Chapter 99 The Alchemist
A dense forest of fungi blocked Brian's path. The fungi here were dense and prosperous, with various types, and even some mushroom-shaped fungi were more than ten meters high.
Brian listened carefully and heard a hissing sound in the fungus jungle, as if there were countless small voices whispering something in a language he could not understand.
He stood there and pondered for a moment. When the moist breeze lifted a strand of disobedient hair on his forehead, he looked stunned and guessed where this fungal jungle led to.
And he could clearly feel that although these hissing sounds were quite strange, they were not dangerous.
For it is simply the tremolo produced by the air blowing through the dense fungal mushrooms.
In the deep and dark underground world, there is almost no breeze blowing on your face.
It can be seen from this.
In this dense fungal jungle, there is probably a hidden road leading to the surface.
"Did you find anything?" Looking at Brian who was standing there deep in thought, Hesiah came closer, looked at the scenery of the fungus, and whispered to him:
"I just saw a few centipedes and small spiders from the surface world on a blue hat mushroom. Does this mean that this place is likely to have a road to the surface."
"Yes. "Brian nodded, secretly noted the location here, turned around and said, "When we finish dealing with things here, we will return directly to the surface from this fungus forest."
After listening. Seeing Brian's plan, Hesiah looked delighted and quickly caught up with him, "Didn't you say you wanted to find a black spire here, with a rough location?"
"Not yet." Bu Ryan shook his head slightly, looked thoughtfully at a high ground not far from the fungus jungle, pointed at it, and said to her:
"The location over there should be the commanding heights of the entire tunnel. Let's go there. After a while, you should be able to observe the approximate location of the minaret from above.”
He and Hesiah walked quickly near the hill.
I discovered that the stairs leading to the top of the mountain are not stacked in concentric circles, but a spiral slope that spirals from the bottom of the cave to the top of the hill.
He also felt that the radiation of the earth veins on the surrounding stone walls was like an invisible wind blowing, constantly changing the light and shadow.
The light and shadow flow forward along the stone wall, and then spiral up around the hill, until they reach the top of the mountain that is pitch black due to its height.
The stacked hills form a natural staircase, and there is a slope next to it from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, forming a shortcut up the mountain.
"I didn't expect that the spiral stripes produced by the radiation of the earth's veins would have affected the changes of the mountain." Brian looked at the hill in front of him thoughtfully, and said to himself:
"No wonder the energy radiated by the earth's veins is changing." Enhancement will greatly reduce the difficulty for most demon lords to incarnate in the material world."
He no longer hesitated and came to the top of the mountain with Hesiah.
Just when Brian was about to investigate the surrounding environment, he suddenly heard many strange sounds mixed together.
He could clearly identify the source of every sound, the rhythmic knocking of the blacksmith, the whistling of the furnace in the royal city of Aldus, the irritable roar of the red dragon Agtus, the crazy roar of the derro dwarves. Screams, lingering until death, and even fragments of some conversations.
The sounds of the city above the cave roof filled it, like an irresistible noise storm.
Obviously, this is the effect of radiation from the earth's veins, trapping all the sounds above the tunnel here.
“There is a cave there.” Hesiah looked forward, looking at a Zeke wood double door forged and reinforced with crude steel.
"Go over and take a look." Standing on the top of the mountain, Brian locked onto a distant spire surrounded by hazy darkness. After writing down the location, he became interested in Hesiah's new discovery.
When he arrived near the cave, he discovered that this was not a cave, but an area separated from the main tunnel by stone bricks and gates.
Although the locks on Zeke's double doors are very strong, they still can't stop Brian, a spellcaster.
He threw a second-level spell "Knocking" directly at the lock, and the strong door lock automatically fell off easily.
“Stay vigilant, this is probably the secret base of the gray ghost.”
Brian told the sword mage next to him through telepathy.
The two deliberately lowered their footsteps, gently pushed the door open to allow entry and exit, and slipped in quietly.
The cavern shimmering with a sickly light was filled with large pits filled with soil, in which various fungi grew.
Brian at least recognized a wide variety of fungi and plants in these pits, such as the Ghost Face Mushroom, the Rhizoctonia Mushroom, Neal Hog's Nose, and the Torch Mushroom, and even some new ones that were cultivated. variety.
The floors, walls and ceilings are covered with various mushrooms and fungi, emitting a lavender phosphorescent light.
The air was cold and damp, filled with the strong smell of fertilizer, and the entire corner of the cave was filled with a mixture of rotting mushrooms, soil and animal carcasses.
Several thin figures in cloaks were busy shoveling the well-mixed soil into the carts beside them.
There is also a large barrel-shaped copper tank set up on the cliff edge of the pit. A long copper pipe extends from the copper tank into the curved vertical pit. It looks like a sprinkler for irrigating and fertilizing fungi.
There is no doubt that this is a fungus cultivation garden.
In addition to a few derro dwarf workers taking care of the fungus, Brian also saw three fully armed gray dwarf warriors stationed here, leaning listlessly under the mushroom canopy in a daze.
With a thought, Brian's volleying sword flashing with light blue crystal light appeared in front of him, streaking with cold light, and easily cleared away all the guards here.
The two of them did not waste time. Like ghosts, they passed through the fungus garden silently and continued walking deeper.
After clearing out five more thieves and guards, and successively dispelling and avoiding several traps and magic barriers, we arrived at the eastern half of the cave without any danger.
Due to the low terrain here, the entire area is divided into two levels, connected by a Zeke wooden slope in the middle.
"You go to the west, I'll be in charge of the east." Brian used telepathy to tell the sword mage beside him, and walked along the shadows toward his destination.
As soon as he arrived at a well-equipped laboratory on the upper floor to the east, he heard the sounds of exclamation and fighting coming from the lower floor to the west.
Obviously, the sword mage has already made contact with the enemy.
Brian looked around and saw that there was only a workbench, a desk, a cabinet displaying various bottles, and a dome oven in the laboratory.
A gray dwarf alchemist was concentrating on continuing his research, ignoring the sound of fighting below.
Even the figure he walked in seemed to be unconscious. He was buried on the experimental table without raising his head, concentrating on studying a sparkling Fire Tongue Mushroom.
Brian was about to speak when the dark shadow twisted.
A figure wrapped in shadow energy, holding two daggers with flashing cold light, stabbed him fiercely in the heart and neck respectively.
This is a thief who is proficient in stealth and sneak attacks.
——"Arcane Barrier!"
With a sudden thought, Brian propped up a protective force field for himself in time, blocking the thief's two daggers by one meter. outside.
——"Second-level spell: Explosive Flame!"
The moment the force field emerged, he quickly took out his staff and recited a spell, and the dazzling fire light focused on the thief's force field. The moment the barrier suddenly burst out from his body.
The thief, whose pale pupils were reflected red by the fire, looked startled and retracted his attack in time. With his flexible reaction ability and speed, he successfully avoided the raging range of the flames.
Brian took this opportunity to see clearly that the thief who attacked him was a derro dwarf.
Through his reaction ability to dodge his own instant "Explosive Flame Technique", he can judge that the opponent's strength is probably at level three.
I saw him miss a blow, immediately extinguished the flames ignited by his clothes, and disappeared into thin air.
Brian glanced at the gray dwarf alchemist who was still concentrating on his research. He was holding his staff and stood calmly, motionless.
As a wizard, he naturally knows how to rely on his own advantages to deal with rogues who are good at sneaking and sneak attacks.
Besides, in the game world, he can proudly say that not only a thousand rogue players died in his hands, but at least eight hundred.
Whether it is the Trickster who is skilled in both combat skills and the Shadow Guard Assassin of the City of Shadows, or the Shadow Dancer and Ghost Dancer who are good at hiding, he has a set of tried and tested methods to target them.
In the long silence.
The sound of fighting in the lower level to the west gradually faded away, but Brian's side was still silent.
There was only the occasional faint sound from the calm gray dwarf alchemist.
At this moment, Brian has enough time to compete with this third-level thief in a patience competition.
Because as soon as the battle on Hesiah's side is over, support will come quickly. He doesn't even bother to risk using spells to find the opponent's location, he just needs to wait quietly.
“Click!”
A soft sound came from a dark corner.
Brian's expression condensed, and the other party finally couldn't stand it any longer and tried to use long-range attacks to deal with him.
As a fierce sound broke through the air, he unexpectedly discovered that the crossbow arrow shot at him did have demon-breaking properties.
Demon-breaking equipment is a must-have for the Chopper Team to deal with spellcasters. Otherwise, it would be difficult to break their protective magic with just one blow using physical attacks.
“Bang!”
The force field barrier hit by the Demon-Breaking Crossbow made a crisp sound like broken glass.
With a thought, Brian used his telekinesis ability to lock the Demon-Breaking Crossbow arrow, which had lost most of its strength due to the protective barrier, causing it to forcibly stop flying and fall to the ground.
At the same time, sneak attacks by thieves also followed.
He had already anticipated the thieves' attack.
——"Mage Armor!"
This time, he did not choose a defensive counterattack spell, but quickly put on a shield for himself.
Because he had already identified the thief hiding in the dark through the weak magic fluctuations, and used some kind of magic item to add a spell shield.
With the blessing of "Spell Armor", the thief's two consecutive attacks failed again. He was about to retreat when he suddenly noticed an invisible ripple floating in the air.
——"Psychic blast!"
This ripple was like a menacing giant hammer, hitting the depths of his mind hard and instantly shaking him to the spot.
Seeing the thief fall into a brief state of shock, Brian concentrated his attention, and the second controlling psychic energy came instantly.
——“Entangled ectoplasm!”
A ball of sticky ectoplasm energy was extracted from the distant star realm by him, and emerged out of thin air at the soles of the thief’s feet, tightly binding them Stick to the ground.
A hint of panic flashed across the rogue's cold expression. He quickly lifted his feet and jumped up, trying to get rid of the elastic slime.
“Pfft!”
In this short moment, Brian calmly controlled the volley sword, quickly emerged from behind him, and disembowelled him mercilessly.
“The target is dead!”
“Soul energy is being extracted.”
“Gain experience points: 3500 points!”
…………
In the battle between wizards and thieves, wizards can rely on their comprehensive range of spells to give them the upper hand even if their attacks miss many times.
The thieves are different.
Once they are hit by the wizard's control spell, even if they are only slightly affected, it is very likely that the wizard will instantly seize the opportunity to meet their continuous control and attack spells.
Brian is not only a wizard, but also holds a part-time job as a psion, which gives him a huge operating space with the cooperation between magic and psychic abilities.
With his current strength, even if a fourth-level thief does not use sneak attacks and powerful magic weapons to break through his shield immediately, he is likely to be counterattacked on the spot by a simple one-ring spell. kill.
As for the warriors below the legendary realm, it is not worth mentioning. These warriors can be lifted up and beaten by him in almost 360 degrees without any blind spots.
This is the insurmountable gap between spellcasters and physical professions.
After Brian collected the loot, he walked towards the gray dwarf alchemist.
“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”
Seeing Brian coming over, the gray dwarf alchemist finally recovered from his concentrated research and begged for mercy with a look of fear on his face. : "Whatever you want to know, whatever medicine you want, I can give it to you"
Brian looked at the gray dwarf calmly: he was bald, thin, and his eyes were bloodshot. "You are an exile, what is your name?"
"My name is Rocio Barbacon, sir. "The alchemist quickly replied:
"In order to buy alchemy knowledge, I was exiled by my family for stealing, so I had no choice but to join the Gray Ghost and rely on the refining potions to obtain the research resources they provided. But I can. I promise you, I have never killed anyone. Those thieves locked me up here. Apart from refining poison for them, I have always focused on my own research."
Brian listened to Hui. The dwarf explained, looking over the counter where the various bottles were stored.
A variety of alchemical potions of good quality, such as blazing glue, strong acid bottles, psychic resistance potions, fire breath potions, life potions, etc., are all placed here.
From the quality of the potion, he could tell that the alchemy mastered by this gray dwarf had reached an advanced level, and he was probably not as far away from the master level as he imagined.
He glanced at the many books the alchemist put on the table that recorded how to use fungi to refine magic potions, pondered for a moment, and said to him, "I won't kill you, but the premise of all this is that you "Serve me."
"I observed your cultivation garden when I entered here."
After thinking about it, he added in a professional tone, "In my case. It seems that the fungi you grow are terrible compared to the myconids. That’s why the quality of the potions you refine has always been difficult to improve.”
“Yes, that’s right, sir. That's right." The alchemist nodded his bald head and said with a wry smile:
"Of course I know these reasons, but I have never learned the techniques of growing fungi. I can only slowly try to cultivate new qualities through plantations."
"If you are willing to follow me, not only can I Giving you abundant resources, we can also provide you with several mushroom growers to serve you, and even teach you the magic mushroom techniques."
Brian said his conditions, "As for mine. The condition is that in addition to serving me for life, you must also help me train apprentices as much as possible and increase the production of potions."
"But." The gray dwarf alchemist looked hesitant and didn't know how to speak. .
“I know what you are worried about.” Brian saw through his thoughts and said with a smile:
"Don't worry, I can assure you that as long as you agree to these conditions of mine, I will ask the King of the Deep to remove you from your status as an exile. If you show enough value, I can even transfer the entire vortex stone to The tunnel is given to you to serve as your private territory."
The gray dwarf alchemist looked happy when he heard this, and then his eyes widened and he looked at the half-elf wizard in front of him who was obviously from the surface. .
"If you don't believe it, just leave with confidence and find a way out. I won't stop you." Brian didn't bother to explain too much. He took out a few bottles of useful medicine from the counter and told him Said:
"Of course, if you think my words are trustworthy, then you can continue to stay here for the time being and don't run around until the notice of lifting your exile status is handed over to you personally."< br>
"I am willing to wait, sir. Rosio is willing to stay here and serve you for the rest of his life." The alchemist gritted his teeth and nodded quickly.
"Then just stay here honestly." Brian said a word and turned to leave.
As soon as he walked out of the laboratory, he met Hesiah who was walking towards him after the battle.
"Are you injured?" He noticed the blood stains on the sword mage's wrist and asked subconsciously.
“It’s just a minor injury.” Hesiah snorted and said nonchalantly, “I have cleaned up all the Gray Ghost thieves, including their leader.”
“ This is a healing potion, take it.”
He handed her a bottle of potion, and then, as usual, he stretched out his hand and gave her a simple cleaning technique to clean away the blood all over her body and make her look radiant again.
Seeing that the wound on her wrist was gradually healing, Hesiah looked hesitant, then caught up with Brian, took out a dimensional bag and handed it to him, "I have plundered all the wealth accumulated by the gray ghost. It’s all here.”
Brian stopped and turned to look at the smiling swordsman. For a moment, he felt a little at a loss.
"No matter how ambitious a goal is, it must be based on wealth." Looking at Brian's interesting expression, Hesiah couldn't help laughing, "Besides, I've never been short of money, so take it."
Brian was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but admire Hesiah's exquisite smiling face.
He suddenly found that this noble lady at this time was really attractive.
She is like a walnut. The outer solid hard shell has cracks. As long as you are willing to put in more effort, you can take out the delicious pulp at any time and put it into your mouth to enjoy.
But in that case, it is inevitable that the pulp will be stained with broken shells.
It would be better to let her take the initiative to break the hard shell and clean it, and then take the initiative to bring it to her mouth.
Of course, this was just a spur-of-the-moment idea, but he never thought of actually putting it into action.
"You are overthinking it. I never said that I was short of money." Brian calmly took the dimensional bag from Hesiah's hand and said to her, "I am a prudent and thrifty person. How can I be like you?" Such a prodigal..."
Realizing that his words were a bit inappropriate, he quickly stopped and turned around, leaving her behind.
Hesiah didn’t think much about it. She was amused by Brian’s argument and laughed out loud.
Looking at his back, she suddenly realized that he also had such an interesting side.
She put away the smile on her face and caught up with him, "Where to go next."
"Go to the Black Spire."
Brian seemed to have remembered something, and joked to her: "When the problem here is solved, I will take you to witness a filial piety show performed by a gray dwarf prince for us. . ”
There is only one update today, and I have to get up early to catch the car back to the company tomorrow.
(End of this chapter)