Above the mage

Chapter 60 Pierre's Speculation

Flower Flame Moon, 15th.

A bright magical light flashed across the potion.

Gao De listlessly dispensed the highly successful primary endurance potion solution into small bottles, showing no sign of joy whatsoever.

After putting the medicine away, Gao De felt a little agitated and couldn't calm down.

Since Oliver's visit that day, Phil's Potion Shop has stopped buying basic spider venom potions from their herb garden.

According to their explanation:

During this period, due to the increased sales of basic spider venom potions, potion makers in the city who possessed this potion also began to focus on concocting basic spider venom potions.

In addition, the Magic Potion Shop has been making large-scale purchases, and its stock of basic spider venom potions is now saturated, so it has suspended purchases.

Although Gaode was skeptical, the explanation made sense, so he let it go.

Since he had already mastered the preparation of basic stamina potions, he simply abandoned the basic spider venom potion and bought twenty portions of wolf gland fluid to prepare basic stamina potions instead.

Unexpectedly, when they brought the prepared basic stamina potion to Phil's Potions Shop, it was still refused to be purchased.

The reason given this time is that "from today onwards, our store will only sell potions made by our own potion makers and will no longer cooperate with potion makers who are not affiliated with our store."

At this point, Gaode clearly understands that all talk of saturated stockpiles is utter nonsense.

The essence of the plan was to force him to relinquish his herb garden, while also forcing himself to join their Phil's Potions Shop and concoct potions for them.

This is not counting.

After this unpleasant parting, Gaode noticed that there were more idlers wandering around outside the herb garden.

The Seda Pharmacy was originally located in the suburbs of Hogan, a detached house.

There are no living facilities or shops nearby.

Even to buy food, the apprentices in the herb garden had to travel for more than half an hour to the market and commercial district in the city center.

Under normal circumstances, where would idle people wander around in such a place?

Clearly, these "idlers" were from Phil's Potions Shop.

The intention is quite obvious: to monitor and "intimidate" Gaode.

This involves using both coercion and bribery.

The problem is that Oliver's methods were indeed effective.

Although Gaode still has some savings, without the income from magic potions, if he continues to live off his savings, the herb garden will eventually go bankrupt.

At that point, what other option would he have but to join Phil's Potions Shop?

As for resistance?

What can a first-class mage apprentice do to resist?

Gaode even secretly rejoiced that he had been careful at the time and had demonstrated his value in time.

Otherwise, he would be facing something far more serious than coercion and enticement.

But what should we do now?

Gao De became increasingly agitated as he thought about it.

Should we swallow our anger and hand over the herb garden to them?

This seems to be the best decision at the moment.

After all, the other party offered a purchase price of 200 gold coins and also highly valued his potential.

If he does join Phil's Potion Shop, the shop will most likely focus on developing him.

Although many restrictions will certainly be imposed, with Feng Lingyueying around, he should be able to get rid of these restrictions if he just endures it for a few years.

From this perspective, it is indeed a good choice.

However, Gaode Maps has never considered this option.

There's no other reason than that I don't want to put up with this!

If one's intentions cannot be expressed, no matter how many other reasons or how correct they may be, they will not be of any use.

As Gao De pondered, he took out his money bag, counted it carefully, and found that his current cash balance was 12 gold, 2 silver, and 5 copper.

"We need to make a decision as soon as possible."

The next day.

Gao De left the herb garden with a package in his hand.

"Should we go with them?"

"No need, the higher-ups just told us to keep an eye on the herb garden."

Seeing Gao De head towards the city, the two people monitoring him near the herb garden glanced at him, then looked away without making any further moves.

Although they were almost openly monitoring each other, they hadn't gone so far as to directly follow and stalk them, thus preserving a last shred of dignity.

Commercial area.

Pierre's Grocery Store.

Gao De, carrying the magic potions he had stockpiled for many days, noticed that the contents of the simple wooden sign at the entrance had changed before even stepping into the store.

"Our store will be closing soon, and all items in the store will be sold at low prices."

Pierre has only been gone for a little over a week, and he's already planning to close down his grocery store?!

Gao De was taken aback and, forgetting his purpose of "selling medicine," hurriedly entered the shop.

It is visibly clear that many of the store's shelves are now empty.

"You're leaving?" As soon as Gao De entered the shop, he saw Pierre leisurely drinking tea behind the counter and asked directly, "Going to Bremen?"

"Yes, I'm already looking for a new owner for the shop. Once I find one, I'll be leaving to enjoy my retirement in Bremen," Pierre replied, taking a sip of tea and putting down his cup.

"What's going on?" Gao De frowned, a bad feeling rising in his heart.

"The strange disappearances of people in the city have not been resolved," Pierre announced.

"Didn't you say the murderer was already..." Gao De replied subconsciously, then suddenly realized, "That was just a scapegoat?"

"Yes, just a scapegoat. The strange disappearances have been suppressed, not resolved," Pierre nodded, giving an affirmative answer.

"People are still going missing in the city."

He paused for a moment, then said, "Three days ago, a family living on the same street as me mysteriously disappeared. It was exactly the same as before: the family was sleeping at home, and when they woke up the next day, they were gone."

"His neighbors discovered it first, and everyone gathered around to watch the commotion. I also took a look at the scene before the city guards arrived."

"Aside from some strange slime, nothing was left in the room."

"Furthermore, the items in the room were very tidy, so it was definitely not a case of murder for money."

"I suspect this was not done by humans, but by a type of ley line creature that has never appeared in the Bremen region before, which is why even a second-ring mage was unable to resolve the matter."

"There are leyline creatures lurking in the shadows in the city center, constantly committing atrocities. This is terrifying."

After a moment of silence, Gao De spoke again.

"Just for that reason?"

"Not entirely, the main reason is..." Pierre sighed, then continued, "Didn't I go to Bremen last month to make arrangements for my future? Besides that, I also checked some information through my friend in the Emerald Alliance."

"Under normal circumstances, there is an upper limit to the number of ley line creatures that can gather in each region, depending on the different concentrations of magic."

"However, during this period, the number of ley line creatures appearing outside the city has exceeded the total number that should exist in this area."

Do you know what this means?

Before Gao De could respond, Pierre answered his own question: "This means that the frequent appearance of ley line creatures outside the city is not simply due to their aggregation, but rather the emergence of ley line creatures from a new source."

"And creatures born from ley lines can only come from ley lines."

El said something that seemed completely cryptic at the end, but God suddenly understood, his expression changing drastically. "You mean the anomalies outside the city are caused by new ley lines forming?!"

He clearly remembered a sentence in the Bremen Gazetteer he had bought:

"After the planes converged, ley lines began to appear frequently, their numbers increasing daily, and ley line creatures emerged. However, no new ley lines had appeared in the Bremen region for two hundred years. King Jeros XII once praised Bremen as a blessed land."

Is this blessed land no longer blessed?

"I'm not sure, but I think it's very likely."

"At least now, it's highly likely that a new species of leyline creature has invaded Hogan City. Doesn't this confirm my suspicions?"

"The formation of new ley lines has brought new ley line creatures," God murmured, understanding Pierre's meaning.

(End of this chapter)