Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

Inside, it wasn't the neat and orderly potion garden I had imagined at all.

Instead, it was a vibrant jungle, yet strangely eerie.

The light was dim, and looking up through the gaps in the branches, the sky looked like dusk.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of moss and fallen leaves, all in vibrant colors.

The air was so thick you could wring water out of it, and the medicinal fragrance wafted from all directions.

The most eye-catching things are the plants.

Ahead, a large patch of dense, dark red vines slithered across the ground like snakes.

It has a suction cup-like mouthpart at the top, which makes a hissing sound and drips a clear, sticky substance.

Ian's eyes narrowed. "This is the Bloodthirsty Demon Vine."

Just as everyone dispersed to observe their surroundings, a sudden change occurred!

On the left side of the ground, more than a dozen vines as thick as bowls suddenly burst out of the soil!

They swam like giant pythons, their mouths wide open at the top, coiling around the nearest Shadowmoon Wizards with lightning speed.

"Get out of my way!" Hogan roared, throwing a punch.

The earth-yellow fist force blasted the two demonic vines in half, splattering their juices everywhere.

On the other side, a wizard from a medium-sized organization reacted a little slower, his ankle getting entangled in magic vines.

"Ah!" he cried out in surprise, as he was dragged to the ground by the immense force.

The demonic vine's mouthparts immediately pierced his calf, sucking frantically.

His legs quickly withered and shriveled, and his companions rushed to his aid, causing chaos in the scene.

Ian's mind wasn't on the magical vines at all; he looked at the ground.

The leaves rippled gently like waves, and something was rapidly approaching from within.

Suddenly, dozens of brightly colored mushrooms, each half a person tall, shot up.

The cap is covered with dense black dots, like tiny eyes.

At the base of these mushroom stems grow several small white feet that resemble human feet.

Thud! Thud!

Her slender little feet moved quickly as she rushed towards the incoming crowd, shouting loudly.

"Intruders have broken in! Kill them quickly! Protect our master's treasure to the death!"

Suddenly, a flurry of tiny mushrooms sprouted from the fallen leaves on the ground.

"It's a fear mushroom! Don't look directly at its cap!" someone exclaimed.

As the fear mushrooms approached the crowd, the black, "eye-like" dots suddenly glowed with an eerie purple light.

The wizards who were hit by the purple light suddenly stopped moving.

His face showed extreme terror, and he began to wildly swing his weapon, even attacking his companions.

The battle erupted instantly.

Almost simultaneously, several huge, sunflower-like golden flower heads in the distance turned towards the crowd.

On the inside of the petals, one can vaguely see pale human faces with their eyes closed.

The sleeping face suddenly opened its eyes and "looked" over.

From the flower's stamen, a long, colorful tongue suddenly shot out with a "snap".

Swift as an arrow, it shot towards the crowd with a whooshing sound!

"Pfft!" A crimson wizard was struck on the shoulder by a tongue.

It wasn't a penetrating wound, but rather an instantaneous, blackened paralysis, clearly indicating a potent poison.

He screamed and staggered backward.

The crowd was completely thrown into disarray by the successive attacks and forced to fight individually.

People from different factions are mixed together, and they must not only fight against monsters, but also guard against possible friendly fire or assassination attempts.

Amidst the howling of various spells, the mushrooms' shrill cries were also mixed in.

"Ouch! My leg is broken! Get your stinky feet off me!"

"Waaah! My hat's gone..."

While everyone was busy dealing with the magic vines, mushrooms, and sunflowers.

In the dim light overhead, seven or eight semi-transparent, indistinct humanoid shadows silently emerged.

They have no facial features, only two dark eye sockets, emitting faint whimpers that only the soul can perceive.

Ancient vengeful spirits.

They floated above the head of a gray-robed wizard and suddenly opened their invisible "mouths".

"what……"

A piercing scream that seemed to cut straight to the soul erupted!

The man in the gray robe seemed to have been struck a heavy blow, clutching his head and howling in agony, black blood seeping from his seven orifices.

The spell was abruptly interrupted as two demonic vines seized the opportunity to entangle him and drag him deeper into the darkness, leaving only a short, desperate cry.

Soul attacks are invisible and intangible, making them the most difficult to defend against!

Panic began to escalate.

These vengeful spirits are elusive and specifically target sorcerers who are alone or casting spells.

A series of piercing screams echoed through the dark jungle, each one signifying that someone was seriously injured or rendered unable to fight.

"Spread out! Don't huddle together!"

Hogan roared, smashing a demonic vine with a punch, and then creating an earthen wall to temporarily block the purple light of the fear mushrooms.

But the crowd had already lost its organization under the successive blows.

Each person broke out in what they considered a safe direction, and the distance between them quickly increased.

Two bloodthirsty vines also wrapped around Ian.

He shifted his feet slightly, easily dodging the attack, and simultaneously pointed with his right index finger.

【Frost Ray】precisely hits the roots of the demon vine, spreading extreme cold and instantly freezing it into an icicle, then shatters it with a kick.

A wizard from the Crimson Court, influenced by the purple light of the Fear Mushroom, his eyes red, swung a burning longsword at Ian.

Ian didn't even look at him. With a flick of his body, he activated [Invisibility] and instantly disappeared from the spot.

At the same time, a hidden ray wrapped around the opponent's foot.

The crimson wizard's sword strike missed its mark, and he paused for a moment before his body jolted.

He was shot through the shoulder by a sunflower-shaped tongue that came from the side, and screamed as he tried to run away.

Another frost ray froze him for a moment, and he was immediately entangled by the demonic vines beside him and pulled into the depths of the dense forest.

"No..." The Crimson Wizard's screams faded away rapidly.

Ian deactivated his invisibility and appeared beside a sunflower.

With a flick of his wrist, a [Gravity Collapse Sphere] appeared and was gently pressed onto the sunflower's thick rootstock.

With a soft pop, the collapsing sphere disappeared.

Starting from the base of the sunflower, along with the dead face inside, a large chunk was silently "wiped away," and the upper half of the flower head collapsed to the ground with a crash.

A cackling sound appeared on his shoulder, and [Ominous Eye] was activated, sweeping towards a vengeful spirit that was unleashing a Soul Scream at the Shadowmoon Wizard.

The vengeful spirit stiffened, its shriek abruptly stopped, and it became somewhat bewildered.

Ian seized the opportunity, mobilized the wisp of pale golden spiritual power at the core of his spiritual sea, concentrated it in his eyes, and "looked" at the vengeful spirit.

laugh!

A small hole appeared on the vengeful spirit's translucent body.

It let out an even more mournful wail, and its entire body vanished like smoke.

The [Crystal Energy Barrier] remains constantly in place, with thirty-six floating crystal guardians surrounding the body, blocking any attacks that occasionally slip through.

On Ian's left wrist, an antique bronze bracelet also glowed faintly.

It is precisely the [Ring of Layered Peaks] that is ready to unleash even stronger protection at any time.

He cleared away the approaching demonic plants and vengeful spirits while observing his surroundings.

Those who entered have been completely scattered, each caught in a fierce battle or searching for a way out in this eerie, potion-filled jungle.

Hogan, Catherine, and several other powerful individuals were also entangled by a large number of demonic creatures and were unable to break free for the time being.

Ian spotted a direction where monsters were relatively scarce and moved quickly, keeping his body close to the ground.

The floating crystal guardians cleared the way, smashing aside the vines and mushrooms blocking their path.

He dodged several clumps of giant pitcher plants that spewed poisonous gas, and avoided a patch of purple moss that sprayed corrosive spores.

Then I froze a few more, which were strange insects that crawled out of the ground, resembling earthworms but with mouths full of sharp teeth.

Finally, he shook off most of the monsters and arrived at a relatively quiet area.

This was already deep within the Potions Garden, where the light was even dimmer.

A strange, sweet fragrance filled the air, completely different from the rotten, cloying smell outside.

In front of him was a small open space.

In the center of the open space, the soil exhibits a rare silvery-gray hue.

And in that silvery soil, a small tree grows all alone.

The tree is not tall, only about one meter, and its whole body has a warm and lustrous sheen.

It looks like it was carved from exquisite mithril, yet it has the fresh texture of plants.

The trunk is slender and the branches and leaves are sparse, but each leaf is like the purest glass, with clear veins and a faint silver halo flowing slowly inside.

There were no flowers at the top of the tree, but five fruits grew on the sparse branches.

The fruit is also silvery, only the size of a pigeon egg, and has a smooth surface.

You can vaguely see fine, star-like silver specks inside, constantly flashing and rotating.

An indescribable aura, seemingly containing some kind of bloodline power, emanated from the silver sapling and its fruit.

Ian's heart started beating faster involuntarily.

He sensed that his [Furnace Tempering Technique] seemed to resonate slightly with this aura.

"This thing... is definitely not ordinary."

He approached cautiously, his mental focus highly concentrated, wary of any potential traps or guardians.

Just when he was still a hundred meters away from the silver sapling, a sudden change occurred!

In the shadows behind him, the air seemed to distort silently.

A dark gray figure appeared like a ghost.

A pale, withered hand with black fingernails, carrying an intense sense of death and coldness, silently pressed against his back!

Ian's neck hairs stood on end.

Before one could turn around, the [Crystal Energy Barrier] was activated in response.

The thirty-six floating crystal guards instantly dissipated, merging into the thick, semi-transparent shield behind them.

boom!

The pale hand pressed against the shield wall.

The movements were subtle, yet the force was surprisingly great.

The surface of the shield wall cracked open with a spiderweb-like pattern.

A cold, lifeless energy, like a venomous snake, burrowed into the crack.

Ian used the force to lunge forward, landed and rolled, and when he got up, he was already facing the attacker.

He was a man in a gray robe.

His hood was pulled up, revealing a pale, thin face with sunken eyes.

He looked to be in his forties, but the lifelessness in his eyes made him look like he had just crawled out of a coffin.

"Not bad." The gray-robed man's voice was hoarse, like sandpaper grinding iron.

He shook his hand, and a few wisps of black smoke dissipated from his fingertips.

"Crystal magic... I've been waiting for you for a long time, Ian Marcus."

Ian didn't reply, his eyes fixed on him, glancing at the small silver tree out of the corner of his eye.

The sapling disappeared underground the instant the two clashed.

"The Withered Council?" Ian asked, slowly shifting his feet to the side.

"The Cursed Dead Squad, Captain: Samael."

The gray-robed man smirked, his eyes filled with contempt. "You killed those three pieces of trash, Han Ya."

The tone was affirmative.

Ian's heart sank. It really was someone from that team, and the captain at that.

The pinnacle of liquefaction, and the kind that specializes in death magic and has extensive combat experience.

This is really troublesome.

"Do you people from the Withered Council all prefer to attack from behind?"

Ian, afraid of damaging the saplings underground, continued to move backward, trying to lure Samael away.

Samael noticed that Ian seemed a little distracted, and his eyes immediately turned cold.

"The process doesn't matter, only the result matters. I can smell it, you have the scent of the [Eye of the Gaze] on you... Hand it over, and I'll give you a quick death."

As he spoke, he took two steps forward, closing in on Ian.

Ian stopped, his eyes gradually turning dangerous as he carefully sensed whether anyone else was around.

At this moment, Gaga also confirmed via telepathy that there was no one else nearby.

With a firm resolve, Ian raised his left hand, palm facing upward.

"want to?"

A wisp of crystalline light flashed and disappeared at my fingertips. "Come and get it yourself."

Samael's pupils suddenly contracted.

"The aura of the Gazing Eye?!"

His hoarse voice turned into a sharp cry of shock, which then transformed into an even more intense greed.

"You...you actually absorbed the core! Haha...Good! Excellent! By devouring you, my spiritual power might be able to reach crystallization ahead of schedule!"

Ian was taken aback, then his murderous intent surged.

"Eat me?"