Above the mage

Chapter 490 Strange Item: [Spell Bottle]

They're up to no good.

Gao De's expression turned slightly stern.

Don't be fooled by Salad Noodles' smiling face; beneath her words lies a deadly intent.

Black Sails City is a typical example of a unipolar world with multiple strong powers.

"Super" is naturally the Pirate King.

David Jones was the undisputed local tyrant of Black Sails.

Sarah is one of the powerful figures below.

Although she is one of the top, or even the strongest, among all the powerful, she still belongs to the "strong" level and has not yet entered the "super" category.

There were many, many people in the entire Black Sails City who wanted David dead, but David didn't care much, nor could he care about them all.

But if it were Sarah, no matter how carefree or proud David Jones was, he certainly wouldn't be able to turn a blind eye.

After all, for Davy Jones, Sarah was already someone who could pose a threat to him, and he needed to strike first.

In this situation, if Sarah's hatred for Davy Jones were to become known to Davy, it would inevitably bring Sarah endless trouble and even death.

Conversely, to avoid attracting David's murderous intent, Sarah must conceal her hatred for David as much as possible.

From this perspective, it is reasonable that he, as an "insider," was "murdered to silence him."

Although Gao De felt a slight chill, he did not panic.

If the other party really wanted to "kill him to silence him," there would be no need to go to such great lengths, first helping to resolve the troubles of the Embroidered Anchor Gang, and then inviting him to Ash Island to meet.

"It's just some simple deductions." Having figured out the reasoning behind it, Gao De calmly explained his thought process at the time, only omitting the role of [Perception of Emotion+] in this process.

"It sounds simple, but it's actually not simple at all," Sarah said calmly after listening to Gao De's words. "At least David couldn't deduce it."

That's really the case.

Without Mandora's Eye of Insight and his amazing sixth sense, he certainly wouldn't have been able to find Garr, who had cast the [Telecommunications] spell, amidst the massive crowds in the black market.

Without Lanwen's tracking ability, even if they found the messenger, they wouldn't be able to keep up with Gar, who was familiar with the terrain.

Most importantly, without mastering the "Perception of Emotions+", Gaode wouldn't have been able to identify the person behind Garr in just a few words.

【Perceive Emotions】is a rare spell that Gaode retrieved from the Snowfield Guardians' treasury after they were defeated.

Even later, in the Sea Sentinel's merit redemption list, he never saw the spell recipe for [Perceive Emotions].

This shows how rare this spell is; ordinary mages might not even have heard of it, let alone master it.

The combination of so many factors ultimately led to this result.

Gao De didn't know how to reply, so he could only offer a shy smile and ask, "I wonder what you invited me to Ash Island to discuss?"

"Have you heard about the history of Ash Isle?" Sarah didn't answer God's question directly, but instead asked him in return.

"Before coming here, I did some inquiries and have a basic understanding of the situation," Gao De nodded.

"Do you know what that priceless treasure that Dracula lost on Ash Isle is, and which no one has found to this day?" Sarah stood up, walked to the porthole, opened the window, and let the sea breeze tousle her red hair.

A few strands of hair brushed against the corner of her lips, and her voice, carried by the coolness of the sea breeze, grew a few degrees colder.

Gao De shook his head decisively.

This is considered secret; it's not something you can find out just by asking around.

"It's an extraordinary artifact called the Spell Bottle," Sarah revealed the answer calmly.

"A strange object?" Gao De was slightly taken aback, then glanced at Lan Wen.

The latter responded with a clear look in his eyes.

The meaning is clear—you've never heard of it, how could I possibly know?

Gao De resisted the urge to facepalm.

Indeed, he was, after all, an "upper-class mage" of the Golden Flower Dynasty, with extensive knowledge and experience.

Lan Wen's mage level was much higher than his, but he had always lived in the closed and primitive northern region. In essence, he was a "high-achieving student from the countryside" and his knowledge was far inferior to his own.

Just like a top student from a rural area who gets into Peking University, their worldview might not be as broad as that of a primary school student born and raised in Beijing.

Sarah noticed the brief exchange of glances between Gao De and Lan Wen. She suddenly smiled, the curve of her red lips revealing a hint of understanding.

"It's not surprising that you haven't heard of artifacts. After all, artifacts are even rarer than honest merchants in Black Sails City. Unless you've actually come into contact with artifacts or have a deep understanding of the field of alchemy, it's really hard to know anything about them."

"The term 'strange object' is exactly what it sounds like; it refers to an extremely peculiar and fascinating item."

Sarah patiently explained to the two of them, "Wonderful objects usually possess unique and powerful extraordinary properties. Compared to the abilities of ordinary extraordinary items, their extraordinary properties are often more mysterious, rare, or even beyond the comprehension of conventional magic."

"Common extraordinary magical weapons may simply increase the power of spells, the speed of spell casting, the accuracy, and so on. Extraordinary armor increases spell resistance, and so on. Their characteristics are direct and common."

"The abilities of wondrous items are innovative and unique, even capable of achieving near-miraculous effects. They possess two major characteristics: 'irreproducibility' and 'uniqueness,' meaning they are extraordinary items that are one-of-a-kind and whose effects cannot be replaced."

"Like this." Sarah's description was so precise that it gave God an immediate and direct understanding of the wonder.

"Another characteristic of rare items is that their classification is not like that of other ordinary extraordinary items, which are sorted by rank."

"Strange objects themselves have no hierarchy."

"This also brings another characteristic to artifacts: their use has almost no restrictions based on the mage's level, but it does come at a price."

Unlimited equipment!

Upon hearing this, Gao De subconsciously thought of the word.

"Then what did you mean by the extraordinary level you mentioned earlier?" He suddenly noticed a contradiction; Sarah had clearly said that wondrous items had no hierarchy.

"Strange things themselves have no natural hierarchy, but mages always like to label everything."

"Therefore, based on the different strengths of the effects of the artifacts themselves, the mages manually and relatively subjectively sorted the artifacts into five levels from low to high."

"That is, the common, the extraordinary, the rare, the legendary, and the epic."

"Common artifacts possess abilities that can be effective in specific scenarios or in daily adventure battles."

"For example, this one."

Gao De didn't blink, but Sarah, whose hands had been empty before, simply flipped her wrist and a talisman appeared out of thin air in her palm.

The main body of this amulet is a fragment of half an old oak barrel, with fine cracks covering the dark brown wood.

The cracked grooves were inlaid with dark gold rust, as if they were the marks left by countless soakings in wine.

What's most unique is its aroma, a stale smell of old wood mixed with a light and lingering aroma of ale, like a freshly opened barrel of aged malt beer, sweet with a slightly intoxicating warmth.

"It's called the 'Drunkard's Amulet.' All you need to do is carry this amulet with you, and after you're injured, drink a pint of alcohol—rum, wine, or even the cheapest malt liquor will do—and your injuries will be healed and restored."

Gao De stared intently at the unremarkable amulet in Sarah's palm, gaining a certain understanding of the wonder of this strange object.

"Extraordinary-level artifacts already possess astonishing power and can often become the key factor in changing the course of a battle."

"Dracula's [Spell Bottle] is a marvel of this caliber. It can store up to one spell of the fifth level in the bottle and cast it when needed."

"However, its true power lies in the fact that as long as the spell is within the storage range of the [Spell Bottle], regardless of the form it takes, as long as the [Spell Bottle] is empty at the time, the bottle owner can store the spell in the bottle."

Regardless of the form in which it is cast, this means that even if an enemy casts a spell to attack the Bottle Master, the Bottle Master can use the Spell Bottle to directly collect the spell, and then cast it back to the enemy through the Spell Bottle.

Isn't this just like a magical version of "an eye for an eye"?

The [Drunkard's Amulet] only made Gao De marvel at the wonder of the artifact, but this [Spell Bottle] made him truly feel the power of the artifact.

If the spells stored in the [Spell Bottle] weren't limited to a maximum of level 5, the [Spell Bottle]'s rating would probably be more than just Extraordinary.

"Besides his own strength, the [Spell Bottle] was definitely a crucial factor in Dracula's ability to dominate Black Sails City," Sarah commented.

"The same is true for David now. A big reason why he has become the number one figure in Black Sails City is that he possesses an extraordinary combat artifact."

"【Topaz Annihilator】!" Sarah paused before slowly uttering these words from her red lips.

However, compared to the extraordinary-level combat artifact, what concerned God more was that he noticed Sarah made a barely perceptible sibilance when she mentioned the [Topaz Annihilator], and his originally calm emotions were disturbed.

However, in the next instant, she suppressed that ripple, leaving only cold indifference, as if everything just now was merely Gao De's illusion.

"The influence of rare artifacts is even greater than that of extraordinary artifacts. The biggest difference is that their special effects are no longer limited to individuals, but can have a profound impact on a country or region."

"The six components of the legendary artifact, the Dimensional Wanderer, are: the Chronological Disc, the Dimensional Ring, the Distant Gear, the Retrograde Engine, the Traveling Dial, and the Star Wheel. All of these belong to this level of artifact."

"Legendary artifacts are the most powerful and mysterious items in the mage plane. They often possess power beyond the comprehension of mortals, and are associated with countless legends and stories. Their effects can interfere with the plane and even the course of history."

"The only other artifact of this caliber that I've ever heard of is the [Dimensional Wanderer]."

"As for epic artifacts," Sarah's voice unconsciously became drawn out, "they are more of a concept than a real thing."

The mage who established the classification of artifacts believed that there must exist extraordinary items in the world that could affect the rules and even the balance of planes, namely epic artifacts.

But like the Nine-Ringed Mage, it exists only in theory; in reality, they have never actually appeared in the real world.

"A wonder, so that means I also possess a wonder." After Sarah explained the concept of wonders to him, the first thing that came to Gao De's mind was the "Heart of the North."

Without a doubt, the Heart of the North perfectly fits the definition of a rare item and is definitely one of them.

But what level of wonder should it be considered?

In Gaode's view, the "Heart of the North" will inevitably have a profound impact on the North in the future.

Following this line of reasoning, it should be a rare and extraordinary artifact.

However, the Heart of the North is not actually that powerful.

Its profound impact on the North stems from its strategic planning for the North and its emphasis on education.

When it was still called the Heart of Westland, it was in the hands of its former owner, the Duchy of Westland, for over a thousand years. The Heart of Westland was just a simple library and did not bring any changes to the Duchy of Westland that could be called profound. It could only be considered an ordinary rare item.

However, Gao De didn't dwell on the ranking of the [Heart of the North] for too long, because another idea quickly popped into his mind.

Not just one, but Wind Spirit Moon Shadow, it seems, should also be considered a rare item?

Once this thought arises, it won't go away.

From the very first day he came into this world, Gao De had been pondering what exactly "Wind Spirit Moon Shadow" was.

Besides the "point-adding" function he possesses, he even suspects that his arrival in this world must be closely related to "Wind Spirit Moon Shadow".

With the addition of stat points and the ability to travel through time, it seems that Feng Lingyueying's abilities fit the definition of "power beyond human comprehension."

Of course, the latter is just Gaode's speculation and has not been verified.

But even if we only look at the ability of "adding points", it still fits the description of "power beyond human comprehension".

So, could it be that "Wind Spirit Moon Shadow" is a legendary artifact?

But to say that it has the ability to interfere with planes or even the course of history seems a bit of an exaggeration.

As it stands, "Wind Spirit Moon Shadow" at most makes him stronger, and has nothing to do with interfering with the course of history.

While Gaode was still pondering, Sarah spoke up again.

"Davis Jones, who possesses the Topaz Annihilator, understands the power of extraordinary artifacts better than anyone in Black Sails, and desires the Spell Bottle left behind by Dracula on Ash Isle more than anyone else."

"The Topaz Annihilator helped him wipe out half of Black Sails, and with the Spell Bottle, no one in Black Sails will be able to stop him anymore."

"For this reason, he sent people to the island to search for decades, turning over and over the areas of Ash Island where no blue flames burned countless times. Two or three hundred people were killed in the process, but they still found nothing."

"In this case, either the [Spell Bottle] has already been found and taken away quietly, making a fortune in silence, or the [Spell Bottle] has been left behind in those areas where blue flames are burning."

"Whether it was the former or the latter, he was helpless and had no choice but to give up the search for the [Spell Bottle]."

Sarah's deep blue eyes gazed into the darkness outside the porthole as she slowly spoke:

"While ruthless, Davy Jones was also an extremely cautious man who never exposed himself to the light of day; he was a hunter who was always hidden in the shadows."

"This is also an important reason why he was able to remain at large for so many years after offending the Holy Empire."

This is just an old coin.

Gao De silently gave himself his evaluation.

"If we want to kill him, the first thing we need to do is find his location; otherwise, everything else is just empty talk."

"But he was too cautious and cunning, and his information network was too extensive; ordinary methods simply couldn't find him."

Sarah's voice lowered slightly, but it carried an undeniable certainty, a flame seemingly flickering in her eyes: "But if the [Spell Bottle] were to appear, given David's greed, he would gladly offer himself up!"

(End of this chapter)