"Master, I have carefully searched the database of the Gray Dwarf Brotherhood for cases similar to the current one where an entire tribe disappeared or was massacred. All of them are consistent with the above records and were done by cult organizations."

"The following five cults are more likely to fit the bill: the Dark Demon Cult, the Jade Fire Cult, the Resentment Cult, the Broken Heart Cult, and the Nightmare Church. These cults have all slaughtered entire tribes and sacrificed them to evil gods or demons."

"However, according to the records in the Gray Dwarfs' books, whether it is the Gray Dwarves, the Night Elves, or other intelligent races in the Underdark, once they encounter cultists, they will choose to destroy them immediately!"

"So, according to the scriptures, these sects have long been lost in the long river of history. Even if there are some sects with a few believers who survived by chance, they are not a big threat at all."

"A cult?" Richard couldn't help but rub his chin with one hand and fell into deep thought.

This was also a possibility he had guessed. After all, no normal intelligent race would massacre an entire tribe. Even if there were, there would be traces to follow, such as a family feud or something.

But this time it was a series of incidents and there was no warning.

If they are some brutal beasts, they will generally choose to leave after eating, leaving some human lives as their next meal.

Stephanie, who was standing by, was also stunned. She had been planning to leave, but now she slowly walked behind Richard, stretched out a pair of white and tender hands, and gently massaged Richard's shoulders.

Richard was slightly startled, but did not refuse Stephanie's service.

Gorkan took a furtive glance and then pretended not to see anything, lowering his eyes and not looking away.

"Anything else?" Richard asked after thinking for a moment.

"There is another piece of news. A patrol team in the northeast corner of Tug City that was responsible for the safety of multiple lighthouses in that area has all gone missing. Just now, Tug City sent people to investigate the scene, and only found some scattered bloodstains on the ground not far from where they disappeared."

"Huh! The other party actually dared to attack the official forces of Tug City?" Richard was originally feeling extremely comfortable being pinched by Stephanie, and his half-closed eyes suddenly opened at this moment.

Gorkan's words really surprised Richard.

If the other party dares to attack even the official patrol team of Tug City, then they must have something to rely on.

Or, the other party is already prepared and is about to make a big move!

Richard and Disol had also encountered the lighthouse patrol team on their way from Grey Fern Town to Tog City. They were basically fully armed teams composed of second- and third-level wizard apprentices, with dozens to twelve people, responsible for the safety of about a dozen lighthouses in an area.

Their numbers alone are nearly twice as many as those wizard apprentices stationed under the lighthouse, responsible for driving away the giant blue-winged moths.

Moreover, since it is a team used for dispatching and support, its personnel and configuration are comprehensive, and its combat effectiveness is quite good.

Even if Richard wanted to destroy such a team, it would take some time and effort. Moreover, the difficulty lies in preventing these more than ten people from sending out messages and annihilating the enemy completely.

From this point, it can be basically proved that the other party is well organized. If they are not an elite team of night elves that has infiltrated the gray dwarf area, then the possibility that they are a cult organization is very high.

"Gorkan, have you ever read any relevant information about the five cults you just mentioned?"

"Of course, Master."

So, Gorkan began to briefly introduce these cult organizations. For example, the Dark Demon Sect had a clear division of labor in its entire structure. It was divided into patriarchs, bishops, priests, deacons and ordinary believers, who believed in the Dark Demon, a devil from another world.

There are also sect emblems, typical rituals, and the advent of dark demons, etc. ——In a hidden valley far away from the city of Tug.

The grass and trees are lush, and various vines are entwined around the tree trunks and growing vigorously, covering the few gaps that are available.

In the extremely dim environment, a group of gray-robed men were on high alert all around. In the center, there were three figures, one tall and two short.

I saw a tall figure in a black robe pacing anxiously in the middle of the venue, cursing something.

If you listen carefully, you can hear some sweet words spoken in the night elf tongue.

"Fuck! A bunch of idiots from the Nightmare Church."

"Damn pigs!"

“.”

After the tall figure vented his anger, the shorter figure next to him said:

"Nicole, it's happened, what now?"

After a long while, a low voice came from the tall figure: "Grace, just now, the patrol team of Tug City was killed by those idiots from the Nightmare Church. It seems that we have to lie dormant for a while!"

"Nichol, we don't have much time left! You promised us that you would take action immediately." Irene, who was standing by, became anxious when she heard this. She was already dissatisfied with Grace for placing all her hopes on this traitor of the night elves.

Now it seems that the other party is indeed unreliable, and keeps shirking the time of action! However, before Irene can finish her words.

"Swoosh!" A sound of breaking through the air was heard.

A long object as thick as a bowl hit Irene's towering chest heavily.

“Bang!”

Irene let out a muffled groan, spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backwards. She was instantly knocked seven or eight meters away. After falling to the ground, she rolled twice.

The whole person felt as if he was hit by a wild bull.

The fact that a high-level spider woman was knocked several meters away shows how powerful the attacker is. Grace looked closely and found that the strip-like object was the mutated tail behind Nicole.

Nicole snorted coldly and said, "Irene, watch your attitude. Don't think that you can offend me again and again just because of Grace's plea!"

"This is the second time! If there is a next time, hehe, you won't be so lucky."

Nicole's tall and strong body, like a giant, looked down at Irene who was lying on the ground, bringing a strong sense of oppression.

Irene's lips trembled slightly, her originally slender hands tightly grasped the soil on the ground, her chest heaved violently, showing her unwillingness and anger! "Nicole! One day you will pay the price!" Irene shouted furiously in her heart.

But the shadow of death made her dare not say this openly. At this moment, she could only keep it deep in her heart and hide her resentment!

Even after Nicole approached her forcefully, Irene slowly lowered her head. It was unclear whether she was afraid to look into Nicole's eyes or she didn't want the other party to notice the rage for revenge in her eyes.

Grace supported Irene and said helplessly, "Nicole, you're going too far! But if we have to lie dormant for a long time, I'm afraid we won't have enough time."

"Don't worry, Grace. As long as you listen to me, I will definitely let you get the Nightmare Mirror back. Don't worry."

Facing her former lover, Nicole's tone softened immediately. ——Tuge City Villa District.

Richard sat lazily on the soft leather sofa, his fingers rhythmically tapping the armrests, while his eyes were looking out the window at the gray garden of his villa.

This is the daytime in the Underdark, as dark as twilight on Earth.

For ordinary humans who do not have the racial innate dark vision, they can basically only see a distance of about ten meters during the day.

Since Richard is a formal wizard with a physique far superior to that of ordinary humans, the daytime in the Underdark feels to Richard like the evening in heavy smog.

After Richard listened to Gorkan's description, the sense of urgency in his heart was gradually increasing.

Previously, the enemy's targets were some remote tribes around Tug City, and they seemed to be afraid to directly attack the forces of Tug City.

But this time, judging from the fact that the other party dared to attack the official force of Tug City Patrol, it seems that the other party is getting closer and closer to Tug City and to himself.

The fingers that were originally tapping were now gripping the armrests.

It seems that I still have to find a way to quickly improve my strength!

Richard's brain was working rapidly at this moment.

His current strength is at the initial stage of a first-level wizard, and with his natural witchcraft, he is at most as strong as a mid-level first-level wizard.

If one adds the vengeful abominations and alchemical combination bombs, etc., he can barely reach the high level of a first-level wizard.

But, under the current circumstances, it seems that it is still not enough.

I always feel very dangerous I need to become stronger! The fastest way Richard can think of to improve his strength is to create a blood bone puppet. He has a preliminary plan for this, and he will implement it immediately in the next few days when the conditions are met.

However, this may still not be enough. After all, the combat effectiveness of the Blood Bone Puppet is partially linked to his strength to a certain extent.

With his current strength, even if the blood-bone puppet is created, its combat effectiveness will most likely be at the high first level.

The second way to increase his strength is to make full use of the "Dragon Blood" in his hands.

Because if he could really use the source blood in his hand to stimulate his mental power again, his mental power would be greatly enhanced.

As a result, the attack power of the innate witchcraft mental shock will soar again.

Moreover, the strength of the vengeful abominations that you summon will increase dramatically.

The same will be true for the Blood and Bone Puppet.

This is the case with the Undead Wizard. As his own strength increases, the strength of his summoned creatures will also increase simultaneously.

It seemed that he had to speed up the search for information and find a way to identify the rank of this source blood as soon as possible. What creature's source blood was it from?

After that, you can proceed to the next plan.

Three consecutive days.

Richard stayed at headquarters much longer than usual.

He spent part of his time studying the book Intermediate Puppetry Knowledge. Since Richard already had experience in making phosphorus stone combat puppets at a proficient level, he was able to learn easily and efficiently by combining theory with practice.

And during the other part of the time, Richard was looking up the relevant methods for high-level source blood testing.

Richard also asked Gorkan and members of several other large wizarding organizations in Tug City about the relevant knowledge of high-level source blood, but he gained nothing.

It seems that there is a huge mastermind behind the high-level source blood, which has erased all relevant information and methods.

The highest-level knowledge about source blood that can be found in the data room is some knowledge about the identification techniques and utilization methods of third-level source blood.

After several days of study, Richard has mastered the identification of first and second level source blood.

Richard already basically understood the principles of identifying third-level source blood. At the same time, he also had some ideas about how to identify higher-level source blood. The next step was to give it a specific try.

"Fingate, use all of them to purchase living monsters at the level of third-level wizard apprentices." Richard handed a bag of magic stones to Finate.

Although the bag is bulging, most of the things inside are ordinary magic stones, and there are also a small number of intermediate magic stones.

This is all the magic stones Richard currently has on hand after maintaining daily expenses.

The number of monsters that can be purchased is roughly the same as last time, only three.

"Yes, master." Fingart slowly retreated.

In fact, Richard earned magic stones very quickly. Basically, every day, he would take one or two potion-making or bomb-making tasks in the Gray Dwarf Brotherhood.

The next day, he was able to obtain a lot of contribution points and magic stones.

Therefore, for Richard, the magic stone can be used up today and will come back tomorrow, but the amount that comes back each time is only a small amount.

One reason is that Richard deliberately conceals his incompetence.

Secondly, it is because he spent most of his time on study and research.

The alchemy room on the second underground floor.

After a few days, Richard had accumulated more than 20,000 energy points by constantly purchasing and killing monsters.

However, this also made Fingart extremely conspicuous outside. After all, few people would purchase living monsters in large quantities like Fingart, and they were all monsters at the level of third-level wizard apprentices.

It’s not that Richard doesn’t want to acquire higher-level monsters, such as monsters at the formal wizard level.

But the price of monsters at this level is at least ten times that of monsters at the third-level wizard apprentice. Currently, because Richard does not want to sell other things in his hands, the lack of magic stones has become his biggest obstacle.

It's not that there were no curious people who investigated Fingart, but later on, they found out that Fingart was actually the servant of Levi, the alchemist master who was rising in fame in the Gray Dwarf Brotherhood, so there was no doubt about it anymore.

You know, many potions use monster organs.

Or extract essence from the monster's blood, cerebrospinal fluid, etc.

Of course, the most important thing is that Richard has the title of Alchemy Master! Richard calls up the inspiration panel [Skill]: Level 3 Source Blood Verification Witch Array (Entry 47%)

Now he planned to try to see if he could deduce the next level or higher level source blood testing method by improving the third level source blood testing magic array to its limit.

[I discovered that the host is practicing the third-level source blood verification magic array. Do you want to consume energy and gain inspiration for the third-level source blood verification magic array? ]

Richard dragged the slider to the far right without hesitation and selected "Yes!"

After a dizzy spell, Richard's soul came to the dream space. This time he came to an alchemy room with all kinds of utensils. In the middle of the room, there was a blurry figure bending over, drawing something carefully on the ground.

[Ding! The host has mastered the third-level source blood verification magic array to the limit, triggering the design inspiration of the high-level source blood verification magic array. Now he has mastered the high-level source blood verification magic array (entry 9%)! ]

Richard was both surprised and delighted!

Unexpectedly, after I was promoted to an official wizard, the intelligence level of the inspiration panel seemed to have improved slightly.

He vaguely remembered that when he was a wizard apprentice, if he wanted to innovate zero-level witchcraft, the inspiration panel gave him a drop-down menu to choose from.

But now, I rely more on my many attempts and hard research in the dream space.

In the dream space, as long as you try and work hard in a certain direction, after thousands of times, you will make breakthroughs and achievements in that direction.

Of course, the prerequisite is that you have accumulated enough relevant knowledge and energy points.

This is the exact opposite of other people! For the vast majority of wizards, rich imagination and creativity are the most precious.

But I have my own inspiration panel. For me, the most important thing is to study hard, pursue knowledge unremittingly, and accumulate enough foundation.

The accumulation of knowledge is like firewood, and inspiration is like a flame. The more firewood there is, the more intense and hotter the fire will be after the flame is ignited! As the huge detection magic array drawn on the ground flashed a dazzling red light, a huge black double-winged dragon phantom began to emerge above the magic array.

Even though it was just a phantom, there was a faint sound of a dragon's roar, as if it was dominating the world, with an extremely majestic aura.

"Hiss! It is indeed the Black Dragon Blood!"

But it seemed that because the source blood was impure, the phantom was not lifelike, but slightly blurry.

This can be easily judged from the fact that Richard cannot clearly see the scales on the black dragon's body and the features of its head.

At the same time, above the giant verification wizard formation, there was a very faint shadow of a supernatural creature lying on all fours. Because it was too faint, it could only be barely identified as a creature similar to a drake.

In addition, there was a lot of black smoke, which kept roaring and transformed into various extraordinary creatures.

While observing the size, clarity, and duration of the various phantoms, Richard took out a feather pen and quickly wrote down a line of text: "Mixed black dragon blood (black dragon blood accounts for about 68%, some kind of earth dragon beast blood accounts for about 29%, and unknown blood accounts for about 4%)."

"You should know that the black dragon is a legendary creature. Only those extraordinary creatures that are above the third level are called legendary creatures, that is, the fourth level! This powerful ancient creature has long disappeared in the vast river of history."

"According to records, the last black dragon with a clear record in the Gray Dwarf Brotherhood's archives was more than 2,000 years ago. It appeared briefly and then disappeared without a trace."

"There are still many wizards who are diligently searching for the traces of these legendary creatures, and even many sects have emerged, such as the famous Dragon Worship Cult."

While Richard was playing with the mixed black dragon blood in his hand, his thoughts were flying, and he recalled many legends about dragons in the Underdark.

After being in a daze for a moment, Richard once again shifted his gaze to the source blood in his hand.

Although the volume of this source blood is only the size of a fingernail and is not pure, it is enough for Richard to use.

Richard recalled that according to a record in the gray dwarf database.

After using the second-level Earth Bear's blood to stimulate mental power, a gray dwarf wizard who was at the initial stage of level one was directly promoted to the middle stage of level one. Of course, the residual period of the bloodline was as long as three and a half years.

"From this perspective, if I can use this mixed black dragon blood to successfully stimulate my mental power, my strength can at least be raised to the high level of the first level."

"However, we still have to find a way to solve two difficult problems!" Richard sighed.

In fact, if Richard was really given a fist-sized piece of pure black dragon blood, as the blood of a legendary creature, it would be at least at the terrifying level of the fourth level, and Richard would be completely unable to use it.

In the current situation, the energy contained in the mixed black dragon blood in Richard's hand is roughly equivalent to the blood of a third-level extraordinary creature.

If Richard could find a way to ignite it and use it to stimulate his own mental power, the effect would be self-evident.

With the help of the inspiration panel, Richard was confident that he would be able to quickly master the third-order wizard formation required to stimulate the source blood. However, the third-order igniter, the Heart of Fire, was extremely troublesome.

That is the core of a third-order flame supernatural creature! I have not heard of any wizard organization in Tug City having this thing yet.

That’s right!

If you can't find it in the contribution value exchange list of the Gray Dwarf Brotherhood, then there is a high probability that other wizarding organizations are not as powerful as the Gray Dwarf Brotherhood.

Although Richard had never met the president of the Gray Dwarf Brotherhood, he knew that the president was only a great wizard at the high level of the second level.

In order to kill the third-level fire-type extraordinary creature that has occupied the advantageous terrain in the scorching environment of the Scorched Earth Secret Realm.

I am afraid that even if the three presidents go, they will never come back.

What a difficulty. Tsk tsk!

Just as Richard was thinking.

"Dong Dong Dong!" There was a loud knocking sound outside the alchemy room on the second underground floor! This immediately made Richard frown.

What the hell is going on with Fingart and Gorkan? I told them not to let anyone disturb me, so why are they still... "Levi! My brother!"

A familiar loud voice came.

“Hahaha! We made it! New rye beer, unbelievably delicious!!”

Disol just rushed into Richard's villa with a lot of noise. When he knew that Richard was in the alchemy room, he rushed down directly. Fingart and Gorkan couldn't stop him.

Richard opened the door and saw that it was indeed this guy, Desol, holding a few bottles of beer in black glass in his hands.

I guess this should be the new rye beer.

Looking at the cheerful Disol, Richard also had a smile on his face.

At the same time, I sighed in my heart:

"The magic stone I've been waiting for is finally here!"

(End of this chapter)