Heatwave and Miracle

Ruger had actually wanted to ask how long it took other wizard apprentices to master a non-compatible zero-ring spell. Ka Liu's diary was almost entirely about himself; there were too few examples to compare against. Besides, Ka Liu firmly believed himself a genius. His confusion came from the mysteries of magic, from the exacting standards he had imposed on himself from beginning to end.

Recalling the diary's description of the Meditation Awakening Potion, Ruger realized that the Half-Man might be even more formidable than he had imagined. The drawbacks of the Meditation Awakening Potion were not so easily resolved. A mental-power potion with no side effects that could be used during apprenticeship would absolutely make a fortune.

The Half-Man probably no longer cared about earning the paltry magic stones of wizard apprentices. There had to be plenty of good things in his storage pouch, along with heaps of magic stones piled in a corner of that spacious pouch.

Instead of being like me, where stuffing in a few bugs makes it crowded beyond belief, Ruger thought.

The bugs in his hands had not been given away, so naturally he could only take them back himself.

As for whether the fat grubs stank, he did not much care. What he found interesting was that the Half-Man could still smell them. Did that mean the Half-Man was still a living, normal person? Though his nose probably was not all that sharp. The Half-Man had shown curiosity toward the bugs' stench, yet he had only smelled it after sitting up.

He really wanted to crawl up the side of the great rock and take a look at the brain the Half-Man was missing.

If it were a powerful wizard like the Half-Man, then even if he looked terrifying and lacked a head—even if he became even more terrifying—he should still be able to enter those spacious, brightly lit underground cities.

So long as he found a way and worked hard to become a wizard, that would be enough. Perhaps by the time he grew powerful, he would no longer care to live in those underground cities.

He took a vicious bite out of a grub, sending juice splattering everywhere.

He ate as he walked.

Lost in wild thoughts, he unknowingly arrived at a familiar fork in the road he had not visited in a long time. It was precisely the hot spring vent he had once yearned for day and night. A little farther in, and he would be able to feel that warmth.

So that path could lead here too, he thought.

He looked at the more than half a grub in his hand.

Before burying himself in spell study, he decided to reward himself. There were plenty more in his storage pouch anyway. He could cook up a larger batch of grubs to take back and give Aisijin a few; she would definitely be delighted.

He stopped eating the half-grub in his hand and carefully felt his way forward.

Ordinary underground beasts generally would not like this place, but nothing in the world was ever foolproof. Perhaps there was some beast with peculiar tastes, so even though he loved cooked food, he had not come here often before. This place was not warm—it was oppressively hot with mist billowing upward, like a natural steamer. Within the vast cavern were hundreds of hot spring vents, large and small. There seemed to be a cycle every so often, with the temperature climbing to its peak before dropping again. Yet even at its lowest temperature, this was not a place ordinary people could remain in for long.

He entered the cavern and found a hot spring vent only as thick as his waist. This was exactly the size he wanted.

One after another, the discolored grubs gave off a peculiar, meaty aroma.

He wondered what those powerful wizards ate. Perhaps there were delicacies among them that ordinary people could never taste in their entire lives.

Splash! Splash-splash!

Ruger's hair instantly stood on end.

Even in this place of rolling heat, he felt a chill run down his spine.

The sound had come from not far behind him.

One had to know that kobolds and lizardfolk normally had no instinctive desire to approach this place. Liking warmth did not mean liking being steamed alive.

He slowly turned his neck.

A pair of eyes met his through the twisting, billowing vapor.

Imitating the kobolds of his tribe, he let out a strange shriek and ran outside. Before rising, he did not forget to put away the last half-cooked grub.

So those pointed ears belonged to a woman! And up close this time, she doesn't seem quite so dark either, he thought.

When they had first met, he had only thought her beautiful; he truly had not been able to tell whether she was male or female. Of course, he still had not really seen clearly this time either. The rising mist had only twisted with her movements, and most of her body was beneath the water.

Still, this elf really was a monster. She was diving and bathing in a place like this. He did not even dare boil bugs for that long.

He had been crouching here cooking grubs for quite a while. She had clearly dived in before he arrived.

Now he could only hope that, seeing he was merely a foolish little kobold, she would not chase after him and risk their lives over this. Otherwise, he, this little kobold, was not easy to provoke either. It had all been unintentional, so he was naturally in the right; he would not compensate her with even a single grub.

When choosing the hot spring vent, he had deliberately considered picking one closer to the cave entrance.

He took three steps in place of two.

He could already see the passage beyond the cave entrance through the mist.

"If you take one more step, prepare to see the stomach sacs of underground beasts—and their exits. I'll keep you awake, soak you in a Stiffening Potion first, then feed you to the underground beast that digests food the slowest. If you survive, I'll feed you to it again... until you no longer emerge whole..."

The elf's words were like chisels striking beside his ears, and their content truly broadened his horizons.

As she spoke, she had already come close.

Ruger looked at her. She had not hurried to put on any clothes, instead strolling calmly over to stand before him.

He stared at her, moving his short little legs as he slowly backed toward the cave entrance.

"Rest assured, I have no interest in you."

As she spoke, she came within several steps of him and stopped before him. Pale vapor curled around the elf's cool, black figure.

Ruger immediately dropped to his knees, raised both hands high, and screeched out a long string of kobold speech.

It was roughly the usual spiel about worshipping the mighty and powerful, being scared out of his wits and surrendering, revering the holy master.

"Trying to anger me will do you no good. I've never heard of a kobold carrying a storage pouch at his waist."

She spoke in the common tongue of the underground caves, and before her words had even faded, Ruger's kobold-style shrieking had been successfully cut short.

He simply brushed the dirt from his knees with his hands, stood up silently, and waited for judgment.

"How interesting..."

The dark-gray elf crossed her arms over her chest and began circling Ruger again and again.

"I'd long heard that some madmen used themselves as experiments, taking the bloodline-fusion path no one had tried before. But I never imagined... someone would turn himself into a kobold! You really are a bold one."

The female elf began appraising him from head to toe.

"A miracle!"

"What do you plan to do next? Reverse-engineer a dragon-blooded kobold and become a pure-blooded dragon? That road won't be easy..."

She finally stopped beating around the bush, though her eyes were still traveling up and down his body.

"Beautiful lady, perhaps you should consider putting your clothes on first. Though I am only a little kobold, I am also an elegant gentleman. Please do not ignore me."

Ruger finally could not endure it any longer.

He had already realized that this woman was no dark elf slave-hunting party roaming about, as Old Gold Tooth had claimed, but a bona fide wizard.

As for how strong she was—whether she was an official wizard or merely a relatively powerful wizard apprentice—that was beyond what his eyesight and knowledge could discern.

But he could be certain of one thing: her eye was not as sharp as Half-Man's. Half-Man had seen at a glance that he was not a modified kobold.