Above the mage

Chapter 170 A New Year

After this wave of gains, Gaode's deposits have once again broken through three digits, reaching a gratifying figure of 107 gold and 18 silver.

So much so that when he saw the medicinal herb field being taken back, he felt a little reluctant to part with it.

"I should also find time to take the course 'Utilization and Development of Spiritual Land'," Gao De thought to himself.

"The Use and Development of Spiritual Lands" is also a branch course under Potions, which teaches how to develop natural spiritual lands and how to create them artificially.

The conditions for the growth of magical plants are very demanding, especially the requirement for magical power.

Planting magical plants on ordinary soil will not allow them to sprout and grow.

A spiritual land is a place rich in magic that can support the growth of magical plants.

Owning a sacred land is like owning a treasure trove.

Whether you cultivate the land yourself to grow magical plants or rent it out to potion makers, you can continuously earn a stable income.

Such a lucrative course is practically a must-take for Gaode Maps.

However, this is an advanced course, and to take it, you need more than 30 credits, which is equivalent to a three-year student in the general sense. Gaode has not yet met the requirements.

When Gerica knocked on his door that evening and he received a small New Year's gift from her, Gao De suddenly realized that today was actually the last day of the year.

Winter solstice month, 30th.

Cyrus College is also holding a New Year's celebration tonight in College Square.

After all, apart from the local noble students of Saint Sein City who go home for the New Year, most students stay at the academy even on this day.

However, Gaode was not interested in this. Rather than wasting time on celebrations, he would rather use that time to learn more.

In a world where knowledge is expensive and monopolized, Gaode Maps always has a vague sense of crisis.

This sense of crisis motivated him to learn as much as he could while he still had the opportunity.

This mentality is similar to how people who have experienced famine often subconsciously develop the habit of hoarding food.

As the academy representatives rang the twelve o'clock magical bell to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new, it resounded throughout the entire academy.

Gaode's first year in this world has passed just like that.

Nolan passed away quietly in 9655 of the calendar.

Listening to the resounding chimes, Gao De was filled with emotion.

He came into this world on the second day of the Awakening Month of this year. So much has happened in the past eleven months.

Compared to that, my experiences of the previous twenty-one years were like a blank sheet of paper.

What will happen in the newly arrived year 9656 of the Nolan calendar is unpredictable to Gao De.

He only knew that he needed to seize the moment so that he could calmly deal with whatever happened.

For this year, Gao De's goal is to strive to bring the progress of the guided practice to perfection.

As for the progress of meditation practice, that can only be left to fate.

However, judging from the current progress of cultivation, the meditation technique should be able to reach perfection by next year no matter how hard one tries.

By then he will be 15 years old and will be able to try to advance to the first level of mage.

If successful, he will be a year later than Yulan. However, Yulan reached this mage level without the resources of an academy.

Thinking about this, Gao De couldn't help but sigh, "This guy's talent is truly terrifying."

In the three months following the New Year, Gaode's life was free of any further "minor incidents".

He devoted all his thoughts and energy to spiritual practice and coursework.

During this period, Gaode also saw the completion of several branch courses.

"Business Association Management and Trade Practice" is also a theory-based course specifically designed for graduates who aspire to join a business association.

Gaode mainly values ​​the knowledge points related to trade practices in this course.

In his view, "making money" is also a basic and essential skill for a monk.

In the final assessment, Gaode was only symbolically deducted 2 points in the last open-ended trade practice question, but ultimately achieved a high score of 98.

This course earns Gaode 1 credit.

"Research on Leyline Creatures" is designed for battle mages.

The existence of "Wind Spirit Moon Shadow" means that Gaode will inevitably have frequent interactions with creatures from the earth's veins.

Moreover, in this world, which mage wouldn't come into contact with creatures from the ley lines?

In Gaode's view, this course should also be included in the list of compulsory courses.

However, the college did not do this, and the class attendance rate was not high.

When the final exam came, Gaode realized that the exam was simply too difficult.

Aside from the basic questions, the final assessment question involves being given several sketches of ley line creatures and being required to deduce the specific information of these creatures based on the knowledge learned in the course.

The more information you deduce, and the more accurate your deductions, the higher your score will be.

This involves an element of luck, and overly "open" questions often leave students at a loss.

Even Gaode only achieved a score of 85 in the final assessment of this course.

This course is worth 2 credits.

"Magic Medicine", "Magic Pet Training" and "Magic Engineering" are all 1-point courses, and Gaode achieved full marks in the final assessment of these three courses.

The final assessment for "Magic Ink Extraction and Production" is to create a sample of magic ink on the spot, and the final score is based on the quality of the magic ink produced.

The quality of the magic ink prepared by the students depends not only on their technique but also on the quality of the raw materials.

In terms of technique, Gao De, who has experience in potion mixing and has a solid theoretical foundation, is definitely second to none among all the students.

However, he didn't want to spend a lot of money to buy good materials and improve the quality of the final magic ink just for the sake of achieving a good result. He simply bought a basic set of materials and mixed a magic ink.

Therefore, he only got 80 points in this course, which is the lowest score among all courses on Gaode so far.

"Magic Ink Extraction and Production" is also worth 1 credit.

After completing this process, Gaode's credits reached 24.

The remaining courses that have not yet been completed include 2 credits of "Racial History", 3 credits of "Pharmacological Research", and four courses that are currently only 1 credit each and are located in the first stage: "Mage Basics", "Spell Application and Combat", "Basic Culture Course", and "Rune Literature".

Upon completion of all courses, Gaode will earn 33 credits in its first academic year.

As for Yulan, she has 22 basic credits and a total of 9 credits from the seven elective courses.

After completing all courses, he only had 31 credits, 2 points short of Gaode's credit limit.

Of course, this is only half a year after the end of the first academic year.

In the following six months, whether it's Gaode or Youlan, students can continue to take other courses to further increase their credits.

It all comes down to who can outmaneuver whom.

Gaode is quite confident about this.

Firstly, with the blessing of [Divine Guidance+], he cannot possibly lose to Yulan in terms of learning.

Secondly, he had heard that Yulan had spent most of his time learning magic.

These were the instructions given to him by his mentor, the Minister of Magic.

At the mage level, one can arbitrarily bridge resource gaps by virtue of their talent.

However, mastering magic requires a lot of resources.

This has resulted in Yulan being in a lot of trouble with magic, and now she needs to work hard to fill the gaps and pay off her debts.

In comparison, Gao De, whose mastery of spells was even more terrifying than his learning ability, was actually on the right track from the very beginning.

During these three months of focused study, Gaode didn't even pay much attention to his own abilities or how much he had improved in this "boring" life.

His guidance method achieved another breakthrough naturally on the 14th of Awakening Month.

His total magical power has reached 13 levels of magic tricks.

After nearly three months of self-study, Gao De had finally mastered all thirty-six classic composite rune diagrams and the stack of materials that He Xi had given him.

After that, Gaode entered the "problem-solving" phase.

Every day he would receive a request from Hossi, and then design a composite rune based on the request, which he would then submit to Hossi for review the following day.

(End of this chapter)