Above the mage

Chapter 245 Tracking

Despite missing his target, Gao De remained calm and composed, showing little change in his demeanor.

The blue-tongued lizard is, after all, a creature of the first ring of ley lines.

Even though his spells, enhanced by the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow's stat boosts, were far more powerful than those of other mages, they were still just tricks. It was perfectly normal for them to be stopped by a creature from the first ring of the ley lines.

Compared to other first-level mages, aside from Wind Spirit Moon Shadow, the most outstanding feature of High Druid is the extremely large number of spells stored in his spell library.

As the saying goes, quantitative change leads to qualitative change.

Some spells, when taken individually, are not particularly impressive, but they can be combined with other spells to create an effect greater than the sum of their parts (1+1>2).

Two intense beams of energy shot out from Gao De's hands, heading straight for the oncoming blue-tongued lizard.

[Magic Blast+], which comes with built-in enemy locking and force field damage, is extremely suitable for dealing with the Dragon Tongue Blue Lizard, which has extremely high physical resistance.

After all, force field damage is a prestigious type of damage that ignores armor and physical defense, which means that no matter how tough the skin of the Dragon Tongue Blue Lizard is, it cannot ignore the rays of the Magic Energy Burst.

An energy beam is launched.

The blue lizard, with its keen sense of energy, also sensed a hint of danger and tried to avoid it.

However, the continuous tracking mechanism of [Magic Blast+] renders its attempts futile unless it can unleash astonishing speed in a short period of time to pull itself out of Magic Blast's casting range.

Finally, the two energy beams accurately struck the blue lizard and then disappeared into it.

The blue lizard showed no visible injuries, but immediately let out a painful scream.

Because its internal structure has already suffered some damage.

At this moment, Gao De and the blue lizard were extremely close, about to pass each other.

In a fit of rage, the dragon-tongue blue lizard, suffering immense pain, suddenly opened its mouth and unleashed a tornado-like storm of blue air currents that swept towards Gao De.

Gaode, however, seemed not to have reacted at all, and did not make any move.

The next instant, the blue aura enveloped Gao De.

However, a faint glow appeared on Gao De's body surface at this moment.

[Boost Resistance+]

Having the first move advantage also provides another significant benefit: Gaode can apply the "Increase Resistance+" buff to itself earlier.

The duration of [Increase Resistance+] is no longer limited to one minute, but can be extended at his will until his mana is depleted.

The blue aura swept in, enveloping Gao De's figure.

However, Gaode remained as steady as a rock, and its operations were not affected in the slightest.

This includes both the ability to increase resistance and the ability of the initial Ice Protection Body.

With his basic Ice Body, Gaode's resistance to ice elemental damage is increased by 11%, much like the creatures of the snowfields, who are naturally strong in ice resistance.

With the combined buffs of the basic Ice Protection and [Increased Resistance+], the damage from the Dragon Tongue Blue Lizard's ice storm was negligible.

The freezing and slowing effects of the ice storm are completely negated by the Elementary Ice Protection Body.

The blue lizard was clearly surprised that Gao De could so easily ignore its attack and hadn't even reacted yet.

And Gaode Maps certainly wouldn't miss this brief opportunity.

As his magical power surged, in the instant he passed the Blue Tongue Lizard, two floating ghostly hands were summoned and pressed heavily onto the Blue Tongue Lizard's rough skin.

In an instant, the blue lizard felt its body go limp and became weak and powerless.

[Mage's Hand+] + [Touch of Fatigue]!

The Mage's Hand does not possess offensive capabilities.

However, with the help of a mage, Gao De can complete the contact required for [Touch of Fatigue], indirectly transforming [Touch of Fatigue] from a rather lackluster melee spell into a mid-to-close range spell.

This is an example of 1+1>2.

Seeing that the Blue Lizard was already exhausted, God immediately pressed his advantage and unleashed another spell.

A burst of intense heat erupted from his hand.

The flaming arrow traced a bright trajectory, striking the Blue Tongue Lizard, which was unable to react in time due to the spell's effect.

[Flame Arrow+]!

Although the extreme cold of the North weakens the effectiveness of fire spells, the damage that fire spells inflict on the Blue Tongue Lizard is significantly increased because its main resistance is to ice.

On one hand, there is a weakening, and on the other hand, there is an improvement, but compared to the two, the improvement is still better than the weakening.

Therefore, using fire arrows is still very cost-effective.

The blue-tongued lizard struck by the flames let out a painful roar. Burn marks appeared on its tough skin, indicating that it was seriously injured.

Seeing this, Gao De knew that now was the best time to end the battle.

Dangdang Dangdang!

A mournful bell rang in the air, its sound echoing continuously.

The death knell.

A bell rings, providing additional damage to injured units.

The blue agave lizard's skin was covered in dark patches, and its eyes revealed fear and despair.

This is the erosion damage caused by [Death's Bell], which not only harms its physical body but also has a certain impact on its mental state.

As the bell rang, the life force of the blue-tongued lizard seemed to be being drained away by an invisible force.

Gaode gave the blue lizard no chance to catch its breath; even a lion needs to go all out to catch a rabbit.

"【Magic Blast】!" he shouted softly, and two intense beams of energy flew out of his hands again, shooting straight at the already weakened Dragon Tongue Blue Lizard.

This time, the energy beam inflicted even greater damage on top of the Dark Corrosion damage within the Dragon Tongue Blue Lizard's body.

The blue lizard struggled weakly, but its body was no longer able to offer any effective resistance.

The energy beam struck its abdomen with a muffled thud before disappearing into it.

Under the combined negative effects of fatigue and erosion, the Blue Tongue Lizard's body is at its most vulnerable.

Therefore, these two energy beams caused even greater damage to its body instantly.

In the end, the blue agave lizard collapsed on the snow, losing all its vitality.

After Gao De looked at the [Dragon Tongue Blue Lizard] (1/7) that appeared in the Feng Ling Yue Ying Origin section and confirmed that it was completely dead, he deactivated [Increase Resistance+] and walked to its corpse.

The blue agave lizard is one of the unique leyline creatures of the North.

Therefore, the general knowledge course on ley line creatures that Gaode took at Cyrus Academy did not include any information about the blue lizard.

Of course, he also couldn't know which parts of the agave blue lizard were more valuable.

All Gaode could do was cast the [Detection Magic], then cut off the part of the tongue where the magical light shone the most and put it into his bag.

Then, he patiently began to dissect the carcass of the agave lizard.

This was the first blue lizard that Gaode killed, but not the first lizard creature from the ley lines.

origin:

0环-——霜尾蜥（4/7）、冰鳞蜥（2/7）。

Before encountering the first-ring agape blue lizard, Gaode had also encountered two different zero-ring lizard leyline creatures.

Unfortunately, most lizard creatures are solitary, unlike snow wolves and snowfield hyenas, which often encounter large groups.

Therefore, the origins he obtained were scattered and fragmented, and he has yet to piece together any new origins.

After killing the Frosttail Lizard and the Icescale Lizard, Gao De had already tried it, and the taste of the lizard meat was surprisingly quite good.

Lizard meat tastes somewhat similar to fish, being quite tender and rich in protein and fat, making it a high-quality ingredient.

According to the Northerners' eating habits, it was naturally eaten raw.

However, Gao De's eating habits still cannot accept such a primitive way, so he usually brings the lizard meat whole and cuts it into small pieces when needed, then puts it on the fire to roast.

The blue agave lizard is about the size of a wolf, and the pieces of meat that can be cut from its body are quite substantial.

However, due to weight restrictions, Gao De was only able to cut off the largest, most tender part of the dragon tongue blue lizard's abdomen.

The rest is left to nature, or to the snow vultures and snow hyenas circling over the snowfields.

After tidying up, Gaode Maps is starting afresh.

After walking a few more kilometers, he was far from the battle site and it was getting dark, so he prepared to set up camp and rest.

As usual, Gao De first used [Druid Tricks] to check the weather for the next day, and then cast [Wild Acumen] to summon the Wild Spirits to help find a suitable campsite.

This is Wild Soul's area of ​​expertise.

A moment later, the Wild Spirit found a relatively flat, sheltered, and sunny spot nearby, with some low bushes around it that could serve as a natural barrier.

Clearly, this is an ideal location for setting up camp.

Once it found a campsite, the Wilderness Spirit immediately and very consciously began searching the surrounding area for dry branches and grass that could be used as fuel, stones to build a fire pit, and using Gaode's supplies, it built a simple campsite at the location it had found.

It set up the tent, untied the bedding, and took out the food that Gaode carried with him.

Having mastered this spell, Gao De's standard of living on the snowfield rose dramatically.

No wonder Baruch said that Wild Agility was a must-learn spell for Guardians.

Of course, that's all Wilderness Soul can do for now. More difficult tasks, like cooking, will have to be done by Gaode itself.

He quickly started a fire using his spark spell, then cut the lizard meat into small pieces and roasted them over the fire.

Meanwhile, a small pot was set up over the fire to boil water.

As for the Wild Soul, it was sent out by Gaode to continue searching for fuel.

The meat of the blue agave lizard is exceptionally delicious, and it tastes quite good even without seasoning.

After a long day of travel, being able to have a good meal put Gaode in a great mood.

Beside the campfire, God took out a map from the Snowfield clan and began to examine it.

Ten days have passed since he ran away from the Snowfield Guardians branch.

During this period, Gaode traveled an average of 40 kilometers per day, which is 400 kilometers in ten days.

But it's actually quite far from the northern coastline.

Because he entered the northern border from the Erwinaya Mountains section within the Duchy of Sien.

To reach the northern coastline, the journey would be roughly equivalent to traversing the entire Plantagenet Kingdom.

However, Gaode Maps isn't in a hurry.

Because he wasn't just traveling; while traveling, he was also actively "hunting monsters."

With other things to do, the journey became less boring.

After confirming that they were on the right track, Gaode Maps put away the map.

Flora sat on God's shoulders, warming herself by the fire with him.

Temperature changes have almost no effect on her.

But Flora was a clever copycat; seeing the mage warming himself by the fire, she joined him.

She even wanted to try whatever the monk ate.

"Master, are you about to begin your cultivation again?" Lady Flora asked as she saw Gao De put away the map.

Gao De nodded. "That's right."

"Lady Flora is also going to begin practicing magic."

"Then I wish Lady Flora every success tonight."

"We don't have horses."

"My bad, then I wish Lady Flora success tonight."

"Lady Flora almost succeeded last night, there will definitely be no problem today," the sly student said confidently.

"Yes, there shouldn't be any problem today."

"Lady Flora is indeed insightful; mere magic is no challenge for you at all," Gao De praised repeatedly.

Flora glanced at Gao De, and naturally agreed with his praise. Her eyes narrowed slightly, and her joy was evident.

"Really?"

"Of course, it usually takes at least half a year for a mage apprentice to master a spell!"

"Lady Flora has only been learning for less than a month!" Flora counted on her fingers carefully, and then became even happier.

"That's amazing."

"By the way, mage, how long does it take you to learn a spell?"

"."

"Huh?!" Flora tilted her head and looked at God.

"I'm about to begin my training for today. Lady Flora, you should also hurry up. As the saying goes, 'One effort is the most important, but the second will be less so, and the third will be exhausted.' Let's take advantage of the current momentum and strive to succeed tonight."

"How long does it take you to learn one spell?"

"."

"how long?"

"It only took that long."

"How long is 'so long'?"

"Two or three days, I guess."

Gao De dared not look at Flora again. After answering, he silently sat cross-legged, entered a meditative state, and began practicing the [Green Wood Longevity Sutra].

"?!?!"

Flora's eyes widened, as if she had been shocked by something, and she could no longer utter a word.

Gao De was awakened by Flora before he could finish his training for the day.

Of course, Flora is always very sensible. The reason she interrupted his cultivation was because she noticed something amiss and alerted God.

Gao De felt a chill run down his spine. He had just stood up when he realized that two figures had appeared simultaneously a hundred or two meters in front of and behind him.

This effectively blocked both his path forward and his retreat.

There were two people, one a man and the other wearing a bronze mask.

Gao De narrowed his eyes slightly.

"The Snowfield Guardians?" he confirmed.

Because on the two people's clothes, Gao De saw a familiar pattern that represented the "Guardians of the Snowfield".

"Yes, we are hunters of the Snowfield Guardians," the man blocking Gao De's path said in a deep voice.

These two were, of course, Loych and Catherine, who had followed the scent all the way here.

"What do you mean by this?" God asked Loych warily, while using telepathy to ask Flora to help him put away the "Breath of the Wild" that was in his bag.

His experience with Baruch gave him some understanding of the hunter group among the Snowfield Guardians.

In terms of combat power alone, the hunters are stronger than the guardians.

Therefore, although it is impossible to know the mage level of these two hunters, there is no doubt that they can absolutely crush him.

He doesn't yet know the other party's specific intentions, but it's clear they have ill intentions, so he must first keep the "Breath of the Wilderness" safe to avoid "being guilty of possessing a treasure."

"I have had dealings with your esteemed guardian, Baruch, and can be considered a friend of the Snowfield Guardians," God said in a deep voice.

"I knew I hadn't chosen the wrong person." Loich nodded in satisfaction when he saw that God had already revealed his identity before he even asked any questions.

(End of this chapter)