Above the mage!

Chapter 504 The Real and Fake Gaode
In the thick twilight, on the northwestern edge of Ash Isle.

The sea breeze whistled through the cracks in the rocks, silencing all other subtle sounds.

Just then, from beneath a cliff face, a ripple-like wave appeared, and then a dozen black figures emerged silently from the shadows.

They were all dressed in tight-fitting leather armor that allowed for easy movement, and it was also engraved with sound-absorbing compound runes.

The leader was tall and thin. He scanned his surroundings warily and said in a low, urgent voice, "The bounty hunters who will be changing shifts will be in place soon. Time is limited, so I won't waste any more words. Proceed according to the original plan."

"Understood!"

Immediately, the dozen or so figures scattered in different directions, each choosing a different path. However, they all moved extremely fast and stealthily, without making a sound.

They were all pirate mages from the Bloodsail Pirates.

Over the course of three days, they used Eagle Eye to remotely monitor the bounty hunters on Ash Isle, detecting their exact locations, patrol routes, and shift change times.

This was how they managed to find what could hardly be called a vulnerability within the tight defense network.

They were fully aware that landing on the island for reconnaissance was an extremely dangerous undertaking, essentially risking their lives to obtain information.

But they still came without hesitation.

They've long been used to not being treated like human beings.

Or rather, this is the survival strategy of all the pirate mages in the Bloodsail Pirates except for Davy Jones.

They could either defy Davy Jones's orders and become his bone sculptures, only to be tortured to death.

Or they would either obey Davy Jones's orders and risk their lives for him.

If successful, he would receive an astonishingly generous reward from Davy Jones—in which Davy Jones was more generous than most people.

Thanks to the terrifying punishments and astonishing rewards, as well as his unparalleled mage power over the Blue Flame Islands, Davy Jones has been able to maintain a firm grip on the Bloodsail Pirates, a group of unruly "bad seeds."

Bain, the leading mage in this island reconnaissance mission.

His right eye did not have a pupil, but instead had a prosthetic eye with a pale purple halo, hence he was also known as One-Eyed Bane.

At this moment, he was crawling behind a black rock, his body shimmering with magical light—the effect of a petrification spell.

Under the cover of the black stone and magic, Bain minimized his presence and cautiously observed the blue flame zone ahead.

Passing through layers of leaping blue flames, a figure came into view.

He was walking through the Blue Flame, his movements as natural as if he were strolling leisurely, heading towards the safe zone.

As the other person drew closer, an incredibly familiar face appeared before Bane.

Bain had memorized this face before even landing on the island.

It was the key figure David Jones wanted them to investigate on the island: the sorcerer Godd from the Plantagenet dynasty.

A moment later, "Gaode" had left the blue flame area and entered the safe zone.

He looked up and around, revealing skin that was slightly bluish from the blue flames, and his robe was stained with some dust.

At that moment, another figure flew in from a distance and slowly landed in front of "Gaode".

The newcomer was tall and upright, with sharp, eagle-like eyes and the vigilance characteristic of a bounty hunter.

"How's it going? Any results?" He asked, his gaze falling on "Gaode".

“No, that’s all we found.” “Gao De” shook his head helplessly and took out a worn-out dagger from his pocket, handing it to the other person.

"This is the Blackwing Gang's mark, and it seems to be a relic of one of the Blackwing Gang's elite mages from back then."

The other party took the dagger and examined it carefully for a while. He found that the blade was covered with rust, but he could clearly see the black wing emblem engraved near the handguard, and made a judgment.

“It’s alright, don’t rush, take your time,” he said, putting the dagger into the leather pouch at his waist. He patted “Gao De” on the shoulder with a loud thud, and then comforted “Gao De”, saying, “Since you can find these, that thing will definitely be no problem either. As long as you search the entire Ash Island, I don’t believe you still can’t find it.”

"Gaode" nodded in agreement, looked up at the direction where the blue flames were most concentrated deep in the island, and a hint of determination flashed in his eyes: "I understand. Next, I will try to go deeper into the core area. The concentration of blue flames is higher there, and perhaps we can find something more valuable."

Bane, hiding behind the black rock, held his breath and stared wide-eyed.

Given his distance from the two people, he couldn't actually hear their conversation.

But he could see their lips moving—for someone like him who lived on the edge, lip reading was a very basic skill.

Therefore, Bain was also able to "see" the specific content of their conversation with a fairly good grasp.

At that moment, his heart pounded wildly; this was exactly the intelligence that Davy Jones wanted most!

You will receive a generous reward simply for bringing this message back.

However, years of adventuring experience have made Bain less likely to believe what he sees.

Because what you see is not necessarily the truth; it could be a carefully designed trap.

Putting aside other things, the most common illusion spells can completely create a false illusion to deceive everyone.

Bane manipulated the prosthetic eye in his right eye to focus.

Runes appeared on the surface of the prosthetic eye, circulating rapidly.

This is not only a prosthetic eye, but also a piece of extraordinary equipment with [Advanced Detection Magic], possessing extremely strong detection magic aura capabilities.

Bain's perspective changed.

He saw a layer of blue magical aura around Gaode.

This is a powerful protective spell aura. Could it be that the reason this person can move freely in the blue flames is because of some kind of protective spell?

Bain frowned slightly, quickly calculating in his mind.

Impossible. All known spells of the fifth ring and below are useless against Blue Flame.
Unless this person's protective spells have a different explanation, such as being enhanced by a certain feat, or being special protective spells derived directly from a feat.

Just as Bain was thinking quickly, a sudden gunshot rang out like a thunderclap over the silent island!

The sharp whistling of the magic bullets tearing through the air was particularly piercing, followed by the deafening roar of the spell explosion.

This seemed to trigger some kind of chain reaction.

Within a very short time, the gunfire intensified, with dense gunfire and magical explosions rising and falling in waves.

The instant the gunshot rang out, "Gao De" and the burly mage exchanged a glance, and then immediately flew towards the direction from which the gunshot had come.

"We've been discovered!" Bain's heart clenched suddenly as he immediately realized what had happened.

This was a scenario he had anticipated.

Because the safe zone on Ash Isle is so limited, it is very inconvenient to move around or hide.

Sarah's bounty hunters were familiar with the terrain, so even if they were careful, they would still likely be discovered.

"We must evacuate immediately!" He made the decision without hesitation, disregarding everything else.

Sarah's men would immediately seal off all exits of the island upon discovering the intruder, effectively trapping him. However, there was a brief window of time between the alarm sounding and the encirclement being formed, which was his only chance to escape.

If we don't seize this opportunity to evacuate quickly, once the encirclement is fully formed, we will truly have no chance of escape.

As someone who managed to rise to the position of leader in the Bloodsail Pirates, Baine's cunning and scheming far surpassed that of ordinary mages.

He instantly assessed the situation, and his body darted out of his hiding place like a raccoon dog, fleeing towards the northwest cliff in the opposite direction of the gunfire.

He did not choose to fly, because flying would be too conspicuous on the barren Ash Isle.

The other Bloodsail Pirate mages on the island were also quite quick-witted, reacting to the gunshots and magical explosions.

They might react a little slower than Bain, but they still made the right judgment and chose to evacuate immediately.

However, their reaction speed and escape speed were clearly inferior to Bane's.

Bain had been running at full speed for less than three minutes when he suddenly heard a whooshing sound behind him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw two bounty hunters flying in the sky, heading in the direction he had fled.

Bain's expression changed slightly, realizing that the situation had become serious.

However, there is still a chance. At least the people chasing after them are just Sarah's bounty hunters, not Sarah herself.

Inside the safe zone on Ash Island, Gao De was completely unaware of everything happening in the safe zone outside the island.

Firstly, he was already deep in the heart of Ash Island, far from the outer battlefield, making it difficult for the sounds of fierce fighting to reach him.

Secondly, he was enduring pain from the depths of his soul, and under this extreme pain, his perception of the outside world had already dropped to the minimum.

It turns out that with anything, even pain, as long as there is clear and timely positive feedback, a person's endurance can be raised to a level that is hard to predict.

Gaode's understanding of this point is deeper than anyone else's.

His "adaptive" ability is essentially a "masochistic" talent, breaking through his own limits by enduring all kinds of pain, thereby achieving all-round improvement.

Where in the world are there born masochists?
Gao De is by no means a "psychopath," but the idea that being abused makes him stronger has indeed made him enjoy being abused and he has already begun to get used to this feeling.

Moreover, while his body was gradually adapting to the blue flames, Gao De's mind was also gradually adapting to this pain, or rather, becoming numb.

When he first touched the blue flames deep within the heart of the land, he trembled all over, and his facial features were distorted.

But now, the pain hasn't lessened at all; in fact, it's even worse than before. However, his condition is much better. He's not exactly expressionless, but at least he's no longer contorted in pain.

Each encounter with the Blue Flame brings a dual boost to the Blue Flame's energy tolerance and mental injury recovery ability.

However, the two are not progressing in tandem.

The former is progressing much faster than the latter, with the gap widening by more than double.

When the Blue Flame Energy Tolerance has increased to over 90%, the Mental Injury Recovery Ability has only barely reached 40%.

Based on Gaode's experience and understanding, this situation should be due to the fact that the improvement of Blue Flame's energy tolerance belongs to the special branch of "Adaptive" and is only applicable to Blue Flame.

The final evolution should be like the [Ninja Body], gaining certain abilities with specific limitations that cannot be used universally, with no room for further improvement.

The ability to recover from mental injuries is a major aspect.

The final evolved physique will be like the [Primary Healing Body], with room for further growth, broad potential and wide applicability, and can be used to deal with mental damage caused by various reasons, so the improvement will be relatively slower.

The excruciating pain of the blue flames burning his soul reduced his perception of the outside world to an extreme, but it also made him more focused than ever before, leaving him with only the endless cycle of pain and growth.

He has now entered the core blue flame region.

The blue flames enveloped him, and the pain was still intense, even more so than ever before, yet his eyes remained unusually calm.

[Blue Flame Energy Tolerance Increased to 90.1% 90.3% Mental Injury Recovery Ability]

thump!
As dusk fell, on a stretch of sea, a figure emerged from the water with a splash.

The waves rolled around him, outlining his body covered in wounds.

His distinctive right eye, glowing with a purple light, revealed his identity as Bane, the one-eyed survivor of Ash Isle.

He was panting heavily, hissing and gasping for breath.

The salty seawater choked him, triggering a violent cough, and the saliva he coughed up was mixed with dark red blood.

Bain touched the wound below his chest with lingering fear. The flesh there had been torn open by the magic bullet, leaving a gruesome gash with scorch marks from the burning magic still visible at the edges.

Just a little higher, and the magic bullet would have hit his heart. It was truly a life-or-death situation, and the memory still sends chills down his spine.

Fortunately, he murmured to himself that he was glad he had been decisive enough to choose to evacuate immediately, which allowed him to escape Ash Island before the encirclement was formed.

However, the pursuit by bounty hunters still cost Bane an extremely heavy price.

If it weren't for the [Deepsea Master] feat he awakened when he advanced to the second-circle mage, which allowed him to dive to depths that ordinary people could hardly reach, move at a speed far exceeding that of ordinary people in the sea, and not need to breathe for a long time, he might not have been able to shake off that group of bounty hunters.

Even so, Bain nearly fainted several times due to his injuries, only managing to hold on by sheer will to live.

He floated on the sea, looked around, and after seeing something, he quickly confirmed his location and direction, and then dived back into the water.

Another half hour later.

On the desolate shore of another half-burnt island, a hunting boat is moored, its faint lights flickering.

Wow!

Bain's figure emerged from the seawater and floated on the surface.

His lips were turning purple, and he was already losing consciousness.

"It's Bane!" The lookout on the deck of the hunting ship spotted him first and shouted.

Immediately, mages flew out from the ship, scooped up Baine, and brought him back to the hunting ship.

When Bain regained consciousness, he was lying in a cabin on the hunting ship.

The cabin was dimly lit, with only the magic lamp in the corner emitting a faint orange glow.

"Awake?" A hoarse, deep voice suddenly rang out in the cabin, startling Bain so much that he froze.

He turned his neck with difficulty and saw a tall figure sitting on a chair in the shadows of the cabin.

"What's going on?" The tall figure's voice was completely flat, yet it filled Bain with genuine awe and fear. "Tell me everything, without missing a single detail."

“Boss.” Bain’s heart tightened, and he struggled to sit up, but David raised his hand to stop him.

"You can talk while lying down."

Bain dared not disobey David's wishes. He licked his chapped lips, composed himself, and slowly said, "I saw that foreign mage from the Plantagenet Dynasty with my own eyes."

(End of this chapter)