Unknown Scroll

Putting down the letter Mage Seda had written long ago but never had the chance to send—and never would send—Gao De remained silent for a long time.

To the apprentices in the herb garden, Mage Seda had been an absolute "big villain," an evil man, an abuser.

But to Mage Seda himself, just like Gao De, he had merely been a "victim" struggling desperately to reunite with his wife and child.

And now, to Mage Seda's wife and child, Gao De had instead become the evil man.

Realizing this, Gao De's emotions became incomparably complicated.

Even though he knew perfectly well that if he had not resisted back then, he would be the one dead now.

This had been a situation where only one person could survive.

Gao De's resistance had been only natural and right; no one could find the slightest fault in it.

Yet after reading Mage Seda's letters home, Gao De still felt pity, still felt guilty toward that woman he had never met, who had waited bitterly in Bremen City for her husband to return for more than a decade.

It was something etched into his bones, not something that could be easily wiped away by a single transmigration.

After remaining silent for a long while, Gao De finally let out a long breath.

"I wasn't wrong to kill Mage Seda, and I wasn't wrong to feel reluctant. There's no conflict between the two."

He stopped agonizing over it.

Decisively, he picked up the last item taken from the wooden box.

A mysterious scroll resembling a Spell Scroll.

The scroll was made from fine animal parchment, its edges lavishly trimmed with gold foil.

At both ends of the scroll were two exquisite silver clasps, carved with intricate patterns.

A long, slender ribbon was tied between the clasps. It was a deep violet in color, embroidered with flowing designs in gold thread.

Gao De untied the ribbon and unfurled the scroll. A faint fragrance wafted toward him.

It was the scent of a preservative made from special herbs and magical materials, allowing the ink on the scroll to remain as vivid as ever despite the passage of time.

But Gao De did not recognize the writing on the scroll.

"It should be some kind of magical script."

Gao De examined it carefully before reaching that conclusion.

At the lower right corner of the magical script was an exquisite seal.

The seal was round. Its main image was a bird with spread wings, standing atop an open book.

The bird's feathers and the faint magical symbols on the book were rendered in lifelike detail, as if they were ready to leap from the seal and become real at any moment.

Above the bird was a tiny diamond-shaped emblem.

"I don't recognize it." Gao De studied it for a while, then confirmed that he had no idea where the seal came from.

"It's written in magical script, yet it isn't a Spell Scroll." He had checked it immediately. The magical script on the scroll contained no magical power; it was merely being used as ordinary writing.

"The scroll itself is so exquisite. It must have cost a fortune. Could it be a high-tier elixir formula?" Gao De guessed. "Or perhaps some kind of document? It even bears a special seal."

After studying it carefully for a while and finding nothing, Gao De finally stopped wasting his time.

At this point, all the inheritance Mage Seda had left behind had been inventoried:

One apprentice handbook.

Two cultivation methods.

Five spell formulas.

Two complete 0th Tier elixir formulas, and one incomplete 1st Tier elixir formula.

Twenty-one letters home.

One scroll of unknown origin and purpose.

And a full fifty Sien Gold Coins.

The sheer abundance of his haul made Gao De want to do a somersault on the spot.

After viciously pumping his fist to vent the excitement in his heart, Gao De opened his cabinet and hid the three elixir formulas inside.

They were treasures. Unlike spell formulas, they would not be difficult to sell. If necessary, he could sell them directly for a large sum of money.

The gold coins, meanwhile, would be best kept in the hidden compartment in his bedroom, so he could sleep soundly at night.

There was no need to be so careful with the apprentice handbook, the cultivation methods, and the twenty-one letters home. Gao De casually put them back in the wooden box.

As for the scroll of unknown origin and purpose, Gao De thought it over and decided it deserved at least some attention. In the end, he hid it deep inside the cabinet as well.

After dripping the last drop of green spider venom into the medicine bottle in his hand, the constantly churning liquid gradually settled.

Faintly, a grayish-green Magic Aura flashed through the liquid.

The potion was complete!

"Two gold coins in the bag!" Gao De skillfully divided the freshly brewed Novice Spider Venom potion from the large bottle into smaller portions.

Although he had just acquired the huge sum of fifty gold coins, it did not make him swell with arrogance and neglect his daily batch of Novice Spider Venom potion brewing.

One was a steady trickle; the other was a windfall, a one-shot deal.

Gao De could still tell the difference between them.

Windfalls did not come every day.

If he treated windfalls as regular income, or even deliberately pursued them while neglecting his proper "business," trouble would come sooner or later.

Besides, fifty gold coins might seem like a lot, but without a steady output, given the herb garden's increasingly high expenses, this so-called "huge sum" would be squandered within half a year.

"From now on, I can eat as much meat as I want and properly build up my body. I can also swap rye bread for Wheat Bread as my staple."

"Of course, only I can afford to be so extravagant. This is my private income, after all."

Gao De was not worried that eating alone would stir dissatisfaction among the other apprentices in the herb garden.

In truth, he had always had that right. It was only because he could not get past the hurdle in his own heart that he had kept eating and drinking the same things as the apprentices.

"Still, now that I have more money on hand, I can raise the standard of meals for the other apprentices in the herb garden too. There's no need to pinch pennies like before."

"Mm, I'll add one meat meal for everyone every two days. A pound of meat for seven people at one meal will be enough. At seven copper coins per pound, that's only an extra nine silver coins a month. I can accept that."

After calculating it in his head, Gao De made up his mind.

In just one month, he had brought everyone to a life where they could eat meat every other day.

Thinking of that, Gao De still felt rather pleased with himself.

"Pierre's reminder can't be forgotten either. I need to stockpile more food in the herb garden. If something really happens, whether we flee directly or use it as emergency rations, it never hurts to be prepared."

Whenever disaster struck, natural or man-made, food prices were bound to soar. That was common knowledge.

Today's work was finished.

After stretching lazily, Gao De eagerly pulled one formula from the five spell formulas on the table.

Flame Arrow (Evocation, 0th Circle).

"Good. Then it's you."

Gao De had a deep impression of Flame Arrow.

It was the spell Mage Seda had used to kill the invading Leyline Wolf Rats in the herb garden, and it was also the spell that had sent him down the road to his own doom.

Its power spoke for itself.

At least among cantrips, Gao De believed Flame Arrow definitely ranked among the strongest in terms of destructive force, surpassing his Acid Splash.

After all, Introduction to Spells had also said: among the spells of all schools, Evocation spells possessed the greatest destructive power.