Leaving

Luo Lin crashed heavily onto the charred, hardened ground, rolling more than ten meters before finally coming to a stop.

He felt as though every bone in his body had fallen apart, his organs had shifted out of place, and his mental power was utterly depleted.

He struggled to get up, only to cough up another mouthful of blood.

Baha landed beside him, clutching the blue essence that continuously emitted cold air in its claws, and let out an anxious cry.

Looking at the Water Elemental Essence Baha had successfully seized and sensing the pure energy within it—enough to drive any Third-Rank Apprentice mad—Luo Lin forced a difficult smile onto his pale face.

They had succeeded... though the price had been steep.

He did not dare linger. Enduring the agonizing pain, he took out a potent healing potion and a mental recovery potion and drank them.

As the medicine took effect, it slightly eased his bodily pain and mental dizziness.

Luo Lin forced himself to his feet, took the essence still radiating cold air, and found it icy and heavy in his hand, as though he were holding a block of ancient ice.

He swiftly sealed it inside a special lead box lined with heat-insulating runes and put it into his Dimensional Bag.

"Move!"

Luo Lin shouted lowly at Baha, checked their direction, and staggered away from the energy crater.

The commotion just now had been too great. It had likely drawn the attention of other explorers or creatures within the secret realm.

He had to find a safe place as soon as possible, tend to his injuries, and recover his condition.

Seizing the Elemental Essence was merely the first step. Safely taking it out of the secret realm and eventually turning it into nourishment for his own advancement would be the real key from here on.

Enduring both pain and mental weakness, Luo Lin followed Baha's guidance and found a relatively concealed hiding place.

It was a cramped hollow partially covered by a massive piece of metal wreckage.

The entrance was naturally shielded by rocks. The interior was not large, but it was enough to shelter him temporarily.

Luo Lin immediately set up several simple warning and concealment runes at the entrance of the hollow.

Their effects were limited, but they could at least provide some warning.

After finishing, he could no longer hold on. He slumped to the ground and began coughing violently, streaks of blood spilling from the corners of his mouth.

His internal injuries were serious, and his mental power had been excessively drained from forcibly constructing the Deflection Field. It now felt like a dried-up riverbed, sending waves of needle-like pain through him.

Luo Lin did not dare delay. He took out more healing and mental recovery potions and swallowed them.

As the medicine spread through him, gentle energy began repairing his damaged body, while a cool sensation nourished his depleted Mental Sea.

He sat cross-legged and fully operated the Perfect Meditation Method, guiding the medicinal power while slowly absorbing the chaotic yet abundant energy particles in the secret realm to replenish his expenditure.

Baha stood guard at the entrance, its three pairs of eyes watching the outside vigilantly. Through their connection, it continually conveyed soothing emotions to help Luo Lin steady his mind.

The healing process was slow and painful.

The injuries inflicted by the energy turbulence were mixed with a strange corrosive energy, making recovery especially difficult.

Luo Lin had no choice but to devote part of his attention to carefully driving away the lingering foreign energy with his mana.

Time passed amid the silent healing.

After an unknown amount of time—perhaps one day, perhaps two—Luo Lin slowly opened his eyes.

His face was still somewhat pale, but much of the light had returned to his eyes, and his aura had become steadier.

Under the effects of the potions and meditation, his severe injuries had finally stabilized. Still, complete recovery would require more time and rest.

He checked his condition.

His physical state had recovered by sixty to seventy percent, while his mental power had recovered by roughly half.

For the time being, he could no longer engage in intense combat or cast highly draining spells.

Luo Lin took out the lead box and opened a narrow crack.

The deep-blue radiance and pure chill emitted by the Water Elemental Essence immediately spread out, lowering the temperature inside the hollow by several degrees.

Feeling the vast yet gentle energy contained within, Luo Lin felt slightly reassured.

This harvest was enough to make up for the risks he had taken.

"I can't keep hiding here."

Luo Lin knew full well that the secret realm was fraught with danger. Staying in one place for too long was not a good idea.

He needed to recover while continuing his exploration, at the very least making full use of the remaining time.

Over the following days, Luo Lin became even more cautious.

He no longer actively approached those dangerous areas where energy was unusually active. Instead, he focused on searching the relatively safe outskirts while using every spare moment to recover.

With Baha's keen senses, they found several more scattered gains.

Beside a cracked crystal vein, he discovered several decent-quality Voidstone Shards. This type of stone was one of the basic materials used to make spatial bags and certain teleportation arrays.

The fragments were small, but highly valuable.

Luo Lin also discovered a Dimensional Bag that had not been completely damaged beside the bones of an explorer who had died an unknown number of years ago.

The bag's original owner had clearly been dead for a long time, and the mental imprint upon it had already dissipated.

When Luo Lin opened it, he found that aside from several long-expired potions and rotten materials, there was actually a small bottle of perfectly sealed Dragonblood Ink.

It was not true dragon blood, but something made from the blood of a draconic monster mixed with special materials.

It was a precious material for drawing advanced scrolls and certain contract runes, and it happened to relate to the Origin Ink knowledge he had acquired earlier.

Although these gains could not compare to the Elemental Essence, they greatly enriched his collection. In particular, the materials related to rune and scroll crafting might prove useful for his future study of the Star Source Meditation Method and the construction of innate spells.

During this time, Luo Lin also sensed violent energy fluctuations and sounds of battle from distant regions. Clearly, the other explorers were fighting hard for their own opportunities as well.

Once, he even saw a brilliant silver beam shoot into the sky, tearing through a patch of dark-red clouds. The sharp aura within it left a deep impression on him, and he guessed it might have belonged to a powerful wizard apprentice or some enchanted item.

Luo Lin also encountered several small-scale crises.

Once, he was pursued by a swarm of Venom Crystal Bees that had become extremely aggressive under the influence of the secret realm's energy. Fortunately, Baha warned him in advance, and they managed to shake them off by making use of the complex terrain.

Another time, he accidentally entered a chaotic swamp filled with disordered elements and had to spend considerable effort finding a pattern before escaping.

These experiences gave him a deeper understanding of the secret realm's strangeness and danger, while also honing his ability to deal with unexpected situations.

As the time for the secret realm's closure approached, spatial fluctuations in the air became increasingly obvious, and an invisible repulsive force gradually intensified.

Luo Lin knew it was time to prepare to leave.

His injuries had recovered by eighty to ninety percent, and his mental power was basically full again.

Though this journey into the secret realm had been perilous, the rewards far exceeded his expectations.

Not only had he successfully seized the Water Elemental Essence and obtained the Star Source Meditation Method with its limitless potential, he had also collected a great deal of rare materials and knowledge.

He organized his Dimensional Bag, making sure the most important items were secure.

The Water Elemental Essence, the Star Source Meditation Method scroll, Mind-Calming Silverleaf, those mysterious metal plates, and the rest were all placed in the safest locations.

Standing at the hollow's exit, he took one final look at this desolate and dangerous secret realm.

The dark-red sky, the twisted earth, and the chaotic energy still filling the air.

"Time to go back."

He murmured to himself. Baha, perched on his shoulder, let out a clear cry as though responding.

The thirty-day limit was drawing near, and all survivors would be expelled by the secret realm's power.

When the repulsive force originating from the secret realm's core became impossible to resist, Luo Lin felt the space around him twist violently once more, and the scene before his eyes blurred and shifted.

When everything stabilized, he had reappeared within the teleportation array in the central square of Shadow Crow Holy Tower Arcane Academy.

Lights flashed one after another around him as figures emerged. They were the other apprentices who had returned from the secret realm...

Compared to when they entered, there were visibly fewer people. Many faces had been left forever in that dangerous land.

Most of the survivors looked exhausted, yet different lights flickered in their eyes.

Some were excited, some disappointed, and some contemplative.

Luo Lin swiftly swept his gaze around and spotted Kyle. His aura was sharper than before, and he seemed to have gained quite a lot.

He also saw Lina. Her figure remained indistinct, as though she had blended into the shadows of the square.

Quite a few people bore injuries, their auras fluctuating unstably.

The wizard presiding over the ceremony said little. He merely announced that the exploration had ended and that all gains belonged to their individual finders, then dismissed everyone.