Chapter 138: Progress 20/1000

On the other side, Xia Duo and the others had just crossed the Wolfburg River via the stone bridge. They were completely unaware of the previous surveillance by Mage Warren, but upon seeing the west gate of Savile Town, Xia Duo knew he had bet correctly; he had indeed not encountered the mysterious person.

Although the town gate was tightly shut at this time, Xia Duo and the others still let out a long sigh of relief; the west gate was not the passage they needed to take.

The south gate was!

After a brief inquiry, the south gate guards opened a crack in the gate for Xia Duo's group. Returning to town, Xia Duo hurried toward the Town Hall without stopping.

Fortunately, it was not yet too late. The Town Hall guard, who had already changed shifts, heard that Xia Duo had discovered the cause of the Goblin unrest. Without needing Xia Duo to initiate, he invited Xia Duo's group into the Town Hall.

Soon, the sound of hurried footsteps approached. The person who arrived was the very steward Xia Duo had seen during the day. "Mage Xia Duo, what did you discover? Is it related to these two villagers?"

Although the steward was skeptical, his attitude had improved significantly, and the way he looked at Xia Duo was no longer scrutinizing.

"It doesn't have much to do with these two villagers, but they might be people who know the situation."

Xia Duo first explained about Lao Hank and his son, then introduced his findings near the olive grove: "The olive grove and the area not far to its north have been set up with unknown Magic that can attract and drive Goblins. There was also Disguise Magic on it, but I have already dispelled the Disguise Magic. You can send any Mage Apprentice now and they will be able to discover the anomaly."

"Good!"

A flash of joy appeared in the steward's eyes. He believed Xia Duo would not lie to him about a matter so easy to verify. Moreover, he had previously suspected that the Goblin unrest might be related to Magic, but all Magic-related affairs within the Territory were managed by the Mage Tower; the Town Hall had almost no Permission Level for anything other than issuing Territory Tasks.

It would have been fine if he could contact the Wier Lingzhu, as the olive grove, being an important industry of the Territory, was under the monitoring range of the Mage Tower. However, the Wier Lingzhu had recently become unreachable. If not for the fixed channel for issuing tasks, the Town Hall would have almost lost contact with the Mage Tower.

Now that the cause was known, solving it would be simple. The steward looked at Xia Duo and suddenly asked, "I wonder if Mage Xia Duo can dispel those unknown Magic spells? If you can, I will apply to increase the task reward."

"..."

Xia Duo was speechless. This guy was certainly calculating well. If an Apprentice could solve it, perhaps ten or twenty Gold Coins would suffice, but if an Official Mage were hired, who knew how many Gold Coins it would cost.

For Xia Duo, earning money was naturally good, but he truly was not confident in dispelling those two unknown Magic spells, so there was nothing to be done.

"I have looked at those two Magic spells; they are at least Level 2. I am not confident in dispelling them, and I advise you not to send an Apprentice to try; you might just end up harming someone."

"Level 2?"

The steward had a basic understanding of Magic. Upon hearing "at least Level 2," he almost subconsciously wanted to give up. After all, no major incident had occurred yet, and they could just send people to clear out the Goblins every day.

But on second thought, the Wier Lingzhu was away, and the olive grove had a problem that remained unresolved. When the Wier Lingzhu appeared, someone would have to take the blame.

Thinking this, the steward even overlooked the fact that Xia Duo had mentioned "Level 2"—this was not something an ordinary Apprentice could judge—but he quickly reacted to that as well.

"Level 2?" He repeated the same words twice, but the meaning was different. The steward looked at Xia Duo in surprise. "Sir, are you an Official Mage?"

An Official Mage taking an Apprentice task? The steward's mind couldn't quite wrap itself around it.

"I have indeed become an Official Mage, but the promotion Permission Level in the Mage Tower is not that simple, and there are also Territory Tasks!" Xia Duo said in a flat tone.

Once these words were out, it was equivalent to admitting he was an Official Mage. Not only was the steward very surprised, but Wuke, who was more familiar with Xia Duo, had his mouth wide open.

"Xia Duo—no, Sir Xia Duo, I didn't know you were already an Official Mage."

"Wuke, my friend, no need for that. Just call me Xia Duo." Xia Duo's attitude was very kind.

For an Official Mage to say such things to an ordinary person, Wuke was almost moved to tears. He finally had a Mage friend!

This was a story that only existed in Adventurer legends!

The steward's attitude changed once again, shifting from his initial indifference to enthusiasm. The speed of this transformation was something even Xia Duo found hard to accept.

However, although the steward was enthusiastic, he was not sycophantic. After confirming that Xia Duo did not intend to accept this task, he immediately signed "Completed" on Xia Duo's task voucher and stamped it.

"Sir Xia Duo, I will provide feedback to the Mage Tower in a timely manner, but you can collect the task reward with this task voucher."

Xia Duo took the task voucher and nodded. The Mage Tower had its own set of procedures for the issuance and completion of tasks. For him personally, this task was over, and he didn't need to worry about the rest.

After saying goodbye to Wuke, Xia Duo returned to the Mage Tower under the cover of night.

Lying in bed at night, Xia Duo summarized the gains and losses of the day. First, he had provoked a mysterious person, which might not be worth it, but he had also gained progress on his promotion task, a piece of Disguise Magic, and partial information on that unknown Magic.

All this had taken only half a day. If subsequent tasks were this efficient, he would soon be able to meet the task requirements for the Official Mage Permission Level for Apprentices.

The promotion task Xia Duo learned about required approximately 1000 Gold Coins, meaning he had to earn 1000 Gold Coins by completing Territory Tasks issued by the Mage Tower. Generally speaking, this would take at least one year.

For most ordinary people, the normal process was three years as an Ordinary Apprentice; they couldn't become official, but they learned quite a bit. Most young people in Savile Territory had such an experience.

As for those with a bit of talent, it took three years to go from an Ordinary Apprentice to official, and then at least two or three years to become an Official Mage. If everything went smoothly, an Official Mage in their 20s was quite promising.

Moreover, they would have already completed their Territory Tasks before becoming an Official Mage, so as soon as they leveled up, they could immediately upgrade their Permission Level.

But this did not apply to those with higher talent, such as Aideliqi's brother Aidelian, who became an Official Mage in one year. This extremely rare situation even led the Wier Lingzhu to step forward and take him as a student.

Now Xia Duo was in a similar situation. Although he was a bit older, his progress was extremely fast. If not for the fact that the Wier Lingzhu could not be contacted, Xia Duo might have already obtained an Independent Research Lab!

And even if the Permission Level were upgraded early, the Territory Tasks could not be avoided.

Xia Duo was very annoyed by such a rule, but if he put himself in their shoes, he might demand even more than the Wier Lingzhu. One's position determines their thoughts and practices.

"Sigh—"

Although Xia Duo was very dissatisfied, there was nothing he could do. He was currently only a Level 1 Mage. To a Commoner, he might be a Mage lord beyond reach, but to the Wier Lingzhu, he was just that.