Chapter 113: Entry
"I cannot help you with that. I have lived here for many years, yet I have never ventured into the depths of the desert." Daibei shook his head; he was equally ignorant about matters concerning the Black Sea Desert.
"Has anything strange happened here recently?" Xius asked, unwilling to give up.
"Strange things? Well..." Daibei pondered for a moment before continuing, "Over a month ago, some people claimed to have seen a giant serpent, several tens of meters long, inside a sandstorm. But only a few people spread the story, and not many believed it."
"A giant serpent?" Xius knew he had grasped a key detail. It was possible that Gagalie was indeed waiting for him inside the Black Sea Desert.
"Where was this?" Xius asked, remaining composed.
"Not far from here. You could reach it in half a day after entering the desert. But such stories are best left as rumors. They even said the snake was constantly circling in the air—with a body that massive, how could that be possible?" Daibei clearly did not believe the gossip circulating in the town. Having lived here for so many years, he had never seen any giant serpents; even moderately large ones were a rarity.
Xius felt it was necessary to take a look into the desert. While giant serpents of several tens of meters were rare, such a thing would be perfectly normal for Gagalie. Xius knew Gagalie's power all too well.
After chatting with Daibei a while longer and giving repeated assurances that he would not harm Ronnie, Daibei revealed quite a bit of information about the Black Sea Desert.
Six days later, Ronnie came to Xius, brimming with excitement, to report that he had meditated and formed his seventh mental rune, qualifying him as a Level 2 apprentice.
This progress left Xius deeply surprised, forcing him to re-evaluate Ronnie.
Nevertheless, Xius still taught Ronnie a few spell templates as previously promised, though they were of very low power.
"The Yalkri Continent interferes with a wizard's advancement. But because I triggered that power within Ronnie's eyes, he can ignore the rules of Yalkri. Could I also..." This was Xius's objective: to use Ronnie to test the power of Yalkri's laws and see if the energy within his own eyes could bypass them. The answer now seemed obvious.
In the early hours of the morning, Xius left Daibei’s room alone, preparing to head into the heart of the Black Sea Desert. Daibei saw him off and even prepared some supplies, secretly hoping Xius would leave soon.
Xius headed into the Black Sea Desert by himself. He wanted to see Gagalie as soon as possible; he could no longer afford to delay his promotion to an official wizard.
"Beep! Energy reaction detected on the host!"
"Hmm?" Xius was puzzled by the chip's sudden alert.
After searching his body, Xius finally found the source of the energy: the scale Gagalie had given him.
"Does this mean Gagalie is nearby?" Xius wondered, watching the scale flicker continuously.
Xius experimented for a long time but still could not determine the specific function of the scale.
"Is it this way?" After feeling a surge of intense heat from the scale, Xius shifted his orientation and discovered that only one direction triggered a reaction.
Xius followed the scale's guidance for two full days in the desert. The days were manageable, but at night, Xius encountered many hunting beasts.
As Daibei had said, these beasts were larger than any Xius had seen before; for the same species, those here were nearly two to three times the size of those outside, and they were far more ferocious.
"How much longer?" Xius looked at the scale in his hand. He calculated that he had been in the Black Sea Desert for nearly three days. He had lost count of the distance covered, and yet Gagalie was nowhere to be seen.
At noon, Xius sat beneath a sand dune to rest. The scorching heat was becoming unbearable, and after taking a deep drink of water, he sat on the sand, panting lightly.
It was then that the scale in his hand became exceptionally hot, forcing him to drop it.
"Pop!" With a soft sound, the scale shattered into a pile of powder upon hitting the ground. The powder slowly drifted upward, forming a small black serpent the thickness of a little finger. After flicking its tongue at Xius, the black serpent flew off in a specific direction.
Seeing the black serpent dart away like an arrow, Xius quickly followed, fearing he would lose sight of it.
"Is this the place?" Xius gasped, looking at where the black serpent had finally stopped and vanished.
Xius looked around and saw nothing different from anywhere else, save for a few rocks.
"Is Gagalie in this place, or did he just stop here?" Xius muttered to himself, examining the stones.
"Why are there so many rocks here? What is the purpose?" Xius looked at the two-to-three-meter-tall stones, walking around them to see why the black serpent had disappeared here.
"This stone?" Xius inspected them one by one until he finally found one that was different from the others.
Touching it with his hand, he found it to be ice-cold, completely unlike the other stones that had been scorched by the sun.
"Should I break it open to see?" Xius looked at the stone for a long time, unable to discern anything, so he decided to shatter it.
He acted immediately. Stepping back, Xius unleashed a Lightning Bolt.
A loud crash echoed. Once the dust and sand settled, Xius saw what lay inside.
The surface of the stone had been blasted open to reveal a large hole leading downward. It was pitch black, and he could not tell how deep it went.
"No matter!" Xius looked at the opening and jumped down without hesitation.
Inside the hole, it was dark. Xius slid down the tunnel, unsure of its length. After sliding downward for nearly a minute, he finally felt his feet touch the ground.
"It's so deep here!" Upon reaching the bottom, Xius stood up and conjured a ball of flame to illuminate his surroundings.
Xius had no idea where this underground tunnel connected to, but standing there, he could even feel a faint breeze.
"Gagalie wouldn't actually live here, would he?" Xius thought, finding the sight before him surreal.
"Let's look around!" Guided by the light in his hand, he crawled into a sandy tunnel.
"So deep..." After entering the tunnel, Xius fell, dropping about three or four meters.
Only then did he see the scene before him. The space was quite large, and in the center sat a small pool of dark red liquid, bubbling continuously.
The dark red glow allowed Xius to see everything without needing his flames.
Floating above the pool was a scale about half a meter in size.
Xius carefully approached the edge of the pool and touched the scale with his hand.
"Promote to an official wizard, break the pool, and come find me!" As soon as he touched the scale, this message echoed in his mind.
"This was left by Gagalie!" Looking at the dissipating scale, Xius recognized it as one of Gagalie's typical methods.
"Chip! Scan the pool of liquid in front of me!" After hearing Gagalie's words, Xius crouched down and looked at the churning fluid in the pool.
"Beep! Scan complete. 57% composition matches Vitality Potion; 25% unknown; 18% water."
"Vitality Potion!" Xius exclaimed, shocked by the chip's alert. He had gone to great lengths to obtain a single standard portion of Vitality Potion, yet here was an entire pool of it.
Even if it were diluted with other substances, it would have taken hundreds of bottles to fill a pool like this.
"Where did Gagalie get so much of this? If I had known, I would have just asked him for some!" Xius thought of how he had risked his life in the secret realm for his supply, only to look at the pool before him. There was simply no comparison.
"But do I really want to promote to an official wizard here?" Xius hesitated. He was worried about being interrupted during his advancement; after all, the place he had just descended from could easily be discovered.
Promoting to an official wizard was a delicate matter, and Xius did not know exactly how long it would take. If something were to follow him down the tunnel and disturb him during the process, it would be the end of him.