Mage Talent

Under Roland and the others' reconnaissance, they found no signs of life on the snow-covered hill, which put Roland somewhat at ease. He did not want a high-level magical beast lurking within his territory.

Of course, that possibility was very low. The island's resources were scarce, and it could not possibly support a high-level magical beast.

After confirming that there were no threats on the hill, Roland led Alice and the others across the entire island, from south to north and west to east.

Although there were no magical beasts on the island, there were quite a few wild animals. At Roland's command, Artur's squad immediately swarmed them and wiped them all out, showing no concern for whether they might disrupt the island's ecosystem.

During that time, Roland also found several places that could be turned into farmland. However, they were scattered across the island, making them difficult to develop, and Roland did not have enough manpower.

After making a round of his territory and confirming that there was no danger on the island, Roland finally relaxed and led everyone back to the east coast.

By the time Roland returned, the entire eastern coast had completely turned into a construction site. Under O'Neal and James's management, however, everything remained orderly, with everyone performing their own duties.

The Loyal Lion Mercenary Group had now split into two groups. One group consisted of more than thirty professionals led by O'Neal, who continuously transported timber between the forest and the settlement.

As professional warriors, they were born laborers. Even a Beginner Warrior could easily carry a thick log, let alone an Advanced Warrior like O'Neal, who could shoulder several logs without breaking a sweat.

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

With the help of all those mercenaries, construction of the small settlement progressed rapidly. By the time Roland returned, not only had the land been leveled, but the frames of more than a dozen wooden houses had already been erected.

Roland's eyes lit up at the sight. By his original estimate, completing the settlement within a week would have been good enough, but these professional warriors had given him a pleasant surprise.

At this pace, Roland might need only half that time to build enough wooden houses along the island's eastern coast to accommodate more than two hundred people.

"Captain Artur, take your squad and help build the houses as well." Having seen how useful warriors were, how could Roland let Artur remain idle?

"Yes, Apothecary Roland." Artur replied somewhat gloomily, silently cursing O'Neal for being so diligent.

However, he ultimately did not dare defy Roland's order. Helplessly, he led his nine Intermediate Warriors to join the house-building work.

Roland did not notice Artur's complaints. He turned and led Alice toward the shore.

Before long, Roland found Captain Feli and his group on the eastern coast.

"Apothecary Roland." When Feli saw Roland, he immediately bowed slightly in greeting.

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

After inspecting his territory, Roland had completely given up hope for the island's resources. Forget magical resources—there were not even ordinary mineral deposits. It was barren to the extreme, and aside from farming, it could hardly support any industry.

That meant Roland's territory would be highly dependent on outside resources for quite some time. Food, minerals, Magic Materials, and even farming tools would all have to be purchased externally.

And the foundation for all of that was a dock. Without a harbor capable of receiving three-masted merchant ships, relying solely on small boats to transport goods back and forth would greatly reduce efficiency.

"Yes. Please look over there." Feli pointed toward the island's northeast.

Roland followed Feli's gesture and saw that the coastline curved inward at that spot, forming a natural bay.

Moreover, the shore there was relatively flat. The land was not sandy, but made up of rugged, uneven rock, providing a reliable foundation for a dock.

"I just sent people to dive down and inspect the area. The water there is deep enough to support three-masted merchant ships."

"However, there are quite a few hidden reefs underwater, so they will need to be cleared first," Feli said.

Roland did not know much about selecting a dock site or the necessary conditions, but he trusted Feli's expertise and made his decision at once.

"Once the settlement is finished, send people to begin building the dock and clearing the reefs. For now, just build a small dock capable of accommodating three-masted merchant ships."

"Yes, sir."

After settling the matter of the dock, Roland had no pressing matters to deal with for the time being.

So he had Alice bring the dozen or so half-grown children he had purchased from the Shadow Guild to the shore.

A few minutes later, Alice led a total of twelve uneasy-looking children to Roland.

The oldest of the twelve was sixteen, while the youngest was only twelve. There were eight boys and four girls among them.

During the ten days at sea, Roland had given them special treatment. Their food and lodging had been far better than before, but they were still young, and arriving in an unfamiliar place made them appear very reserved.

"Greetings, Master." The twelve children bowed and called out in unison. They had clearly been trained by the Shadow Guild and were extremely well-behaved.

"Mm. Rise." Roland's attitude was very gentle.

The twelve half-grown children were people Roland had high hopes for, and he had spent more than five hundred gold coins on them.

That was because all twelve possessed Inferior Mage Talent.

This required an explanation of why mages held such an exalted status.

The first and most important reason was naturally strength. Although mages had no advantage over warriors, thieves, and other professions at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced ranks—

once a mage surpassed the rank of Great Mage, few professions of the same rank could contend with one. Moreover, the later one progressed, the stronger mages became.

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

Thus, on the present-day Saint Nor Continent, one of the most important measures of a nation's hard power was the strength of its Mage Regiment.

The second reason was how rare mages were. To become a mage, one had to possess mage talent. This was an absolute requirement. Without mage talent, no amount of resources could open the door to becoming a mage.

Mage talent was essentially the strength of one's initial Mental Power. Only those whose initial Mental Power was close to one point could successfully practice a Meditation Method and become mages.

Mage talent was divided into five grades: inferior, elementary, intermediate, high, and exceptional.

In ancient times, mage talent had only four grades. This was because those with Inferior Mage Talent could only barely reach 0.8 Mental Power. Even if they barely succeeded in practicing a Meditation Method and successfully became 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 later emergence of potion-making, many potions that helped mages break through their professional ranks were developed one after another, giving some mages with Inferior Mage Talent the possibility of advancing further.

Only then was Inferior Mage Talent included in the classification of mage talent grades.

And that was why Roland had bought these twelve half-grown children, spending more than five hundred gold coins.

Although those with Inferior Mage Talent, even if they successfully became mages, would inevitably need potion assistance in their later training, making the costs enormous, and their potential was extremely limited—

despite all those shortcomings, they could still become mages. And if enough resources were invested, they might eventually break through to become Intermediate Mages or even High Mages.

However, the cost was so great that no minor noble could bear it. Even great nobles would not focus on cultivating family members with Inferior Mage Talent.

Roland understood this deeply. The potions he currently consumed in a single month of training were worth more than a thousand gold coins. Though he did so to accelerate his own progress, mages with inferior talent would absolutely require no less in resources.

For most nobles, this drawback was undoubtedly fatal. Even if they wanted to cultivate some mages to strengthen themselves, they could not sustain such enormous expenses.

However, this drawback was not unacceptable to Roland. With his potion-making success rate, the cost of cultivating a mage with Inferior Mage Talent would be at least four or five times lower than it was for others.

More importantly, most of the potions Roland currently brewed could not be sold. He feared exposing his potion-making success rate.

It would be better to use them to cultivate mages with Inferior Mage Talent. There was still a risk of exposure, but it was undoubtedly much safer than selling the potions directly, and it would also indirectly increase Roland's current strength.

A mage was still a mage. Even mages with inferior talent were only weak in cultivation speed, not in combat power.

This was the solution Roland had painstakingly devised after realizing that he could not reveal his potion-making success rate to the outside world.

As long as Roland carefully controlled the rate at which these inferior-talent mages under him improved, he could minimize the risk.

Once Roland advanced to the high or even master rank in potion-making, it would no longer matter much if his extraordinarily high success rate in brewing low-level potions was exposed.

After all, when high-level apothecaries brewed low-level potions, their success rates were naturally far higher than those of low-level apothecaries.