"Haha, among our gray dwarf wizard apprentices, most have more affinity with the dark and fire elements. There are indeed very few wizards and wizard apprentices who are naturally gifted with affinity."
"But, leave this question to me. Does it mean that any third-level wizard apprentice with natural affinity will do? It seems that among the young descendants of my family, there are two third-level wizard apprentices whose natural affinity is the main talent. Let me think about it. They should be studying in the Dark Swamp Wetland now."
Disol said after thinking for a while.
Richard was immediately delighted and smiled, "That's great, Desol. It would be best if your family has a suitable heir, and there won't be any big problems with keeping it secret. By the way, regarding the hop cultivation site, Desol, where do you think it would be suitable?"
"From the perspective of convenience, it's best to set it up in your villa." Richard looked up and down at Desol's villa.
Disol's villa is almost twice as big as his, and there is no sunlight in the Underdark, relying entirely on the radiation of the Fire Stone.
Therefore, by simply transforming the basement or wine cellar and placing flame stones of appropriate strength in it, it can become a good lighting room.
Hops like long-term sunlight, and light or radiation can promote its rapid growth.
But hops don't like high temperatures, so when using the flame stone for light radiation, it is also necessary to cool down the lighting room. This is why, after careful research, Richard felt that it was still necessary to add a wizard apprentice who was friendly to the water element.
Many entry-level water-related tricks or zero-level witchcraft have very good heat-removing effects.
"Is it for the purpose of keeping it confidential and reducing transportation costs? Then let's renovate the cellar, but I don't know if it's big enough?" Disol thought for a moment and asked.
After all, he was not good at cultivating hops.
"It's more than enough. We can set up multiple shelves and carry out multi-layer cultivation." Richard had been to the cellar on the underground floor of Villa Desol.
If there is only one layer, the area may be slightly insufficient. If an iron frame is set up and the hops are divided into two layers for cultivation, the area will be completely sufficient.
According to the height of the Desol family's cellar, basically, there is no problem with the three-layer iron frame cultivation, which also leaves room for expansion to cultivate larger quantities of hops in the future.
Now that both matters had been resolved, Richard bid farewell to Desol.
Just as Richard was about to leave, Disol patted his head and said, "By the way, Levi, if you really plan to go to the Scorched Earth Secret Realm, be careful of the strangers there. Sometimes, strangers there are scarier than those elemental creatures."
"Recently, I heard that there have been more cases of wizards disappearing in the Scorched Earth Secret Realm. However, due to the harsh environment of the Scorched Earth Secret Realm, with energy radiation and interference everywhere, it is difficult to find out the truth even if tracking witchcraft is used outside."
This immediately made Richard silent.
Missing? Was it because of the elemental creatures inside, or Richard instinctively thought of the Nightmare Church.
It shouldn't be Richard shook his head secretly.
Ever since the priest of the Nightmare Church was killed last time, order has been restored in the city of Tug in the past few days, and it is even better than before.
In the past few days, the city guards almost turned Tug City upside down and searched the entire city for three consecutive days.
Some cultists who had been hiding very deeply were also pulled out one by one.
"Thank you, Desol, my brother. I will be careful." Richard patted Desol's thick shoulders. ——Three days later.
The alchemy room on the second underground floor of the villa.
Richard muttered as he looked at the bottle of blue potion in his hand, which was obviously completely different in color from the ordinary Qingling potion.
"This is the super-cleansing potion I formulated that can shorten the residual period by half. This is the side effect."
However, without hesitating for too long, Richard gritted his teeth and drank the bottle of blue spirit-clearing potion in one gulp! Instantly, he felt a spicy taste filling his mouth, which was almost like the vodka in his previous life mixed with a large amount of devil pepper.
This spicy feeling was almost unbearable for the wizard whose senses were greatly enhanced! Following the flow of the liquid, Richard felt his mouth, esophagus and stomach begin to burn.
The pain began to spread to every part of his body. Richard's face turned red, his expression was ferocious, and veins bulged on his neck.
In just a few seconds, Richard's forehead was covered in sweat, and his chest and back were soaked!
I saw wisps of light green mist slowly seeping out from the surface of Richard's skin, constantly changing into various shapes in the air.
Finally, it was vaguely seen that they were the shadows of miniature swamp giants. Presumably, this should be the culprit that caused the residual period of blood! At this moment, every second seemed like a year to Richard. After an unknown amount of time, Richard was sweating profusely, and his wizard robe was already soaked with sweat, but beads of sweat still kept coming out of his forehead.
However, Richard could feel a slight sense of relief coming from deep within his body.
It seems like all the pores in the body are completely opened, clearing out the dirt in the soul.
In essence, the Qingling potion is like a detoxifier, which expels the mental impurities that are lurking deep in the body and are contaminated by the burning blood.
After a long time, Richard felt physically tired, but his spirit was unusually good.
After taking this super-cleansing potion once, the body will develop a strong resistance to it, and the next bottle will be almost ineffective.
However, Richard felt it himself and found that most of the blood remnants of the swamp giant from last time had been eliminated.
As for the rest, based on the current speed, it should be ready in about half a month.
With this calculation, it’s time to go and take a look at the Scorched Earth Secret Realm.
Now everything is ready, and he plans to take Gorkan to the Scorched Earth Secret Realm tomorrow.
However, he decided to let Stephanie stay at home as well.
According to Disor, in the Scorched Earth Secret Realm, if you are not a formal wizard, the scorching heat alone is not something a wizard apprentice can withstand.
The next morning.
Richard brought Gorkan to the last floor of the Gray Dwarf Brotherhood headquarters.
Just yesterday, Richard found out that the four large wizard organizations in the city all had underground passages that could directly connect to the teleportation area of the Scorched Earth Secret Realm.
As for other small and medium-sized wizarding organizations, they do not have this foundation and need to go to the monument in the center of Tug City to enter.
It seems that, just as described in the ancient books, the entrance to this scorched earth secret realm is actually very large, occupying almost a quarter of the city of Tug.
Standing on the floating board and swiping the Mithril Emblem, the floating board quickly descended to the last level.
This made Richard sigh inwardly that the gray dwarves' attainments in mechanics were almost catching up with the level of the 19th century in their previous life.
If we take into account the magic stone power, it is definitely at the level of the early stage of the Second Industrial Revolution.
Richard, who had just arrived at the last floor and jumped off the floating board, clearly felt the rising temperature.
Richard took out the mithril emblem in his hand and gently touched it with the light film at the entrance of the passage. The light film rippled like waves.
Immediately, Richard and Gorkan stepped into the light film.
As soon as he squeezed in, he felt a feeling of water squeezing his skin, but after he stepped through, it returned to its original state. The next second, Richard felt a gust of hot air rushing towards him.
It feels like stepping into a blacksmith's shop where forging is in full swing!
Richard was shocked. He had always thought that this kind of rapid rise in air temperature would only occur after entering the Scorched Earth Secret Realm.
But I didn't expect that just near the entrance of the Scorched Earth Secret Realm, no, it should be quite a distance away, the temperature was close to 40 degrees.
"Water film technique!" Gorkan chanted a short spell and gently made a stroke with his right hand.
Richard felt a chill instantly, and saw a thin layer of water film rippling around him, as if he was enveloped in a large bubble.
Being in the water film, I felt noticeably cooler.
"Master, this is a zero-level water magic, which can block temperatures not exceeding 100 degrees." Gorkan said respectfully.
Immediately afterwards, Gorkan cast a water film spell on himself. Compared to Richard, it seemed that the fishman could hardly endure this hot environment.
Richard nodded. It seemed that as he expected, it would be much more convenient to bring a water wizard into the Scorched Earth Secret Realm.
On both sides of the passage, which was three or four people wide, there were small flame stones used for lighting. After Richard and Gorkan walked along the long passage for no less than ten minutes, they faintly heard voices coming from not far away.
After walking for a few more minutes, the road ahead suddenly opened up.
An empty hall with a height of dozens of meters appeared in front of Richard and Gorkan. The entire hall was surrounded by irregular black stones, emitting a faint reddish light.
As soon as Richard and Gorkan entered the hall, they felt the heat wave coming towards them. The temperature rose further from about 40 degrees in the passage to the current extremely hot temperature of nearly 50 degrees.
Moreover, there seemed to be a faint smell of sulfur in the air, which was slightly pungent.
Richard took a closer look and saw that the hall covered an area of at least tens of thousands of square meters, with a dark door more than 20 meters high standing in the center of the hall.
This iron door is covered with all kinds of strange symbols and patterns, and a mysterious and ancient atmosphere lingers around it.
However, Richard discovered at first glance that the door was not tightly closed, but slightly offset, revealing a gap.
This made Richard quite curious.
At the entrance of the gate, there is a hexagram wizard formation. A team of gray dwarf soldiers dressed as the city guards of Toug City are on guard all around. The person in charge seems to be an old gray dwarf wearing a black robe.
In the open space at the entrance, there were more than ten wizards standing sparsely, chatting in groups of three or four.
With just a cursory glance, Richard discovered that these wizards were almost all high-level first-level wizards, and two of them were even top-level first-level wizards.
It seems that what Disol said is true. The main participants in the exploration of this scorched earth secret realm are indeed high-level first-level wizards.
When Richard and Gorkan entered the hall and walked towards the teleportation array, they attracted the attention of many wizards present.
"Hey, they came in from the exclusive channel of the Gray Dwarf Brotherhood, and they are actually a rare human wizard and a murloc wizard." A brown-haired Gray Dwarf female wizard said in surprise.
"Dina, why do I feel that the aura of these two aliens is a bit weak? They seem to be both at the initial stage of level one?" An old gray dwarf with a steel-bristled beard said after looking at Richard and Gorkan in confusion.
"Sadio, your perception is absolutely correct. These two aliens are indeed at the initial stage of level one." The gray dwarf wizard named Dina said with certainty after a few seconds.
"Then what are they here for? To sightsee?" The old gray dwarf named Sadio waved the extremely thick heavy iron hammer in his hand.
Due to the gray dwarf's loud voice, the sound spread instantly. Although Sadio may not have intended to do so, some of the wizards around him burst out laughing.
Richard and Gorkan naturally heard it!
Gorkan's old face turned slightly red, but Richard remained calm, pretending he didn't hear anything.
Richard walked quickly towards the hexagram wizard formation where the guards of Tug City were on guard, and said to the black-robed gray dwarf wizard in charge:
"Hello, the two of us would like to enter the Scorched Earth Secret Realm. How much is the teleportation fee?"
The black robe looked at Richard and Gorkan and asked in confusion, "I see you are from the Gray Dwarf Brotherhood, right? Didn't they tell you that the Scorched Earth Secret Realm is not suitable for wizards below the first level to enter?"
"Well, I'm quite curious about the Scorched Earth Secret Realm, so I want to go in and take a look. By the way, can I buy the teleportation stone from you too?" Richard said with a smile.
The man in black robe suddenly realized something, and immediately, the look in his eyes when he looked at Richard and the other man changed.
Turns out he's a tourist. No wonder he dared to come here at the first level.
However, wealthy customers who are willing to spend 40,000 magic stones at one time are welcome everywhere.
"One teleportation stone costs 20,000 magic stones, and two stones cost a total of 40,000." The man in black robe took two stone pieces, each half the size of a palm, with strange runes engraved in the middle, and handed them to Richard.
Richard took it and looked at it carefully. The stone felt warm to the touch and a little hot. A strange rune emitting a light green light was flickering.
He could feel the rune energy contained in it.
"If you encounter any danger, crush the teleportation stone immediately and the teleportation stone will teleport you back immediately." The man in black robe warned considerately.
"By the way, I suggest you keep the teleportation stone in your hand at all times. If anything unexpected happens, you will have time to react. It has happened before that new wizards who came to gain experience were killed by elemental creatures before they even had time to take out the teleportation stone."
"Thank you for your reminder." Richard bowed slightly.
"After all this time, it turns out you are just tourists. You are so damn rich!" The old gray dwarf named Sadio stared at Richard and the others with his eyes wide open. You know, forty thousand magic stones is not a small amount no matter where you put it.
Therefore, it is rare to see a wizard who comes here purely to broaden his horizons, but I didn't expect to meet one today.
"But. When did such a wealthy human wizard come to the Gray Dwarf Brotherhood?"
"I don't know, maybe he just arrived not long ago."
Richard and Gorkan stood on the teleportation array. The gray dwarf in black robe chanted a short spell. In an instant, a white light flashed and the two of them disappeared on the teleportation array.
(End of this chapter)