Above the mage!

Chapter 603 Home Field Battle
In Elphs's judgment, to truly be of help and venture deep into the Pale Water Sea, one would need to be at least a fourth-ring mage, and even with the Cold Resistance feat, a third-ring mage level would be barely sufficient.

Her judgment was actually accurate.

But Gaode is an anomaly that cannot be judged by common sense.

“Warrant Officer Mage, although my mage rank is low, my cold resistance specialty is extremely powerful, far exceeding your expectations. It should be able to be of some help.”

Despite Elphs's attempt to dissuade him, God remained calm and spoke firmly.

“I hope you’ll reconsider. Even if you’re just showing off, it won’t have a big impact on us. The real impact will be on you.” Elphs stared sharply at the rather young Gao De.

She was already an extremely young elite mage among the Lightforged.

But compared to itself, Gaode is clearly much younger.

This made it hard for Elphs to believe that the other party could shoulder such an important task.

Moreover, a second-ring mage of this age is a rare talent, and she was unwilling to see him take unnecessary risks.

“You don’t need to worry about that,” Gao De thought for a moment, and to avoid unnecessary trouble and gain trust, he took out his Sea Sentinel badge. “I am also a military mage, and my assessment of my own strength is not too far off.”

"You're actually a Sea Sentinel Mage?" Seeing the Sea Sentinel nameplate that Gaode had taken out, Elphs finally stopped trying to dissuade her.

The reason is simple: the Sea Sentinels and the Lightforged are both elite military mage organizations of the Plantagenet Dynasty, and their members, in terms of both ability and character, are far superior to ordinary mages.

They possess battlefield judgment far exceeding that of ordinary mages and would never easily make decisions that overestimate their abilities.

With this identity as a guarantee, most of the doubts in Elphs' eyes finally dissipated, and she began to believe that Gaode's cold resistance expertise might really be exceptionally powerful.

"Since you're a fellow sea sentinel, why don't you give it a try? What's your name?" She nodded, her tone softening considerably.

"Gaode".

Elphs inquired about Gaode's basic information, quickly filled it out in the register, and then said:

"You've registered. Come with me. We'll discuss the specific reasons for the crisis as we walk. You need to know the following information in advance so you can determine whether you can take on the task."

She led Gao De toward the sea shrouded in gray-white mist.

The sea breeze, carrying an increasingly heavy and chilly atmosphere, swept over us.

Elphs instinctively cast [Endure the Environment] and turned to look at Gaudre beside her.

However, they discovered that the other party showed no signs of using any magic power; he simply walked along calmly.

It was as if the sea breeze, which was nearly ten degrees below zero, was just an ordinary spring breeze.

She became even more convinced of Gaode's strong expertise in cold resistance.

While nodding inwardly, she began to explain the detailed origins of the Pale Water Bloom to Gao De:
"You should know that the Purification of the Sea Festival in Etherland is not essentially a blessing ceremony, but a large-scale energy purification, which is precisely the purification of the Dark Cold Current."

"The source of this cold wave is not naturally formed, but comes from a dark whale in the deep sea."

“The deep-sea trench off the coast of our Etherland County is the only known migration route and final graveyard of the giant marine mammal, the ‘Ghost Whale,’ in the world today.”

"The grizzly is a gentle giant marine mammal with a lifespan of over a thousand years. It lives in the deep sea at depths of over a thousand meters, so few humans have ever seen it."

"The most special thing about the ghost whale is that it contains an extremely large, gentle and unique life energy."

"The reason it is unique is because the life energy of the ghost whale is dark and cold, yet full of vitality."

"This contradictory attribute is basically not seen in other organisms."

"But this vitality only exists while the ghost whale is alive."

Elphs's voice lowered a bit, "Once the Dark Whale dies, this life energy will be gradually released as its flesh and bones are decomposed and devoured by the deep sea. And because of the Dark Whale's death, it loses its vitality and is left with only darkness and coldness."

"After this dark and cold life energy is released, it will spread along the ocean currents, eroding the marine ecosystem along the way, causing the death of organisms and the bleaching of corals. This is the origin of the Dark Cold Current."

"The early inhabitants of Etherland spent hundreds of years researching and discovered that the element of light could purify these dark, cold currents."

Therefore, they built a vast network of lighthouses along the coastline, releasing light at the most suitable time of year to thoroughly purify the dark, cold currents that had accumulated throughout the year.

"Over time, it gradually evolved into today's Clean Sea Festival."

Elphs changed the subject: "However, when the Ghost Whale is alive, it will continuously release trace amounts of life energy to nourish marine plants and animals, and even nurture rare marine magical plants."

Therefore, the marine ecosystems of their habitats are improved, which is one of the important reasons for the abundant resources off the coast of Etherland.

"As for the dark, cold currents released by their deaths, although they will corrode the marine environment, they can ultimately be purified by light elements, so they are not unacceptable."

She concluded, "Therefore, for us, the existence of the Ghost Whale is far more beneficial than harmful."

"In addition, they are gentle by nature. Even when they encounter human ships, they will just quietly go around them and never attack them. Naturally, we have never thought of driving them away or exterminating them."

At this point, a hint of seriousness flashed in her eyes, and she added, "Besides that, there is another very important point: the body of the ghost whale secretes a special kind of oil."

"This oil is not ordinary whale oil, but a mucus-like substance secreted by glands in the body of the whale after it has swallowed a special deep-sea creature."

"These substances will precipitate and ferment in the intestines of the whale, and it will take more than a hundred years before they are excreted with feces."

"And in the high-pressure, low-temperature environment of the deep sea, this mucus will slowly solidify into lumps, forming unique treasures," Elphs explained in detail.

"They are easy to identify by their appearance. They are waxy solids with silvery-white spiral patterns. They feel warm to the touch and are not cold to the touch. They also emit a faint, cool fragrance, like the scent of a pine forest after a snowfall. We call it condensed fragrance."

"The value of the Cold Frost Incense is extremely high. It is the core raw material of the Cold Whale Potion, a third-tier potion for upgrading magic in this county. In addition, if it is burned as incense, it can also help mages recover from mental damage and improve the efficiency of constructing spell models."

"What's even more remarkable is that the Cold Fragrance only forms when the Whale excretes naturally or falls to the ground. If it is forcibly hunted, the glands inside the Whale will shrink instantly, and not even a drop of oil can be obtained." "Therefore, the mages of this county regard the Whale as a treasure. Not to mention hunting them, they will even take the initiative to protect them and strictly prohibit any mage from poaching them."

She sighed and continued, "And the appearance of the Pale Water Bloom this time is closely related to the Ghost Whale."

"About a year ago, an extremely ancient and enormous whale king, whose body was comparable to a small island, wanted to migrate to the trench to die of old age."

"But it perished prematurely on a ridge near the reef area before reaching the 'graveyard'."

"This kind of thing is very rare."

“Whale falls are part of the natural cycle. Even if it is a king whale, if it falls in the deep sea, the energy it releases will be gradually diluted and dissipated by ocean currents, and its impact on the sea area will be limited.”

Elphs frowned slightly: "But the problem is that it fell in the wrong place."

"This means that the whale fall did not occur in the deep trenches where energy is easily dissipated, but in the relatively shallow, hydrologically complex mid-ocean ridge region."

"The life energy accumulated in this whale king is dozens or even hundreds of times greater than that of its kind."

"In addition, due to the unsuitable location, during the process of its flesh and bones being decomposed and devoured by the deep sea, a huge amount of life energy is released in an abnormally concentrated manner, which cannot be evenly distributed as in the deep sea, but can only accumulate continuously in the mid-ocean ridge area."

Elphs's voice grew increasingly solemn: "And coincidentally, there is a faint underwater volcanic fissure just below the ridge where the Dark Whale King fell."

"This fissure inadvertently drew the dark energy released by the whale fall into its interior. Under the combined effects of high temperature and high pressure, the density of the dark energy was purified, transforming it into a highly corrosive dark flow that remained dormant."

"Until the Ocean Cleansing Festival, we released a huge amount of light elements through the lighthouse, hoping to purify the ordinary dark cold current as in previous years."

"Unexpectedly, these light elements acted as a fuse, instantly stimulating the concentrated dark currents that had accumulated in the rift."

"All the life energy released by this whale king surged out and merged with the massive amount of purifying light energy released by the lighthouse during the festival in a specific area. With such multiple unexpected events combined, this unprecedented pale algal bloom was formed."

"Like bloodsuckers, they continuously absorb the surrounding light elements and the life force in the seawater to grow stronger, while releasing distorted energy pollution, turning this sea area into a dead zone."

"The most urgent task at present is to contain the spread and eliminate the pale algal bloom."

This is being overseen by our High Ring Masters and Chief Master of the Lightforged; they are using special methods to channel the chaotic energy of the Pale Bloom into the deep-sea trenches, allowing it to dissipate naturally in the depths.

"This process is extremely dangerous and cannot tolerate any interference."

As they talked, the two reached the coastline. The cold sea breeze, carrying an even more chilling atmosphere, rushed towards them, causing Elphs to instinctively wrap her uniform tighter.

"And what you need to do is clean up the condensed fragrance deposits." She took a deep breath of the cold air, her gaze fixed on the slowly rippling sea surface, resembling a giant, pale scar, and continued:

"After the Ghost Whale King perished, it formed a large amount of condensed fragrance."

"These were originally rare treasures, but now they are enveloped in an out-of-control pale water bloom energy field. Not only is their own energy polluted and unusable, but they have also become extremely dangerous sources of pollution and energy crystals."

Once subjected to strong external energy stimulation, it could trigger an uncontrollable explosion.

"This will not only affect the removal of algal blooms, but also cause huge damage to the marine ecosystem."

"The process of directing the energy of pale algal blooms to deep-sea trenches is inevitably accompanied by drastic energy changes."

Therefore, we must clean out all the contaminated condensed incense from the Pale Bloom as soon as possible. Elphs' tone became increasingly serious.

"This is not an easy task."

She explained in detail, "The area where the Pale Water Bloom is located has a frighteningly low temperature due to the cold properties of the Dark Energy, combined with the strange heat absorption effect formed by the mixed energy. Even a third-ring mage cannot withstand such a low temperature when casting Endurance."

"In addition, the seawater in the Pale Alpine Bloom area is extremely viscous, like a mixture of mud and oil, which greatly restricts movement."

Moreover, it was pitch black inside, and lighting spells couldn't be cast there because it contained light elements.

"Therefore, it is extremely difficult to find the dispersed condensed fragrance within it."

“Finally, there’s the reward,” she said, softening her tone. “After the mission is completed, the reward will be calculated based on the number of condensed incense pieces you’ve collected.”

Having explained the origins of the Pale Waterfall, the core objectives of the mission, and the dangers, Elphs spread her hands, looked directly at God, and confirmed once again:

"Now that you understand the whole situation—the environment is extremely harsh and fraught with danger—do you still think you are capable of handling this mission?"

"He's not just competent, this is clearly a task tailor-made for him," Gao De thought to himself.

He is protected by a mid-level ice-protected body and has adaptive abilities to cope with extreme cold.

As for the difficulty of finding the Cold Fragrance in the Pale Water... his Water-Net Body allows him to see the lines on his palm in the underwater environment as if they were lines on his palm, ignoring darkness and turbidity, and greatly reducing resistance when moving in the water.

"I am a sea sentinel mage, with excellent swimming skills, and coupled with my cold resistance expertise, I should have no problem coping with this environment." However, the humility he had cultivated in his previous life made Gao De, who was secretly pleased, choose to respond modestly.

Having said all that, Elphs had no further reason to dissuade her.

She could only nod, take out a bottle of medicine from her waist and hand it over, instructing, "This is a high-level cold-resistance medicine, which can improve your body's cold resistance to a certain extent. Be careful when moving around, and if you feel unwell, retreat immediately. Don't push yourself."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Gao De said, taking the potion.

Instead of taking the potion, he walked to the edge of the coastline and activated the spell model of [Ocean Touch+].

After imbuing the spell with its power, he removed his outer garments and leaped into the icy seawater like a nimble fish.
Elphs, who had witnessed this scene, was left on the shore, somewhat dazed, filled with doubt: "Could his cold resistance really be so powerful that he doesn't need to drink cold resistance potions, or even [Environmental Tolerance]?"

The moment Gao De entered the seawater, he felt a chill far exceeding his expectations creeping up his skin.

However, for him, this level of chill was basically no different from a tickle, and it had no effect on him whatsoever.

So, he only looked up to determine the direction before immediately adjusting his posture and swimming non-stop toward the area covered by pale algae.

(End of this chapter)