Above the mage

Chapter 440 Betrayal

The enhancement paths for 【Summon Mount+】 and 【Gain Pet+】 are different.

However, Gaode was not disappointed by this.

In fact, the enhancement of "Gaining a Pet+" is not particularly overpowered.

Its additional effect is that your summoned familiars will no longer be limited to the original "Family" or animal types, but will be expanded to include any creature of Rank 1...

Aside from Flora, the only beings truly willing to serve God and of the first rank, regardless of species, are...

How powerful can it be?

The essence is that Flora is powerful, not [Gaining a Magical Pet+].

The spell effect of 【Summon Mount+】 is to summon a spirit, so from this perspective, its enhancement direction will not be the same as 【Gain Pet+】.

The latter refers to real living beings, which have infinite possibilities, while spirits are created later in life.

That makes perfect sense.

At least the [Summon Mount+] enhancement effect is extremely useful for Gaode.

His "North Wind" finally has a place to go.

As a powerful Ice Magic Weapon, [North Wind]'s strength is an advantage, but it also brings many inconveniences to Gaode.

Even with a specially made scabbard that can slightly conceal the constant chill emanating from the North Wind, it is only a slight concealment; as long as one gets closer, the chill will be noticeable.

Therefore, in many cases, Gaode Maps can only leave the "North Wind" (a map service) at home.

This is something that makes me feel very insecure.

Firstly, there's the concern that in an emergency, they might need the North Wind but be unable to access it.

Another concern is that if the "North Wind" is left unattended at home, something unexpected might happen.

Now, thanks to the [Equipment Sharing] effect, Gaode can store [North Wind] in the spirit space of his spirit mount and access it whenever needed.

The other set of armor shares is just enough to store a set of rune constructs.

Because rune constructs are holistic, all parts must be put together to form a complete set of armor, which can be placed into the spirit space in a complete contract.

It can be said that the changes to the [Summon Mount+] feature perfectly match all of Gaode's needs.

As for the second additional effect, [Spirit Guardian], it is quite easy to understand; it simply provides a protective charm.

Perhaps this amulet is somewhat useless in the context of infighting among mages.

After all, mages mainly rely on ranged attack spells, while melee attacks are a niche skill.

But that doesn't mean the amulet is useless.

Because compared to internal strife, battle mages actually fight against leyline creatures much more frequently.

Earth-elemental creatures, regardless of whether they possess extraordinary abilities for ranged attacks, are generally extremely skilled in melee combat and have thick skin and tough flesh.

The [Spiritual Guardian] becomes exceptionally useful in this situation.

Now that the effect of [Summon Mount+] was finalized, Gaode no longer needed to dwell on it and immediately tried out the spell.

The summoned spirit mount will definitely be extremely large, so it cannot be attempted directly in the training room.

Gao De went outside and cast [Summon Mount+] in the open space in front of the door.

On the jade mana crystal in the mana pool, a magical rune suddenly detached from the crystal and, along the extensive main magical energy channels within Gao De's body, quickly arrived at the spell star sea, triggering the spell model.

Gao De waved his hand lightly, his gaze locking onto the open space in front of him.

The next moment, a six-pointed star magic circle suddenly lit up on the snow surface of the open space. Amidst the surging light, a message appeared in Gao De's mind.

This is the initial selection of the spirit mount's appearance when casting a spell for the first time.

Players can freely choose from five forms: warhorse, pony, camel, elk, and dog.

Without much hesitation, Gaode chose the warhorse, the most common and aesthetically pleasing form.

This is actually a bit like choosing a car paint color. Although everyone has their own preferences, black is always the safest and most timeless choice.

But that's not all. After choosing the form, you also need to choose the type of spirit.

"Sperm-like organisms." Gaode makes a decision in a second.

There's no need to hesitate. Unless someone's brain is malfunctioning or has some kind of peculiar fetish, no one would choose a demon, a type that would bring them so much inconvenience.

The third option is language selection.

A spirit mount can understand a language mastered by its owner.

"Common language".

Gaode chose the common language of the human race, rather than Ace.

As the three choices were finalized, the six-pointed star array shone brightly once more, even rippling outwards at a visible speed.

Gao De could clearly sense a vast consciousness from another world, or perhaps it should be called the "spirit world?", resonating with his spirit through the magic array. It was a pure and agile fluctuation unique to spirit beings.

The light at the center of the array suddenly contracted, condensing into a pillar of light, within which the outline of a horse faintly appeared.

The beam of light gradually became transparent, and its outline transformed into a clear, solid entity that came into view.

A spirit warhorse, its body still shimmering with faint starlight, slowly appeared.

Its mane shimmered with tiny sparkles, its hooves cast a faint glow, and its amber eyes gleamed with spiritual light as it curiously observed Gao De.

At the same time, the six-pointed star array under the warhorse's feet detached from the ground, floated into the air, and rapidly shrank in the process, eventually becoming the size of a seal, which was directly imprinted on the warhorse's forehead.

As the mark was placed, Gao De clearly felt that the threads of the contract had been quietly forged between him and the spirit warhorse before him.

The casting time for [Summon Mount+] is rather long.

Although the first time a spell is cast, it requires signing a contract and making a choice, even disregarding these factors, the time required is still several thousand seconds.

With such a long casting animation, it's no surprise that this isn't a combat spell.

Its purpose isn't to allow you to quickly summon a mount to escape when you encounter a powerful enemy in battle, but rather for commuting, essentially serving as a portable mode of transportation.

Gao De conveyed a thought to the spirit warhorse through telepathy.

The warhorse immediately understood, striding up to Gao De and slightly bending its knees.

Gao De immediately leaped up and mounted the spirit warhorse.

Although it is a spirit, the riding experience is not much different from that of a real creature. In fact, because it is a spirit and does not have bones or other real matter, it feels exceptionally soft and fits the body perfectly, making it even more comfortable than a real warhorse.

He wanted to experience the speed of the spirit warhorse, but he still had important business to attend to.

Gao De dismounted and drew his sword, "North Wind," from its sheath.

Once the scabbard was removed, the chilling aura of this Absolute Ice Magic Weapon burst forth instantly.

However, the person and the horse, one with a mid-level Ice Protection Body and True Ice Bloodline, and the other a spiritual being, were unaffected by the cold.

He took out [North Wind] at this moment, naturally to test the effect of [Equipment Sharing].

Gao De sent out the intention of the contract to the North Wind.

The next moment, the six-pointed star array that had been hidden on the forehead of his spirit warhorse reappeared, began to rotate in reverse, and transformed into a stream of light that wrapped around the sword at an extremely fast speed.

Then, a strange feeling arose in Gao De's mind.

Following this feeling, with a slight thought, the sword [North Wind] was immediately enveloped in flowing light and vanished from Gao De's hand in the blink of an eye.

This has been taken into the spirit realm.

Even though he was mentally prepared, Gaode was still shocked by what he saw.

He attempted to retrieve the "North Wind" from the spirit realm.

As thoughts shifted, faint ripples appeared in the space, and after a brief pause, [North Wind] reappeared in Gaode's hands.

It's not completely without delay, but this delay is negligible in most cases.

Because the time required to draw the sword is actually almost the same...

It's like taking the sword from the spirit realm instead of drawing it, but the convenience is worlds apart.

The novelty of the low-end spatial ring was intense. Gao De went back and forth to take the sword and put it away more than ten times before he could barely suppress his excitement. At the same time, he developed an infinite longing for the real spatial ring.

I just don't know if this thing even exists. If it does, what level of extraordinary equipment is it?

In any case, it should start at least at level five; that's Gaode's assessment.

Milo didn't know whether he was lucky or unlucky.

In short, only a week after receiving the mission that he was extremely resistant to, he actually witnessed the new king leaving Phoenix alone.

It seemed that even God was looking out for him.

Although at this time, he did not wish to receive such favor.

But the arrow was already on the bowstring and had to be released.

Upon receiving the news, Milo immediately left Phoenix and chased after Gaudí.

He didn't leave any special items on Gao De that could be used for tracking, but there's only one newly built road from Phoenix to Vallar Bay.

Therefore, this is the only way. As long as you follow this path and go fast enough, you can catch up with Gao De. He is a third-ring mage, and with the blessing of magic, it is not difficult for him to catch up with Gao De.

Moreover, Gaode hadn't started much earlier than him.

In addition, two other people had been lying in ambush for a long time at the middle of this inevitable route, just waiting for Gaode to show up.

Thinking this, Milo sped forward.

Gao De did not intend to return to Valar Bay, because under normal circumstances, his return to Valar Bay was to prepare to travel to the Plantagenet Dynasty via astral teleportation.

He plans to stay in the North for a while longer to settle things there.

The reason I left Phoenix was simply because I had just acquired a spirit mount and was eager to experience its speed—just like when you buy a new road bike, you always take it for a couple of laps before you go out.

This also serves as a test of the spell's specific effects.

Gao De mounted the spirit warhorse, and a strange sensation spread from his buttocks. It was soft yet supportive, without the pain of bones. Every point of contact felt as if it were being lifted by gentle energy, and the sensation was no different from that of a high-end sofa.

Without any physical manipulation, he sent a signal to move through telepathy, and the spirit warhorse immediately took off galloping.

The surrounding scenery began to distort and deform, and the biting cold wind swept past him with ice and snow, as if turning into thousands of ice blades that grazed his cheeks, but Gao De did not feel cold, but only felt extremely comfortable.

With the help of Mandora's Eye, he quickly obtained an accurate number.

60 km/h.

The speed of a spirit mount is roughly the upper limit of the running speed of an ordinary horse in reality, which is about 60 kilometers per hour.

However, this is not the speed limit for spirit mounts.

Because the description of the spell effect includes the sentence, "When you ride this mount, all spells you cast that target only yourself will also affect the mount," meaning that spirit mounts can benefit from spell enhancements.

Gao De immediately cast all the speed spells he knew on himself, except for [Wolf Speed+].

That is, [Stride+], [Light Feather Step+], and [Jump+].

The reason for excluding [Wolf Speed+] is that its spell effect increases speed to a fixed value.

This value is lower than the speed of the spirit mount itself.

With the blessing of the three spells, the spirit mount's speed indeed increased again, exceeding 70 kilometers per hour.

After riding for an hour, Gao De finally had his fill and put away his spirit mount.

He was, of course, going back to Phoenix. The reason he put away his spirit mount was because, since he was already out...

He thought he might as well experience the feeling of flying while he was at it.

He had experienced flying once when he first learned about Boeing's possession capabilities, but that was indoors after all.

They dared not fly high, and were bound by various constraints.

Now that the sky is high and the land is wide, and there's no need to worry about being discovered by others, it's the perfect time to fully experience the feeling of flying.

Gao De cast [Wild Agility+], summoning Boeing, who was still digesting the fifth-tier wind elemental bio-energy core.

A figure in blue appeared amidst the icy snow.

He directly utilized Boeing's "possession" ability.

Without any fancy maneuvers, the Boeing crashed directly into Gaode.

The impact did not shake Gao De's body or have any impact on him, because the Boeing directly crashed into Gao De's body, as if it was originally a shadow of Gao De and now merged into the main body.

As Boeing possessed him, Gao De suddenly felt his body become lighter.

He controlled the upward flow of the cyan vortex surrounding him.

Then, Gaode floated up in an extremely light manner.

This time, it won't just stop after flying a meter or two.

He rose straight up, ever upward, towards the blue sky.

In the distance, in the snow, after a hard chase, Milo finally saw Gao De's figure. Looking at Gao De suspended in mid-air, he opened his mouth wide, his face full of disbelief.

He...he's on the Third Ring Road?

Flying is an ability that only a third-ring mage can master.

This is a consensus.

Once Milo realized this, his already strong resistance intensified.

He himself is from the Third Ring Road!

The thought that Gao Deji was probably already on the third ring road, even though he didn't know how he did it, made Milo feel worried.

He is a very self-aware person.

Milo is confident in his abilities, but who is Gao De?

That's the prophesied King of the North!

Is it something that someone as insignificant as myself can compare to?

A figure like the King of the North, while not necessarily capable of defeating enemies of higher ranks like the War Mother Sunefa, should certainly be invincible among those of the same rank.

Should we target Gao De, who is highly likely to be a third-ring mage?

Milo felt like he was courting death.