Chapter 185: Exploration Far from the Northwestern Corner of the Continent
2025-01-03 Author: Amnesty L
Two days!
It took Tang Zheng a full two days to leave the active volcano region and arrive at the outer area.
Gulp... gulp...
Tang Zheng, dressed in a loose-fitting black outfit with cinched cuffs and ankles, sat on the sand as if no one else was around, gulping down water from his water pouch.
This was the set he usually wore, only without the white Priest robe over it.
"Hah..."
After several large gulps, Tang Zheng exhaled and lifted his head, gazing at the endless Gobi Desert before him.
The temperature was high, the air was dry, and the ground was covered in earth-brown gravel. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but uneven terrain eroded by the wind, without a single decent plant in sight.
There were only sparse, short shrubs and some cactus-like plants.
"Is this the region connected to the Natural Portal in the depths of the Magma Sea in the Lava Zone?" Tang Zheng muttered to himself after a long silence, his expression grave and peculiar.
Back in the Lava Zone, when facing the magic unleashed by the ancient Red Dragon, Tang Zheng knew he couldn't block it. His only option was to use a small anglerfish that the Sun Anglerfish had accidentally brought up from the magma.
After forcibly crushing it to death, he used materials from its body to activate Wild Transformation, which allowed him to withstand the scorching heat of the magma.
Only after entering the magma did Tang Zheng discover that the ancient Red Dragon had entered it precisely to use its energy to recover from its injuries.
And the Sun Anglerfish, the "Lava Dominator," was actually letting the ancient Red Dragon heal in its own territory...
He realized the situation was not in his favor, and worse, he was in their territory.
Tang Zheng's own mana was completely depleted, and the skills of his Valkyrie job class had also been exhausted during the brief, intense clash. He could only choose to retreat for the time being, planning to dive into the depths of the magma.
He had intended to recover his mana while hiding from the Sun Anglerfish and the ancient Red Dragon!
But in the depths of the magma, he was inexplicably sucked in by a powerful force. By the time Tang Zheng emerged from the magma again, he had already arrived in this region.
"So, this godforsaken place... don't tell me I'm already far, far away from the Northwestern Corner of the Continent where Humans live?" Tang Zheng squeezed the water pouch in his hand, his eyes glinting.
He was certain that no volcanic cluster of this magnitude existed in the region inhabited by Humans.
Furthermore!
He could no longer sense the location of the magic mark he had left on the Twin Witches.
If the power of magic was related to the base stats of a magic attack, then the effect of the magic was related to the caster's level.
Tang Zheng's magic-type caster level, combined with the new Warlock basic job class he had recently acquired, had reached a cumulative 50Lv, equivalent to the level of being able to use Eighth Tier magic.
For a caster of this level to be unable to sense the location of his magic mark meant that the distance between them was already far too great.
With a flip of his palm, Tang Zheng took a roasted wild boar leg from his item box and began to eat it heartily.
He always carried enough food on him precisely to guard against special situations like this.
"I have two choices now."
Tang Zheng's cheeks puffed out slightly as he chewed the wild boar meat, a thoughtful look on his face.
The first choice was to wait until his mana was fully restored, then use his Wild Transformation ability to return to the Angelicisia Mountain Range through the Natural Portal in the depths of the magma.
He had already confirmed the time; seven days had passed since he left, which wasn't a long time.
The reason he could determine the number of days was, ironically, thanks to his slow mana recovery rate. It wasn't difficult to deduce the time based on how long his mana took to recover.
The second choice was to take this opportunity to explore this unknown region. It had to be said, this was a rather risky course of action.
An unknown continental region meant completely unknown risks, completely unknown information, and completely unknown enemies.
Swoosh!
In the sky, a goshawk with black and grey feathers and a one-meter wingspan began a rapid dive, flying towards Tang Zheng.
As it neared Tang Zheng, the goshawk folded its wings. Its form distorted in mid-air, rapidly expanding into an Evil Spirit Hound before it landed.
Thud!
The Evil Spirit Hound landed on all fours and ran excitedly to Tang Zheng's side, rubbing its head against his shoulder.
"You've worked hard."
A smile appeared on Tang Zheng's face. He raised his hand and patted the Evil Spirit Hound's head, then took out another wild boar leg from his item box and tossed it to the hound.
He had already revived the Evil Spirit Hound with resurrection magic the day before and re-established their connection using "Partner Contract I."
The Evil Spirit Hound's transformation into a goshawk was enabled by the Partner Contract, allowing it to use Tang Zheng's Wild Transformation skill.
He had just sent the Evil Spirit Hound out disguised as a goshawk to scout the surroundings, but the results were not ideal.
Evidently, the choice between the two options had already been made.
Tang Zheng could perceive some of what the Evil Spirit Hound saw from the sky through their Partner Contract. This Gobi Desert was far larger and more desolate than he had imagined.
So far, Tang Zheng hadn't seen a single living creature.
A moment later, the man and the hound finished their rest.
"A maximum of one month for exploration."
Tang Zheng swung himself onto the Evil Spirit Hound's back, squinted his eyes, and patted the hound's neck.
Being able to reach this mysterious, unknown land via the Magma Sea of the Lava Zone was a tremendous discovery.
There was too much information to gather. It would be a shame to give up such a unique passage, but given his current situation, he couldn't afford to spend too much time here.
Just thinking about those two Twin Witches, problems would likely arise if he didn't appear before them within a month.
The Evil Spirit Hound let out a low growl and immediately started moving, heading in the complete opposite direction of the volcanic region.
Night gradually fell.
Darkness quickly enveloped the empty Gobi Desert.
The somewhat tired Evil Spirit Hound lay beside Tang Zheng, chewing on a thick bone as an after-dinner snack to grind its teeth.
This little habit had formed back when Tang Zheng used to feed it goblin corpses.
"Still no sign of any creatures. Could this be a very remote corner of the continent?"
Tang Zheng sat cross-legged on the ground, leaning against the soft body of the Evil Spirit Hound, lost in thought.
Of course, that wasn't necessarily the case.
According to the limited information he recalled from his previous life, this continent was immense. The Northwestern Corner of the Continent where Humans lived wasn't even as large as a single region ruled by some countries in the center of the continent.
With such a large area, it was only normal for some rarely trodden places to exist. The exploration continued for the next two days, but to no avail.
Until the evening of the third day.
Rustle!
Rustle! Rustle!
"Grrr." The Evil Spirit Hound bared its sharp teeth, its four limbs tensed as it stared at the sandy ground ahead.
Mounds of sand bulged and rapidly converged towards them from the desert floor, as if something was attacking from beneath the sand.
Faced with this sudden development, a smile appeared on Tang Zheng's somewhat dry cheeks. "Good, there are living things."
After several consecutive days of exploration without encountering a single creature, he had begun to suspect this area was truly a barren wasteland.
To gather information, he would need to communicate with intelligent beings. But he hadn't even met a single living creature, let alone an intelligent one.
Poof! Poof!
The sand ahead exploded, sending large amounts of sand into the air and creating a curtain of yellow sand that obscured their vision.
A series of greyish-brown, hooked tails shot out from the exploding sand, striking swiftly toward Tang Zheng and the Evil Spirit Hound.
"Scorpion-type monsters."
Tang Zheng glanced over as an iron sword appeared in his palm. He took a step forward and flicked his wrist.
With a casual swing, all the striking tails were easily severed.
The severed scorpion tails fell to the ground, twitching as foul-smelling, purplish-red blood oozed from the wounds.
"Hiss—"
"Hiss—"
"..."
Painful hisses rose from underground, followed by several Desert Scorpions, each about a meter long, burrowing out from beneath the sand.
Before these Desert Scorpions could make a move to attack, Tang Zheng's feet moved, and he had already charged into their midst. His iron sword swung casually, easily shattering their sturdy, earth-brown carapaces.
「Experience Gained: 421」
「Experience Gained: 387」
「Experience Gained: 405」
「...」
[Experience Bar: 108632/120000]
A total of five Desert Scorpions were executed by Tang Zheng within the span of two breaths.
"Their strength isn't high, probably around level eleven or twelve," Tang Zheng quickly analyzed, seeing the experience points gained on his panel.
He had chosen to use a physical attack instead of magic to avoid the commotion it would cause.
(end of chapter)