Above the mage

Chapter 389 Further Evolution

The moment the spiritual essence slid down his throat, Gao De could clearly feel the powerful magic it contained, like a surging tide rushing in all at once.

In an instant, an indescribable power erupted within him, rampaging through his magical meridians.

Gao De's body trembled slightly, his forehead was instantly covered with fine beads of sweat, his facial muscles tightened, and his jaw clenched unconsciously.

It was also at this time that he discovered another benefit from Leomon's magic network:

The magic network, constructed from 360 main magic channels, gave Gao De a magic tolerance far exceeding that of ordinary people.

A single drop of spiritual essence contains the equivalent of three days of meditation by a fourth-ring mage. This powerful magical force would be a terrifying shock to a first-ring mage.

This is like the Yangtze River suddenly rushing into a river, which can instantly cause the river to collapse.

However, the numerous main magic channels acted like countless branching rivers, effectively diluting the impact of this powerful magic and giving Gao De ample buffer time.

However, the main magical energy channels are helpless against the harmful substances contained in the spiritual essence.

As the magic flowed, Gao De could clearly feel a burning, stimulating sensation spreading throughout his body.

Master Lu Ping once said that those who ingest spiritual marrow can indeed experience a surge in magical power, but the price they pay is that they will all suffer from "spiritual marrow disease" afterward.

Because spiritual essence is different from ordinary magical plants, in addition to magical power, it also contains a very high concentration of harmful impurities.

Gaode is not a stubborn person; he understands the pros and cons involved.

Despite Master Lu Ping's warning, he still chose to swallow the spiritual marrow.

The confidence we have all comes from our ability to adapt.

In the process of building Leomon's magic network, he consumed countless bottles of the equally "potent" Opening Pulse Tincture.

Under the stimulation of the pulse-opening tincture, his body's anti-toxicity and metabolic capabilities were greatly enhanced:

[Your immunity to toxins increases by 85.9%, and your body's organs' ability to digest, metabolize, and eliminate various toxins increases by 84.5%].

Due to excessive use, and even in the later stages, the body developed additional resistance to the Kaimai Tincture. After one or two bottles, it was like drinking plain water, producing no stimulation to the body.

Therefore, Gao De chose to consume the spiritual essence.

In fact, the idea had already crossed his mind when Master Lu Ping warned him not to swallow the spiritual marrow raw.

Firstly, setting aside its inherent toxicity, the Spirit Marrow is truly a "natural treasure" that can help low-level mages quickly increase their mage level.

It's just that you can't really let go of it.

Secondly, at this point, even a potent medicine like the Meridian Opening Tincture is ineffective against his body, let alone ordinary magical potions.

However, both values ​​have already reached 80%+. If nothing unexpected happens, once they reach 100%, they can evolve new abilities like [Ice Body] and [Mage Body].

With such a "reward" so close at hand, how many people can resist the urge to "work hard"?

Anyway, Gaode couldn't help it.

But to stimulate the body to adapt again, an even stronger potion than the one that opens the pulse must be used.

This condition is actually quite demanding.

After much thought, Gaode concluded that only "poison" could meet this requirement.

It just seems a bit "self-torturing".

Until the appearance of "Spiritual Essence".

The stimulation of the body from ingesting spiritual marrow is no less than that from ingesting poison.

However, taking poison is pure self-torture, while consuming spiritual marrow can not only stimulate the body but also enhance one's magical power.

Win-win.

They've won so many times they're numb.

Even if you win, you still have to endure the hardships; there's no escaping that.

Gao De felt as if his body was being burned by a raging fire. The stimulating sensation brought by the poison was like a winding venomous snake, flowing along his blood and penetrating into every inch of his bone marrow, before surging outwards.

These are all harmful substances contained within the spiritual essence.

Spiritual marrow is an extremely compressed substance, with its magical power and harmful substances concentrated hundreds or thousands of times. After being ingested, it explodes like a massive explosion, enough to knock a person out of their mind.

The moment Gao De's body sensed the invasion of the toxins, it activated its automatic defense and enemy-eliminating mechanism.

Because his physical functions in this area are much stronger than others, his overall physiological response is also faster and more intense than others.

Under normal circumstances, most people will experience various uncomfortable physiological reactions after consuming spiritual marrow for several days.

However, by then, the toxic substances had already spread throughout the body, beyond the body's ability to resist.

It's like a siege battle. The body is the city, and the toxins are the enemy. The enemy's defenders are not very capable. They don't even notice when the enemy first sneaks in. By the time they realize it, the whole city has already been infiltrated, and it's too late to turn the tide.

Meanwhile, Gaode's city guards discovered the enemy's presence just as they were about to infiltrate, and the battle was about to break out.

If the discovery is timely and the city is defended, the chances of victory will naturally be much higher.

The excruciating pain struck Gaode's nerves!

Even with his powerful body, Gao De still felt uneasy all over. He clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and made a slight grinding sound between them.

Every inch of his flesh and blood seemed to be alive, writhing violently as it struggled against the poisonous substances in the spiritual marrow.

His blood began to flow violently, like a rushing river, at a speed far exceeding normal.

Driven by this rapidly flowing blood, Gaode's skin instantly turned bright red, as if it had been scorched by a raging fire.

A large amount of hot sweat gushed from his pores, flowing down his body, and then turning into water vapor and rising up under the influence of the high temperature.

Gaode felt like he was in a sauna, not only feeling hot but also completely bewildered.

As the hot sweat flows out, the toxins contained in the spiritual marrow are also gradually released into the sweat.

While enduring the pain, Gao De also needed to focus on circulating the "Green Wood Longevity Scripture" to refine and absorb the magic power contained in the spiritual essence.

It's like someone whipping you while demanding you focus on "studying." If you weren't exceptionally virtuous and possessed the "body of Dharma forbearance," it would be difficult to persevere.

Fortunately, he did.

So, although the whole process was grueling, everything went smoothly.

Just like when he swallowed the wolf blood ginseng, a vortex of magical power appeared in his lower abdomen, spinning rapidly and continuously absorbing the magical power bursting from the spiritual marrow into it, and then began to refine it.

Every so often, a drop of crystalline liquid magic would drip from the bottom of the funnel-shaped vortex.

One drop, two drops

After an unknown amount of time, just when Gao De was completely exhausted and his thick nerves were stretched to the limit, everything finally came to an end.

All the magic power had long since been refined away, and now, all the impurities were being expelled from the body.

One drop of spiritual essence ultimately added five drops of liquid mana to Gao De, causing his total mana to surge to 47 drops.

It can't compare to the incredible power of wolf blood ginseng, but it's definitely not to be underestimated; it's equivalent to one or two years of arduous cultivation.

On the other hand, there is the improvement from the body.

[Your immunity to toxins increases by 92.1%, and your body's organs' ability to digest, metabolize, and eliminate various toxins increases by 91.5%].

Just a drop of spiritual essence has the same stimulating effect on the body as several hundred bottles of meridian-opening tincture.

Gao De never expected that a drop of spiritual essence would lead to such a huge improvement in his adaptability.

Perhaps it's because the toxins in the spiritual marrow are mineral-based, fundamentally different from plant-based toxins, making it a completely new "experience" for the body.

After all, plant toxins are present in our daily diet to varying degrees, and over time, our bodies develop an initial level of resistance.

At this rate, once all three drops of spiritual essence are consumed, there's a high probability that both the toxin immunity and the digestive and metabolic elimination abilities will exceed 100.

Thinking about this made Gaode feel excited.

Even though he was anxious, he had to take it slow.

Given his current weakened state, where both his mental and physical strength are completely depleted, taking another drop of spiritual essence could be fatal.

Gaode Maps took two whole days to recover.

These past two days he has maintained his usual routine, ensuring eight hours of deep sleep each day with the help of [Comfortable Sleep], and also eating more food than usual.

He also went to the Walmart supply store twice.

There is no such absurd situation as a store becoming instantly popular as soon as new magical materials are released.

Walmart's Magic Supplies store has been open for two or three months, and people's impression of it has become fixed as "the seed store".

To change this preconceived notion, without special publicity, it will take time for the message to take effect.

According to Joel, at least one deal was made in the past two days, selling a first-tier magic material.

This is a good sign.

However, it still has a long way to go before it can become an independently operating magic material shop.

—A magic material store must at least have the ability to start acquiring magic material businesses to be considered a qualified magic material store.

This requirement is too high and cannot be met for a long time.

However, Gao De didn't care. As it was, he could rely on bringing magic materials from the North to transfuse his blood and attract people. If he could attract some mages to sell magic tree seeds, he would have achieved his goal.

He had a very good mindset, not expecting to make a profit from the store.

After confirming that his mental and physical strength had recovered to their best state after a good rest, Gao De took the second drop of spiritual essence.

This time, the effect was not as significant as the first time it was taken.

One drop of spiritual essence increased his liquid mana by only four drops.

The stimulation to the body has also decreased.

[Your immunity to toxins increases by 96.9%, and your body's organs' ability to digest, metabolize, and eliminate various toxins increases by 96.5%].

This is normal; the effects of any rare and precious herb or magical potion are most pronounced the first time it is taken.

This was true both in reality and in the novels and biographies he had read, and Gao De was already mentally prepared.

The decline was even greater than Gaode had anticipated.

He was starting to have some doubts about whether this last drop of spiritual essence could help him get his adaptation progress to 100%.

After resting for two more days, Gao De took the last drop of spiritual essence.

This time, the increased liquid power has plummeted to just two drops.

After three drops of spiritual essence, his magical power surged from 42 drops at the beginning of the first stage to 53 drops.

The progress is already more than halfway done, and we are only 7 drops of liquid mana away from the late stage of the first ring.

At this rate, he has a very good chance of becoming a second-level mage before the end of this year.

If successful, he would become a sixteen-year-old second-ring mage.

Two years ago, he would never have dared to think of such a thing.

Everything seems to have changed starting with [Summon Pet+] and the contract with Flora.

Lucky star!

There was joy as well as sorrow.

The worst-case scenario anticipated had indeed occurred. Despite his body's powerful adaptability, the stimulation from this last drop of spiritual essence was not enough to allow his body to fully adapt.

And it was right at the critical point.

[Your immunity to toxins increases by 99.9%, and your body's organs' ability to digest, metabolize, and eliminate various toxins increases by 99.9%].

After regaining his senses and checking his physical condition, Gao De was speechless for a moment.

He wouldn't have been worried if it had been just a little bit off, but it just happened to be 0.1% off.

This familiar feeling reminded Gaode of Pinduoduo in his previous life.

Can you tolerate it?

I definitely couldn't stand it.

What else can we do?

All I can do is be a masochist!

"No pain, no gain," Gao De comforted himself with the words of his ancestors from his previous life. He took the money pouch, left the dormitory, hailed a carriage, and headed straight for the potion shop in the city center.

Go buy poison!

Like Gaode's predecessor, the Golden Flower Dynasty controlled the sale of poisons. Only poisons listed on the saleable list were allowed to be sold publicly, while others were considered contraband.

If a shop owner dares to sell illegal drugs privately, a report will be filed immediately, and it will be a serious crime.

However, this only applies to ordinary poisons; the authorities do not have much control over poison-type magical potions sold to mages.

Firstly, mages need to fight against leyline creatures, which are fierce and powerful, often requiring various methods to subdue them. It is quite normal to purchase some poison-type magic potions to assist them.

Secondly, if a mage harbors ill intentions, they have plenty of ways to achieve them, and they won't be short of one or two bottles of poisonous magic potions, so control is not very meaningful.

However, the market for poison potions is much smaller than that for support and enhancement potions.

Therefore, the variety of poison-type potions sold in potion shops is extremely limited.

Even high-level poison potions are too dangerous for Gaode to buy; it would be ridiculous if he actually poisoned himself to death.

He chose from the first-tier potions.

The most common types are "Tier 1 Paralysis Potion", "Tier 1 Slowing Potion", "Tier 1 Hallucinogenic Potion", and "Tier 1 Weakness Potion".

The efficacy of the medicine is also obvious.

After thinking it over, Gao De decided to take one of each of the four potions.

The advantage of these four types of medicine is that their toxicity is more control-oriented than damage-oriented. They are not the kind of poison that is instantly fatal, nor will they cause Gao De any pain. They are considered relatively "safe" toxins.

The downside is that the drug's effects are relatively weak; a single dose might not be enough to help him break through the final 0.1%.

Just like Pinduoduo, it says you're only 0.1 cents away from withdrawal, but it's possible that there's still 0.01 cents or 0.001 cents left.

Back in his dormitory with four bottles of potions, Gao De didn't rest and adjust his condition as he would after taking the Spirit Essence. Instead, he took out a Tier 1 Slowing Potion.

The four potions are all for use in combat to assist mages and cannot be taken internally.

The correct way to use it is to apply it to weapons and use the weapons to transfer the poison to the enemy.

However, Gaode was concerned about its toxicity, and the harm caused by improper use might actually be a benefit to him.

So without thinking twice, he opened the bottle, pinched his nose to block out the pungent smell, gritted his teeth, and downed the whole bottle in one gulp.

A spicy and icy sensation instantly spread throughout my body.

According to Gaode Maps, he felt as if he were stuck in thick mud, or as if he had just taken a nap, with his whole body numb and his body responding to his brain's commands much more slowly.

The effect of slowing agents is to reduce the speed of the target.

If we had to explain it scientifically, it would mean interfering with the signal transmission between the nervous system and muscle tissue, causing people to move more slowly.

Compared to the Spirit Essence, after taking the Slowing Potion, Gao De doesn't need to do anything extra; he just needs to wait for his body to metabolize the toxins in the Slowing Potion on its own.

He lay down on the bed and, with great difficulty, cast a "Comfortable Sleep+" spell on himself before dragging his exhausted body into a deep sleep.

(End of this chapter)