[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-above-the-mage":3,"chapter-above-the-mage-above-the-mage-chapter-59":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},2257063,4404,"Chapter 59: Minor Progress","above-the-mage-chapter-59",59,"\u003Cp>In the herb garden, Gao De’s workshop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao De carefully opened the box, took out a small vial of Basic Magic Potion, and held it in his hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Luxurious!” he couldn’t help but sigh again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The price of just this small vial could cover eight people in the herb garden for nearly ten days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And he consumes one vial every two days in his Guiding Method practice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having spent the money, Gao De no longer dwelled on it; he gently pulled the cork.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A strange medicinal scent spread out—pleasant, not unpleasant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Glug~ Gao De tilted his head back and drained the entire vial of Basic Magic Potion, ensuring not a single drop remained, then placed the empty vial back into the box.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wash it off—afterward, I can reuse the bottle for potion-making; can’t waste it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“At this price, don’t let me down.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao De muttered to himself, then quickly entered meditation, achieving the stillness required for Guiding Method practice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as he entered stillness, Gao De sensed the difference.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A warm flow continuously surged from his abdomen—endless magic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Normally, magic floated outside; he needed the Guiding Method to draw it into his body and convert it into his own magical energy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, magic was already gathering in his abdomen—why bother drawing it from outside?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao De had never seen such a blessing; he immediately activated the Guiding Method with ravenous hunger, greedily absorbing the magic pooled in his lower dantian and converting it into his own magical energy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feeling his internal magical energy grow ever fuller, Gao De’s face unconsciously broke into a smile while in meditation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only when his mental energy reached its critical limit did he awaken from meditation and halt his Guiding Method practice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Indeed, you get what you pay for—this single session’s progress equals five or six of my previous ones.” Gao De carefully sensed his magical energy growth and sighed with genuine awe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If I keep drinking Basic Magic Potion to assist my Guiding Method practice, in three more days my magical energy will reach the next level.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The previous owner had spent two full years to bring both Guiding Method and Meditation to the level of five tricks and five petals of the lotus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was even though his cultivation talent was already superior to the other apprentices in the herb garden.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, not just the apprentices—even Master Seda’s magical talent was far inferior to “Gao De.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even with occasional use of Basic Magic Potion, Master Seda didn’t reach Third-Class Apprentice until age thirty-five.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In truth, even if we expanded the scope to all magicians, the previous owner’s magical talent still ranked somewhere in the lower-middle tier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even so, he required an average of 144 days—five months—to advance one minor level.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If calculated at this rate, the previous owner would have needed only 2,880 days—eight years—to advance Guiding Method from beginner to Third-Class Apprentice (twenty tricks), assuming no day of laziness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, cultivation cannot be calculated so simply by addition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Apprentices are divided into First, Second, and Third Class because each promotion requires progressively more time to gain a single layer of magical energy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In simple terms, progressing from sixty to seventy, versus seventy to eighty, both are ten-point gains—but the effort and energy required are vastly different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Normally, for the same person, the time needed to advance one layer in Second-Class Apprentice is 1.5 times that of First-Class Apprentice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“To reach Third-Class Apprentice, I must advance fifteen minor levels; each minor level takes 144 days multiplied by 1.5—that’s 216 days.” Gao De calculated inwardly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So to reach Third-Class Apprentice, I’d need…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a brief mental calculation, Gao De arrived at the answer: “3,240 days.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Exactly nine years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Add the previous two years—that’s eleven years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For those with even more ordinary magical talent, reaching Third-Class Apprentice would take over twenty years by this calculation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, I can’t calculate it this way—once Meditation improves and mental energy grows, the daily time I can spend practicing Guiding Method increases, and so does my magic absorption efficiency…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s like the speed of Guiding Method practice rises steadily as Meditation advances.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With this compounding factor, Gao De could no longer calculate precisely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But knowing the total time would be far less than nine years was enough—for now, estimate seven years; by then, he’d be only twenty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At twenty, he could reach Third-Class Apprentice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And I can still drink Basic Magic Potion to accelerate progress—now, one day’s progress after drinking equals five days without.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“One set (three vials) of Basic Magic Potion can sustain my training for six days—but that’s only because I’m still a First-Class Apprentice; once I reach Second-Class, I’ll need one vial per day.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If I drink Basic Magic Potion continuously…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He calculated again and arrived at the answer: “43.2 days per minor level—next level will break soon; subtracting the one already achieved, fourteen minor levels remain.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He calculated a moment longer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>604.8 days—1.68 years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Correct—if he persisted in taking the potion, he could reach Third-Class Apprentice in no more than two years, matching Master Seda’s rank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is the allure of “potion-drinking.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“One set of Basic Magic Potion costs six gold and ten silver; at Second-Class Apprentice consumption rate, I’d need roughly 201 sets—that’s 1,306 gold…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao De spread his hands—no more calculations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Can’t afford it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Better to be grounded—this potion is only for occasional use.” He grew sensible, abandoning his fantasies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Gao De frowned again, thinking of a critical issue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only two months into this world, his Meditation had already advanced from five petals to seven petals! “Without magic potion, my Meditation progress will soon outpace my Guiding Method by a wide margin.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But long-term use of Basic Magic Potion? I can’t possibly afford it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The contradiction was irreconcilable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One gold coin might stump a hero—but not Gao De.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But 1,306 gold? Two Gao Des would be stumped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If only I could get the formula for Basic Magic Potion,” Gao De murmured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For Basic Spider Venom Potion, if all ingredients are purchased, the material cost per set is thirty silver.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If I owned my own herb garden and cultivated the raw materials myself, the material cost could drop by more than half.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Phil’s Potion Shop pays magicians two gold per set for it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the potion passes from the magician to the shop, its retail price rises to two gold and ten silver.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Roughly estimating, if Gao De could brew Basic Magic Potion himself, its cost per set could drop from six gold and ten silver to around three gold—or even lower.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this was nearly impossible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The formula for Basic Magic Potion would never appear on the market.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To any magician, it was non-negotiable—never for sale!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After drinking Basic Magic Potion, Gao De’s Guiding Method progress finally caught up with his Meditation, surging forward rapidly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he had predicted, on the thirteenth day of Green Sprout Month, the Guiding Method—once crawling forward so slowly it drove Gao De to despair—finally broke through.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the magic from the potion in his lower dantian was absorbed and converted into his own magical energy, gradually blending seamlessly with his innate energy, his body trembled slightly—and his magical energy surged by twenty percent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao De knew exactly what this meant; he exhaled deeply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Finally broke through—now my magical energy can sustain six tricks.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Guiding Method were fully cultivated, his magical energy would allow him to cast twenty tricks in one breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Guiding Method had no clear realm divisions, only broad classifications as First, Second, and Third-Class Apprentice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet based on how many tricks he could cast continuously, Gao De could still track every incremental progress.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1277,"2026-06-19T14:28:48.629Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","408dc617f1c415ae72495651f287cd45c74d64a9aebd38d3d048e0b2c1c3ec1a","above-the-mage-chapter-60","above-the-mage-chapter-58",529,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fabove-the-mage-cover.jpg"]