Black Hearted Mage

Kaisas crouched down, carefully searching every corner of the corpse for hidden items. He expertly untied the hidden pockets, removed the weapon, and even checked the lining of the collar and cuffs. After ensuring nothing was left out, he collected all the spoils into his interspatial ring and clapped his hands in satisfaction.

Just then, a rustling sound echoed through the dense vines. The ravenous puppy emerged from the gap, its mouth wide open and smeared with grease. Its stubby tail swung merrily, and in its mouth was a pale human hand. Judging by the thick joints, it was clearly the hand of the person just now.

"You greedy dog!" Caesars cursed and kicked the puppy's butt. "I knew you were only interested in eating!"

The puppy immediately spat out the spoils in its mouth, raised its tail and wagged it from side to side, looked at its owner with its black eyes ingratiatingly, and made a whining sound to show its affection.

Caesars removed the storage ring from his severed palm and looked up at the sky, which was already half red from the setting sun. "We've been busy all day, so let's rest here." He patted the puppy's head. "I need to refine old Garlon's soul. This old fox must have hidden a lot of goodies, and we need to find them all!"

He had examined Old Garlon's storage ring. While it contained a considerable number of magic crystals, considering Old Garlon was a powerful nobleman and had long been smuggling contraband to the Church of Saint Laurent, this amount of wealth was unacceptable. Caesars was certain there must be more secrets waiting to be discovered.

Pushing aside layers of vines, Caesars discovered a hidden treehouse. This hut, cleverly carved into a massive tree stump, looked like an ordinary, dead tree stump from the outside. With the thick wooden door closed, the treehouse blended seamlessly into the surroundings. If the door wasn't open, there was no sign of a hidden world within.

The tree stump was five or six meters in diameter, yet the interior was incredibly compact. Half of the two-meter-square treehouse was occupied by a simple wooden bed, a space deliberately left behind during the excavation. The other half was the entrance to a cave. This entrance was covered with a thick magic steel panel, fitted with a sophisticated latch mechanism. Caesars speculated that this was to prevent elven rangers from discovering this secret base through the entrance at the other end.

He sat cross-legged on the wooden bed and began to concentrate on refining Old Garlon's soul. As he absorbed the soul's energy, fragments of memory gradually emerged. Caesars closed his eyes, a smile of understanding slowly rising from his lips—what he was reading were none other than Old Garlon's most secret memories.

In Old Garlon's memories, there was the location of his treasure and the secrets of the Saint Roland Church. The fake Earl of Soren had actually returned to the Roland Empire in disguise, under a different name. Old Garlon only knew the approximate location, not the exact location.

By the time Caesars left the cabin, it had been five or six days. Old Garlon's conspiratorial memories were like a bottomless pit, the secrets accumulated over decades were too numerous and complex. The most secretive of these was the covert trade in magical materials with certain nobles and magicians of the Roland Empire—those seemingly righteous figures, in the shadows, revealed their greedy natures to the fullest.

At dusk half a month later, a dusty Kaisas returned to Violet City. He touched his nearly shrunken spatial ring. His earlier reserve of magical beast meat had long since been consumed, practically all traded to the dark spider in the Endless Forest. Gazing at the darkening sky, he realized that the Endless Forest, controlled by the Elven Council, was far from the ideal place for hunting high-level magical beasts. After much deliberation, he decided to set off for the Southern Continent—only that untamed land could harbor a sufficient number of high-level magical beasts.

Before leaving, Caesar made a special trip to the Thorn Flower Merchants. By the time he'd paid off the puppy's "debt," his stock of golden ginseng was nearly empty. Behind the counter, Okus was counting nearly two hundred rare herbs and looked at Caesar in surprise. "Are these... all products of the Endless Forest?"

"I collected it deep in the Grand Canyon." Caesars dusted off his cloak and said, "It's west of the nest of those strange snakes whose heads and tails are as thick as theirs."

"Gods above!"

Orcus gasped, "The soil there is extremely poisonous. Just the smell of the snakes makes you dizzy. Old Ethan once ventured down there and said there were demonic remains lying at the bottom of the valley..."

The elven alchemist narrowed his eyes and recalled, "The most astonishing thing is that the demon's magic core and heart are still intact!"

Caesars frowned when he heard this: "The entrance to the snake cave is so narrow, how could Old Ethan get in?"

"Teleportation!" Ocus laughed and slapped the counter. "Put a magic mark on this fat dog. Once it gets in, you can teleport to it." He pointed to the puppy lying on the ground.

This simple solution made Caesars laugh. He secretly memorized it, planning to come up with it the next time he explored the Endless Forest. Just as he turned to leave, Orcus suddenly thrust a carved wooden box into his hand. "Your arcane crystals. Next time, just go directly to the storeroom and get them." With that, Orcus hurried into the inner room. The faint sound of boiling potions could be heard; he, too, was eager to brew a magic potion.

"Damn dog, we should go to the southern continent."

Caesars kicked the puppy's butt, and the fat dog immediately spat out half a table leg, its mouth wide open and drooling. The puppy looked eager. As long as there was something delicious, it would go anywhere, and the food in the southern continent was even better.

"You dead dog, don't bite anything anymore!"

At dawn three days later, a grayish-white morning mist shrouded the edge of the Great Swamp like a veil. Caesars stood on the damp mudflats, his fingertips gently stroking his dimensional ring. With a flash of faint light, a terrifying bone ship materialized from thin air. Forged from the skull of a terrestrial dragon, the vessel was a blazing white, its hull formed by a massive mandible. Even long dead, the skeleton still exuded the terrifying might of a beast.

The ignorant puppy immediately rushed forward, its wet nose twitching as it circled the bone boat several times. Sometimes it stood up and pawed at the side of the boat, sometimes it sniffed deep into the cracks between the bones, clearly mistaking the skeleton for some giant prey and searching persistently for any scraps of flesh.

"You damn dog, this is a boat!" Caesars grabbed the puppy by the scruff of its neck and lifted it to his eye level. Dangerous anger danced in his gray-blue pupils. "If you dare to leave a tooth mark on it..." He turned his head and looked at the water deep in the fog, "I'll throw you into the water!"

As the bone ship silently glided away from the shore, Caesars raised his hand and snapped his fingers. The magic crystal embedded in the stern suddenly illuminated with a faint blue light, and a sail made of magic leather slowly unfurled from the top of the keel, rustling in the windless swamp. He adjusted the angle of the sail, and the bone ship immediately tilted into the waterway, its bow breaking the swamp surface, creating shimmering ripples.

Despite the magical sails' assistance, this heavy skeletal ship was ultimately no match for a lightweight raft. Its speed was only three times faster than a normal rowing trip, like a pale leaf moving slowly across the vast swamp. Caesars gazed at the twisting ripples on the water, his knuckles unconsciously tapping the pale side of the boat. At this rate, it would likely take three or four days to reach the southern continent.

The puppy obviously didn't like the cold water. He tested the water temperature with his paws and then lay down in the cabin very obediently.

"Dead dog, eat two pieces of fire crystal to replenish your body. When we reach the edge of the Great Swamp, we will hunt white crocodiles first. There are many big ones there. Remember, don't chew the leather!"

The puppy swallowed the crystal clear fire crystal in one gulp without even chewing it, and snorted at Caesars.

Kaisas pulled out a map of the southern continent. He couldn't go to the lava lake in the south, as there were too many earth dragons there, making it extremely dangerous. The quicksand land in the far west was also off-limits. The quicksand vortex there had a strong suction force, making it difficult to escape once trapped.

A few days later, the bone ship arrived at the edge of the Great Swamp, and the hunt for the monsters began. Hunting white crocodiles and fire lizards was no problem for Kaisas, but he needed to practice his spells and also pursue the number of prey.

The legendary monster, Black Pearl, possesses numerous storage rings, particularly several space rings, which also contain elven weapons and equipment. Trading a storage ring with Black Pearl requires tens of thousands of pounds of high-level monster meat, along with a certain amount of Fire Maple Wine.

Ever since the hunt for the white alligator began, the white bone boat had drifted along the edge of the Great Swamp. From day to night, and back again. From the weed-covered edge of the Great Swamp to the lava river flowing with scorching magma, time flew by, and before I knew it, more than three years had passed.

Kaisas was also promoted to a mage in elemental energy. In order to verify the destructive power of dark elements, Kaisas decided to do something extremely challenging - find a solitary adult ground dragon and try to hunt it down.

"Dead dog, is there a ground dragon in its underground lair?"

The puppy walked to the edge of the burrow, where a hot stream with a strong smell of sulfur was gushing out. It sniffed and shook its head. The ground dragon must have left a long time ago, leaving no trace of scent.

"You damn dog, can you find a ground dragon? Only one. If we encounter two ground dragons at the same time, we will have no choice but to run for our lives!"

For three years, Caesars had traveled along two vast lava rivers, from the lower reaches all the way to the upper reaches. Along the way, he encountered countless fire lizards, but as he went deeper, the number of adult fire lizards became increasingly scarce. Now, it was difficult to encounter an adult fire lizard for several days.

The puppy walking with Caesars seemed to sense something was wrong, and kept shaking its head, as if trying to catch the scent of the ground dragon, but found nothing. It didn't know where to look for the ground dragon, which made it very confused.

"What the hell!" Kaisas muttered to himself, "Why are there no ground dragons outside?" He couldn't help but feel puzzled, because in his memory, except for the lava lake area, although the number of ground dragons outside was relatively small, they could still be encountered occasionally.

"Could it be the ground dragon's breeding season?" Caesars suddenly thought of a possibility. He gazed southward, where dozens of massive volcanoes stood, more than half erupting. He knew that was the ground dragon's lair, and Rodman had witnessed nearly a hundred of them there.

Kaisas quickly put away the map of the southern continent. This was the exploration map he had copied from Rodman, and it clearly marked the habitats of the ground dragons. However, now these places were all empty, and the only explanation was the breeding season.

"You damn dog, let's go back to the swamp and hunt some more white alligators, and find more alligator eggs. No worms from the muddy swamp this time, they're too disgusting!"

Kaisas grabbed the puppy, cast a buff spell, and flew towards the Great Swamp. Now he could rely on the wings of the elements to fly at high speed for three hours, but the magic power consumption was also huge.

After a long flight, Caesars finally arrived at his destination—an area between two volcanoes. Here were three hot springs emitting steam and a strong sulfur smell.

He needed to clean himself thoroughly here. Although the cleaning technique could keep him basically clean, it was not a panacea, and his space ring was already stuffed with dozens of dirty clothes.

Caesars soaked in the warm water, and the plump puppy soaked in the boiling water. After soaking in the hot spring pool for a while, Caesars felt that all his fatigue had been swept away. He changed into clean clothes, and the dirty clothes needed to be washed.

A few days later, Caesar returned to Violet City. The city was still as prosperous and bustling as ever, but for Caesar, his journey was about to begin again.

He had just returned to his little stone house and had no time to catch his breath when his sister Emily came running over in a hurry.

"Brother, you're finally back!" Emily said excitedly. "Rad said the Redstone Kingdom is holding a magician's challenge. The first place prize is huge! You can get 50,000 top-grade magic crystals!"

"Fifty thousand pieces of top-grade magic crystals!" Kaisas couldn't help but scream.

He certainly knew the value of top-grade magic crystals. These natural elemental crystals, found only in rich mines, not only contained immense magical power but also could be preserved for a long time. In contrast, elemental crystals condensed through elemental crystallization arrays, while also possessing high magical power, could not be preserved for long periods. After more than five years, the magic power contained within them would begin to dissipate and decay.

"I've never heard of the Wizard Challenge!"

"The Redstone Kingdom's challenge is held only once every hundred years. Rad wants to go and see it, and so do I, but we can't get the top-grade magic crystal!"

Emily looked at Caesar and said with some excitement and anticipation.