Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 83 First Encounter with the Merman (Bonus Chapter on Sunday)

After everyone finished speaking, Richard thought for a moment and was satisfied with the overall strength of the team.

The team's combat strength is even greater than the originally planned team composition.

Richard checked the mission crystal again. His team needed to prioritize checking the surface caves, underground rivers, and lava caves in area 132, as these were the places where subterranean races liked to hide.

Of course, being assigned an area to a team does not mean they cannot go to other areas.

As long as our team has cleaned up the area we are responsible for, we can go to other areas to search for underground races at any time.

Meanwhile, if you encounter an enemy you cannot defeat, simply crush the mission crystal, and the school's base will sense it and immediately dispatch a rescue team.

The rescue team is composed of top-tier level three wizard apprentices and is extremely powerful.

It's important to note that the quest crystal you're crushing is the small crystal ball Richard just received, not the mark crystal that was previously distributed to everyone. The mark crystal is a thumb-sized, prismatic crystal.

But Richard knew that if they really encountered a powerful enemy, they shouldn't pin their hopes on the school's rescue team.

Because the underground rivers are intricate and complex, the map only depicts the main passages, and the side passages are not marked. So, by the time the rescue team arrives, you will most likely be dead.

"Everyone, as the captain, I'd like to reiterate the division of labor for this clearing mission: Andrea will be responsible for drawing the enemy's attention and providing cover, Ophelia will be responsible for restricting the enemy's movement, and Ram and Courteney, you two will be responsible for shooting. As for me, I'll decide based on the situation."

"No problem." Andrea raised the steel shield in her hand.

Andrea, dressed in fine knight's armor, was equipped with a sword, shield, and bow, all of which were of high quality and likely crafted by master artisans from his duchy.

It could be said that Andrea is one of the strongest tanks among the new members of the Ignis School.

"Mmm," Ophelia nodded obediently.

Richard believed that Ophelia's strength was above average, even among second-level wizard apprentices.

He was incredibly skilled in plant manipulation magic, and his control over it was exceptionally powerful. Even Richard found it a major headache to deal with him!

Richard's gaze finally settled on Ram and Courteney.

He tried hard to think of some of the special talents, no, the strengths, of the two of them.

Never mind, let's skip this!

Now that everything is ready, they can set off on their own. Many teams probably want to get ahead of the curve and harvest the underground races to earn points, so they have all set off.

Therefore, Richard and his group of five dared not delay and immediately set off.

The team was positioned with Andrea in front, Ophelia and Richard in the middle, and Ram and Courtney at the back, forming a wedge formation as they headed straight for their destination, area 132.

Perhaps because the school's commotion this time was so great, there were no traces of wild animals on either side of the path.

Half a day later, Richard and his four companions arrived at the designated location and began their search.

This is a hilly area with undulating terrain, about a hundred miles away from the Spider Trail. It is located on the edge of a muddy swamp. The hills are covered with lush vegetation, with trees and shrubs scattered in an orderly fashion. Various wild beasts and monsters have caves of all sizes scattered around. There are also three entrances to the underground river.

After a brief discussion, the group decided to directly venture into the underground river, since the probability of finding subterranean races in the interconnected underground river was far higher than in a cave on the surface.

Upon entering one of the underground river's entrances, Richard gathered the four and said, "Visibility is limited in the cave, so everyone must be extremely vigilant and cautious. After all, no one knows what kind of subterranean creatures we might encounter. We might run into a powerful creature right from the start, so if we don't want this place to become our graveyard, we must always be aware of our surroundings."

Upon hearing Richard's words, Andrea's expression immediately turned serious.

As the team's trailblazer, he would most likely be the first to be attacked if they were attacked. And Richard was right; they might directly encounter a powerful creature, and if he let his guard down, he could very well perish there.

Amidst everyone's astonished expressions, Richard began chanting incantations and performing witchcraft.

A massive inverted pentagram magic circle, several meters in diameter, was projected onto the ground from the crystal ball at the top of Richard's Bone Summoning Staff.

A fully armed skeleton soldier crawled out of it with a clattering sound.

"Holy crap! No way, Richard, I've never seen you use this move in ranked matches before. How come you know it now? Did you just learn it?" Ram exclaimed in disbelief.

Thinking about myself, half a year has passed and I haven't learned a single level zero spell, but I have learned two magic tricks. But Richard, this is the sixth or even the seventh spell he has mastered!

Sigh! Sometimes, the difference between people is even greater than the difference between a person and a dog!

Richard did not summon all four skeleton soldiers, but only one. The reason was simple: firstly, since they had not yet encountered any enemies, summoning four skeleton soldiers at the same time was unnecessary and would consume too much mental energy.

Secondly, always keep something in reserve, so as not to scare your teammates.

Richard felt much more at ease after summoning a skeleton soldier to guard him.

The group continued their search. Since the cave led directly to an underground river, after walking slowly for several hundred meters, they found that the ground was becoming increasingly damp and covered with various mosses.

When they reached a fork in the road, Andrea, who was in charge of leading the way, was in a dilemma. He didn't know which way to go.

Turning to look at Richard, Richard didn't seem to care; it didn't matter which side started the search first.

At this moment, Ophelia suddenly stopped and reached out her palm to gently touch a kind of moss that was glowing faintly on the cave wall.

Seeing this, Richard also stopped.

Ophelia had her eyes slightly closed, as if sensing something.

Richard could also sense a subtle surge of natural elemental energy, but because his affinity for natural elements was only inferior, this feeling was barely perceptible.

A moment later, Ophelia opened her eyes and said softly, "I just used my plant senses, and the plants told me that there are quite a few creatures gathering in this direction."

Wow! Ophelia has this ability? That's amazing!

Richard was overjoyed. After all, they were there to hunt down underground races and gain as many points as possible. Being able to find their targets directly would greatly improve their efficiency.

Previously, he had vaguely sensed that his group seemed to be missing a teammate who was proficient in tracking, but he did not expect that Ophelia would give him such a surprise.

With Ophelia's special ability, the team can basically prepare for battle in advance, which is a great advantage in combat.

Sure enough, after carefully proceeding for more than a hundred meters along the path chosen by Ophelia, the group noticed a slight noise ahead.

Andrea was wearing armor, which made it easy for him to make noise and was difficult to see.

Still worried about Ram, Richard tiptoed over to check on him himself.

Sure enough, just a few dozen meters ahead was an underground river, its dark waters of unknown depth, though the current was not fast.

On one side of the underground river, there is a small beach, about a hundred square meters in size, where seven or eight creatures with fish heads and human bodies are resting, while only one is patrolling back and forth.

An extra chapter will be added on Sunday, so please stay tuned for the next two days! Thank you so much!

(End of this chapter)