Mercenary Wars

Chapter 73 Array Master

While his teammates thanked Gao Jiano for his generosity, they also gained a new understanding of his abilities.

During the defense of Prestoburg, Gaugano merely stood on the city wall providing ranged support to the squad, so they lacked a direct understanding of Gaugano's combat capabilities.

Only now, after Gao Jiano decisively killed the level three magical beast owl, did everyone realize with surprise that this apothecary and archer also possessed considerable melee skills and unpredictable wind magic.

John couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you a hunter? How come your swordsmanship is so good?"

“The instructor did a good job,” Gao Jiano smiled. “Besides, who says hunters can’t be good at melee weapons?”

John pondered for a moment: "I don't recall ever hearing of any hunter who is skilled in melee weapons."

Ryan then said, "Regnus is good at melee combat. This kind of hunter is usually called a 'survival specialist hunter.' They are not very common, but there are some."

John was taken aback: "Regnus is a hunter?"

Ryan chuckled, “Of course, haven’t you heard of his popular trap lectures?”

Then he changed the subject and looked at Gao Jiano: "The third-level assessment of the professional guild usually includes a specialization assessment. Do you plan to study the hunter's survival specialization in the future?"

"Perhaps, I'm still considering it." Gao Jiano remained noncommittal. In fact, he hadn't even decided on a specialization, let alone a primary career.

Historically, being a hunter, or rather an archer, has not been a very promising profession. Most of the renowned and powerful figures used melee weapons.

Gao Jiano felt that once he returned to Southsea Town, he should properly plan his combat profession.

Several hours later, everyone returned to the camp to rest.

The cleared area of ​​the camp was piled with the fruits of the clearing, and among them, the corpses of two cannibals caught their attention.

Ogres are a savage and powerful race, less intelligent than humans but more intelligent than goblins. They are typically enormous in size and have a brutal fighting style.

Of course, their eating habits are equally brutal. Trolls at least have some sense of cooking, while ogres sometimes even eat living people. In the eyes of ogres, the trolls' way of eating people is nothing more than elaborate rituals, and as for the blood elves' style of "fine wine and delicacies," it is even more effeminate.

Therefore, although there are quite a few alien races that practice cannibalism, the title "cannibal" is undoubtedly attached to them.

This time, however, the two cannibals not only failed to eat people, but instead became food themselves, being devoured by Little Black.

The black bear was clearly very satisfied with the plentiful food and quickly devoured the two cannibal corpses, leaving hardly any bones behind.

The ripped-torn cannibal corpse reeked of blood.

However, large areas of trees had already been felled, and the timber was used either for building houses or for campfires at night. Combined with the cleared weeds, the rich smell of grass and soil filled the air, diluting the stench of blood.

In addition, after a day of cleanup, dozens of wild beasts were turned into food for the Gray Eagle mercenaries, and several magical beasts were cut into pieces.

As a result, a brief and miniature market for trading monster materials appeared in the camp.

Gaugano also made quite a few deals in this.

He mainly bought monster blood; he bought at least one bottle of every kind of monster blood.

He was careful when buying monster blood in Southsea Town, always worried about attracting unnecessary attention, but here everyone was from mercenary groups, so he was naturally less concerned.

He sold most of the level-three owl's carcass, keeping only the blood, crystal core fragments, and feathers. The blood's uses were obvious, and the feathers could be used to make arrow fletchings. Dariss had suggested he keep the crystal core fragments.

He also followed Dariss's advice and spent twenty silver coins to buy a fire-type crystal core fragment.

Back in the tent, Gao Jiano couldn't help but ask, "Why did you buy this fire-element crystal core fragment?"

"Of course, it's to hatch owl eggs." Darius held the owl eggs, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "You just gave those three eggs to someone else. What if this egg doesn't hatch into a magical beast owl?"

Gao Jiano smiled slightly: "I have special identification skills. Don't worry, this egg will definitely hatch into a magical beast owl."

Darlis's face flashed with surprise, then she said, "Alright. I need to draw a special magic rune on this egg so it can hatch on its own by absorbing the energy of the crystal core. Now we have the crystal core fragments, but we're missing the magic rune ink... But you're an apothecary, right?"

Gao Jiano pondered for a moment and said, "I don't have any magic rune ink on hand, but I can make some now. Would one bottle be enough?"

Daryls nodded.

Gaucano then used the monster blood he had just bought to make a bottle of magic rune ink.

Then Daryls used the ink to begin drawing magic patterns on the owl eggs.

Gao Jiano didn't understand magic runes, but he had observed Marcus's work several times, so he had some knowledge. He quickly noticed that the magic runes drawn by Daris were significantly more "beautiful" than those drawn by Marcus.

After careful observation, he realized that the so-called "beauty" mainly refers to the smoothness of the lines.

As a professional rune artist, Marcus's line drawing was already quite smooth. Even so, when Gaucano saw the lines drawn by Daris, he could still feel a significant difference.

"Are you a magic rune master?" He couldn't help but ask, looking at the focused girl.

“Pretty much.” Dariss said as she drew the magic runes. “The more precise term is ‘array master.’ A sacred title has given me a sensitivity to patterns and lines, so I’m quite good at it.”

Gao Jiano seemed to be deep in thought for a moment.

The magic runes were not complicated, and Daris finished drawing them in a short time.

She performed another magic trick, then pointed at the egg and said, "A fire-type crystal core fragment, and a crystal core fragment from that owl."

Gao Jiano placed the two crystal core fragments next to the owl egg.

The magic runes on the egg immediately responded, emitting a faint light. The two crystal core fragments also lit up with fiery red and pale blue light, which flowed out and merged into the eggshell.

Darlis observed carefully for a while: "It is estimated that it will be able to hatch in about twenty days. If possible, we should use a complete crystal core to provide it with energy, which will give it greater potential after it is born."

"Two level-four crystal cores?" Gao Jiano's eyelids twitched slightly.

Darliss shook her head: "We only need a wind-type crystal core. The fire-type is just to provide the temperature for incubation. Crystal core fragments are enough."

Gao Jianuo breathed a sigh of relief.

For his wallet, two level-four crystal cores were somewhat cruel, but one was still acceptable.

(End of this chapter)