Chapter 51 - 50: Unknown Scroll

Chapter 51: Chapter 50: Unknown Scroll

Setting down the letter Mage Seda had written long ago—one that he hadn’t had the time to send, and now never would—Gaode remained speechless for a long time.

To the apprentices in the Medicinal Garden, Mage Seda was the absolute "villain," a wicked man, and an abuser.

But to Mage Seda himself, he was just like Gaode: merely a "victim" struggling to reunite with his wife and child. Yet now, to Mage Seda’s wife and child, Gaode had instead become the villain.

Realizing this, Gaode felt an incredibly complex mix of emotions.

Even though he knew clearly that if he hadn’t fought back then, he would be the one dead now. It was a situation where only one person could survive. Gaode’s resistance was perfectly justified; no one could find the slightest fault in it.

But after reading Mage Seda’s family letters, Gaode still felt a trace of pity—pity for the woman far away in Bremen City, who had been waiting bitterly for her husband’s return for over a decade, a woman he had never even met.

This empathy was in his bones, something that couldn’t be easily erased by a single transmigration.

After a long silence, Gaode finally let out a long breath.

"I was not wrong to kill Mage Seda, and I am not wrong to feel pity. The two do not conflict."

***

He stopped dwelling on it and decisively picked up the last item taken from the wooden box.

It was a mysterious scroll that resembled a Magic Scroll. The scroll was made of premium animal parchment, its edges lavishly and meticulously lined with gold leaf.

Both ends of the scroll were inlaid with two exquisite silver clasps engraved with intricate patterns. Between the clasps was tied a slender, deep violet ribbon, carefully embroidered with flowing patterns in gold thread.

Gaode untied the ribbon and unrolled the scroll. A faint fragrance wafted into his face. It was the scent of a preservative made from special herbs and magic materials, allowing the ink on the scroll to remain as vivid as new despite the passage of time.

However, Gaode did not recognize the text written on it.

"It should be some kind of Magic Text," Gaode concluded after examining it closely.

In the bottom right corner of this Magic Text, there was an exquisite stamped seal. The seal was circular. Its main motif was a bird with spread wings, standing atop an open book. The bird’s feathers and the faintly visible Magic Symbols on the book motif... every detail was so lifelike that it seemed ready to leap off the page and turn into reality. Above the bird was a tiny diamond pattern.

"I don’t recognize it," Gaode said after studying it for a moment, confirming he had no idea of the seal’s origin.

"It’s written in Magic Text, yet it isn’t a Magic Scroll." He had checked it immediately; the Magic Text on the scroll contained no Magic Power and was simply used as ordinary writing.

"The scroll itself is so exquisite—obviously expensive at first glance. Could it be some High Tier Magic Potion Recipe?" Gaode guessed. "Or maybe some official document? It even has a dedicated seal, after all."

After studying it carefully for a while longer and gaining nothing, Gaode finally stopped this waste of time.

With that, all the inheritance left by Mage Seda had been fully inventoried:

One apprentice manual.

Two Cultivation Techniques.

Five Magic Formulas.

Two complete Zero Tier Magic Potion Recipes and one incomplete One Tier Magic Potion Recipe.

Twenty-one family letters.

One scroll of unknown origin and purpose.

And a full 50 Sean Gold Coins.

The bounty was so rich that Gaode wanted to do a somersault right then and there.

Pumping his fist hard to vent his excitement, Gaode then opened his cabinet and hid the three Magic Potion Recipes inside. These were treasures. Unlike Magic Formulas, which were difficult to offload, these could be directly sold when necessary in exchange for a large sum of money.

The Gold Coins were best kept in the hidden compartment of his bedroom; only then could he sleep soundly at night.

There was no need to be as careful with the apprentice manual, Cultivation Techniques, and the twenty-one family letters, so Gaode simply placed them back into the wooden box.

As for the scroll of unknown origin and purpose, Gaode thought about it and felt it still warranted some attention, ultimately hiding it deep inside the cabinet as well.

***

After dropping the final drop of Green Spider Venom into the medicine vial in his hand, the constantly bubbling liquid gradually calmed down.

Faintly, a grayish-green streak of Magic Spirit Light flashed through the liquid.

The potion was complete!

"Two Gold Coins in the bag!" Gaode skillfully divided the newly formulated Basic Spider Venom Potion from the large vial into smaller portions.

Even though he had just obtained a massive windfall of 50 Gold Coins, it didn’t make him arrogant enough to neglect his daily task of formulating a batch of Basic Spider Venom Potion.

One was a steady stream of income; the other was Unforeseen Wealth, a one-time deal. Gaode was fully capable of distinguishing the difference between the two.

Unforeseen Wealth didn’t happen every day. If he treated windfalls as normal income, or even deliberately chased after Unforeseen Wealth while neglecting his actual "career," something would go wrong sooner or later. Not to mention, 50 Gold Coins seemed like a lot, but without sustained production, given the Medicinal Garden’s increasingly rising expenses, this so-called "massive windfall" would be squandered away in just half a year.

"From now on, I can eat unlimited amounts of meat to really nourish my body, and my staple food can switch from rye bread to wheat bread.

"Of course, only I can afford such luxury, as this is my private income..."

Gaode wasn’t worried that enjoying these luxuries alone would draw dissatisfaction from the other apprentices in the Medicinal Garden. In fact, he had always had the authority to do so; it was only because Gaode couldn’t get past his own conscience that he had kept eating and drinking exactly what the other apprentices did.

"Still, since I have some money on hand, I can upgrade the meals for the other apprentices in the Medicinal Garden. There’s no need to be as stingy as before.

"Hmm, I’ll add a meat dish for everyone every two days... One pound of meat for a meal is enough for seven people. One pound of meat costs seven copper coins, which means an extra expense of nine silver coins a month. That’s acceptable."

Gaode calculated this in his mind and made the decision. It had only been a month, and he had already led everyone to a lifestyle of eating meat every other day.

Thinking of this, Gaode felt quite pleased with himself.

"I can’t forget Pierre’s reminder, either. I need to stockpile more food in the Medicinal Garden. If something really happens, whether I use it to make a quick escape or keep it as emergency rations, it’s better to be prepared."

Whenever natural disasters or man-made calamities struck, "food prices" were bound to rise. This was common knowledge.

His work for the day was over.

Gaode stretched lazily and impatiently pulled out one of the five Magic Formulas resting on his desk.

[Flaming Arrow] (Shaping Series, 0th Ring).

"Alright, you’re the one."

Gaode had quite an impression of the Flaming Arrow. This was the Magic Mage Seda had used to kill the Earth Vein Creature, the Wolf Rat, that invaded the Medicinal Garden, and it was also the Magic that brought about his own "doom."

Its power went without saying.

At least at the Trick level, Gaode believed that in terms of lethality, [Flaming Arrow] absolutely ranked among the top tier, surpassing his [Acid Splash].

After all, *Magic Introduction* also stated: among all schools of Magic, Shaping Magic possesses the strongest destructive power.