Wizard: I Can Refine Everything-Chapter 130 - 30: The Underworld (5)

Chapter 130 -30: The Underworld (5)

Richard was calmly preparing his poison when some noise came from the entrance of the cave.

Richard looked over cautiously, with his magic wand beginning to gather elements. Suddenly, a figure with sparks on her emerged from the tunnel and waved at him.

“Richard, I’m back.”

As he recognized the newcomer, Richard breathed a sigh of relief; it was Ali, who had gone back to report the intelligence.

“How did it go? Did you get the reward?”

Richard stopped what he was doing and looked eagerly at Ali.

...

“Hehe, we were the first to encounter this type of insect, so command gave us a reward of five hundred magic essences.”

Ali smirked proudly and took a bag of magic essence out of her pocket to hand to Richard.

This time, it was fortunate that she had gone back to report. On the way, she had used the communication crystal ball to directly send the intelligence to command. If she had been even a bit slower, other wizards would have taken the reward for this intelligence.

Richard accepted the magic essence and casually put it into his magic pocket, then resumed concocting the alchemy poison.

Ali saw the two spider knights not far away, her expression immediately tensed.

“Richard, what’s with these two half-spider black crystal worms?” Ali gripped her magic wand, her voice laced with nervousness.

“These insects came to attack me just now. I damaged their nerve centers, and I’m now concocting poison to knock them out.”

While speaking, Richard’s beaker emitted a puff of smoke, and a thick liquid that gave off a strange stench permeated the air within the beaker.

This kind of alchemy poison could paralyze the nerves of creatures; it was very effective on flesh-and-blood creatures but had no effect on elemental beings or half-elemental creatures.

Richard swung his magic wand, and the liquid in the beaker turned into a cloud of black smoke that enveloped the two spider knights.

This poison could be absorbed through the skin and mucous membranes; even if the spider knights didn’t breathe, it would be useless.

The spider knights let out several shrill cries as their blade arms tried to swing but to no avail.

After struggling for five or six minutes, the two spider knights finally succumbed to a state of nerve paralysis.

Richard approached and severed their nerves, then injected new poison into their bodies.

This was a recovery inhibitor; for the next half month, the bodies of these two spider knights would be suppressed to an insignificant level.

“You’ve picked up magic potion studies again?” Ali was somewhat surprised.

She was well aware of Richard’s research. Over the years, Richard had been studying magic equipment, alchemy machinery, and some plastic energy studies, but now, it seemed that Richard had also picked up magic potion studies again, and he had even made some progress.

Concocting alchemy poison that could paralyze level 1 creatures wasn’t something that could be done casually.

Richard gave a faint smile. Thanks to the Miracle Furnace, he had unlocked much “blind box” knowledge from encrypted notes. Though these pieces of knowledge were not systematic and difficult to delve into, they significantly increased Richard’s range of methods.

After storing the two spider knights in his pocket, Richard took out a pocket watch and checked the time.

It had been almost ten hours since Lawrence had left, far exceeding the six hours he had said.

With such a long time gone, did he come across a huge opportunity or danger?

“Where did Lawrence go?”

Ali probed the surrounding area with her spiritual power and finally noticed someone was missing.

“Lawrence went down to explore the next level of the cave after you left. He said he would be back in six hours, but it’s been nearly ten hours now,” Richard explained to Ali.

“So, what do we do? Keep waiting for him?”

Richard frowned deeply, slowly shaking his head.

“Let’s wait a little longer; I’ve also sent something down to scout the path.”

The two waited another hour, and finally, a black shadow flew out of the hole.

“Caw, I’m back.”

Ulysses flew out of the hole, clutching in its talons a shadow creature that Richard was all too familiar with.

“What’s in your talons?”

Ulysses flew to Richard’s side and threw the thing from its talons onto the ground. Upon closer inspection, Richard recognized it as Lawrence’s shadow bat.

“Why did you capture Lawrence’s bat?” Richard asked in bewilderment.

“Caw, you mean that wizard? He’s in big trouble,” Ulysses perched on Richard’s shoulder, conveying through spiritual power, “That wizard is surrounded by a bunch of insects and has also been sealed by a white worm.

I bet the insects have eaten him by now.”

“What happened? Tell me in detail,” Richard’s heart jolted.

As an old wizard who had been through two plane wars, how could Lawrence be so easily entrapped?

“Caw, I’m not quite sure. I was scouting the tunnels as you told me, then I flew into an earth cave like this one and saw the little guy being attacked by a swarm of insects.

It seemed like he saw me, and as he was being sealed by the white worm, he threw this little bat at me.

The insects saw it and tried to keep me too, what wishful thinking. I just…”

New n𝙤vel chapters are published on novelbuddy.cσ๓.

Ulysses’ remaining words were praises for himself, which Richard had no interest in hearing. He picked up the shadow bat from the ground, and the moment he touched it, the bat suddenly opened its eyes and spat out a contract.

Richard picked up the contract; its contents were simple. Lawrence was offering a price of one thousand magic essences for Richard and Ali to come and rescue him.

“Caw, what does it say?” Ulysses curiously peered over.

“Nothing. Just a call for help,” Richard said dismissively, handing the contract to Ali beside him, “Ali, what do you think? Should we rescue him?”

“I?” Ali took the contract, glanced at it, and shook her head, “I definitely wouldn’t go myself; the space in the dungeon is too small, and I’m somewhat afraid of burying myself.

“What, are you going to save him? Our earnings this time have to be split in half with the Academy.”

Richard looked at the contract, somewhat undecided.

Even if half of the profits went to the Academy, there would still be five hundred thousand Magic Stones, which was not a small number.

If Lawrence had been talking about emotions, friendships, Richard certainly wouldn’t have gone to save him, but the concrete benefits truly tempted Richard.

“I do have some thoughts, but I’ll decide after I get a clear picture.”

Richard put the contract into his pocket; he planned to go and check out Lawrence’s situation.

If the guards there weren’t very strict, Richard would go and rescue him. But if they were, or if he was already dead, Richard would just dust himself off and leave.

A Wizard he had only recently met wasn’t worth risking his life for.

“You’re tempted?” Ali was somewhat surprised; she remembered that Richard had always disliked taking risks.

“No choice, I’m too poor.” Richard spread his hands; his entire strength was bought with Magic Stones.

The Adaptation Body was a bottomless pit, having swallowed up most of the Magic Stones Richard had earned over the decades. No wonder Jolod stopped training after being able to resist a thousand Energy Level of damage.

Besides the Adaptation Body, his daily research also required Magic Stones, as did upgrading Magic Equipment with wand heads. Moreover, once he returned, the free residence period provided by the Tower of Truth would also be up, and if he wanted to stay in the residential level, it would cost a significant amount of Magic Stones.

On top of that, he hadn’t even accounted for the startup capital of the Wizard Commerce, the shaping of Ulysses’s body, and the recovery of his soul’s injuries.

Thinking about all that Magic Stone expenditure made Richard’s scalp tingle.

“Fine.” Ali shrugged her shoulders, “I’ll join you, I’ll take only two hundred thousand Magic Stones.”

“Huh?” Richard was startled, “Don’t you need Magic Stones?”

Ali made a face at him: “Isn’t someone risking danger for Magic Stones?

Besides, my abilities can’t be fully utilized in these underground nests; even getting two hundred thousand is pretty cheeky of me.

Another Wizard would probably only share a hundred thousand with me.”

“Then… I also take a hundred thousand?” Richard said off the cuff.

Ali was taken aback upon hearing this, and then, in a fit of indignation, swung her Magic Wand.

“Get lost! Not one less than two hundred thousand!”

…

Lawrence had left quite a few Magic Power marks while scouting, which were especially conspicuous to Wizards. Following these marks, Richard quickly reached the Earth Cave Ulysses had mentioned.

It was a medium-sized settlement; from the remaining structures, this settlement must have once been bustling, but it was now completely devoid of life.

Richard did not rashly enter the cave. Lawrence’s vigilance went without saying, and with strength that was top-notch among One Ring Wizards, the fact that such a person was captured likely involved traps.

“You go check it out,” Richard commanded Ulysses.

“Ga, my life is really tough, falling into your hands. My injuries have barely healed, and every day I have to check traps for you.”

Despite his complaints, Ulysses still spread his wings and entered the cave.

The cave was silent, with giant luminescent fungi emitting a soft blue glow.

Ulysses flew around the cave, confirming that there were no traps or alarms left behind.

Richard and Ali entered, and from the signs of struggle on the ground, it seemed Lawrence was sealed by Sacrificial Insects with the Starlight Seal after hardly any resistance.

“Could it not be a trap?” Richard speculated in his mind.

Due to pre-war beliefs that none of the Insect Countries would be defeated, many treasures were left in the upper layers of the Insect Nests.

And because of the advancing frontlines, as well as the complex structure of the nests, Wizards had not completely scavenged the nests, with many things likely still remaining in the surface nests.

Now that these insects were defeated and the remnants went underground, resisting, Richard made a bold guess based on the information.

These insects were probably heading to the upper nests in search of supplies, and Lawrence unfortunately ran into them.

Richard shared this theory with Ali, who also thought it made a lot of sense.

“Who knows, we might make a big profit this time.” Excitement flashed in Ali’s eyes.

Taking out the Shadow Bat, Richard handed it to Ali for her to divine Lawrence’s approximate location.

As a dual School Wizard, Ali could do more than just throw Fireballs; Curse Divination was also within her capabilities.

Ali took an altar out of her Magic Pocket, drew a disk with blood on it, placed a Curse Worm with two stripes on it into the disk, and used a bone as a pointer.

Then, she placed the Shadow Bat on the altar and chanted ancient Spells.

As Magic Power infused the altar, the originally plain stone altar began to reveal black patterns, and an ancient, eerie atmosphere spread out from it.

“Ga, kid, this woman of yours is no joke. This thing, I’ve seen a Divine being with a similar method in our world, who as a Divine being even the Main God would show respect to. Their Race is also one we take very seriously,” Ulysses communicated to Richard with spiritual power.

“This is Curse Magic from one of the Five Major Schools,” Richard explained.

“Ga! Then you must have a Divine King who is adept at this stuff!” Ulysses exclaimed, “Anyone who starts a civilization war with you is bound to be extremely unlucky.”

Richard said no more; according to rumors among Wizards, it had been a long time since a Truth Wizard from the Curse School appeared.

There were even rumors that they had died.

As Ali’s Spell neared completion, the bone pointer on the altar began to slightly wobble and eventually wavered in one direction.

“Done.” Ali picked up the pointer and held it in her hand, “This pointer will now indicate Lawrence’s approximate direction for the next three hours!”