Chapter 0044: All Is Ready

Carried by the Crocodile Hunter, Grim moved swiftly three meters beneath the earth, gliding as effortlessly as a fish in water. His spiritual senses pierced the swirling mist of earth element, relaying every detail along his path directly to his mind: the twisted and tangled ancient roots, shattered stones, wriggling subterranean insects and reptiles, mice and cockroaches curled in their nests, decaying branches, and shards of unknown origin.

In this brief journey, Grim glimpsed an entirely different world, one that defied his previous understanding. Here, in this hidden realm, he was like a cold-eyed emperor surveying the myriad forms of life—thoughtless, detached. Had he wished, a mere thought would have unleashed the Crocodile Hunter to throw everything into chaos.

Though he was intrigued by this novel perspective of traversing underground, Grim could not endure it for more than half a quarter hour. It was not spiritual exhaustion that forced him to the surface, but simply the lack of air.

As a wizard apprentice who had attained extraordinary power, Grim’s body possessed resilience and endurance far beyond that of ordinary people. While a common man might faint after holding his breath for a minute, Grim only began to feel suffocated after fifteen minutes.

At his signal, the Crocodile Hunter sent a tremor through the earth elements around him, parting the heavy soil above, and slowly emerged from underground.

Their sudden appearance startled the surrounding magical creatures. Amid a cacophony of shrill, infant-like wails, a barrage of curses rained down upon them.

“Damn it, we’ve stumbled into a nest of infant fiends!” Grim cursed under his breath, commanding his summoned creature to break through the encirclement.

Despite the infant fiends’ peculiar and insidious “word curse” abilities, they remained low-level monsters. Against the half-elemental Crocodile Hunter, their negative curses had little effect. In fact, the earthman hunters on the creature’s back hurled a few spears, slaying two of the fiends. The rest scattered, plunging into the undergrowth and not daring to make another move.

Perhaps only now did Grim truly understand the mindset Alice and the others had when they first entered the magical swamp. Once one possessed the strength and resources of an advanced apprentice, ordinary low-level monsters could no longer threaten them. Faced with such insignificant creatures, it was no wonder they acted so brazenly, even knowing this place was forbidden.

Honestly, if not for Wizard Anderson’s intervention, the apprentices and swamp monsters here would have stood no chance against the three of them. Alice’s ordeal had been a complete accident. It was precisely her overwhelming power that forced Entik the Corruptor into a desperate struggle. Combined with Grim’s sharp but unremarkable abilities, Alice had suffered setback after setback, nearly losing her life in the mire.

In the past, Grim would have found these infant fiends terrifying adversaries; even with protective charms, being surrounded by them could have been disastrous. Now, with the Crocodile Hunter at his side, he could slaughter them as easily as butchering livestock, all fear and anxiety gone.

Unconsciously, Grim’s attitude began to change, bit by bit. The strong preying on the weak, the law of the jungle, dominance over others—these words might sound harsh, but once he stood on the stronger side, he found the exercise of power surprisingly satisfying.

Guiding the Crocodile Hunter out of the Whispering Garden and onto the gravel path, Grim finally dismounted, dispersed the earth element, and stowed away his two summoning crystals. The entrance to the Swamp Tower was near; it was time to resume his guise as a weak and inconspicuous apprentice.

Pulling his hood low to conceal his face, Grim slipped quietly back into the tower.

This experiment had been a great success, greatly boosting his confidence. Yet it also revealed a major problem: how could he breathe during prolonged underground excursions?

The Crocodile Hunter might not need to breathe, but Grim certainly did. Protected by the summoned creature’s earth elements, Grim could move freely underground, but there was no air below. Unless this was solved, he would never be able to sustain an extended subterranean journey.

So, upon his return to the Swamp Tower, Grim spent the following days shuttling between fellow apprentices, searching for solutions to the twin challenges of seeing in darkness and breathing underground. Whenever he found a spare moment, he would slip out of the tower to scour the magical swamp for suitable creatures to craft into new constructs.

Unfortunately, even by the last day, he failed to find any suitable monsters. After all, the magical swamp was nothing more than an ordinary resource site for a wizarding family, home mostly to common magical beasts bred for easy harvest. The notion of collecting a large number of magical nuclei here was pure fantasy. Even Simba and the Giant Crocodile King, which Grim had managed to harvest, were rare advanced creatures in the swamp’s history. Without them, he would have gained nothing at all.

Nonetheless, though he found no new magical cores, Grim did manage to acquire a stash of magical beast materials and potion ingredients, which he traded among the apprentices for some useful trinkets.

The item that pleased him most was a finely crafted noble circlet. When he placed it upon his head, the clear diamond at its center rested against his brow, bestowing not only an air of gentility but also a modest bonus of +1 to his spiritual power.

For an advanced apprentice, this circlet no longer provided significant improvement. But for Grim, whose spiritual power was still only eight, the boost was substantial.

The problem of seeing in darkness was likewise resolved. The solution came in the form of a pair of gnome-engineered goggles. According to the intermediate apprentice who traded them to Grim, these were artifacts from another plane of existence. Donning the black leather and transparent crystal set, Grim could see clearly in dim light.

After having the chip scan and analyze them, Grim confirmed their origin: a product of some mechanical civilization, without any detectable elemental fluctuations, as if they were ordinary items. Their ability to provide low-light vision came entirely from specially cut subterranean crystals, themselves alien to the wizarding world.

As for the crystals’ composition, the chip’s analysis confirmed they were not native to this world, but rather, unique to the mechanical plane from which the goggles came. The wizarding world, as a vast plane, had captured and enslaved countless smaller planes—and it was likely these gnome-engineered goggles originated from one such subjugated realm.

Within common knowledge, only full-fledged wizards had the right to traverse planes and conquer other worlds. Even the most gifted quasi-wizards lacked such authority. So Grim could only imagine what this mechanical world might be like, as he tucked the precious goggles away for safekeeping.

For the breathing issue, Grim found a biological solution. Among the tower’s apprentices was one skilled in bio-modification, who crafted a breathing organ from snakevine, rootless purple-leaf flower, and various oddities such as insect oil and toad droppings—resulting in a device resembling a leafy insect. When Grim needed to enter a sealed environment, he simply placed this organ in his mouth and temporarily gained the ability to breathe through his skin. When he no longer required it, he could simply spit it out, and the ability would vanish. Since it was an auxiliary organ and not a replacement, there was no risk of bloodline contamination.

With these problems solved, Grim could finally put his mind at ease. He no longer left his quarters lightly, spending his days in meditation or poring over newly acquired tomes of sorcery.

On the fifth day after receiving his compulsory assignment, Grim finally heard the chip’s notification that the Flame Arrow optimization was complete.

“Beep. The spiritual model for Flame Arrow has been optimized. Would you like to display the results?”

“Display!” Grim replied at once.

A stream of data filled his mind, projecting the newly optimized form of this ranged spell. Whereas Flame Arrow had once been a mere magical bolt, it now resembled a blazing spear. The intense, condensed flames formed a spear, ready to launch at Grim’s command, delivering both physical and fire damage to his enemies.

Flame Spear: a mid-level fire spell, able to condense flames into a spear that strikes foes. Physical damage: 11 points. Fire damage: 21 points. Range: 5–300 meters. Cooldown: 8 seconds. Mana cost: 24 points.

With the noble circlet, Grim’s spiritual power had reached 9.37, giving him a total of only 94 mana. A spell like Flame Spear could be cast at most four times before draining his reserves. Clearly, it was best reserved as a trump card for critical moments.

Given its power, Flame Spear could easily penetrate the magical defenses of intermediate apprentices. Even senior apprentices with defensive spells would have to respect its strength.

At last, Grim possessed a skill he could truly rely on. With it, he finally felt some measure of assurance for the tasks ahead.

And so, as the many apprentices of the tower waited anxiously, the day of departure finally arrived.