Above the mage!

Chapter 472 Ice Cave
This isn't the first time that Gaode has experienced the feedback from Yugathishira.

However, in the very first instance, because Yugathira's rank was not high, the resulting feedback was very weak and not particularly noticeable.

The second feedback, which occurred when Yoggathila advanced from the first rank to the second rank, took place while God was asleep.

When I woke up, everything was over, as if it were just a dream, so Gaode didn't have much of a feeling about it.

This time, however, he was not only conscious, but the feedback he received from Yugathira's advancement from the second to the third tier was several times greater than before.

Gao De could clearly feel the vitality, carrying the unique pulse of Yugathira, surging into his limbs and bones as "recklessly" as tree roots take hold of the earth.

That was a force several times greater than the last time it was fed back, carrying a clear meaning of "continuation" and "nourishment".

This vitality surged into the depths of Gaode's body, and in every part of his flesh and blood, and in his meridians, it was as if countless tender green roots were spreading along the spiritual veins.

He could clearly sense that his life was being subtly and silently nurtured, growing stronger and stronger.

One year, two years, three years.
Soon, Gaode's lifespan limit increased dramatically by 315 years.

When a second-ring mage advances to a third-ring mage, their lifespan can only increase by a maximum of 150 years.

The lifespan gain that Gaode receives from the feedback alone already exceeds the benefits of advancing to the third ring.

His lifespan status immediately changed from 16/415 to 16/730.

It's true that the rate of aging can't keep up with the rate of lifespan increase.

In this situation, one can truly say, "Lifespan is just a number to me."

Keep in mind that this is only a 1% conversion rate of lifespan.

It's easy to imagine how terrifying Yugathira's lifespan limit will be after advancing to the third tier!

After a quick mental calculation, Gao De determined that Yugathira's maximum lifespan should be 45054 years.

It is already at the level of a half-step 100,000-year-old demon.

Even among long-lived species like the Demon Tree, Yugathira is among the longest-lived.

This is not surprising, after all, Flora, who coexists with Yugathira, is a rare "immortal" in the world.

The giving back is not over yet.

As the flame of life blazed brightly, Gao De's already powerful mental strength grew even more rapidly.

The mental barrier that had been blocking him shattered instantly.

The surging torrent of spirit instantly broke through the shackles, carrying Gao De's consciousness to climb to even higher places.

at the same time.

Gao De's consciousness inexplicably became hazy.

His vision began to spin, and soon it was no longer the sea and the deck of the Columbus, but countless intertwined silver roots.

These silver roots, as if an extension of his body, carried Gao De's consciousness gently toward the two strange places.

One is a strange world filled with countless translucent souls.

These spirits, carrying faint sighs and murmurs, along with many complex and fragmented pieces of consciousness, gently brushed against the root system, making one feel as if their soul was being immersed in warm water, yet also carrying a chill that penetrated to the bone marrow.

The other is a vast and ethereal world of five colors, filled with countless colorful stardust.

These stardust particles seeped into consciousness along the root system, bringing with them fleeting illusions like a revolving lantern, bizarre and fantastical, as if meteors were falling from the sky.

This experience was so novel and mysterious that Gaode Maps was somewhat bewildered.

However, the process was only a brief exploration, and the next moment, Gaode's view returned to the vast sea, back to the real world.

His consciousness became clearer than ever before. He carefully sensed the changes in his mental strength and discovered that his mental strength had silently and painlessly passed the bottleneck of 233 and directly reached 299.

Under normal circumstances, a mage in the late second stage of the second ring has a mental strength of 266.

Gao De's mental strength not only surpassed that of a late-stage second-ring mage, but even reached the upper limit of a second-ring mage's mental strength.

In other words, unless he encounters those geniuses who "break through limits," he will always have an absolute advantage in spells related to mental strength among those of the same level.

Once Gao De fully regained his senses, he was slightly dazed and almost fell to the ground.

This is a side effect of the sudden surge in mental strength.

A sudden surge in physical strength can lead to a loss of control over one's body, and the same applies to mental strength.

However, as a mage, one should be able to adapt to this.

So after only a short while of adjustment, Gaode returned to normal and fully regained control of its current power.

Although his mind was no longer dazed, it began to drift.

He was lost in thought, wondering what abilities the third-tier Yugathira would awaken.

The answer will only be known on my next return to the North.

Two more days passed, and ten days had passed since Columbus sailed out of Vallar Bay.

For first-time seafarers, a voyage of more than ten days can become extremely tedious and boring.

What was once a novel and spectacular seascape gradually became aesthetically tiring, leaving one with no interest whatsoever.

Not to mention the monotonous food and almost non-existent entertainment on board, which made people either depressed or irritable.

However, this is not a problem for Gaode at all.

Firstly, he devoted most of his energy to cultivation and the study of runes.

The seas of the North, which also belong to the North, have a very significant beneficial effect on the cultivation of the "True Ice Secret Manual".

With the breakthrough in mental strength, Gao De's cultivation efficiency per unit of time and the amount of time he could cultivate each day were greatly improved.

With this two-pronged approach, just yesterday, his progress in cultivating "The Secret Transmission of Zhenbing" reached the second-level apprentice level, and he is steadily moving towards the third-level apprentice level.

On the other hand, using the [Super Memory] potion, God also memorized many mainstream level 2 and level 3 basic runes in the [Heart of the North] knowledge base.

What he needs to do now is to transform theoretical knowledge into practical skills, master these basic runes through practice, and integrate them by practicing drawing combinations of compound runes.

Having something to do naturally prevents boredom and dullness; it's like simply changing your retreat location.

Moreover, this secluded retreat offers daily ocean views, making it an incredibly pleasant place to live.

As for food issues, that's not a problem for Gaode either.

Firstly, he can use his magical skills to lightly season the food, which, combined with the various fish he catches daily, makes for a rather delicious meal.

Furthermore, even if you get tired of these foods, you can simply eat a single berry, which will be enough to last you a day.

With the help of the Panacea: Illusion and Awakening, Gao De's entertainment life on the ship is quite colorful.

The former allows him to see all sorts of interesting illusions within an hour, while the latter gives Gaode the ability to have a full-time, one-hour waking dream completely under his control.

Combining these two elements creates an abundance of fun and variety.

After finishing his daily practice in the cabin, Gao De got up, stretched, opened the door, and walked towards the deck.

His time management was also extremely reasonable. He usually scheduled his cultivation and rune practice during the day. In the evening and early morning, he would come to the deck to get some fresh air and enjoy the beautiful sunrise and sunset at sea.

Upon reaching the deck, in addition to the setting sun beginning to turn orange-red, Gaode also saw a deserted island standing in the distance.

Everyone was used to this and strictly followed navigation rules, choosing to stay away from or around the deserted island, preferring to waste some time rather than cause trouble.

Gao De, on the other hand, habitually activated his fourth-order Mandora's Eye, using his [Far Vision] ability to observe the scene on the deserted island.

This deserted island was much larger than any I had seen before, resembling a giant, icy-gray beast lying on the sea, with cliffs on its back piercing the clouds.

The cliff face, carved by the sea wind and icicles, resembles jagged teeth, casting serrated shadows in the afterglow of the setting sun.
The island's overall outline appears unusually menacing. The island is composed of inky black ice-gray rock, with countless ice ridges embedded between the rock layers, their surfaces as sharp as blades.

Permafrost spreads along the island's edge, and pale blue chill seeps from the cracks between the soil clods, covering the exposed rock layers with a layer of ice.

The surface of the ice layer is covered with spiderweb-like cracks.

But what truly caught Gaode's attention was the faintly visible, frozen, twisted remains beneath the ice.

It resembled the skeleton of some giant sea monster, incredibly large.

However, due to the extreme distance, even with the help of Mandora's Eye, God was unable to observe the precise details and thus deduce the identity of the skeleton's owner.

However, the appearance of the sea monster skeleton made Gao De take notice, realizing that this island was somewhat different from the deserted islands he had encountered before.

He continued to observe with great interest.

As his gaze shifted, Gao De caught a glimpse of a visible grayish-white chill, drifting over like a cloud of mist.

As the cold air drifted, upon contact with the sea breeze, it condensed like shattered glass, forming solid hexagonal ice crystals.

Bathed in the glow of the setting sun, these ice crystals refracted a dreamy orange hue.

The chill was quite peculiar, causing Gao De to subconsciously look in the direction from which it was coming.

Then, he noticed an irregular depression near the center of the island, like a deep pit smashed by a giant hammer.

The dark cave entrance was about five zhang in diameter, and the ice-gray rock at its edges had been eroded into jagged shapes.

A grayish-white chill lingered around the cave entrance. This chill did not drift haphazardly, but rather swirled slowly clockwise, forming a vortex about ten feet in diameter.

The cold air at the center of the vortex is the most concentrated, almost solidified. Every time the vortex rotates once, an even purer cold air surges out from the cave entrance, accumulating into a cloud-like shape at the entrance.

Once the cold air accumulates to a certain extent, it spreads with the sea breeze and drifts everywhere.

Upon seeing this scene, Gao De's previously calm expression suddenly turned serious.

After defeating the Snowfield Guardians, Gao De took the time to review their collection of books and knowledge.

I wouldn't say I memorized all the knowledge points, but I still have a good impression of some important things.

He recognized at a glance that the depression was the "Ice Cave" that produced Ice Fiend, the most important source of raw materials for the Snowfield Guardian's core spell [Frozen Blade] to advance.

Despite the long history of the Snowfield Guardians, by the time their territory was trampled by the main force of the Zhenbing Tribe, they had only managed to control seven ice caves.

And yet, during his first voyage at sea, he so naturally and casually discovered another ice cave.
While surprised, Gaode also hesitated.

Now that he had discovered the ice cave, his first thought was naturally to land on the island and try to collect the resources inside.

Unlike the ice caves controlled by the Snowfield Guardians and harvested periodically, this ice cave, located on an unnamed deserted island in the Northern Seas, must have remained unvisited for many years.

Given this, the ice energy produced in this ice cave must have been left uncollected for many years.

One can imagine how enormous the number of ice demons existing in the ice caves on the deserted island must be.

But he also had some concerns.

Although he did not find any signs of other life on the deserted island in his Mandora's Eye of Vision.

But God didn't believe in Mandora's Eye, because from his perspective, the island had many blind spots that were impossible to observe.

Moreover, the enormous wreckage beneath the ice and the fact that malevolent energy can only form in dangerous, dark places suggest that there are some untold stories on this island.

Gaode made its decision without much hesitation.

Because there was another monk on board, a fourth-circle mage named Lan Wen, the deputy director.

A fourth-ring mage might not seem like much in the Golden Flower Dynasty, but that's because the Golden Flower Dynasty was too powerful, not because fourth-ring mages were too weak.

In fact, in most small principalities, the top combat power is only fourth-circle battle mages.

With Lanwen around, most threats can be resolved effectively.

It's worth a look.

With that in mind, Gao De immediately called Lan Wen and asked him to convey his request to the crew, and to steer the Columbus toward the deserted island.

The whistle, three short and one long, pierced the sky.

The sailors at the foremast loosened the rigging, the thick hemp ropes rattling in the pulleys, and the triangular sail, like a giant bird awakened, spread its wings and fluttered violently in the crosswind.

The winch on the stern began to turn, and four shirtless sailors worked together to push the wooden pole, gradually changing the angle of the mainsail.

The friction between the canvas and the mast produced a creaking sound, like an old ship stretching its limbs.

The seawater churned up white waves on both sides of the ship, and the originally straight track gradually curved into a beautiful arc.

Soon, with all its efforts, the Columbus's keel was aligned with the direction of the desert island.

The noise on the deck gradually subsided, with only the occasional muffled thud of the canvas stretching.

The outline of the deserted island gradually became clearer in the field of vision.

Just as a horse can run itself to death just by looking at a mountain, the same applies to sea voyages.

Although the outline of the deserted island is already clearly visible, it is still quite a long way from there.

Finally, after nearly two hours, the entire deserted island came into view, and the hard, dark green ice-gray rocks on the island could be clearly seen.

Because the specific situation on the island is unknown, and the ship is extremely important, if a problem occurs, the people on board will likely be helpless in the vast sea.

Therefore, Gaode did not intend to have the ship dock and land, but instead had the Columbus stand by in the waters off the desert island.

"Sounding hammer!" The captain's voice rang out on the deck, carrying an unquestionable authority.

Two young sailors carried a rope wrapped around a lead weight to the stern of the ship. The lead weight, along with the graduated lines, fell into the sea, splashing up a fine ring of water.

"anchor!"

The captain then issued new instructions.

The winch gears made a clicking sound, like an old clock counting.

The anchor chain slid into the sea through the chain guide hole on the ship's side, splashing water onto the deck and leaving dark marks.

The lead-gray anchor chain sank into the sea section by section, its length gradually exceeding several times the ship's waterline, and finally tightened abruptly with a muffled "clang".

The sails of the foremast and mast were now retracted to their minimum size, leaving only a small amount of canvas to maintain balance and use the weak crosswinds to counteract the thrust of the ocean currents.

With a series of smooth maneuvers, the Columbus landed in the waters off the desert island.

(End of this chapter)