Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 146 Reunion

Sure enough, as soon as Richard emerged from the secret passage, he heard the sounds of fierce fighting coming from several miles away!

Richard quickly ran towards the direction from which the commotion came, arriving at the scene in less than a minute, and took a closer look from afar.

On one side of the road, seven or eight warriors dressed as castle guards and a wizard apprentice in the robes of the Ignis School were protecting a group of over a hundred children and women, constantly engaged in a tug-of-war with dozens of buck-toothed hyenas.

More than a hundred women and children were huddled together, tightly hugging each other, their faces filled with undisguised fear!

The one who played a significant role was the wizard apprentice wearing the robes of the Ignis School. By occasionally casting incantations to unleash the level-zero sorcery Shadow Shock, he managed to scare away quite a few buck-toothed hyenas.

After all, the power of witchcraft is immense; Shadow Shock could take down any buck-toothed hyena in one hit.

It is estimated that if it weren't for this wizard apprentice, this group of women and children would have suffered casualties long ago.

However, judging from the sweat-drenched appearance of the wizard apprentice in the middle, he wouldn't be able to hold on for long before his mental energy was exhausted.

Closely guarding this wizard apprentice was another tall man dressed as a knight, who was none other than his brother, Levi.

It's been a year since I last saw him, and he seems to have grown even taller and more robust. It looks like he's probably been promoted to a full-fledged knight.

At this moment, under the command of the hyena queen, the buck-toothed hyena pack did not adopt a strategy of direct confrontation, but instead used a strategy of gradual encirclement, completely surrounding the group. The hyena queen seemed to have realized that as long as the wizard apprentice in the center of the group exhausted his mental energy, they could easily enjoy a feast.

Unfortunately, it misjudged the situation. The strategy of pressing forward step by step was not wrong, but it was too time-consuming.

This made Richard feel somewhat fortunate. If, from the beginning, the buck-toothed hyena queen had commanded her numerous buck-toothed hyenas to launch a relentless attack on her family's "thin-skinned but heavily armed" escort team, regardless of casualties, then...

So by the time he arrives, he'll basically only be able to collect the body!

Perhaps the older brother, Li Wei, might survive by sheer luck, but his mother, the maid Serena, and most of the women and children would most likely perish under the sharp claws of the buck-toothed hyena.

No more hesitation!

Immediately, Richard used the mutated summoning staff in his hand to instantly summon a giant abomination that was 2.7 meters tall. When the huge abomination strode forward with big strides, both the buck-toothed hyena pack and the human guard team were terrified!

Duan, a second-level wizard apprentice in the guard, felt a sudden chill run down his spine. He thought to himself, "Damn it! This is an Abomination, its strength comparable to a full-fledged wizard! We're doomed, how are we supposed to defend ourselves?!"

Li Wei, the elder brother, also saw the enormous creature charging towards them. However, unlike the other guards who cowered and began to retreat, even though he knew he was no match for it, he immediately took up his sword and shield, bent down, and stood in front of Du An, assuming the posture of a guard.

Suddenly, to the astonishment of Duan and his guards, the enormous abomination that had charged straight at them suddenly changed course and charged towards the pack of buck-toothed hyenas!

Immediately, the group of people looked at each other in bewilderment, completely confused!

However, when they saw a black figure wielding a pure white frost longsword suddenly appear behind the Abomination and begin killing the buck-toothed hyenas one by one, they finally erupted in a burst of enthusiastic cheers!

Clearly, whoever comes is helping them at this point!

The man who arrived was none other than Richard!

The Frost Guardian in Richard's hands was forged by an elven craftsman. It was slender and graceful, and at this moment, it was covered with frost flowers and emitted a chilling aura, like the frost scythe of death, relentlessly reaping the lives of the buck-toothed hyenas.

Richard swung his sword down, and even though the target was the hardest part of the buck-toothed hyena's skull, it was without any resistance. In an instant, he sliced ​​through the hard skull, splitting its head in two.

Moreover, the Frost Guardian's chilling effect instantly freezes wounds, covering the entire cut surface with frost, which quickly solidifies into ice, making it smooth as a mirror, and preventing any blood from flowing out.

Therefore, after the limbs were thrown out, there was no spurting of blood; the wounds were smooth as ice and emitted a faint chill.

At this moment, Richard couldn't help but think with a wicked sense of humor that the two ice-type magic circles engraved on the hilt of the Ice Guardian sword might have been deliberately placed there by the elves, since it did fit the elves' style—loving cleanliness!

After landing a successful blow, Richard didn't stop. With the support of Shadow Dance, he cut into the pack of buck-toothed hyenas at lightning speed and continued his slaughter. With each graceful arc of his Ice Guardian, he took the life of a buck-toothed hyena.

Seeing that this couldn't go on, the buck-toothed hyena queen behind them howled loudly and led more than ten buck-toothed hyenas around the abomination's massive body, attacking from all sides.

The onlookers secretly thought things were going badly, believing that the man in black robes would definitely avoid the fanged hyena's attack.

Li Wei was eager to join the fight, but Du An tugged at his arm and shook his head, telling him not to worry, as the man in black robes must have a backup plan.

Sure enough, Richard advanced instead of retreating, and suddenly increased the output of the Frost Guardian's cold energy.

Instantly, two dazzling blue lights emerged from the sword hilt!

The energy of the two ice-type magic arrays on the sword hilt—Deep Winter's Chill and ALS—suddenly erupted. An extremely powerful chill, like a giant white python, surged out, instantly engulfing the Hyena Queen and more than ten buck-toothed hyenas. After the chill passed through, they were all frozen into lifelike ice sculptures.

At that very moment, the massive abomination strode forward, let out a long howl, and wielded its thick arms to smash the ice sculptures to pieces with an incredibly heavy iron axe and a giant chain hammer!

Seeing that Richard had killed the buck-toothed hyena queen and many buck-toothed hyenas in no time, the remaining buck-toothed hyenas were terrified and scattered like birds and beasts under the hateful pursuit!

Richard sheathed his sword!

When Richard turned around, took off his hood, and faced the crowd, his brother Reeves' eyes widened in disbelief as he exclaimed, "Richard!!!"

Suddenly, Li Wei, the elder brother, shuddered, and the sword and shield in his hand fell to the ground.

However, he had no intention of picking up the weapon. Instead, he ran straight towards Richard and pounced on his younger brother, Richard, hugging him tightly.

"Richard, my dear brother, is it really you? It's unbelievable!" The older brother, Levi, was so excited that he couldn't speak coherently.

"It's me!" Richard smiled and patted his brother Levi on the back, comforting him.

In the very center of the group of women and children, who were originally huddled together, a dignified lady and a young maid stared in disbelief at the two brothers embracing each other!

The next second, when the two confirmed that it really was Richard, they instantly stood up excitedly.

The dignified lady was none other than Richard's mother!

The young maid was undoubtedly Serena!

The two were stunned when they heard the older brother, Li Wei, call out that familiar name. When they confirmed that the person was indeed Richard, they were so excited that they burst into tears in an instant!

At that moment, Richard, equally excited, also saw his mother and Serena in the crowd.

He gently patted his brother Li Wei on the back, released the hug, gestured in the direction of his mother, and ran towards her. He then hugged his tearful mother tightly, and gave his maid Serena a warm hug as well!

"Mother, I'm sorry for making you worry!" Richard gently wiped away the tears from his mother's eyes.

Li Wei, the older brother, looked at his younger brother and then at the enormous abomination guarding him. He knew that he could never be a match for the monster before him.

Even ten of myself would probably be easily defeated.

So, it turns out he can't even beat his younger brother Richard's summoned creatures! This is a mix of surprise and helplessness for the older brother.

"When the Ignis School informed me of your death, I truly couldn't believe it. Now it's proven otherwise. Richard, it's so good to have you back! By the way, have you reached this level of strength? That's incredible!"

Duan stood quietly to the side, smiling as he watched his family reunite.

At this moment, Li Wei, the elder brother, remembered to introduce Du An. He quickly pulled Richard to Du An's side and introduced him, saying, "Brother, this is Lord Du An, sent by your school to guard our family."

Duan immediately waved his hand and said, "Hello, Sir Richard!"

The moment Duane saw Abomination, he knew that Richard's strength far surpassed his own, and he immediately dared not be arrogant. Although Richard had only been enrolled for a year, the rule in the wizarding world was that strength was paramount.

"Senior Duan, thank you for your hard work. If it weren't for you, I might never have seen my family again." After saying that, Richard bowed slightly to Duan.

Although Duan's strength was far below his own, he still greatly admired the wizard apprentice who upheld the spirit of the contract and would never leave until the mission was completed.

Keep in mind that Duan was only two days away from meeting the six-month deadline for his posting mission. Most of the more astute wizard apprentices would have already begun their journey back to their schools.

When Richard saw the large group of children staring at him with their bright, curious eyes, he suddenly remembered something. He immediately took out a crystal ball from his pocket, but after thinking about it, he put it back.

I bought this crystal ball at the Black Forest Market to test a wizard's aptitude. Although it can only give a rough assessment, it's enough.

At that time, he had considered this question: should he also select children from his own family to take the wizard aptitude test?

Even if the children of one's own family don't have the aptitude, the children of the guards and servants might. In the worst-case scenario, there must be a few children in Silverpine Town who have the aptitude for wizardry!

After all, Richard himself couldn't stay at the family estate forever, but that wasn't urgent. The important thing now was to escort the women and children back to the family castle as soon as possible.

So, under Richard's protection, the group met the old baron at the exit of the secret passage and returned to the inner castle cellar.

When Levi, Duane, and the others returned to the castle, they were immediately shocked to see the "roasted turkeys" scattered all over the inner castle square!

A few seconds later, everyone who came to their senses immediately turned to look at Richard beside them. Clearly, the hundreds of corpses scattered on the ground must have been killed by Richard.

After all, there aren't any experts like that inside the castle!

After his initial shock, Duan looked at Richard with even greater respect. After a moment's thought, he asked, "Sir Richard, shouldn't these corpses be disposed of?"

Richard then realized that this was not the Gray Fern Wilderness, and no fish-men had taken the initiative to handle the aftermath.

He immediately said, "Fortunately, Lord Duan, you reminded me. It's best to dispose of all these corpses before nightfall. Either burn them all, or find a secluded place to bury them all."

"However, if you're burying it, it's best to bury it deep, otherwise it might attract some monsters that like to eat carrion!" Richard thought for a moment and then added.

However, upon seeing the corpse, Richard remembered that he had been so busy fighting and rescuing that he had forgotten to collect the heart from the mutant crab demon, which was the main raw material for the rare potion "Mutant Heart".

I remember when I was in the Gray Fern Wilds, I was really looking forward to killing as many mutant crab monsters as possible, but after half a year I only got one. I never expected to get two as soon as I got home. It was a really pleasant surprise.

Moreover, with these two mutant crab demon hearts, he had basically prepared all the other materials, which meant that he could create two more mutant hearts in the alchemy room at any time.

This means that the mutated heart that he had been reluctant to consume before can now be consumed at any time, instead of saving it for when he attempts to become a formal wizard.

When Richard sent a message to the Soul-Eating Spider, ordering it to transport another mutant crab demon's corpse, he and the others were stunned to see one crab demon carrying another. They stammered, "Why are these mutant crab demons killing each other? Did you mind-control them, Richard?"

Richard smiled mysteriously, without explaining anything.

After the Soul-Eating Spider controlled the mutant Crab Demon to complete its transport mission, it quietly crawled out of the Crab Demon's mouth again.

Seeing the mutant crab demon, which had been working as a porter, suddenly collapse to the ground, everyone was amazed again, wondering how Richard had managed to do it.

Even Duan, a second-level wizard apprentice standing nearby, was speculating whether Richard had just used witchcraft such as controlling zombies!

Amidst the astonished gazes of the onlookers, Richard used the Frost Guardian to cut open the mutant crab demon's corpse, extract its heart, and quietly recalled the Soul Eater Spider.

However, the mutant crab demon's heart needed to be treated immediately, or stored in a special box. Richard immediately had someone retrieve the box with green patterns on its surface from the blind fishman tribe, which originated from the package.

With the box containing the solidified Life Breath magic storing the mutant crab demon's heart, Richard didn't need to create the mutant heart in the short term. After all, now wasn't the right time to make the potion.

Richard was still very happy when he glanced at the inspiration panel, which showed that he had surpassed 100,000 energy points. Through the battle just now, he not only rescued his family, but also gained nearly 30,000 energy points. This kind of good thing was like a pie falling from the sky, something he never expected.

Now, he should have accumulated enough energy points to forcibly break through the limits of the Rodrigo Meditation Method, and there might even be some left over.

Richard and his party inspected the castle's perimeter and found that the inner castle buildings were largely intact.

Fortunately, the monster army's invasion was brief, and they didn't have time to damage the inner fortress. Apart from the two main gates needing immediate repair, the rest of the work mainly involved cleaning and burying the animals.

After exchanging pleasantries with his family again, Richard couldn't help but recall the rather strange monster invasion that had recently occurred in Silverpine Town.

Richard was very familiar with these monsters. In the past six months in the Gray Fern Wilderness, he had killed countless of them. He knew very well that most of them were monsters unique to the Underdark.

This puzzled him greatly. Logically speaking, it was impossible for monsters from the Underdark to arrive at the surface in large numbers. One or two could be explained, but could there be a hidden passage near Silverpine Town that allowed underground monsters to come directly to the surface?

After a moment's thought, Richard shook his head. Judging from the orderly attack of the monster army just now, there must be a mastermind directing it. Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain how a large monster like the mutant crab demon could collude with a small monster like the buck-toothed hyena pack.

At least, he had never seen such a strange situation in the Gray Fern Fields.

Therefore, for the safety of his family, Richard decided to immediately track down the scattered demons to see where they had gone.

Just as Richard was about to bring up the idea, the old baron suddenly coughed up a mouthful of bright red blood, which startled Richard.

Li Wei, the older brother standing nearby, quickly helped his father up, asking, "Father, what's wrong?"

The old baron waved his hand and said, "It's nothing, I'm just so happy to see your brother back."

Richard thought for a moment and seemed to realize that this was probably due to his father's emotional fluctuations. Immediately, he took out a bottle of healing medicine from his bulging bag and told his father to take it quickly.

Apart from a few healing potions such as hemostatic and healing potions, many of the alchemists' potions are not made for ordinary people.

For example, the lowest-grade alchemical potion product, Swiftness Potion, uses some mildly toxic herbs. If an ordinary person drinks it, the potion will certainly have an effect, but it is very likely that after the effects kick in, the side effects will cause paralysis of the lower body.

The best person to drink the Swiftness Potion is someone with the strength of a near-knight or close to that of a knight.

Of course, if an ordinary person is physically strong enough, they can recover slowly and without being affected.

But this is only a beginner's alchemical potion.

As the effects of the medicine become more potent and unique, the toxicity also increases, placing greater demands on physical fitness and even mental strength. Therefore, medicines that enhance mental strength cannot be given to the father and brother Li Wei, let alone to the mother, an ordinary person.

After taking the healing potion, the old baron's complexion immediately became rosy, and he waved to his brother Li Wei, indicating that he could stand up.

Seeing that his father was alright, Richard then revealed his earlier thought of going to trace the source of the demons.

When the older brother, Li Wei, heard that his younger brother, Richard, was going to go alone to track down the monster and find its source, he was greatly surprised and said, "Richard, let me go with you."

Richard thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Brother, it's better if I go alone. I'll feel more at ease with you here with Father and Mother. Besides, your current strength is still too weak."

Upon hearing this, Richard's older brother, Li Wei, couldn't help but laugh in exasperation. He ruffled Richard's hair and said, "Good lad, now you don't even respect your older brother's abilities."

Yes, a year ago, I was still dominating Richard, but now I can't even beat his summoned creatures!

However, Li Wei, the older brother, knew that although his younger brother's words were a bit direct, he actually didn't want him to take any risks, and he understood that.

Duan, a second-level wizard apprentice standing to the side, then spoke up, "Lord Richard, let me accompany you."

Richard glanced at Duan, then thought for a moment and realized he still had a few too many secrets. It wasn't that he suspected Duan of having any problems, but he simply didn't want to reveal too many of his secrets in the near future.

Another reason is that if Duan also leaves with him, then there will be no wizard apprentices left in the family castle.

Richard considered this quite risky, as it would be difficult to deal with some powerful lone monsters.

So Richard paused for a moment, then said, "Lord Duan, I may need to trouble you to continue guarding our family castle for a few more days. If I do not return within three days, please contact my mentor, Wizard Seras, and tell him about my situation."

Upon hearing Richard's tone, the old baron's expression changed immediately. He said, "Richard, why don't you not go? I believe the kingdom will send people to investigate this matter soon. You can go with them, or let them investigate."

"Father, don't you trust my abilities? I will ensure my safety, you can rest assured. Besides, this matter is far too close to our family, I really can't feel at ease if I don't go there myself!" Richard said with a smile.

Seeing Richard's firm tone, the old baron knew that he could no longer change his mind, which was always his own opinion, so he could only nod helplessly.

"When are we leaving?"

Richard thought for a moment and said, "I'll set off first thing tomorrow morning, and I'll prepare tonight."

(End of this chapter)