Mercenary Wars

Chapter 173 Finding Wealth in Danger

Milhouse paused for a few seconds, but neither Gaucano nor Colin showed any of his eager curiosity during that time.

What amazing feats could a comical dwarf possibly have? The air became slightly awkward for a moment.

But perhaps due to his thick skin, Millhouse seemed completely oblivious to the embarrassment, and continued, "You would never guess that the only survivor of the Tide Throat on Okarigan Island is standing before you!"

“You should all know about the Throat of the Tide, right?” he continued, his tone excited. “One of the most dangerous and terrifying sights in the ocean. When it roars to the surface, even the Nemesis has to give way! Most people’s first reaction upon seeing the Throat of the Tide isn’t to write their will, but to confess to Mosa!”

Upon hearing this news, Gao Jiano and the other man were indeed somewhat surprised: "You survived the Throat of the Tide?"

“That’s right!” Millhouse puffed out his chest. “Thousands upon thousands of level ten warriors were mercilessly swallowed by the Tide Throat, while I, a level five mage, escaped back to land alive and in good health! So in Okarigan, there are almost no dwarves more famous than me, only Oversbach, Cogspin, Viviel, Tyrion… just a few people!”

"So you really don't want to team up with me?" he asked Gao Jiano again, adding in a low voice, "I can tell you my legendary experience of encountering the Throat of the Tide, and I can also give you an autographed copy of mine."

Gaucano, however, said: "Being the sole survivor of a disaster is, frankly, not a very impressive resume for a team."

Milhouse's experience sounds impressive, but upon closer inspection, it doesn't make sense for a team: could he be the sole survivor of a major catastrophe because he has some kind of blessing that makes him "luckier the more teammates die"?
Millhouse was taken aback by what he heard.

“Thank you, but I really don’t plan to form a team,” Gao Jiano said again.

He and Colin then went elsewhere, found a secluded open space, pitched their tent, and waited for the Tidal Lands to open.

No one can predict the exact opening time of the Tidal Lands. The fortune teller's divination results are only approximate, and it is not surprising that there is an error of more than ten days.

In theory, errors should have two possibilities: either earlier or later; but in practice, there is almost only one possibility: "later".

The reason is simple: in order to avoid the situation where "the opening time is earlier than the divination result, causing the customer to miss the tidal land", the diviner tends to tell the time a few days in advance when announcing the result.

Adventurers tend to arrive early, so in most cases, people wait for the Tidal Lands to open. During this time, news inevitably spreads, causing some latecomers to arrive one after another.

Gaucano arrived relatively early.

Even though there's still some time before Master Tavasd told him, a few days' wait is entirely expected.

He hasn't had a moment's rest these past few days.

Every morning, he would wander along the tidal zone until evening before returning to his tent.

The primary purpose of wandering around was, of course, to collect herbs.

This is, after all, the edge of the Kiso Mountains. Although it is not so remote that it is suitable for the growth of rare plants, there are many uncommon wild herbs here, which Gaucano certainly would not overlook.

Over the course of a few days, he had collected so many herbs that they filled almost one of the storage compartments in his storage ring. If he were to sell them, he estimated he could earn a few gold coins.

Based on this calculation, Gaugano could maintain a fairly good income level for a long time simply by gathering herbs in the wild. Of course, this is on the premise of a place like the Kiso Mountains. If it were in the Stonetalon Valley or the Driftwood Forest, the income would probably be less than one-tenth.

While gathering herbs, Gaogano noticed that his plant senses could not penetrate the invisible veil of the Tidal Land.

He wasn't surprised; since hearing, sight, and touch couldn't penetrate the tidal zone, it was only natural that plant senses couldn't either.

And this is good news.

After all, if his plant perception could penetrate the tidal curtain, it's conceivable that he would be unable to do anything but watch helplessly as the nearby Forget-Me-Not moss disappeared within a day.

Now he has no such worries and can freely wander along the tidal zone, taking all the wild herbs in the vicinity.

At the same time, he could also take the opportunity to explore and speculate about the situation inside the Tide Land. Under the obstruction of the Tide Veil, people outside had no way of knowing what kind of creatures were inside, but they could still make some inferences about the terrain and the extent of the area.

So, apart from Gaucano, the others also wandered around the Tidelands from time to time, hoping to learn as much as possible about the Tidelands in advance.

Roughly half of these people came from Southsea Town, while the other half came from various northern countries, primarily the Kingdom of Liberland. As one of the two largest countries within the Mosa's sphere of influence, Liberland's distinctive accent was common and easily recognizable. In addition, there were an unknown number of suspicious individuals, possibly heretics or other races with poor relations with the Mosa followers. They kept a low profile, occasionally appearing in the Mosa followers' sight, and would disappear before their identities could be confirmed.

A few days passed in the blink of an eye.

Gao Jiano felt that he might have already circled half of this rather large tidal land, and occasionally doubts about the divination results flashed through his mind.

Finally, at sunrise that day, as the bright light of the rising sun began to appear, just as he was about to go out for a stroll again, an excited exclamation came from afar.

"The tide is rising!"

"The Tidelands are open!"

As the voice rang out, the scene of snake and insect remains interspersed near the snake-slaying line suddenly surged with light and shadow, like reflections in ripples, presenting a somewhat enchanting and mysterious appearance in the hazy dawn.

Although scholars and monks agree that whether the tidal zone opens at sunrise or moonrise is no different for the tidal zone, both being purely natural phenomena with completely random probability, each accounting for 50%.

However, some people stubbornly believe that the tidal lands that open at sunrise are more likely to bring good luck to adventurers, and they call it the "Tides of Light" with great seriousness.

"The Tide of Light, it's the Tide of Light!" some adventurers cheered.

"I have a feeling that there are ancient treasures in this land of tides!" Many people were lost in their fantasies.

"I had a feeling too, there's a Forget-Me-Not Flower inside!"

"Come on, this place seems to have only been opened a few decades ago. How could it possibly grow Forget-Me-Not Flowers! Not to mention Forget-Me-Not Flowers, even Forget-Me-Not Grass is out of the question!"

"I'm going in first!"

The murmurs quickly subsided. The adventurers, who had been waiting for days, couldn't wait any longer. They quickly crossed the Serpent's Edge and rushed into the Tidal Land, their faces a mixture of anticipation and nervousness.

Gao Jiano sighed softly.

He also wanted to rush into the Tide Lands as soon as possible, which would greatly increase his chances of finding the Forgotten Moss, and finding several pieces at once shouldn't be too difficult.

However, the current level restriction for the Serpent Slayer Path is level four, and as a level six named individual, he simply cannot enter.

Before the next "high tide", only those whose level is no higher than four can enter.

The higher-level tidal lands also follow a similar pattern.

This can be seen as a boon bestowed upon low-level adventurers by nature. After all, whatever the treasures, ancient hoards or eternally forgotten plants, those who rush in first are more likely to find them. Of course, for low-level adventurers, this is also a huge challenge. While they won't encounter competition from high-level adventurers, high-level Tidal Lands usually also have high-level magical beasts.

Therefore, apart from the most common situation of getting little reward or making a wasted trip, the mainstream encounter for low-level adventurers in high-level Tidal Lands is usually encountering a very powerful monster and then being eaten.

Exceptions do occur from time to time.

A few penniless, low-level adventurers, driven by impulsive courage, plunge headlong into the Tidelands, a land far superior to their own, and find astonishing treasures, thus becoming the protagonists of bard tales... Such a situation, though rare, does not not exist.

However, as long as there are a few extremely lucky cases, some people will be inspired to fantasize that they can also become the protagonist of the story, and then follow one after another to devote themselves to the adventure.

It's a classic case of fortune favors the bold. Although it's highly likely that they'll come away empty-handed, no adventurer ever enters the Tidelands with that expectation. Even if they expect to die, they rarely expect to have made a wasted trip.

Colin also chose to seek fortune through risk.

Moreover, his choice was more radical.

Seeing Colin pull out a black blindfold, Gao Jiano couldn't help but ask again, "Are you really going to enter the Tidelands with your eyes closed?"

Colin nodded firmly, glancing around at the same time.

Since he planned to enter the Tidal Lands with his eyes closed, he certainly couldn't enter through crowded areas, otherwise he would attract a lot of malicious attention. The Mosas forbid killing each other, but in the Kiso Mountains, in the Tidal Lands, how effective could such a rule, which relies primarily on faith, really be?
Therefore, in order to avoid danger from people, he must do his best to ensure that no strangers see him.

After confirming that no one else was nearby, Colin immediately blindfolded himself, his breathing becoming slightly rapid. Clearly, even the strongest faith could not keep him indifferent to the danger that lay ahead.

Gao Jiano didn't try to persuade him any further. Instead, he took out a few inferior wind magic orbs and handed them over: "Colin, I think you should know how to use these."

"Thank you." Colin accepted the inferior Wind Orb.

"Good luck."

After saying goodbye to Gaucano, Colin, blindfolded, came to the snake-slaying line, took a deep breath, and stepped across with his weapon in hand.

As the light and shadow rippled, his figure gradually blurred, eventually disappearing completely into the scene behind the snake-slaying line, as if he had entered another world.

Gaucano paused for a moment, then shook his head.

"Truly brave..." he thought to himself as he turned and left to continue gathering herbs.

After the Tidal Lands opened, the timing became clearer.

In the Tidal Lands, the "tier" refers to the smallest unit of change in level restrictions and the corresponding time. In Tier 1 Tidal Lands, the level restriction fluctuates by one level per day, while in Tier 4 Tidal Lands, the level restriction fluctuates by four levels every four days.

The current level limit is level four.

Four days later, the level restriction will either become level eight or level zero. If it becomes level zero, the Tidelands will most likely be closed and will not reopen for a long time.

Of course, as a fortune teller with professional ethics, Tavasd would certainly not give Gaucano a divination about a place he couldn't enter due to the tides.

Therefore, it is highly likely that the level limit for the Serpent Slayer questline will be raised to level eight after four days.

Nothing will happen for the four days leading up to this.

Therefore, Gaogano no longer needs to come back every day to check if the Tidal Land has opened, as he did in the previous days. He only needs to come back after four days, which allows him to collect common herbs over a wider area.

Besides herbs, he also encountered and killed a level 5 magical beast, reaping a good harvest.

Four days passed in the blink of an eye.

The Tidal Lands "rose" as scheduled, accompanied by another shift of light and shadow, and the level restriction changed from level four to level eight.

High-level adventurers entered one after another, while most of the low-level adventurers came out dejected.

Gaogano was already prepared. Upon seeing this, he immediately packed up his tent, crossed the snake-slaying line, and entered the land of tides.

As if passing through a curtain of water, a sensation swept over his entire body, and he entered a tranquil mountain forest.

Looking up, the shadows of the trees are dappled.

The surrounding scenery looked much the same as outside.

After all, the Kiso Mountains are sparsely populated and densely forested, so there shouldn't be much difference in the internal and external appearance of the tidal zone.

Upon entering the Land of Tides, Gaucano's plant perception, which had been blocked by the Tidal Veil, was able to unfold, and nearby plants began to appear in his perception.

There is a level 6 plant about four kilometers away.

But after a two-second thought, Gao Jiano concluded that it was probably not the Forget-Me-Not, but just an ordinary herb.

The reason is simple: Forget-Me-Not plants often appear in pairs, and solitary Forget-Me-Not plants are rare. Moreover, based on his recent exploration, this level-six plant should be located near the boundary of the Tidal Land. If it were truly Forget-Me-Not, it should have been picked or disappeared long ago.

Having reached a conclusion, Gao Jiano no longer hesitated and immediately activated his Blood Burning Sprint, charging forward.

As he moved forward rapidly, the range of his plant perception also expanded, and he took in a large number of herbs.

But he didn't intend to pick a single one.

After all, these were clearly just ordinary herbs with little value, and they could be picked at any time, so they weren't worth his time.

More than ten minutes later, traces of two level-six plants appeared within Gaogano's perception range.

Level 6 plants, and two of them are very close together!

Gao Jiano's eyes lit up.

The pharmacist's intuition told him that this was likely the eternal forgetfulness moss!

Without hesitation, he immediately set off for the location of the two plants!

(End of this chapter)