Above the mage!

Chapter 336 Preparing for the Purchase of a Shop
The footwork training for blessing spells is basically an enlarged version of the previous training. Apart from the fact that the speed is faster and it takes some time to become proficient and adapt, there is nothing new.

But although it is easy, it still takes a lot of hard work to adapt.

Just like if a person's strength suddenly doubles, he or she will often not be able to carry out a normal life, and may end up making mistakes such as accidentally crushing a cup.

The same is true for footwork training.

Since the training was for actual combat, Gao De did not hide anything and simulated the actual combat situation, adding [Long Stride], [Wolf Speed], and [Jumping Technique] together.

The speed and flexibility suddenly increased several times, and when performing the steps, it even felt like I couldn't walk at first.

However, after two days of running-in, Gaode gradually mastered the skills.

After practicing for another two days, this stage of training was completely completed and the practice on the pole began.

The difficulty of practicing on the pole is different again, and the complexity can be said to have increased several times, in order to improve the mage's combat capability in complex environments.

After going through the initial adaptation period and falling again and again, Gao De gradually mastered the skills. His footwork on the metal stakes became more and more flexible and skillful, and he could persist for longer and longer periods of time.

When moving on the metal stakes becomes an instinct, fighting in any scenario will become easy.

Fifteen days passed like this.

"At this point, the general courses for combat mages have actually come to an end." Master Naxi informed Gaode of the news.

"Is this the end?" Gao De's first reaction after hearing the news was surprise.

There are many training grounds in the Collingwood Art Museum, and the training content in each area is different. He clearly hasn't done so much training yet, so why did it end?

Moreover, the battle mage training he received during this period really benefited him a lot, so when he heard that it was about to end, he still felt a little reluctant to leave.

"There are many types of training for battle mages, but there are actually only three types that are universal, namely psychological stress resistance training and breathing method teaching, visual reaction training, and physical training, because these three types of training are the basic skills that battle mages of any system must master."

"The rest is to customize the training according to each mage's own build and favorite combat system."

"For example, mages who master weapon summoning spells will receive special weapon use training and close combat training; mages who mainly use ranged spells will receive additional accuracy training and mobile casting training; mages who are good at transformation spells will even receive some melee training."

"Every mage has his own ideas, and the Sea Sentinels do not interfere, so you can choose and arrange these trainings on your own."

"In addition, you need to gradually find the most suitable balance between the combat system you like and the combat system that suits you in continuous battles, and then carry out special training according to your own needs."

"For example, if I let you do melee training now, and later on when you have more missions to complete, you decide to go the route of a pure ranged mage, then wouldn't the time and energy you spend on melee training now be wasted?"

"That's right." Gao De nodded silently when he heard this. He had just subconsciously put himself into the education system of his previous life: first choose a major to study, and then find a job after graduation.

The disadvantages are obvious. The final career direction of many people is actually completely unrelated to the major they studied for many years.

This is acceptable for employment, but it is not suitable for mage training.

Undoubtedly, the method of Sea Sentinel is more reasonable.

"You are very hardworking, but there is no need to rush. You have only joined the Sea Sentinel for less than two months. You should first prepare for the initial training assessment." Master Naxi reminded.

"Master Naxi, is the initial training assessment difficult?" Gao De asked.

"It's easier than the re-examination," said Master Naxi, who seemed to be in a good mood today, with a smile on his face. "The format is similar to the re-examination. After I submit your application for the assessment, they will choose one of the first-class trainee mages of the Sea Sentinel to fight with you."

"An examiner will grade you based on your performance in actual combat. All you have to do is perform well."

"The first-class trainee wizard among our Sea Sentinels is far less powerful than Paul," he said.

Gao De nodded in agreement.

Paul is the most powerful creature he has ever seen. At least for now, he has no chance of winning against Paul in the sea.

After coming out of Collingwood Art Gallery, Godd thought for a moment, then went to a nearby store and spent 4 Plantagenet coins to buy two boxes of zero-level rainbow trout mackerel containing weak magic power.

Then he hailed a carriage and headed for Bibotten outside Dorne.

The capybara named Tuanzi adopted by Gao De was fostered by him in Biboting.

Although the breeder of Biboting is very professional, he still takes time to go and check on "Tuanzi" every few days.

The first is to cultivate feelings and deepen the connection with "Tuanzi", and the second is to bring some "nutrition" to Tuanzi to help it grow and evolve.

Rainbow trout and mackerel were recommended to him by the breeder at Biboting. They can be purchased in large quantities in the city at a relatively affordable price, and are beneficial foods for the growth of capybaras.

In the cracks between the rocks on the shore, there are clumps of water plants.

These water plants are green and slender, with leaves hanging down naturally and the leaf tips slightly curled and intertwined with each other.

The sunlight refracted through the water and turned into fragments of gold. In the spots of light moving among the grass leaves, tiny bubbles were slowly rising along the stems.

This is the grass specially grown by the breeders at Biboting, called Timothy grass.

Timothy grass is rich in fiber, which can help capybaras maintain good digestive function and prevent the occurrence of intestinal diseases. It is an important part of capybara food.

At this moment, among the water plants, there were tiny whirlpools that rolled the grass leaves swaying, ripples suddenly appeared on the water surface, and a round, pointed head broke out of the water.

The head moved close to a timothy grass and gently bit a handful of grass leaves with the teeth. As the head slightly raised, the grass stems were pulled out of the water, bringing up a string of pearl-like water curtains.

It puffed up its cheeks and chewed carefully, its whole head shaking slightly with the chewing movement, making an occasional crunching sound.

Suddenly, its small black bean-like eyes rolled around, as if it had discovered something, and its wet nose turned towards the shore.

On the shore, Gode appeared with two boxes of rainbow trout and mackerel, the silver-blue fish tails faintly visible in the cracks of the boxes.

He praised generously, "Not bad, very obedient, but you need to eat more vegetables to grow faster."

The round and pointed head is exactly Tuanzi.

Hearing Gaode's praise, Tuanzi was delighted and jumped to the shore like an arrow.

Half of its body was sticking out of the water, its front paws grabbing the mossy rocks, and its hind legs slapping the water, making cheerful splashes. Then it arched its body, and its two fins waved up and down like two little hands, with great excitement.

Gaode smiled and squatted down, placing his palm on Tuanzi's head and stroking it gently, while using [Beast Connection +] to communicate with the other party.

There is a strong desire for credit and reward.

The breeder at Biboting told Gao De that Tuanzi was a bit picky about food and didn’t like to eat “vegetables”.

When Gao De heard this, he was shocked.

I immediately communicated with Tuanzi and asked him to eat enough Timothy grass every day.

However, Gaode has always advocated encouraging and guiding education, so during the communication process, he did not force Tuanzi to eat grass, but adopted a reward mechanism.

As long as Tuanzi eats the required amount of grass every day, he will bring him "nutritional supplements".

The two sides immediately hit it off.

Gaode used the wizard's hand to open the box and grabbed two rainbow trout mackerel to feed Tuanzi.

Tuanzi excitedly bit the fish's gills, held down the fish's tail with its front fins, and used its incisors to remove tiny thorns as precisely as a scalpel, making gurgling sounds as it ate.

At the same time, it looked at the two boxes of rainbow trout and mackerel with some confusion.

In the past, there was only one box, so why did it double today? "I brought you one more box today, because in a few days, after I pass the training assessment, you will be ready to go out with me to perform tasks." Gaode gave the answer.

Upon hearing what Gaode said, Tuanzi immediately arched his body again and patted his "chest" with his fins hard, indicating that there was absolutely no problem.

At its age, it is the most active and energetic. It has long felt that Biboting is too small and boring, and regards the mission as "going out for fun".

Gaode smiled and fed all the two boxes of rainbow trout and mackerel to Tuanzi.

Although Tuanzi is not big in size, his appetite is amazing. He ate two boxes of rainbow trout and mackerel without any sign of being bloated.

After returning to Dorne from Bibotin, Godard actually had one more thing to do.

He needed to buy a shop in Dorne.

One is to purchase the tree species you need.

This is of utmost importance, as it concerns his practice progress and the growth of Yugathiro.

In addition, he planned to use the shop as his own territory and warehouse to store the supplies and materials he would bring from the North.

It would be even better if the shop could be run, so there would be no need to bear the pain of selling the extraordinary materials to those vendors at half the price.

As he had been immersed in training for some time, and he would not be returning to the North in the short term, Gao De was not in a hurry about this matter.

Now that the training is over, the matter of purchasing a shop naturally needs to be put on the agenda as soon as possible.

Just wanting to buy a good shop in Dorne City is not an easy task. The difficulty does not lie in the high price, but in the troublesome whole process.

The first stage is to find a suitable shop.

This world is not like Gaode’s previous life, which is filled with a lot of information.

Here, the real high-quality shops are basically not publicly listed.

So, as a foreigner, Gao De was stuck at the first step.

After thinking it over, Goder went to seek help from Melia, his only acquaintance among the Sea Sentinels.

"Are you planning to buy a shop in Dorne?" When Melia heard Gode's purpose of coming, her first reaction was disbelief.

This is like a poor relative who came to the city from the countryside to work in your eyes, suddenly coming to you for advice on buying a house. Anyone would have the same reaction.

However, Melia had a high EQ. After she blurted out the question instinctively, she immediately realized that the question was very rude. She immediately skipped the sentence and gave her own answer:

"It's actually very difficult to obtain information about these shops if you're not a local or a noble, but it's not completely impossible."

"In addition to on-site reconnaissance, there are two more practical methods."

"First, you can pay a membership fee to join the Dorne Grocers Association in Dorne City, and through the guild intelligence network, you can get some internal quotes for shops that are about to be resold as quickly as possible."

"In addition, the news will also be hidden in the hands of some brokers who make a living from this. You should be able to find these brokers if you go to the tavern."

"The former is more official, and you can get information about properties from it. Although it's not bad, it won't be the best either."

"The latter method is more private, more likely to be deceived, and the cost is relatively higher, but the advantage is that there is a chance of obtaining information about truly high-quality shops."

"It depends on which one you choose."

Melia only introduced the two methods objectively, and did not make any subjective recommendations that would affect Gaode's judgment.

"Although I have never bought a shop, I still want to remind you that there are many potential risks in buying a shop. You'd better be careful in identifying and judging, otherwise you may fall into a trap."

"What do you mean?" Gao De frowned and asked curiously when he heard it.

"Possible property rights disputes, fraud and other issues are the most common pitfalls, and there are also some invisible pitfalls."

"For example, there was a shop transaction scandal in Whitechapel before. The buyer bought a shop in Whitechapel without checking the drains. After taking over, he found that the sewers of the entire street led directly to the cellar of the shop. Eventually, due to the outbreak of plague, the buyer lost all his property."

“Although there are not many similar examples, there are still many.”

"."

"Thanks for the reminder, I understand." Gao De said seriously.

Finally, of the two methods recommended by Melia, Gaode chose the former.

The latter method is more suitable for local people who are familiar with local cultural characteristics.

As a foreigner, he would be easily cheated if he rashly went to negotiate with those cunning brokers.

And using official means, his identity as a sea sentinel mage can more or less play some role.

After taking all these into consideration, Godard took a bus directly to the Dorne Grocers Association in the city center.

After reporting his identity as a Sea Sentinel Mage and paying a membership fee of 5 Plantagenet Coins, he successfully joined without any setbacks and obtained a detailed list of internal quotations from the shops.

In this list of shops, Gao De first screened them based on price: his psychological expectation was between 300 Plantagenet coins and 800 Plantagenet coins.

The shops in this area are basically located in "middle-class communities". They are ordinary brick and stone shops, usually equipped with brass doorbells, carved shelves and even a basement that can be used as a warehouse.

If Gaode wants to develop in the direction of a magic material store, he should actually choose a store located in the "Noble District" or "Mage District".

But it’s not that he doesn’t want to, it’s just that the shops there are too expensive.

The starting price for shops in these areas is 1500 Plantagenet Coins, with no upper limit.

This is not something that Gaode should consider at all.

Dorne is too big.

Therefore, even with such a narrow price range, he still had eleven shops that were recently willing to resell for him to choose from.

After the initial screening, Gaode still has a lot to do to make the final choice.

Just as Melia reminded him, there are many potential risks between shop transactions, so before entering the trading rhythm, he needs to check it out in advance.

This job requires a huge amount of time and energy, and Gaode is not prepared to waste his time on it.

He chose to spend money to solve the problem.

After making a list of eleven shops, he went to Whitechapel and hired eleven "errand boys".

The so-called "errand runners" are actually children from poor families who look for temporary jobs on the streets to supplement their family income, such as running errands, cleaning, and moving things.

The cost of hiring them is extremely low, only 50 copper or 1 silver dragon coin per time.

Gaode hired them for a week at a flat price of 7 silver coins.

What they have to do is very simple. In the next week, they will each keep an eye on the shop assigned to them by AutoNavi. There are mainly three things to do:

Record the number of times smoke is burned in shops, check the shop's sewers at night, and measure customer flow.

(End of this chapter)