The small town of Pamela is the closest supply point to Cotopaxi Volcano.
The place where the foreign apprentices report is also located here.
When Greem arrived here in a slow stagecoach, it happened to be dinner time of the day.
The small town of Pamela, a remote but not cold town. The town is not big, with only one central street. It belongs to 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 dwellings. In addition, there is a tavern, a grocery store, a simple and damp inn, and a population of more than a hundred households. This is all there is to the town!
As soon as he got off the stagecoach, Greem faintly heard a dull rumbling noise from the distant mountains. This kind of sound did not happen occasionally, but it has always existed since Greem approached this mountainous area. In the periphery, the sound may not be so obvious, like thunder in the wild in winter, but when he came to this small town, he immediately felt the power of the magical power of nature.
This is probably the sound caused by the continuous underground activities of the volcano!
Thinking of the residents of the small town living in this environment for many years, Greem couldn't help being curious, what made them willing to endure such a harsh environment and stay here
You must know that although the Cotopaxi volcano is approaching the rest period, the towering volcanic cones in the distance are still spewing thick smoke and dust. The town is at the foot of the mountain less than seven miles away from the volcano. Affected by the volcano, the sky is always gray. Inside and outside the town, whether on buildings or gravel roads, there is a thick layer of volcanic ash everywhere.
Waiting for Greem in the small hotel was a senior apprentice named Ivan. Judging from the chest badge on his gray robe, he should belong to the local Zuber family. This Cotopaxi volcano belongs to their family resource point, and foreign wizards are not allowed to enter the interior of the volcano without their permission.
Seeing that Greem's rank was only advanced, that Ivan obviously didn't believe it, and couldn't help but coldly said: "Even if the volcano is in a temporary rest period, it's not safe. There are terrifying hot airflows and Lava monster, are you sure you can survive inside?"
Greem looked around the hotel lobby indifferently, and casually flicked a few times in the air, and a witchcraft rune burning with elemental flames floated in the air. Of course, his actions also attracted everyone's attention, and the people at the six or seven wooden tables in the hall couldn't help turning their heads to look here.
To be honest, ever since Greem stepped into the threshold of the Body Bathed in Fire and was infused with energy from the underground lava, his nearly 2-meter-tall body seemed quite eye-catching. And his dark red long hair and unfathomable cruel aura condensed his unique aura, which was extraordinarily eye-catching.
"Well, it turns out that you are a fire apprentice! Then the underground environment will have much less impact on you. As long as you avoid those annoying lava monsters, you may be able to enter a deeper place!" That Ivan nodded and took Take out a white stone and give it to Greem.
This is 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 who come here to do missions. If you can form a team, the mission will be easier!" After discovering that Greem is a fire apprentice, Yi Where obvious is the enthusiasm of the many.
After Greem nodded in greeting, he walked slowly towards the hall, slowly scanning the many unfamiliar faces who were gathering at the dining table and talking in low voices, and finally chose to sit at the table alone.
For this underground trip, his more purpose was 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 I came here, I put on an indifferent appearance that strangers should not get close to, just to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Apprentice wizards are all people with keen minds. Since Greem put on such a good posture, no one will harass him again. Greem, on the other hand, took advantage of this opportunity to slowly take a panoramic view of everyone's situation, so that he knew it well.
The lobby of the small hotel was not too big, and the light was extremely dim. There were about 17 wizard apprentices sitting there, of which only 2 were quasi-wizard level, and the rest were senior apprentices like Greem. This is actually in line with the characteristics of this task.
If you want to collect resources in the underground volcano, you have to endure the influence 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. So advanced apprenticeship is already the minimum threshold for this task!
Greem dared to conclude that among these senior apprentices, most of the elemental affinity is the fire element, and the remaining ones are those who have great confidence in themselves even if they are not the fire element. The reason why there are few quasi-sorcerers is purely because tasks such as collecting resources are quite face-to-face.
If you are lucky, you may be able to hit the fire diamond mining area exposed after the lava recedes in the upper layer of the volcano. But if you are unlucky, there are many people who get nothing during the 3-month mission period.
At that time, not only would he not be able to get the task reward, but he might have to pay for the task share.
So if there is no special need, quasi-sorceresses are absolutely unwilling to try their luck at the underground volcano.
After grasping the general situation of the quest apprentices, Greem hurriedly filled his stomach and then plunged into his room and never went out again. He came quite early, and there were still 5 days before the temporary rest period of the volcano, so during these few days, he didn't leave a single step, and even the three meals a day were brought directly into the house by the waiter.
Using the free time these few days, he desperately studied the flame enchantment. He felt that this follow-up defensive witchcraft was the most suitable for his body in flames. If he can master it early, he will most likely form a protective flame similar to that of the Abyssal Balrog. At that time, whoever wanted to attack him would first have to suffer uninterrupted fire damage, which was more in line with his insidious mentality of killing enemies invisible.
During this period, two or three wizard apprentices also came to visit, wanting to draw him into the expedition team he formed, but Greem declined them all. Therefore, all the senior apprentices who wanted to explore the underground volcano knew that there was this one guy who planned to go underground alone.
Apprentices who can get into advanced ranks are not simple-minded people. They all understand that the guys who dare to do this are hard hands with great confidence in themselves, so no one makes irresponsible remarks about it. But there are still not a few people secretly waiting to see Greem's fun!
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 pierced the sky in the distance began to become scattered, and the volcanic ash that fell down all day long also began to decrease and finally stopped.
Greem, who was reading a book 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 everything around him and walked out of the room. There are still many apprentices who are ready like him. After everyone nodded to each other in the corridor, they gathered in the lobby of the hotel.
Ivan who is in charge of leading the team is already waiting here.
After waiting for another quarter of an hour, when 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 this group of wizard apprentices. It took less than a quarter of an hour for everyone to come to a natural stone cave located halfway up the volcanic cone. And the two quasi-witches of the Jubel family were already waiting here, and they were put into it after checking the passes of everyone.
The cave is not big, only more than 20 square meters, and it is full of jagged peaks and limestone. This may be a lava channel leading directly to the depths of the volcano. There is no such thing as moss and lichen here, and there are thick cracks and deep grooves everywhere on both sides of the rock wall. Cooked hot air.
Perhaps the underground lava has just receded, and even the ground here is still hot, and the passage is filled with a pungent sulfur smell. If there is no special method, ordinary people only need to stay in such dirty air for half an hour, and the horrible fire poison will invade the body, turning the tracheoalveoli into water sacs filled with blood.
However, the test of this environment is of course difficult for the apprentices who dare to come here, and they are covered by colorful protective shields one after another, isolating the interference from the outside world. Greem did not reveal his body in flames, but blessed himself with a high-temperature force field.
He looked around silently, and there were 8 apprentices who had blessed fire defense like himself, accounting for almost half of the 20 apprentices. The rest are either soil or wind, and there is no water system. Presumably those guys who are friendly to the water system are not willing to suffer in this environment.
Compared with other elemental lineages, the water system is not only extremely difficult to gather water elements in this environment, but also the power and effect of witchcraft inspired will be reduced by 70%. As long as they have nothing wrong with their brains, they will never come here to seek abuse!
When we get here, everyone is basically on their own.
Several apprentices who formed a team got together, and the fire apprentices uniformly blessed the elemental protection, and got into the passage without saying a word. The remaining heat in the tunnel has not yet dissipated. Once the narrow environment encounters an unexpected large-scale eruption of hot air, even senior apprentices will be in danger of life if they fall into it.
So everyone said to each other that they are precious, and scattered into different passages in twos and threes, disappearing deep underground.
Greem noticed that the wizard apprentices of the Jubel family did not follow outsiders like them into the tunnel. It seems that they are more familiar with the terrain here, have more convenient places to go, and don't need to rely on luck like outsiders.
Greem shook his head and sighed, then bent down and drilled into a lava tunnel.