Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 596 - Four Hundred and Twelve: Promotion

Chapter 596: Chapter Four Hundred and Twelve: Promotion

Having seen off the last Wizard, Malin looked at Rolinsha and John, "You two should come with me to Carterburg. I’m not sure if Mr. John still has the Spell Talent, but Rolinsha, you are ultimately still a Wizard, so it’s time for you to meet the giant oak." "Thank you, Lord Malin," Mrs. Rolinsha said, looking deeply moved. In Malin’s eyes, she was immersed in joy, while John, after kissing the ring on Malin’s hand, led Rolinsha by the hand into the teleportation portal that Malin had opened for them.

"This is my first time facing Nameless directly, and truth be told, unexpectedly, he doesn’t quite seem like a deity," Jason commented after everyone had dispersed, expressing his astonishment. Malin felt much the same way—the gods he had come to know of through books, movies, or other means always bore a stark difference between belief and disbelief.

Only Nameless did not care whether you believed in him or not, just whether you were aligned with his faction.

You could choose not to believe in him, and regardless of who you were, as long as you followed the path of righteousness, he would bestow blessings and rewards upon you.

"He is entirely different from the Evil Gods," Malin stated, as he glanced at his pocket watch, "Time to head back, Dorothy. Any other issues?"

"Yes, according to the previous schedule, I’ve arranged for Mr. Farole, the gray-haired gentleman, to handle the thief who stole from Jason Airport," Dorothy’s reply made Malin turn to look at Jason, who nodded its tiny head, "I despise thieves, especially those who steal my belongings."

"Dealing with a thief doesn’t require consultation with me. What about my foster father?" Malin didn’t wish to refute Jason’s actions over such a small matter, especially since it was just a thief with some skills.

"Already made contact. Although he was cautious, after communicating with you, your foster father has already set out on his return journey. He is expected to reach the nearest province of the Eastern Kingdom in about a week’s time."

"Then if there’s anything, come find me. I’ll be leaving now."

With no pressing matters, naturally light-hearted, Malin left the shelter to Dorothy to manage and encouraged her to grow more vegetables when she had time. He promptly returned to Naples.

Back at the restful courtyard, Malin first sought out Faye, only to discover that the silly girl was asleep. According to Maya, she hadn’t slept the previous night and after having lunch, she really couldn’t stay awake any longer.

"I know where Father is. He’s in the Eastern Kingdom, and I’ve told him to start heading back," Malin relayed to Maya the story of their foolish father.

"That’s great, I hope he can come back sooner, but... let’s not let Father know what we’ve learned about that sister," Maya advised Malin.

"Right, let’s not tell," Malin agreed as he playfully rubbed Cat Girl’s nose, "Good, remember that, and from now on, don’t call me sir. Call me brother."

Maya blinked her eyes and nodded in agreement to Malin’s instruction.

"By the way, where are your sisters?"

"They went into town with the bride; I stayed to take care of Sister Faye." Maya’s reply carried a hint of pride. Malin was very happy and patted the Cat Girl.

.........

After resting for a while on the chaise lounge under the grapevines, Malin heard his girls’ voices. He scrambled up the low wall and saw the girls alighting from the carriage.

Malin waved, and Rewo, the first to spot him, whistled and ran towards Malin with the little leopard cubs.

Malin smiled and used a Spell Formation to create a staircase leading directly to the top of the low wall, and then opened his arms to catch her in an embrace.

"It looks like you had a great time."

"Yes."

The girl looked ecstatic; her dark big eyes squinting into a line.

Then she widened her eyes in surprise, hugged Malin’s neck tightly, took a strong sniff, and exclaimed, "Mr. Malin, you’ve grown stronger!" She even licked his face, "You really are stronger!"

Are you a dog or something?

Malin chuckled dryly as he lifted the little one high and then set her down, "That’s right, I have become an Explorer."

"A Star Observer Explorer?"

"Right, don’t tell your sisters," Malin was still planning to surprise the girls when Nova, who walked in through the door, narrowed her eyes and said, "Malin has grown stronger, hasn’t he."

Fine, it’s not only Rewo that belongs to the canine household; Nova, you must be from the simians.

So he took some time to recount the events that had occurred to him.

The events began with Malin helping Rolinsha and John to rebuild their lives. The Cartographer (8) began to break through on its own, a breakthrough that was within Malin’s grasp—for all the maps he had drawn were in preparation for this day.

So after advancing to the rank of Navigator (7), Malin was startled to find the Navigator (7) breaking through again on its own—for in his subconscious, Navigator was a talent for navigation. But when he saw the Navigator’s talent, he finally understood why he was able to break through the Navigator (7).

The first Talent — Life Guidance: Every time you help a life on the brink of doom, you gain a physical advantage.

Well... that sounds a bit abstract, but in any case, all enhancements of the Transcendent Sequence are effective, so Malin wasn’t in a hurry.

The second Talent — Eye of the North: No matter what, you can instantly determine which direction is north.

This is the standard Navigator’s talent. Although it seems useless, in truth, Malin thought it was useful, at least he wouldn’t be afraid of getting lost in the woods anymore.

Navigator (7) has only two talents, which seems to be a transitional step. Malin didn’t expect this step to turn him into a sailor; on the contrary, Malin hated the sea, especially after hearing about octopuses larger than ships.

After breaking through Navigator (7), he became a Wilderness Walker (6).

This time there were three talents.

The first Talent — Wilderness Walker: You can discern all life in the wilderness.

Well, this is an excellent survival Talent. Even for Step 6, this Talent is good enough, Malin thought, because knowledge is power.

The second Talent — Probe: As long as you’re at a certain location on a map you hold, you can confirm your exact position right away.

This also is a standard Explorer’s Talent. Malin thought that if his thrifty old father had this Sequence, he wouldn’t have to worry about him getting lost.

The third Talent — Hard to Leave Home: You can designate a set of coordinates as your home, and all actions that take you sufficiently far from these coordinates can activate a teleportation once per day that ignores distance, once per day, with an additional teleportation opportunity every two Mage Ring levels, and an additional set of coordinates every three Mage Ring levels.

Malin thought about it, ’sufficiently far’ should include travel (physical distance), spatial teleportation (Spell Talent sense of distance), and possibly even deep dives (time sense of distance).

However, the third one still needed experimentation.

Originally, Malin thought that it would be enough to break through to Wilderness Walker (6), but who could have expected that as soon as Malin had finished examining the talents of Wilderness Walker (6), he felt himself breaking through once again.

If becoming a Cartographer was due to drawing many maps and a Navigator was achieved by guiding people, then what about Wilderness Walker? Could it be because Malin had traveled across time and so many places?

Unknown.

In any case, Malin eventually became an Explorer (5).

And finally, he couldn’t go any further.

Even so, the Wizards observing the ceremony were still shocked by Malin’s rapid three-tier promotion.

Everyone was a Transcendent profession, and no one had ever heard of someone being promoted three times in a row. Normally, each promotion is a very dangerous breakthrough, especially for Wizards.

So, when Malin promoted three times in rapid succession, like eating and drinking, the shock it gave to the Wizards was unparalleled.

To be honest, even Malin himself was confused. He took the time to discuss this issue with Nova.

"Perhaps it’s because your Sequence is extremely compatible with you. According to Mage Tower theory, there are generally three ways to advance in the Transcendent Sequences..." Nova explained the three different methods to Malin.

The first is to consume a Magic Potion. One potion is needed for each step, but this makes each promotion very dangerous because residual effects of the potion are left behind. It’s an extremely perilous situation where one mishap could mean losing everything, and what mutations could result is only known to the heavens.

The second is pure role-playing. The owner of the Sequence takes the title of the step as their profession, like Malin as a Wilderness Walker. If Malin often travels through the wilderness, he could gradually accumulate experience and ultimately complete his promotion.

This method is safer, as there’s no need to gamble with Magic Potions, but the time required varies from person to person, with many sad cases where someone is stuck around level 9 for a decade.

As for the third kind, that’s the chosen one. When an owner of a Transcendent Sequence is extremely compatible with their sequence, both the first and the second method can lead to the swiftest of promotions.

Nova thought Malin must be the third kind. His Star Observer Sequence is currently unique to him alone; there couldn’t be a Magic Potion way to promote, so only this could explain Malin’s situation.

"You really are the man I chose." Nova said with a bit of happiness and kissed Malin, "By the way, no matter what, you have to take some time tomorrow to rehearse your wedding officiating ceremony."

"No problem. What about Anthony’s side, how is his fiancée?"

"Very enthusiastic. Ever since you took out more than 40,000 Black Orcs, I think the facial muscles of my subjects have become quite animated when they smile." Nova said, laughing.

Malin shook his head with a smile — that’s so Nova, truly the cold jokester among the girls.