Mage Talent

Under Roland's reconnaissance, the snow-covered hill showed no signs of life, which eased Roland's mind slightly. He didn't want any high-level Magical Beasts on his territory.

Of course, that possibility was slim. This island was resource-poor and couldn't support a high-level Magical Beast.

After confirming there were no threats on the hill, Roland, Alice, and the others spent the rest of their time thoroughly exploring the entire island from south to north and west to east.

Although there were no Magical Beasts on the island, there were plenty of wild beasts. At Roland's command, Artur's team swarmed them and wiped them out, without any regard for the island's ecosystem.

During this time, Roland also found several more areas suitable for opening up farmland. However, these locations were scattered across the island, making them difficult to develop, and Roland didn't have enough manpower.

After surveying the territory and finding no dangers, Roland breathed a sigh of relief and led his people back to the east coast.

When Roland returned, the entire east coast of the island had been transformed into a construction site. However, under the management of O'Neal and James, everything was orderly, with everyone performing their duties.

The Loyal Lion Mercenary Group had split into two groups. One group, led by O'Neal, consisted of over thirty Professionals who were constantly transporting lumber between the jungle and the settlement.

As Professional Warriors, they were natural laborers. A single Beginner Warrior could easily carry a thick log, let alone an Advanced Warrior like O'Neal, who carried several logs with ease.

The other group of mercenaries, led by Vice-Captain Choba Regil, was helping the slaves build wooden houses.

With the help of these mercenaries, the construction of the small settlement progressed rapidly. By the time Roland returned, the land had been leveled, and the frameworks for over a dozen wooden houses had been erected.

Roland's eyes lit up at the sight. He had initially calculated that it would take a week to build the settlement, but these Professional Warriors had given him a pleasant surprise.

At this pace, it was possible that it would only take half the time for Roland to build wooden houses on the east coast of the island capable of housing over two hundred people.

"Captain Artur, take your team and help with building the houses too." Seeing how useful the warriors were, Roland wouldn't let Artur be idle.

"Yes, Apothecary Roland," Artur replied with a hint of frustration, inwardly cursing O'Neal for being so diligent.

However, he dared not disobey Roland's orders, so he reluctantly led his nine Intermediate Warriors to join the construction work.

Roland, unaware of Artur's grumbling, turned and walked towards the sea with Alice.

In less than a moment, Roland found Feli and his group by the east coast.

"Apothecary Roland," Feli said, bowing slightly as he saw Roland.

"Captain Feli, how is it? Have you found a suitable place to build the dock?" Roland asked expectantly.

After his tour of the territory, Roland had given up all hope for the island's resources. Not only were there no magic resources, but there wasn't even any ordinary mineral ore. It was extremely barren, and aside from farming, almost no other industry could be developed.

This meant that Roland's territory would be highly dependent on external resources for some time to come. Food, minerals, Magic Materials, and even farming tools would all need to be purchased from outside.

The foundation for all of this would be a dock. Without a port capable of docking a three-masted merchant ship, relying solely on small boats for transport would greatly impact efficiency.

"Yes, look here," Feli pointed towards the northeast of the island.

Roland followed Feli's gaze and saw that the island's coastline curved inward at the spot Feli indicated, forming a natural harbor.

Furthermore, the terrain near the shore was relatively flat, and the land was not sand but rugged, uneven rock, providing a reliable foundation for building a dock.

"I sent people to dive and check. There's enough depth there to support a three-masted merchant ship."

"However, there are quite a few underwater reefs that need to be cleared first," Feli added.

While Roland wasn't an expert in dock selection and conditions, he trusted Feli's professionalism and made a decision.

"Once the settlement is built, we'll send people to start building the dock and clear the reefs. For now, we'll build a small dock capable of docking a three-masted merchant ship."

"Understood."

With the dock issue resolved, Roland temporarily had no urgent matters to attend to.

So, he asked Alice to bring the dozen or so pre-teens he had purchased from the Shadow Guild to the seaside.

A few minutes later, led by Alice, a total of twelve pre-teens nervously approached Roland.

Among the twelve children, the oldest was sixteen and the youngest was twelve, with eight boys and four girls.

During their ten days at sea, they had all received special care from Roland, and their food and lodging had improved significantly. However, they were still young and in a strange new place, which made them appear quite reserved.

"Greetings, Master," the twelve children said in unison, bowing. They had clearly been trained by the Shadow Guild and were very disciplined.

"Yes, you may rise," Roland said in a gentle tone.

Roland had high hopes for these twelve pre-teens, having spent over five hundred gold coins on them.

This was because all twelve children possessed Inferior Mage Talent.

Here, it was necessary to explain the noble status of Mages.

First and foremost, strength was crucial. Although Mages had no advantage over Warriors, Rogues, and other professions in the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, once a Mage surpassed the Great Mage level, few other professions could contend with them in battles of the same level. Their power only grew stronger in the later stages.

Especially in large-scale wars, the importance of Mages was irreplaceable. A single Saint Domain Mage could even sway the course of a war.

Therefore, on the Saint Nor Continent today, the strength of a country's Mage corps was one of the most important metrics for measuring its hard power.

Secondly, Mages were rare. To become a Mage, one must possess Mage Talent, which was a prerequisite. Without Mage Talent, even with abundant resources, one could not enter the path of a Mage.

Mage Talent was essentially the strength of one's initial Mental Power. Only those with nearly one point of initial Mental Power could successfully practice Meditation Methods and become Mages.

Mage Talent was divided into five levels: Inferior, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Super.

In ancient times, Mage Talent only had four levels. Those with Inferior Mage Talent had Mental Power that could barely reach 0.8. Even if they managed to practice Meditation Methods and successfully transfer to become Mages, their poor talent made it difficult for them to break through to Intermediate Mage. Such Mages were considered a disgrace to the Mage community and were not recognized by other Mages. However, with the advent of Alchemy later on, numerous potions that aided Mages in breaking through their professional levels were developed, giving some Mages with Inferior Mage Talent a chance to advance further.

This is how Inferior Mage Talent is classified among mages.

This is also why Roland spent over five hundred gold coins to purchase these twelve children.

While individuals with Inferior Mage Talent, even if they successfully become mages, will inevitably require the assistance of potions for their future cultivation, incurring immense costs and having a very low ceiling.

However, despite these drawbacks, they can still become mages. And with sufficient resource investment, their future might even allow them to break through to Intermediate, or even Advanced Mage.

The cost involved, however, is simply beyond the means of a minor noble. Even major noble families wouldn't prioritize cultivating their kin who possess Inferior Mage Talent.

Roland understands this all too well. The potions he consumes monthly for his own cultivation are worth over a thousand gold coins. While he's aiming to accelerate his own progress, mages with inferior talent would undoubtedly require no less resources.

For most nobles, this drawback is fatal. Even if they wish to cultivate mages to bolster their strength, the immense expenditure makes it unsustainable.

However, for Roland, this drawback is not unacceptable. With his potion-making success rate, cultivating a mage with inferior talent would cost at least four to five times less than it would for others.

More importantly, Roland currently dares not sell most of the potions he refines, fearing exposure of his potion-making success rate.

It would be better to cultivate some mages with inferior talent. While this still carries some risk of exposure, it is undoubtedly much safer than selling them directly. Furthermore, it indirectly increases Roland's current strength.

After all, mages are mages. Even mages with inferior talent are only weak in their cultivation speed, not their actual strength.

This was the solution Roland devised after much thought when he realized he couldn't openly reveal his potion-making success rate.

As long as Roland can carefully control the progress of his mages with inferior talent, he can minimize the risks.

When Roland's Alchemy level advances to Advanced, or even Master, then even an extremely high success rate in refining low-level potions will be inconsequential.

After all, high-level apothecaries naturally have a much higher success rate when refining low-level potions compared to low-level apothecaries.