Above the mage

Chapter 388 Consuming Spiritual Marrow

Previously, Gao De had ordered the hunters of the Zhenbing tribe to go out hunting and bring back ley line creatures to Phoenix so that he could kill them and quickly obtain the source.

With this, he quickly acquired a large amount of first-level source material, which he "squandered" until now, when he has fallen into financial difficulties again.

The reason why the hunters were not allowed to continue hunting was that the hunters of the Zhenbing tribe had already searched through most of the common first-ring ley line creatures in the area near the Zhenbing tribe, so continuing the hunt would be pointless and inefficient.

Another point is that Gaode now travels between the Plantagenet Kingdom and the North, and often only returns once every few months.

These captured creatures must be fed before Gaode can "harvest" their essence.

At that time, Jinhui Farm was still being developed and expanded in full swing, and the grain was not yet plentiful. After some consideration, Gao De decided not to add any extra burden to Phoenix.

After nearly a year of development, Phoenix now has sufficient manpower and food supplies, making it easy for them to take on this additional work.

However, one troublesome thing is that most of those leyline creatures are carnivores, so you can't just feed them barley directly. You have to spend some extra effort to provide them with food.

These ley line creatures are meant to be "slaughtered" by Gaode; there's no need to feed them too well, but it wouldn't do to let them starve to death either.

While pondering the food problem, Gao De suddenly remembered the [Divine Berry Technique] he had just obtained from the Sea Sentinels in exchange for a second-class merit:

Up to 10 berries will appear in your hand. The berries are imbued with magic for the duration of the spell. Each transformed berry provides the nutrition of a normal meal for a medium-sized creature. The created berries will lose their power if they are not eaten within 24 hours of the spell being cast.

Additional: Berries created by this spell will have a strong attraction to animals.

A single berry can provide the nutrition needed for a normal meal for a medium-sized organism.

Furthermore, after adding points to Wind Spirit Moon Shadow, it also possesses a strong attraction to animals.

Even carnivores, under the effects of magic, would certainly find it hard to resist a divine strawberry.

From this perspective, aren't the berries obtained from the [Divine Berry Technique] just like a serving of animal feed?

Moreover, it is the perfect animal feed that is purely natural, healthy, pollution-free, and highly compressed.

However, the berry's effects only last for 24 hours, which means it cannot be used on a large scale.

That makes sense. But the moment Gao De thought of the [Divine Berry Technique], he also thought of Flora.

A berry, from a botanical definition, is a juicy, soft-fleshed fruit that usually contains several seeds.

In Gaode's previous life, common berries included grapes, tomatoes, blueberries, and kiwis.

Since there are seeds and Flora is there, can we grow the corresponding Divine Berry Tree?

To be fair, Flora has never had a plant that she can't grow.

After planting the corresponding Divine Berry tree, will the Divine Berry that grows have the same effect as the [Divine Berry Spell]?

Gao De didn't know the answer to this either, because he couldn't determine whether the reason the created berries had those peculiar effects was because the spell directly and temporarily changed the nature of the berries, or whether a special spell effect was simply added to the berries, and the berries were just a carrier of the spell, without any change in themselves.

In the former case, theoretically speaking, as long as a berry seed that still has magical power is planted, the corresponding berry will have the same power after it grows.

The latter would only result in some ordinary berries that taste alright.

Whether it will work or not, let's try it first and see.

Gao De didn't dwell on it, found Flora, and expressed his thoughts.

"Leave it to Lady Flora." The little girl's reply was also very straightforward, and she became very enthusiastic.

Everyone behaves this way in their area of ​​expertise, and little people are no exception.

"Then I'll have to trouble Lady Flora to come with me on this arduous journey again," Gao De said softly.

"Lady Flora is used to it."

Although Flora's tone was normal and shouldn't have any other hidden meaning, Gao De still felt inexplicably guilty.

After all, Phoenix's current success is largely due to Flora's contributions and hard work.

In comparison, his title of "King of Zhenbing" has a somewhat hands-off capitalist feel to it.

After packing everything he needed to take to the Plantagenet Kingdom, God rode on Deputy Minister Grant's pet snow wolf and, escorted by Deputy Director Lanwen, headed straight for Valar Bay.

As for Flora, once he arrives at Valar Bay, he can be brought over by canceling and recasting [Summon Familiar].

Lady Flora could accept simply going through the motions in the dark room.

—That's equivalent to loading a transition progress bar.

Upon arriving at Valar Bay, we went directly into the Sacred Tree Camp and arrived at the foot of the Yogathira Tree.

Gaode summons Flora and then casts [Divine Berry+].

As the spell model was activated, the power of the spell was unleashed, and a pale green light instantly flowed from Gao De's fingertips, gentle yet full of upgrade.

Amidst the hazy green light, specks of gold shimmered, drawn by an unseen force, gradually coalescing into plump berries.

There are ten berries in total, about the size of blackberries, with a crystal-clear skin that faintly glows with an emerald green light. They look somewhat like diamonds, and the most standard kind at that.

Each berry was plump and round, with a faint magic flowing across its surface. The juice inside was exceptionally plentiful, condensing into threads, as if tiny vines were flowing beneath the skin.

A gentle breeze carries a sweet fragrance, somewhat like a blend of wild berries and honey, sweet but not cloying, with a hint of the grass and wood scent from deep in the forest, fresh and natural.

The scent must be what attracts the animals.

The moment Gao De saw the berries appear, Grant's snow wolf twitched its nose slightly, and its previously languid body instantly tensed up.

Its eyes widened, its gaze becoming unusually intense as it stared intently at the berries in his hand, letting out a low, unconscious whimper.

However, it had already been tamed, so even though it was tempted by the aroma of the divine berry and could not control itself, it did not do anything out of line.

Gao De smiled slightly and casually tossed a berry to the snow wolf, "Thank you for your hard work."

Every time I returned to the North, traveling between Vallar Bay and Phoenix, it was always this vehicle that carried me.

The snow wolf's tense body sprang forward instantly, accurately catching the berry that Gaode threw, and began to chew it gently. Its tail swayed unconsciously from side to side, constantly slapping the snow behind it, splashing up a cloud of fine snowflakes.

The berry wasn't large, so it was swallowed in almost two bites, followed by a soft burp.

—I'm full.

Seeing this, Gao De finally gained a clear understanding of the [Divine Berry Technique+]'s ability to "have a powerful attraction to animals".

Seeing this, his eyes flickered slightly, and he thought of some uses where [Divine Berry Technique+] might have a surprising effect.

However, the most important thing right now is to plant trees.

Gao De picked up a divine berry, setting the rest aside for the time being. Then, he gently pinched the berry open with his fingers, releasing an even richer, sweeter aroma into the air.

He carefully picked a dark brown seed, the seed of the Divine Berry, and handed it to Flora: "I'll leave it to you, Lady Flora."

Flora took the seed.

"Gem Sweet Berry."

"Um?"

"Its name."

"oh!"

"It can be grown!"

Is it troublesome?

"It needs to be watered with moon dew and fed with gemstone powder regularly."

"Moonlight and dew?"

"Dew collected on a moonlit night."

"Any kind of gemstone will do?"

"Yes."

"That's easy." Gao De breathed a sigh of relief. He was worried that it might require a specific type of gemstone. If he was lucky, the North might have it, but if he was unlucky, he might not be able to find it no matter how hard he looked.

Since it's just a gemstone, then it's easy.

"Have Sunefa prepare gem powder for Lady Flora," he said to Flora.

"Lady Flora will tell her."

After confirming that they could meet the growth requirements of the "Gemberry," Gaode was relieved.

"Then I'll be going now. I'll leave this place to Lady Flora?" He asked Flora for her opinion.

"Just leave it to Lady Flora," Flora said, striking a pose befitting the Minister of Agriculture, patting her chest confidently.

Gao De nodded, preparing to activate the astral teleportation.

Turning around, he found Flora sitting on a leaf of Yugathira, staring at him intently.

"..." Gao De, feeling inexplicably embarrassed, asked helplessly, "Why is Lady Flora staring at me?"

"Sending it to the mage~" Flora countered, "What's wrong?"

Flora usually sits on God's shoulders, but this time she's unusually sitting higher than him, the two of them looking at each other from above.

Looking into Flora's clear eyes, God finally gave in, "I'll take Flora out to play again before I come back next time."

His clear gaze became intense.

"Even four horses can't catch up!" she said, flapping her wings and finally stopping looking at Gao De.

Multicolored astral energy flowed down from the leaves of Yogg-Sarah's leaves, quickly converging into a mysterious and magnificent astral portal.

Gao De carried the enormous bundle, which even with the [Heavy Burden] spell on his back, feeling somewhat strained, took a deep breath, adjusted his pace, and stepped inside.

When he reappeared, he was already back in the living area on the second floor of the Walmart Magic Supplies store.

The shop does not provide accommodation for its employees.

After closing his shop at night, Joel returned to his rented apartment. The second floor still belonged to Gaode Maps, and Joel was not allowed to go upstairs without permission.

Therefore, Gao De was not afraid that his sudden appearance would cause Joel to overthink things, since he had no idea when he arrived.

Looking at the time, the North and the Plantagenet Kingdom seemed to be separated only by the Erwinaya Mountains, but because of the vastness of the North, the distance was not close, and there was also some "time difference".

It is currently afternoon.

Sunlight streamed through the window, casting patches of golden light on the floor.

It is a completely different style from the northern scenery of the North.

Gao De first took out the high-grade blood food prepared for Tuanzi, and then carried the full package of Northern Territory special magical materials downstairs.

As usual, there were no customers in the shop at this time. Joel was sitting there, looking rather bored, when he heard Gao De's heavy footsteps and instinctively turned his head to look.

Upon discovering Gaode Maps, he immediately and astutely stepped forward to offer his assistance.

After the two of them worked together to carry the large package downstairs, Joel breathed a slight sigh of relief, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

He was a little curious about what was in the package, but he didn't ask any questions.

"Unpack the package and put the items up," Gao De waved his hand, indicating.

"Yes, sir." Upon hearing God's instructions, Joel immediately sprang into action.

Was it cargo?

As he pondered this, he squatted down and skillfully untied the knots on the package with both hands.

As soon as the opening was opened, a dazzling array of magical materials poured out with a clattering sound, which was particularly loud in the deserted shop.

The first thing that caught his eye was a piece of ore that emitted a faint blue light, its surface covered with strange patterns, and inside the ore, there seemed to be a blue liquid flowing slowly.

"Froststar Ore, a third-tier ore, contains abundant ice element magic, suitable for crafting ice element extraordinary equipment. This piece weighs almost three pounds, so let's price it at 350 gold coins. Place it in the most conspicuous position."

When Gao De saw Joel pick up the ore, he took the opportunity to explain it to him, so that Joel could later promote it to customers and set a price.

This is already the highest-level magical material that Gaode brought over.

Walmart's magic supplies store is still small in scale, just an inconspicuous little magic supplies store. If it were to bring too many high-end magic supplies, it would be "unworthy of its status".

Just like a small gold shop in the countryside selling "Heart of the Ocean," whether anyone can afford it or whether others believe it's genuine is another matter. It's bound to be burgled the next day or even attract robbers.

Therefore, Gao De brought a wide variety of magical materials, but the quality was mainly first-tier. He brought this piece of Cold Star Ore as a store's prized possession to attract customers.

The thick, white horn belonged to the Frosthorn Deer, a first-tier leyline creature, along with a cyan skull and various crystal fragments. Joel placed these magical materials one by one on the counter.

Gaode explained the pricing to Joel while simultaneously setting the corresponding prices.

Joel's eyes gleamed as he memorized Gao De's explanation.

It took almost an hour to finish.

Joel was exhausted, but extremely excited, his face flushed.

Because the "boss" finally stocked up on goods, and it was such a large quantity of high-quality products.

He no longer has to worry about Walmart's Magic Supplies store going out of business and him losing his job.

After arranging things at the Walmart Magic Material Store, Gao De took the blood food from Tuanzi, left the store, and returned to the Sea Sentinel's dormitory.

Although the Magic Material Shop also offers accommodation, the "dormitory" provided by the Sea Sentinels is currently more complete in terms of both environment and surrounding facilities.

Therefore, Gaode still stays in the dormitory, and some important items are also kept in the dormitory.

Even if the other person is not there, no thief would be so audacious as to steal from the Shanghai sentry's territory.

Upon returning to the sea sentry barracks, Gao De prepared to begin something he had been planning for some time.

He took out an extremely exquisite crystal bottle from a box under the bed in the bedroom.

The bottle contained three drops of a viscous blue gel.

The essence of life.

Looking at the three drops of spiritual essence, Gao De hesitated for a moment, his brows furrowing slightly, but he quickly made up his mind, his eyes becoming resolute.

Gao De took a deep breath, opened the bottle, tilted his head back, and stretched his neck slightly.

He tilted the crystal bottle slightly, and a drop of spiritual essence, under the influence of gravity, slid down extremely smoothly and precisely into Gao De's mouth.

Upon tasting it, Gaode felt an unpleasant, pungent taste erupt in his mouth, somewhat like gasoline.

But since things have already come to this point, there's no point in regretting it.

Gao De swallowed slightly, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. Master Lu Ping had solemnly warned him that the spiritual marrow contained a deadly poison, and he swallowed it into his stomach just like that!

(End of this chapter)