Above the mage

Chapter 400 [Appraisal Techniques]

Amidst their shock, the group continued working, controlling the alchemy machine to drag the Blackwing Scale Serpent onto the dock.

Its massive body coiled and piled up, emitting a strong fishy smell.

The enormous wound on his head was astonishing, giving a glimpse into the intensity of the battle.

"The Mage is mighty!" someone couldn't help but exclaim.

"This is a second-tier ley line creature! You're so young, yet you're already a second-ring mage..." someone exclaimed.

Under normal circumstances, only a second-ring mage can kill a second-tier ley line creature.

Therefore, this understanding is not wrong.

Of course, Gaode Maps won't specifically explain or correct this.

Just thinking about how he had actually killed a powerful second-tier earth vein creature, Gao De couldn't help but lightly touch the hilt of Bei Feng's sword.

This is unlike Aldrich's "fake second-ring mage." The Blackwing Scale Serpent is a genuine second-tier ferocious beast with considerable combat power.

Although he relied on the power of Zhenbing Magic Martial Arts, he still possessed the ability to kill a second-tier ley line creature on his own.

At the level of a first-ring mage.

In the hierarchical mage system, achieving such a feat is no less rewarding than solving the final, most challenging problem on a college entrance exam math paper.

While enjoying the thrill, Gao De was even more impressed by Sunaifa's power.

If it's already so difficult to beat a second-order opponent with a single ring, how much more difficult would it be to beat a fifth-order opponent with a fourth-order opponent, where the gap is even greater and the difficulty is even higher?

I don't know if I'll ever have such incredible power in the future.

At least for now, it's a very difficult situation.

But anything can happen.

Because with each upgrade, the newly awakened feat gives the mage the possibility of "leaping over the dragon gate"—perhaps the next upgrade will awaken some incredible combat feat.

"This serpent monster had been appearing several times recently, causing everyone great fear. But the adults chopped it up on their very first day! They really saved us a huge problem!"

"A Sea Sentinel Mage is a Sea Sentinel Mage; you can tell just by looking at him."

.

Over here, those people are still sighing with emotion.

Hearing their discussion, Gao De smiled slightly.

To be honest, seeing their shocked expressions and hearing their flattering words made me feel quite pleased.

No one dislikes being praised, especially when it comes from genuine feelings.

"Help me dispose of its body and then send it to..." Gao De asked, providing his address.

He added, "As for the snake meat, each of you will receive five catties."

This means remuneration.

Asking for help naturally requires paying someone.

Upon hearing Gao De's words, everyone present's eyes lit up.

The flesh and blood of second-tier ley line creatures are very valuable.

Snake meat is highly nutritious, so its price should be raised even further.

"Thank you very much, Venerable Master!"

"Leave it to us!"

"Don't worry, we'll handle it perfectly for you!"

As for Gaode Maps now...

He first took out the capybara bag, gently called out to the lake, and then put away the dumplings.

Then..::

Go back and get some sleep!

Back at the hotel.

Gao De took off his blood-stained clothes and removed his rune armor.

There was a bruise on his chest, the color of which was almost black.

The Blackwing Scale Serpent's final, powerful tail lash, carrying immense force, struck Gao De squarely in the chest.

Even with the dual protection of shield spells and runic constructs, he still suffered considerable injuries from the overwhelming power of the second-tier ley line creature.

The moment Gao De confirmed that the Blackwing Scale Serpent was dead, he cast a healing spell on himself.

Even so, the skin at the bruise site was still swollen.

With each breath, Gao De could feel waves of sharp pain in his chest, like being cut by a dull knife.

Gaode knew that light therapy alone was not enough.

A thought struck him, and he mobilized the little magic power he had left to cast [Divine Berry Technique+].

The gem-like sweet berries created by 【Divine Berry Technique+】 also have healing effects.

After obtaining the Gem Berry, Gao De stuffed it into his mouth one after another, eating eight Gem Berry in a row before stopping once he reached the limit.

A warm force was spreading and dissipating in his chest.

He then channeled his magic again, casting a [Comfortable Sleep+] spell on himself.

As the spell took effect, a warm and comfortable feeling enveloped him, his body gradually relaxed, and his tense nerves slowly soothed.

He could no longer hold on, so he lay down on the bed and fell fast asleep.

During comfortable sleep, Gaode's injury recovery speed will be doubled.

Furthermore, when he suffered frostbite, [Adaptive Development] also increased his body's injury recovery ability to 79.6%.

This is equivalent to having four buffs.

Therefore, after Gaode fell asleep, the bruise on his chest visibly began to lighten in color.

It gradually changed from almost black to dark purple, then to purplish-red, until finally regaining some of its original color.

The swelling began to subside slowly.

Gaode was woken up by a knock on the door.

However, almost six hours had passed since he fell asleep, and even if no one disturbed him, he would wake up naturally soon.

They were from the police station.

After working for most of the day, they finally finished processing and dissecting the enormous black-winged serpent's carcass and delivered it to him at the address provided by Gaode Maps.

The black-winged scale snake is six or seven meters long, and the pieces of meat alone weigh more than 600 kilograms.

Of course, the most valuable part is the scales of the Blackwing Scale Serpent. In addition, the gallbladder of the Blackwing Scale Serpent is also a good ingredient for magic potions, as is its blood.

This black-winged scale snake, because its meat is edible and plentiful, is generally worth at least 500 gold coin.

Killing monsters is always extremely profitable.

However, in most cases, these ley line creatures live in the wilderness.

Even if the mage kills them, without the legendary spatial storage equipment, he can only select the more valuable and lighter parts of the ley line creatures to bring back to the city for sale, based on his own carrying capacity.

Gaode Maps has always operated in the same way.

But this time is different.

When hunting aquatic beasts in inland waterways near cities, boats are generally used as a means of transportation, making transport convenient.

Therefore, they were mostly able to bring back the killed water beasts intact.

Gao De thanked the "delivery" person and gave each of them a pound of snake meat as a token of his gratitude.

He then placed the goods in the room and took some "samples" with him when he went out.

However, it wasn't for going out to eat.

With eight jewel-like sweet berries in his stomach, he wouldn't be hungry for at least the rest of the day.

Gaode went out to find buyers for the snake meat.

He could take the snake scales and other such items back to Dorne and sell them slowly at his Walmart magic supply store.

However, snake meat weighs over 600 pounds, making it difficult to carry.

Moreover, unlike snake scales which can be stored for up to half a year without any problems, this stuff fetches a higher price the fresher it is.

Edible ley line creature meat has no trouble finding a market in a big city like Brosster.

There are many wealthy people in the area who have a particular fondness for this dish.

So Gaode only visited two high-end restaurants, and sold all the snake meat except for a small amount for Tuanzi to change his taste.

The average price per kilogram is as high as 5 silver dragons, which is already 300 gold bird coins.

Adding the military merits that are about to be earned, the total reward for this mission will definitely be over 800 Golden Bird Coins.

Now that the mission was complete, Gao De did not linger in Brosted.

He spent half a day taking a thorough stroll around the city, and sure enough, he collected more than ten new tree species that he had not collected before.

The next morning.

Gao De checked out of the room, carrying large bags of supplies, and boarded the earliest airship back to Dorne.

Haiyuan White Pagoda.

Supplies Department.

"Deliver the mission." Gao De strode in with a flourish, placing a bulging cloth bag on the table. Old Neil heard the voice, looked up, and, seeing it was Gao De, was slightly surprised: "Back so soon? You did a good job on this mission."

Having worked in the supplies department for so many years, he knew perfectly well that in most cases, missions like clearing out water monsters would take at least seven or eight days from acceptance to delivery.

Gaode received the task on the afternoon of the 1st of the lunar month, and it's only the morning of the 4th now, and he's already back.

Even the observation period for the "Crab Plague Risk" mission he completed earlier has not yet ended.

This extraordinary efficiency struck him as somewhat unbelievable.

While marveling at the goods, old Neil skillfully untied the cloth bag to "inspect" it.

As soon as the bag was untied, a ferocious triangular head came into view.

A pair of dark green vertical pupils instilled a sense of unease in one's heart.

The top of its head was a mess, with broken scales and congealed blood intertwined, and white bones exposed. One can imagine the enormous damage and blows it had suffered before its death.

"This is..." Old Neil's mouth gaped slightly as he stared at the enormous triangular head. "A second-tier Blackwing Scale Serpent? You killed it?"

Not only did they complete the task within three days, but they also exceeded expectations?

Recalling the last time Gao De defeated Aldridge of the Second Ring Road and received three Second-Class Merits, he initially thought there was an element of luck involved...

One time might just be luck.

If it happened twice, then there must be a necessary factor.

Old Neil couldn't help but look Gao De up and down.

How could a commoner mage accomplish things that even noble mages struggle to do?

"I killed him. Mage Neil, you may not know this, but the specialization I awakened when I advanced to the first level was related to combat."

It's especially effective against leyline creatures, so killing monsters will be much easier for me...

Gao De half-truthfully revealed some information, attributing his ability to repeatedly defeat opponents of higher levels entirely to his expertise.

This is the universal explanation.

Because the awakening of a special ability is too random, no one knows what kind of special ability a mage can awaken or what kind of things they can do with that ability.

Old Neil still found it somewhat unbelievable.

Specialization is important, that's a given, but to say that a single specialty could allow Gao De to overcome Sen Ming's level advantage is something he actually finds hard to believe.

At this moment, Gao De smiled at Old Neil and asked, "Would this count as a second-class merit?"

Old Neil paused for a moment, flipped through the mission sheet, carefully checked it, and then nodded in confirmation:

"Based on the task classification, I'll award you a second-class merit."

Gaode smiled.

Although it couldn't compare to the reward of getting three second-class merits in one go last time, that mission was much more complicated and had extra rewards.

He was already very satisfied with receiving a second-class merit award.

On the Sea Sentinel's second-class merit exchange list, apart from the Divine Berry Spell, all other rare first-level spell recipes are exchanged for a uniform second-class merit.

This is equivalent to obtaining another rare spell recipe.

"Oh right, and this too," he said, taking out the head of the serpent he had killed on the first night at Lake Esmir. It was much smaller than the basilisk. "Besides this second-tier Blackwing Scale Serpent, I also unexpectedly found a first-tier serpent, so I took care of it."

Mage Neil picked up the serrated head, examined it carefully, and then said, "First-order serrated."

You'll receive a third-class merit.

Gaode nodded in satisfaction.

Little by little, you accumulate enough third-class merits to exchange for spell recipes.

Old Neil had already taken out a piece of parchment from the drawer and began to carefully record Gao De's military achievements this time.

A moment later, Old Neil, who had been taking notes, looked up and found that Gao De was still there.

"Is there anything else?"

"Mage Neil, I would like to exchange this second-class merit for the spell recipe for [Appraisal]," God made his exchange request.

When he browsed the exchange list last time, he already had a plan for the spell recipes he would exchange next.

Therefore, as soon as he obtained the military merit, Gao De did not need to hesitate any longer and immediately made a request to exchange it.

The mage Neil was slightly taken aback.

There aren't many mages like Gao De who immediately use their military merits as soon as they've earned them.

However, he quickly realized what was happening, filled out the redemption form, had Gaode sign it, and then called over a staff member to take Gaode's task record and redemption request together for review.

About half an hour later, the staff member returned with the spell formula that Gaode needed.

"Thank you." After receiving the spell formula, Gao De thanked them and left the supplies area. He then headed straight to the finance office to submit his expense report.

Old Neil picked up the military merit record that had already been approved and stood up.

He went to the archives inside the supplies department and found Gao De's military merit book.

This military merit record book is still very new.

Old Neil added this new record of military achievements.

"I'll get another second-class merit award soon."

For some reason, the words Gao De had said when he exchanged a second-class merit for a common first-level spell recipe suddenly flashed through his mind.

He even wanted to advise Gao De that second-class merits weren't so easy to obtain.

However, considering those three second-class merits, I ultimately didn't say anything to offer advice.

And now... Gaode has proven that his "bold words" at the time were not just empty talk.

"His momentum is far greater than that of the mage Jaden back then," Old Neil muttered to himself. Jaden's sudden rise to prominence back then led many to believe that he would eventually join the "Sentinels of Light."

However, things ultimately turned out in a way that far exceeded his expectations.

So much so that now that another "Jaden" has emerged, Neil's first reaction was actually some concern.

But he couldn't quite put his finger on what he was worried about.

The lobby on the first floor of the Mage Tower.

After completing the reimbursement process, Gaode once again stood in front of the crystal panel to select a task.

But the good fortune was over.

This time, none of the tasks listed on the crystal board were ones he could accept.

All the tasks listed above have level restrictions, with the lowest level being a second-ring mage.

This is actually the normal situation.

Among mages, the number of first-ring mages is definitely much greater than that of second-ring mages.

But among the Sea Sentinels, it's the opposite.

Here, the Second Ring Mage is the most numerous.

In this environment, it's common for a first-level mage to have no quests to do.

Firstly, tasks of this rank can often be handled by the local police station itself, and it is not necessary to report them to the sea sentry.

Secondly, because tasks of this level are rare, the competition is even fiercer, with everyone scrambling to do them, leaving even fewer available.

In most cases, to ensure the efficiency and success rate of mission completion, the Sea Sentinels' missions are assessed and strict level restrictions are set before they are issued.

You absolutely cannot accept a quest if you don't reach the required level.

However, the Sea Sentinel also considered that some mages might be too overpowered, possessing combat power beyond their level.

Therefore, in addition to the strict hierarchical restrictions, an extra loophole was opened: military rank.

You can accept the quest as long as you meet the requirements for either mage level or military rank.

For example, most quests that require a mage level of 2 or higher to accept can be accepted by a lieutenant or higher military rank, regardless of the level requirement.

Of course, this is not something that Gao De, a first-class apprentice monk, should be thinking about.

He has a very good attitude.

There are no tasks to take on today, so I'll go back and calm down first!