Chapter 0042: Preparation

Exhausted after dealing with Mary, Grim finally found some time to prepare for the upcoming mission. In order to better protect his own life during the assignment, Grim utilized nearly all his resources, filling his pouch with various alchemical items to handle any unexpected situation.

The Screaming Branch he had just acquired from his trade with Am was one such item. A rare marvel born of nature, a segment of this branch, when worn close to the body, would emit a woman’s shriek if the bearer was struck by a curse. The piece Am had traded him could be used three times—an indispensable talisman for self-preservation.

Preparing for a journey required quite a lot of such items. There was hemostatic ointment to quickly heal wounds, wisteria grass to reattach severed limbs, antidotes to purge common poisons, wormwood powder to repel insects and serpents during wilderness camping, and amulets to detect spirit creatures.

When venturing abroad, aside from the unpredictable magical beasts and monsters, the greatest headache came from those of his own kind with bizarre powers. A little extra preparation could mean the difference between life and death at a critical moment. Therefore, Grim always strove to consider every possible scenario when assembling his gear, so as not to be helpless when faced with the unexpected.

More importantly, since the mission’s likely destination was underground, Grim specifically researched the Deep Caverns and gained a preliminary understanding of the place.

To his surprise, the underground of the Wizard Continent was not merely a solid crust of rock and earth, but riddled with countless winding tunnels, caverns, and caves of varying sizes. There, veins of glowing rock, night crystals, and phosphorescent moss, lichens, and fungi abounded. Compared to the surface, strange plants were commonplace, and without magical means, a visitor could hardly distinguish the poisonous from the edible.

Yet the true terror was not the mutated plants or creatures, but the multitude of twisted, malevolent dark beings and the fallen wizards who had strayed from the wizard's path.

Most of these outcasts had committed grave crimes on the Wizard Continent and, fleeing pursuit by the Wizard Association, were forced to hide deep below, consorting with those grotesque and warped denizens of the underground. It was said that somewhere in the depths, a small city founded by fallen wizards existed—a veritable den of vice and evil, where depravity ran rampant.

Due to the complex terrain and myriad passages of the underworld, the major wizard organizations and societies had launched countless purges, but each time failed to eradicate them completely, only allowing them to grow stronger. Now, that city of sin boasted several hundred official wizards, forming a formidable alternative power outside the orthodox wizard system—the Fallen Wizards.

The Deep Cavern Grim was tasked to investigate was merely one of a dozen or so surface entrances to this subterranean world. Though a wizard’s tower and an official wizard guarded the site, it could not prevent the fallen wizards from slipping in and out by various means.

With his abilities as a mission apprentice, Grim could not possibly contend with these fallen wizards. His assignment was to map out the distribution of monsters within ten miles below the surface and check for any traces of fallen wizard activity.

The first part of the mission was straightforward, but the second was perilous. Should they truly encounter a fallen wizard during their patrol, even apprentice wizards of the pre-wizard rank might not make it back alive.

Faced with these dangers, Grim needed to prepare some special items. The labyrinthine tunnels and caves presented a basic challenge for surface creatures—sight. The first problem to solve was how to see in such conditions.

There were two main ways to address this. The first was to purchase some alchemical items that granted dim vision, or ideally, dark vision. Considering his own finances, Grim sensibly lowered his expectations. Dim vision allowed normal sight in faint light, while dark vision enabled normal vision even in absolute darkness.

The second method was to transplant a Phantasmal Eye or a Thousand-Eyed Worm.

The former involved replacing one’s own eye with a magically modified Phantasmal Eye through biological alteration, granting the ability to see through invisibility and darkness. However, this method would contaminate one’s bloodline purity.

The latter required swallowing a Thousand-Eyed Worm, which would temporarily parasitize the host, causing a new compound eye to grow on the forehead. The host would then share the worm’s special vision—infrared perception. Though effective, this came with an unpleasant side effect: one had to consume the worm’s favored grass cocoons daily, or else the parasite would periodically feed on the host's flesh and blood. According to books, these grass cocoons resembled soft-bodied silkworm larvae, which made Grim nearly retch at the thought.

Taking everything into account, Grim decided to prioritize auxiliary alchemical items, resorting to hosting a Thousand-Eyed Worm only if all else failed.

Having settled the matter of vision, Grim turned to the question of mobility. Underground, with nothing but damp earth and hard stone, a single intense battle could easily cause a deadly collapse. If he were buried in a sealed cavern, how could he save himself?

Grim worried over this as well, but the chip finally provided the answer: Earth Golems.

Although his elemental affinity was for fire, both of his Earth Golems were aligned with earth, and earth creatures excelled at moving underground. With the golems, there should be no terrain that could truly trap Grim.

Of course, that was just theory—he would need to test it in practice. So Grim first went to Danny to post a request for a dim vision amulet, then slipped out of the Wizard’s Tower once more.

Since the mandatory mission had been announced, a great many apprentice wizards were busy preparing, and the routine patrols outside the tower had been suspended. Thus, Grim needn’t worry about anyone disturbing his training.

He made his way, as usual, to the edge of the Mire Swamp, found a flat patch of ground, and prepared to practice his planned attack routine. He chose this spot because the hag leader, Simba, had already been eliminated; leaderless, none of the hags dared trouble him.

Casually tossing the two earth golem summoning cores onto the ground, they absorbed the earth’s aura and moisture, and two distinctly shaped earth golems emerged before Grim. Simba’s core summoned a nearly two-meter-tall humanoid golem, while the newly crafted Giant Crocodile King core produced a crocodile-shaped golem—only slightly smaller than the real thing, virtually identical in appearance.

Grim narrowed his eyes in thought.

Both cores had been taken from living monsters’ heads, so it was not surprising that they retained some residual soul information. As the summoning core shaped itself with condensed earth element, the creature’s former consciousness determined its present form.

Of course, since their bodies were composed of earth element, Grim could, via his mental brand, transmit precise commands to reshape their forms. However, this process would consume a portion of their elemental energy reserves.

Looking at the two golems standing on either side before him, Grim felt a surge of excitement. Three days ago, he had been a lone wanderer, but now, he had assembled a small, loyal team of golems. Though few in number, it was the first step towards real growth.

He had already collected data on the clay golem, so today he focused on inspecting the new golem’s data.

Mud Crocodile Golem.

Combat-type semi-summoned puppet creature.

Power rating: Senior Apprentice (Intermediate)

Base attributes: Strength 16, Agility 3, Constitution 17, Spirit 8

Innate active skills:

Earthquake, area of effect. Mud Mire (area), earth-elemental restricting spell, creates a patch of quicksand to impede enemy movement. Spell area: 10x10 meters. Cooldown: 120 seconds.

Slowing Ray (single target), earth-elemental offensive spell, channels pure earth energy through the eyes into the target, causing sedimentation and accumulation of earth element, slowing the enemy. Spell range: 10 meters. Cooldown: 15 seconds.

Innate passive skill:

Earthen Regeneration, triggered earth-elemental passive ability, enables absorption of earth element from the ground to repair itself. Restores 10% of body damage every minute.

As expected from the formidable Giant Crocodile King, the Mud Crocodile Golem’s base attributes far surpassed the clay golem (apart from agility). Its combat skills also complemented Grim’s abilities perfectly—clearly a close-combat powerhouse.

But Grim hadn’t brought them out just to show off their might; he wanted to rehearse the first tactic he had devised.

Steadying his nerves, Grim finally shouted his battle command.

“Golems, use your courage and strength to clear the path to victory! Now, I command you—combine!”