Forbidden Zone

Lohr walked three miles in the opposite direction from where the dark faith apprentice had appeared and arrived before a small mound of earth.

He raised his right hand slightly, and a burst of earth element erupted from his palm, shoving aside all the soil atop the mound and revealing a hide-wrapped bundle hidden beneath.

The divine power fluctuations within the bundle were incredibly intense, less than half weaker than those from Lohr's own bag of divine crystals.

He did not immediately pick up the hide-wrapped bundle. Instead, he activated the Lava Eruption Sorcery covering a three-meter radius and gave the bundle a thorough cleansing.

"Sizzle, sizzle—crack—"

A plume of black smoke suddenly rose from beneath the bundle, only to be swallowed entirely by the lava in an instant.

"Not bad. You even knew to leave a backup plan. Barely passes."

Lohr offered a word of approval and waved away the Small Lava Eruption Spell.

He then picked up the bundle with a hand covered by a layer of Adaptive Rock Barrier and returned to his resting spot.

He placed the hide-wrapped bundle beside his own, then turned around and set up another Lava Eruption Magic Array before beginning to tally his gains.

"276 grams of Divine Power Crystals and 62 bottles of Special Potion." Lohr raised his brows slightly. "Tsk, this guy hunted quite a few people."

Unlike him, who always intimidated an entire area first before choosing places with intense divine power fluctuations to collect Divine Power Crystals.

The advantage of doing so was that he could obtain more Divine Power Crystals while saving elemental energy.

The drawback was that he acquired fewer Special Potions. After all, others did not dare run around carrying conspicuous Divine Power Crystals, but they still dared to flee with Special Potions.

That dark faith apprentice had chosen another path: killing apprentices who had managed to seize Divine Power Crystals.

His efficiency in acquiring Divine Power Crystals was lower than Lohr's, but he could obtain more Special Potions.

"It was only easier during the first few hours, and he could have easily gotten himself killed."

Lohr shook his head. "I'm not afraid of getting myself killed, but chasing people is truly troublesome."

Speed was currently his weakness. If he did not put down the Divine Power Crystals first, it was difficult for him to catch anyone. Yet if he put them down, he was afraid they might be stolen.

These Divine Power Crystals determined whether he could afford a good flying vessel and leave the Murphy Continent. There was no room for mistakes.

"For the next few days, I should wait for prey to come to me. Waiting out the seven days may be the better choice."

Lohr thought to himself, By then, the higher-ups will drop three spatial storage items into the divine kingdom. Every greedy apprentice will fight for them. That will be the true opportunity to reap a harvest.

Having made up his mind, he stopped dwelling on it.

He packed all 738 grams of Divine Power Crystals into a single bag, then meditated for a few minutes to replenish the elemental energy he had just expended.

Afterward, he took out all the potions and drank them one tube at a time, continuing his attempt to improve his talent.

Thirty tubes...

Fifty tubes...

Lohr drank the last tube of Potion, shook his head, which had gone somewhat numb from the icy sensation, then opened the panel again and looked at the meditation talent entry.

[Meditation Talent: Level Seven+]

"It really wasn't easy. I had to drink ninety-nine tubes of Potion before I could finally add a point." Lohr sighed and decisively tapped the plus sign.

[Meditation Talent: Level Seven → Level Eight]

[Charge Points: 11350, 20.34% → 4557, 15.48%]

"A Level Eight meditation talent is already practically at the very top. On average, meditating for one day can increase mental power by 0.3 points."

Lohr smiled in satisfaction. "Without relying on any external aid, I can go from an ordinary person to a First-Circle Wizard Candidate in one year. This cultivation speed is sufficient."

For now, he had no intentions of pursuing a Level Nine meditation talent because it was simply too difficult.

Going from Level Seven to Level Eight took one hundred bottles of Special Potion.

Going from Level Eight to Level Nine would take no fewer than ten thousand bottles. It was an enormous qualitative leap.

"Since I won't be hunting, I'll advance my Meditation Method over the next few days."

Lohr closed his eyes, sank his consciousness into his Sea of Consciousness, and used his mental power to connect the Fire-Earth Meditation Rune with the Small Lava Eruption Spell rune.

As time passed, a mysterious connection gradually formed between them.

Countless fire and earth elements flowed and exchanged between the two runes.

Before he realized it, the meditation rune had acquired traces of the violent qualities unique to the Small Lava Eruption Spell rune.

During Lohr's meditation advancement, rabbits from outside would run into him roughly once every hour.

In the end, most of them were burned to ashes by the Lava Eruption Magic Array he had left outside.

It would have been fine if wealthy rabbits like that dark faith apprentice had come crashing into his tree, but these apprentices were poorer than the last.

They were practically gamblers who had lost everything and gone red-eyed, clutching fantasies of suddenly becoming rich as they came to try their luck with Lohr. Ten of them together could not even produce one gram of Divine Power Crystals.

"What a nuisance."

Lohr opened his eyes and looked at the apprentice burned to ashes, as well as the Lava Eruption Magic Array that had vanished once more. His eyes were filled with impatience.

"This won't do. The apprentices coming here have no Divine Power Crystals. Not only am I gaining nothing, they're also slowing down my meditation advancement."

He had originally planned to advance his Meditation Method in three days. Now that he had changed his plans, he even had six days available.

But if he kept alternating between cultivation and getting up to arrange magic arrays, forget six days—even ten days might not be enough to complete the advancement.

Although advancing the Meditation Method was not hindered by interruptions, it took time for him to reenter the dual-rune synchronization state each time.

"Hmm, perhaps I should set up several more magic arrays around the perimeter." A new idea surfaced in Lohr's mind.

Whenever he set up a Lava Eruption Magic Array, those people destroyed it as soon as they entered.

If he set up more of them, they should be able to delay them longer and give him more time to cultivate.

If he set up sixty or seventy Lava Eruption Magic Arrays, mixed between small and large ones, they should hold out for two days without a problem.

No sooner thought than done.

Lohr stepped out of the Adaptive Rock Barrier Magic Array and began setting up Lava Eruption Magic Arrays along the edge of the barrier.

For every three small magic arrays he set up, he placed a medium-sized magic array around them.

After setting up three medium-sized magic arrays, he placed a large magic array around them.

After arranging several rounds, he returned to recover his elemental energy for a few minutes, then came back out and continued setting them up.

The power of these magic arrays all barely reached the first circle. The difference in size only represented a difference in range.

If other apprentices entered the arrays, they would trigger the large magic array first, while the medium and small arrays in the middle would not be activated.

After setting up a total of seventy magic arrays, Lohr looked at the densely packed Lava Eruption Magic Arrays covering a twenty-mile radius and nodded in satisfaction.

"That should be enough. Time to go back and continue advancing my Meditation Method."

The plan to wait for prey to come to him was officially declared bankrupt. The backup plan had begun: using fish traps to catch fish.

Two days later.

A wolf-shaped Bloodline Wizard apprentice led more than a hundred grotesque Bloodline Wizard apprentices and over three hundred elemental wizard apprentices toward Lohr's location.

When they were still more than a hundred and twenty miles away from Lohr, they encountered a Bloodline Wizard apprentice with six spider legs growing from his back in the forest.

When the spider-legged apprentice saw such a large group walking through the forest together without even the slightest divine power fluctuation leaking from them, his heart stopped for an instant.

Just as he was about to flee, the leading wolf-shaped wizard apprentice seemed to recognize him.

The moment they met, he pointed west and enthusiastically invited him.

"Jiaolang, want to come over there and try our luck with me?"

He could sense exceptionally strong Divine Power Crystal fluctuations coming from that direction, far more intense than the divine power fluctuations of those they had hunted before.

Upon hearing that familiar voice, Jiaolang halted in the middle of turning away.

He turned back and stared closely at the leading wolf-shaped wizard apprentice.

When he confirmed that it truly was an old friend, delight rose in his heart.

But when he saw the direction his old friend was pointing toward, his scalp went numb.

"No, Yajieding, don't go over there." Jiaolang urged anxiously. "That place is the 'forbidden zone'!"