Pine Town.
As the last human settlement east of the Elovis region, this is the only place to pass in and out of the Black Forest. Since jungle monsters often come out to harass human beings, this place is also one of the extremely unsafe areas marked by the Sandi Tower Forest Association.
Towards evening, the sky was overcast and gray.
On a black carriage heading for the small town of Songta, Greem raised the curtain and carefully looked at everything around him.
As far as the eye can see, there are large stretches of rolling hills covered with lush greenery and lush greenery. Between the hills and hills is a winding carriageway.
And the carriage he hired walked on this mountain road.
Turning around and seeing Greem, the middle-aged man with short hair who was driving the car couldn't help reminding: "Master Wizard, you have to sit down, we have to speed up. This mountain road is safe during the day, but once it gets dark, it becomes very dangerous. It's dangerous. So we must rush to Songta Town before nightfall!"
Greem nodded, but did not speak.
He could see that as the sky gradually darkened, the carriages driving on this mountain road accelerated one after another. When the two carriages passed by each other, the coachmen were not in the mood to talk to each other, and they were all on their way with their heads buried.
The carriage drove along the mountain road at a high speed. The further you went, the worse the road condition was, and the more bumpy it became. But very smoothly, the carriage arrived at its destination—Songta Town before the sky became dark.
Songta Town is said to be a human town, but it is actually more like a military stronghold.
A military stronghold surrounded by tall thick wooden fences!
Greem had also visited countless human villages and towns, but he had never seen such heavily guarded ones.
The thick and towering wooden fence was built with thick logs felled from the nearby forests, with a height of 3 meters. The upper end has been sharpened, exposing white stubble. The wooden door that entered the town was covered with a thick layer of metal shield, which was fixed together by huge copper rivets.
There are quite a few battlements on the fence, tall turrets, and arrow towers, and some people can be vaguely seen on patrol.
When Greem's black carriage slowly drove into the town, the whole picture of Songta Town was presented to him bit by bit.
This is a relatively cold and remote town.
There is only one street in total, and a hundred or so wooden houses and houses built of tall logs are arranged on both sides of the street, forming the main body of the town. There are some wooden signs hanging outside several particularly tall buildings, barely allowing people to see their functions.
Tavern, inn, blacksmith shop, grocery store, and a small arcane shop...
You can also see the secret shop here, and Greem can't help feeling that the power of witchcraft is everywhere!
The black carriage quickly stopped in front of a simple two-story wooden building, which was also the only hotel in the town.
When Greem got off the carriage, what he saw was an innkeeper who was rubbing his hands with a frugal and fawning expression on his face. This is a middle-aged man with short brown hair, gray burlap clothes, and a smile on his face all the time.
Seeing the iconic wizard robe on Greem's body, the other party's smile grew stronger. Although his expression was reserved, he didn't flinch, and he was obviously a guy who often dealt with wizards.
"I need a clean and comfortable room!" Greem stood in front of the innkeeper with his wand and pestle in his hand, the shadow cast by his 2-meter-high body almost completely covered him: "In addition, I also want to recruit a small Expedition team, help me get the wind out..."
"Everything will be as you wish!" The innkeeper nodded and bowed: "Please come with me!"
The arrival of an official wizard apparently also caused a slight shock in the whole town. Especially with the announcement of the innkeeper Jack, the mercenaries, adventurers, and wizard apprentices who were still entrenched in the town immediately became restless.
Even though the small town of Songta looks unattractive, it is very famous in the entire Elovis area.
Coming out of the small town, heading northeast into the forest for less than 10 miles, you will touch the edge of the Black Forest. Walking further inside, you will encounter many strange creatures, plants and beasts that are difficult to encounter in ordinary mountains and forests.
Therefore, the town of Pine Tower is the last supply point near the Black Forest, and it is also a place where all those who want to explore the Black Forest must stay or pass.
Although the black forest is extremely dangerous, as long as you don't go too deep and just circle around, you may still find some strange magical plants and beasts. For them, as long as the experienced adventure team has a reasonable job mix, they can be sure to get some loot.
And the secret shop in the small town is a specialized store that provides basic witchcraft supplies for the adventurer team entering and leaving the Black Forest, and purchases a large number of magical items.
...
Except for a bed, a wooden table and chairs, there are almost no other items in a room less than ten square meters. The tables, chairs and wooden beds seem to be made of mountain wood, and have not been carefully carved and polished, but also have a unique fragrance of wood.
The accommodation conditions are very rudimentary.
But considering the environment here, Greem didn't want to be picky anymore.
In comparison, the food provided by the hotel is quite good.
Soft bread, thick green vegetable soup, and a piece of fried golden ribs of an unknown beast... Greem tasted it, and the taste was not bad. It had a mountain flavor, and the energy provided by the ribs was also sufficient.
And all of this, Greem didn't discuss the price with the innkeeper Jack, and the other party naturally presented everything according to the best standard.
As for the price
Wizards never cared about money, but only about enjoyment.
And this is the main reason why Jack was so happy after seeing the wizard!
Compared with those adventurers who pay attention to every penny, compared with those wizard apprentices who pretend to be generous but are actually stingy, real wizards never take gold coins seriously.
When Greem was full, pushed away the plate in front of him, and wiped the corners of his mouth gently with a napkin, Jack, who had been waiting by the side, urged the maid to remove the tableware with winks, and said respectfully in a low voice: " Master Wizard, everyone you need is already waiting downstairs. Look... "
"Take me down to have a look!" Greem reached out to pick up the 'Destroying Flame' witch staff placed beside the table, and walked out of the room in a hurry.
The living room on the first floor is already full of adventurers who have come to apply for the job. The number is about fifty or sixty people, and there are many people dressed as wizard apprentices. And the guys who can make a living in the black forest are all sturdy and strong, with a murderous look in their speech and behavior.
Greem didn't go down the stairs, but stood at the handrail on the second floor, looking down at the crowd in front of him from a high position, his eyes full of terrifying coercion.
"I need a small exploration team of 5 to 7 people, preferably veterans with rich jungle life experience." Greem slowly stated his request: "This trip does not need to hunt any ferocious monsters, just need Just accompany me to explore an area. Ordinary beasts will be left to you to deal with. If there are really powerful monsters, I will naturally deal with them. Your harvest during the journey belongs to you, but you must give priority to completing my exploration tasks. This is the purpose of the task. all content!"
There was a slight commotion in the hall.
Everyone's faces were excited and excited, obviously they did not expect this wizard to promise such generous conditions. However, Greem noticed that the faces of several adventurers with strong auras showed solemn and thoughtful expressions.
"I wonder if my lord can reveal the general area that needs to be explored?" A mature and prudent adventurer stroked his chest and said: "I don't want to pry into your secrets, but I want to roughly assess the risk of this mission. !"
Hearing the adventurer's words, the restless crowd fell silent again, and all focused their attention on Greem, the mysterious wizard.
"The area I want to explore is near the diseased forest!" Greem replied lightly.
As soon as the name of the diseased forest was uttered, there was a loud gasp from the crowd downstairs.
Shocked expressions appeared on most people's faces.
The money of the wizards is really not so easy to get!
Although they don't care about money, the employment fee they pay is often five to ten times that of ordinary adventure missions, but the areas they frequent are often ten to a hundred times more dangerous than ordinary missions.
Sick woods
As adventurers who often make a living in the Black Forest, they are very familiar with this name. It is located 300 miles northeast of the small town of Pine Tower, which also means that to get there, they need to go deep into the Black Forest 290 miles.
This... can already be regarded as a very dangerous area!
Seeming that the adventurer in front of him was frightened by the name Blightwood Forest, Greem lightly pressed the railing with his right hand, announcing another news.
"It is precisely because this mission is more dangerous, I am willing to pay 200 magic crystals for it!"
Greem's words immediately set off a new storm in the crowd. All the adventurers' eyes were red. They were discussing enthusiastically, and the hall became noisy.
Greem looked down clearly, some new mercenaries with immature faces left the hall shaking their heads one after another, and another group of veteran mercenaries also retreated one after another after careful consideration.
Soon, there were less than ten people left in the hall.
"My lord, my name is Luo Wei. I'm a level 2 sword and shield warrior. I'd like to join your team." Luo Wei is a tall and strong young swordsman. He turned and pointed at the two behind him and said, "This is my sister." , Fila, a level 3 archer. This is Rhodes, a level 3 thief."
Greem's pupils turned around on them, scanning out their basic data almost instantly.
The wizarding world is respected by wizards, and the rest of the professions have undoubtedly been suppressed unprecedentedly.
The level 2 and level 3 mentioned by Lowe is just a symbolic name for ordinary fighters in the human world, which almost corresponds to the level of wizard apprentices.
Level 1 is equivalent to a quasi-shaman among apprentices, level 2 is equivalent to senior apprentice, level 3 is intermediate apprentice, level 4 is junior apprentice... almost all ordinary warriors are divided in this way.
As for fighters who can stand shoulder to shoulder with wizards, sorry, they have never appeared in the wizarding continent!
The Luo Wei who came forward was only about 27 or 28 years old. Without elemental talent, he could have level 2 strength just by relying on combat skills and physical training, which was enough to be classified as a genius Among them.
As for the two behind him, their physical fitness was unprecedentedly excellent, which made Greem couldn't help but nodded slightly.
The opponent is obviously a mature adventure team, such a team is easier to use!
Since the remaining adventurers dared to stay, they were naturally full of confidence in themselves, and reported their occupations and abilities to Greem one after another. Greem nodded or shook his head, but in the end only a level 4 hunter named Neal and a mid-level pharmacy apprentice named Anthony remained.
The reason why he chose a level 4 hunter was purely because of Jack's introduction.
This Neil's fighting ability is not very good, but he is a good cook, and the delicious barbecue is widely praised.
Regarding the choice of the wizard, the three of Luo Wei could only shrug helplessly.
As expected, he is worthy of being a delicate and expensive wizard, even when he ventured into the Black Forest, what he thought about the most was how not to abuse his stomach!
However, at this time, apart from the five people selected by Greem, there was only one mysterious man in a black robe sitting alone in a corner of the hall.
When Greem's eyes slowly fell on 'him', the mysterious man stood up and took off his hood, bowed and saluted him: "Master Wizard, we meet again!"
It turned out to be 'he'!