Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 193 Arrival in Tug City

Seemingly because he had seen Grace, the monster named Nicol's expression softened considerably.

"Heh, for the sake of great power, some prices are unavoidable, aren't they? Grace, you know, I've already experienced that once!" Nicol's deep voice came.

Irene, standing to the side, could hardly believe that she had actually seen warmth in the eyes of this ugly monster.

The other person looked at Grace with such tenderness, like the loving gaze a husband gives his wife when he comes home and she is cooking.

Irene seemed to remember that before she became a high-ranking spider woman, Grace was slightly older than her and she had heard that Grace had a very loving partner at that time, but they were forced to separate, apparently due to the opposition of the mistress.

"I've come here to ask for your help," Grace said, lowering her head as if she was a little embarrassed to say it.

"Oh, it seems my little Grace has encountered some difficulties?" Nicole asked, still with a gentle expression.

"Nikol, I hope you can help us retrieve the Nightmare Mirror."

"Huh, has the Price family fallen to this level? Even such an important family bloodline artifact has fallen into the hands of the enemy," Nicole said disdainfully.

"It seems that Benita Price, that disgusting woman, is becoming more and more useless. I heard that you are fighting against human wizards on the surface. It seems that the Price family will soon be swept into the dustbin of history."

Nicole seemed to have a lot of grievances against Benita, the matriarch of the Price family, and her words became increasingly harsh, her expression agitated.

"Shut up! I won't allow you to insult the mistress!" Irene shouted, her face flushed.

She was already very dissatisfied with Nicol, who had betrayed his family and the night elves. She never expected him to be so bold as to insult the matriarch of the Price family in front of the two spider women.

"Snapped!"

Suddenly, a dark green vine flashed by, and Irene was sent flying seven or eight meters away, crashing heavily to the ground!

After rolling around, a blood-red stripe appeared on Irene's slender waist.

Only then did she realize that she had been whipped hard by the strange vines controlled by Nicol.

"Stop! Nicole!" Grace stepped forward, standing between Nicole and Irene.

"Fine, I'll spare her for your sake," Nicol said, glancing disdainfully at Irene lying on the ground.

His current strength has been greatly enhanced after his sacrifice to the Azure Flame King, Savis.

Her status within the Azure Flame Church has risen from ordinary believer to deacon, directly advancing to the level of priestess, and her strength has long surpassed that of most high-ranking spider women.

Basically, Nicole was confident that he feared no one in the Price family, except for that bitch Benita.

"Damn it!!" Irene angrily gripped the dirt on the ground, her fair hands clenching so tightly that the veins bulged.

This showed her extreme anger!

Since becoming a high-ranking spider woman, she had never suffered such humiliation!

"Die!!" In an instant, Irene's slender arms transformed into incredibly sharp, dark blades. With a powerful stomp of her feet, dirt flew everywhere, leaving only a blur in her wake!

The next second, Irene appeared directly in front of Nicol, her body tensed like a cheetah as she leaped high into the air, her two sword-wielding arms crossed as she slashed down fiercely.

She wanted to show them that the dignity of a high-ranking spider woman was not to be insulted!

"bite!!"

Sparks fly!

Irene's all-out leaping slash was firmly caught by Nicol's sharp right claw.

Before Irene's horrified eyes, in an instant, Nicol raised his leg and kicked out—no, he raised his hoof—slamming it heavily into Irene's soft abdomen.

In an instant, Irene felt as if she had been hit by a giant beast and was thrown into the air, and felt a sudden tearing pain in her intestines.

Irene returned to the ground where she had been lying even faster than she had come, and even slid several meters!

Irene collapsed to the ground again.

This time, she tried several times, but couldn't get up no matter how hard she tried.

Irene was utterly horrified!

The kick from the other party just now caused her excruciating abdominal pain. Nicol was simply a monster; the power contained in his body was too great. Her leaping slash, which she had used all her strength, was easily blocked by him with one hand!

Finally, with Grace's help, he slowly got up.

"If it weren't for Grace's sake, Spider Woman, your corpse would have been placed on the altar of the Church of Azure Flames and offered as a sacrifice to the esteemed King of Azure Flames, Lord Savis!" Nicol's deep voice rang out.

This time, Irene dared not utter a sound. She stood to the side with her head down, seemingly lost in thought. But judging from her trembling body, her heart was clearly not at peace.

"Tell me, Grace, how do you want me to help you?"

"The Nightmare Mirror should be with a traitor named Shadra now, but she's mixed up with the Grey Dwarf Brotherhood's Dissol, and has two lowly guards with her," Grace said slowly.

In her eyes, the senior gray dwarf wizard Dissol was a much greater threat. In the last battle, it was Dissol's sudden appearance that caused her to be blocked by him, making her mission fail!

Secondly, there's the traitor Shadra. Although I didn't see it myself, I'm sure Fritty's death is inextricably linked to this traitor!

As for the human and the fishman, they were just two small fry, not worth mentioning!

"Disol? That drunken wizard of the gray dwarves, I've heard of him, he seems quite powerful."

Nicol seemed to be recalling Dissol's strength, and fell silent for a moment.

Looking at Nicol's calm expression, Grace knew that he didn't seem to take Dissol's strength seriously. It seemed that, just as she had predicted, Nicol's strength had improved significantly again!

He didn't even take a senior first-level wizard like Dissol seriously.

"By the way, Grace, you just said that Shadra betrayed us?" Nicole asked curiously, seemingly knowing Shadra as well.

Grace nodded, her expression grave, and said, "Yes, I don't know the specific reasons either, but it is true that Shadra betrayed the Mistress, killed Dolores, and stole the Nightmare Mirror."

Grace didn't mention the Black Dragon's bloodline. Even the Azure Flame Church, where Nicol belonged, was extremely interested in the bloodline of such a powerful creature as the Black Dragon.

If any member can obtain the Black Dragon's Blood and offer it as a sacrifice to the Azure Flame King Savis, they will surely receive great benefits.

It could be an increase in strength or a reward of treasures, etc.

Therefore, she was also worried that after Nicol learned of the existence of the Black Dragon Blood, he might still help her find it.

However, the demon Savis had far less interest in the Nightmare Mirror, a bloodline artifact.

"Haha, this is hilarious! I've discovered I'm starting to like Shadra. Good riddance!" Nicol laughed heartily.

"you"

"Don't worry, I can help you take down Dissol, but you can handle Shadra. After all, this is an internal matter for your Price family." Nicol glanced at Grace with a mocking look.

This made Grace feel uneasy.

Nicole had always been her most loyal supporter.

However, after he betrayed the Price family and joined the Church of the Azure Flame, although his strength increased rapidly, the degree of his physical mutation also increased. Now it seems that even his mind has undergone a great change.

Nicole, who used to obey her every word, has gradually drifted away.

Grace had a premonition that this might be the last time she would ask Nicol for help, and it seemed that soon, the once loyal "Guardian Knight" would only exist in her memory.

"Fine!" Grace said helplessly.

However, Nichollken can deal with Dissol.

With Irene and I working together, taking down Shadra and her two servants shouldn't be too difficult.

"When can you leave?"

"Where are they now?" Nicole asked in return.

"It should be in Greyfern Town, no, not necessarily, it could be on the way from Greyfern Town to Tug City," Grace explained.

"Tug City?" Nicol murmured, seemingly deep in thought.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?" Grace's heart pounded again; she was worried that Nicole might change his mind.

If the other party changes their mind, I really can't think of any way to completely fulfill the task assigned by the mistress.

Lately, the mistress's temper has become increasingly volatile; if I go back like this, I'm afraid I'll be in trouble.

"No, there's no problem."

"I just thought of something interesting. If the other side has really entered Tug City, perhaps we can change our plans a little." A wicked smile appeared on Nicol's lips.

Grace was momentarily stunned, a bad feeling rising in her heart—

It was almost noon, and I was only just getting up now, having eaten and drunk my fill of food.

With his messy hair and dark circles under his eyes, Dissol looked at the energetic Richard with a look of utter disbelief, saying, "Lord Richard, your aura..."

The opponent's aura had clearly increased significantly, and the faint aura of swamp giant bloodline surrounding him was undeniable.

The other party is currently in the residual period of blood essence, which means self-evident!

Dissol never expected that while he was drunk and living a life of debauchery, the young wizard Levi in ​​front of him would burn the swamp giant's source blood he had just acquired to stimulate the growth of his own mental power.

This level of execution is simply terrifying!

No wonder he has reached such a level of strength at such a young age. At the same time, he is also a rare alchemy master of the bomb branch. He is truly a king of time management!

He had assumed that the other party would wait until they reached Tug City, washed away their fatigue, and adjusted their body to its best condition before considering burning their source blood to enhance their mental power, but he hadn't expected this.

"Lord Levi, your diligence truly puts me to shame," Dessol exclaimed sincerely.

Meanwhile, the twin gray dwarf girls beside them blinked their bright eyes, looked at the young Richard in front of them, and then at their master, their surprise evident.

In comparison, their own owner was far too lazy.

"Thank you for the compliment, Lord Dissol. By the way, shouldn't we be setting off for Tug City?" Richard smiled slightly, changing the subject.

"Oh, right, that's what I was just about to say. To defend against another attack by the night elves, Hansel, the garrison commander of Grey Fern Town, has arranged for a squad of grey dwarf ram riders to escort us to Tug City."

"They should arrive soon. Once they arrive, we'll head to Tug City. Does this arrangement seem acceptable, Your Excellency Levi?" Dissol explained with a hint of pride.

Ordinary wizards obviously wouldn't receive such treatment. This was because Dissol was older than Hansel, and Dissol had helped Hansel many times when he was young.

In human terms, this is called connections!

"Of course, no problem, Your Excellency. Please convey my thanks to Commander Hansel," Richard said with a smile.

Clearly, he also realized this, which shows that Desol still has a lot of influence.

Surprisingly, even the local garrison commander sent people to protect them. Although this was more symbolic than practical, since neither he nor Dissol were formal wizards. How could they possibly need the protection of a ram knight who was only equivalent to a third-level wizard apprentice?

However, with a squad of grey dwarf ram riders guarding the area, they could at least offer some protection against night elf attacks, which was better than nothing.

After the group packed their bags and went downstairs, they happened to meet the argali riders who had come to the inn.

Twelve gray dwarves, clad in thick plate armor, rode agile and sturdy argali sheep, exuding an imposing aura. Six more argali sheep followed behind the procession, seemingly prepared specifically for them.

"Lord Li Wei, this must be your first time riding a bighorn sheep. They are gentle by nature and will only attack enemies with their large, curved horns if they encounter a fight or are in heat," said Diesel, patting a bighorn sheep.

Richard nodded.

The bighorn sheep is not much larger than the mountain goats on the ground, but it is very strong, especially the muscles in its legs, which are intricate and powerful.

Its distinctive feature is a pair of large, curved horns that twist downwards in a spiral shape, with ring edges on the outside, and the overall length of the horns reaches more than one meter.

According to Dissol, these bighorn sheep, which serve as mounts, are all male rams. They are not afraid to fight even when facing fierce beasts and are one of the main mounts of the Grey Dwarves.

Seeing everyone leap onto the bighorn sheep, Richard also jumped on and found that the ride was indeed quite comfortable.

The bighorn sheep has soft wool on its back, making it very stable when running, even on bumpy roads.

This reminded him of his previous Winter Wolf mount, which was also excellent to ride.

After three days of trekking, Richard and his party were getting closer and closer to Tug City.

At this point, the road network became increasingly dense, with more and more paths merging into the main road, and the main road they were traveling on also began to widen.

The original width allowed four people to walk side by side, but now at least eight people can walk side by side.

Many travelers and caravans encountered along the way would give way and bow to Richard and his companions, who were escorted by a group of gray dwarf knights with large horns.

Richard was observing the Grey Dwarf caravan and noticed that large goods were still being transported by heavy-duty beasts like the unicorn lizard. It seemed that the Grey Dwarfs had not entered some kind of energy-driven era like Watt's steam engine in his previous life, as he had imagined.

Or perhaps, the use of energy to drive puppets by puppet masters like Dissol was limited by skill requirements or other constraints, and thus it was not widely adopted.

"Huh! Is that a lighthouse or a streetlamp ahead?" Richard said softly, quite surprised.

In the distance ahead, several lights, like lighthouses, were shining, illuminating the road ahead.

Dissol, standing to the side, introduced with a smug look on his face: "This is the Lighthouse, Lord Levi. It is the result of the Grey Dwarves' exquisite craftsmanship combined with the special mineral Flamestone. Even the Night Elves in the Underdark are not capable of setting it up."

"And around our great cities, these Flame Stone Lighthouses are scattered about, guiding travelers and passengers on their way."

Richard nodded.

Dissol began to chatter on, explaining that these fire stones possessed fire power, and that the gray dwarves, after mining them, used a special method to slowly release the fire power contained within.

A fist-sized firestone can be used continuously atop a lighthouse for several months.

Within Richard's naked eye's range, he saw no fewer than a dozen lighthouses, and this was only the number of lighthouses in one direction of Tug City. If one considered the many cities of the Grey Dwarves, the number of lighthouses was countless, and the cost over a year would be considerable.

"Huh! Then why doesn't Grey Fern Town have a lighthouse like this?" Richard asked curiously.

"Haha, Lord Li Wei, you'll see when you get to the lighthouse."

As Richard walked further and further, and neared a lighthouse, he discovered that the lighthouse was even taller than he had imagined. In addition to guiding travelers and pedestrians in the distance, it also illuminated a very large area.

The area was enveloped by the soft glow of the flame stone, and surprisingly, it appeared to be planted with barley on the ground.

A gentle breeze rustled the golden wheat ears.

This surprised Richard, but he immediately realized that he had tasted malt in the tug-of-war he drank yesterday. He had been wondering where the gray dwarves got their malt, and now he knew the answer was here.

Continuing forward, when they finally reached the foot of the massive Flame Stone Lighthouse, Richard noticed a continuous stream of pale blue giant-winged moths attacking the Flame Stone, seemingly trying to extinguish it.

These pale blue moths have bodies only the size of a fist, but their wings are quite large, about the size of a fan with a diameter of half a meter. Among a large group of fist-sized blue moths, there are a few particularly large and gorgeous moths.

Although the gray dwarves had set up protective metal netting around the Flame Stone, these pale blue giant-winged moths remained fearless and continued to rush forward.

Richard had excellent eyesight and could clearly see that after a blue moth died from the light and heat radiation emitted by the flame stone, its body was hanging on the metal mesh. However, the moth's body fluids began to gradually corrode the metal mesh, making a sizzling sound.

Therefore, to ensure the long-term illumination of the flame stone, it is necessary to prevent too many moths from landing on the metal mesh for a period of time. Otherwise, not only will the metal mesh be damaged, but the flame stone inside will also be quickly corroded by the blue moths.

Meanwhile, the occasional, exceptionally large and ornate moths that appear are particularly destructive to the metal mesh.

Therefore, a group of gray dwarf apprentices, whose strength was roughly equivalent to a third-level wizard apprentice, were taking turns using level zero magic to eliminate the excessive number of blue moths below the lighthouse.

However, most of the time, they only target those exceptionally large and ornate moths.

Upon seeing this, Richard naturally understood why there were no such lighthouses around Greyfern Town. It wasn't that they didn't want to, but that they couldn't.

Only large cities with large populations can have enough schools of wizardry to train enough wizard apprentices to complete this task.

Soon after, a magnificent city appeared before Richard's eyes.

"Lord Levi, we've arrived!" Seeing the surprise in Richard's eyes, Dissol felt a surge of pride as a grey dwarf.

The entire city of Tug appeared to be constructed from a type of black stone, resembling a crouching black beast lying on a vast plain.

Continuing onward, one sees a grand entrance, tens of meters high, with two enormous black and gray dwarf statues standing over ten meters tall. Each statue appears to weigh at least tens of tons.

Tsk tsk, Richard couldn't help but think with a wicked sense of humor, he'd heard that short people often fantasize about being tall and mighty.

The statue at the entrance seems to be good proof of this.

Seemingly noticing that Richard's gaze was drawn to the two enormous statues, Desor leaned closer and said:

"Lord Levi, I didn't expect you to see through it so quickly. That's right, these two statues are actually giant war golems. They can be activated by a level two archmage who activates the activation spell and enters the key. Their combat power is astonishing."

"While it may not be as powerful as the legendary dragon-slaying battles, it should be more than capable of dealing with wyverns or dragonborn creatures."

Richard was immediately startled upon hearing this.

I can't believe it!

Richard was surprised that he had only glanced at it twice and yet he had already discovered this secret, which made him both amused and exasperated!

However, Richard nodded without changing his expression and said, "I deeply admire the Grey Dwarves' exquisite puppetry skills. If I have the opportunity, I hope to learn about puppetry from Lord Dissol in the future."

"Lord Levi, it is my honor, and I would very much like to have the opportunity to ask you some questions about alchemical bombs." Dissol said with a smile.

The flow of people at the entrance was bustling. The groups and pedestrians coming out did not need to be checked, but the checks on the groups entering Tug City were quite strict.

This immediately made Richard frown.

While Richard was still wondering if some of the items in his bag were too sensitive, Dessall, who was standing next to him, had already observed his expression and said:

"Lord Levi, please rest assured, we are not entering through the ordinary passage. As formal wizards, and especially as members of our Grey Dwarf Brotherhood, we are entitled to use the VIP passage and enjoy free entry."

(End of this chapter)