“...”
“Tier 2 Magic, Water Veil!”
After a sham chant, Li Xiuman raised his wand and enveloped everyone in a Water Veil one by one.
They had paid him, so Li Xiuman naturally wouldn't give them shoddy service.
Even though Li Xiuman successfully cast the magic, he actually had no idea how to chant the incantation.
He could only fake a low, muttered chant to fool everyone.
Fortunately, he was the only Elementalist in the entire party, so no one noticed his gibberish chanting.
The entire party continued their descent into the deep water in an orderly fashion.
Based on their time together, Li Xiuman confirmed that this adventurer group seemed to be just an ordinary party.
The party's name was Deep Blue Dagger.
The relationships within were very harmonious and amicable.
They didn't look like an evil organization of adventurers brewing some wicked scheme.
This left Li Xiuman somewhat disappointed.
It seemed that a city-destroying special event like the last one couldn't be triggered every time.
As they descended to a certain depth, the party halted to rest under Captain Brad's command.
The stone walls of this deep water zone were dotted with underwater caves of various sizes.
As long as they found a suitable cave, they could rest there by using water magic to drain the water and wind magic to generate fresh air.
Of course, this required manual labor from Li Xiuman.
But with a reward of four thousand gold coins, Li Xiuman felt a solemn duty to raise his wand.
Using his magic, he cleared out an underwater cave for resting, and the party members filed in one after another to rest.
Li Xiuman drove his wand into the ground to maintain the cave's barrier, then found a spot to sit and rest.
“Xiuman, can you keep telling me about that story from earlier?”
The Light Priest named Mia Trans nudged closer.
Because she and Li Xiuman were both protected in the center of the formation, they had talked the most along the way.
The story she wanted him to tell was Cinderella, a fairy tale Li Xiuman had copied.
“Where did we stop last time? I don't really remember.”
Li Xiuman pulled out 《The Skeleton's Magic Book》 and began designing the magic circle for a Tier 3 Fusion Magic.
As Li Xiuman's strongest Tier 2 spells, Storm Molten Spear and Storm Torrential Spear, he desperately needed to upgrade them to Tier 3.
After all, his current Tier 3 spells were learned from memory crystals, which didn't feel as comfortable to cast as his own Fusion Magic.
“We got to the part where Cinderella went to the ball, and the magic item's effect was about to wear off.”
Mia added, seemingly not catching Li Xiuman's subtle hint that he didn't want to work right now.
Dammit, this girl would get spanked in a reading comprehension class.
“I don't have any inspiration right now.”
“I'll tell you when I think of it.”
Li Xiuman replied casually and went back to researching his magic.
A mere woman doesn't even possess a fraction of magic's charm.
No one shall disrupt this skeleton's great path of learning.
“...”
Mia fidgeted, but she eventually suppressed her inner curiosity for the story, sitting in the corner to read 《Doctrines of the Goddess of Light》.
At least she's well-behaved.
Seeing that Mia was no longer disturbing him, Li Xiuman felt even more relaxed as he researched his Fusion Magic.
The Tier 2 Fusion Magic, Storm Molten Spear and Storm Torrential Spear.
They were both modified from the Tier 1 Fusion Magic, Spiral Elemental Rock Spear, and integrated with the basic Tier 2 spell, Rock Spear.
For the concept of the Tier 3 Fusion Magic, Li Xiuman still wanted to follow the same design.
He would find a Tier 3 earth spell as a foundation and merge two other elements into it.
However, currently submerged in the deep water, Li Xiuman had no way of finding such a spell.
There was no suitable spell in his memory crystals either.
Thus, Li Xiuman planned to construct a Tier 3 earth spell from scratch to use as his foundation.
Then, he would fuse the other two elements into it.
Now, the magic circle was more than half complete, a Tier 3 earth spell named “Spiraling Rock Spear.”
As Li Xiuman studied his magic, he suddenly raised his head and looked at the flowing water outside the cave.
What is it? Takoyaki seems to have sensed an ominous presence.
Because Li Xiuman had infiltrated this adventurer party, his Necromancer class could not be exposed.
His zombie army and Takoyaki had been hiding in the shadows the entire way.
Now, Takoyaki seemed to have sensed a disturbing presence in the water...
It can't be... a Unique Variant?
Encountering a Unique Variant at this depth meant a level around Lv.40, which was definitely not good news.
“Brad, we can't stay here any longer.”
Li Xiuman pulled out his wand from the ground.
His professional ethics for those four thousand gold coins compelled Li Xiuman to warn Brad.
“What's wrong, Xiuman?”
“A Unique Variant is likely approaching. I have a special magic item that can sense it.”
As soon as Li Xiuman's words left his mouth, the atmosphere in the entire cave grew tense.
“Are you sure?”
Brad's expression turned solemn as well.
“I can't be one hundred percent sure. After all, the magic item I use for detection is only Low-Magic-grade, so it might not be entirely accurate.”
“I'm just saying it's a possibility,” Li Xiuman said with a shrug.
Brad exchanged looks with the other members of the party, then said, “Gear up, we're changing our resting spot.”
Brad believed Li Xiuman without hesitation.
Upon leaving the cave, they could sense the surrounding changes much more intuitively.
Within their field of vision, not a single fish or living creature could be seen; the entire body of water had fallen into a deathly silence.
This was clearly not a normal state of affairs.
It seemed his warning of a Unique Variant was indeed correct.
Tension gripping him, Brad turned to look at Li Xiuman.
Li Xiuman glanced down at the Omen Crystal on his wrist, pointing it in different directions until the crystal glowed orange.
“This way!”
Li Xiuman pointed in the direction that made the crystal turn orange.
“Everyone, this way!”
Trusting Li Xiuman's guidance without a shred of doubt, Brad led the adventurer party as they rushed in the direction Li Xiuman indicated.
Along the way, Li Xiuman retrieved several high-quality stones from his storage space, gripping them in his palm.
“Golem Creation!”
Lifelike little rock fish swam out from Li Xiuman's hands, scattering in all directions.
Then, Li Xiuman continued to guide the adventurer party along the correct path.
Eventually, Li Xiuman completely took over Brad's role of guiding the adventurer party's movements.
He kept leading them until they reached a deep water canyon on the lake bed.
The Omen Crystal was pointing directly toward the canyon.
“Into the canyon!”
Having spoken, Li Xiuman took the lead and plunged headfirst into the pitch-black abyss of the canyon.
The rest of the party followed closely behind without hesitation, diving in after him.
In this manner, the group dove deep into the canyon.
“Tier 2 Magic, Water Prison!”
“Tier 2 Magic, Churning Sand!”
Li Xiuman waved his wand, simultaneously expanding two magic circles to cast both spells.
Water Prison enveloped and wrapped around everyone, masking all traces of their presence.
Meanwhile, Churning Sand filled the depths of the canyon, completely obscuring the interior from any gaze outside.
Immediately after, everyone held their breath, not daring to make even the slightest movement.
Rate on N.U.
