Underground World

Darkness shrouded the world, yet humanity held light in its hands.

"Roar!!!"

A series of low, terrifying roars suddenly echoed through the silent, empty underground valley!

The sound was like thunder, sending chills down one's spine in the unknown darkness. It relentlessly battered the eardrums of the black-robed youth by the lake. He covered his ears, his face twisted in pain.

His black hood fell to the ground, revealing a handsome face filled with aristocratic grace. Though his complexion was deathly pale and blood flowed from his ears, his eyes remained clear, and his expression hardened once more.

Saine, a humble Black Wizard Apprentice.

At that moment, rocks from the dome above the underground lake fell in sheets like an avalanche, crashing down continuously around Saine. He could only dodge in a miserable scramble.

"Roar!!!"

The deafening sound came again, as though mercilessly mocking the infinite insignificance of this human before absolute power. All struggle and resistance were futile.

The owner of that terrifying roar was an Intermediate Magical Beast—the Saltwater Crocodile.

The underground lake beneath Saine's feet was its habitat.

Now, it stopped roaring and stared at the human. Its enormous tail lashed against the rocks, and the terrifying aura made Saine, who had only just gained a chance to catch his breath, shudder to the bone!

Its pale eyes glimmered eerily in the gloom. Most of its head bore traces of being scorched by fire; clearly, Saine's earlier magic had inflicted some damage upon it.

But in its eyes, this human was plainly provoking and challenging it.

The fear of death had not completely crushed this Black Wizard Apprentice, but the giant crocodile's patience had been utterly exhausted!

It lunged at Saine, opening its gaping, blood-filled maw and biting straight for his head. Saliva dripped from its sharp fangs, and the stench was enough to make one retch.

In that flash of lightning and spark, Saine moved!

The opportunity he had been waiting for had finally arrived!

With his left hand, he fiercely scattered a handful of Iron Phosphorus Powder!

With the little magic power he had left, the fingertips of his right hand released the spell he had long been saving—

Minor Fireball!

In an instant, a fireball the size of a football shot out at high speed!

"Bang!!!"

The powder instantly erupted into a violent combustion, and together with the fireball's impact, it exploded at once!

The deafening blast shook the entire valley cavern. The giant crocodile's massive upper jaw was blown to pieces, flesh and blood scattering everywhere.

Saine was hurled three or four meters away by the shockwave. He barely managed to get to his feet, looked at the giant crocodile's corpse before him, and excitedly pumped his fist.

He had gambled right!

Thanks to the Iron Phosphorus Powder that triggered the violent combustion, this Minor Fireball, upon which Saine had pinned such high hopes, unleashed power beyond imagination.

With the battle over, Saine's Mental Strength had been excessively depleted, and his magic power was nearly exhausted. His face had become incomparably pale.

After recovering a trace of strength, he forced himself to stand. He swam to the small island in the middle of the lake and picked three vivid Starlight Grass plants, then returned to the battlefield and took the Saltwater Crocodile's most valuable Magic Crystal, as well as a piece of crocodile skull suffused with considerable Element Power. Then he quickly left the lakeside.

In truth, regarding the value of an Intermediate Magical Beast like the Saltwater Crocodile, Saine had taken at most half of it.

More corpse materials and magical beast blood rich in magical elements had been left behind. It was not that he did not want them, but in this Underground World, danger accompanied every passing second.

Saine, already at the end of his strength, had no fighting power left. He absolutely could not place himself in danger again.

The three Starlight Grass plants were his ultimate purpose for daring to enter the Saltwater Crocodile's territory, the fundamental reason he had risked his life to fight across ranks this time.

"Hu, hu." Low breathing sounded from the darkness.

That sound seemed to come from the direction of the lakeside.

Saine could not help but quicken his pace, leaving this place of trouble behind.

City of Mozhsuobula.

As the center of the Underground World's "Underdark," and the only city in history founded by Black Magicians, this was a place all Dark Beings held in awe.

On the twenty-meter-high city walls, blue-gray stone bricks bore the weathered traces of history. Within the cracks between those bricks, aside from countless dried magical beast bloodstains, obscure and oppressive magic runes had been carved.

After two days of rapid travel, Saine arrived at this magnificent city. The stone weighing on his heart finally fell, and his safety would now be guaranteed to some extent.

"Hey, Saine, looks like you're pretty badly hurt!" When Saine reached the special passage reserved for magicians, a teasing chuckle came from atop the city wall.

More than a dozen black-robed people dressed similarly to Saine stood on the wall. The one speaking was the dark-skinned man in the middle, with a scar on his face.

Though he did not have an irreconcilable feud with Saine, he did not mind seeing Saine suffer misfortune.

The other apprentices present did not speak to mock him, but most wore equally indifferent expressions.

It was not that these apprentices were cold-blooded. This was simply the normal state of the Underground World.

Disputes also existed among the Black Wizard Apprentices of City of Mozhsuobula. The Underground World believed that the strong ruled, and good men and women had no way to survive here.

The weak were prey to the strong. That was the only law.

Even Saine himself would not help anyone for no reason.

If he saw another Black Wizard Apprentice in trouble, he might even secretly rejoice that there was one less person competing with him for resources.

Ignoring the mockery from the Black Magician atop the wall, Saine took out his token and said to the Minotaur captain guarding the gate before him, "I am a magic apprentice who went out to carry out a gathering mission under Master Moxidu's orders. Let me enter the city immediately!"

The powerful Minotaur captain, whose combat strength was enough to rival a high-level magical beast, displayed extraordinary respect and obedience before Saine, a mere low-level apprentice.

What it revered was not Saine, this low-level apprentice, but the identity of a Black Magician, as well as the Master Moxidu Saine had just mentioned.

In City of Mozhsuobula—or rather, throughout the entire Underdark—Black Magicians represented Truth!

Saine ignored the apprentices' cold words and whispers. After passing through the city gate, he left directly, greatly disappointing the apprentices who had been eagerly waiting to watch the show.

Saine was something of a notable figure at City of Mozhsuobula's Black Wizard Academy. At sixteen years old, he was already close to reaching the threshold of an Intermediate Apprentice.

Potential did not entirely represent a young person's future. What truly made these Black Wizard Apprentices take Saine seriously was that he had received praise from several great Black Magicians, one after another.

No one knew when Saine might step in dog shit and be taken as a disciple by some lofty Black Magician.

Once Saine became the disciple of a master, his standing among the apprentices of City of Mozhsuobula would immediately rise to the middle-upper ranks.

"Hmph!" Saine's cold and dismissive response caused a trace of anger to rise on the scar-faced apprentice's face.

This fellow did not actually wish to openly become enemies with Saine. Rather, he was quite wary of Saine's girlfriend.

After his eyes shifted, the scar-faced apprentice whispered to the lackey beside him, "Tell Yierke that Saine is seriously injured."

"Those two are mortal enemies. Heh heh, I'm sure Yierke won't want to see Saine one day appear before him as an Intermediate Apprentice."

The scar-faced apprentice himself possessed intermediate-level magic, while his lackey was merely a newcomer who had arrived in City of Mozhsuobula less than two years ago. Having only just begun learning magic, he was still at the level of an Entry-Level Apprentice.

In the Underdark, when one's own strength was insufficient, everyone needed to rely on a backer.

The lackey could not disobey the scar-faced apprentice's command, even if it meant making enemies of Saine and his crazy girlfriend.

If Saine truly fell at Yierke's hands, that madwoman certainly would not let the matter rest.

As for the scar-faced apprentice?

He had his own backer, so naturally he did not fear that woman.

In certain areas, the scar-faced apprentice was even in a competitive relationship with Saine's girlfriend.

That was why he found all sorts of fault with Saine, who lived with that woman.