The small town of Palmyra is the closest supply point to Cotopaxi Volcano.
The registration location for foreign apprentices is also located here.
When Grim arrived here in a slow stage carriage, it happened to be dinner time.
Palmyra Town is a remote but not too cold town. The town is not big, with only one central street. It is the kind of small place where you can see the whole town at a glance from the street.
There are more than a dozen wooden houses built along both sides of the street, which look like ordinary residences at first glance. In addition, there is a tavern, a grocery store, a simple and humid small hotel, and a population of about a hundred households. This is a small house.
The whole town is gone!
As soon as he got off the stage carriage, Greem faintly heard a dull booming sound coming from the mountains in the distance. This kind of sound was not occasional, but had always existed since Greem approached this mountainous area.
From the outside, the sound might not be that obvious, like thunder in the wild in winter, but when he came to this small town, he immediately felt the magical power of nature.
This is probably the sound caused by the continuous underground activity of the volcano!
When he thought about the residents of the small town living in this kind of environment for many years, Greem couldn't help but be curious. What made them willing to endure the torture of such a harsh environment and stay here?
You know, although the Cotopaxi volcano is almost in its rest period, the towering volcano cone in the distance is still spitting out thick plumes of smoke and dust. The town is less than seven miles away from the volcano.
At the foot of the mountain, affected by the volcano, the sky is always gray. Inside and outside the town, there is a thick layer of volcanic ash everywhere, both on the buildings and on the gravel roads.
Waiting for Grim in the small hotel is a senior apprentice named Ivan. Judging from the chest badge on his gray robe, he should belong to the local Jubel family. The Cotopaxi volcano belongs to their family resources.
Point, foreign wizards are not allowed to enter the interior of the volcano without their permission.
Seeing that Greem's level was only advanced, Ivan obviously didn't believe it, and couldn't help but said coldly: "The inside of the volcano is not safe even during the rest period. It is full of terrifying hot air and
Lava monster, are you sure you can survive in it?"
Grim looked around the hotel lobby indifferently, and made a few empty strokes in the air with his hand. A witchcraft rune burning with elemental flames floated in the air. Of course, his move attracted everyone's attention.
People at the six or seven wooden tables inside couldn't help but turn their heads and look here.
To be honest, ever since Grem stepped into the threshold of the Body of Fire and was infused with the energy of the underground lava, his nearly 2-meter-tall body has become quite eye-catching. And his long dark red hair and unyielding cool aura
It also condenses his unique momentum, which is particularly eye-catching.
"Well, it turns out you are a fire apprentice! Then the underground environment will have a much smaller impact on you. As long as you avoid those nasty lava monsters, you might be able to go deeper!" That Ivan nodded and took the
He produced a white stone and gave it to Grim.
This will be his pass to enter the interior of the volcano in a few days!
"Go and communicate with them! The people in this hall are all foreign apprentices here to do tasks. If you can form a team, the task will be easier!" Since discovering that Greem is a fire-based apprentice, Yi
Where the enthusiasm was evident for many.
After nodding in greeting, Greem walked slowly towards the hall, slowly scanning the many unfamiliar faces gathered around the dining table and chatting in low voices, and finally chose to sit at a table alone.
This trip to the underground, his purpose was more to complete his body in flames, and he was not enthusiastic about the rewards of this mission, so he had no intention of forming a team with others. Therefore, as soon as he came here, he put on a good show.
His indifferent appearance of keeping away from strangers is to avoid unnecessary trouble.
The wizard apprentices are all people with keen minds. Since Greem has put up such a good posture, naturally no one will harass him again. And Greem took advantage of this opportunity to slowly take a panoramic view of everyone's situation and do something.
By the time you get there, you have a good idea.
The lobby of the small hotel is not big, and the light is extremely dim. There are about 17 wizard apprentices sitting there, of which only 2 are at the quasi-witch level, and the rest are senior apprentices like Grim. This is actually consistent.
characteristics of this task.
If you want to collect resources in an underground volcano, you have to endure the impact of the extreme environment on the one hand, and on the other hand you have to deal with elemental creatures such as lava monsters and fire spirits that live in it. Therefore, senior apprentices are already the lowest level for this task.
The threshold is reached!
Greem dared to conclude that among these senior apprentices, most of them had an elemental affinity with the fire element. The remaining ones, even if they were not of the fire element, were extremely confident in themselves. The reason why there were so few quasi-witches was purely because of the collection of
Tasks such as resources are quite eye-catching.
If you are lucky, you may be able to hit the fire diamond mining area exposed after the lava subsides on the upper level of the volcano, but if you are unlucky, there are many people who will achieve nothing during the three-month mission.
At that time, not only will the mission rewards not be obtained, but I am afraid that I will also have to pay for my share of the missions.
Therefore, if there is no special need, would-be witches would never want to try their luck in the underground volcano.
After grasping the general situation of the apprentices on the mission, Greem hurriedly filled his stomach and plunged into his room and never went out again. He came quite early, there were still 5 days left before the volcano's respite period, so he was here
For several days, he did not leave the house even a single step, and even three meals a day were brought directly into the house by the waiter.
Using his free time in the past few days, he desperately studied flame enchantment. He felt that this follow-up defensive witchcraft was the most suitable for his body bathed in fire. If he could master it early, he would most likely form
A protective flame similar to that of the Abyss Balrog. Anyone who wanted to attack him at that time would first have to endure uninterrupted fire damage, which was more in line with his insidious mentality of killing enemies invisible.
During this period, two or three wizard apprentices came to visit and wanted to draw him into the expedition team he formed, but they were all declined by Greem. Therefore, all the senior apprentices who wanted to explore the underground volcano came and went.
Everyone knew that there was this guy who actually planned to go underground alone.
Apprentices who can reach high levels are not simple-minded people. They all understand that those who dare to do this are hard-working people who have great confidence in themselves, so no one makes any comments about it. But they wait secretly.
There are still many people who are having fun watching Grim!
Soon, the day everyone has been waiting for will come!
On this day, the rumbling noise that had been lingering in everyone's ears finally stopped.
The gray smoke column that penetrated the sky in the distance began to become scattered, and the volcanic ash that had been falling all day long also began to decrease and finally stopped.
Grim, who was reading silently in the room, sensed the changes in the outside world. He opened the wooden window facing the street and took a look. He immediately packed up everything around him and walked out of the room. There were many apprentices who were as prepared as him. Everyone
After nodding to each other in the corridor, they all gathered in the hotel lobby.
Ivan, who is in charge of leading the team, is already waiting here.
After waiting for another quarter of an hour, after all 20 task apprentices had arrived, everyone filed out and followed Ivan towards the foot of the volcano.
The journey of seven or eight miles was nothing to these wizard apprentices. In less than a quarter of an hour, they arrived in front of a natural stone cave halfway up the volcano cone. Two would-be wizards from the Jubel family were already waiting here.
, after checking everyone’s pass certificates, they were put into it.
The cave is not big, only about 20 square meters, and it is full of jagged rock peaks and limestone. This may be a lava channel that leads directly to the depths of the volcano. There is no moss or lichen here, and the rock walls
On both sides, there are thick cracks and deep grooves everywhere, and hot air currents that can instantly boil people are constantly sprayed from inside.
Perhaps the underground lava has just receded, but even the ground here is still hot, and the passage is filled with a pungent smell of sulfur. Without special means, ordinary people only need to stay in such polluted air for half a quarter of an hour.
The terrifying fire poison will invade the body and turn the trachea and alveoli into water sacs filled with blood.
However, the test of this environment certainly cannot stop the apprentices who dare to come here. Colorful protective shields cover them inside one after another, cutting off outside interference. Greem did not reveal his body bathed in fire, but
Blessed myself with a high temperature force field.
He silently looked around, and found that there were 8 apprentices who were blessed with fire defense like himself, accounting for almost half of the 20 apprentices. The rest were either earth or wind, and he didn't see a single water element. Presumably those water elements were friendly.
Guys are not willing to suffer in such an environment.
Compared with other elemental lineages, in this environment, it is not only extremely difficult for the water element to gather water elements, but the power and effect of the witchcraft stimulated will be reduced by 70%. As long as they have no brain problems, they will never come here to find it.
Abuse!
Once here, everyone is basically doing their own thing.
Several apprentices who formed a team got together, and the fire apprentices uniformly provided elemental protection, and got into the passage without saying a word. The remaining warmth in the passage has not dissipated, and if the narrow environment encounters an unsafe situation,
The expected large-scale eruption of hot air would put even senior apprentices' lives in danger if they fell into it.
So everyone said "take care" to each other, then dispersed into different passages in twos and threes, and disappeared deep underground.
Greem noticed that the wizard apprentices of the Jubel family did not enter the passage with outsiders like them. It seemed that they were more familiar with the terrain here and had more convenient places to go. They did not need to rely on luck like the outsiders.
.
Greem shook his head and sighed, then he bent down and got into a lava channel.