[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-above-the-mage":3,"chapter-above-the-mage-above-the-mage-chapter-492":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Above the Mage!",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2257496,4404,"Chapter 492: Water Beast Appears","above-the-mage-chapter-492",492,"\u003Cp>Broster City.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Luo Jun is a coastal prefecture, with many cities built along the sea, growing wealthy through maritime trade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Broster City is an inland city, surrounded by land on all sides, its largest body of water being Asmire Lake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a non-coastal city within a coastal prefecture, its development should normally be lackluster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet in reality, within Bai Luo Jun, Broster City ranks mid-tier economically, far surpassing the coastal city of Lagos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is because Broster City lies at the center of Bai Luo Jun, serving as the convergence point for land transportation and inland waterways.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is the “inland transportation hub.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thanks to its status as a “logistics center,” the city hosts three airship bases alone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, although Broster City’s development lags behind the stronger coastal cities, it firmly holds a mid-tier position within Bai Luo Jun, making it a traditional city with deep roots.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Returning to Broster City from Asmire Lake, Gao De first visited the local Peacekeeping Office to request a “dock.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After stating his purpose, he easily borrowed a long, narrow rowboat they used for patrolling waters, free of charge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After borrowing the boat, the on-duty peacekeeper warmly invited Gao De to share lunch, but Gao De declined, citing exhaustion from a sleepless night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Immediately followed a round of polite flattery: “Magister Gao, you work tirelessly—truly admirable; we should all follow your example.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leaving the Peacekeeping Office, Gao De found a hotel in the city meeting reimbursement standards, rented a room, and prepared to rest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A full night of intense focus and taut nerves during patrol drains immense energy, let alone the fact he must resume work tonight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without maintaining peak condition, if the serpent monster in Asmire Lake truly is a second-rank Blackwing Scale Serpent, he’ll be in deep trouble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not to mention earning a Second-Class Merit—he might even lose his life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao De won’t blindly overestimate himself just because he once defeated a second-ring mage and has since grown stronger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, under most circumstances, second-rank terrain creatures possess greater combat power than mages of the same rank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is because terrain creatures, to survive in a harsh, predator-prey environment, invest all their “talent points” into combat: powerful bodies and innate supernatural abilities forged for battle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mages, however, pursue diverse paths; true combat mages are actually a minority among mages.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, combat mages vastly outmatch terrain creatures of the same rank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Aldrich was neither a combat mage nor a seasoned second-ring mage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, defeating Aldrich’s feat does not justify underestimating the Asmire Lake serpent monster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet compared to human mages, terrain creatures have weaknesses: though possessing some intelligence, it remains limited; they generally cannot harness external tools.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Precisely because of this, Gao De accepted the mission.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, risk remains.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A first-ring mage confronting a second-rank terrain creature in its aquatic domain, with full home-field advantage, seems hopeless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But to obtain rare spell formulas, one must earn a Second-Class Merit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter how many Third-Class Merits you accumulate, they cannot substitute for a Second-Class Merit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To enhance the strength of the specialization awakened upon advancing to second ring, rare spells must be mastered and expanded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So, despite the risk, he must act.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao De gave no further thought; he cast 【Comfortable Deep Sleep+】 and fell into deep slumber.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After nearly five hours of deep sleep, Gao De awoke refreshed, all fatigue from the night vanished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first thing he did upon waking was spend half an hour imprinting magical sigils onto the yilí egg, injecting his mana into it in an extremely subtle and stable manner, allowing the unhatched yilí to become familiar with his mana.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then came his daily cultivation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only after completing all this did the hungry Gao De leave to eat, stroll the market, and collect tree seeds—as he must upon arriving at any new place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Bai Luo Jun’s “inland transportation hub,” Broster City boasts exceptionally rich and diverse goods, with merchandise from all over converging and transiting here, making its tree seed variety far richer than that of the prefectural capital, Encheng.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Merely strolling casually through the city, Gao De gathered a rich harvest, adding over thirty new tree species to his collection.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet as always, magic tree seeds remained rare—he received not a single one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all this, the sky had turned deep blue; nightfall spread like a vast black silk veil over the city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao De immediately left the city, heading to the small dock where the Peacekeeping Office moored its boats, presented his documents to the guard, and promptly received a small boat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to the fishing boat he’d borrowed earlier, the Peacekeeping Office’s patrol boat was longer, slimmer, lighter, and more durable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Elegant oars were mounted along both sides, reducing water resistance, enhancing efficiency and agility on the water, and facilitating docking and turning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao De boarded, gripped the oars, and rowed toward the shore where the fishing boat had anchored that morning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By now, darkness had fully descended.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The patrol boat had a dedicated front lamp, yet Gao De still did not light it, choosing to proceed in darkness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Asmire Lake at night was eerily silent; the only sound was the rhythmic splash of Gao De’s oars.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, beneath the water, a slender shadow glided past—a gray tail fin flashed on the surface, leaving only a fleeting ripple.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao De did not panic; instead, he smiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Time to get to work,” he said to the lake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next instant, the calm water suddenly erupted in a splash; Tuanzi surfaced with his round head, waving his two front flippers up and down at Gao De.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao De pulled out the serpent monster’s activity map from the Peacekeeping Office, excluded the area he’d searched last night, and planned tonight’s patrol route from nearest to farthest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even with a general area and Tuanzi luring the target, finding a elusive serpent monster remained extremely difficult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first half of the night passed quickly; Gao De found nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The deeper the night, the darker and more profound the black water appeared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao De tossed several gem sweetberries into a new stretch of water, then rowed his boat to the side and waited.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He waited about half an hour, just as he prepared to retrieve the gem sweetberries and move locations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A gentle ripple suddenly spread across the water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It looked like nothing more than a breeze stirring the lake’s surface.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Gao De knew better.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His Mandora Magic Eye had activated, perceiving all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this moment’s vision, he clearly saw the flow of energy where the ripples originated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Water beast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not necessarily the serpent monster—but certainly a water beast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whoosh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beneath the water where the gem sweetberries lay, a massive black shadow swept past.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The water formed a vortex, the gem sweetberries at its center, pulled into its core.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The vortex vanished instantly; the lake surface calmed again—but the gem sweetberries were gone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damn, that thief’s move was swift!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Gao De marveled inwardly, he seized the North Wind and leapt into the water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, Tuanzi, hidden near the gem sweetberries, surged forward with full force!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1187,"2026-06-19T14:28:50.414Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","8393dcf4225d657e891778c29933b2b32da57340096aadc5b7e9ae744ace0b6b","above-the-mage-chapter-493","above-the-mage-chapter-491",529,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fabove-the-mage-cover.jpg"]