Above the mage

Chapter 50 Unknown Scroll

After putting down the letter that Master Seda had written long ago but had never sent and would never send, Gaode remained silent for a long time.

To the apprentices in the herb garden, Master Seda was the absolute "villain," an evil person, and a perpetrator of violence.

But for Master Seda, he, like God, was nothing more than a "victim" struggling to reunite with his wife and children.

But now, to Seraph's wife and children, God has become the villain.

Upon realizing this, Gao De's emotions became incredibly complex.

Even though he knew perfectly well that if he hadn't resisted then, he would be the one dead now.

This is a situation where only one person can survive.

Gaode's resistance is perfectly justified, and no one can find fault with it.

Even after reading the letter from Master Seda, Gao De still felt a pang of guilt and a sense of remorse towards the woman who had been waiting for her husband to return home for over a decade in Bremen, a woman he had never met.

This is something ingrained in one's very being, and it cannot be easily erased by a single time travel.

After a long silence, Gaode finally let out a long breath.

"It's not wrong for me to kill Master Seda, nor is it wrong for me to feel remorse; there's no conflict between the two."

He stopped worrying about it.

He decisively picked up the last item from the wooden box.

That mysterious scroll, resembling a spell scroll.

The scroll is made of the finest animal parchment, with its edges luxuriously trimmed with gold leaf.

The two ends of the scroll are inlaid with two exquisite silver scroll buckles, engraved with intricate patterns.

A thin ribbon, a deep violet in color, is tied between the buckles and is intricately embroidered with flowing patterns in gold thread.

Gaode untied the ribbon, unrolled the scroll, and a faint fragrance wafted out.

That fragrance comes from the preservatives made from special herbs and magical materials, which keeps the ink on the scroll as vivid as ever even after time has passed.

However, Gao De did not recognize the characters written on the scroll.

"It must be some kind of magical script."

Gaode examined it carefully and made a judgment.

In the lower right corner of these magical characters is an exquisite stamp.

The stamp is circular, and the main design is a bird with outstretched wings standing on an open book.

The bird's feathers, the faintly visible magical symbols on the book's illustrations—every detail is so lifelike, as if it's ready to leap out and become reality at any moment.

Above the bird is a tiny diamond pattern.

"I don't recognize it." Gao De examined it for a while, confirming that he didn't know the origin of the stamp.

"Written in magical script, yet not a spell scroll." He had checked it immediately; the magical script on the scroll did not contain any magical power, but was simply used as the most ordinary script.

"The scroll itself is so exquisite, it must have cost a fortune. Could it be some kind of high-level potion recipe?" Gao De guessed. "Or perhaps some kind of document? After all, it even has a special seal."

After studying it carefully for a while and finding nothing, Gaode finally stopped this time-wasting activity.

At this point, all of the legacies left by the monk Seda have been inventoried:

An apprentice's handbook.

Two methods of cultivation.

Five spell recipes.

Two complete Tier 0 potion recipes and one incomplete Tier 1 potion recipe.

Twenty-one letters home.

A scroll of unknown purpose and origin.

And a full 50 Sean Gold Coins.

The harvest was so plentiful that Gaode wished he could do a somersault on the spot.

After venting his excitement by punching his fist hard, Gao De opened his cabinet and hid the three potion recipes inside.

This is a treasure, unlike magic recipes which are difficult to sell. It can be sold directly when necessary to earn a large sum of money.

It's best to keep the gold coins in a hidden compartment in the bedroom so you can sleep peacefully at night.

There was no need to pay so much attention to the apprentice's manual, the method of cultivation, and the twenty-one family letters, so Gao De casually put them back in the wooden box.

As for the scroll whose purpose and origin were unknown, Gao De thought about it and decided that it should be given some attention, so he hid it deep inside the cabinet.

After dripping the last drop of green spider venom into the medicine bottle in his hand, the churning liquid gradually calmed down.

A faint gray-green magical light could be seen flashing across the liquid.

The medicine is ready!

"Two gold coins in hand!" Gao De skillfully dispensed the newly prepared basic spider venom potion from the large medicine bottle.

Although he had just received a large sum of 50 gold coins, it did not make him arrogant, thus causing him to neglect his daily practice of mixing a set of basic spider venom potions.

One is a steady, long-term investment, the other is a windfall, a one-off deal.

Gaode Maps can still distinguish between these differences.

Unexpected windfalls don't happen every day.

If you treat windfall gains as normal income, or even deliberately pursue them while neglecting your original "career," you will inevitably run into trouble sooner or later.

Moreover, while 50 gold coins may seem like a lot, without continuous production, given the increasing expenses of the herb garden, this so-called "huge sum" would be squandered in just six months.

"From now on, you can eat as much meat as you want without any limit to nourish your body. You can also switch your staple food from rye bread to wheat bread."

"Of course, only I can afford to be so extravagant, after all, this is my private income."

Gao De was not worried that his act of hoarding the medicine would cause dissatisfaction among the other apprentices in the herb garden.

In fact, he always had this right, but Gao De couldn't get over his own conscience, so he continued to eat and drink with the apprentices.

"However, now that we have more money, the other apprentices in the herb garden can have their meals improved, instead of being so stingy as before."

"Well, we'll add a meat meal for everyone every two days. One pound of meat is enough for seven people per meal. One pound of meat costs 7 copper coins, which is an extra 9 silver coins a month. That's acceptable."

After considering it in his mind, Gao De made his decision.

In just one month, we've enabled everyone to live a life where we eat meat every other day.

Thinking about this, Gaode felt quite pleased.

"We must not forget Pierre's reminder: we should stock up on food in the herb garden. If something really happens, whether we run away or keep it as reserve food, it's always good to be prepared."

It is a common understanding that food prices will inevitably rise whenever there are natural disasters or man-made calamities.

Today's work is finished.

After stretching, Gao De eagerly pulled out one of the five spell recipes placed on the table.

[Flame Arrow] (Energizing type, 0 ring).

"Okay, that's you."

Gao De had quite a good impression of the Flame Arrow.

This was the spell that the mage Seda used to kill the leyline creatures, the wolf-rat, that had invaded the herb garden; it was also the spell that led him to his doom.

Its power is self-evident.

At least in the realm of magic, God believed that in terms of destructive power, [Fire Arrow] was definitely among the top, surpassing his [Acid Splash].

After all, "Introduction to Spells" also states that among all schools of spells, the Evocation school has the strongest destructive power.

(End of this chapter)