Above the mage

Chapter 341 The Essence and the Marco Polo Zone

If you don't understand, just ask.

This was the first thing Gao De's parents told him before he started school in his previous life.

That's what he did too.

Since the quest "[Lagos City Water Beast Expulsion]" has been posted for seven days and hasn't been taken by any other sea sentinel mages, Gaode isn't worried that it will be snatched away by someone else in a short while.

He chose to leave the White Tower of the Abyss first, to figure out the specifics of the mission before deciding whether to accept it.

As for Gao De, among the Sea Sentinels, aside from connections, the only people he knows are Melia and the Naxi Mage.

He was naturally too embarrassed to bother Master Naxi with such a trivial matter.

So, there's only one option left.

"Come in." Melia opened the door and looked at Gao De, who had suddenly come to visit. She was slightly surprised, but she still welcomed him in very politely and thoughtfully brewed him a cup of fine black tea.

"I'm bothering you again." Gao De was also a little embarrassed.

He had just troubled the other party a few days ago about purchasing a shop.

"It's nothing," Melia smiled slightly, pushing the teacup towards Gao De in a very friendly manner. "Is there something you need this time?"

"After passing the assessment, I'm ready to take on missions to earn military merits." Gao De didn't beat around the bush and directly voiced his question.

"Oh, you mean the [Lagos City Water Beast Expulsion] quest?" Melia's tone trailed off slightly.

"Your judgment is correct; this task is indeed not as simple as it seems on the surface."

She paused briefly, thought carefully, and organized her thoughts before continuing, "However, it's not what you think. This is actually a regular mission, not a trap set by nobles to mislead people."

Melia shrugged and said, "If this is a trap quest, and it's been hanging there for so long without anyone accepting it, then this trap is a complete failure."

"What's the reason that such a routine task has been posted for so long and no one is willing to take it?" Hearing Melia's words, Gao De became even more curious.

"It's because the mission itself has a very low cost-effectiveness ratio," Melia explained, picking up her teacup, taking a small sip to moisten her throat, and then continuing, "This mission isn't actually being issued for the first time."

"The octopuses and rotting salamanders in the Marco district are like roadside weeds, extremely resilient. You just drove away and cleared out a batch, and they'll pop up again in a few days."

"Therefore, the Lagos City water beast expulsion mission is posted approximately every three to four months."

"The main reason why no one wants to take on this mission is that the situation in the Marco district is too complicated, and no one likes to go there."

Melia spread her hands helplessly and said, "But once a mission is issued, it must be completed. If no one is willing to take it on, someone will be designated from above to complete the mission."

"The recent [Lagos City Water Beast Exorcism] quests have all been assigned to mages by higher-ups."

"Too complicated? What do you mean?" Gao De pressed, as this geographical and regional knowledge was precisely where his blind spot lay, as an outsider.

Melia sighed softly, and then explained the details to Gao De.

In earlier years, the city of Lagos discovered abundant and precious spiritual marrow resources.

The so-called spiritual essence is a viscous, silvery-blue gel-like substance that displays star-like spots of light on its surface when it comes into contact with air. It is naturally stored in underground crystal clusters known as psionic crystals.

Each drop of spiritual essence contains the equivalent of three days of magic power from a fourth-circle mage's meditation. After purification and refinement, it can be used as a high-level power source to drive golems and alchemy machines.

Alternatively, it can be used as a raw material to prepare "Spiritual Burning Liquid," a cultivation aid that many mages dream of.

In short, it has an exceptionally wide range of applications and is an extremely valuable resource.

The discovery of spiritual marrow resources brought unprecedented development opportunities to Lagos.

It rose rapidly and prospered in a very short time, attracting a large number of businessmen who wanted to get a share of the pie, and creating many jobs.

As a result, countless poor people flocked from all over the Barro County to Lagos to make a living.

In a short time, the population of Lagos increased dramatically.

It even became, at one point, the second largest city in Barrow County, second only to Dorne in terms of both population and economic prosperity.

Lagos, originally a traditional agricultural and fishing city with a large population, became overcrowded and its existing infrastructure was overwhelmed by the influx of so many newcomers.

Problems such as housing shortages, deteriorating sanitation, and a lack of public resources followed one after another.

Initially, the city of Lagos needed these cheap laborers to mine spiritual essence for them.

Seeing the endless stream of spiritual essence and enormous wealth, their greed was satisfied, so they reluctantly accepted the chaos in the city.

However, spiritual marrow resources are always limited. With continuous mining, spiritual marrow resources are gradually depleted, and spiritual energy crystals that shine with blue light are becoming increasingly rare.

Lagos no longer needed so many workers, and many poor people gradually lost their jobs, but they did not leave Lagos.

Having lived here for many years, they have become accustomed to it and have nowhere else to go.

However, without the spiritual essence, the overcrowding, chaos, and filth created by these outsiders gradually became unbearable for the city's nobles.

So the nobles joined forces with the city council and ordered these outsiders who did not have Lagos city residency to move out of Lagos city as soon as possible.

These homeless poor people were powerless to resist such orders.

Left with no other choice, they ended up in the desolate northern bay of Lagos.

There, they built bamboo rafts, constructed huts, and settled down.

Subsequently, more and more people flocked to this place and built their homes on the water.

Over time, the originally sparse shacks and bamboo rafts became denser, eventually forming a large floating slum community known as the Makoko district.

Due to the lack of official management and supervision, the Marco district was in a state of disorder and chaos from the very beginning.

The shacks and bamboo rafts here are haphazardly and haphazardly built without any planning whatsoever.

In some places, the shacks are tightly connected, and the narrow passages are only wide enough for one person to pass sideways; in others, bamboo rafts are randomly pieced together, uneven and without any pattern.

These shacks are connected to bamboo rafts, forming a vast, maze-like floating community where outsiders can easily lose their way.

Because the Marco district was a community spontaneously formed by the poor rather than being built by the government, there were no supporting facilities there.

There was no clean drinking water supply, no sanitary toilets, and no garbage disposal facilities.

Residents of the Marco district dump their garbage, sewage, and even excrement directly into the waterways.

Worn clothes, rotten food, and foul-smelling excrement drifted everywhere with the water.

Therefore, the sight and smell of the Marco district can be described as unbearable.

From a distance, the water was covered with all sorts of garbage, a truly shocking sight. Getting closer, the pungent stench was almost suffocating.

To make matters worse, Lagos, partly for convenience and partly to drive away the poor living in the Marcoko district, directly discharged sewage from the city into the northern bay waters where the Marcoko district is located through underground pipes.

The massive amounts of urban sewage have completely destroyed the already fragile ecosystem here.

After such multiple buffs, the water in the Marco area has become murky, and the surface is often covered with a thick layer of oil.

Even the most physically strong aquatic beasts couldn't endure such waters, and the creatures that originally lived in these waters fled one after another.

Only the octopus and the putrid salamander, two aquatic creatures that naturally prefer putrid environments, frequent this place and thrive in the murky water.

To drive away and eliminate the sea monsters, going into the water is an unavoidable task.

Given the aquatic environment of the Marco district, even commoner mages would frown upon seeing it, let alone go into the water to drive away sea monsters.

"This task isn't particularly difficult; it's quite routine. But if you're talking about ease, very few people could tolerate the environment in the Marco district."

Melia frowned the entire time she was introducing the Marco district, clearly having a strong impression of that place.

"Moreover," Melia lowered her voice slightly, "to be honest, when we sea sentinels go down to various places to carry out missions, even if we're not greeted with gongs and drums, they always arrange some kind of reception for us, and those nobles are very polite to us."

"But when we go to Marco to carry out missions, nobody pays any attention to us. Even the nobles and those in power in Lagos City would prefer that we not come, so that those water beasts can drive away the poor people of Marco district." Her tone was tinged with helplessness and a hint of sympathy.

"You know what I mean, right?" Melia winked at God, everything was understood without saying a word.

Good grief, this is a thankless task.

Gaode Secret Passage.

"However," Melia thought for a moment, then revealed to God, "the higher-ups have also taken these points into consideration, so the military merit reward for the [Lagos City Water Beast Expulsion] mission is doubled compared to other similar missions, just to encourage us to take on this mission proactively."

"Of course, it turns out that the doubled reward wasn't very tempting," Melia said, pursing her lips. "I might consider it if it were three or four times the original amount."

Even for a female mage like Melia, who has a more heroic air, her tolerance for the environment is much lower than that of male mages.

"I understand, thank you." Gao De clasped his hands in thanks.

Having figured out the details of the "Lagos City Water Beast Expulsion" quest, he wisely chose to give it up.

He had no need to be the one to stand out from the crowd on a mission that was disliked by all the sea sentinel mages.

Besides, even if he doesn't mind the environment of the Marco waters, Tuanzi will!

Capybaras can adapt to various waters, but they should avoid polluted water.

Tuanzi has lived in Biboting since birth. Her first mission is to go to a place like the Marco District. The child is still young, so we must not leave a bad impression on him.

The next day, there was a knock on Gaode's door early in the morning.

He opened the door and found a mage dressed in a sea sentinel uniform. Judging from the badge on the man's shoulder, his rank was sergeant.

"Sergeant," Gao De greeted.

The other person nodded slightly. "I've come to see you today because I have a task to assign you."

Gao De was slightly taken aback. "What mission?"

The other party handed over a piece of parchment.

"The quest '[Lagos City Water Beast Expulsion]' has been posted for over a week without anyone volunteering to accept it. According to the rules, a suitable mage who is currently free of other quests should be assigned to the quest by the higher-ups. The person they have chosen is you."

"Okay, I received it." Gao De took the parchment.

Such assigned tasks cannot be refused.

"Set off as soon as possible, don't delay too long," the sergeant instructed again before leaving.

After watching the other party leave, Gao De returned to his room, unfolded the parchment, which contained a detailed description of the task and the deadline. This parchment would also serve as the voucher required for later reimbursement.

He just passed the training assessment two days ago and hasn't completed a single task yet; he's a complete novice.

This kind of assigned task should never have been given to him in any way.

But that's exactly what happened.

The reasons behind this are obvious.

"Is this also your way of suppressing me?" Gao De murmured softly.

This is the way nobles operate; within the bounds of the rules, they have countless ways to "disgust" you.

"Let's do it then, at least it's double the reward." Gao De quickly adjusted his mindset.

Let's finish the task first.

He carefully put away the parchment and took out the Sea Sentinel Mage's uniform from the wardrobe.

Although it is the lowest-ranking uniform for novice monks, it is still very well made.

The main coat for the upper body is a double-breasted short woolen coat, all blue, made of windproof material.

Lined with a waterproof whale stomach membrane, the lower garment consisted of charcoal gray breeches paired with non-slip octopus-skin boots, ensuring the mage could walk on the wet deck with ease.

The overall outfit is fitted and has many cinched areas, and it also comes with a belt.

Since sea sentinel mages mostly carry out missions on water, they need to travel by boat and face the wind. If their clothes are too loose, they will flap loudly in the wind.

That's only suitable for composing poems, not for fighting.

I changed into a uniform because it was fitted and showed off my figure.

However, Gaode has been in this world for more than two years. After getting enough nutrition, he has grown taller and is no longer the thin and weak man he was at the beginning. He looks quite upright now.

Afterwards, Gao De took out his capybara bag, which he had kept for a long time, put it on his back, and went out to Biboting to pick up the capybara dumplings.

The breeze is coming, and the water waves are not happy.

The next moment, a ripple appeared on the calm water surface.

Tuanzi stared at a clump of water plants emerging from the ground, its eyes darting around as it looked at Gaode on the shore.

Didn't you just come to see me a couple of days ago? Why are you here again today?

The dumpling was puzzled.

"We have a mission. Get ready to come out with me," Gao De explained.

"oi!" Tuanzi exclaimed excitedly, as if she could already see the new environment, food, and interesting scenery.

This is its first time going on a long trip.

Naturally, I was filled with anticipation.

You're happy now, but you'll regret it later.

Gao De silently mourned for the excited Tuanzi in his heart.

"Come in." He opened the capybara pouch, which was half-filled with clear liquid, with many tiny bubbles slowly rising.

If you get close and smell it carefully, you can also detect a faint, fresh scent.

This is a specially formulated nutrient solution from Biboting, rich in oxygen and magic.

The dumpling let out another excited shout, its voice clear, loud, and full of energy.

Immediately afterwards, a dense surge of magical energy emanated from its body.

Its originally round body began to shrink rapidly, and its limbs also gradually shortened.

The capybara's innate extraordinary ability—the ability to shrink animals.

In the blink of an eye, the dumpling shrank to a "cute little thing" less than half a meter tall.

Gao De bent down and aimed the capybara bag at the shore.

With a splash of water, Tuanzi jumped into the capybara pouch on its own, and called out a few times to indicate that everything was fine.

Gao De then pulled up the capybara bag, tied the straps, and carried the capybara bag steadily on his back.

Lagos, let's go!

(End of this chapter)