Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 163 The Secret of the Spider Knights

"Pfft! Pfft!"

The sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh rang out!

The two spider knights guarding Stephania lowered their heads, staring incredulously at the black blade tip that had pierced through their chests.

As one of them lay dying, he managed to turn his head and look at Stephanie behind him with a bewildered expression.

"Your Highness, why did you do this?"

The man in the shadows at the very front, who had just been ambushed by Richard, looked terrified and cried out, "Your Highness Shadra, you actually betrayed Goddess Rose! You..."

On Stephania's stunning face, a few drops of splattered blood still clung. After licking a drop of blood from the corner of her mouth with her nimble tongue, her smile grew even more sinister.

This scene immediately sent a chill down the spine of the spider knight!

Suddenly, the ground beneath Stephania's feet exploded, and the enormous recoil propelled her forward like an arrow, shooting straight at her opponent!

The wounded Spider Knight was about to turn and dodge, but a sharp pain in his abdominal wound slowed him down.

"Pfft!"

A pair of blades simultaneously pierced the opponent's chest cavity.

A knife to the heart, a knife to the lung—both are fatal wounds!

The Spider Knight's exquisitely crafted knight's armor was as thin as paper before the incredibly sharp blade arm, and was easily pierced through.

With a slight exertion, Stephania lifted the Spider Knight, who was over 1.9 meters tall, off the ground!

Smiling radiantly as she gazed at the other's face, she said, "Goddess Rose? No. I now only obey my master, hehehe!"

The dying Spider Knight looked pained, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

Just then, Richard emerged from the dense forest and gave Stephanie a look of great admiration.

If it weren't for Stephanie's two fatal backstabs, a head-on confrontation would have been possible, but it wouldn't have been as easy as it is now.

However, Richard did not stop what he was doing. Instead, he used Slow and Weakness spells in succession, along with his Abomination, to kill the remaining three spiders one by one.

Before long, they were all killed by the hatred.

Richard checked the panel and saw three consecutive notifications:

[Gained 4386 energy points.]

Easily acquired over 12,000 energy points.

Not bad!

Huh! Is the crystal still sleeping?

Since absorbing the soul of the high-ranking spider woman Shadra, Crystal has been unusually sleepy, seemingly entering a period of rapid growth.

Richard had a premonition that the crystal would soon fall asleep again and transform into the next stage—maturity.

He wondered what new surprises the mature crystal would bring him.

"Wake up, Crystal, there's a big meal coming!" Richard said to Crystal in his mind.

"Um, Daddy, what's wrong?" Richard could almost picture Crystal's sleepy face from her voice.

"We're having a big meal!"

"Wow! It smells so good! It's my favorite spider! Thank you, Dad!" Crystal, who had been yawning, immediately perked up and exclaimed with delight.

Suddenly, a fist-sized, crystalline spider scurried out of Richard's arms and rushed straight towards the three demon spider corpses!

Several streams of pure soul energy slowly flowed into Richard's spiritual sea, gradually transforming Richard's aptitude.

Since his mental strength reached the limit of a level three wizard apprentice, Richard only used the streams of mental energy transmitted from the crystal to accelerate the recovery of his own mental strength.

What he values ​​most is that trace of pure soul energy.

They can continuously improve their qualifications.

Little by little, you'll accumulate a lot!

Ultimately, he believed that quantitative change would lead to qualitative change!

As the crystal crawled into the bodies of three members of the Spider Knights, a series of dynamic images emanated from the crystal and appeared in Richard's mind.

What impressed Richard the most were several scenes shared by the three of them: a huge, empty hall where fully armed Spider Knights stood, seemingly a gathering before setting off for the Norman Secret Realm.

Seated on the majestic central platform was a mature and beautiful woman with four arms, who appeared to be the matriarch of a certain night elf family.

Her body, barely covering her vital parts, was exceptionally fair and full, exuding endless allure.

However, his entire body exudes a strange force field, displaying a sense of majesty.

The unique blend of two contradictory yet perfectly intertwined qualities drives all the night elves wild with fervor!

A high-ranking spider woman knelt on one knee, respectfully listening to her mistress's instructions.

Then, the matriarch spent a great deal of effort to seal the power of the high-level spider woman. At the same time, the high-level spider woman accepted a secret order and led hundreds of spider knights to be teleported into the Norman Secret Realm in batches.

Based on the memories of the three Spider Knights, Richard could almost clearly reconstruct the entire incident in his mind.

However, there was one thing that still puzzled Richard.

Judging from the memories, this spider woman named Dolores is definitely a high-level spider woman, just like Shadra, whose strength has reached the level of a first-level wizard.

As far as I know, the Norman Secret Realm has strict entry restrictions based on strength.

Therefore, he still can't understand why this high-ranking spider woman was able to enter the Norman Secret Realm.

In addition, Richard made another major discovery: he learned the key secret that allowed the night elves to locate each other.

It turns out that the companion spider of this high-ranking spider woman named Dolores had actually evolved a trace of the bloodline of the Cave Spider King during her recent advancement.

This not only greatly enhanced the opponent's strength but also endowed them with a unique, natural ability.

This is an ability that allows one to clearly perceive other cave spiders within a certain range.

Similarly, ordinary cave spiders can also sense that it possesses the bloodline of the Cave Spider King!

Hmm! This only suggests that the cave spiders can communicate with each other!

There's another very important point!

Every Spider Knight has a natural affinity for its symbiotic monster.

One by one!

Therefore, the random teleportation mechanism of the Norman Secret Realm is meaningless to the Spider Knights led by Dolores!

Richard also knew that the current location of this high-ranking spider woman named Dolores should be at the original supply point of the three major academies, the daily supply point closest to the exit.

She personally oversaw the operation there, primarily to cut off the escape route for all wizard apprentices from the three major wizarding academies from the secret realm!

Thus, it can be said that the other side has cut off all the wizard apprentices' hope of returning to their stronghold!

This made Richard frown deeply.

This means that even if he successfully finds Senior Sister Meiluo, if he wants to lead her out of the secret realm, he will inevitably have to fight a major battle with Dolores.

Only by defeating or at least repelling the opponent can one leave the Norman Secret Realm!

However, Richard was deeply wary of his opponent's unfathomable strength.

Richard felt he could only handle three of these well-trained spider knights at most.

Even including Stephanie, in a head-on confrontation, the two of them would only be roughly equivalent to a five-person squad from the opposing side.

But now, hundreds of Spider Knights have arrived in the entire Norman Secret Realm!

After thinking about it, Richard decided to put the matter aside for the time being.

His current goal is clear: to find Senior Mero as soon as possible. If he has the capacity, he also wants to rescue Ophelia and Andrea.

-

Not long after the meeting ended, Gildas arrived at the temporary residence of the hundred or so elite apprentices at the stronghold.

The temporary residence was divided into three areas based on the college to which the apprentices belonged, each corresponding to a different college.

The Gluthus Academy has the largest territory, the Ignis School has the smallest territory, and the North Ring is located in between the two, which represents the current status of the three major necromancer academies.

Gildas slowly walked into the room where his children were.

There were four wizard apprentices at the highest level, chatting in his offspring's room. Among them was a young apprentice who looked quite similar to him, with handsome features and short, chestnut-colored hair.

The other party was his direct descendant and favorite disciple.

"Gildas the Wizard!" The four saw Gildas appear at the door and immediately bowed respectfully in greeting.

Gildas smiled and nodded. "You've all received the notification, haven't you?"

"Yes, Father, Wizard Derek just informed us that he will select the twenty-three strongest wizard apprentices to enter the Norman Secret Realm."

"But as far as I know, it seems that out of these 100 people, only 19 have reached the limit of the apprentice level."

The one who answered him was his son Donato.

Gildas was very pleased with the son he had with his maid, who was not only exceptionally talented but also meticulous in his thinking.

In the future, it will surely become a pillar of the entire Colonna family.

"That's right, so nineteen of you, including yourself, are directly selected, while the remaining four spots will be chosen from the remaining eighty-one apprentices."

Gildas took out a low-level magical artifact called the Mystermantor Orb from his robes. There were five orbs in total. After thinking for a moment, he kept one for himself and gave the remaining four to Donato.

"Donato, this is the Mystermantho Orb. It has the effect of positioning each other. The closer they are, the brighter their light becomes. You can distribute it to everyone."

"By the way, have you found the last teammate?"

"Of course, Father, this apprentice is named Robert Soto, from the Eagles School, and is also a good friend of mine," Donato said, patting a short, gloomy-looking young man beside him.

"We explored two ruins together before. His skills were quite impressive, and now he has reached the limit of a wizard apprentice."

"If you include him, then we've made a total of four people."

Gildas was taken aback when he heard that the other party was an apprentice of the Ignis School. He was puzzled as to why Donato would recruit an Ignis School student into his team.

However, when he heard that the other person's surname was Soto, he suddenly seemed to be deep in thought.

"Greetings, Your Excellency Gildas! I extend my greetings on behalf of my grandfather, Lil Soto!" Robert bowed and said.

Gildas certainly knew about Lille Soto.

Not only did he know about it, but he was also quite familiar with it. When he was young, he and his friends had explored the ruins together several times, and he had even saved the other party once. He never expected that the other party's grandson would be so grown up.

He had some reservations at first, as the presence of an Ignis School student in the team seemed to make things a bit inconvenient.

However, if it's a Soto child, then there's no need to worry!

The Soto family is a relatively powerful family within the Ignis school.

With three formal wizards in charge, the family can be considered a large family. Among them is an elder who is over 150 years old and is a senior first-level wizard with strength approaching that of a top-tier first-level wizard.

For Robert, the wizard Gildas before him was an important friend of his family.

So, half an hour earlier, when he received Donato's invitation, he accepted it without hesitation.

Aside from reasons related to his own family.

According to his grandfather, Gildas is a young wizard with a good chance of becoming a second-level wizard.

In addition, the other party's family is also a powerful and long-established wizarding family—the Colonna family.

In terms of overall strength, it is even a notch above the Soto family!

Gildas waved and gently tapped Donato's forehead.

Immediately, the other party received the information about Richard's appearance transmitted by Gildas into their mind.

Gildas then said, "Donato, if you see this person in the secret realm, it would be best to capture him alive and bring him to me."

"However, you must be careful. The opponent may be quite strong. Joachim has already died at his hands," Gildas warned.

"Being able to kill that piece of trash Joachim doesn't mean anything. Unless he's a formal wizard, he could never be my match."

"Don't worry, Father!" Donato Colonna said confidently.

He wasn't arrogant; rather, he had absolute confidence in his own abilities!

The three wizard apprentices at the pinnacle level beside them were also listening with great curiosity to the conversation between Gildas and his son.

I wonder who it was that was so unlucky to be targeted by them.

Donato noticed the three men's curious expressions and said, "Father, these three are all trustworthy partners. I believe they would be happy to help you with this small favor."

Gildas thought for a moment, realizing that a larger group would make the search faster, and immediately nodded and waved his hand.

Immediately, Richard's image appeared in the minds of all three.

"Honorable Wizard Gildas, are we to capture this boy alive?" Robert glanced at him dismissively. In his mind's eye, Richard, also dressed in the robes of an Ignis School apprentice, was also there.

"This kid seems to have killed two of my father's disciples, so we want to find him and get to the bottom of this."

"It's quite a coincidence that the other party is from the Ignis School, just like you. Robert, is it inconvenient for you to take action?" Donato answered Robert's question first.

Robert thought for a moment and seemed to have a slight impression of this apprentice named Richard.

If he only vaguely remembered the other person, it meant they weren't important, so he immediately said, "Of course, no problem."

First of all, it was just a matter of capturing him alive; I wasn't a member of the group that killed his classmates.

Secondly, within the secret realm, one can often act more conveniently.

After all, Gildas the Wizard was someone he and his family wanted to befriend.

Moreover, with Gildas the Wizard's clone personally leading the team, it was even less likely that I would refuse the commander's request.

(End of this chapter)