A dense forest of fungi blocked Brian's path. The fungi here were dense and prosperous, with various types, and even some mushroom-shaped fungi were more than ten meters high.

Brian listened carefully and heard a hissing sound in the fungus jungle, as if there were countless small voices whispering something in a language he couldn't understand.

He stood there and pondered for a moment. When the moist breeze raised a strand of disobedient hair on his forehead, he looked stunned and guessed where this fungal jungle led to.

And he could clearly feel that although these hissing sounds were quite strange, they were not dangerous.

Because it's just the tremolo produced by air blowing through dense fungal mushrooms.

In the deep and dark underground world, there is almost no breeze blowing on your face.

It can be seen from this.

This dense jungle of fungi may very well hide a path to the surface.

"Have you discovered anything?" Looking at Brian who was standing there deep in thought, Hesiah came closer, looked at the scenery of the fungus, and whispered to him softly:

"I just saw a few centipedes and small spiders from the surface world on a blue hat mushroom. Does this mean that this place is likely to have a road to the surface."

"That's right." Brian nodded, secretly noted the location here, turned around and said, "When we finish dealing with things here, we will return directly to the surface from this fungus forest."

After hearing Brian's plan, Hesiah looked happy and quickly caught up with him, "Didn't you say you wanted to find a black spire here? Do you have an approximate location?"

"Not yet." Brian shook his head slightly, looked thoughtfully at a high ground not far from the fungus jungle, pointed at it, and said to her:

"The location over there should be the commanding height of the entire tunnel. If we go over there, we should be able to observe the approximate location of the minaret from above."

He and Hesiah walked quickly to the hillside.

It was discovered that the stairs leading to the top of the mountain were not stacked in concentric circles, but a spiral slope that spiraled from the bottom of the cave to the top of the hill.

He also felt that the radiation of the earth veins on the surrounding stone walls was like an invisible wind blowing, constantly changing the light and shadow.

The light and shadow flow forward along the stone wall, then spiral up around the hill, until they reach the top of the mountain that is pitch black due to its height.

The stacked hills form a natural staircase, and there is a slope next to it from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, forming a shortcut up the mountain.

"I didn't expect that the spiral stripes produced by the radiation of the earth's veins would actually affect the changes in the mountain." Brian looked at the hill in front of him thoughtfully and said to himself:

"No wonder that with the increase in leyline radiation energy, the difficulty for most demon lords to incarnate in the material world has been greatly reduced."

He hesitated no longer and came to the top of the mountain with Hesiah.

Just when Brian was about to investigate the surrounding environment, he suddenly heard many strange sounds mixed together.

He could clearly identify the source of every sound, the rhythmic knocking of the blacksmith, the whistling of the furnace in the royal city of Aldus, the irritable roar of the red dragon Agatus, the crazy screams of the derro dwarves, until death.

Hugh's lingering presence, and even some fragments of dialogue.

The sounds of the city above the cave roof filled it, like an irresistible noise storm.

Obviously, this is the effect of radiation from the earth's veins, trapping all the sounds above the tunnel here.

"There is a cave there." Hesiah looked forward, looking at a Zeke wood double door forged and reinforced with crude steel.

"Go over and take a look." Standing on the top of the mountain, Brian locked his eyes on a distant spire surrounded by hazy darkness. After writing down the location, he became interested in Hesiah's new discovery.

When he arrived near the cave, he discovered that this was not a cave, but an area separated from the main tunnel by stone bricks and gates.

Although the lock on the Zeke wood double doors is very strong, it still cannot be blocked by Brian, who is a spellcaster.

He threw a second-level spell "Knocking" directly at the lock, and the strong door lock automatically fell off easily.

"Stay vigilant, this is very likely the secret base of the Gray Ghost."

Brian used telepathy to tell the sword mage beside him.

The two deliberately lowered their footsteps, gently pushed the door open to allow entry and exit, and slipped in quietly.

The cavern shimmering with a sickly light was filled with large pits filled with soil, in which various fungi grew.

Brian at least recognized a wide variety of fungi and plants in these pits, such as the Ghost Face Mushroom, the Rhizome Mushroom, Nealhog's Nose, and the Torch Mushroom, and even some new varieties that were cultivated.

The floor, walls and ceiling were covered with various mushrooms and fungi, emitting a lavender phosphorescent light.

The air was cold and damp, filled with the strong smell of fertilizer, and the entire corner of the cave was filled with a mixture of rotting mushrooms, soil and animal carcasses.

Several thin figures in cloaks were busy shoveling the well-mixed soil into the carts beside them.

There is also a large barrel-shaped copper tank set up on the cliff edge of the pit. A long copper pipe extends from the copper tank into the curved vertical pit. It looks like a sprinkler for irrigating and fertilizing fungi.

There is no doubt that this is a fungus garden.

In addition to a few derro dwarf workers tending to the fungus, Brian also saw three heavily armed gray dwarf warriors stationed here, leaning listlessly under the mushroom canopy in a daze.

With a thought, Brian's volleying sword flashing with light blue crystal light appeared in front of him, and with a streak of cold light, he easily cleared away all the guards here.

The two of them didn't waste any time. Like ghosts, they passed through the fungus garden silently and continued walking deeper.

After clearing out five more thieves and guards, and successively disarming and avoiding several traps and magic barriers, we arrived at the eastern half of the cave without any danger.

Due to the low terrain here, the entire area is divided into two levels, connected by a Zeke wooden slope in the middle.

"You go to the west, I'll be in charge of the east." Brian used telepathy to instruct the sword mage beside him, and walked along the shadows toward his destination.

As soon as he arrived at a well-equipped laboratory on the upper floor to the east, he heard screams and fighting coming from the lower floor to the west.

Obviously, the sword mage has already joined hands with the enemy.

Brian looked around and saw that there was only a workbench, a desk, a cabinet displaying various bottles, and a dome oven in the laboratory.

A gray dwarf alchemist was concentrating on continuing his research, ignoring the sounds of fighting below.

Even the figure he walked in seemed to be unconscious. He was buried on the experimental table without raising his head, concentrating on studying a sparkling fire tongue mushroom.

Brian was about to speak when the dark shadow twisted.

A figure wrapped in shadow energy, holding two daggers with flashing cold light, stabbed him fiercely in the heart and neck respectively.

This is a thief who is proficient in stealth and sneak attacks.

——"Arcane Barrier!"

In a flash of thought, Brian built a protective force field for himself in time, blocking the thief's two daggers from one meter away.

——"Second-level spell: Explosive Flame!"

The moment the force field emerged, he quickly took out his staff and recited a spell. The moment the thief concentrated on the force field barrier, dazzling fire suddenly spewed out from his body.

The thief, whose pale pupils were reflected red by the fire, looked startled and retracted his attack in time. With his flexible reaction ability and speed, he successfully avoided the raging range of the flames.

Brian took this opportunity to see clearly that the thief who attacked him was a derro dwarf.

Through his reaction ability to dodge his instant "Explosive Flame Technique", he can judge that the opponent's strength is probably at the third level.

He missed the blow, immediately extinguished the flames ignited by his clothes, and disappeared out of thin air.

Brian glanced at the gray dwarf alchemist who was still concentrating on his research. He was holding his staff and standing calmly, motionless.

As a wizard, he naturally knows how to rely on his own advantages to deal with rogues who are good at sneaking and sneak attacks.

Moreover, in the game world, he could proudly say that not only a thousand rogue players died at his hands, but at least eight hundred.

Whether it is the Trickster who is skilled in both combat skills and the Shadow Guard Assassin of the City of Shadows, or the Shadow Dancer and Ghost Dancer who are good at hiding, he has a set of tried and tested methods to target them.

In the long silence.

The sound of fighting in the lower level to the west gradually faded away, and Brian's side remained silent.

There was only the occasional faint sound from the calm gray dwarf alchemist.

At this moment, Brian had enough time to compete with this third-level thief for patience.

Because as soon as the battle on Hesiah's side ends, support will come quickly. He doesn't even bother to risk using spells to find the opponent's location, he just needs to wait quietly.

"Crack!"

A soft sound came from a dark corner.

Brian's expression condensed, and the other party finally couldn't stand it any longer and tried to use long-range attacks to deal with him.

As a sharp sound broke through the air, he unexpectedly discovered that the crossbow arrow shot at him did have demon-breaking properties.

Demon-breaking equipment is a must-have for the Chopper Team to deal with spellcasters.

Otherwise, it would be difficult to destroy their protective magic with just one blow using physical attacks.

"boom!"

The force field barrier hit by the Demon-Breaking Crossbow made a crisp sound like broken glass.

With a thought, Brian used his telekinesis ability to lock the Demon-Breaking Crossbow arrow, which had lost most of its force due to the protective barrier, causing it to forcibly stop flying and fall to the ground.

At the same time, sneak attacks by thieves also followed.

He had already anticipated the thieves' attack.

——"Mage Armor!"

This time, he did not choose a defensive counterattack spell, but quickly put on a shield for himself.

Because he had already identified the thief hiding in the dark through the weak magic fluctuations, and used some kind of magic item to add a spell shield.

With the blessing of "Spell Armor", the thief's two consecutive attacks failed again. He was about to retreat when he suddenly noticed an invisible ripple floating in the air.

——"Psychic blast!"

This ripple was like a menacing giant hammer, hitting hard in the depths of his mind and instantly knocking him to the spot.

Seeing the thief fall into a brief state of shock, Brian concentrated his attention, and the second controlling psychic energy came instantly.

——"Ectoplasmic entanglement!"

A ball of viscous ectoplasm energy was extracted from the distant star realm by him, appeared out of thin air at the soles of the thief's feet, and stuck them tightly to the ground.

There was a flash of panic in the thief's cold expression, and he quickly raised his feet and jumped up, trying to get rid of the elastic slime.

"Pfft!"

In this short moment, Brian calmly controlled the volley sword, quickly emerged from behind him, and disembowelled him mercilessly.

"Target is dead!"

"Soul energy is being extracted..."

"Gain experience points: 3500 points!"

…………

In the battle between wizards and thieves, wizards can rely on their comprehensive range of spells to give them the upper hand even if their attacks miss many times.

But thieves are different.

Once they are hit by the wizard's control spell, even if they are only slightly affected, they are likely to be instantly seized by the wizard to meet their continuous control and attack spells.

Brian is not only a wizard, but also holds a part-time job as a psion, which allows him to have a huge operating space with the cooperation between magic and psychic abilities.

With his current strength, even a fourth-level thief would probably be killed on the spot by a simple one-ring spell if he did not use sneak attacks and powerful magic weapons to break through his shield immediately.

As for the warriors below the legendary realm, it is not worth mentioning. These warriors can be lifted up and beaten by him in almost 360 degrees without any blind spots.

This is the insurmountable gap between spellcasters and physical professions.

After Brian finished searching for the loot, he walked towards the gray dwarf alchemist.

"Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"

Seeing Brian coming over, the gray dwarf alchemist finally came back from his concentrated research and begged for mercy with a look of fear on his face: "I can give you whatever you want to know or any potion you want...

..”

Brian looked at the gray dwarf calmly: he was bald, thin, and his eyes were bloodshot. "You are an exile, what is your name?"

"My name is Rocio Barbacon, sir." The alchemist quickly replied:

"In order to buy alchemy knowledge, I was exiled by my family for stealing. I had no choice but to join the Gray Ghost and rely on the refined potions to obtain the research resources they gave me. But I can assure you that I have never killed anyone. Then

A group of thieves locked me up here, and apart from refining poison for them, I have been focusing on my own research."

While listening to the gray dwarf's explanation, Brian looked at the counter where various bottles were stored.

Various high-quality alchemical potions such as blazing glue, strong acid bottles, psychic resistance potions, fire breath potions, and life potions are all placed here.

From the quality of the potion, he could tell that the alchemy mastered by this gray dwarf had reached an advanced level, and he was probably not as far away from the master level as he imagined.

He glanced at the many books the alchemist put on the table that recorded how to use fungi to refine magic potions, pondered for a moment, and said to him, "I won't kill you, but the premise of all this is that you serve me."

"I observed your plantation when I entered here."

After thinking for a while, he added in a professional tone, "In my opinion, the fungi you grow are simply terrible compared to the myconids. That's why the quality of the potions you refine has always been difficult to improve.

.”

"Yes, yes, your Excellency is right." The alchemist nodded his bald head in agreement, and said with a wry smile:

"Of course I know these reasons, but I have never learned the techniques of growing fungi. I can only slowly try to cultivate new qualities through plantations."

"If you are willing to follow me, I can not only provide you with abundant resources, but also provide you with several mushroom farmers who are good at growing mushrooms to serve you, and even teach you the magical medicine techniques of mushroom farmers."

Brian stated his conditions, "As for my conditions, in addition to serving me for life, you must also help me train apprentices as much as possible and increase the production of potions."

"But..." The gray dwarf alchemist looked hesitant and didn't know how to speak.

"I know what you are worried about." Brian saw through his thoughts and said with a smile:

"Don't worry, I can assure you that as long as you agree to these conditions of mine, I will ask the King of the Deep to lift you from your status as an exile. If you show enough value, I can even transfer the entire vortex stone to you.

The tunnel is given to you to serve as your private territory."

The gray dwarf alchemist looked happy when he heard this, and then his eyes widened, looking suspiciously at the half-elf wizard in front of him who was obviously from the surface.

"If you don't believe it, just leave with confidence and find a way out. I won't stop you." Brian didn't bother to explain too much. He took out a few bottles of useful medicine from the counter and said to him:

"Of course, if you think my words are trustworthy, then you can continue to stay here for the time being and don't run around until the notice of lifting your exile status is handed over to you personally."

"I am willing to wait, sir. Rossio is willing to stay here and serve you for the rest of his life." The alchemist gritted his teeth and nodded quickly.

"Then just stay here honestly." Brian said a word and turned to leave.

As soon as he walked out of the laboratory, he met Hesiah who was walking towards him after the battle.

"Are you injured?" He noticed the blood stains on the sword mage's wrist and asked subconsciously.

"It's just a minor injury." Hesiah snorted and said nonchalantly, "I have cleaned up all the Gray Ghost thieves, including their leader."

"This is a healing potion, take it."

He handed her a bottle of potion, and then, as usual, he stretched out his hand and gave her a simple cleaning technique to clean up the blood on her body and make her look radiant again.

Seeing that the wound on her wrist was gradually healing, Hesiah looked hesitant, followed Brian, took out a dimensional bag, and handed it to him, "I have plundered all the wealth accumulated by the gray ghost, and it is all here."

Brian stopped and turned to look at the smiling swordsman. For a moment, he felt a little at a loss.

"No matter how ambitious a goal is, it must be based on wealth." Looking at Brian's interesting expression, Hesiah couldn't help laughing, "Besides, I've never been short of money, so take it."

Brian was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but admire Hesiah's exquisite smiling face.

He suddenly realized that this noble lady at this time was really attractive.

It is like a walnut. The outer solid hard shell has cracks. As long as you are willing to put in more effort, you can take out the delicious pulp at any time and put it into your mouth to enjoy it.

But in that case, it is inevitable that the pulp will be stained with broken shells.

It would be better to let her take the initiative to break the hard shell and clean it, and then take the initiative to bring it to her mouth.

"You are overthinking it. I have never said that I am short of money." Brian calmly took the dimensional bag from Hesiah's hand and said to her, "I am a prudent and thrifty person, which is not like you.

Such a prodigal..."

Realizing that his words were a bit inappropriate, he quickly stopped and turned around, leaving her behind.

Hesiah didn't think much about it. She was made to laugh out loud by Brian's strong argument.

Looking at his back, she suddenly realized that he also had such an interesting side.

She put away the smile on her face and caught up with him, "Where are we going next?"

"To Black Spire."
Chapter completed!