Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

After leaving the stone forest area, Ian plunged into the rolling gray-white mountains.

Upon entering, he immediately sensed an atmosphere completely different from that around the "Furnace" camp.

The air was filled with primal, unpurified magical turbulence, mixed with sulfur, humus, and a certain indescribable, sweet-smelling odor.

"Poisonous miasma!" Ian thought warily, holding a bottle of the upgraded version of the [Basic Antidote] in his mouth without swallowing it.

The map here is almost blank, which means that wizard apprentices either set foot here or failed to bring back detailed information.

The mountain range has an extremely complex terrain, with steep cliffs everywhere and bottomless fissures that resemble wounds on the earth, exuding a cold and gloomy aura. Large swaths of poisonous miasma drift out of the fissures and spread with the wind.

Everywhere you look, there are twisted and gnarled strange trees that don't look like ordinary plants. Their bark is dark purple and the edges of their leaves shimmer with a metallic sheen.

Occasionally, even without wind, it moves on its own, making a tinkling metallic sound, like whispering secrets.

Ian's [Eye of Vigilance] is much less effective here; the dense, suppressive magical environment reduces its detection range by more than half.

Moreover, the image is frequently disturbed, becoming blurry and unclear.

He dared not be careless in the slightest, concentrating his mental energy to the extreme, like the most alert nocturnal animal, taking each step with utmost caution.

His gray robe was covered in dust and plant sap, blending seamlessly into his surroundings.

"We must get out of this area as soon as possible and find a relatively safe place."

However, the dangers in the unknown area far exceeded his expectations.

On his second day in the mountains, as he tried to find a relatively gentle path along a dry riverbed, danger quietly approached.

The riverbed is flanked by soft stone walls covered with tiny gray-white holes.

At first, there were only some rustling sounds, like pebbles sliding down.

But Ian's powerful senses immediately detected the anomaly: the sounds were too dense and had a certain rhythm.

He stopped abruptly, his Eye of Vigilance straining to penetrate the obstruction of the rock wall, and he could vaguely "see" inside it.

Countless slender shadows, like magnified centipedes, were rapidly wriggling and converging in his direction!

Their carapaces are almost the same grayish-white color as the rocks, and when they open and close their mouthparts, pale green acidic saliva drips down, making the rocks hiss.

"Rock Fissure Worms... social, mutated creatures. Individually, they are not very powerful, but their numbers..."

Ian's heart tightened, and the scattered records in the "Architecture of the Continent of Anoria" flashed through his mind.

This creature is extremely sensitive to vibrations and the scent of living things, and is highly aggressive.

Without the slightest hesitation, he abandoned the idea of ​​making a silent retreat; it was too late.

The swarm has located him.

His mind raced, and he raised his hand, instantly unleashing two deep blue rays. He didn't attack the swarm of insects, but instead shot them towards the base of the stone walls on his left and right sides.

An explosion of extreme cold erupted, and with a crackling sound, a thick layer of ice quickly covered the surface of the rock wall, temporarily blocking the two nearest insect burrow exits and slowing down the swarm's progress.

But from more holes, grayish-white figures surged out like a tide, densely packed, instantly covering a small section of the riverbed.

The rustling sounds grew louder and louder, eventually coalescing into a wave of noise that made your teeth ache.

Ian turned and ran, increasing his speed to the maximum. At the same time, he kept thinking, and frost rays kept shooting out from behind him, hitting the ground.

Frost spread rapidly across the ground, freezing the foremost insects in place and creating a frozen area that slowed the swarm's pursuit.

But the swarm of insects immediately surged forward, corroding the ice with acid or smashing it with their bodies, though at a slightly slower pace.

The continuous casting of instant magic spells was taking a toll on Ian's mental energy. He took out a meditation potion from his ring, swallowed it, and began to recover his mental strength.

Just as he was about to shake off the swarm of insects, a seemingly inconspicuous patch of red moss suddenly swelled up at the bend in the riverbed ahead.

It sprang up from the ground like a living thing, unfurling several tentacle-like hyphae covered with suckers, and enveloped Ian with a fishy smell.

"Blood-sucking carpet!" Ian's pupils contracted slightly. There were even fewer records of this thing. All that was known was that it had strong paralyzing and blood-sucking abilities and often lurked in the shadows to ambush people.

Ian's eyes sharpened, and he forcefully twisted his body while running to avoid the direction from which the mycelium attacked.

At the same time, he raised his left hand, and this time it was not a frost ray, but a dazzling bright white.

"laugh……"

The highly concentrated bright white rays, like red-hot iron rods, accurately hit the dark red tumor bulging in the center of the fungal carpet.

The terrifyingly high temperature instantly pierced through and carbonized it!

The fungal carpet emitted a sharp, spiritual hiss; all the hyphae convulsed violently, curled up, and quickly withered and turned black, releasing a burnt, foul stench.

With a single blow, Ian dispatched his obstacle, then continued his mad dash forward, bypassing the withered fungal carpet without hesitation.

The swarm of insects behind them seemed to be wary of the Bloodlust Creep's aura, lingering near the creep for a while before their pursuit slowed down considerably.

Ian ran for several more miles until he could no longer hear the hissing of the insect swarm, then stopped against a boulder.

He checked his mental strength. He had just cast about fifty spells in a row. Although he had taken a meditation potion, the recovery was not immediate and there was still a process involved.

"This is only the outer edge of the mountain range. If I didn't have instant-cast magic, an ordinary apprentice would have had a hard time escaping just now."

Ian felt a chill run down his spine; he finally understood the meaning of the blank spaces on the map.

There are no fixed enemies here, but the ubiquitous environment and corrupting creatures can all be deadly.

After resting for a while, he dared not linger. He checked his direction and continued deeper into the mountains.

He became more careful on the rest of the journey, trying to avoid any strange-looking terrain or vegetation.

However, danger always arrives unexpectedly.

On the third day, in an area filled with jagged stone pillars, he encountered a truly top-tier demonic creature: the Shadowclaw Lynx.

This creature is the size of a leopard, but even more lean and agile, with perfect rock gray fur covered in twisted shadow patterns.

It lurks in the shadow of the stone pillar, almost blending into the background. It hunts not by sight, but by a unique mental fluctuation that senses its prey.

Ian's Eye of Vigilance failed to detect it beforehand; he only realized it when a chilling killing intent locked onto him.

A blurry gray shadow silently swooped down from the top of the stone pillar to the side, leaving only an afterimage on Ian's retina.

The sharp claws, accompanied by a piercing shriek that seemed to tear through the air, aimed straight for his throat.

At the critical moment of life and death, Ian's strong physique and fighting instincts saved him once again.

He almost instinctively leaned back, and at the same time, his book "Crystal Energy Barrier" was spontaneously created.

"Buzz!"

A crystalline energy shield instantly condensed in front of him.

Clang! A piercing scraping sound rang out as the Shadowclaw Lynx's claws slammed into the shield, sending sparks flying.

The shield fluctuated violently, but the "reorganization" effect allowed it to automatically adjust its structure the moment it was attacked, dispersing the force and preventing it from breaking.

The lynx missed its attack and used the momentum to bounce away lightly, landing more than ten meters away.

His amber vertical pupils stared coldly at Ian, and he let out a low whimper.

Ian broke out in a cold sweat; this beast's speed and stealth were too incredible!

"Your sneak attack failed, now it's my turn!"