This news had spread among many adventurers and mercenaries a long time ago.

But it wasn't until today that Hope finally had a real understanding of this.

Looking at the alchemy pot that was turning from virtual to real in a state of blue arcane energy, Hope's eyes were fixed on it, as if he was afraid that he had missed something.

Finally, as the energy gradually weakened, the alchemy pot became completely solidified and slowly fell to the ground.

The alchemical pot looks like an ordinary ceramic pot, and it seems to be able to hold about 3 liters of liquid, but whether the pot is empty or full, its weight is about 5 kilograms.

Regardless of whether there is liquid in the pot, it will still make the sound of liquid sloshing when you shake it.

Looking at the strange prop he had copied, Carl reached out and touched the pot.

"Okay, I've set the liquid in the pot to fresh water. Drink some quickly. We'll turn it into salt water tomorrow morning. I'll extract some refined salt then, and we won't have to worry about the salt content."

The liquid in the alchemy pot can change according to the user's requirements, but only one liquid can be poured out every day.

Generally speaking, a regular alchemy pot can pour out strong acids, oils, basic poisons, vinegar, beer, fresh water, honey, salt water, mayonnaise, wine, and so on.

Depending on the type of liquid, the volume of liquid that can be poured out will also vary.

Fresh water and salt water are the two liquids with the largest volumes that can be poured out from the alchemy pot.

Picking up the alchemy pot, Hope looked at Carl, then tilted his head back and drank it down.

She drank very hard, and the "gulp" sound produced by her throat as she swallowed the liquid quickly was continuous.

"ha--"

After a long while, Hope put down the alchemy pot and breathed a sigh of relief.

Carl took the alchemy pot and started drinking as well.

He had no idea how suspicious his behavior of letting Hope drink first was for someone who grew up in Zoram. On the contrary, Carl himself thought that he was being humble.

Seeing that Carl had finished drinking, Hope, who had rich experience in wilderness survival, began to talk about housing.

"Although this cave is relatively hidden, the space is too small. We need to find another place to build our camp."

Since we are prepared to stay in this underground city for a long time, we cannot be vague about the accommodation.

Carl nodded in understanding.

"Do you have any idea about the location of our official camp? Although I have briefly looked at the surrounding terrain before, it seems that the area is all hilly and there is no outstanding place."

As a human, even though the dungeon has fluorescent plant lighting, it is still difficult for Carl to see the scenery further away.

In contrast, as a tiefling, Hope has natural dark vision and can see farther and darker places.

"The fluorescence in the southeast direction is brighter than other locations. I think that should be the forest of this underground city. We can go there and take a look."

As she said this, Hope once again displayed the flexibility she had shown when she first entered the hole and crawled out of the cave.

After that, she moved the rocks outside the cave away, and Carl took advantage of the opportunity when the other party went out to quickly adjust his little brother, and then put on armor.

With Hope's help, Carl climbed out of the hole.

Looking at the scene outside which was no different from before, Carl stood up and stretched.

"Should we go take a look at the corpse of the giant lizard we hunted earlier? Maybe we can find something there."

"Yeah~, you're right, but I think we can only see two skeletons at most."

"Why?"

"Because monitor lizards will eat the flesh of their own kind."

Shrugging, Carl followed Hope and walked towards the fluorescent mushroom forest she had mentioned earlier.

At the beginning, the road was very rugged. If the two wanted to walk a distance of ten meters on a flat surface, they might have to climb a five or six meter high rock.

After the two of them walked for a distance, although the road was still difficult to walk on, they had almost gotten used to it.

As they crossed mountains and rivers, Carl even learned the technique of using the wizard's hand to help them climb up and down.

He originally knew the power of a mage, and after the mind flayer larvae became his physical plug-in, he also gained expertise in psionic power and telekinesis.

With the blessing of psychic power, Carl's magic hand does not require any spells, it can be released directly with just a gesture.

Although the power of the Mage's Hand is not strong, it can help Carl and Hope stick more closely to the rock wall when climbing.

After walking and stopping a few times, we finally arrived at the fluorescent mushroom forest that Hope had mentioned.

"roar--"

The roar of wild beasts could be heard faintly in the huge mushroom jungle before him. Carl looked around and found that this "forest" composed of giant fluorescent mushrooms was actually quite large.

"Bang Bang Bang"

Carl tapped on the branch of a giant mushroom with his fingers and was surprised to find that the material of this mushroom was actually better than ordinary wood.

"These mushrooms can be used to build houses after a little processing, but the material is somewhat flammable. I remember there is an alchemical potion that can be used as a fireproof coating. If I can settle here, I will make some."

The earliest artificers were born out of the mages' in-depth research on alchemical potions, mechanical construction, and prop making.

So even though Carl is better at mechanics, he does not lack basic alchemy knowledge.

"Let's take a look first. It usually takes some time to choose a campsite. We have plenty of time now."

Carrying two hand axes, Hope was the first to enter the territory of the fluorescent mushroom forest.

…

"Guji"

Deep in the fluorescent mushroom forest, a monitor lizard staggered and moved slowly towards a hemispherical chitinous building.

This building is at least 70% similar to the Mind Flayer base that Carl and Hope had just escaped from, but it is much smaller in size.

When the monitor lizard crawled into the building and came to a pool of water that was glowing orange-gold, its head suddenly began to swell and finally split open with a tearing sound.

A brain-eating monster crawled out of its head and then swam to the edge of the pool.

Psychic energy fluctuations lit up, and a gate under the pool was opened. A group of mind flayer larvae, no bigger than a fingernail, scrambled to float up and drilled into the body of the monitor lizard.

The monitor lizard's body shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the well-fed mind flayer larvae crawled out again and swam back to where they were before through the gate.

(End of this chapter)