Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 199 Gathering

"My dear Levi, my friend, why don't you continue to stay with me? Is it because I haven't been hospitable enough?" Dessall became anxious when he heard that Richard was moving.

Now that the two were already familiar with each other, they stopped being polite and addressed each other by name.

"Of course not. I specifically bought a villa not far from your residence, only a few hundred meters from here," Richard said with a smile.

"Haha, oh, I remember now, that used to be a wealthy businessman's villa. I heard it had been vacant for a while, but I didn't expect you to buy it. That's good, I'll definitely come visit often."

When Dessall heard that Richard had bought a property nearby, he immediately became happy.

The villa in Tug City is quite valuable. If Richard hadn't earned ten high-grade magic stones from Gorkan, he probably wouldn't have been able to afford it.

But Richard needed a large, secluded area to conduct some clandestine alchemy experiments, so buying a villa was his only option.

Of course, Richard could choose to buy a manor outside Tug City, which would be much larger than a villa in the city for the same price, but what Gorkan said had already alerted Li Wei, so it was impossible for him to buy a villa outside the city.

The location of my current villa is in the center of Tuge City, which is quite safe.

"By the way, Li Wei, there's a gathering of some friends of mine in a few days. Well, you could call it a salon. We usually exchange tips on puppetry, potion making, and so on at these gatherings, and we also trade some rare materials."

"Interested in joining us?" Dessol slapped his forehead and asked.

"Okay, Dessol, I'll participate," Richard nodded.

Richard was quite interested in the wizarding gathering that Dessall had mentioned.

Currently, it's difficult for his strength to continue growing rapidly. Perhaps through exchanges with other wizards, he can discover some unexpected surprises.

Three days later.

During these three days, after listening to Gorkan's description, Richard did nothing but make alchemical bombs, complete the Grey Dwarf Brotherhood's tasks as required, and accumulate contribution points.

Meanwhile, Richard, using the mithril insignia, successfully entered the Grey Dwarf Brotherhood's vast archives and began reviewing documents.

Information about the Scorched Earth Secret Realm is partially accessible at Bronze-level access, partially at Mithril-level access, and a small portion even requires Adamantite-level access to view. This latter part is currently unavailable to Richard.

However, the combined information from the Bronze-level and Mithril-level access levels was enough for Richard to understand the basic picture of the Scorched Earth Secret Realm. The contents of the archives not only compared with what Gorkan said, but were also much more detailed than what Gorkan had said.

The Scorched Earth Secret Realm is a super-large, multi-layered secret realm. It is suspected to have once been the entrance to an underground passage leading to the Lava Realm. Judging from the sealing method, it is in the style of ancient times. According to incomplete historical records, it was probably sealed after a great war between ancient wizards of various races and elemental creatures.

That great battle is mentioned in many ancient books, and they corroborate each other, making it quite reliable.

Introduction to the main elemental creatures in the Scorched Earth Secret Realm: The most common is the fire elemental, which appears as a blazing flame, about two to three meters tall, containing a fire crystal. It has the strength of a mid-level first-level wizard, and its innate wizardry is fireball and fire shockwave. Weakness: It is easily injured by water energy.

The Giant Fire Elemental, as its name suggests, is an enlarged version of the fire elemental, about five to six meters tall. It contains the essence of fire and possesses the strength of a Level 2 beginner wizard. Its innate wizardry spells are group fireballs and ignite. Its weakness is that it is easily injured by water-based energy.

Upon seeing this, a smile appeared on Richard's lips, indicating that his previous guess was correct.

The elemental creatures in the Scorched Earth Secret Realm are mostly fire-elemental, and their weakness is that they are easily injured by water-elemental energy. It seems that the Lake Tokar fishmen, whom I have taken as my vassals, will be able to play a good role in the future.

However, the strength of the murlocs under his command is currently a bit weak. The murloc prophet Gorkan has reached the level of a formal wizard, which is barely qualified.

However, Fingart is currently at the limit of a level three wizard apprentice. It would be great if he could advance to the next level.

Having two assistants who are formal wizards skilled in water magic will make things much easier once you enter the Scorched Earth Secret Realm.

As for the issue of automatically dispersing under the rules of the secret realm after entering?

Large wizarding organizations, including the Grey Dwarf Brotherhood, had already devised some solutions to this problem.

For example, the Grey Dwarf Brotherhood created a special magical artifact for transmitting sound, the Communication Stone, which allows them to communicate in areas with minimal interference, thereby gathering team members.

If the two people are not far apart within the secret realm and the environmental interference is not severe, the magical marks left between first-level wizards can be used to communicate directly.

This morning, Richard did not go to the alchemy room at the Grey Dwarf Brotherhood headquarters again, or to the headquarters archives to look up information. Instead, he waited at home.

Yesterday, Dessall invited Richard to attend a formal salon for wizards.

This salon was a small, informal gathering of friends, with only six or seven people, all of whom were considered friends of Dessall.

Although Richard is only a first-level wizard from a mental strength perspective, some of Dessol's friends are very interested in him because of his outstanding performance three days ago.

Therefore, several people asked Dessall to invite Richard to the exchange meeting.

Otherwise, based solely on his own abilities, Richard would probably need to reach at least the mid-level of the first tier to have a chance to participate in such a high-end salon.

The location agreed upon by the salon was a rather large villa, which, according to Dessall, was the private property of his friend and salon founder, Ms. Fana.

Upon entering, Richard was greeted by a beautifully dressed grey dwarf noblewoman at the door.

The noblewoman wore a puffy skirt with a corset belt, and a wide-necked top that revealed a large expanse of snow-white skin, which immediately captivated Dessol's gaze for a long time.

The grey dwarf noblewoman said in a sweet voice, "Lord Dissol, Lord Livi, please follow me. Our master is already waiting for you inside."

Richard was quite surprised that the other party could call him by his name so easily. It seemed that the host had come prepared. Although the lady's high-pitched voice was a bit unbearable for him, judging from Dessol's expression, he knew that he really liked this kind of delicate high-pitched voice.

At that moment, Dessall whispered in Richard's ear, "How about it? Not bad, right? This is Fana's housekeeper. I've asked Fana for her so many times, but she's never agreed to give it to me."

Richard was speechless for a moment. Did you think you didn't have enough concubines at home?

After looking Desol up and down, he shook his head and sighed inwardly, "The physique of the gray dwarves is truly a gift. If it were an ordinary human, let alone a dozen or so, they wouldn't be able to handle even a fraction of them!"

Before long, the two followed the noblewoman to a magnificently decorated hall. On the walls around the hall hung many heads of powerful monsters, much like human nobles who liked to display their power by displaying the heads of their enemies.

On the dining table in the center of the hall, some fruits and delicacies were neatly arranged, and four wizards with auras clearly at the high level of the first rank were chatting.

"Dissol, you've finally arrived!"

"Dissol, you're late today. This must be Master Li Wei, right?" A graceful woman who was less than 1.2 meters tall walked over.

"Wow, she's so short!" Richard exclaimed in shock as he began to carefully observe the woman in front of him.

Her shoulders were much narrower than those of Desor's dozen or so concubines. She was not stout, but her face was delicate, and she did not have the bulky appearance of an ordinary gray dwarf woman.

Richard felt like she was a miniature version of a normal human woman.

Dissol clearly noticed the shock in Richard's eyes and laughed heartily, "Richard, this is Ms. Fana, a very rare dwarf witch, and her knowledge of puppetry is probably the most profound among us."

As expected, they weren't of the same race as the dozen or so concubines of Dissol; they were dwarfs after all!

After carefully recalling what was recorded in the book, it seems that the gray dwarves and gnomes shared a common ancestor in ancient times, but gradually evolved and diverged into two races.

Richard was also seeing a living dwarf for the first time, and he couldn't help but be very curious, taking a few more glances.

"Master Levi, in the tradition of dwarfs, staring at a lady is not very polite," said Ms. Fana, blinking her large eyes that seemed disproportionate to her size.

"Lady Fana, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm so sorry, but to be honest, this is the first time I've ever seen a dwarf witch."

"Please forgive my rudeness. By the way, this is a small gift I specially prepared for the beautiful lady."

Richard coughed to cover his embarrassment and took out a small glass jar from his pocket. Inside were golden, granular objects—more than ten golden horned frog eggs.

"Hey! Is this the Golden Horned Frog egg that made Lord Richard famous a few days ago?" Fana's eyes lit up, and she happily accepted Richard's little gift.

"That's beautiful, thank you Master Li Wei, but I'll have to decline."

Sure enough, women of all races love shiny things.

Fana immediately opened the lid of the glass jar, carefully picked up a golden horned frog egg with her two slender little fingers, and examined it curiously.

Richard knew that it wasn't that the dwarf lady, Fana, was particularly greedy; rather, according to ancient records, in dwarf etiquette, gifts from guests should be opened on the spot to show respect.

Fana was surprised to find that the devil horned frog eggs, which should have been incredibly soft and smooth, felt completely different from what she remembered. They seemed to have become crispy, like the crispiness of deep-fried eggs.

The next second, Fana put a golden horned frog egg into her cherry-like mouth.

One chew, and her beautiful eyes lit up instantly!

Fana took a light bite and immediately experienced a burst of pleasure.

At the same time, all the taste buds on her tongue were completely occupied by an extremely delicious flavor.

My entire mouth was constantly screaming, "Incredibly delicious! So good! Fantastic!"

The next second, Fana took out another pill and put it in her mouth.

After taking three pills in a row, he stopped and exclaimed, "Lord Li Wei, you've given me a real problem!"

"Oh?" Richard asked, looking puzzled.

"Your golden horned frog eggs are absolutely delicious! I've realized that all the food I've prepared for everyone is just rubbish and should be thrown in the trash," Fana said, feigning sadness.

Immediately, everyone present burst into laughter.

Richard laughed along with him.

It's been a long time since I've experienced such a relaxed atmosphere.

Richard had given careful consideration to the choice of golden horned frog eggs as a small gift.

First, I was drawn to the exquisite taste of the golden horned frog eggs. Anyone who has never tried them before will be amazed upon their first taste.

Secondly, the production difficulty is high enough. Of course, Richard does not believe that only he can make it, but if other alchemy masters make it, the selling price will inevitably be extremely high. Therefore, as a gift, it is in line with his status as an alchemy master.

Finally, a dozen or so scattered eggs can be given as gifts, the cost of which is negligible for Richard. After all, devil horned frog eggs are not valuable; the greatest added value lies in the alchemist's superb skills.

Although everyone present was a formal wizard, consuming the Golden Horned Frog Egg would offer little benefit to their bodies, unlike during their wizarding apprenticeship, when it could enhance their sensitivity to dark elemental energy particles in the outside world.

However, its excellent taste and slight nutritional benefits still make it very popular.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Dessol and Richard followed Fana to the center of the hall and took their seats.

Fana lightly leaped onto the high chair and said, "Now that everyone is here, let's begin our exchange. First, let me introduce Master Li Wei."

"Master Levi, this is the sorcerer Senesa, skilled in puppet making."

With Fana's introduction, the exchange began in a pleasant atmosphere.

As this was Richard's first time attending such a wizarding gathering, he mostly just listened and rarely offered his own opinions.

Moreover, after listening for a while, he felt that it was very beneficial.

"Desol, the biggest challenge in your idea of ​​installing water-based magic jets on the Obsidian combat golems is the energy issue."

"The Underdark rarely produces water-based crystal cores. Even with the jetting device installed, the cost would be extremely high," said Snesar, a wizard who was also a grey dwarf.

Obsidian combat puppet? Richard's ears perked up. He had briefly looked through the introduction to puppetry in the past few days and knew that this kind of puppet could be considered a high-level combat puppet.

Obsidian's properties mean that obsidian combat golems have extremely high resistance to all types of magic, making them one of the top choices for level one wizards who are skilled in puppetry.

Whether fighting other wizards, monsters, or elemental creatures, the Obsidian Battle Golem can handle it all.

The only drawback is that the Obsidian Combat Golem is a pure melee golem with no ranged attack capabilities, so it will be at a disadvantage when facing a prepared opponent.

But what did he just hear? To install a water-based magic jet device on the obsidian combat golem?

The installation must be extremely difficult, but it seems that the wizard Senesa in front of us already has a basic idea.

Li realized that he really needed to consider learning puppetry.

After all, one can control a powerful puppet by consuming only a small amount of mental energy, and the advantage is self-evident.

If I could also possess one or more high-level combat puppets, I believe the exploration of the Scorched Earth Secret Realm could be accelerated sooner.

While owning a high-level combat puppet doesn't necessarily mean you have to make it yourself, it's clear that no wizard would completely trust a puppet made by someone else. At the very least, the wizard who controls the puppet in battle must have some knowledge of puppetry.

Otherwise, if they suddenly go berserk or rebel during battle, then we're doomed.

Therefore, most wizards who control puppets in battle are themselves experts in puppet making. Even if they buy a puppet, they will carefully examine it and be able to find the hidden door left by the maker.

As the discussion continued, Richard heard more about puppetry.

Of course, the above discussion is limited to ideas or directions, as well as opinions on material replacement for some parts, and does not involve the complete blueprints for making a puppet.

If you want to buy the complete crafting blueprints for a puppet, or a puppet with a strong personal style, you'll need to wait until the second part of the gathering, the trading session, when you can trade freely.

"By the way, Angelis, I have an idea about the Cleansing Elixir that we discussed last time, which shortens the residual period of blood essence," Fana said eloquently.

Huh! A Cleansing Elixir that can shorten the residual period of blood essence? This immediately gave Richard a jolt of excitement; there was actually such an elixir.

After listening to the explanation, Richard understood that the drug already existed, and its effects were not as powerful as Richard had imagined; it could only reduce the residual period by about one-fifth.

This means that the original five-month period of blood essence retention was shortened to four months after taking the Cleansing Elixir.

Well, the effect is definitely better than nothing, but it's only slightly better than nothing.

What Fana and the others were discussing this time was a plan to improve the potion by replacing some of its raw materials to achieve a stronger effect.

"By the way, Master Levi, potion making is your area of ​​expertise, wouldn't you like to share your thoughts?" Fana turned to Richard and said with a smile.

"Ms. Fana, improving the potion formula is quite difficult. I may need to conduct a lot of experiments before I can give an accurate opinion," Richard said after thinking for a while.

Intuitively, Richard felt that Fana's suggestion to replace one of the ingredients, honeysuckle, with water hyacinth was quite feasible.

However, with pharmaceuticals, a change in one raw material can trigger a chain reaction.

Richard also has a vague feeling that it is highly likely, but he is still not confident enough to confirm it and will need to try multiple times.

"Wow! Master Levi also thinks my plan is feasible? That's great!" Fana looked at Richard with great excitement.

"Master Li Wei, how about we collaborate? You, me, and Angelis, the three of us working together."

Richard hesitated for a moment. Although he could improve the Cleansing Potion on his own with the help of the Inspiration Panel, it would take some time.

Sometimes, it's quite necessary to increase one's influence in Tug City by making some collaborations and friends.

Richard immediately nodded in agreement.

"That's wonderful! Cheers, Master Li Wei, it's been a pleasure working with you!" Fana said happily, raising her glass.

(End of this chapter)