Chapter 99: Blade Barrier

Gao De was even more satisfied.

Finally, he received seven gold coins as an additional reward from the staff.

——This was indeed Gao De’s achievement, with no falsification.

Added to the initial five gold coins as payment, the total came to twelve gold.

To him, this was merely a bonus; the most important gain lay elsewhere.

Origin:

0th Ring — 【Fierce Bat】 (7/7)

After many days, he finally gained another bit of new origin.

This made Gao De secretly look forward to another ground vein creature assault on the city—after all, such “free” origin acquisition felt truly satisfying.

With the battle over, the alarm in Bremen City was finally lifted.

Because the threat was detected in time, Bremen City’s defensive forces far surpassed the Fierce Bats’ strength.

Thus, this Fierce Bat assault caused no damage or casualties within the city.

A perfect defensive operation.

Returning home to Kamengdejie 437, Gao De, whose mana was completely drained, did not immediately restore his mana.

He had something more important to do right now.

“Wind Spirit, Moon Shadow.”

Skillfully opening the crude information interface, he focused his attention on the dozen or so spells flashing yellow plus signs, and with a thought, made his decision.

“Allocate points!”

The “Big Dipper” representing the Fierce Bat origin flew out.

Its target: the spell model of 【Blade Barrier】.

After a familiar “cutscene,” the yellow plus sign beside 【Blade Barrier】 vanished.

Its name changed to 【Blade Barrier+】.

【Blade Barrier+】 (Protection, 0th Ring): Trace a protective sigil in the air to gain resistance against blunt, piercing, and slashing damage from weapons.

Bonus: Eliminates the need to trace the protective sigil to cast the spell.

In the evening, after safely enduring the morning’s ground vein creature assault, Bremen City quickly returned to its usual bustle.

The morning’s anxiety and tension became dinner-table conversation.

Yet the four characters “Ground Vein Rebirth” still left those with even a little knowledge uneasy, prompting them to inquire about details.

Most understood that the morning’s ground vein creature assault was merely a trivial side effect of “Ground Vein Rebirth.”

The impact of Ground Vein Rebirth would be profoundly far-reaching.

At least for now, no one dared to leave the city for hunting or engage in intercity trade.

“According to past patterns and experience, even the lowest-grade third-tier ground vein can trigger major shifts in an entire region,” Pierre said to Gao De.

“Third-tier ground vein?” Gao De, who had come to Pierre after fully restoring his mana, gained yet another new insight.

“A ground vein is essentially a dimensional passage formed by the convergence and fusion of our mage plane and the ground vein plane.”

“A passage, by nature, has varying sizes.”

“Entities larger than the passage’s capacity cannot squeeze through without getting stuck or collapsing the passage entirely.”

“For a dimensional passage, its size refers to the maximum energy level it can sustain; for travelers between the two planes, their rank is their volume.”

“A third-tier ground vein means the highest entity that can pass through is a 0th Ring creature.” “So far, every ground vein discovered is at least third-tier, so everyone treats third-tier as the baseline,” Pierre explained in detail to Gao De.

“The original ground vein in the Bremen region was a fourth-tier ground vein.”

A fourth-tier ground vein permits creatures up to 4th Ring to pass through.

“Mage plane. Ground vein plane.” Gao De repeated the two terms aloud, deeply puzzled.

“Don’t ask me—I only know the term, not the reason. If you want me to explain it thoroughly, I couldn’t give you a single clear point,” Pierre shrugged, being utterly honest.

After all, he was merely an older, self-taught mage.

His knowledge was broader than Gao De’s, but still limited.

“Every newly born ground vein draws countless ground vein creatures to the area, and mostly ones never before seen in this region,” Pierre sighed.

“Because ground vein creatures are simply too numerous.”

“To local residents, this is a natural disaster; but for mages, it might be an opportunity.”

“Bremen region will be bustling soon—perhaps even mages from other regions will come to prospect.”

“Why?” Gao De asked curiously.

“Each ground vein rebirth is accompanied by violent earthquakes, generating a powerful mana-enrichment effect that forms an ultra-high mana zone around the ground vein.”

“The emergence of an ultra-high mana zone brings abundant rare magical plants and magical ores.”

“In other words, the area around the newly born ground vein is an untouched gold mine.”

“Even setting those aside, the sheer volume of ground vein creatures—provided they can be successfully suppressed—is a massive fortune for mages.”

“These ground vein creatures themselves are highly valuable.”

“Many magical materials previously obtainable only from afar can now be acquired locally.”

“New industries may even emerge as a result.”

Gao De nodded in agreement.

In game terms, it was like a new “grinding spot” appearing in a region—something every “player” in that region would eagerly welcome.

“But all of this depends on suppressing the first few waves of ground vein creature outbreaks.”

“That depends on the authorities’ strength.”

Pierre sighed, speaking with grim gravity: “I’ve inquired with my mage friend in the Emerald Alliance—Hogen City fell during the first wave of ground vein creature outbreaks.”

Gao De fell silent for a moment, muttering: “After all, in the Bremen region, Hogen City was the weakest, and the ground vein emerged right beside it.”

Thus, Hogen City faced the greatest threat among all cities in the Bremen region.

“There must have been at least ten third-tier ground vein creatures launching a simultaneous assault on Hogen City—otherwise, with its alchemical weaponry, it shouldn’t have fallen so quickly.”

“If it were only third-tier creatures, it would be manageable; the real fear is that this newly born ground vein isn’t just third-tier.”

“Let’s wait for official news.”

“They must determine the rank of this new ground vein and stabilize the creature outbreaks.”

“Hasn’t the official force acted yet?” Gao De asked.

Pierre shook his head. “A newly born ground vein overwhelms the local authorities’ capacity.”

“Wait,” Pierre raised his index finger, pointing upward, “only when higher-ups arrive can we be sure.”

Gao De nodded slightly, understanding that Pierre meant Shengxi City.

(End of Chapter)