Above the mage

Chapter 378 Great Success

The Essence of Life!

So this is the essence of life.

Looking at the three drops of viscous blue gel in the crystal bottle, Gao De was filled with emotion.

This is the thing that brought Lagos a brief golden decade.

The price paid was a prolonged economic depression following the Spirit Essence Craze and the emergence of the Marco district.

The latter has become a "malignant tumor" that is difficult to eradicate in Lagos.

However, compared to the essence itself, Gao De was actually more concerned with the information revealed in Master Lu Ping's words.

"The Embroidery Nail Gang has been raided, and all their assets have been confiscated?"

According to his understanding, in order to keep it a secret, the matter of the water beast in Marco District was only known to Aldridge and his seven henchmen, who were involved in it.

"Yes."

Master Lu Ping nodded slightly and, without mincing words, said directly to Gao De, "They usually engage in petty, underhanded dealings, which the local nobles and officials turn a blind eye to. But since they've become involved in the Marcoko District water beast incident and you've discovered their connection, they can no longer be tolerated and must be dealt with."

"No one in this kind of gang is clean; it's just that nobody checks them out normally."

It turned out to be the case.

Gao De suddenly felt enlightened.

From this perspective, the Embroidered Nail Gang was implicated by Aldrich, but they are definitely not innocent.

To rid the people of harm.

Good.

"All confiscated items are put to public use; that's the rule. But the unwritten rule is to allocate a portion to those who have made contributions."

"The Marco Polo District water beast incident had a great impact, and you, as the discoverer, deserve the most credit."

However, the Embroidery Nail Gang's overall involvement in this matter was minimal, only related to Aldrich. Therefore, your final reward is these three drops of spiritual essence taken from Aldrich's private stash.

Knowing that Gao De was new to the Sea Sentinels and might not be familiar with their various rules and traditions, Master Lu Ping took the opportunity to give Gao De a brief introduction.

"This is the most precious thing in all his possessions."

Gao De gazed intently at the spiritual essence within the crystal bottle.

Before heading to Lagos, he consulted with Melia to gather information, so he had some understanding of the Spirit Essence.

The spiritual essence contains extremely powerful magic, equivalent to a fourth-circle mage ... mage m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m

The most amazing thing about the Spirit Essence is its extremely high density of magical energy.

A single drop of gelatinous substance, though tiny in size, can contain such immense magical power; it's not hard to imagine how astonishing the energy per unit volume must be.

The two main uses of spiritual marrow are, firstly, after purification and refining, as a high-level power source to drive golems and alchemy machines.

Secondly, it serves as a raw material for preparing "Spiritual Burning Liquid," which rapidly increases a mage's magical power.

"You can keep the spirit marrow to have a professional potion maker concoct spirit flammable liquid, or you can sell it directly for cash, but never swallow the spirit marrow directly." Seemingly noticing the burning gaze that Gao De was looking at the spirit marrow, the mage Lupin reminded him again.

He was very friendly to Gao De, because his task was simply to deliver the spirit essence, and his current reminder was even considered well-intentioned.

"You're from out of town, so you might not know much about spiritual marrow. You might think that since it contains such rich magical power, it's like a magical plant that you can just swallow it directly."

"The reason why magical plants can do this is because they are plants themselves and are edible."

However, the essence of spiritual marrow is a mineral resource, and therefore, in addition to its magical power, it also contains various impurities harmful to the human body. Direct ingestion will cause great harm to the body.

"When the spirit marrow was first discovered, some people swallowed it whole. Initially, their magical power did indeed surge with the help of the rich magic power of the spirit marrow."

However, the good fortune didn't last long. Just a few days later, those who had swallowed the spiritual marrow began to experience symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue. In severe cases, they even fell into a coma or convulsed. Upon examination, it was determined that these symptoms were caused by toxic and harmful substances in the spiritual marrow.

"This symptom is also known as spiritual marrow disease."

"Thank you for the reminder." Gao De nodded solemnly, then put the crystal bottle away.

"There's one more thing you should pay attention to," Master Lupin pondered for a moment, then added, "You'd better not take on any missions in Lagos City for the next year or two."

"What do you mean?" Gao De's eyes flickered slightly, already guessing what was going on.

Master Lupin nodded. "The Marco district water beast incident was extremely serious. In order to prevent the person behind it from sacrificing the pawn to save the king, our sea sentinels launched a thorough investigation as quickly as possible. Before they could even react, the whole incident was thoroughly investigated and the truth was revealed."

It was indeed very fast.

It has only been twenty days since he returned to Dorne, and now it is already time to reward those who have made contributions. This shows how significant the Sea Sentinels' operation was.

Master Lupin continued, "This incident has far-reaching implications. Many nobles in Lagos have been involved, and some have even lost their titles. It has had a huge impact and caused a great shock in Lagos."

"You made a great contribution to this matter and were the key discoverer. Those nobles who were punished for this matter will certainly not dare to have any dissatisfaction or take any revenge against our Sea Sentinel organization."

But for an outsider like you, a sea sentinel mage, it's inevitable that they'll harbor resentment. And if you happen to accept a mission from Lagos City at this time…”

He paused for a moment before continuing, "Once you're on their territory, while they probably won't be so lawless as to directly retaliate against you, there's a high probability that they'll sabotage you behind your back, and it would be extremely easy for them."

"I understand," Gao De said.

It's the same in any world: those so-called "upper class" people, after being punished, often don't reflect on their mistakes, but instead scheme for revenge.

After seeing off Master Lupin, Gao De thought for a moment and decided to stick to the original plan, heading out to the Collingwood Sword Academy across the street for his swordsmanship lesson.

During this period, he planned to reflect and deliberate.

With three second-class merits already under his belt, there's no pressure to get them evaluated, so Gao De isn't planning to take on any more missions until he's mastered swordsmanship and completed the construction of Leomon's magic network.

It's also a good time to lay low and avoid the limelight.

A month passed in the blink of an eye.

The year 9657 of the Nolan calendar ended quietly, and the year 9658 began.

A lot actually happened throughout the year.

In the first half of the year, Gaode established a foothold in the northern region.

In the latter half of the year, he acquired an official status within the Golden Plantagenet Dynasty.

Both flowers bloom.

During this month of diligent and low-key cultivation, Gao De Li Oumeng's magic network construction progressed steadily, successfully crossing the threshold of two hundred magic networks.

By this time, the six hundred bottles of Kai Mai Ding that the Naxi monk had helped him apply for last time were already empty.

Left with no other choice, Gaode had to submit another application for approval to obtain a new batch of Kaimai Ding (a type of medicated plaster).

The whole process went very smoothly, and just the next day, another 600 bottles of Kaimai Tincture were delivered.

This amount of Qi-opening tincture was enough for him to complete the construction of the remaining magic meridians in one go.

On the other hand, he also took sword skills classes for a month and a half. Since swordsmanship itself is a process of cultivating muscle memory, Gao De never missed a single class.

A spacious and bright fencing training room.

The wooden floor gleamed with a brownish-yellow luster under the light.

A faint smell of sweat filled the air.

The swordsmanship instructor moved with agility, continuously thrusting his fine steel longsword toward Gao De.

Every time he drew his sword, it was with composure and sharpness. His swordsmanship was as smooth as flowing water, sometimes as swift as a tiger, sometimes as light as a swallow, launching wave after wave of attacks on Gao De.

Gao De focused intently on the swordsmanship instructor's every move, skillfully parrying, dodging, and countering with his keen senses and quick reflexes.

Compared to the swordsmanship instructor's fluid movements, Gao De's actions were noticeably immature and stiff, though they were full of power.

The swordsmanship instructor seized the opportunity, took a step forward, and thrust his sword toward Gao De's chest like lightning.

Gao De's pupils contracted, and he quickly turned to the side, simultaneously raising his sword to precisely deflect his mentor's blade.

Immediately afterwards, he turned his foot and swung his sword in a smooth arc to counterattack, the wind whistling through the air.

The opponent nodded slightly, a hint of approval flashing in his eyes. He then used his movement technique to easily dodge Gao De's attack and took the opportunity to launch a series of rapid attacks. The sword shadows clashed, dazzling the eyes.

This made it difficult for Gao De to defend himself, let alone fight back. In such a fast-paced confrontation, fine beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead.

But given his skill level, and the fact that even the most meticulous plans can have flaws, the sword instructor finally thrust his sword at an unexpected angle, accurately piercing Gao De's chest.

Gaode was unable to defend himself, while his opponent was clearly going all out throughout the entire process without holding back at all. Under such circumstances, it was absolutely impossible for him to stop.

Despite the extreme danger, neither of them panicked in the slightest.

Clang!

The swordsmanship instructor's sword seemed to have encountered some invisible shield, coming to an abrupt halt with a dull thud.

【Blade Protection+】.

The instant-cast [Blade Protection+] is enough to make Gaode invincible against this weapon attack.

This allows swordsmanship instructors to push the intensity without any worries and engage in real combat drills with Gaode, without fear of accidental injury.

Once the intensity increases, progress will naturally be faster.

The swordsmanship instructor slowly sheathed his sword, performed a swordsman's salute, and said with a smile, "Venerable Master Gaode, today's swordsmanship lesson is now over."

"Thank you for your trouble." Gao De also sheathed his sword.

"You've improved so quickly," the swordsmanship instructor laughed.

With a fixed 1-2 hours of lessons every day, coupled with the fact that the swordsmanship instructor himself is indeed quite skilled, Gao De's progress is clearly visible.

"Even without the bonuses from your inherent mage abilities, you still possess extremely high talent in swordsmanship," the swordsmanship instructor couldn't help but praise.

"From the very beginning, your sword-wielding and sword-drawing postures were full of mistakes, but now you can fight me for such a long time. It's unbelievable that you've only practiced for a month and a half."

If I didn't become a Taoist priest, perhaps I could have become a great swordsman?

Gao De let his mind wander for a moment.

Of course, that's impossible.

A sword immortal might be worth considering, but a swordsman is not even a hair's breadth from a mage.

Just like his swordsmanship mentor, who was already top-notch in swordsmanship, what use was that in front of the mage?

One trick, [Blade Protection], can cripple most of the opponent.

In terms of cultivation, Gao De was not stingy with himself and directly booked a three-month session of a third-level cultivation room at a nearby cultivation hall.

The normal rental price for a Tier 3 training room is 10 gold coins for two hours.

The monthly subscription price is two hours of use per day in the Tier 3 training room, with a total monthly cost of 250 gold.

If you maintain perfect attendance, it's equivalent to saving 50 gold coins.

There's not much to say. Gaode simply waved his hand and threw out 750 Golden Bird Coins, which is equivalent to throwing in a shop.

This is the ability of a mage to burn through money.

Of course, this situation is rare for Gaode Maps, and it falls under the category of overspending.

Generally speaking, only second-level mages would rent a third-level cultivation room.

It's extremely rare for a mage like Gao De, who is at the first level of cultivation, to rent a third-level training room for daily use.

Noble mages with this kind of money have their own high-level cultivation rooms at home and do not need to rent them.

How could a non-noble first-ring mage afford such a fee?

You get what you pay for.

With the enhancements from the third-tier training room, Gao De successfully condensed his 41st drop of liquid mana.

Of course, there is an upper limit to the benefits that magic concentration can provide to a first-level mage's training.

Before reaching the fourth-tier spiritual land, the concentration of magic power and the speed of cultivation generally exhibit a linear relationship.

After reaching the fourth-tier spiritual land, the increase in magic concentration will hardly improve Gaode's cultivation speed.

Therefore, there is no unreasonable claim that a high-level mage can advance rapidly in a day if they cultivate in an eighth-tier spiritual land.

To put it somewhat aptly, the difference in experience between a hotel costing 1 Silver Dragon per night and one costing 5 Silver Dragons per night is readily apparent.

However, the difference in experience between a hotel costing 5 gold coins per night and one costing 50 gold coins per night is not that significant.

The virtuous one, immersed in his spiritual training, received another piece of good news at the end of the Frosty Month (January):

He got promoted!

More accurately, it should be described as a promotion in military rank.

"In view of Master Gaode's performance and contributions in the year 9657 of the Norlan calendar, after comprehensive evaluation by the Sea Sentinel Military Merit Department, it has been decided to promote you to a higher military rank."

"."

"Your rank has been promoted from Second-Class Apprentice Mage to First-Class Apprentice Mage."

Looking at the still-warm promotion notification, Gaode nodded in satisfaction.

Although it's just a minor promotion, it's quite remarkable for a grassroots mage to rise this fast.

Moreover, the military merit requirement for a trainee mage to be promoted to sergeant mage is only a second-class merit, which he has already met.

He hasn't been a Sea Sentinel for a full year yet, so he can't be promoted directly.

Here, we must mention the rank promotion system for naval sentries.

The primary indicator, without a doubt, is military merit, which carries the highest weight.

As long as one's military merits meet the standards, it is not impossible to be promoted two or three times a year.

Another important indicator is one's own mage level.

For example, a warrant officer-level mage needs to meet the requirements for military merit and also need to reach the second ring mage level. This is a hard requirement, and there is almost no possibility of exceptions.

However, the requirement for the number of years is not very strict, or rather, there is none.

The reason why Gaode Maps is restricted by the age limit is also due to special circumstances:

The first year as a sea sentinel is called the probationary year.

During the probationary period, the rank of a monk is naturally inseparable from that of a probationary monk.

Under normal circumstances, no mage can achieve enough merit in the first year to be promoted to sergeant-level mage, so this restriction is basically not a restriction.

But now, Gaode Maps is precisely stuck with this restriction.

There's no point in seeking justice in this kind of situation; you just have to accept it.

Anyway, the credit is there, it won't be lost, and there's no such thing as wiping it out, so Gaode isn't in a hurry.

call!Suck!

The continuous breathing sound rose and fell like waves.

The long and powerful rhythm was exactly like the pulsation of the waves.

Gao De sat cross-legged, his body rising and falling with the rhythm of his breathing, full of rhythm and power.

His body was burning with heat.

That was the medicinal power of the pulse-opening tincture flowing, bringing heat and stinging wherever it went.

At this moment, within Gao De's body, hundreds of thick magical veins intertwined and connected, complex yet orderly, like a meticulously designed transportation network.

These large main magic energy channels, compared to those tiny, almost imperceptible magic energy channels, are not only different in size, but also shimmer with a faint golden light, making them particularly dazzling within the body.

Magical power flows freely between these magical veins, like a stream of cars.

There was no congestion whatsoever; the entire journey was on highways. Any point on Gaode's body could be taken as the destination, with a corresponding direct route, allowing the magic to arrive quickly and accurately.

At this moment, Gao De was channeling the medicinal power of the Meridian Opening Tincture to open up another thin, hair-like magical meridian, reshaping and expanding it to make it more resilient and wider, capable of carrying more magical power.

This is the 365th main magic channel he is building, and also the last magic channel in Leomon's magic channel network.

Leomon's Magic Network, today is the day of its completion!

(End of this chapter)