Above the mage!

Chapter 420: One Merit, Three Rewards

Dorne, Golden Feather Castle, the residence of Marquis Drake.

Marquis, in the Plantagenet dynasty's title system, is second only to duke.

As for the title of Duke, there are only a few people in the entire Plantagenet dynasty, and most of them are inherited from a few large families since the early days of the dynasty.

After that, the Plantagenet dynasty never granted any new dukedoms.

Therefore, in a sense, the Marquis can be regarded as the highest title that an ordinary person can achieve through hard work and talent under the Plantagenet dynasty system.

Marquis Drake is not only the lord of Dorne City, but also the supreme ruler of the entire Byrne County, that is, the county marquis.

In the study of the mansion.

Marquis Drake, who is nearly six hundred years old, looked through the report that was urgently submitted to him not long ago by the lord of Oakland, Count Roland, with a slightly surprised expression on his face.

"Secondary plane. Since the Nolan calendar, as the magic power of the Mage Plane has become more concentrated and the plane has become more stable, the probability and situation of these low-level planes forming space channels with our plane have become less and less. It turned out that we in Auckland encountered it once. It's really..."

"Fortunately, it was solved without any danger. If Fengluo had really taken shape, it would have been a disaster!" Marquis Drake couldn't help but sigh.

The family steward nearby heard this and said, "Earl Roland has been managing Oakland City for so many years, and he has done a good job in the aftermath of every cyclone attack. He has both the ability and experience, so this time the plane disaster was able to pass without any danger."

"Yes." Marquis Drake put down the report, thought for a while, and said slowly: "The wind meridian problem was solved in time. Although it was due to luck, it was more due to ability. He should be rewarded."

Auckland City is one of the big cities in Bailo County. Once the wind network is formed, Auckland City will no longer exist, and the long-term hidden dangers thereafter will be secondary.

Under his rule, the destruction of a city, no matter what the reason, was considered a major "work mistake" for him as a county marquis.

Because of this incident, he and his family could not raise their heads in the dynasty for the next hundred years, and the impact was huge.

Whenever he thought of this, Marquis Drake couldn't help but feel a lingering fear.

So he flipped through the report he had just put down and his eyes swept over a name that was mentioned repeatedly in the report.

Gaode, Sea Sentinel Mage
Because it was an urgent report, the report information was very brief, focusing on making long things short. However, even in such a brief report, Gaode's name appeared three times and was given a "critical" evaluation.

Marquis Drake, the Sea Sentinel Mage, thought for a moment and said to the family steward who was waiting nearby, "Go to the Sea Sentinel and retrieve the information about 'Gaud'."

The name Gaode is still an unfamiliar name to him.

He had more or less some impression of the descendants of great nobles or great wizards in Byro County who had outstanding abilities and served in the Sea Sentinels.

That means that this Gaode is most likely just a minor noble or a commoner wizard.

Retrieving the data, firstly, Marquis Drake himself was somewhat curious about what kind of mage could have made such great contributions in dealing with the Wind Network Problem that made Count Roland want to award him the title of Honorary Mage of Oakland;
Secondly, as the Earl of Bailuo County, Gao De has made great contributions, and it is reasonable for him to reward him. Only by knowing Gao De's detailed situation can he give the most appropriate reward.

As the problem of wind and meridians was resolved, the continuous heavy rain gradually stopped and the weather returned to clear.

The disaster continued like this for another ten days. Under the command of Count Roland, and with the reinforcement of supplies and manpower from Dorne, more than 99% of the victims were rescued and properly resettled.

In addition, Marquis Drake also called on all the nobles and chambers of commerce in Bailo County to donate money and work together to assist the disaster-stricken areas.

There was a surge of responses and soon more than 20,000 Plantagenet coins were raised for Auckland.

In addition, based on the application of Earl Roland and the efforts of Marquis Drake, the dynasty comprehensively considered the disaster situation and decided to exempt all victims affected by the disaster in Auckland for three years.

With support from many parties, the victims' hearts gradually calmed down.

The disaster is certainly terrible, but the subsequent impact it brings is actually even more terrible than the disaster itself.

Apart from anything else, during the feudal dynasty period of Gao De's previous life, after the disaster, the people lived in dire straits and their livelihood was in misery. There were many examples of bandits rampant everywhere.

However, for the Plantagenet dynasty, an ancient dynasty with a history of more than ten thousand years, there may be some inevitable long-standing problems such as the intensification of social contradictions within it, but in this regard, it has handled it very well.

Of course, for a disaster of this magnitude, if we want to complete all aspects involved, including the repair and reinforcement of dams, compensation for property losses, subsequent living arrangements for the victims, stabilization of food prices in the disaster area, etc., these are major projects that take months to complete.

However, these matters are the responsibility of local officials and nobles, and have nothing to do with Gaode, the sea sentinel wizard.

He is only responsible for the rescue work on the front line.

After responding to the mage assembly call and following the Auckland mage army back from the expedition, Gaode stayed in the Auckland area for another seven days.

During this period, all the tasks he performed were to eliminate water beasts, especially those in groups.

He traveled back and forth to six or seven areas and participated in nearly ten water beast eradication missions.

Apart from anything else, after just a few trips, Gaode earned himself another four first-ring origin points, bringing the total number of first-ring origin points back to seven.

He kept three points as "backup" resources, and put the remaining four points directly into the spell.

[Relentless Chaser +] (Transmutation, 1st level):

You strengthen your body's ability to travel long distances
Additional: During the spell's duration, when you move quickly, your movement speed increases by an additional one-third.

At the same time, you will gain stronger tracking capabilities, making it easier for you to find traces left by the target, more accurately determine the target's direction of travel, and increase the success rate of tracking.

[Entanglement +] (Transmutation, 1st level):

This spell causes tall grass, weeds, and other plants to entangle creatures that enter or are in the area.
Additional: Plants within the spell's area may emit pungent or disorienting odors that affect creatures' sense of smell. Also, if a creature relies on smell to track a target, the tracking effect may be ineffective within the area.

Burning Hands+ (Evocation, 1st Ring):

A cone of burning flame bursts from your fingertips
Additional: After you cast Burning Hands on a creature or an area, some magical energy will remain. When you cast Burning Hands again on the same area or creature within one minute, a flame resonance effect will occur with the remaining magical energy, increasing the power of the next Burning Hands.

[Heavy Blade+] (Transmutation, 1st level): When you attack an enemy with a melee weapon, Heavy Blade will increase their momentum and density.
Additional: When you attack with a powered-up melee weapon, you are better able to direct the weapon's momentum, potentially overriding the target's evasive maneuvers.

The first three enhancements are actually concise and you can see their specific effects at a glance. [Relentless Pursuit +] and [Entanglement +] are both functional enhancements, while [Burning Hands +] is a power enhancement.

As for the additional effect of [Blade of Pressure +], Gao De didn't quite understand the specific meaning at first. After testing it, he finally understood what was going on:
Simply put, this momentum guidance is roughly equivalent to the "attack guidance" in the game, which allows him to hit the target more easily when swinging the sword, and indirectly improves his sword skills.

Apart from anything else, just based on the income from these four points and one ring, Gaode’s disaster relief trip this time can be considered a fruitful one.

Of course, other things cannot be ignored.

Although it was unclear how much credit he would get in the end this time, Godd had an idea in his mind. He only needed Count Roland to report all his contributions to the Fengluo Hazard mission to the Sea Sentinel as he said, and he would surely get the first-class credit.

The only uncertainty is how much.

In addition, the contribution made in Tyrrell Town is guaranteed to be at least several second-class merits.

Gao De also kept detailed records of the water beast eradication missions he participated in.

It's just that because it was a collective action, they followed the official mages of Oakland and the idle mages they summoned to act together to fight the beasts.

Therefore, he was not sure how the sea sentinel would finally assess his military merits.

On the tenth day, after the Sea Sentinels confirmed that no large-scale groups of water beasts were found in Auckland, they notified all the Sea Sentinel mages who had rushed to Auckland for disaster relief. The disaster relief mission came to a temporary end and everyone could choose to return to Dorne.

Count Roland still has a lot of things to do. Although rewarding people according to their merits is important, it must be given higher priority. Therefore, the title of "Honorary Mage of Oakland" promised to Gode has not been decided yet.

It was impossible for Gaode to stay in Auckland and wait for all this, so he chose to return home like other Sea Sentinel mages.

When we left, it was the 14th day of the Green Leaf Month, and when we came back, it was the 28th day of the Green Leaf Month.

After returning to Dorne, he first went to the White Tower in the Deep to submit the records of his missions so that the Sea Sentinels could make the final assessment of his military merits.

Since this was a large-scale mandatory collective mission, all the Sea Sentinel mages who were in Dorne and had no missions were sent to Auckland, and the time for completing the missions was unified, so the White Tower of the Sea became particularly lively.

Even the supply department where task records were submitted had a queue. This was the first time Gao De had seen such a scene.

During the queue, some familiar Sea Sentinel mages gathered together to chat.

The topic of conversation would undoubtedly be what they had seen and heard during the disaster relief efforts over the past few days, mostly about what powerful water beasts they had encountered, what tragic disaster conditions they had witnessed, and how much credit they had estimated they could get this time.

There is also a whisper about the Sea Sentinel Mage who performed outstandingly in this disaster relief effort.

"The first person to do this is most likely Mage Erwin. He was one of the first to set out. He rushed to Oakland City as soon as possible, responded to the call for mages to assemble in Oakland, and followed the large group of mages in Oakland to go on the expedition."

In front of Gaode, a wizard wearing the uniform of a sea sentinel sergeant said to his companions.

So much time has passed, and the reason behind the catfish whirlwind has long been spread. At least the sea sentinel mages who participated in the rescue knew the inside story.

In this case, the military merit that can be obtained by participating in the Fengluo mission must be the first merit, which is far greater than their disaster relief.

"The location where Fengluo appeared was too close to Auckland City, so Auckland City discovered it and set out on the expedition very early.

I heard that Zuo Wen of the Burns family went straight to Oakland as soon as possible, but he was the second group to set off, and his mount was a flame-maned horse. I guess only Warrant Officer Erwin participated in this mission. "His companion beside him sighed.

"That's not true," the former said with a mysterious expression after hearing his companion's words, "I heard that two of us caught up with the Auckland Mage Assembly, which means that in addition to Warrant Officer Erwin, there should be another person who also participated in the Fengluo mission."

"Oh? Who is it?"

"We don't know yet. Everyone is busy with disaster relief and doesn't have much time to inquire about this kind of gossip. We just got back now, and I guess the details will spread tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

"."

Gao De stood in the crowd and listened to everyone's records in silence. When it was his turn, he silently handed in his own task record.

Because there were still many people queuing up, Old Neil simply collected Gaode's task record, put it aside, registered him, drew a mark on his name and ended it.

He didn't think it was strange, and after leaving the Haiyuan White Tower, he went to the Walmart Magic Materials Store.

What Gao De didn't know was that before he submitted the mission record, a small meeting regarding the evaluation of his military merits had already been held in the conference room on the third floor of the Haiyuan White Tower.

There are many procedures and ceremonies involved in awarding a title, and Count Roland is too busy to do this.

But asking for credit does not take much time.

So when the Sea Sentinel announced the end of the mission, Count Roland took some time to personally write a letter asking for reward and sent it to the Sea Sentinel.

In the meeting room.

"You guys should first take a look at the reward book sent by Earl Roland." Lieutenant Colonel Grayling, who was presiding over the meeting, waved his hand and said in a deep voice.

In front of everyone, there was a "copy" of the reward book made of sheepskin.

Captain Merrick picked up the parchment and read it word by word:
"Dear Sea Sentinels,
In gratitude for your great support to the city of Oakland, I am writing to you today to present the outstanding achievements of Master Gaode of your organization and to solemnly request a reward.

"This catfish whirlwind started from Fengluo. Master Gaode responded to the city's call to assemble and participated in the defense of Oakland. He achieved extraordinary merit and first merit in the mission and sacrificed his own phantom for this. His ability and dedication are beyond the reach of ordinary people."

"Early before the Fengluo mission, Gaode organized a fleet in Yaxi Town under Oakland to evacuate the disaster victims."

"After the Fengluo mission, although he made great contributions in the Fengluo campaign, he did not rest on his laurels. He gladly participated in the task of clearing out the water beasts issued by the city. This humble attitude shows that he cares about the victims and has a noble character."

"These people are both virtuous and talented. They are role models and the pillars of the dynasty's future. Therefore, please give them the honor and rewards they deserve to commend their achievements and encourage everyone!"

(End of this chapter)