Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 212

"If there's really no other way, then I'll have to sell another 10% of my shares and seek cooperation with Fana," Richard said with a wry smile.

"Haha, most of us gray dwarf wizard apprentices are more affinity-wise to dark and fire elements. Wizards and wizard apprentices with natural affinity-wise are indeed very rare."

"However, if you leave this question to me, is it enough to just have a level three wizard apprentice with a natural affinity? It seems that among the younger generation of my family, there are two level three wizard apprentices whose talents are mainly in the natural affinity category. Let me think, they should be studying in the Dark Swamp Wetlands right now."

After thinking for a moment, Dessol said.

Richard was immediately delighted and smiled:

"That's wonderful, Dissol. It would be best if your family had suitable heirs, and it would also minimize any problems with secrecy. By the way, regarding the cultivation site for hops, Dissol, where do you think would be a suitable location?"

"From a convenience standpoint, it would be best to set it up in your villa." Richard looked Dessol up and down his villa.

Desol's villa was almost twice the size of his, and the Dark Area was devoid of sunlight, relying entirely on the radiation from the Flame Stone.

Therefore, by simply converting a basement or wine cellar and placing firestones of appropriate strength inside, it can become a great lighthouse.

Hops thrive in long hours of sunlight; sunlight, or radiation, can promote their rapid growth.

However, hops do not like high temperatures, so when using firestones for light radiation, it is necessary to cool down the light room. This is why, after careful research, Richard felt that it was still necessary to add a wizard apprentice with water elemental affinity.

Many basic water-based spells or level 0 magic have excellent heat-relieving effects.

"Is it for secrecy and to reduce transportation costs? Then let's modify the cellar, but I don't know if it'll be big enough?" Dissol thought for a moment and asked.

After all, he wasn't an expert in cultivating hops.

"That's more than enough. We can set up multiple shelves for multi-layered cultivation." Richard had been to the cellar on the first basement floor of the Dessault Villa.

If it's just one layer, the area might be a little insufficient. However, if you set up an iron frame and cultivate the hops in two layers, the area will be more than enough.

Based on the height of the Dessall family's cellar, there is basically no problem with cultivating hops on three layers of iron racks, which also leaves room for future expansion of hop cultivation in larger quantities.

Now that both matters had been resolved, Richard bid farewell to Dessol.

Just as Richard was about to leave, Dessall slapped his forehead and said:

"By the way, Li Wei, if you really plan to go to the Scorched Earth Secret Realm, be careful of the strangers inside. Sometimes, strangers there can be more terrifying than the elemental creatures."

"Recently, I've heard that there have been more cases of wizards going missing in the Scorched Earth Secret Realm. However, due to the harsh environment of the Scorched Earth Secret Realm, with energy radiation and interference everywhere, it is difficult to find out the truth even if tracking-type witchcraft is used from the outside."

This immediately left Richard speechless.

Missing?

Is it because of the elemental creatures inside, or...

Richard instinctively thought of the Nightmare Church.

Richard shook his head inwardly. "It shouldn't be," he thought.

Since the Nightmare Church priest was killed last time, order has been restored in Tug City in the past few days, and it is even better than before.

In the past few days, the city guards have turned Tuge City upside down and conducted a citywide search for three consecutive days.

Some deeply hidden cult members were also exposed one by one.

"Thanks, Dessol, my brother. I'll be careful," Richard said, patting Dessol's broad shoulder.

-

three days later.

The alchemy room on the second basement floor of the villa.

Richard stared at the bottle of blue potion in his hand, a color that was clearly different from ordinary cleansing potions, and murmured to himself.

"This is a super cleansing potion I concocted that can shorten the residual period by half; this is the side effect."

However, Richard did not hesitate for long. He gritted his teeth and drank the blue refreshing potion in one gulp!

Instantly, a spicy taste filled my mouth, the spiciness of which was almost like a strong vodka mixed with a large amount of ghost peppers from my previous life.

This pungent sensation was almost unbearable even for a wizard whose senses were greatly enhanced!

As the liquid flowed, Richard felt his mouth, esophagus, and stomach begin to burn.

The pain began to spread to every part of Richard's body; his face turned red, his expression became ferocious, and the veins on his neck bulged.

In just a few seconds, Richard's forehead was drenched in sweat, and his chest and back were completely soaked!

Wisps of pale green mist slowly seeped from Richard's skin, constantly changing shapes in the air.

Finally, one could vaguely make out that they were tiny, illusory images of swamp giants.

This must be the culprit behind the bloodline residual period!

At this moment, every second felt like an eternity to Richard.

After an unknown amount of time, Richard was drenched in sweat, his wizard robes were soaked through, but large beads of sweat continued to drip from his forehead.

However, Richard could feel a slight sense of relaxation deep within his body.

It felt like every pore on my body was completely opened, cleansing my soul of all impurities.

Essentially, the Cleansing Elixir is similar to a detoxifying agent, expelling the spiritual impurities that accumulate deep within the body after the burning of blood vessels.

After a long while, Richard felt physically tired, but his spirits were exceptionally high.

Once this super-cleansing potion is taken, the body develops a strong resistance to it, making subsequent doses almost ineffective.

However, Richard himself felt that most of the bloodline residue from the swamp giant had been eliminated.

Based on the current pace, the rest should be ready in about half a month.

If that's the case, it's time to check out the Scorched Earth Secret Realm.

Everything is ready, and he plans to take Gorkan to the Scorched Earth Secret Realm tomorrow.

However, he still decided to have Stephanie stay at home as well.

According to Desor, within the Scorched Earth Secret Realm, the scorching heat alone is something that even a wizarding apprentice cannot withstand if they are not a formal wizard.

The next morning.

Richard led Gorkan to the last floor of the Grey Dwarf Brotherhood headquarters.

Just yesterday, Richard learned that the four large wizarding organizations in the city all had underground passages that could directly connect to the teleportation array area of ​​the Scorched Earth Secret Realm.

As for other small and medium-sized wizarding organizations, they do not have this foundation and need to go to the monument located in the center of Tug City to enter.

It seems that, just as described in the ancient texts, the entrance to this scorched earth secret realm is indeed very large, occupying nearly a quarter of the city of Tug.

Standing on the floating platform, I swiped the mithril insignia, and the platform quickly descended to the last level.

This made Richard quite impressed; the gray dwarves' mechanical skills were almost on par with those of the 19th century in his previous life.

If you also consider the power of magic stones, it's definitely at the level of the early stages of the Second Industrial Revolution.

Having just reached the last level and jumped off the floating platform, Richard clearly felt the temperature rise.

Looking around, one could see a long passage stretching into the distance directly ahead. Inside the semi-circular passage were flame stones, making it quite brightly lit, but there was a light membrane blocking the entrance.

Richard took out the mithril emblem from his hand and gently touched it to the light membrane at the entrance of the passage. The light membrane rippled like waves.

Richard and Gorkan immediately stepped into the light membrane.

When he first squeezed in, he felt a sensation of water squeezing his skin, but after stepping over it, he returned to normal. The next second, Richard felt a wave of scorching air rushing towards him.

It feels like stepping into a blacksmith's shop where something is being forged in a lively and bustling process!

Richard was startled. He had always thought that such a rapid rise in air temperature would only occur after entering the Scorched Earth Secret Realm.

Unexpectedly, even near the entrance to the Scorched Earth Secret Realm—no, it should be quite a distance away—the temperature was close to forty degrees Celsius.

"Water Film Technique!" Gorkan uttered a short incantation and made a light swirl with his right hand.

Richard felt a sudden chill as a thin film of water rippled around him, as if he were enveloped in a large bubble.

Being inside the water film, I could clearly feel much cooler.

"Master, this is a level zero water-based spell that can insulate against temperatures not exceeding one hundred degrees Celsius," Gorkan said respectfully.

Immediately afterwards, Gorkan cast a water shield on himself as well. Compared to Richard, it seemed that the fish-men found the hot environment even more unbearable.

Richard nodded. It seemed to be as he had expected; bringing a water-type wizard into the Scorched Earth Secret Realm would make things much easier.

On both sides of the narrow passage, which was only three or four people wide, there were small fire stones for lighting. After walking along the long passage for no less than ten minutes, Richard and Gorkan faintly heard voices coming from not far away.

After walking for a few more minutes, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

A spacious hall, tens of meters high, appeared before Richard and Gorkan. The entire hall was surrounded by irregular black stones that faintly emitted a pale red glow.

As soon as Richard and Gorkan entered the hall, they felt a wave of heat hit them, and the temperature rose further, from about forty degrees Celsius in the corridor to an extremely hot temperature of nearly fifty degrees Celsius.

Moreover, there seemed to be a faint smell of sulfur in the air, which was slightly pungent.

Upon closer inspection, Richard saw that the hall covered an area of ​​at least tens of thousands of square meters, with a dark door more than twenty meters high standing in the center of the hall.

The iron gate is covered with all sorts of strange symbols and patterns, exuding a mysterious and ancient aura.

However, Richard immediately noticed that the door was not completely sealed, but rather slightly ajar, revealing a gap.

This piqued Richard's curiosity.

At the entrance to the gate, there was a six-pointed star magic circle, and a squad of gray dwarf soldiers dressed as the city guards of Tug City were on guard around the perimeter. The person in charge seemed to be an elderly gray dwarf in a black robe.

In the open space at the entrance, a dozen or so wizards stood scattered about, chatting in twos and threes.

Richard only glanced at them briefly before discovering that almost all of these wizards were high-level level one wizards, with two of them even being top-level level one wizards.

It seems that what Dissol said was true; the exploration of this scorched earth secret realm was indeed mainly undertaken by high-level level one wizards.

As Richard and Gorkan entered the hall and walked towards the teleportation array, they attracted the attention of many wizards present.

"Huh, they came from the Grey Dwarf Brotherhood's private passage. It's actually a rare human wizard and merman wizard," a brown-haired grey dwarf witch exclaimed in surprise.

"Dina, why do I feel that the auras of these two alien races are a bit weak? They both seem to be at the initial stage of level one?" An old steel-maned gray-bearded dwarf said after looking at Richard and Gorkan with a puzzled expression.

"Sadio, your perception is absolutely correct. These two alien races are indeed both at the initial stage of level one," the gray dwarf witch named Dina said with certainty after a few seconds.

"What are they here for? Are they here for sightseeing?" The gray dwarf elder named Sadio waved his incredibly thick, heavy iron hammer.

Because of the gray dwarf's loud voice, the sound spread instantly. Although Sadio may not have meant it, many of the wizards around him chuckled.

Richard and Gorkan, of course, heard it!

Gorkan's face flushed slightly, but Richard remained calm, pretending not to have heard anything.

Richard strode towards the six-pointed star magic circle guarded by the city's defenders and spoke to the black-robed, gray-dwarf wizard in charge:

"Hello, we two would like to enter the Scorched Earth Secret Realm. How much is the teleportation fee?"

The man in the black robe glanced at Richard and Gorkan, then asked with a puzzled look:

"I see you're from the Grey Dwarf Brotherhood, right? Didn't they tell you that the Scorched Earth is unsuitable for wizards below the high-level one?"

"Um, I'm quite curious about the Scorched Earth Secret Realm, so I'd like to go in and take a look. By the way, did you also buy the teleportation stone from you?" Richard said with a smile.

The man in black robes suddenly realized something, and immediately, the way he looked at Richard and the other man changed.

So they were tourists. No wonder they dared to come at the first-level rank.

However, a wealthy customer who can spend 40,000 magic stones at once is a popular person anywhere.

"One teleportation stone costs 20,000 magic stones, two stones for a total of 40,000." The black-robed man took two stone pieces, each about half the size of a palm and bearing strange runes in the center, from the side and handed them to Richard.

Richard took it and examined it carefully. The stone slab had a warm, smooth feel to it, and was also a little hot. A strange rune emitting a pale green light was flickering on and off.

He could sense the runic energy contained within it.

"If you encounter any danger, immediately crush the teleportation stone, and it will teleport you back instantly," the black-robed man thoughtfully instructed.

"By the way, I suggest you always keep the teleportation stone in your hand. That way you'll have time to react if anything unexpected happens. There have been cases before where newly minted wizards who came to broaden their horizons were killed by elemental creatures before they even had a chance to take out their teleportation stones."

"Thank you for reminding me." Richard bowed slightly.

"So they really are tourists, huh? They're damn rich!" The gray dwarf elder named Sadio stared wide-eyed at Richard and his companion. Forty thousand magic stones was no small sum anywhere.

Therefore, it's rare to see a wizard who's purely seeking knowledge, but I never expected to encounter one today.

"But when did the Grey Dwarf Brotherhood acquire such a wealthy human wizard?"

"I'm not sure, maybe they just arrived recently."

Richard and Gorkan stepped onto the teleportation array. The black-robed gray dwarf chanted a short incantation, and instantly, a white light flashed, and the two disappeared from the teleportation array.

(End of this chapter)