Above the mage

Chapter 149 [The Spawn of the Insect Swarm]

At Cyrus Academy, a complete academic year is calculated from the Frost Gold month of the current year to the Frost Gold month of the following year.

Credits earned beyond this time limit will be counted towards the next academic year.

This coincides with the college's admissions period.

However, some "second-generation law students" are sent to colleges before the enrollment period even begins.

However, there is no claim that their academic year is longer than that of freshmen who enter the college through examination.

A magic academy with a history spanning thousands of years would not have such a basic vulnerability.

For these "freshmen" who enter the college early, the college calculates their first academic year from the date they entered the college.

For example, Gao De entered the Seres Academy on the 2nd of the Dark Night Moon.

His first academic year would be from the 2nd of the current year's Dark Moon to the 2nd of the following year's Dark Moon.

Then there's a one-month gap in the middle, and in the second academic year, the standard schedule is followed, starting from the Frost Gold month and ending in the Frost Gold month of the following year.

Of course, these "second-generation law students" don't care about the rewards from the academic rankings.

However, "credits" play a significant role within the college, and even "second-generation law students" need to try their best to earn as many credits as possible; this is beyond doubt.

After learning about the freshman credit ranking and the corresponding huge rewards, Gaode was immediately tempted.

100 gold coins are enough for him to buy a dozen or so level 0 spell recipes.

He naturally wanted to fight for this reward.

In previous years, Gaode Maps would have had a good chance.

He received a full 5 credits as a reward for breaking Dean Gavin's record during the admissions process.

With the addition of the mage level calculation, Gaode already has 10 credits even before taking a single course upon enrollment, giving it a head start compared to other freshmen.

The problem is, this year is different.

This year's freshmen include a "freak" who advanced to the first ring mage level at the age of 14—Yolan.

A 14-year-old first-ring mage firstly needs to earn credits based on their mage level assessment: 1 credit for a first-rank mage apprentice, 2 credits for a second-rank mage apprentice, 3 credits for a third-rank mage apprentice, and 5 credits for an initial first-ring mage.

This is worth 11 credits, which is more than the 10 credits offered by Gaode.

In addition, students who advance to the 1st Ring Mage level before the age of 20 will be awarded 3 credits, with an additional 1 credit awarded for each year earlier.

Yulan is 14 years old, and she has a total of 3 + 6 = 9 reward points.

In other words, he can earn 20 credits as long as he enrolls.

Add to the 2 credits for the enrollment task, and you start with 22 credits!

For the first time, Gaode, which has always been "outstanding" in terms of performance, has felt such immense pressure regarding its results.

He has now taken eight courses, and if he completes them all and passes the exams, he will earn a total of 13 credits, bringing his total credits to 23, which is just over 22 credits for Yolan.

The problem is that Yulan can't possibly skip all classes for a year, so her credits will definitely increase.

There's a kind of resilience in Gaode's bones.

In this situation, any normal person would know that getting first place is unlikely and would set their sights on second place.

Anyway, the difference in reward between the second and first place is only 20 gold coins.

But Gaode was precisely motivated by this "unlikely" possibility.

He didn't aim for "second place or first place"; his goal was simply "first place".

The options are twofold: one is to take as many courses as possible, and the other is to meet certain standards set by the college to earn extra bonus credits.

On the 20th of the Frosty Golden Month, the leak-free fruit drink was finally completely consumed.

On the 27th of Frosty Moon, Gao De had very little time left of the first-level training room he had previously purchased, so he had to spend 10 gold coins to buy another 40 hours of usage time.

On this day, another incident occurred.

Of the 269 poisonous insect eggs that Professor Xiao Er estimated would take a month and a half to hatch, only 3 eggs remain unhatched today, the 34th day since the mission was accepted.

As an academy mentor, Xiao Er didn't bother with the students about the leftover scraps; instead, he directly paid Gaode their "wages" ahead of schedule.

"Of the 269 insect eggs, 266 have hatched so far."

"After you screened and removed the defective products, there are still 79 fire ant larvae, 54 scorpion larvae, and 29 phantom centipede larvae, totaling 167 qualified venomous insect larvae."

"The pass rate is 60%, this is the extra reward I promised you before." After inspecting the larvae of the poisonous insects in the large incubator, Instructor Shaw nodded in satisfaction and handed Gao De 5 Sean Gold Coins.

"As for the mission reward, you'll have to collect it from the logistics department yourself. I'll notify them later that you've completed the mission."

Gao De accepted the 5 gold coins, nodding his thanks as he took out the key to the incubation room from his pocket and returned it to Shaw.

Having completed the task eleven days ahead of schedule and receiving an extra 5 gold coins as a reward, Gao De left the training room in high spirits.

It's hard to say whether the higher-ups in the academy are good or bad, but at least most of the professors are decent.

Arriving at the logistics department's task hall, Gaode queued up to settle the task.

As he said, Shaw had indeed confirmed with the logistics department that he had completed his mission.

So after swiping their ID badges, the staff handed the task reward to Gaode Maps:

Rare 0-ring spell recipe: [Insect Swarm].

He put away the spell recipe and didn't rush back to build the spell model. Instead, he browsed the mission bulletin board in the mission hall.

Now that the "Poisonous Insect Breeding" task is completed, Gaode is ready to see if there are any other suitable tasks for him to take on.

I'm short of money!

Even in the extraordinary world, one must work and study diligently.

Since most academy quests either have mage level requirements or knowledge requirements, they can only be accepted after completing certain courses at the academy.

So even though there are many tasks listed on the bulletin board, Gaode is still in the "starting from scratch" stage, so it's not easy to find a suitable task that meets the requirements.

However, Gaode was lucky today. It had only glanced at the bulletin board a few times when it suddenly jumped up on the task bulletin board.

The next second, a new task appeared at the top of the bulletin board—this meant it was a task issued by the academy.

[Patrol the Mountain]: A malfunction in the pet system's magic array caused a large number of red-eyed sparrows to escape and enter the academy's back mountain. Help the academy to patrol, drive away, and hunt down these red-eyed sparrows in a timely manner to prevent them from affecting the ecological environment of the back mountain.

The reward for the mission is based on the number of Red-eyed Birds hunted; each Red-eyed Bird hunted earns 1 gold. (Red-eyed Bird eyeballs serve as proof of completion.)

There are no level requirements for accepting this quest. This is a long-term quest, with no limit on the number of participants or the quest duration.

Note: Except for red-eyed sparrows, no plants may be picked in the back hills. Violators will be punished.

Red-eyed Sparrow, a level 0 leyline creature, is kept as a pet for aerial reconnaissance. With appropriate training, it is extremely vigilant, adept at concealment, and not very aggressive.

The entire Cyrus mountain range, including the back mountain and the body of water below Creeper Cliff, belongs to the Academy.

Trainees are not allowed to approach without permission, and are strictly prohibited from collecting or obtaining any resources there.

For example, the maid clam in the Kuli Cliff waters is equivalent to the fish raised in the fishpond by the fishpond owner.

Unauthorized fishing for clams constitutes misappropriation of college assets.

Even with permission, such as for enrollment tasks, the clams harvested still have to be handed over, which is equivalent to working to earn credits.

Otherwise, Gaode would have made a living from this long ago, and wouldn't be struggling to make money now.

While pondering, Gao De arrived at the mission counter, handed over his identity badge, and applied to accept the mission of "Patrol the Mountain".

Why not take on a task that has no restrictions? Even if you don't necessarily do it, just take it anyway, since there's no penalty for doing it.

Moreover, the Red-Eyed Sparrow is a creature of the earth veins; completing the task will not only reward you with gold coins, but also allow you to obtain its essence.

Here, after the staff made a record, they handed Gaode a pass to enter the back mountain, a map of the back mountain marked with restricted areas, and a "portrait" of a red-eyed sparrow to prevent Gaode from mistaking it.

It also provides some information, including the habitat environment preferred by red-eyed sparrows and their common concealment methods.

"Most of these restricted areas are potion-growing regions, and they are all protected by barriers or magic arrays. However, it's best to avoid getting close if possible."

The staff pointed to the restricted area marked on the map of the back mountain and gave Gaode instructions.

After receiving the materials, Gaode nodded to the staff member to indicate that he understood, and then turned and left.

Back in Building 30 of Zone 1, Gao De immediately took out the rare spell recipe he had just obtained and began to examine it:

[Swarm Spawn] (Conjuration, 0 Ring):

You can cause mites, fleas, mosquitoes and other insects to temporarily appear on a creature that is within 30 feet of you and that you can see.

Depending on their physical condition, the target may be harmed by certain toxins and experience negative symptoms such as itching and numbness.

After reading the spell description of [Swarm Spawn], Gao De instantly understood why it was a rare spell recipe.

As the staff in the mission lobby explained, the damage of this spell is not particularly outstanding.

Negative statuses like itching and numbness are not particularly fatal in combat.

The attack method was novel, but that was all.

but……

This spell is actually a "targeted skill"!

It has no casting trajectory; as long as the target is within casting range, it will take effect on the target.

It is equivalent to having two additional effects: "100% hit rate" and "instant effect".

The name "rare spell" is well-deserved.

It turns out:

Ordinary spells aren't necessarily bad, but rare spells are rare because they must have something special about them.

(End of this chapter)