Above the mage!

Chapter 333 Recruitment
After finishing the day's visual training, Gao De, as usual, had his free lunch in the "canteen" and then returned to his dormitory in Building No. 6.

But what was different from the past was that when he was about to go upstairs, Gao De suddenly realized that there were two people standing at the corner of the stairs, as if they were waiting for someone.

And the moment they saw him, their eyes lit up slightly.

It seemed like she was waiting for him specially.

Gao De quickly scanned the two people's clothes.

The fabric of this carefully tailored bodice is obviously of the highest quality, and the shoulders and elbows are cleverly spliced ​​to facilitate movement without affecting the aesthetics.

The pants are wool tights, the color of which matches the top, and there is a row of delicate buttons on the outside of the pants, extending from the waist to the ankles.

Paired with leather high boots, it looks very neat.

There is no doubt that such clothing is only worn by aristocrats.

"God?"

While Gaode was looking at the two of them, the two of them were also looking at Gaode.

One of the men, who looked gentle, was the first to ask.

"Who are you two?" Gao De raised his eyebrows slightly and asked.

"We are also sea sentinel mages living in this building, but we usually go back home and don't stay here, so we haven't met even though you've been here for so long." The man said with a smile.

"My name is Zuowen Burns, and my current rank is corporal."

"Ul Newman, also a corporal."

The two introduced themselves one after another.

Ur Newman looked obviously much older than Zuo Wen Burns, and their military rank was equal, but he stood half a body length behind Zuo Wen Burns, with an attitude of taking the other as his leader.

Gao De hesitated for a moment, but still gave his name, "Gao De, second-class trainee mage."

After confirming Gao De's identity, Zuo Wen Burns asked with a smile: "Master Gao De, may I ask if you have any difficulties or needs in terms of money or resources?"

Seeing that Gao De looked a little strange, Zuo Wen calmly explained, "It's like this. We know that you come from a poor family. You were able to come all the way from a small place like Xien and join the Sea Sentinel entirely because of your outstanding talent. It's really amazing."

"In a place like Sean where resources are scarce, I heard that you were born as a street kid. To have achieved what you have today, even if you are gifted, you must have suffered a lot and made a lot of efforts."

"Thank you for your concern. Actually, it's okay." Gao De replied calmly.

Zuo Wen didn't care about Gao De's reaction and continued, "No matter how talented you are, you still need enough resources to realize your talents. You are alone in Dorne City, without anyone to rely on. I think you are short of resources in this regard."

"Take the most basic practice as an example. If you can drink magic potions for a long time to assist in your practice, your mage level will definitely improve much faster."

"This amount of potion expenditure is nothing to us, but it is a considerable expense to you, right?"

"Not to mention going out on missions. Clearing out sea beasts is a very dangerous thing, but if you can be equipped with extraordinary equipment, magic potions, and have corresponding intelligence support, you will definitely be able to get twice the result with half the effort."

"There have always been many mages of civilian origin among the Sea Sentinels. Because they lack resource support, they are unable to fully display their talents despite having good talents."

"There were even cases where, due to lack of resources, even if they worked very hard, they still couldn't keep up with the progress in completing the tasks, resulting in them failing the assessment for three consecutive years and being dismissed from the Sea Sentinel."

"It's not easy to be a sentinel at sea. How can you be willing to be kicked out like this?"

"We feel very sorry for this situation."

"In view of this, we, the children of nobles with relatively good family backgrounds, also hope to provide some help to talented civilian mages like you to prevent you from wasting your talents. So we jointly established a sponsorship association."

At this point, Zuo Wen smiled and said, "The so-called sponsorship meeting means that we are willing to provide you with sponsorship so that you don't have to worry about resources anymore."

"This time, I am here on behalf of my family, the Burns family, to extend a sponsorship invitation to you."

"The Burns family is one of the best among the nobles in Dorne City. It has a deep foundation and wealth, and has abundant magical resource channels."

He said slowly: "As long as you sign a sponsorship contract with our Burns family, you will have a stable supply of resources and can practice with peace of mind."

"And we won't restrict you or force you to do anything. We just need you to stand on the side of our Burns family and do something for us when we need you."

After hearing what the other party said, how could Gao De not understand what they meant?
This is equivalent to angel investment. The nobles provide resources and sponsorship to promising individuals, so that they can get certain returns after the individuals achieve success.

From this perspective, it seems that this sponsorship contract is not bad. It is like a timely help and a great opportunity to change one's destiny.

But this is not the case.

In most cases, the sponsored party would eventually become a tool of the nobles and be controlled by the other party.

To put it bluntly, it is easy to become a "lackey" of the nobles.

It is a universal truth that one should be grateful for what one has received and one should be grateful for what one has received.

Once you accept sponsorship, it is like being put on invisible shackles, and your actions and decisions will be restricted by the aristocratic forces behind you.

Regarding this kind of thing, not to mention that Gaode is not as short of resources as Zuo Wen thinks, even if he is really short of resources, he will not agree to such a thing.

It is unwise to be controlled by others.

He nodded slightly, and then gave a reply: "Thank you for your concern, but I don't need sponsorship for the time being."

Zuo Wen Burns was not surprised to see Goder's reaction.

How can anyone who can pass the strict selection and re-examination to join the Sea Sentinel not be proud, even if he is a civilian magician?

But so what?
No matter how arrogant they are, in the end they will choose to sign a sponsorship contract with the nobles and bow to reality. This is the trend of the times.

He did not try to persuade Gao De any further, but took out a roll of parchment from his sleeve and handed it to Gao De.

"These are the military merit points of the mages below the rank of warrant officer in the Sea Sentinel this year, including the mages at the warrant officer level. Although new members do not need to take the assessment before completing their initial training, you can take a look first. It would be good to have an idea in mind, right?"

Hearing this, Gao De did not refuse the other party. He took the parchment, untied the drawstring on it, and began to read it.

The information above is somewhat like a table, and is divided into three main pieces of information: name, rank, and accumulated military merits, each item arranged in descending order according to the amount of military merits.

Gao De's eyes swept down all the way, finally landing on the last few names in the list.

Only then did he notice that there was a cross behind those names.

Gao De was not aware of the problem yet, and looked up at Zuo Wen Burns, "What does this mean?" Zuo Wen Burns had a calm smile on his face and said in a subtle tone: "These are civilian mages who did not accept our sponsorship."

"Does it mean that if I don't accept your sponsorship, I will be targeted and suppressed by you?" Gao De put down the parchment and asked the two of them.

Zuo Wen Burns showed an exaggerated expression and shook his hands repeatedly, "How is it possible? We nobles believe in classical teachings and regard honor as more important than life. How could we do such a despicable and shameless thing?"

"It's just that." He smiled slightly, but there was a hint of coldness in his smile. "Supporting each other is also a part of the classical teachings. As long as you accept our sponsorship, you are our people. In this case, we will not sit idly by and watch our people fail in the assessment."

"As long as the mission of the Sea Sentinel is completed, it is fine. No one will ask how it is completed, and there is no saying that you can only complete it independently."

"As long as you accept the mission and submit it, the Sea Sentinel will recognize it."

"If you sign a sponsorship contract with us, we will help you complete some tasks when your military achievements lag behind. We can't guarantee that you will rank among the best, but at least we can ensure that you don't fall into the unqualified range."

Zuo Wen Burns said it very tactfully, but his meaning was very obvious, and Gao De understood it instantly.

To put it bluntly, it is actually a small organization, a community of interests dominated by aristocrats.

They say they will not suppress civilian mages who refuse to accept sponsorship, but helping those who sign sponsorship contracts is in itself equivalent to suppressing those who refuse to surrender.

Seeing that Gao De didn't say anything, he put on a heart-to-heart attitude and said very "sincerely": "Gao De, to be honest, not all civilian mages who enter the Sea Sentinel are willing to provide sponsorship to him."

He spread his hands and said helplessly: "The rules of the sea sentinels are here. Every year, there will definitely be people who are rated as unqualified."

"Your talent has been initially recognized by the Sea Sentinels, so I came here in person to invite you. Ordinary people don't get this kind of treatment."

The meaning is more direct.

Someone always has to be cannon fodder.

It certainly wouldn't be the mages who were of noble birth like them, nor would it be the civilian mages who had signed sponsorship contracts with them.

Then it goes without saying who the cannon fodder is.

At this point, Zuo Wen Burns stopped trying to persuade Gao De, and said calmly, "Of course, if you have the confidence and feel that you can surpass those mages who received our help and rank among the top in the assessment, you can also choose to refuse our sponsorship."

"I understand that you have reservations and don't want to accept our sponsorship, but the sponsorship we provide is more than just help with resources and tasks."

"In the future, we will also be able to help you with your military rank promotion and other aspects. It's hard to explain these benefits in detail. You will understand them after you sign the sponsorship contract with us."

Gao De looked at Zuo Wen Burns deeply, then said slowly: "I'll think about it."

This is actually a polite refusal.

The other party naturally understood what Gao De meant, but he did not get angry because of it. Instead, he nodded in agreement and said, "This is a big deal. It really needs to be carefully considered."

“If you have any ideas, come find me at the Burns family.”

"Of course," he raised his chin slightly, with a hint of superiority, and said meaningfully, "I can only give you three days. If you come to me within three days, it will be considered as me inviting you. After that, it will be you asking us for sponsorship."

"The treatment is completely different, you should understand."

After saying these last words, Zuo Wen Burns left leisurely with Ur Newman beside him.

"I used to be as arrogant as you, unwilling to accept sponsorship from the nobles, but I fell into the lower half of the assessment for two consecutive years and was almost expelled from the Sea Sentinel. Fortunately, I woke up in time and went to them to accept sponsorship."

"The arm cannot twist the thigh. Look at me now. Is there anything wrong with me?"

When Ur Newman passed by him, Godd's mind rang with the advice sent by the other party through [Communication].

Looking at the other person's decent clothes that only nobles wear, Gao De remained silent, and no one knew what he was thinking.

"Ur, when do you think he'll come to see me?"

After leaving the "dormitory building", Zuo Wen Burns suddenly asked with a hint of ridicule in his tone, as if this was some interesting game.

Ur Newman was startled, lowered his head, thought for a moment, and then said respectfully: "I think he will have to wait until the assessment results come out next year before he can face reality."

"Hahaha, it seems like you're the most courageous. You endured it for two whole years."

Zuo Wen Burns laughed and said, "That's why I chose you among all the sea sentinel mages sponsored by my family."

——The more principled a person is, the more sense of accomplishment you will get when you command him to do your job.

Ur Newman smiled awkwardly and said, "Master Zuo Wen, you are too polite. I was just being too proud and wasted two more years of my precious time. I was also rejected twice and my current military rank was delayed."

"Haha!" Zuo Wen Burns patted Ur Newman on the shoulder. His gesture seemed intimate, but it was condescending. "It's good to have this understanding. Don't worry, as long as you work hard for the Burns family, military rank promotion is not a big deal."

After saying this, Zuo Wen Burns got into the luxurious carriage waiting on the side and left.

After watching the carriage go away until it disappeared from his sight, Ur Newman withdrew his gaze, lowered his head, and involuntarily clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white from the force, and then slowly loosened them.

Who would be willing to be a lackey of the nobles and be controlled by them?
Learn a lot of skills and sell them to powerful families.

But he had no choice. You know how many people wanted to be the nobles' lackeys but couldn't. At least he had a choice.

The Plantagenet dynasty has developed to a point where the class structure has become so stable that others could never imagine it.

Even the Sea Sentinel, which seemed to have the most fair and transparent promotion channels and was the best way for ordinary people to rise, was actually basically controlled by the nobles.

Yes, there are clear rules for the promotion of sea sentinels. If you perform well enough, no one can stop your advancement.

But the problem is that the powerful and wealthy can totally game these rules.

They can use the resources and connections at their disposal to pave the way for their people, making it difficult for mages of common origin to compete with them, no matter how talented and hardworking they are.

Therefore, for most people, they either sell themselves to these powerful people, or leave the Sea Sentinel in embarrassment with their own backbone and pride.

Unless your fist is strong enough to break the iron wall built by the powerful.

But is this possible?
Ur Newman shook his head, his heart full of bitterness.

But he always had a little hope in his heart, hoping that such a person would appear.

If nothing else, it's good to raise a banner for future civilian mages and have a direction.

(End of this chapter)