Patrol Mission

The woman in leather armor was named Katerina, an Intermediate Peak Assassin who indeed graduated from the Imperial Magic and Martial Arts School, five or six years ahead of Jialan.

After handing the Nishang Grass to Jialan, she left in a hurry, as if on a mission. Before leaving, she only said, "I'll personally come to the military camp to collect the medicine in a while."

After she left, Jialan asked the plump Tavern Owner and learned the whole story.

It turned out that after Jialan's Mental Power was depleted and he entered deep meditation, the Tavern Owner, to be safe, personally went into the cave to collect that Nishang Grass. By the time he arrived, the Nishang Grass had already vanished. The Tavern Owner was greatly alarmed and searched everywhere but found no trace.

When he came out of the cave, he discovered someone else had arrived. Within a few moves, that person had rendered Ike and the other person completely unable to fight back, easily approaching Jialan. Everyone feared she would harm Jialan, who was still in deep meditation, and dared not act rashly until Jialan woke up.

In the end, the Tavern Owner gave the large Ice Leopard to Jialan as compensation, keeping only the smaller Ice Leopard to complete his mission. He even personally escorted Jialan back to the military camp.

This time, if it weren't for Jialan, a Spellcaster, the entire mercenary team might have been wiped out. In the future, they might still have to rely on this young Mage. Opportunities to build a good relationship are rare.

From the corpse of the large Ice Leopard, Jialan only took the Magic Crystal and some soft fur from its abdomen, which could be used to process into blank Scrolls.

He had originally wanted some blood to make ink. After all, this Ice Leopard was an Ice Element Intermediate Rank Magic Beast, and ink made from its blood would be very effective for crafting Ice Element Magic Scrolls. Unfortunately, too much time had passed, and the blood had already frozen, rendering it useless. The rest was given to Ike and the other person.

Ike and the other person felt they didn't deserve it, as they hadn't contributed much and had even put Jialan in danger, using up an extremely precious Magic Scroll.

It was only after Jialan's repeated insistence that they accepted. This was a considerable fortune. Although the most valuable Magic Crystal was gone, the remaining fur, fangs, and claws were all very valuable, equivalent to the two of them's annual salary, making the surrounding Soldiers envious.

Unlike the former resident Mages here, who were always aloof and looked at them as if they were inferior beings.

Although this Mage Jialan also maintained an unapproachable demeanor, he at least treated them like people. In the year he had been here, he had always provided some reward for any task they helped him with.

This was a reward from the Lord Mage, and it brought great prestige when bragging to companions. Moreover, he would cast spells to help the Physician treat severely injured Soldiers. Poor old Henry, if it weren't for Mage Jialan's help last time, he might have already returned to the embrace of the true God.

After returning to the small wooden house, Jialan rested for half a day before beginning to prepare the Nishang Potion. The ingredients had already been gathered in town when he returned.

Refining the Nishang Potion was not difficult for him, mainly because its main ingredient, Nishang Grass, was too rare.

In less than half a day, four vials of potion were neatly arranged on Jialan's desk, shimmering with radiance and looking very beautiful.

Nishang Potion is very helpful for the promotion of professionals below the high-level, increasing the chance of advancement by one to two percent. However, each person can only take it once in their lifetime; taking more has no effect. But this was enough to make many low-level professionals flock to it.

Another seven or eight days passed in the blink of an eye, and Jialan's border patrol mission began. The primary task of this unit of over a hundred people stationed here was to patrol the border. The entire unit was divided into three small teams, each with over thirty people.

At the beginning of each month, the first team would set out. After half a month of patrolling, they would return to the base in the middle of the month. Then, the second team would depart and return at the end of the month. At the beginning of the next month, the third team would set out...

And so on, one of the three teams was always out on patrol. The resident Mage only needed to accompany them on patrol for half a month each round.

Jialan actually disliked patrol missions because they delayed his cultivation time. However, Spellcasters had priority selection rights for the team's spoils of war. Every time they went out, they would gain something, which was better than nothing.

During each patrol, the Spellcaster's task was not easy. They not only had to deal with Magic Beasts that ordinary Soldiers couldn't handle but also had to map geographical changes along the route, record the migration routes of Magic Beasts and wild beasts, the distribution of herbs and minerals, and any signs of enemy invasion, among many other things.

After a thorough inspection, the team, consisting of one Mage, one Blacksmith, one Physician, and over thirty Soldiers, began to advance into the Misty Forest...

The sturdy leather boots made crunching sounds on the thick snow. The group spoke little along the way, perhaps because they were about to face unknown dangers.

The captain leading this patrol was named John Marcus, arguably the person Jialan was most familiar with at the border camp.

He was twenty-six or twenty-seven years old and the eldest son of a minor noble family. When he was young, Old Marcus had desperately wanted to train him into a noble Knight and sent him to the best local Church for Knight training.

However, the young John was too restless and couldn't tolerate the strict discipline of a Knight. He secretly ran away and transferred to become a Warrior, which infuriated Old Marcus, who then kicked him out.

Arrogant and proud, John then joined the army, vowing to make a name for himself and return home in glory.

Now, whenever John thought about this, he wanted to slap himself hard. If he had listened to his father back then, he wouldn't be stuck in this freezing, desolate place. He should be a noble Lord Knight now, or at the very least, a respected Baron in the countryside.

The Blacksmith in the team was a taciturn person who only knew how to forge iron. Jialan didn't know much about him. As for the Physician, he had a very common name, Jack.

He was a lively and talkative young man, only a few years older than Jialan, and came from a family of Physicians.

This world had Priests, and some High Priests even possessed the ability to save a patient as long as they had a breath left. However, this did not affect the status of Physicians at all, as most people couldn't afford a Priest, even an apprentice.

There were no Priests at the outpost where Jialan was stationed. Jack had volunteered to come to this border outpost, saying that there were many battles on the frontier, requiring more Physicians, and that by staying here, he could interact with more patients, which would greatly help improve his medical skills.

Jack was always curious about Jialan, yet also a little fearful, often stealing glances at him. Jialan found it amusing and pretended to be oblivious.