Chapter 0087: The Forbidden Realm Beneath the Earth

The underground has been turbulent lately.

This was the message Kevin specifically relayed to Grim during his visit. Of course, Kevin didn’t come solely to deliver this news; he brought with him the chief steward dispatched by the Losa Trading Company to this region. Their objective was the blood garnets that Grim and Mary had acquired from Mine Shaft No. 7.

After days of appraisal, Grim had already confirmed that these blood garnets were a rather peculiar magical material, primarily used in crafting certain special witch artifacts, but of no use to the magical golems he required. Perhaps precisely because of this, Grim had decisively entrusted all six blood garnets in their possession to the Losa Trading Company for processing.

As for payment, Grim did not opt for magic crystals, but instead requested that all fees be converted into proto-wizard grade elemental crystal cores. On this point, the chief steward agreed immediately, his face beaming with a smile.

Since Grim was willing to part with those six blood garnets, it meant the steward had already fulfilled a portion of his resource quota for the half-year. Furthermore, Grim’s refusal of magic crystals and preference for conversion into elemental crystal cores at the Losa Trading Company amounted to two business deals in one. How could the steward not be delighted?

Grim was so agreeable because he had learned, indirectly, that the Losa Trading Company was backed by the very same Angus wizard with whom they had longstanding dealings, and that Black Hand Kevin belonged to the Byron family, just as Angus did.

With these two factors in mind, Grim accepted the steward’s request without hesitation, thereby reinforcing his rapport with the Angus wizard.

In return, Kevin left in high spirits and became even more cordial with Grim, discreetly suggesting that if Grim encountered any difficulties, he could always approach the Angus wizard—for knowledge purchases or resource exchanges, Angus would offer him the best possible terms.

Thus, in less than half a day, Grim received the proto-wizard grade elemental crystal cores he needed: four in total—one earth, two water, and one wind. Additionally, he was given a comprehensive map of the underground world as currently charted from the Dark Caverns. Still, due to the ever-changing terrain below, this map was for reference only and unlikely to match the actual landscape perfectly.

Grim now understood clearly that, for a long time to come, his battle advantage would be built upon the numerous magical golems he could command. Their strength lay in mobility, stealth, and sheer numbers. If circumstances allowed, Grim even dreamed of creating a vast army of magical golems, obedient to his will.

One day, if someone offended him, he wouldn’t need to lift a finger—a glance from him, and waves of golems would overwhelm his enemy.

Of course, such wild ambitions could only be realized far in the future. For now, he could only carefully assemble his small golem squad.

Yes, Grim had a preliminary plan: to leverage the diversity of magical golems and tactical combinations, fully unlocking the combat potential of each type. Since most of his activities lately were in the underground world, it made sense to craft more earth-type golems. Yet, anticipating possible shifts in future battlefields, he needed to prepare more.

The water and wind cores were precisely for that purpose.

Especially with a wind-type golem, Grim would gain a free flying magical creature, no longer troubled by the distances he must traverse.

After scanning the elemental crystal cores with his chip, Grim had the chip design the most suitable magical golem models for each. Once everything began to proceed methodically, Grim picked up the crystal sphere and silently studied the information within.

Amid a black backdrop, only a thin layer shone through. Even this most superficial layer was composed entirely of countless winding tunnels, passageways, crevices, secret paths, ravines, and waterways. Endless caves, caverns, and hollows were scattered throughout, as numerous as stars in the sky. The routes connecting any two locations were myriad, though most were impassable for human bodies.

On this map, spaces where one could temporarily shelter were marked in green; traversable paths were shown as fine blue lines. Amid the dense web of blue and green, clusters of red dots flickered—the current known distributions of underground creatures, clans, and magical beings.

Naturally, Grim could find no markings related to the Ruins of Ultimate City on this three-dimensional map of the shallow layers of the Dark Region.

To resolve this, Grim summoned Carby, asking it to indicate the supposed wizard’s treasure on the map. Carby, after a lengthy and careful study, finally pointed to a certain area. There, Grim saw no city symbols, but swathes of ominous red warnings.

In some parts of the underground world, there were forbidden zones so perilous outsiders dared not step foot. Usually, these places either presented natural environments hostile enough to overwhelm apprentices, or housed extraordinarily dreadful magical creatures. Either way, such regions demanded caution from wizard apprentices.

Gazing at the glaring red on the map, Grim could not help but hesitate.

Judging by the intensity of the color, it was a death zone where even proto-wizards faced great danger. Thus, Carby’s unhesitant selection of this spot was, at least theoretically, justified.

Wizards had always enjoyed building various laboratories where they lived. From Carby’s descriptions, that second-tier wizard was a specialist in biological modification. Once a laboratory was abandoned, its stored aberrations, modified creatures, puppet beings, or lingering magical energies could irreversibly pollute the area.

If those aberrations or modified creatures died, all would be well; but should any powerful ones survive, they would pose threats to adventuring wizard apprentices on par with the most fearsome wizard-level monsters. Though Carby claimed to possess some of the secret magical passwords, the risks involved still gave Grim pause.

Yet, as Grim wavered, Carby revealed information that reignited his resolve.

The Flame Lord’s Staff!

In one of the second-tier wizard’s secret chambers, a Flame Lord’s Staff was preserved.

To others, the Flame Lord’s Staff was merely a potent magical artifact capable of summoning three proto-wizard grade fire elementals per day. But for Grim, it had an indescribably special purpose.

With Grim’s affinity for fire elements, he could use the Flame Lord’s Staff to construct a portal to the Fire Elemental Plane, from which he could endlessly extract fire elemental crystal cores. If his power grew strong enough, he might even attempt to claim a territory there and become a true Flame Lord.

Not to mention, most of the elemental crystal cores Grim had been collecting lately were likely not from this plane, but from those elemental planes.

The entire multiverse is vast and profound, filled with elemental energies of every form, forming an endless sea of power. The various planes are like isolated islands, floating within this ocean.

Each plane is a complete miniature world, lacking nothing—from earth, mountains, rivers, and seas to sky and living beings. However, due to unequal infusion of elemental energies during their formation, each plane develops unique characteristics.

The wizard world’s plane is especially suited for life, but once the wizards seized control, its nature shifted towards chaotic, potent magical energy.

Elemental planes, as mentioned, are those formed in regions dominated by a single element. When these planes mature, they become singular elemental realms.

In ordinary material planes, elemental substances are nearly balanced. Earth elements cluster to form land, which in turn shapes mountains, hills, and plains. Water elements gather into streams, lakes, rivers, and seas. Wind elements bring clouds, rain, thunder, and lightning, while fire elements create lava, volcanoes, and life itself.

These elements combine to create perfect material worlds where heaven and earth flourish and all creatures proliferate.

But elemental planes are different.

Take, for instance, the Fire Elemental Plane that Grim so yearns for. It has mountains, hills, seas, and lakes—but all are composed of fire element particles. There, the mountains burn, the seas blaze, and even the sky itself is aflame.

Such a world is unfit for most life, yet it can nurture beings whose life force is derived from fire. Fire elementals, fire giants, magma hounds, fire spirits, fire eagles, molten core giants, fire goblins, fire element elders, flame lords, flame kings… Like humans, the fire elementals have their own world, and their hierarchy is strictly structured by strength.

If Grim truly wished to achieve greatness in fire magic, then the Fire Elemental Plane was a vast realm he would inevitably have to enter.

After all, the wizard world is but a large plane; wizards are aggressive by nature, ever eager to explore new material planes across the endless starry sea, conquering and annexing them to their ever-expanding domain.

Yet, despite their ruthless character, wizards have long obtained the coordinates to elemental planes and have never dared attempt to conquer them as they did material worlds. The reason is simple: all elemental planes are colossal realms. If the wizard world were to connect with an elemental plane, the ones happiest would be the desireless elemental beings.

Instead of wizards gleefully dividing the immense resources of the elemental plane, it would be countless elemental creatures pouring into the wizard world, expanding it into a new elemental realm.

Therefore, in the rules of the wizard world, all wizards must exercise the utmost caution when handling portals to giant planes. One misstep could result in disaster, a calamity brought upon themselves.