Above the mage

Chapter 397 The Water Beast Appears

Brosster.

Byrne County is a coastal county, with many cities built along the coast, which prospered through maritime trade.

However, Brost is an inland city, not bordered by the sea on any side, and its largest body of water is Lake Esmere.

As a non-coastal city within a coastal prefecture, its development should normally be less than satisfactory.

However, the reality is that in County Barlow, Brost's economy is in the middle range, far stronger than that of the coastal city of Lagos.

This is possible because Brost is located in the heart of County Barrow, at the crossroads of land and water transport.

That is, the location of the "inland transportation hub".

Thanks to its status as a "logistics center," the city has three airship bases alone.

Therefore, although Brost City's development cannot compare with those strong coastal cities, it still firmly occupies a middle position in Barlow County and can be considered a traditional city with a profound heritage.

After returning to Brost from Lake Esmere, God first paid a visit to the local sheriff's office.

After explaining their purpose, they were able to borrow a long rowboat that they usually used for patrolling the waters without any charge.

After borrowing the boat, the sheriff on duty warmly invited Gao De to have lunch together, but Gao De declined, saying he was exhausted from a busy night and needed to rest.

This was immediately followed by a barrage of polite remarks such as, "Master Gaode's tireless efforts are truly admirable; we should take you as our role model."

After leaving the police station, Gao De found a hotel in the city that met the reimbursement standards, booked a room, and prepared to rest.

A night of intense, focused patrolling takes a huge toll on one's energy, not to mention having to continue working tonight.

If he doesn't maintain his good condition, and if the basilisk in Lake Esmir is indeed a second-tier Blackwing Scale Serpent, then he'll be in serious trouble.

Forget about earning a second-class merit; he might even lose his life.

Gao De wouldn't become blindly arrogant just because he once personally defeated a second-circle mage and his own combat power has improved since then.

In fact, in most cases, second-tier ley line creatures are stronger than mages of the same level.

This is because, in order to survive in a dog-eat-dog environment, the creatures of the ley lines have allocated all their "talent points" to combat, including powerful bodies and various extraordinary powers born for combat.

However, mages are different. They have many different development paths, and the proportion of combat mages who are truly skilled in combat is actually not high.

Of course, the combat power of a battle mage is far superior to that of a ley line creature of the same level.

Aldrich was neither a Battle Mage nor a seasoned second-ring mage.

Therefore, his record of defeating Aldrich is not enough to give him the confidence to underestimate the Lake Basilisk.

However, compared to human mages, creatures of the ley lines also have their weaknesses: although they possess a certain level of intelligence, it is ultimately limited; they generally cannot rely on external forces.

It was precisely for this reason that Gaode chose to take on this task.

Of course, risks certainly exist.

A first-level mage facing off against a second-tier ley line creature in the water, with the mage having a clear home-field advantage, seems to have little chance of winning.

However, to obtain a rare spell recipe, one must earn a second-class merit.

No matter how many third-class merits you receive, they can't be used as second-class merits.

In order to enhance the strength of the specialization awakened when advancing to the second ring, it is essential to master and expand upon rare spells.

Therefore, we must do it even if there are risks.

Without much thought, Gaode activated the "Comfortable Sleep+" setting and fell into a deep sleep.

After nearly five hours of deep sleep, Gao De woke up refreshed, all the fatigue accumulated overnight gone.

The first thing he did upon waking was to spend half an hour casting a magical imprint on the raccoon egg, injecting his magic power into the egg in an extremely subtle and stable way, so that the unhatched raccoon could become familiar with his magic power.

Then came the daily practice.

After finishing all of this, Gao Decai, who was already starving, went out to eat and strolled around the market, collecting tree species as he always did when he arrived at a new place.

Brost, as the "inland transport hub" of County Barrow, boasts an exceptionally rich and diverse range of goods, with products from all over the world converging and transshipping here. As a result, it has a much wider variety of tree species than the county town of Dorne.

After just a brief stroll around the city, Gaode had already made a great harvest, collecting more than thirty new tree species.

However, what remains the same is that the Demon Tree Seeds are still rare, and not a single one has been obtained.

After all this commotion, the sky had turned deep blue again, and the night, like a huge black ribbon, was slowly covering the city.

Gao De immediately left the city and went to the small dock where the police station's boats were moored. After showing his documents to the guard, he successfully obtained a small boat.

Compared to the fishing boats he had previously borrowed from fishermen, the patrol boats used by the police station were more slender, lightweight, and durable.

The boat is equipped with sophisticated oars on both sides of the hull, which reduces resistance when paddling, making it more efficient and flexible on the water, and facilitating docking and turning around.

Gao De boarded the boat, rowed, and headed towards the shore where the fishing boats had been moored that morning.

By this time, it was completely dark.

The patrol boats have special lanterns at the bow, but Gaode still didn't turn on the lights and chose to proceed in the dark.

Lake Eismere was unusually quiet at night, with only the sound of Gaode paddling across the entire lake.

Just then, a slender shadow swam across the lake, its gray tail fin flashing across the surface, leaving only a fleeting ripple.

Gao De didn't panic; instead, he smiled.

"Get ready to work," he said, looking at the lake.

The next moment, the once calm lake water suddenly rippled, and the dumpling emerged from the water with its round head, shaking its two front fins up and down in front of Gaode.

Gao De pulled out the map of the snake monster's activity area that he had obtained from the police station. After excluding his own search area from last night, he planned tonight's search route in order from near to far.

Even with a general area in mind and the presence of wild berries, finding a elusive basilisk is still extremely difficult.

The first half of the night passed quickly, and Gaode still hadn't found anything.

As the night deepened, the dark water appeared even more profound.

Gao De threw several more gem berries into a new body of water, then rowed the boat to the side and began to wait for his prey.

He waited for about half an hour, just as he was about to pack up the gem berries and move on to another location.

The gentle ripples on the water suddenly spread out.

It looked like just ripples on the lake caused by the wind.

But Gaode knows that's not the case.

His Mandora's Eyes have lit up, revealing all.

In his current field of vision, where the water rippled, he could clearly see the flow of energy.

Water beast.

It may not be a basilisk, but it is definitely a water beast.

Whoosh.

In the darkness, a huge black shadow swam across the lake below the Gemberry Tree.

The lake water formed a whirlpool, and the gem berries were at the center of the whirlpool, being swept into it.

The whirlpool vanished in a flash, and the lake quickly returned to calm, but the gem berries had disappeared without a trace.

Goodness, that's some quick and efficient sneaking!

As Gao De sighed inwardly, he leaped into the water, carried by the north wind.

Meanwhile, the dumpling hidden near the gem berry burst forth!

(End of this chapter)