Tracking Movements

The time went back to the day before Hopp's bloodline awakening.

After trekking for more than a week, the Rage Tribe finally brought their previous Dire Goblin captives to a goblin tribe near the Mushroom Forest.

Thus, the ruined goblin tribe welcomed its new masters.

Compared with the harsh environment where the Rage Tribe's territory was nearly surrounded by a lava lake, this goblin tribe deep within the canyon was undoubtedly quite comfortable.

The barbarian goblins who came here did not care where the ordinary goblins had gone. After briefly cleaning up the mess left behind by Carl and Hopp's battle, they moved in.

The captured Dire Goblin from the original tribe did discover them, but after the Rage Tribe's humiliation over the past several days, he not only kept silent, but even looked forward to the Rage Tribe suffering a major setback.

The Giant Lizard that had escaped its enclosure because of the Grotesque Aberration's negligence was recaptured in the canyon by the barbarians of the Rage Tribe.

For an entire day, the Dire Goblins and Hobgoblins stationed there ate barbecued Giant Lizard, wielded the defective weapons Carl could not fit into his equipment, and held a wild, frenzied feast.

In the eyes of the Rage Tribe, they were now practically "enfeoffed lords."

It was in this atmosphere that danger quietly descended.

In the right-hand room of the wooden house, Carl finally managed to coax Hopp to sleep after tossing around with her for half the day.

Just as she was about to return to her room for a good rest, a faint psionic fluctuation came from somewhere.

Carl's weak psionics activated reflexively, and a voice mixed with the noise of soft tissue churning rang out in her mind:

"Brain..."

The fragmentary message left Carl somewhat baffled, but she immediately raised the importance of the matter to the highest level.

"There are actually other people with psionics in this dungeon. Judging from the strength of that fluctuation, the other party has to be at least a level 6 psion, or is simply a Mind Flayer."

"Could our teleportation to this dungeon not have been a coincidence?"

"That Mind Flayer... could it have some secret base here?"

Countless questions surfaced in Carl's mind. She walked straight out of the wooden house and came to the edge of the mushroom cap, trying to determine the source based on the direction from which the psionic fluctuation had come.

Although the Scouting Dragon Mark had given Carl excellent vision and perception, the layers of Bioluminescent Mushroom obscured everything, and Carl saw nothing.

"Should I go take a look? My psionics are weak, but they should be enough to focus my thoughts and prevent others from sensing me."

An unknown enemy was more dangerous than one whose underwear had been exposed for all to see.

After a brief moment of thought, Carl's gaze gradually hardened. She got up, returned to the living room, and put on her Power Armor.

After Carl's initial upgrades, the Power Armor had been greatly improved in terms of armor thickness.

Carl had made the fragments of the Blackstone Greatsword into matte paint and evenly brushed it over the Power Armor's outer shell.

As a result, the Power Armor Carl had designed after Tiga now looked more like the Dark Tiga version.

But none of that mattered. Most importantly, Carl had made a Khyber Dragonshard into the lightning emitter on the Power Armor's chest and inscribed a Storm Rune on it.

Although she had not managed to seal a storm elemental inside it to provide the Power Armor with additional functionality, the Storm Rune had still increased the lightning emitter's power by a considerable amount.

"The firearm attachment with the Rapid Fire Weapon Spell Infusion isn't finished yet. For now, I'll have to make do with the Repeating Crossbow. Fortunately, I'm only scouting this time, so if everything goes smoothly, I won't need to fight."

After reinstalling the Repeating Crossbow damaged by the black mist onto her left arm, Carl glanced regretfully at the smelting furnace outside.

The Repeating Crossbow had already been repaired by Carl shortly after the two of them returned.

However, she had mostly done it to commemorate the weapon that had fought alongside her for such a long time.

As an Artificer, she actually preferred firearms.

After obtaining enough metal materials, the first thing Carl thought of was using them to manufacture guns.

Firearms equipped with the Rapid Fire Weapon Spell Infusion were the most important means of combat for an Artificer in the early stages.

"It's a shame. The Rapid Fire Weapon Spell Infusion for firearms is far more complicated than the one for bows and crossbows. Even though I've been simulating it in the Dream World all this time, I still can't guarantee a successful result."

The Artificer's Rapid Fire Weapon Spell Infusion had actually evolved from the second-level feature of the Conjuration School.

The Conjuration School could summon creatures or create objects out of thin air, while its second-level feature, Minor Conjuration, could create nonmagical objects made of magic from nothing.

Using this feature as a reference, Artificers had created a lower-end version of the ability—the Rapid Fire Weapon Spell Infusion.

Ordinary bullets were, of course, nonmagical objects. Or rather, as long as an object did not possess a magical effect under normal circumstances, it was basically nonmagical.

Compared with ordinary crossbow bolts, bullets involved multiple materials and a shape precise down to the millimeter, making the corresponding infusion much more complicated.

If Carl directly used the infusion ability to create a finished product, it would be relatively simple. But for the Bag of Holding and Alchemy Jug to remain usable, Carl needed to draw the corresponding Rapid Fire Weapon Spell Infusion Magic Rune onto the weapon herself.

That was rather difficult.

Carl shook her head, dispelling the tangled thoughts in her mind, then came to the opening between the surface and the mushroom cap and slid down the rope.

The Infiltrator Model Power Armor was as quiet as ever, making even less noise than Carl did when moving in her physical body.

After taking a slight detour through the undeveloped Mushroom Forest and carefully searching the area, Carl soon discovered something unusual.

"A Giant Lizard with its head blown open. It looks like the work of a Brain Eater. So there really are Brain Eaters and a Mind Flayer here?"

Whether Brain Eaters or Mind Flayers, their primary source of nutrition was the brains of living creatures.

Unless absolutely necessary, they would not consume the bodies of living creatures.

"The blood trail leads this way. It looks like they were trying to head outside the forest... Since that's the case, I'll go against their direction and take a look!"

With a touch of hope, Carl tried to reach the lair of the Mind Flayer and Brain Eaters, planning to launch a sneak attack while their main forces were away and their defenses were weak.

Even if she failed, she would at least learn where the enemy's lair was.

Carl raised her head and followed the direction opposite the blood trail, venturing deeper into the forest.

Along the way, the animals with their heads blown open seemed to form a faint route map leading to the Mind Flayer's base.

This brazen behavior, which made no attempt to conceal its tracks, made Carl wonder whether this Mind Flayer was truly the same one who had captured her.

But it had to be said that the other party's methods had provided Carl with considerable convenience.

After picking out several animal carcasses in relatively good condition and putting them into the Bag of Holding, Carl continued walking and collecting them. Before long, a hemispherical base made of chitin appeared ahead of her.

More than a dozen Brain Eaters ambled around the building, apparently guarding it.

The hemispherical building occasionally released a powerful psionic surge. It seemed to be scouting the surrounding area.

"As expected, there aren't that many opportunities to pick up easy gains in this world. Still, this works out. At least I know where the Mind Flayer's base is. Next, I'll go see where that group is planning to go!"