In the middle of the night in the Mist Swamp, Professor Derick and his students were struggling to move forward.
Although the swamp makes it difficult to move, it is definitely one of the most diverse ecosystems in terms of species.
"Stay close to me," Professor Derick instructed the students. Alcota is a half-elf, her figure is light, and even in the swamp, she moves without hindrance. In contrast, Daniel and Lusen, even with magical assistance, stumbled along, their trouser feet covered in mud spots.
Lusen noticed that Daniel was always quietly gathering nearby plants, a dangerous behavior explicitly forbidden by the professor, but his actions were fast and did not delay the group's journey, so Lusen never spoke up to remind him. He knew that Daniel, like him, came from a common background, because he had failed the fourth-grade assessment for two consecutive years, and according to the school's rules, the tuition fee would double every year.
In fact, Lusen didn't understand why Daniel was reluctant to leave the academy. With his current ability as a junior wizard, he could clearly find a well-paying job on his own. Professor Derick had also subtly reminded him that he might not be able to learn more new knowledge from him, but Daniel preferred to grit his teeth and pay the expensive tuition fee rather than graduate.
Perhaps Daniel was a person who refused to admit defeat, couldn't accept his assessment failure, and hoped to prove himself. Lusen's gaze lingered on Daniel for a moment, and his pupils constricted when he noticed the plant in front of Daniel.
Daniel knew that Lusen noticed him collecting the magical plants, but he guessed that Lusen didn't dare to report to Professor Derick, so he acted even more recklessly. How could he be blamed?
He was just a commoner, a regular family wouldn't provide him any help, but would rather drag him down severely.
If he were a noble who didn't have to worry about tuition or had Alcota's innate talent for potion studies due to her race, he wouldn't have failed the fourth-grade assessment over and over again. Besides secretly selling the magical plants of the Mist Swamp, where else could he get the tuition fees? Was he supposed to be a waiter in a restaurant like Lusen?
How ridiculous, a junior wizard, having to be obsequious to a group of mercenaries.
Sharp-eyed Daniel spotted a Black Spot Vine, a valuable magical medicinal material on the black market. Seeing that Professor Derick didn't notice him, Daniel immediately stepped forward to pick it up.
Suddenly a pulling force came from behind. He was about to glare at Lusen who was disturbing him when he heard Lusen shout: "That's not Black Spot Vine, it's the tentacle of a Mud Octopus!"
What? Daniel hurriedly dodged backward, but the flexible Black Spot Vine clung to his wrist, throwing him harshly into the swamp.
Lusen hurriedly tried to pull Daniel, but the strength of this Mud Octopus was extraordinary, almost too fast to react, and he too fell into the dark muddy water.
But both he and Daniel remembered the basics of self-rescue, and instantly propped up a windshield, encapsulating them like a bubble, preventing them from being smothered by the mud.
Lusen then cast a solidification spell beneath their feet, turning the mud water into a hard mud board in an instant, temporarily slowing their descent deeper into the swamp. But this Mud Octopus was clearly very strong, Daniel felt his wrist was about to be torn off. He grabbed Lusen's arm with his other hand: "We can't scatter, it would make it harder for the professor to rescue us."
Lusen's brow furrowed. They couldn't let the Mud Octopus drag them away from their original spot, their passage wouldn't leave any trace in the slippery silt, which would make it impossible for Professor Derick to find their location.
What was the weakness of a Mud Octopus? As a type of aquatic magical beast, it should be afraid of fire, or heat?
But they were deep in the silt now, where fire elements were extremely weak. Even if they summoned a cluster of flames, what deterrent effect would it have on the huge Mud Octopus? Water elements, on the other hand, were abundant.
An idea flashed through Lusen's mind, and he used a spell that he hadn't used much since he learned it.
"Boiling Water Sphere!"
This almost drained all his mana, and Lusen felt that he might have summoned an incredibly large boiling water sphere, but he couldn't visually see the power of the spell due to the darkness around him.
But the constant stirring of the mud around him confirmed that his idea might be correct. The Mud Octopus began to roll in pain, and its tentacles hit the windshield they put up. Although the windshield was precarious, the octopus's grip on Daniel had considerably loosened.
However, at this point, due to the need to constantly maintain the windshield and the Boiling Water Sphere spell, they had almost depleted their mana. If Professor Derick hadn't found them yet, they would still be in danger.
Amidst the chaos, Daniel and Lusen suddenly felt themselves being wrapped by a strong and powerful tail, breaking through the thick mud and rushing upwards.
A few minutes ago, The Goldfinch rushed to Lizard in a panic: "It's bad! That little worker from Lady Ina's restaurant was pulled into the swamp by an ugly octopus!"
Upon hearing this, Lizard immediately rushed out. The Goldfinch led the way in the air, chattering: "I saw two more people trying to save him outside. You bring him up and run quickly, be careful not to be beaten as a bad magical beast again."
And that's exactly what Lizard did. Almost the next second after bringing the two back to the surface, he dived into the mud and left.
But Daniel still saw a blurry shadow. "It's Lizard! Look at its tail and claws!"
Lusen immediately released a bright Fire Rain spell with his remaining mana. Professor Derick and Alcota quickly arrived. Only then did Lusen have the leisure to look at their current location. They were hundreds of meters away from the place where the Mud Octopus had dragged them into the swamp.
Alcota was still frightened: "No wonder the professor and I almost turned over all the mud there and couldn't find you. You've already reached such a far place. How were you rescued?"
Daniel was still immersed in the excitement of having seen Lizard: "It's Lizard, we saw Lizard!" With the departure of the dragons, magical beasts with dragon blood on the mainland have become increasingly rare, and Lizards with obvious dragon characteristics are even rarer. Any magical beast related to dragons is not only synonymous with strength, but also one feature - precious, or more appropriately, expensive.
"Senior Brother may have been too nervous and mistook the tentacles of the Mud Octopus for a Lizard," Lusen said calmly, "It was too chaotic under the mud. The Mud Octopus may have encountered a formidable opponent, they started to fight, and we were thrown out."
"But it's clearly..."
"Daniel, you not only disobeyed my repeated requests, but you also almost got Lusen killed." Professor Derick interrupted him with a gloomy face.
Daniel then apologized, "I'm sorry, Professor. I couldn't resist studying the rare magic plant when I saw it, and I implicated Lusen."
This was not the place to scold students after all, Professor Derick suppressed his anger, and glanced at the two disheveled students, "Let's go back to the mercenary camp first."
None of the three students dared to provoke the Fury Professor Derrick, and everyone returned to the mercenary territory in silence.
Lusen and Daniel changed into new clothes, washed off the mud on their bodies, and shivered in the cold wind of the Midnight Swamp. Professor Derrick handed them two blankets with dark face.
Lusen wrapped the blanket around him. In fact, he was not cold at all, he had mixed the boiling water sphere he summoned with a regular water sphere and took a hot bath.
But Daniel obviously didn't think so much, he hastily took a bath, looking absent-minded, as if he was still reminiscing about whether the magical beast they just encountered was the legendary Lizard.
Alcota tried to break the dull atmosphere and asked, "Professor, what are we eating tonight?"
But she was clearly not good at easing the atmosphere, asking a stupid question that didn't have much nutrition. Professor Derick took out bags of different colored powders from his space ring without expression, "Nutrition Porridge."
Right, every time they went out, they would eat the nutritionally balanced and easy-to-carry porridge specially prepared by Professor Derrick.
Porridge was just a general term. Alcota saw Professor Derrick pour seven or eight different colored powders into the pot and finally stirred them together to become a pot of green porridge.
Upon opening it, a whole box of bright red, neatly arranged large strawberries was revealed. Each one was the size of an egg and emitted a fresh and sweet aroma.
"So the food is different every time." A watching mercenary spoke up, "What we ate last time was pumpkin muffins, meat sauce mashed potatoes, cloudberry jam toast, radish meatball soup, and... um!"
A person next to him covered his mouth, stop, we still have to go back and eat our own salted meat soup with hard bread!
After watching, Professor Derick returned to his tent, his face seemed even darker.
He looked at Lusen who occasionally peeked at him and asked with an angry smile, "You must like the nutritious wheat paste so much that you didn't tell me that Dragon Flame Restaurant sells such convenient food." Professor Derrick served Lusen a large bowl of green paste with a loving look on his face, "Come on, Lusen, eat more."