“The 'kicked from the party' trope, huh? Interesting.”
Dalun Li watched Brock, who had obtained the Forbidden Fire blessing and the summoning blessing beneath the lava, and nodded in satisfaction.
He had already prepared a script for Brock titled 《Kicked from the Party: Starting from a Mysterious Ruin Encounter After Betrayal》.
In the dungeon, cultivating commoners like Brock was very important.
They could serve as role models to increase the dungeon's appeal and weaken the power of those extraordinary second-generationers, maintaining the balance of power within the dungeon.
Once power was balanced, adventurers could better kill each other, providing Dalun Li with sufficient nutrients.
Most importantly, there was Brock's uniqueness.
A piece of flesh appeared before Dalun Li. Currently, this piece of flesh was wrapped in a vine, with tendrils extending from the vine growing and penetrating into the flesh to maintain its vitality and mana.
At the same time, it was extracting and decomposing various unique properties within the flesh.
This piece of flesh had come from Brock's body.
Dalun Li had studied the adventurers of the dungeon, and various mages among them had been researched inside and out by him.
For mages of the same rank and grade, the total amount of mana in their bodies would vary.
However, they all fluctuated between 0.9 and 1.1, which was considered a normal range.
The same was true for swordsmen; there would be slight differences in strength and vitality.
Among them, the elves were the most special.
The average physical and mana qualities of the elves were higher than those of humans.
Currently, among swordsmen of the same rank and grade, Manfred's physical quality was the highest.
Especially after the stimulation of several life-and-death crises, his body had made significant progress.
Yet, he still couldn't compare to Brock's uniqueness among mages.
The total amount of mana in this guy's body was more than three times that of a mage of the same rank and grade.
He hardly seemed human, yet his outward phenotypic traits were entirely human.
This uniqueness made Dalun Li feel that his bloodline might be completely different from that of a normal human.
This was what had piqued Dalun Li's interest, leading him to personally prepare a script for him.
He also intended to let him grow to determine exactly where the uniqueness in Brock's body originated.
“Perhaps I should arrange a monitor inside him to determine every change in his body as he grows.”
Dalun Li decided that this matter would be best left to Tongmu to arrange.
On the premise that Brock wouldn't die, he would stimulate him as much as possible, using his emotions to accelerate the growth of the power within his body.
The humans of this world truly could grow at an extreme speed due to emotional stimulation and the stress of life-and-death crises.
This characteristic was manifested in all human adventurers.
The higher the talent of the adventurer, the more they could accelerate their growth under emotional stimulation and life-and-death crises.
Brock's total mana was very high, but in terms of magical technique, his talent seemed average.
Therefore, Dalun Li had specifically arranged the summoning blessing for Brock.
He wanted Brock to become an outstanding summoner who would serve as a role model for the Well of Eternal Imprisonment.
This would also allow him to better promote monster cards in the future.
As long as a summoner had massive mana as support, they could summon more monsters.
At the same time, they could better support the growth of monster cards.
Brock was simply a natural-born summoner.
Placing a special mark on Brock, Dalun Li turned his gaze elsewhere.
“That fellow Purple Hammer is becoming more and more unique; he's actually starting to master the techniques of the skeletal shamans.”
...
The twelfth floor of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment.
Riding a lava skeletal lizard, Purple Hammer traveled across the scorching lava land, finally stopping at a cave entrance on the edge of the lava lake.
Controlling the skeletal lizard beneath him to a halt, Purple Hammer put away the bone book of the skeletal shamans he was studying and walked toward the cave.
“So this is the settlement of the purple-skinned blacksmiths on the twelfth floor.”
Purple Hammer left the lava skeletal lizard to wait, and with the Purple Treasure Mallet on his back, he began to explore downward along the cave.
The purple-skinned blacksmiths and dwarf miners lived together in caves, a race that built their lives underground.
The dwarf miners were responsible for excavating mineral veins, while the purple-skinned blacksmiths were responsible for smelting the ore and using foundry arts to create various equipment and items.
As the leader of the purple-skinned blacksmiths on the eleventh floor, Purple Hammer was naturally very familiar with their habits.
Heading down the cave, Purple Hammer soon found the settlement his kin had carved out within the mineral vein on this floor.
“From which settlement do you hail, purple-skinned blacksmith?!”
Before he could even reach the settlement, Purple Hammer was blocked by two well-equipped purple-skinned blacksmiths holding long spears and shields.
Purple Hammer stopped, and just as he was about to answer, the two purple-skinned blacksmiths seemed to sense something, and their expressions changed.
“This aura... you are the great Lord Purple Hammer!”
One of the purple-skinned blacksmiths spoke first, exclaiming in wonder.
After all, the blessing power from the guardian on Purple Hammer's body could not be faked in the Well of Eternal Imprisonment.
“Lord Purple Hammer, please wait here for a moment. I will go back and report immediately.”
One purple-skinned blacksmith quickly stepped forward to attend to Purple Hammer, while the other ran back to the settlement to report.
Purple Hammer looked at the purple-skinned blacksmith before him, his attention focused on their armor.
Having mastered foundry arts, he could feel the mana contained within the armor the blacksmith wore, as well as its resistance to fire.
Is this equipment forged from fire-resistant iron?
The eleventh floor had no fire-resistant iron mines; Purple Hammer had only obtained information about fire-resistant iron mines from the monster merchant.
“Lord Purple Hammer, the Fang Tribe welcomes your arrival. I am the leader here, Purple Pincers!”
A burly purple-skinned blacksmith rushed over.
He hadn't even taken off his blacksmith's apron made of fire-resistant leather; it seemed he had stopped his work immediately to rush over.
The purple-skinned blacksmiths did not share the human concept of leisure.
It didn't matter how much power or status one had; there was no such thing as working less or exploiting one's kin.
This was reflected in all the monsters within the Well of Eternal Imprisonment.
Often, the leader was either the strongest or the most skilled, someone who could better serve the Master and contribute to the dungeon.
Among the purple-skinned blacksmith tribe, the strongest blacksmith with the highest foundry skills became the leader.
“I am Purple Hammer from the eleventh floor. I am heading down in search of the Forbidden Fire.”
“I hope to obtain information regarding the Forbidden Fire from you, as well as a way to cross the lava lake to reach the next floor.”
Communication between those in the Well of Eternal Imprisonment involved very little pleasantry.
They were usually direct and focused on efficiency.
After all, they needed to contribute to and serve the Master efficiently. Wasting time on pleasantries was a shameful desecration of the time that could be used for the Master.
“I have already heard of your deeds from the monster merchant, Lord Purple Hammer.”
“The Fang Tribe has been preparing for this, waiting for your arrival.”
“Please follow me; we can talk as we walk.”
Purple Pincers responded to Purple Hammer with the same efficient etiquette that wasted no time.
“Regarding the Forbidden Fire, we do not know much.”
“But the Forbidden Fire is definitely not on this floor. What remains on this floor are only some residual flames of the Forbidden Fire.”
“For information regarding the Forbidden Fire, you may need to search the floors below, Lord Purple Hammer.”
“Perhaps a wisp of the true Forbidden Fire sleeps in the depths of the lava sea.”
Purple Hammer nodded, indicating he understood.
“Lord Purple Hammer, you need to traverse the lava lake, which may require a vessel forged from the special ore of this floor.”
“Fire-resistant iron?”
Purple Hammer recalled the armor he had seen earlier, which possessed extremely high resistance to fire.
“Correct. A vessel forged from fire-resistant iron can withstand the high temperatures of the lava and traverse the lava lake.”
“However, such a vessel can only withstand the heat; it cannot provide the power to move forward.”
Forging a boat from fire-resistant iron was not a difficult task for the purple-skinned blacksmith tribe, who had mastered foundry arts.
But a boat alone could not navigate the lava lake.
Currently, the solution the Fang Tribe had come up with was to use special sails to guide the hot winds over the lava lake to provide power.
Or, one could directly use wind magic to provide propulsion.
Purple Pincers shared his thoughts.
“Hot winds, huh...”
“The hot winds over the lava lake are irregular, and there is no way to control them.”
Purple Pincers naturally did not know wind magic.
By now, the two had arrived at the tribe's forge, and Purple Hammer saw the boat-shaped mold cast by the Fang Tribe.
The fire-resistant boat was skiff-shaped, about two meters wide and seven meters long.
The Fang Tribe seemed to have completed the mold not long ago and hadn't had time to cast the fire-resistant boat yet.
Ordinary fire-resistant iron, even if it could resist high temperatures, could not navigate the lava for long periods.
Therefore, to cast a fire-resistant boat, the fire-resistant iron ore had to be smelted multiple times to withstand the extreme temperatures of the lava lake.
“Lord Purple Hammer, there is another way if you wish to navigate the lava lake.”
“The lava fish living in the lava lake have Lava Fins bestowed by the Master, allowing them to swim freely within the lake.”
“The leader of the lava fish, the Lava Fish King, is incredibly massive. If you can obtain its assistance, you can smoothly cross the lava lake.”
“The Lava Fish King lives in the lava; how can I find it?”
Purple Hammer asked.
“To the east of the lava lake, there is a gentle lava beach covered in fire-resistant iron scraps.”
“The Lava Fish King rests on that beach during the hottest time of each day.”
“The Lava Fish King eats high-purity fire-resistant iron. If you use fire-resistant iron as bait, I believe the great Fish King wouldn't mind taking you across the lava sea.”
Purple Hammer's eyes lit up upon hearing this.
This was a good method and valuable information.
This way, he only needed to prepare high-purity fire-resistant iron, and in the lower lava strata, he could use the same method to drive the Lava Fish King to carry him through the lava.
However, a fire-resistant boat was simply too large.
Purple Hammer had no way to carry it to the next floor. Upon reaching the lower floors, he might still need to find a way to obtain a new fire-resistant boat.
But at least now, he had a way to cross the lava.
Rate on N.U.
