy captain of the mission team. Do you want to go with us?"

"Are forest trolls dangerous?"

Ryan thought for a moment and said, "A little bit, but based on my judgment, the possibility of encountering a troll this time is very small. It's most likely just a sightseeing trip."

Gao Jianuo thought about it for a while, but finally did not agree: "I think I should get familiar with the new environment first."

"Alright."

Before leaving, Ryan said, "Come find me anytime if you need anything. When I don't have any missions, I'm usually at the barracks or the Thieves Guild."

"Thieves Guild?" Gao Jianuo was stunned. He had no idea where the Thieves Guild was. He even thought that there was no such thing in Nanhai Town.

"It's the Raven Inn."

After Ryan left, Gao Jianuo cleaned up the room again and tried on the clothes given to him by the mercenary group.

Unlike combat professionals, as a pharmacist, he didn't have epaulettes. After all, their primary purpose was to identify friend and foe and facilitate corpse collection, and pharmacists didn't need to go to the battlefield—at least not under normal circumstances.

Instead, it was replaced by a white apothecary robe with the Grey Eagle symbol embroidered on the chest. It looked very similar to some standard robes produced by the Apothecary Guild.

After putting on the pharmacist's robe, Gao Jianuo stood in front of the mirror and looked at himself, admiring his own appearance.

I have to say that he has a good appearance in this life. It may be a bit of an exaggeration to say that he is handsome, but he is definitely much better than the average.

For this reason, when he was in Driftwood Town, more than one girl of the same age expressed her affection for Gao Jianuo, either explicitly or implicitly.

Unfortunately, Gao Jianuo had no interest in these village girls.

A wailing sound suddenly came from the next room: "Hmmmm, ahhhhhh——"

This was followed by a complaint: "Why are you shouting so loudly?"

“It hurts, it hurts!”

"This kind of ink is like this, just bear with it."

"Okay, hum...ah..."

The moaning continued intermittently and didn't stop for an hour.

Gao Jianuo couldn't help feeling bored and curious, so he went to the next door.

The door of the next room was wide open, and inside was a man with pigtails tattooing a soldier. The soldier had his arms exposed, and blue ink slowly penetrated his skin, outlining a series of patterns.

The man with the braids looked up. "Are you the new pharmacist next door? Sorry to bother you, but I promise this is a rare occurrence."

Gao Jianuo looked at it for a while and asked: "What is this tattoo?"

"Sword pattern." The man explained, "It seems that this is your first time seeing a sword pattern. But this is normal. After all, most people would choose transparent magic pattern ink."

Gao Jianuo nodded suddenly.

The so-called sword pattern is a type of magic pattern. Magic patterns can grant a person various bonuses and even spells. As the name suggests, the "sword pattern" is a magic pattern that adds bonuses to swordsmanship and sword skills.

Because sword patterns are relatively simple to draw and their supporting system is the most comprehensive and rich, they are also the most common of all magic patterns. However, as the man with the braids said, most people choose to use transparent magic pattern ink, so it is not easy to see.

After a while, the sword pattern was completed. "Thank you, Marcus," the soldier said, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief at the end of the pain.

He put on his clothes and prepared to leave, but Marcus called him and held out his hand.

"What?"

"Money. Transparent ink is a benefit of the mercenary group. Colored ink requires extra payment. Don't you know that?"

The soldier's eyes widened. "Colored ink hurts more than clear ink, so why are they charging extra?"

Marcus: “That’s why the vast majority of people choose clear ink.”

"..." The soldier was silent for a long time. "I want to know, are there any benefits to colored ink?"

Marcus thought about it and then responded: "It looks cooler!"

The soldier had no choice but to pay the money and leave.

After receiving the money, Marcus was in a good mood and introduced himself with a smile: "I'm a first-level enchanter Marcus, majoring in magic patterns - so you can also call me 'magic pattern master'. Nice to meet you."

Gao Jianuo: "First-class pharmacist Gao Jianuo, nice to meet you too."

After a few brief pleasantries, Marcus asked, "Can you make magic rune potions?"

“I only learned a little bit about it from books.”

"That's fine. Ordinary magic rune potions are no more complicated to make than painkillers. I have the recipe here; you can take a look." Marcus took out a booklet. "Once you learn it, you can apply to the quartermaster to use ink to offset some of your pharmaceutical production costs. I guarantee this will save you some time."

"Of course, I also have some advantages. After all, you live next door to me, which also saves me time," he added.

This is a mutually beneficial thing.

Gao Jianuo took the booklet and said, "Thank you. I will learn it as soon as possible."

The two sat down and chatted for a while.

Gao Jianuo asked: "Is there a bow and arrow magic pattern?"

"Yes, but only a few enchanters are willing to study this," Marcus said. "After all, arrows need to be shot out, which means they can't remain connected to a person's magic pattern like a sword can."

"You use a bow and arrow?" he asked.

Gao Jianuo nodded.

Marcus smiled. "I also use a bow and arrow. For non-combat professionals like us and low-level combat professionals, the bow and arrow is actually a very good choice. But for high-level combat professionals, the situation is different."

"Indeed, those saints and brave warriors who were good at fighting in history rarely used bows and arrows as weapons." Gao Jianuo agreed casually, but some other ideas emerged in his mind.

"Oh, someone's coming."

A soldier who came to draw magic patterns ended their conversation.

Marcus was busy again.

Gao Jianuo returned to his room and flipped through the booklet given to him by Marcus - "Basic Magic Ink Production Guide".

As he watched, his expression suddenly changed, as if he had thought of something.

He immediately stood up and took out the "Blood Law Notes" from a hidden corner of the room.

He unlocked the book and flipped through the pages quickly. After a while, he stopped and his eyes fixed on the middle page.

"Beast Blood Demonic Pattern Ink!" Gao Jianuo's eyes suddenly brightened after seeing these big words on the book.

(End of this chapter)