Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 213 Discovery

After a dizzying spin, Richard felt as if he had arrived in a region completely unsuitable for human habitation.

The ground around him was composed of bare, uneven rocks, all black in color. Nearly a hundred meters in front of him, there were many cracks in the ground, from which hot sulfurous gases would occasionally hiss out.

The ground gradually turned dark red from near to far, which should be a sign that the ground was being scorched by high temperatures.

As far as the eye could see, Richard could even see areas of red lava pools, with a faint sense of liquid flowing through them, and it seemed that there were traces of elemental creatures in the distance.

"Pop!"

As the water film that Gorkan had applied to his body disappeared without a trace.

Richard immediately felt the heat wave hitting him, which was at least 60 or 70 degrees Celsius, even hotter than the core of the Sahara Desert during its hottest period. Every breath he took was accompanied by a burning sensation in his nasal cavity.

"Hiss! This temperature! Luckily I was prepared."

Although Richard was mentally prepared for the harsh environment of the Scorched Earth Secret Realm, he did not expect it to be this bad.

Moreover, Richard concluded after casually surveying his surroundings that he was clearly on the edge of the Scorched Earth Secret Realm.

Immediately, Richard took out a basic flame protection potion from his pocket, drank it, and instantly a thin film of flame appeared on his body, which absorbed a lot of the heat from the scorching air surging around him.

This made Richard feel much better.

Based on the trace of soul imprint that Gorkan had given him, Richard was basically certain that Gorkan was not far from him.

It seems I'm quite lucky; the two of us should be able to reunite soon.

Since that's the case, there's no need to use the previously prepared positioning device; Richard plans to try contacting people directly using the communication mark.

The closer the distance between wizards, the stronger their resistance to interference.

Richard quickly drew a simple, fish-head-like symbol in the air, infused it with a wisp of spiritual energy, and began to try to contact Gorkan.

"Gorkan, how's the situation on your end? Can you sense my location?" Richard asked in a deep voice.

"Master, I can sense that you should be to my east, not far away. I'm doing alright here, except I've encountered some small rolling stone elementals that are chasing me. I need to deal with them first."

"Oh, damn it!!"

Suddenly, a scream came from within the mark!

This immediately made Richard frown. It seemed that the situation was not as easy to handle as Gorkan had said. It seemed that he had better go and provide assistance.

Small rolling stone element?

It seems to be just an elemental creature at the apprentice level. Surely Gorkan isn't that useless? He can't even handle this!

Richard shook his head as he recalled the description of the small rolling stone element.

"Gorkan, be careful. I'll head towards your location; we should meet up soon."

As soon as Richard withdrew this wisp of mental energy, the communication mark immediately dissipated into the air.

After getting a quick sense of direction, Richard immediately headed towards where Gorkan was.

but

After walking a short distance, Richard began to sense that he was being watched.

It seemed as if some kind of creature was secretly observing him.

Richard immediately stopped in his tracks.

"Whoosh!" A black line suddenly shot from the ground on the left towards Richard's face.

"Clang!" In an instant, the mimicry bracers transformed into a silver arm shield, deflecting the attack.

Richard looked closely and realized that what he had just parried was actually a small snake with a dark red body and bright eyes like two tiny obsidian stones.

At that moment, the little snake was flicking its red tongue at him, looking quite angry.

"Lava snake." Richard immediately identified the species.

He just didn't expect that lava snakes would appear so far away from the lava pool.

"Whoosh!" The opponent launched another attack.

"Clang!" Richard didn't hold back this time. He used his left arm shield to strike the lava snake's head hard. Instantly, the lava snake was stunned and fell to the ground.

The next second, the silver arm shield quickly transformed into a sharp longsword and thrust straight in!

"Ding!"

The lava snake was pinned firmly to the hard ground. The intense pain jolted it awake from its dizziness, and its slender body began to writhe uncontrollably.

"What tenacious vitality! It was stabbed in the vital spot and it still didn't die. Moreover, its skin is tough, and it felt like piercing rubber when it was stabbed," Richard muttered to himself.

"If a wizard apprentice had come in, unless they possessed the strength and agility of a high-ranking knight or higher, that sudden attack alone could have cost them their life!"

"This is only the outermost edge of the Scorched Earth Secret Realm!"

I wonder how many more dangerous creatures await me as I explore.

"Moreover, my level one early-stage wizard aura couldn't even frighten the lava serpent. It even dared to launch an attack, which is truly rare among creatures."

"The key point is, after killing it, there were no energy points!!"

Richard has already checked it twice.

Yes, there were no energy points after the Lava Serpent was killed!

This surprised Richard quite a bit, and he had some suspicions in his mind.

Could it be that the other party is not a monster, but an elemental creature?

Furthermore, this lava snake is clearly a relatively low-level lava snake.

According to ancient texts, lava snakes like to live near magma, absorbing the energy contained in the magma to grow stronger. Their size and strength are directly proportional, and the redder their body color, the stronger they are.

This lava snake has a dull black body and is only a little over a meter long. It is obviously a weak one among lava snakes, otherwise it would not have been pushed from the lava area to this edge.

After a moment's thought, to avoid being caught off guard, Richard decided to stop hiding his strength and immediately began chanting an incantation.

A reverse pentagram magic array quickly appeared on the ground.

The next second, a three-meter-tall skeletal creature appeared on the witch array.

It is the Blood Bone Puppet!

Richard had the Bloodbone Golem lead the way, while he followed closely behind, heading towards Gorkan.

Seemingly because of the intimidating aura of the Blood Bone Puppet, Richard continued on his way for more than ten minutes without encountering any more attacks from the Lava Serpents.

So it seems that it's very likely not that the lava serpent is unafraid of strong opponents, but rather that its own first-level wizard aura is not strong enough!

Not enough to frighten the lava snake.

A moment later, Richard saw a familiar figure rushing toward him—or rather, rushing toward him in a panic.

Behind Gorkan, a water shield was constantly being attacked, rippling incessantly.

Behind him were several round stones, each about the size of a washbasin. Surprisingly, the surface of the stones seemed to have a male face, baring its teeth and shouting something.

Meanwhile, behind Gorkan, Richard could also see faintly flickering black lines, which seemed to be lava snakes, attacking the water shield behind Gorkan.

This sight left Richard speechless; he hadn't expected Gorkan's fighting strength to be so weak!

"Go!" Richard pointed.

The Blood Bone Puppet quickly went to meet it.

Upon seeing the blood-bone golem, Gorkan was overjoyed and cried out, "Master, I'm over here!"

"Whoosh!" Several more black lines attacked Gorkan from the side.

"Ouch!" Gorkan's protective gear finally gave way, and a lava snake instantly broke through it, biting his arm hard.

Fortunately, the Blood Bone Puppet had arrived by then.

"Swish!!"

The sharp bone blades on the Bloodbone Puppet's forearms instantly sliced ​​several lava snakes chasing Gorkan in two.

Half of the lava snake's body fell to the ground, still writhing, but no blood was seen flowing out.

The blood-bone puppet did not stop, continuing to swing its bone blades at the surrounding basin-sized stones, basically one stone per cut.

"Slap! Slap!!"

The small rolling stone elements shattered into pieces, their surfaces radiating fear, and the remaining stones immediately scattered like birds and beasts.

But how could their speed compare to that of the Bloodbone Golem?

The Bloodbone Golem strode forward, catching up in just a few steps and shattering all the stone elements!

There are no energy points available either!

Richard understood; it seemed the creatures in the Scorched Earth Secret Realm would most likely not provide him with energy points.

"Master!" Gorkan cried out, clutching the wound on his right arm.

Richard shook his head slightly. Gorkan, this merman prophet, has been doing this for too long, and he's usually busy making potions. He's probably neglected his combat skills for a long time.

"Let me take a look at your arm."

Two small red dots were visible on Gorkan's arm, gushing blood. The red dots were likely left by the fangs of a lava snake. The area around the dots was gradually turning dark red and small blisters were forming.

"Master, this seems to contain fire poison."

Richard nodded, agreeing with Gorkan's assessment: "That's right, did you bring the antidote?"

"I brought it."

"Then drink it!"

"Gulp, gulp!"

"By the way, Gorkan, the creature chasing you just now was a small rolling stone elemental, an earth elemental creature with the strength of an apprentice. It wasn't very strong. How did you get it?" Richard couldn't help but ask.

Gorkan blushed and stammered as he explained:

"Master, if it were just one or two, I could handle them easily, but there are a few lava snakes mixed in. If I panic, I..."

At this moment, Gorkan felt a wave of fear. In fact, if he had played it safe and picked off the enemies one by one at the beginning, he wouldn't have been in such a sorry state.

However, he adopted the wrong strategy, thinking he could shake off the small rolling stone elementals and lava snakes. Unexpectedly, he attracted more and more elemental creatures while running.

Ultimately, this led to a complete lack of courage to stop fighting.

Richard was speechless for a moment after hearing this. He shook his head, made a slight adjustment, and then the two of them continued to move forward.

After all, killing such a small elemental creature that doesn't even have crystals is pointless.

As we went deeper, the smell of sulfur in the surroundings became increasingly pungent, but thankfully we had the Gorkan water membrane technique.

After a thin film enveloped their bodies, the air they inhaled was cooled and filtered, making their breathing much more comfortable.

Richard glanced at Gorkan and thought to himself, "It seems he's not entirely useless. Consider it as bringing an air conditioner!"

But when it comes to fighting, I'll have to do it myself.

After passing through a passageway, a pool of bubbling lava came into view not far away.

Dozens of bright red lava snakes were seen standing upright, flicking their red tongues, leisurely soaking in the lava. From a distance, the scene looked like a field of red sorghum.

These lava snakes were much larger than the ones we had just encountered.

The lava snakes Richard had encountered before were only about the thickness of two fingers, but now each of these lava snakes was at least as thick as a thigh, much stronger.

Moreover, their bodies are bright red, indicating that the strength of this batch of lava snakes is close to the limit of a wizard apprentice.

"Shh!"

Richard gestured for silence to Gorkan and pointed in the direction of the lava pool.

Gorkan turned his head slightly and was immediately stunned!

"Hiss! So many lava snakes!" Gorkan exclaimed in horror.

With so many lava snakes, if you get attracted to them, I'm afraid...

The two quickly bypassed the group of lava snakes, turned a corner, and continued on their way.

Suddenly, a dull rolling sound came from beside a huge black rock, like the sound of rough stones rubbing against each other.

"not good!"

Just as Richard was about to retreat and hide, the creature behind the black boulder seemed to sense something and suddenly sped out.

A large round stone, over two meters tall and with a human-shaped upper body, rolled out from behind the giant black rock. At the very top of this elemental creature was a round stone the size of a washbasin, and the face of a middle-aged man was faintly visible on the surface of the stone.

The body is a large, round boulder with a diameter of two meters, and on either side are a pair of thick, humanoid arms made entirely of irregular rocks.

The round stones that make up its body are not the kind of smooth stones that have been polished, but rather the kind of stones with rough surfaces and irregular polygonal shapes.

Especially the arms, the irregular protruding stones resemble bulging, solid muscles, making the arms look extremely thick, strong, and powerful.

The entire body is made of stone, except for the lower half.

However, the other party did indeed "roll out"!

Because there is a group of smaller round stones at the bottom of the large round stone, each about the size of a human head, the large round stone is quickly moved to the designated position by using the principle of rolling. So, despite its large size and weight, it moves very fast.

"Intruder, die!" A strange mental energy fluctuation came.

The meaning contained in the fluctuations of mental energy instantly made Richard and Gorkan understand that the other side was about to launch an attack.

"Master! It's a large rolling stone elemental!" Gorkan quickly reminded him, and swiftly cast a diamond-shaped transparent shield formed by flowing water in front of him.

Richard quickly dodged and hid behind the tall blood bone puppet.

At the same time, he silently recited the magic armor spell, and a black bone armor with spikes instantly covered Richard's entire body.

However, perhaps due to the influence of the surrounding environment, Richard felt that the water shield spell cast by Gorkan was much less powerful than usual. In the past, the water shield spell cast by Gorkan was much larger and thicker than it was now.

Just as Gorkan was about to cast a water shield spell on Richard as well, the large rolling stone elemental on the other side raised its hands above its head, and the next second, a stone the size of a washbasin suddenly condensed between its thick hands.

His thick arms held the stone like a catapult, tilting it backwards, and suddenly, he hurled it heavily at Gorkan, who was performing the spell!

A whooshing sound as it cut through the air.

The stone flew at breakneck speed, leaving only a gray streak in mid-air!

Richard was about to warn Gorkan, but before he could finish speaking, Gorkan was struck by a stone.

"Snapped!"

Gorkan was like a straw; he was instantly folded in half by the blow, sent flying several meters, and crashed heavily to the ground.

The water shield in front of it shattered the instant it touched the rapidly approaching rock.

That attack power!

Richard's eyes narrowed and his face turned serious as the large rolling stone element delivered this "stone throw"!

Richard kept his eyes fixed on the other person while helping Gorkan up.

Fortunately, Gorkan had the water shield to block the attack, so his injuries were not serious, but his face was pale, probably because he had broken several ribs.

Clearly, the opponent's attack was so fast that it must have been due to its innate ability.

A talent ability similar to earth-based sorcery—the Stone Mantra—that condenses stones almost instantly, but the opponent has to lean back and charge up for about a second.

"Whoosh!!"

Upon seeing the round stone at the very top of the large rolling stone elemental that had just achieved its goal of throwing stones, a surprisingly human-like smile appeared on its surface.

At the same time, it swung its thick arm, and suddenly a bunch of small rolling stones appeared behind it, rushing towards Richard.

Clearly, the other party possessed a certain level of intelligence, but since they started fighting as soon as they met, Richard did not intend to try to communicate again.

Just in time, Richard also wanted to test the combat power of his newly created Bloodbone Golem.

So Richard waved his hand, and the Blood Bone Puppet charged forward with great strides.

At this moment, the group of small rolling stone elements also "rolled" towards Richard.

"Use Spiral Slash!" Richard commanded the Bloodbone Puppet.

"Swish!"

The sharp bone blades on the joints of the Blood Bone Puppet's elbows and knees shot out instantly, like cat claws.

The Blood Bone Puppet immediately stretched out its arms, placing the bone blades on the outermost sides. Its entire body spun rapidly like a top, creating a storm of bone blades that directly attacked the small rolling stone elemental.

"Crackling and popping!"

The outermost bone blades of the Bloodbone Golem are extremely sharp and hard; they can shatter rocks instantly if they even slightly grazed a small rolling stone elemental.

In just a few seconds, the ground was a mess, with more than a dozen small rolling stone elements shattered.

This caused the massive rolling stone elemental to emit a violent mental shockwave: "My children! Damn enemy, you will pay the price!"

The large rolling stone elemental raised its arms high as if to throw, and instantly a round stone condensed between its hands. Just as it was about to throw it at the blood bone golem!

But he was completely stunned on the spot.

It was Richard from behind who unleashed the "mental shock" upon him!

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Bloodbone Golem quickly approached the large rolling stone elemental.

"Clap clap clap!"

The bone blades slashed repeatedly at the surface of the large rolling stone elemental's rock, instantly sending sparks flying!

Even large rolling stone elements cannot withstand seven or eight slashes per second!

Although it tried its best to block with its thick rock arms, it only lasted for a few seconds before dozens of half-finger-deep scratches appeared on the rock surface of its arms and body!

It immediately caused the male human face on the round stone above its head to display an expression of extreme pain.

"It hurts so much!"

Seeing that the opponent was powerless to resist, Richard gave the Blood Bone Puppet the command "Jump Slash!"

"Thump!"

The Bloodbone Puppet's towering body leaped several meters high, its two bone blades on its arms forming a cross, and slashed heavily into the center of the large rolling stone elemental's body.

"Splash!"

Instantly, the large rolling stone elemental could no longer withstand the pressure, and the large rock in the center of its body shattered.

A large amount of gravel was scattered on the dark ground, and a pale yellow crystal, about half the size of a fist, immediately caught Richard's attention.

"Hey, Master, this is an Earth Crystal! Although it's not nearly as valuable as a Flame Crystal, it's still worth 10,000 Magic Stones," Gorkan exclaimed excitedly from the side.

Gorkan quickly stepped forward, picked up the Earth Crystal, and handed it to Richard.

As Richard placed the Earth Crystal in his hand, a warm sensation immediately emanated from it, and he could feel the immense earth-elemental energy particles contained within.

Clearly, this item should be more useful to wizards who are skilled in earth magic.

However, there are not many wizards among the Grey Dwarves who are skilled in earth magic.

In terms of price, Earth Crystal is much cheaper than Flame Crystal.

In the battle just now, Richard hardly made any moves except for using a mental shock once. The entire time, the Blood Bone Puppet was basically fighting the large rolling stone elemental all by itself!

Richard then recalled the Bloodbone Puppet and carefully examined the multiple bone blades at its joints, which were as shiny as new.

It seems I should thank Vice President Hawkins. The ogre's strength in its previous life must have been extraordinary, otherwise its bones wouldn't be so hard.

As a high-level combat puppet, the Blood Bone Puppet is extremely powerful, and Richard has further modified it with dual energy channels, making it exceptionally strong now.

Judging from the energy fluctuations of the opponent just now, the strength of this large rolling stone elemental is about the level of a mid-level first-level wizard. Even so, it was quickly defeated by the blood bone puppet after it got close, as if it were cutting melons and vegetables.

Richard was quite satisfied with the Blood Bone Puppet's combat capabilities.

With the Bloodbone Puppet by their side, Richard and Gorkan continued their journey deeper into the Scorched Earth Secret Realm.

-

Three days later.

After several days of exploration, Richard has become quite familiar with the outer perimeter of the Scorched Earth Secret Realm.

Scattered around the perimeter are numerous lava pools and channels of varying sizes through which lava flows pass. Some are so narrow that only one person can pass at a time, while others are quite spacious.

High-temperature steam mixed with sulfides and small amounts of highly toxic chlorides occasionally emerges from the cracks in the ground rocks, making visibility extremely poor.

And indeed, as Dissol said, there are almost no Tier 1 fire elementals to be seen on the outskirts of the secret realm.

The high price of Flame Crystals has spurred many resource exploration teams to spend time scavenging for Tier 1 fire elementals and herbs in the surrounding areas, resulting in the current situation.

However, although he gained nothing from the Flame Crystal and the Herb Richard, he did gain four Earth Crystals.

The two carefully walked out of a passageway.

"Hey, that's..." Gorkan's face lit up with joy.

"Master, look over there!"

Richard turned his head and looked in the direction Gorkan pointed. About seventy or eighty meters to the left of the two, where many wisps of steam were rising, a blazing flame was faintly visible, suspended in mid-air and wandering around.

Hiss! A Tier 1 Fire Elemental!

Richard was overjoyed; he had finally encountered a Tier 1 fire elemental!

It seems I'm still pretty lucky; I haven't had the worst luck.

This fire elemental was like the king of this area, wandering around and inspecting its territory. When the lava snakes saw the fire elemental, they immediately bowed their heads to show their submission and respect.

Just as Richard was about to find an open space, away from the interference of numerous lava snakes, to try and kill the fire elemental.

Suddenly, three shadow arrows struck from afar, slamming heavily into the fire elemental. Richard and Gorkan immediately felt a violent surge of mental energy emanating from them, followed by screams of agony.

"It hurts so much!!"

Richard was more concerned about where the person who launched this concentrated attack of Shadow Arrows was.

From the left passage, further away from the fire elemental, emerged three wizards dressed in black robes and wearing hoods.

This made Richard narrow his eyes. In an instant, he waved his hand and sent the Blood Bone Puppet back to the Netherworld. He then immediately pulled Gorkan and hid in the tunnel they had come from.

Richard immediately sensed from their attire that they were not an ordinary resource-gathering team.

Because at the entrance to the Scorched Earth Secret Realm, he saw the first-level high-ranking wizards waiting for their team members, most of whom did not conceal their faces.

Although the fire element suffered heavy damage, the flames that were originally three meters high and burning fiercely had shrunk considerably, but they still had the power to strike.

It finally saw the enemy that had ambushed it!

With a flick of its fiery hand, it unleashed a fireball the size of a washbasin.

One of the black-robed wizards raised his hand, and a spear formed from condensed dark element appeared, which he swiftly blasted towards the fire element.

Just as Richard was surprised that the other party was not making any defense and was engaging in a counterattack against the fire element, the fireball suddenly annihilated when it was only a few meters away from the three black-robed men.

The fire elementalist was instantly pierced through the body by the dark elemental spear.

With a violent mental shock from the fire element, the flames instantly went out, leaving a pile of ashes on the ground. A surge of air revealed a crystal shimmering with red light.

One of the three, a short man in a black robe, quickly stepped forward, bent down, and picked up the flame crystal.

"Hehe, not bad, this is the fifth one."

"Hurry up, Zlatko, don't waste time on this kind of thing."

"Mohtar, relax a bit. We're just collecting a Flame Crystal along the way. We should reach the mission location in a few hundred meters. Once we've placed what Priest Nikol asked us to put in place, we can retreat."

"Let's be careful. I'm worried we might run into resource teams from other wizarding organizations. Besides, we're already slow. According to the plan, everyone else should have already put their things away. We might be the last one."

"If you don't want to be punished by Priest Nicol, you'd better hurry!"

"..." The short man in the black robe continued muttering something, but his pace quickened considerably.

It seems that the Nicol priests mentioned by the other party are quite intimidating to them.

The sound grew farther and farther away

Gorkan was initially indignant that the three unfamiliar black-robed wizards had stolen the fire element, but upon seeing the magic they displayed, he knew that their strength far surpassed his own.

Although the distance was too great to sense the opponent's mental energy fluctuations, judging from the wizard who wielded the Shadow Spear, at least one of them was a high-level first-tier wizard.

Richard remained silent for a moment.

Clearly, the other party was not a legitimate resource-hunting team, and their purpose in coming to the Scorched Earth Secret Realm was questionable.

More importantly, the word "sacrifice" touched a nerve with Richard, who was somewhat sensitive.

Could it be that the other party is from the Nightmare Cult?

However, weren't the Nightmare Church's members in Tug City wiped out by the city guards?

"Gorkan, have you ever heard of the name Nicol? Think about it carefully, it might be related to cults," Richard asked.

"Master, a few years ago, I seem to have heard of a cultist named Nicol!" Gorkan pondered for a moment before replying.

"The other party seems to be a member of the Azure Flame Cult. When they were sacrificing a small town of gray dwarves, they were defeated by the gray dwarf wizard Baghdadi who happened to be passing by. But it is said that more than half of the thousand gray dwarves in that town were killed or injured, and only two or three hundred survived."

"This enraged the Grey Dwarfs, and Nicol was immediately put on the wanted list," Gorkan explained.

"The Azure Flame Cult?" Richard muttered to himself, stroking his chin. "Also, the name Baghdadi seems vaguely familiar!"

Richard had a vague recollection of the Green Fire Cult; it was one of the five major cults that Gorkan had mentioned before.

"Oh, Master, have you forgotten? Baghdadi is the current lord of Tug City."

(End of this chapter)