Chapter 496: Mandatory Task

Leaving the Haiyuan White Tower, Gao De first went to Walma Magical Materials Store, deposited his recent acquisitions, and set prices.

Jiao Er was merely from a farming family; though he had worked as an apprentice for several years at a major city magical materials shop, magical materials knowledge was advanced expertise, not accessible to mere apprentices.

Thus, pricing these items still had to be done by Gao De himself.

Needless to say, the scarcity of talent was also one of Walma Magical Materials Store’s major challenges in growing stronger.

Either hire professional talent at high cost, or find a way to train Jiao Er into becoming one.

Clearly, neither path was easy.

Gao De merely thought about it for now, not in a hurry.

The store’s current top priority was still acquiring tree seeds.

What Gao De truly regarded as an industry was actually the Harland Shipyard in Lagos City.

Once the shipping route between the Northern Frontier and Bai Luo Jun was opened, even if initial operations required caution and could not be too bold, the latent massive trade demand between the two regions promised highly substantial profits.

With goods continuously arriving and shelved, the magical materials store had recently become noticeably busier.

After gaining slight recognition in the surrounding neighborhoods, the business of acquiring tree seeds had also improved considerably.

Gao De flipped through Jiao Er’s ledger.

During this period, the store had received nearly thirty new tree seed varieties, yet seven of them duplicated seeds he had acquired in Broster City.

This was a case of information disparity causing confusion.

Gao De had created a dedicated list of already-acquired tree seeds; any seed on the list would not be purchased, and he instructed Jiao Er to update it in real time, adding every new seed upon acquisition.

But during his three or four days in Broster City, the seeds he personally acquired could not be updated on the list immediately.

Of course, these were minor sums; even though Gao De offered a high price of fifty copper coins per seed, that “high price” was only relative to the seeds’ intrinsic value.

To Gao De’s surprise, after Walma Magical Materials Store had been officially operating for so long, it had finally acquired its first magical tree seed.

It was a first-rank magical tree seed: Firefly Cage Willow.

After maturing, the silver branches of the Firefly Cage Willow droop and swell into fruits.

Their thin, cicada-wing-like skins encase glowing firefly fluid that shifts between blue and gold with day and night.

This glowing fluid can be used to craft magical potions, most commonly for making Manifestation Potions.

According to Jiao Er, it was sold to him by someone who had purchased a first-rank magical material from the store.

The buyer had originally come to purchase magical materials, then noticed Walma’s price for magical tree seeds was far higher than other shops, so he casually sold his seed.

This was precisely why Gao De chose to acquire tree seeds through a magical materials store.

Magical tree seeds are mostly held only by mages, so the shop must first attract mage customers to have any chance of acquiring them.

“Though the Buzzing Tree Seed is on the list, continue acquiring it at fifty copper coins for the long term,” Gao De thought for a moment and told Jiao Er.

Buzzing Tree Resin was of great significance to him and must be cultivated on a large scale.

He had collected all the Buzzing Tree Seeds from Mount Aisimir; the quantity was considerable, yet still far from sufficient for large-scale cultivation.

He believed other areas within Bai Luo Jun must still harbor Buzzing Trees, so offering high prices should yield more.

“Yes, Mr.,” Jiao Er replied promptly.

Then, Gao De reviewed the store’s accounts again, confirmed there were no issues, and concluded his business there.

He opened his newly acquired spell formula.

【Identification Spell [Rare]】 (Divination, First-Ring):

You designate an object and maintain continuous contact with it during casting.

If the object is a supernatural item or one imbued with supernatural power, you will know its properties, usage method, and whether attunement is required; if it is a charged item, you will also know its remaining usable charges.

You may also detect whether any spell currently affects the object, and identify the specific spell responsible; if the object was created by a spell, you will know exactly which one.

If the object you touch is a supernatural material, you will discern its rank.

If you maintain continuous contact with a living being during casting, you will know whether it is affected by a spell and identify the specific spell causing the effect.

Spell potion ingredients: one faded bookworm, powdered mirror iron ore.

After noting the required primary and auxiliary materials for the spell potion, Gao De stepped out, hailed a carriage, and headed straight to Kensington District to purchase them.

All other materials were readily available, but the faded bookworm was an extremely obscure ingredient.

It was a translucent worm that fed on expired ink in ancient books, existing only within ancient texts, with limited uses, hence rarely seen.

After inquiring at several potion shops without success, Gao De finally visited a larger, reputable potion shop and placed a pre-order.

The staff carefully recorded his request and promised to notify him immediately upon stock arrival.

For the remainder of his time, Gao De focused primarily on cultivation, while continuing to refine his swordsmanship at the Collingwood Spell Hall.

As the Sea Sentinel’s spell hall, its “instructors” were exceptionally strong; whether for beginners or advancement, anyone with money could find a suitable master.

Most of his remaining free time was spent in the Haiyuan White Tower’s library, absorbing knowledge like a sponge.

Under the Sea Sentinels’ immense foundation, even the free books open to apprentice mages were far more precious and rare than those in the Sires Spell Academy.

The longer he remained in this world, the more Gao De sensed the importance of knowledge.

Not just magical knowledge, but also governance, city management, commerce—every aspect was urgently needed by him now.

A mage, through his own ability and status, could access far too many fields.

Fortunately, mages lived extremely long lives and possessed far superior memories, enabling them to adapt to such multidisciplinary learning.

After each visit to the library, Gao De would check the main hall for any tasks he could accept.

But it seemed his luck had run dry lately—he had yet to encounter any suitable tasks.

Yet Gao De remained calm.

He still needed seven drops of liquid mana to complete his First-Ring cultivation; that would take at least half a year, plenty of time.

Besides, he was still young; if by then his spell collection still didn’t satisfy him, he could always pause at First-Ring for half a year or a year.

Given the extended lifespan he gained from cultivating the Greenwood Longevity Scripture, a year meant nothing.

Of course, for Gao De’s current age, ascending to Second-Ring sooner would make his Sea Sentinel record far more impressive:

A Second-Ring mage at fifty and one at fifty-one were nearly identical, but a sixteen-year-old and a seventeen-year-old Second-Ring mage were distinctly different.

On the other side, the bookworm Gao De had pre-ordered at the magical materials store still hadn’t arrived.

He had no choice but to wait patiently.

Thus, another seven or eight days passed.

Then came good news.

The 【Crab Infestation Risk】 task’s half-month observation period ended, confirmed complete.

Immediately following, six Third-Class Merits were credited.

After tallying, Gao De now held seven Third-Class Merits.

Since the spell potion for 【Identification Spell】 still hadn’t arrived, he went to the Supply Office and spent all his newly acquired merits on spell formulas.

This caused Ni Er to look at him with increasing strangeness.

In his many years at the Supply Office, he had never seen a mage who converted all his merits into spell formulas.

Seven Third-Class Merits yielded two common First-Ring spell formulas: 【Entangling Vines】 and 【Burning Hands】; the former cost three merits, the latter four.

【Entangling Vines】 (Alteration, First-Ring): This spell causes tall grass, weeds, and other plants to entangle any creature entering or within the area, imposing the entangled condition; the entire zone becomes difficult terrain.

If the area is covered in thorns or similar plants, creatures within suffer damage in addition to being entangled.

【Burning Hands】 (Conjuration, First-Ring):

A cone of searing flame erupts from your fingertips; all creatures within the flame zone take fire damage, and flammable materials ignited by the flame catch fire.

One was a crowd-control spell, somewhat similar to 【Tidal Net】, essentially a land-based version—though a low-tier one.

After all, 【Entangling Vines】 required more natural conditions; in a city, it had almost no practical use.

No wonder it was a common spell, while 【Tidal Net】 was classified as rare.

【Burning Hands】 was a multi-target damage spell.

This was Gao De’s current weakness—he lacked effective First-Ring area attacks.

Moreover, fire-element spells were generally more versatile at low ranks, so Gao De prioritized 【Burning Hands】 highly.

The spell potions for both required common primary and auxiliary materials, which Gao De acquired without difficulty.

This was one advantage of common spells over rare ones: their spell potion ingredients were usually easier to obtain.

The reason was simple: common spells had lower entry barriers, attracting more learners, thus creating greater demand for their spell potions.

Demand determines the market—an eternal truth.

Dun was, after all, the capital of Bai Luo Jun; the day after his merits were credited, the bookworm Gao De had pre-ordered finally arrived.

As soon as he received the bookworm, he immediately prepared the corresponding spell potion and drank it down.

His Second-Ring-level mental energy, combined with his self-developed spell model construction method, made learning First-Ring spells effortless.

He constructed all three First-Ring spell models in just two days.

Looking at his remaining First-Ring origin points—numbered “4”—Gao De paused, then allocated one point to 【Identification Spell】.

This wasn’t merely because it was rare.

【Identification Spell】 could even be called the most enduringly useful First-Ring rare spell.

Even at Fifth- or Sixth-Ring, mages would still use it frequently.

For this reason alone, Gao De could not spare even this one point of origin from it.

Moreover, the spell was genuinely practical.

First and foremost, its most common and basic use: determining the rank of supernatural materials.

Though mages could roughly judge a material’s rank by its magical energy level, and usually wouldn’t be wrong,

But this could be faked.

Some skilled wizards can disguise low-grade magical materials as one tier higher and sell them at inflated prices.

To uncover such frauds, one must either possess sufficient knowledge to spot the fakes, or simply rely on brute force and use the [Identification Spell] directly.

Over a wizard’s lifespan of several centuries—or even over a thousand years—trading with others is inevitable; the necessity of mastering such a spell is obvious.

Moreover, after unexpected deaths (murders), one may acquire mysterious gear—like a mysterious sword—and using the Identification Spell reveals whether it possesses magical power, special abilities, or curses, making it essential for avoiding traps.

Furthermore, many magical items require attunement to unleash their full power.

Attunement refers to the need for specific methods to activate and unlock the full potential of certain magical items.

The most common cases involve ancestral heirlooms requiring a secret magical seal to activate, or certain holy light artifacts needing to absorb sunlight at dawn to fully release their power.

Whether an item requires attunement is generally unknown to anyone except its creator.

If one acquires a magical item but fails to activate its true power due to ignorance of its attunement requirement, it would be a great regret.

Lastly, when encountering creatures controlled by strange spells, the Identification Spell can quickly reveal what spell is affecting them, aiding rapid identification of ways to dispel it.

The [Identification Spell] itself is not an offensive spell, but for wizards, its utility surpasses that of most offensive spells—this is why it appears on the list of rare spells.

Primary Source -1.

After a familiar “cutscene,” the spell model of the [Identification Spell] sprouted numerous new branches, its transformation far exceeding that of any other first-tier spell upgraded by points.

[Identification Spell+ (Rare)] (Divination, First-Tier): You designate an object and maintain continuous contact with it during casting.

Additional: If the object is an attuned magical item or another object imbued with magical power, you may learn its attunement method (probability heavily dependent on your own magical knowledge);

If the object is a magical material, you will perceive certain of its properties;

If you are touching a creature affected by a spell, you will know the remaining duration of that spell, allowing better judgment of whether to dispel it or wait for its effect to expire.

The higher the grade of the magical item, the more mana is required to identify it.

Comprehensive enhancement—this upgrade is equivalent to applying a “mod” to the spell.

Gao De immediately went to Walma Magical Materials Store to test the effect of [Identification Spell+].

He cast [Identification Spell+] on the black-winged scale-snake scales he had retrieved not long ago.

After consuming two drops of liquid mana, information surged into his mind.

Second-tier magical material: durable, water-resistant

As Gao De returned to the Fanzhuolun District from Walma Magical Materials Store and had not yet entered his dormitory, two Sea Sentinel staff members rushed toward him, shouting from a few steps away: “Master Gao De!”

“What’s wrong?” he stopped, frowning in confusion.

“Emergency mandatory mission.”

“Aldan City has been struck by a massive hurricane; the situation is dire. All Sea Sentinel wizards currently stationed in Dorn are ordered to proceed to Aldan City immediately for disaster relief—no delays permitted!”

(End of Chapter)