Chapter 78

Gao De left early in the morning, and when he got home, he took out his pocket watch and saw that it was already approaching twelve o'clock.

He cooked a simple lunch, and after enjoying it, he first opened the four spell formulas he had just purchased and began to "do the homework."

Spending less than a quarter of an hour, Gao De decomposed all four spell models into coordinate sets that only he could understand.

Afterward, he put away the spell formulas and took out the medicine box containing basic mana potions from the cabinet in his room.

On the 22nd of Green Leaf Month, Gao De bought six sets (18 small bottles) of basic mana potions at the Rose Potion Shop.

Except for the five days from the 25th to the 29th of Fire Flame Month when he was traveling and unable to practice the guidance method, he insisted on drinking basic mana potions to assist his cultivation at all other times.

It has been 35 days so far, and of those six sets of basic mana potions, only the last small bottle remains now.

And at the current stage, if he insists on drinking basic mana potions, according to the initial estimate, it would only take 43.2 days for his guidance method cultivation to break through a small level.

The last breakthrough in the guidance method was on the 13th of Green Leaf Month; by this calculation, today is exactly the time for the guidance method to break through again.

Thinking of this, Gao De was immediately energized.

Without hesitation, he raised the medicine bottle in his hand and drank the potion containing abundant mana in one gulp.

Afterward, he calmed his mind and entered a state of cultivation.

About an hour later.

Boom! A light tremor came from Gao De's body, and the mana in his body suddenly became restless and active, forming a longer and more continuous circulation route.

He suppressed his excitement and slowly adjusted the restless mana to calm down.

The next moment, Gao De opened his eyes.

"Another step forward!" A look of joy appeared on his face.

Now his mana could support him in casting seven cantrips in one go.

Gao De's spells were actually sufficient long ago; the reason he had been unable to go out to hunt subterranean creatures to obtain essence was always because his mana was holding him back.

According to his expectations, his mana must at least support him in casting ten cantrips in one go before he could start considering hunting subterranean creatures.

The simplest example was that when the burrowing worm was flipped over on the ground, Gao De had to cast 【Fire Arrow+】 three times in succession to kill it.

Therefore, before his "blue bar" could cast ten cantrips, "fighting monsters" was an extremely dangerous thing.

After all, this is not a game; if you die, you die, and there is no chance to reload a save.

Moreover, Gao De's current savings were enough to support his cultivation for a very long time, so there was no need to rush.

After his mood gradually calmed down, Gao De began to practice again.

Only this time, he was practicing meditation.

After the tempering of the journey, entering a meditative state was now as simple as eating and drinking for him.

It was only a moment before his heart was clear and calm, and all was silent.

In this silent state of meditation, Gao De's mind entered the vast sea of spell stars.

The Wind Spirit Shadow emitted a pale white light, and fifteen spell models were fixed in the vast sea of stars like constellations.

In addition, there was a sixteen-petaled lotus flower outlined by dashed lines slowly rotating.

Gao De focused his mind on that lotus flower.

As his mind gathered, the dashed lines of the lotus flower gradually solidified.

This was a very strange feeling, a touch of fatigue yet full of mental vigor, and every moment Gao De could feel his mental power growing.

Although the amount of growth was negligible, it was improving after all.

Good things come in pairs.

Gao De tried to meditate to manifest the eighth petal of the lotus as usual.

As it turned out, today was surprisingly smooth; without any obstacles, he broke through the bottleneck unconsciously and manifested the eighth petal of the lotus.

At this instant, his mental power seemed to have undergone a transformation.

Both perception and control had improved significantly.

Because this breakthrough was not just a small-level breakthrough in meditation, but an improvement in realm.

Requirements for a second-rank apprentice: Meditation manifests eight petals or more, and mana can support casting five cantrips in one go.

And Gao De now: Meditation manifests eight petals, and mana supports casting seven cantrips in one go.

He had already met both requirements for a second-rank apprentice.

So now, Gao De was a proper second-rank mage apprentice! At this age, at this rank, for a "wild mage," what more could there be to be dissatisfied with? Gao De carefully savored the feeling of advancement.

First was a clearer perception of external mana, and guidance became even more handy.

Then, he tried practicing the guidance method again and found that the efficiency of converting mana had also improved significantly.

No wonder Pierre said back then that a second-rank mage apprentice would consume a set of basic mana potions every three days.

"As long as there is money, with the help of basic mana potions, at least at the mage apprentice stage, the cultivation speed won't be slow, and one can keep pushing forward rapidly like this," Gao De thought to himself.

It's just that looking at it this way, 300 Saint Xi En gold coins sounds like a lot, but once truly invested in cultivation, it's not enough.

After these two days of consumption in Bremen, his current savings had plummeted to 275 gold and 4 silver.

Money, it really doesn't last.

Moreover, Gao De still had to set aside a portion of money as travel expenses from Bremen to Saint Xi En.

Although the reliability of the "recommendation letter" had not been verified yet, and there was no specific plan on how to go to Saint Xi En, this money had to be reserved.

In addition, the cost of living in Saint Xi En must be higher, and expenses would be greater.

The "advertisement" on the bulletin board at the entrance of the Craftsman Guild had just been put up, and it would take some time to ferment.

Therefore, for the entire afternoon, Gao De was practicing and trying to build spell models, and did not welcome his first guest.

When it was past four o'clock in the afternoon, he got up and left home.

Not far diagonally opposite to number 267 Kamengde, where Lady Misu lived, there was a small two-story restaurant.

The restaurant's environment was simple and plain, the decoration was extremely simple, and the dishes provided were relatively monotonous, mainly rye bread, boiled beans, vegetable soup, salted fish, and cured meat.

In addition, they would supply home-brewed apple cider.

But it had the advantage of favorable prices and was a rare "eat as needed" system, where each guest took food according to their own needs and then paid according to the type and weight of the food consumed.

Therefore, it was extremely popular with the workers in nearby workshops, and at meal times, one often had to share a table or queue up.

Of course, it wasn't meal time in the traditional sense at four o'clock.

So Gao De was very naturally able to enjoy his dinner alone at a good seat by the window on the second floor.

While attentively enjoying the salted fish pickled by the restaurant owner and the sweet apple cider, he looked out the window at Lady Misu's house at number 267.

Looking down from a height with a good view, Gao De's eyes wandered back and forth, not staring at a fixed point, looking just like a distracted diner.

Because Gao De's goal at this moment was not to observe Lady Misu, but to confirm whether there were still lurkers secretly spying on Misu.

According to the information revealed in the letter, before Mage Seda left Bremen, he had discovered some ill-intentioned lurkers appearing near his home.

Although more than ten years had passed since Mage Seda left Bremen, who could guarantee that these lurkers had really given up?

At the very least, the person behind the scenes who directed all this might still be waiting for Mage Seda's return.

A profound lesson:

One cannot take things for granted.

(End of chapter)