Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 133 Black Forest Market

Richard carefully recalled the arrangements he had made, which he considered very cautious, but he never expected that they would still be discovered.

After thinking for a while, Richard concluded that the other party must have used some kind of witchcraft to discover that he had killed Jenna and the others.

It seems I underestimated the power of witchcraft in this world. After all, it belongs to the mystical realm and cannot be explained by the science of my previous life.

It's unclear whether there are other people behind this level three wizard apprentice, such as full-fledged wizards.

However, Richard can't go back to investigate that third-level wizard apprentice named Joachim now.

Richard immediately decided to hurry to Silverpine Town and deal with the matter upon his return.

After all, once we know of the other party's existence, the dynamics between us and the enemy change; it's no longer a case of the enemy being in the dark while we are in the light, making it much easier to deal with.

However, what Richard is now very interested in is a memory of the tall, black-robed apprentice.

Just now, he claimed to know the location of a ruin. Richard thought the other party was just making things up to stall for time, but he didn't expect it to be true. Moreover, the other party also carried the old parchment scroll that recorded the specific location of the ruin with him.

In addition, Richard learned the location of a nearby wizarding market through the memories of the black-robed leader.

Follow this western path for about a hundred miles, and after entering the Black Forest, walk for several dozen more miles. Near a T-junction, there is a wizard market.

Of course, although this is a wizarding market, most of the time, those coming and going are wizarding apprentices; formal wizards rarely come to such markets that are mainly for apprentices.

The reason is easy to understand: there is very little overlap between what formal wizards and wizard apprentices need. Simply put, it is difficult for formal wizards to find what they need in markets dominated by wizard apprentices.

Originally, the leader of the black-robed men planned to sell the spoils of war here after killing Richard, as he was worried that Richard might have left something behind.

This caught Richard's eye. Previously, Richard usually wouldn't pick up loot because he was always worried that the other party's items might have some kind of mark or hidden tricks on them. You know, that would be a huge waste.

Now that there's a wizard market ahead, that's perfect. We can quickly make a move and exchange it for magic stones.

However, after a year of training, especially the six months spent in the Underdark, Richard is no longer the novice he once was.

As a precaution, Richard did not personally search the three bodies. Instead, he possessed the body of a skeleton archer and began searching the corpses.

Why not let the Soul-Eating Spider possess the corpse and help search it?

That's because the Soul-Eating Spider isn't human and can't identify the specific value of items, so Richard has to do the appraisal himself.

Sure enough, Richard's caution was justified. When the possessed skeleton archer searched the tall, black-robed man, he pulled out an unusually tightly bound parchment scroll from his robes. It seemed to be the map from his memory that recorded the location of the ancient wizard's ruins.

Richard immediately controlled the archer and pulled the rope knot. But as soon as he opened the scroll, a cloud of black smoke shot straight at the skeleton archer's face. A loud "sizzling" corrosive sound came from the skeleton archer's skeletal armor.

The skeleton archer's face and chest were covered with large patches of white bone armor that were corroded and pitted, demonstrating the potency of the poison!

Fortunately, the skeleton archers were undead creatures, and Richard had cast a protective spell on them with bone armor, so they were basically unharmed.

"Black Corrosion Poison Smoke!" Richard's expression immediately turned serious. Fortunately, he was cautious enough, otherwise, he might have really been caught off guard and capsized.

This cigarette is highly corrosive and neurotoxin-laden. Richard himself is a pharmacist, so he is well aware of the lethality of this sneak attack.

If this toxic fumes were to get on your face, you would not only instantly go blind and suffer from skin ulcers, but the neurotoxins would also cause nerve paralysis. If left untreated, you would miss the best time for treatment and would basically be doomed.

After the poisonous smoke dissipated, Richard looked closely and discovered that the knots binding the parchment scroll had two knots, one large and one small. The large knot was a fake knot; pulling it would still open the map, but it would trigger a thin tube containing the poisonous smoke.

The correct way to open it is to pull that small knot; it won't trigger the thin tube.

"What a ruthless contingency plan. If it were any other wizarding apprentice, they might have fallen for it. However, this also shows that this ancient parchment scroll must be quite valuable; otherwise, the other party wouldn't have needed to tamper with it," Richard thought to himself.

Since the old parchment scroll had been opened, Richard glanced at the map drawn inside.

There are quite a few relics of these ancient wizards that have been passed down, and they are a mixed bag. Some relics have no value for exploration at all, while a very few are relatively well preserved. In these cases, the original ancient wizard was very powerful, and only in these cases is there much value for exploration.

Richard, who hadn't paid much attention at first, suddenly raised an eyebrow and his expression turned serious after seeing the location shown on the map.

In the center of the parchment scroll, a continuous range of towering mountains is depicted, with the tops painted with white paint to represent snow-capped peaks. The shapes of the mountain peaks are also drawn very vividly, and the entire map has a highly realistic style.

In addition, in the middle of the continuous mountain range, the words "Bering Mountains" are marked in the Hutt language unique to ancient wizards. In the southwest of the Bering Mountains, near the core area, a mountain peak is marked with a large "X".

Next to the cross, there were a few small words in Hutt script: "Land of the Undead's Immortal Life".

"Hiss! Could this be the ruins of Rodrigo? No, what Instructor Seras explored was most likely the Rodrigo ruins in the Bering Mountains, although he didn't give a direct answer about the information about the ruins he explored because of his oath." Richard murmured.

"There can't be two Rodrigo ruins in the Bering Mountains, can there?" Richard couldn't figure it out for a moment.

Of course, it's also possible that this is the remains of another ancient wizard, because there are no other text descriptions on the entire map. Maps like this, without any beginning or end, are the most troublesome.

However, according to the tall man in black robes' memory, this parchment scroll was obtained by them from an ambush of a severely wounded third-level wizard apprentice, so its authenticity is beyond doubt.

Moreover, the reason why Richard immediately associated Rodrigo with the ancient wizard who was the original owner of this site when guessing was because the words "eternal life of the undead" indicated that if the ancient wizard's site was real, then his identity was most likely that of a necromancer.

In retrospect, this site may also be the ruins of other necromancers.

It's important to understand that if it's a relic left behind by an ancient necromancer, it would definitely be the one that would give Richard the greatest boost.

If it is the site of a water-based sorcerer, then even if Richard can successfully explore the site, his gains will definitely be greatly reduced, because many of the sorcery models and the remaining treasures such as sorcery artifacts are definitely related to water-based traditions.

Even if Richard takes it, he'll have to exchange it, which would greatly reduce its value.

Therefore, when Richard saw the words "The Immortals of the Dead," he was basically certain that he would have to explore this place.

Of course not now. Richard, controlling the skeletal archers, packed all the three men's short staffs, bottles, jars, scrolls, and parchment scrolls into a large bundle, and then set off again.

The primary goal now is to quickly reach the wizarding market ahead, sell the spoils, and buy a mount. A flying mount would be even better, as it would greatly reduce Richard's travel time.

Richard already possesses the physical attributes of a high-ranking knight, and his speed is not significantly different from that of an ordinary horse. However, having a means of transportation will certainly make traveling much easier.

evening.

A three-way intersection in the Black Forest.

According to the black-robed man's memory, the market should be on the left side of the first fork in the road on the right.

But the scenery before him clearly showed that the left side of the first fork in the road was a cliff, which made Richard wonder if this was not the fork in the road.

As Richard took a few more steps forward, his keen senses detected a slight magical fluctuation about ten meters ahead.

Richard immediately realized that this place, like the Ignis School's headquarters, was covered by magical formations that could create invisibility or illusions.

After Richard slightly revealed the fluctuations of his mental power at the peak of the second-level wizard apprentice level, a blood-eyed raven appeared out of thin air with a "cawing" sound, circled in front of Richard a few times, and then flew in again.

Because of the memory of the man in black, Richard immediately understood that this was a way to guide him in.

As Richard stepped in, the surrounding environment instantly changed, transforming from cliffs into a misty valley, with a winding path leading forward into the valley below.

It seemed that there were many voices coming from inside the valley, but because of the fog, it was not very clear.

After walking several dozen meters and passing through the foggy area, the entire market suddenly appeared before Richard: a long street lined with mostly permanent shops on both sides, with only a few temporary stalls.

Unlike the trading areas of the Ignis school, where the number of temporary stalls far exceeds that of permanent shops, here, permanent shops still predominate.

At the entrance to the long street, there was a checkpoint. Richard sensed that a level three wizard apprentice was stationed there, along with more than ten fully armed knights. A level one wizard apprentice was in charge of miscellaneous tasks, such as collecting fees.

Upon sensing Richard's aura as a peak second-level apprentice, the first-level wizard apprentice immediately said respectfully, "Sir, entering the Black Forest Market requires a payment of two magic stones. If you wish to set up a stall, an additional ten magic stones are required. Furthermore, fighting is strictly prohibited within the market; otherwise, you will be making an enemy of the Modims family."

"No stalls." Richard nodded, and after handing the other party two magic stones, he was allowed to pass.

Many people in the market wore hoods, and the wide brims of the hats obscured their faces.

However, there were also a few wizard apprentices who did not conceal their faces and were casually looking around. These were mostly disciples from various academies, and the special patterns on their chests had already revealed their origins and strength.

Because this place is very close to the Ignis School, there are very few frivolous wizard apprentices who would dare to ambush university students.

According to the black-robed man's memories, the market here is run by a wizarding family—the Modims family. It is said that a member of the family with the strength of a formal wizard teaches at the Ignis School.

Richard quickly walked around the long street, and after a moment's thought, he quickly went in and out of the various shops.

In no time, Richard's spoils package shrank at a visible speed.

Finally, apart from the ancient parchment scrolls, everything else was quickly sold off at a discount by Richard.

After purchasing some rare raw materials and food, Richard arrived at a shop that sold mounts.

That's right, it was a shop, not a stable, because Richard could clearly see that in the backyard there were several animal pens, each containing wildebeest, forest wolves, and gray-spotted black bears, presumably all of which had been domesticated and could be used as mounts.

As soon as Richard entered the shop, a first-level wizard apprentice immediately came over to greet him: "Sir, welcome to the Modem's Mount Shop. Are you planning to buy a mount? Would you like me to introduce it to you?"

"Okay." Richard nodded slightly. It seemed that this mount shop named after Modimus must be a shop opened by the Modimus family themselves.

"This is a wildebeest." The first-level wizard apprentice introduced it very enthusiastically, and in a short while, he explained the advantages and disadvantages of the three mounts in detail.

Wildebeests are good at long-distance running and are the cheapest, costing only fifteen to twenty magic stones. Simply put, they are an otherworldly version of "Akhal-Teke horses".

Besides their amazing stamina, forest wolves are adept at leaping and maneuvering, making steep mountain paths seem like flat ground. They also possess considerable attack power, and are much more expensive, costing between fifty and eighty magic stones.

The gray-spotted black bear is a mount that leans towards defense and combat. It is not fast, but its combat power is the highest of the three.

After a moment's thought, Richard decided to buy a forest dire wolf, because the fastest route back to Rossbyshire had several extremely steep mountain paths, perfect for a forest dire wolf.

"Sir, you've decided to buy the forest dire wolf, haven't you? Please follow me." The first-level wizard apprentice beamed with joy upon seeing Richard's quick decision to buy, and proceeded to introduce the wolf to Richard as he led the way.

"These forest wolves are all carefully bred mutant varieties by the Modims family."

When Richard entered the middle enclosure, he saw rows of forest wolves kept in separate wooden fences, some lying down and some standing, but all looking very energetic and clearly well cared for.

(End of this chapter)