Chapter 423

Duo'en, Golden Feather Castle, where the residence of Hou Jue Drake is located.

Hou Jue, in the noble system of the Jin Quehua Dynasty, is second only to Duke.

And the title of Duke, looking at the entire Jin Quehua Dynasty, there are only a few, basically all of which are a few big families passed down from the early days of the dynasty's establishment.

Later, the Jin Quehua Dynasty never granted any new Duke titles.

Therefore, in a sense, Hou Jue can be considered the highest title that an ordinary person can reach through hard work and talent under the Jin Quehua Dynasty system.

Hou Jue Drake is both the lord of Duo'en City and the supreme ruler of the entire Bailuo County, that is, the County Hou Jue.

In the study of the mansion.

Hou Jue Drake, who is nearly six hundred years old, flipped through the report urgently submitted not long ago by the lord of Auckland City, Count Roland, with a slightly surprised expression on his face.

"Secondary plane... Since the Nolan calendar, as the magic concentration of the magic user plane has become more and more intense, and the stability of the plane has become higher and higher, the probability and situation of these low-level planes producing space channels with our plane have become less and less; it actually let our Auckland encounter one, it's really..."

"Fortunately, it was resolved without any danger; if the Wind Knot had really formed, it would have been a great disaster!" Hou Jue Drake couldn't help but sigh.

The family steward on the side said: "Count Roland has managed Auckland City for so many years, and the aftermath work of every whirlwind invasion has been done very well; he has both ability and experience, so this plane natural disaster could be survived without danger."

"Yes..." Hou Jue Drake put down the report, thought for a while, and said slowly: "The Wind Knot disaster could be resolved in time; although there is luck, it is more ability; it should be well rewarded."

Auckland City is one of the big cities in Bailuo County; once the Wind Knot forms, Auckland City will cease to exist, and the long-term hidden danger after that is secondary.

Under his rule, the destruction of a city, regardless of the reason, is a major "work error" for him, the County Hou Jue.

Because of this one thing, he and his family will not be able to lift their heads in the dynasty for the next hundred years, which has a great impact.

As soon as he thinks of this, Hou Jue Drake can't help but have lingering fears.

So, he flipped through the report he had just put down again, and his eyes swept over a name mentioned repeatedly in the report.

Gao De, Sea Hai Shao Bing magic user...

Because it was an urgent report, the report information was very short, focusing on saying long things briefly, but on such a brief report, Gao De's name appeared three times and was given a "key" evaluation.

"Sea Hai Shao Bing magic user..." Hou Jue Drake thought for a while and said to the family steward waiting on the side: "Go to the Sea Sentinels and retrieve the information of 'Gao De'."

The name Gao De is still an unfamiliar name to him.

For the descendants of big nobles or great magic users in Bailuo County, as long as they have outstanding abilities and serve in the Sea Sentinels, he has more or less some impression.

That means this Gao De is most likely just from a small noble background or a civilian magic user.

Retrieving information is, first, Hou Jue Drake himself is a bit curious about what kind of magic user can make a great contribution in the Wind Knot disaster, making Count Roland want to grant him the title of Honorary Magic User of Auckland;

The second is that as the County Count of Bailuo County, Gao De has made a great contribution; in terms of reason and emotion, he also has to give rewards; only by knowing the detailed situation of Gao De can he have a way to give the most appropriate reward.

With the resolution of the Wind Knot disaster, the continuous heavy rain gradually stopped, and the weather returned to clear.

The disaster continued like this for ten days; under the command of Count Roland, plus the materials and personnel reinforced from Duo'en, more than 99% of the disaster victims were rescued and properly resettled.

In addition, Hou Jue Drake also summoned major nobles and chambers of commerce in Bailuo County to donate money, working together to assist the disaster area.

For a time, there were many responses, and soon more than 20,000 Jin Quehua coins were raised for Auckland.

In addition, under the application of Count Roland and the efforts of Hou Jue Drake, the dynasty, considering the disaster situation, decided to exempt all disaster victims affected in the Auckland disaster area from taxes for three years.

Under the support of many parties, the hearts of the disaster victims gradually stabilized.

The disaster is certainly terrible, but the subsequent impact brought by the disaster is actually more terrible than the disaster itself.

Not to mention anything else, in the feudal dynasty period of Gao De's previous life, after the disaster, the people lived in dire straits, the people were destitute, and mountain bandits arose everywhere; one could find many examples by just flipping through them.

It's just that for the Jin Quehua Dynasty, an ancient dynasty that has been passed down for more than ten thousand years, perhaps there are some deep-seated problems such as the intensification of social contradictions within them, but in this regard, they have handled it extremely well.

Of course, for such a major disaster, all aspects involved need to be finished, including the repair and reinforcement of dams, compensation for property losses, subsequent life arrangements for disaster victims, and the stability of food prices in the disaster area, all of which are major projects calculated in months.

It's just that these things belong to the responsibility of local officials and nobles, and have nothing to do with Gao De, who is a Sea Hai Shao Bing magic user.

He is only responsible for the work on the front line of rescue.

After responding to the Magic User Assembly Call and returning from the expedition with the main force of Auckland magic users, Gao De stayed in the Auckland region for another seven days.

During this period, the tasks he performed were all water beast clearing, especially those water beasts in groups.

He rushed back and forth to six or seven regions and participated in nearly ten water beast clearing tasks.

Not to mention anything else, after just a few trips like this, Gao De earned four first-circle origin points for himself, making the number of first-circle origin points reach seven again.

Leaving three points as "reserve" resources, he directly invested the remaining four points into spells.

【Relentless Pursuit+】 (Transmutation, first circle):

You strengthen your body's ability to perform long-distance travel.

Extra: During the duration of the spell, when you perform a forced march, your movement speed is additionally increased by one-third;

At the same time, you will gain stronger tracking ability, allowing you to more easily discover the traces left by the target, more accurately judge the target's direction of travel, and improve the success rate of tracking.

【Entanglement+】 (Transmutation, first circle):

This spell will cause tall grass, weeds, and other plants to entangle creatures that are about to enter or are in the area.

Extra: The plants in the spell area will be able to release pungent or confusing odors, affecting the creatures in the area to perform perception based on smell; at the same time, if the creature relies on smell to track the target, the tracking effect in this area may fail.

【Burning Hands+】 (Evocation, first circle):

Conical scorching flames spray from your fingertips.

Extra: After you cast Burning Hands on a creature or an area, some magic energy will remain; when you cast Burning Hands again on the same area or the same creature within one minute, it will produce a flame resonance effect with the remaining magic energy, making the power of the next Burning Hands increase.

【Blade of Heavy Pressure+】 (Transmutation, first circle):

When you use melee weapons to attack enemies, the Blade of Heavy Pressure will enhance their momentum and density...

Extra: When you use a strengthened melee weapon to attack, you can better guide the momentum of the weapon, which may ignore some of the target's dodging actions.

The strengthening of the first three is actually concise and comprehensive, and the specific effect can be seen at a glance; 【Relentless Pursuit+】 and 【Entanglement+】 belong to functional strengthening, while 【Burning Hands+】 is power strengthening.

As for the extra effect of 【Blade of Heavy Pressure+】, Gao De didn't quite understand the specific meaning at first; after testing it, he understood what the situation was:

Simply put, this momentum guidance is roughly equivalent to "attack guidance" in games, which makes it easier for him to hit the target when swinging his sword, belonging to indirectly improving his sword skills.

Not to mention anything else, just these four first-circle origin points earned, Gao De's disaster relief trip this time can already be considered a full harvest.

Of course, other things cannot be left unsaid.

Although it is not clear how much merit can be obtained this time, Gao De also has a bottom line in his heart; he only needs Count Roland to report his contribution in the Wind Knot mission to the Sea Sentinels in full as he said, and a first-class merit is unavoidable.

The only uncertainty is the quantity.

In addition, the contribution made in Taier Town is at least several second-class merits.

Gao De also made detailed records of the water beast clearing tasks he participated in.

It's just that because they all belong to collective actions, he followed the Auckland official magic users and the recruited idle magic users to act together to clear the beasts.

Therefore, he is not sure how the Sea Sentinels will finally evaluate his military merit for this part.

On the tenth day, after the Sea Sentinels confirmed that no large-scale water beast groups were found in the Auckland territory, they notified all Sea Hai Shao Bing magic users who rushed to Auckland for disaster relief that the disaster relief mission was temporarily over, and everyone could choose to set off back to Duo'en.

Count Roland still has many things to be busy with; although rewarding merits is important, the priority must be ranked behind, so the "Auckland Honorary Magic User" promised to Gao De has not been decided yet.

Gao De couldn't stay in Auckland and wait for these things, so he chose to return home like other Sea Hai Shao Bing magic users.

When he left, it was the 14th day of the Green Leaf Month, and when he returned, it was already the 28th day of the Green Leaf Month.

Returning to Duo'en, he first went to the Sea Abyss Bai Ta, preparing to submit the mission records he had made, so that the Sea Sentinels could make the final military merit evaluation.

Because this was a large-scale mandatory collective mission, all Sea Hai Shao Bing magic users who were in Duo'en and had no missions were sent to Auckland, and the time to end the mission was unified, so the Sea Abyss Bai Ta also became exceptionally lively.

Even the material department that submitted mission records was lined up; this scene was the first time Gao De had seen it.

In the gap of queuing, some familiar Sea Hai Shao Bing magic users had already gathered together to chat.

The topic of conversation was undoubtedly the sights and sounds of disaster relief these days, mostly about what powerful water beasts they encountered, what tragic disaster situations they saw, and estimating how much merit they could obtain this time.

There was also whispering about the Sea Hai Shao Bing magic users who performed well in this disaster relief.

"The first merit is very likely to be Magic User Erwin; he was the first batch of people to set off, arrived at Auckland City at the first time, responded to the Magic User Assembly Call issued by Auckland, and followed the Auckland magic user main force on the expedition..."

In front of Gao De, a magic user wearing a Sea Hai Shao Bing sergeant uniform said to his companion.

After so much time, the reason behind the Catfish Whirlwind had long been spread; at least the Sea Hai Shao Bing magic users who participated in the rescue knew the inside story.

In this situation, the military merit that can be obtained by participating in the Wind Knot mission must be the first merit, far greater than their disaster relief.

"The location where the Wind Knot appeared was really too close to Auckland City, so Auckland City discovered and set off very early."

"I heard that Zuowen of the Burns family went straight to Auckland at the first time, but didn't catch up; he was the second batch of people to set off, and his mount was a Flame Mane Horse; I estimate that only Warrant Officer Erwin participated in this mission." His companion on the side sighed.

"That's not it," the former heard his companion say this and made a mysterious expression: "I heard that we had a total of two people who caught up with Auckland's Magic User Assembly Call, which means that in addition to Warrant Officer Erwin, there should be one other person who also participated in the Wind Knot mission."

"Oh? Who is it?"

"I don't know for the time being; everyone is busy with disaster relief, and there is not much time to inquire about this gossip; now that we have just returned, I estimate that the detailed situation will be spread tomorrow or the day after."

"..."

Gao De stood in the crowd listening to everyone's records, silent; after it was his turn, he silently submitted his mission records.

Because there were still many people queuing, Old Neil just collected Gao De's mission records, put them aside, made a registration, and drew a mark on his name, and it was over.

He was not surprised, left the Sea Abyss Bai Ta, and went to the Walmart Magic Material Store.

What Gao De didn't know was that before he submitted his mission records, a small meeting about his military merit evaluation had already been held in the third-floor meeting room of the Sea Abyss Bai Ta.

There are many processes and ceremonies for title granting, and Count Roland is still busy and cannot spare his hand to do this.

But asking for merit does not take much time.

So when the Sea Sentinels announced the end of the mission, Count Roland spent some time writing a request for reward letter himself and sent it to the Sea Sentinels.

In the meeting room.

"You guys look at the request for reward letter sent by Count Roland first." Colonel Greylin, who presided over the meeting, waved his hand and said in a deep voice.

In front of everyone, there was a "copy" of the sheepskin request for reward letter.

Captain Merrick picked up the sheepskin and read it word by word:

"Respected Sea Hai Shao Bing magic user lords:

Thanks to the strong support for Auckland City, I am writing to you today to present the outstanding achievements of your organization's magic user Gao De and solemnly request commendation."

"This Catfish Whirlwind started from the Wind Knot; Magic User Gao De responded to our city's assembly call, participated in the Auckland defense battle, and established strange merits and first merits in the mission, sacrificing his own phantom spirit for this; his ability and dedication are beyond the reach of ordinary people..."

"Long before the Wind Knot mission, Gao De organized a fleet in Yaxi Town under Auckland's jurisdiction and organized the transfer of disaster victims..."

"After the Wind Knot mission, although he established the first merit by the Wind Knot battle, he was not addicted to his own merits; for the water beast clearing mission issued by our city, he also happily threw himself into it; this kind of unpretentious attitude is enough to show that he cares about the disaster victims and has noble character..."

"Such a person with both virtue and talent is worthy of being a model and is the pillar of the dynasty's future, so I ask you to grant him the honor and reward he deserves, to show his merits and encourage everyone!"

(End of chapter)