Above the mage!

Chapter 611 Forth County

Gao De examined the badge in his palm; it felt cool and smooth to the touch.

The badge has a rounded teardrop shape and a transparent ice blue background that shimmers in the sunlight.

The emblem features a simplified bas-relief of a holy light rune at its center.

The rune is crafted from warm, golden, shimmering crystal, with seven tiny, transparent rhinestones inlaid along its edges, like sunlight refracting on the sea.

Two silver-blue wave patterns are wrapped around the sides of the holy light rune, the patterns are smooth and natural.

Every ripple is sculpted so vividly that it seems ready to surge at any moment.

The back of the badge is engraved with the three ancient magical characters "Etherland".

The font is warm and graceful, and below it is a string of fine silver-blue runes that echo it, which is the unique certification mark of the Etherland Art Museum.

As you run your fingertips across the surface of the badge, you can feel a faint pulse of energy.

This is the emblem of the Etherland Academy.

After the French battle, Ella, though finding it hard to accept her defeat, kept her promise and gave him the badge.

According to her, this is the second badge issued by the Etherland Museum this year.

Perhaps several more Etherland Museum badges will be issued after this, but in her heart, the one given to God is the most valuable one, no matter what.

Before meeting Gaode, she never imagined that a second-ring mage could defeat her.

The truth is, within the mage's power system, achieving victory by defeating an inferior is indeed an extremely difficult, almost impossible, task.

Gao De's success stems from his well-rounded, flawless development: he excels in melee, ranged, and control combat; possesses a comprehensive repertoire of support, utility, and damage spells; cultivates various cultivation methods to complement each other; his mental strength rivals that of a mid-stage third-ring mage; and his adaptive abilities provide numerous physical bonuses.
So many extraordinary achievements have enabled him to effortlessly overcome his inferiors and achieve success.

But a second-ring mage like him, without exaggeration, would be hard to find another one in the entire plane, so he can't be used as an example.

Rumble!
The sudden, deep roar of the airship pulled Gao De back to reality.

This is because the airship encountered strong winds and increased its power output to maintain a stable flight path.

Gao De put the badge into his pocket, raised his hand to push aside the crystal panel of the porthole, and looked out the window.

The sea of ​​clouds, like combed cotton wool, flowed slowly to both sides, and the scenery below had already quietly changed.

The silver-white sand beaches and light blue sea of ​​the Coast of Light have disappeared, replaced by a sprawling golden bay.

That is the heart of Forthshire: Goldflow Bay.

Yes, God is currently aboard an airship bound for Forthshire.

This is his next stop.

God recalled the information about Forth County in his mind.

Fos County was the location of the southern coastal capital and its economy ranked first among the four southern coastal counties of the Plantagenet Dynasty.

This is because Forthshire has the most perfect natural deep-water harbor in the four southern counties, Goldflow Bay.

The coastline of Jinliu Bay is almost perfectly crescent-shaped.

The rocky outcrops extending on both sides, like the arms of giants, firmly block the raging winds and waves of the open sea, keeping the waters inside the bay as calm as a lake.

Based on this, the resourceful people of Forth built Forth County’s unique triple port system: outer harbor, middle harbor, and inner harbor.

The outer harbor is located at the entrance to the bay and is specifically for large ocean-going merchant ships to berth and unload cargo.

The two cities are connected by an artificial canal, which is filled with warehouses and exchanges.

The inner harbor is a still water harbor, reserved for small, fast boats and aristocratic yachts, and connects directly to the city's canal network.

From the air, the coastline extends inland with seven main canals and dozens of tributaries, forming a golden canal network that extends deep into the heart of the county, like the roots of a tree.

These canals are not only transportation routes, but also man-made networks that enrich the water element, providing a natural advantage for monks' spiritual practice.

Unlike Barrowshire, where Goad is located, Forthshire has very little temperature variation throughout the year and rarely experiences devastating storms or extreme weather.

This stable climate ensured year-round maritime trade and laid the foundation for Forth County to become the economic center of the four southern counties.

The most unique geographical wonder of Forthshire is the golden sand tide:
In the shallow waters of Forthshire, there are rare metal veins that release trace amounts of magical metal particles at certain tides, which are carried ashore by the tide, forming a golden wave.

These magical metal particles are natural enchanted ores. Although they are small and not suitable for crafting extraordinary equipment, they are still extraordinary materials and are quite valuable.

The early settlers of Forth County accumulated their first fortune thanks to the bounty of the "golden tides." They then transformed these resources into sustainable growth through long-term business planning and the training of spiritual masters.

They invested in the construction of canals, ports, and mage towers, funded promising young mages, and even signed trade agreements with other counties...

Ultimately, this transformed Forth County from a remote fishing village into a core city-state of significant economic importance among the thirteen counties of the Plantagenet dynasty.

Different environments create different cultures and values.

In stark contrast to Etherland’s culture of “healing dedication” and Byrne’s spirit of “adventure and exploration”, Forthshire’s cultural core is “value creation and the sanctity of contracts.”

In Forthshire, people believe that everything in the world has value, even magic and friendship can be measured and exchanged:

Spells can be priced according to their power, friendships can be solidified through contracts, and even time and opportunity can be precisely measured.

The merchants from Forthshire were extremely famous, even throughout the Plantagenet dynasty.

Who knows, the best merchants may not necessarily come from Fort Worth, but the merchants with the most foresight are certainly from Fort Worth.

They are willing to invest in projects or sorcerers that may not show results for a century.

It is this long-term vision that has allowed Forthshire to possess many incredible magical wonders.

However, for Gaode Maps, these are just background information.

What he really needed to care about was the mage system influenced by the culture of Forthshire:
The mainstream practice is based on water and metal elements.

The combat style is not about maximizing damage or getting the fastest excitement, but about achieving the highest spellcasting efficiency and the most stable control of the battlefield.

The combat pace is extremely slow, focusing on control and attrition, much like playing chess and proceeding cautiously step by step.

Their greatest strength lies in protective magic, which can even be considered their foundation.

They often master [Shield], [Spell Counter], and [Protective Energy] to an extreme degree, making them almost instinctive reactions. At the same time, they are familiar with the performance, effects, and power of various spells, so that they can accurately block key spell attacks.

In addition, most metal cultivation techniques provide additional bonuses to defensive spells such as [Shield Spell].

On the offensive side, they abandoned high-energy-consuming and high-risk burst spells, preferring spells like [Magic Missile] that deal stable damage and can interrupt the opponent's focus.

Gao De went through the characteristics of the wizards in Fort Worth County.

This is a group of mages with extremely strong defense, invincible in attrition warfare, rarely making mistakes, and being very cautious.

However, they often fear extremely high single-target burst damage that is unreasonable and unconventional spells that disrupt the rhythm.

The former can penetrate their layers of defense, while the latter can render their carefully planned tactics completely ineffective.

The latter is precisely where Gaode excels.

This is practically like walking into the line of fire.

After considering this, Gao De felt much more at ease and had already come up with a solution.

At this moment, the airship had entered the airspace above Goldstream, the county seat of Forth County, and its altitude was gradually decreasing.

Looking down, one can see that the architectural style of Cashflow City is very distinctive.

The vast majority of buildings use white marble as a base, with intricate gilded decorations inlaid on the exterior walls.

But this is not about flaunting wealth; it's about reflecting sunlight to illuminate the streets—an aesthetic unique to Forthshire's pragmatism.

Despite Forthshire's developed economy, buildings are generally short, with the tallest buildings not exceeding five stories.

This is not a technical limitation, but a strict regulation imposed by the local authorities:
To ensure that every canal receives sunlight, the height of all buildings must not exceed one-third of the width of the canal.

The buildings are constantly magnified in Gaode's view.

Finally, the low rumble inside the airship gradually subsided, receding slowly like the tide.

Instead, there was a soft clicking sound as the runes beneath the airship came into contact with the runic array on the airport ground.

The airship came to a complete stop at its designated berth at Goldflow Airport in Fort Worth, and the slight tremors inside the cabin disappeared.

A warm yet highly penetrating male voice resonated throughout the cabin via the amplifying crystal embedded in the ceiling:
"Dear passengers, your aircraft has safely arrived at the final destination of this journey: Golden Flow Airport. The airship will remain at its berth for half an hour. During this time, please take your personal belongings and magical items with you and disembark in an orderly manner."

Gao De stood up and walked towards the cabin door.

(End of this chapter)