Above the mage

Chapter 395 The Beehive Tree

Splash!

The calm water surface was suddenly rippled.

A water beast appeared abruptly, its body becoming a black shadow under the cover of the lake water, and it darted toward the few gem-like sweet berries floating on the surface of the water, its speed so fast that it left a long trail of water.

Almost at the same instant, the dumpling, which had been lying dormant underwater, reacted even more swiftly.

Its eyes gleamed sharply in the darkness, and its body, like a black lightning bolt, lunged straight at the water beast.

The lake water rushed past it, leaving two white streaks.

But the water beast was still preoccupied with its craving for the jewel-like sweet berries, and even thought that the dumpling had come to steal its food.

Its first reaction was not to run away, but to speed up, paddling wildly with its four paws in the water, and rushing straight to the Gemberry.

Then it suddenly opened its huge mouth, its oral cavity filled with sharp fangs that gleamed coldly in the moonlight, and swallowed all the enticing divine berries in one gulp.

But before it could savor the sweet taste of the divine berry, the dumpling, like a cannonball, slammed into the water beast.

With a loud bang.

The water beast was knocked senseless and its body went out of control. It flew out like a cannonball, creating a pile of tiny bubbles that bubbled and rose up.

The dumpling launched a swift and fierce attack, pressing its advantage. Before the water beast could regain its footing, it pounced on it again, opened its mouth, and its sharp teeth bit down hard on the water beast's body.

In excruciating pain, the water beast instinctively thrashed its body wildly.

Each of its struggles stirred up huge currents of water, which rippled outwards, forming small waves on the lake surface and crashing against the surrounding water.

Meanwhile, Gao De, who had been hiding to the side, had already cast [Water Shaping] to freeze the ice. With the blessing of [Wolf Speed], he leaped over the ice like a light-footed water walker, quickly arrived at the battlefield, and decisively made his move.

He stretched out his palm and gently clenched it towards the water beast.

【Tidal Fishing Net+】

In an instant, it seemed as if countless invisible giant pythons had awakened in the lake.

The once calm water suddenly surged and churned, rapidly coalescing into thick whips as strong as arms, or like resilient ropes, contracting inward with tremendous force.

They wrapped themselves around the water beast, binding it tightly from top to bottom.

Under the constraints of the tidal net, its struggling movements suddenly became extremely difficult, until it was too weak to move anymore and could only float in the water, occasionally twitching.

【Tidal Net+】For those powerful aquatic beasts, it can only be used as a short-term control skill.

However, it is extremely useful against water beasts that are not as strong as Gao De, as it can restrain them for a very long time.

When sea sentinels are carrying out missions to exterminate water beasts, in many cases it's not that the water beasts are so strong that they cannot be killed smoothly, but rather that these water beasts are too slippery and will run away as soon as they see the situation is not right.

Even with the help of capybaras in pursuit and the speed boost from [Touch of the Ocean], it's still quite possible for a water beast to escape if it's familiar with the terrain.

The existence of [Tidal Net+] allows Gaode to almost completely avoid this situation—unless the water beast is stronger than him, it will be very difficult for it to escape from his grasp.

Seeing that the water beast had been subdued, Gao De showed no mercy.

His magical energy flowed rapidly, and another spell model was activated.

The next moment, three blinding flashes of light erupted from his right hand.

【Magic Missile】.

The three magic missiles, like three light bullets, stood out conspicuously in the pitch-black night.

They accurately hit the immobile water beasts.

The water beast immediately let out a mournful cry, having completely lost the ability to struggle. However, its vitality was extremely tenacious, and it was still breathing.

Gao De strolled leisurely and arrived at the water beast.

By the faint moonlight, he could make out the appearance of the water beast.

It has a rounded shape and is about one meter long. At first glance, it looks a bit like an inflated ball.

Its head is broad and flat, accounting for nearly a third of its body. Its mouth is even wider, with two rows of sharp, serrated teeth that are interlocked and gleam coldly in the moonlight, exuding ferocity and capable of easily crushing the shells of crustaceans.

But right now, that "blood-red maw" is struggling to open and close.

On the back of this water beast grows a towering dorsal fin, with hard and sharp fin rays, like a blade, extending from the center of the back to the tail, with a semi-transparent membrane connecting the fin rays.

"It's a pufferfish." Gao De glanced at it and immediately recognized the aquatic creature.

He frowned slightly.

Clearly, it was not the Lake Easmere basilisk that the nearby fishermen had seen.

There must be more than one basilisk roaming the vast Lake Axmede; some of the creatures are simply well-hidden and wary, and because they haven't attacked any residents, they haven't been discovered.

Under the "Divine Berry Baiting" method on Gaode Maps, I didn't catch a snake monster, but I did catch a level 1 sawtooth pufferfish first.

It was an unexpected bonus.

Although it is not the mission objective, eliminating the water monsters has always been the primary responsibility of the sea sentinel mages.

Killing such a water beast, which hides in the inland water system and may attack the people at any time, is considered eliminating a hidden danger and can also earn military merit.

Gao De drew the North Wind sword he always carried with him, and with a chilling slash, he brought it down, ending its life.

The blood was about to gush out from the wound, but it was soaked by the extreme cold of the north wind and instantly froze into blood-red ice crystals, which hung on the wound in a haphazard way, creating an unexpectedly beautiful scene.

Gao De didn't have time to admire it. With a flick of his blade, he cleanly sliced ​​off the pufferfish's sharp dorsal fin, the most valuable part of the pufferfish, which he would take back to Walmart's supply store to sell.

He then cut off the serrated pufferfish's head, intending to take it back as proof of the monster's kill, as he couldn't earn military merit without it.

Finally, Gao De cut off a piece of the pufferfish's belly meat and threw it to Tuanzi.

This is the most tender and delicious part of the pufferfish.

Tuanzi had been watching eagerly from the sidelines while he was getting his money cut on Gaode Maps.

Upon seeing this, its eyes lit up instantly. It swung its body forcefully, drawing an arc in the water, and leaped high into the air, its sharp teeth accurately biting the flying fish meat.

Then, the dumpling fell back into the water, happily wagging its tail, its sharp teeth quickly tearing the fish meat apart, eating with relish, making cheerful "woo-woo" sounds, and enjoying itself immensely.

Gao De, carrying the fish head and dorsal fin, returned to the small boat moored a hundred meters away, put his things away, and continued rowing.

The small boat cut a ripple on the lake and moved slowly forward.

The sky gradually changed, slowly turning from pitch black to blue, like a huge piece of black silk being dyed a deep blue.

Then, the blue gradually transitioned into a gradient of orange-yellow, and the fiery clouds on the horizon were tinged with color.

Before we knew it, the sun had already risen.

Sunlight shone on the lake, turning its once calm surface into a shimmering expanse.

The lake surface turned pinkish-purple, and then golden yellow.

"That's enough for today," Gaode called out to the calm, still water.

The calm water surface suddenly burst open, and a nimble body broke through the water.

The dumpling poked its round head out, its dark, shiny eyes looking at Gao De with a hint of intelligence.

After "cruising" all night, they found nothing except the pufferfish.

The basilisk was still nowhere to be found.

During the day, the basilisk will enter a resting state, making it unsuitable to continue the search.

"I'm going back first. You can play here by yourself, but don't go too far. We'll continue tonight," Gao De instructed.

flutter!

Upon hearing Gao De's words, Tuanzi immediately responded.

It leaped into the air and performed a difficult flip, its body drawing a graceful arc as water droplets splashed from its body, shimmering with golden light under the sunlight.

Seeing its excited expression, Gao De shook his head helplessly, said no more, and, not wanting to be a spoilsport, rowed the boat toward the shore.

Before long, Gao De returned to the shore.

However, he couldn't leave immediately; he still needed to return the boat to the nearby fishermen.

Generally speaking, Gaode Maps can use the pretext of carrying out a mission to find local officials and borrow boats free of charge.

However, he was delayed by the alien eggs yesterday, and by the time he arrived in Brost, it was already very late, and the local officials had long since "left work".

Instead of bothering local officials and making them work overtime for such a trivial matter as borrowing a boat, Gaode went directly to Lake Eismere.

With such a large lake here, there must be many fishermen living nearby. Borrowing a boat from them shouldn't be difficult.

And just as he expected, there were many simple houses around Lake Eismere inhabited by fishermen.

Gao De casually knocked on a door and, relying on his sea sentry uniform and money, easily borrowed a small fishing boat.

At this moment, Gao De, who was standing on the shore, quickly determined the location of the fisherman's family whose boat he had borrowed the night before after a quick assessment of the direction.

Gao De walked towards that house.

At the doorway, the fisherman's two children were playing. They wore patched coarse cloth clothes, their little faces rosy from the sun. They picked up pebbles from the ground and "attacked" a little kingfisher perched on the eaves.

However, their strength was limited, and their accuracy was extremely poor, so the stones they threw were either too soft to reach the roof, or easily dodged by the kingfisher.

Tweet!

The kingfisher gave a provocative call to the two children.

The two children looked at each other, and then the slightly older boy ran into the house and took out a slingshot-like contraption.

With the help of this "powerful weapon," their momentum changed dramatically.

The slightly older boy picked up a pebble and pulled back the slingshot with force.

The slingshot was made of some unknown material; the rubber band was extremely resilient, and it didn't break even when stretched to almost three times its original length.

boom!

The pebble flew out like a bullet with astonishing acceleration.

The kingfisher had sensed something was wrong early on, and before the boy could let go, it flapped its wings and took flight.

The pebble finally struck a corner of the eaves with a dull thud.

Immediately afterwards, a middle-aged woman's voice came from inside the house, loudly reprimanding the two children with a stern tone.

The two mischievous children lowered their heads in frustration.

Choo Choo Choo!

The kingfisher flying in the air cried out even louder, as if mocking them.

Gao De found this scene, so full of life, quite amusing.

He quickened his pace and walked over, shouting loudly from outside, "Uncle, I've come to return the boat."

Soon, a dark-skinned man came running out with hurried steps.

Gao De handed five silver dragon coins to the other party, then pointed to a spot not far away, "This is the boat fare we agreed on last night. I've moored your boat on that shore over there."

"Thank you, Master. Thank you, Master." The dark-skinned man accepted the five silver dragon coins somewhat awkwardly, thanking him repeatedly.

Gao De waved his hand, indicating that the other party didn't need to be polite.

As he turned to leave, he caught a glimpse of the slingshot in the child's hand and noticed that the rubber band seemed to be made of a special material. He then recalled how the child had stretched the rubber band so much earlier.

The power of a slingshot depends on the tension of the rubber band and the speed at which the rubber band rebounds.

The greater the tension of the rubber band, the heavier the projectile it can handle. The faster the rubber band rebounds, the greater the initial velocity it can provide to the projectile. The heavier the projectile and the higher its initial velocity, the greater its power.

"This slingshot is made of good materials. You really care about your kids, using such good materials to make toys for them. But this slingshot is too powerful. It's a bit dangerous for kids to play with it without knowing how to use it properly," Gao De casually reminded him.

Based on the power of the slingshot I just witnessed, if that stone had landed on someone, it would have been a serious accident.

Pointed out by Gao De, the dark-skinned man looked at his two children, his face darkening, before explaining to Gao De with a slightly ingratiating tone, "I didn't make these slingshots for them; they made them themselves."

"When I was repairing the roof, I took some buzzing resin and applied it to the roof for waterproofing. There was some left over, so they picked it up and made it into rubber bands."

"Buzzer resin." Gao De paused upon hearing the man's explanation, his gaze falling on the rubber band of the slingshot in the child's hand.

"You mean, this rubber band is made of resin?!"

He initially thought it was the tendons of some animal.

"Yes, Master, it's made of bee resin." The dark-skinned man nodded quickly.

"Buzzer resin. Can you tell me about it?" A glint of light flashed in Gao De's eyes.

Although he didn't know why Gaode would be interested in this resin, he didn't have time to think about it. He quickly reviewed the information about the Beehive Tree in his mind before nervously speaking:

"The buzzing tree is a unique tree in our area. It is called the buzzing tree because the trunk makes a sound like a buzzing when the wind blows."

"The inside of the buzzing tree has many pores rich in resin. We can peel off the bark, hang a container on it, and collect the resin that flows out of the pores."

"After the resin solidifies, it becomes extremely smooth, and water droplets will slide off quickly when they fall on it. Moreover, it will not crack in winter, so we fishermen often use it to coat the roof to prevent rain."

"In addition, we also found that this resin is extremely resistant to stretching, and it will not break even if stretched two or three times its original length. It can also reduce vibration and noise."

Therefore, we often soften it to make harpoon pouches to hold the harpoons, which can effectively prevent the harpoons from colliding and making noise, and reduce vibration.

"Oh, right!" The burly, dark-skinned man paused for a few seconds, then remembered something and quickly added, "This resin can also be used to glue furniture, and most insects and ants won't come near the glued area."

As the burly, dark-skinned man explained, Gao De's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

"Where can I find this buzzing tree?" he asked.

"Just go that way, there's a grove of buzzing bees there."

"The buzzing tree is loud, especially when the wind blows. Moreover, the wood has too many holes, making it unsuitable for building materials or anything else. It has no value and is not popular at all."

"We used to have a lot of buzzing trees here, but they were all cut down one by one, leaving only this small patch. It was only preserved because our fishermen wanted to use it as a roofing material for rain protection."

The burly, dark-skinned man explained weakly, clearly not understanding why a esteemed mage like Gao De would be interested in their "Poverty Tree."

After all, in his mind, only the simple houses where poor people like them lived needed an extra rainproof layer and required the use of buzzing resin.

(End of this chapter)