Chapter 98 - 97: Progress

Chapter 98: Chapter 97: Progress

After confirming Gaode’s intention to stay, the staff wrote "Harvest Moon 4th" on his conscription order and stamped it with a seal.

Then, Gaode once again received his daily salary of five Gold Coins. At the same time, he visually estimated that there were originally about five hundred Mages who had answered the call. After one day, a tenth of them had chosen to leave. The rest chose to continue working.

Calculated based on four hundred and fifty people, even if all were Mage Apprentices, the daily hiring expenses for Bremen City would be nearly 4,500 Sean Gold Coins. In a single day, the team could only advance a little over ten kilometers. Even if everything went smoothly, it would take more than half a month to complete this mission.

4,500 Gold Coins a day—converted by purchasing power, it was roughly equivalent to 4.5 million yuan on Earth. The labor cost was staggeringly high.

However, upon closer consideration, Gaode felt it wasn’t too excessive. On Earth, the construction cost for one kilometer of highway ranged between twenty and thirty million yuan. In comparison, an expenditure of 4.5 million yuan could push the perimeter forward by ten kilometers. Furthermore, the land reclamation effort would yield Earth Vein Creature corpses as spoils of war. The value of these corpses might not completely cover the official expenses or turn a small profit, but it would at least recoup a significant portion of the costs.

For this trip, in addition to purchasing five sets of Blue Light Potion from the Magic Pharmacy, Gaode also replenished five sets of Basic Magic Potion. The ten sets of Basic Magic Potion he had bought on Harvest Moon 2nd were completely consumed just yesterday. In a single month, his expenses on Magic Potions alone reached a staggering 60 Gold Coins.

Yet, Gaode could only grit his teeth and accept it. The more battles he experienced, the more acutely he felt his shortage of Mana. Thus, exchanging money for progress in Mana growth seemed like a luxurious endeavor, but it was absolutely necessary.

After finishing his dinner, Gaode found a quiet corner. While no one was paying attention, he took out a bottle of Basic Magic Potion and drank it. Ignoring the surrounding noise, he sat quietly and began practicing the Guiding Technique. Even in the wilderness, he had no intention of interrupting his cultivation. After all, it was foreseeable that they would be out here for more than half a month this time. Gaode simply could not tolerate suspending his training for so long.

The next day, when the sky was just getting bright, the guards in charge of logistics had already boiled meat broth in the cauldrons.

In this world, there were no scientific or pseudoscientific sayings like "breakfast is the source of energy for the day" or "breakfast is the most important meal of the day." In fact, not everyone ate breakfast here. This was especially true among the working class, as it was common to wake up at dawn and immediately start working. If they did have breakfast, it was exceedingly simple, consisting of leftovers or stale bread from the previous day, washed down with water or light ale.

Therefore, although everyone needed to carry out a mission that consumed immense Physical Strength and couldn’t just settle for a half-hearted meal, providing a bowl of meat broth for the crowd was already considered an extremely high-tier treatment. The staple food remained dry rations.

After breakfast, the group gathered according to their team formations from the previous day.

The leading Mage, who hadn’t revealed his name to the crowd all of yesterday, proactively introduced himself before their departure today.

"Yesterday was the first day. Some people came just on a whim.

"After a full day of missions yesterday, I believe those who chose to stay won’t be leaving anytime soon.

"Let me introduce myself first. My name is Maciej, a 1st Ring Mage and a member of the Law Enforcement Team.

"Everyone, please share your names and Mage Tiers as well. We will be spending the next half a month or so together."

With Maciej taking the lead, everyone took the opportunity to share their basic information. Gaode did a quick calculation: including Maciej, there were twenty-three people in their temporary team. Besides Maciej being a 1st Ring Mage, out of the remaining twenty-two, eleven were Third-class Mage Apprentices and the other eleven were Second-class Mage Apprentices. It was exactly a fifty-fifty split.

With a brief glance, Gaode could basically confirm that he was the one with the lowest actual tier in the entire team. The youngest of the others appeared to be at least in their mid-twenties. At that age, even if they were still Second-class Mage Apprentices, they were by no means comparable to a "rookie" like him who had only advanced to a Second-class Apprentice a month ago.

"Although my tier is low, I’ve mastered a lot of Magic," Gaode thought to himself.

When they were clearing out the Gray Thorn Bee swarm yesterday, more than half of the people could only stand and watch. Without Mana, mastering a multitude of Magic would still equate to nothing. The reverse was also true.

After some simple preparations and packing, the main force set off once again. The arrangement remained the same as yesterday. They advanced along the official road, and roughly every kilometer, two teams were dropped off to enter the dense forests on both sides of the road for sweeping and reclamation work.

Days passed by.

Everyone’s ability to deal with Earth Vein Creatures and their tacit cooperation were steadily improving. However, as the reclamation progressed, casualties gradually began to appear. Almost every day, a few Mage Apprentices would unfortunately perish.

Gaode’s team had quite good luck. Although some were injured, there had been no loss of life so far. His only dissatisfaction was that they had never encountered another "bonus level" like the Gray Thorn Bee swarm again.

Harvest Moon 8th.

Five days had passed since the main force departed from Bremen City.

Nighttime.

Beside the carriage by the campfire, Gaode sat cross-legged, having already entered a state of Meditation. Throughout the temporary camp, quite a few Mage Apprentices could be seen doing the exact same thing. After all, the Wild Mages who would respond to the conscription order mostly possessed a heart for "striving." Diligent cultivation was merely the most fundamental requirement for a Mage.

One hour later.

Gaode opened his eyes, a look of joy washing over his face.

"I’ve finally made another breakthrough!"

His Guiding Technique had just leveled up by a small margin. Now, Gaode’s Mana was sufficient to support him in casting eight Tricks. He did the math; his last Guiding Technique breakthrough was on Sunlight Moon 1st, right when he first arrived in Bremen City. Only thirty-seven days had passed, yet he had improved once more. It was several days faster than he had anticipated.

"It might be related to my constant use and recovery of Mana during this period," Gaode muttered to himself.

After a brief thought, he closed his eyes again, focused his attention, and opened the rudimentary information panel of "Wind Spirit Moon Shadow."

Origin:

0th Ring—[Human] (2/7), [Earthworm] (1/7), [Wolf Rat] (4/7), [Demon Burst Frog] (1/7), [Fierce Rat] (3/7), [Earth Demon Bat] (2/7)

There was a total of eleven entries. Excluding the five Origin points that had been fully collected and used, there were six entries still in progress.

[Human] didn’t need to be considered for the time being.

The same went for [Earthworm]. In these five days, not only his team but also the other teams had never encountered them. It was highly likely that this type of Earth Vein Creature didn’t exist in the Earth Vein Plane territory connected to the "Hogan Earth Vein."

[Wolf Rat] was only short by three, making it the closest to full progress.

As for [Demon Burst Frog], Gaode still felt lingering fear just thinking about the thing. A "frog" might seem like the weakest among these entries, but in the Extraordinary World, one could never use common sense to make judgments. In fact, over the past five days, the Demon Burst Frog was one of the most troublesome 0th Ring Earth Vein Creatures Gaode had come across. This was because the creature possessed Extraordinary Power and a Magic-like Skill, allowing it to shoot an intense Energy Beam from its mouth with terrifying destructive force.

According to Maciej, the Magic-like Skill possessed by the Demon Burst Frog was equivalent to the Trick [Magic Energy Burst]. And [Magic Energy Burst] could almost be considered the most powerful Magic among Tricks, arguably even surpassing [Flaming Arrow]. Fortunately, the Demon Burst Frog couldn’t continuously spray Energy Beams. So, after injuring a Mage Apprentice, it was promptly blasted into a charred husk by a timely and precise [Flaming Arrow+] from Gaode.

[Fierce Rat] was the weakest Earth Vein Creature among the entries. It neither possessed the size of a [Wolf Rat] nor appeared in swarms like the [Fierce Bat]. Hence, almost as soon as one was spotted, it was effortlessly dealt with by the Mage Apprentices in the team.

[Earth Demon Bat] was another 0th Ring Earth Vein Creature that possessed Extraordinary Abilities. However, instead of a Magic-like Skill, it could spit out foot-long conical gravel from its mouth. Its power was not to be underestimated, and it rarely appeared alone; it usually came in flocks of eight or nine. But with Maciej, a 1st Ring Mage, stepping in promptly, that flock of [Earth Demon Bat] didn’t inflict too much damage on the team. Moreover, since they were flying Earth Vein Creatures, Gaode managed to kill two of them by relying on the range of his [Flaming Arrow+].

Of course, during these five days, Gaode’s team cleared out far more Earth Vein Creatures than just these.

It was just...

"It’s so damn hard to steal a kill!" Gaode complained once again, repeating the same grievance he had uttered countless times over the past few days.