Chapter 91: Airship

“They arrived at the beginning of last month—probably even earlier than you did in Bremen City?” Gao De smiled.

He entered the room and sat beside the unlit fireplace.

Pierre brought two cups of hot tea and sat across from Gao De.

“That’s indeed faster than me—I didn’t finish everything until nearly mid-Luminous Month, and only arrived in Bremen City on the 14th.”

“Why the sudden rush to leave Hogen City?” Pierre asked curiously; Gao De’s movements had greatly surprised him.

Gao De lifted the porcelain cup, took a small sip, then spoke plainly: “Your warning made sense, so when I returned, I noticed the magical concentration in Hogen City’s suburbs had risen sharply—it matched both signs of ley line formation.”

“Most importantly, I later discovered…” Gao De detailed his findings at the sewer entrance to Pierre.

“Maso Rats,” Pierre exclaimed after hearing the inside story. “So it was them all along.”

“You’ve heard of Maso Rats?” Gao De asked, intrigued.

He’d only learned the term through “Wind Spirit Moon Shadow.”

“I’ve heard a bit—they’re ley line creatures found only in the Aden region, living in symbiosis with a strange plant called Blood Thorn Vine.” Pierre nodded.

“Maso Rats’ eyes possess hypnotic supernatural abilities, but they themselves have little offensive power—so long as you avoid their hypnotic red light, you can easily kill them.”

“Their eyes are common alchemical ingredients—a pair is worth about three gold coins.”

“Because they’re extremely weak and their eyes are very light and easy to carry, even small quantities add up—so while they’re not as valuable as powerful ley line creatures, they’re still one of hunters’ favorites.”

That made perfect sense—like the burrowing worms, whose corpses were far more valuable than Maso Rats, but without a caravan, how could Gao De possibly transport them back to the city? Maso Rats were different: even if you only needed to dig out a pair of eyes, or even carry the whole creature, the weight wouldn’t be burdensome.

“A pair of eyes worth three gold…?!” Gao De’s mind kept echoing that phrase, filled with nothing but the word “pain.”

In Hogen City, his [Flame Arrow] had killed at least seven Maso Rats.

That meant at least seven pairs of eyes—twenty-one Xien gold coins! Twenty-one gold, just thrown away? It’s fine—I roasted their eyes with that Flame Arrow; they’re probably cooked and useless anyway, Gao De comforted himself, and felt a little better.

“But Maso Rats aren’t common—they only live where Blood Thorn Vines grow,” Pierre continued.

“They’re classic communal ley line creatures, mutually symbiotic with Blood Thorn Vines.”

“Blood Thorn Vines feed on living blood but can’t move—they rely on Maso Rats to hypnotize prey and drag them near for feeding.”

“In return, after drinking blood, the vines secrete blood mist to help Maso Rats grow and enhance their supernatural abilities.”

“Among 0-Ring ley line creatures, Blood Thorn Vines are among the strongest.”

“If you feed them enough blood before they mature, Blood Thorn Vines might even evolve into 1-Ring ley line creatures.”

“Mages hunting Maso Rats for their eyes face not only difficulty finding them but also the threat of Blood Thorn Vines—though the vines can’t move, so they’re limited.”

“Compared to the risks of hunting other ley line creatures, hunting Maso Rats still offers high value for effort.”

“Unfortunately, Maso Rats have always been found only in Aden—so mages living in the Bremen region could only envy them.”

“I never imagined they’d appear in Hogen City’s sewers,” Pierre murmured in amazement. “If I were twenty years younger, I might have gone back to Hogen City myself.”

Gao De nodded in agreement—a group of Maso Rats, at least a hundred of them, three gold per pair of eyes—that’s hundreds of gold coins in profit. But though each Maso Rat was weak, upon deeper thought, gathering large numbers of their eyes wouldn’t be simple.

After all, they were communal ley line creatures—even ants can kill an elephant.

And you couldn’t use overly destructive spells to attack them.

Spells like [Flame Arrow] would kill the Maso Rats, but their eyes would almost certainly be destroyed—defeating the purpose of hunting them.

“Kid, tell me honestly—what mage rank are you now?” Pierre studied Gao De and asked seriously.

Mage ranks were hard for outsiders to discern—even high-ring mages couldn’t easily tell the rank of low-ring ones.

Gao De hesitated, then answered: “Second-Class Mage Apprentice—I just broke through last month.”

“Second-Class Mage Apprentice…” Pierre muttered. “You’re not even sixteen yet, are you?”

“No.” Gao De shook his head—in fact, he was only thirteen. “Good talent—you might even become a 1-Ring Mage someday,” Pierre remarked.

“I don’t know where you learned your skills, but judging by your knowledge, you have no mentor—and you’re certainly not from a mage family,” Pierre said bluntly.

After multiple encounters, he’d long understood Gao De’s “limited knowledge.”

“A wild mage finds it hard to reach 1-Ring Mage. Wait here,” the old man sighed, then rose and walked into the parlor. After a moment, he returned holding a notebook.

He handed it directly to Gao De. “Take it back. Read it when you have time.”

Gao De asked in surprise: “What’s this?”

“When I was young, I made my living hunting ley line creatures—this is my recorded data on them.”

“Includes each creature’s exact name, appearance, traits, supernatural abilities, approximate value, and specific valuable parts.”

Pierre spread his hands. “Detailed data on ley line creatures is only held by high-ring mages, mage organizations, or the government—and they rarely sell it. I compiled this myself, bit by bit.”

“Though I hunted ley line creatures as my main job for over a decade, I only recorded about twenty species.”

“My strength was limited—I could only target those I knew well and could easily handle.”

“But these are all common 0-Ring ley line creatures in the Bremen region—they should still be useful to you.”

Gao De accepted the notebook like a treasure. “It’s extremely useful.”

Even without facing actual ley line creatures, knowing their traits, abilities, and weaknesses would give huge advantages in battle.

Just the value analysis alone made this notebook worth a fortune.

Otherwise, Gao De would surely encounter situations again—like Maso Rat eyes, a treasure right before him, completely unknown.

Without sufficient knowledge of ley line creatures, even with enough mana, he couldn’t hunt them effectively.

High risk, low reward.

The two sat before the fireplace, listening to occasional footsteps outside the window, talking for a long time.

Mostly, Pierre recounted his youthful experiences hunting ley line creatures in the wild and shared his insights.

Perhaps this was what happened when people grew old—they loved reminiscing about their “glorious days” with the young.

Gao De listened intently, feeling both anticipation for hunting ley line creatures and deep gratitude toward Pierre.

He and Pierre were no kin—just a few business dealings—but Pierre had given him far more than he deserved.

“I always wanted to travel when I was young—see Shengxi City, for example—but I never found a way. I regret it,” Pierre said, preparing to end the long chat.

“Now I’m old, my heart’s grown old too—I find peace in staying put in one place.”

“Is there no direct way from Bremen City to Shengxi City?” Gao De asked, curious—he’d been wondering this himself.

He’d been in Bremen City for a month and had searched endlessly for routes to Shengxi City—yet found nothing.

“Usually, to reach Shengxi City, you must take water routes.”

“But there’s no direct waterway connecting Bremen to Shengxi—you must transfer multiple times.”

“To get from Bremen to Shengxi City, you’ll need at least five or six transfers.”

“That’s so complicated…” Gao De frowned.

“But if you’re asking about direct routes—there is one. Just not accessible to ordinary people,” Pierre changed tone.

“What is it?” Gao De’s curiosity flared instantly.

“Airship,” Pierre said calmly.

(End of Chapter)