"Hey! How's it going, buddy?" Just as Darkblade was about to deal Ryan a fatal blow, Ryan suddenly turned around, grinning and saying those words. Darkblade froze for a moment, and in that instant, he felt a chill in his chest, followed by a gush of blood. Darkblade fell out of stealth mode and slowly collapsed to the ground, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Ryan looked at Darkblade lying limply on the ground, finally letting out a sigh of relief. To be honest, Darkblade's overconfidence in his stealth was the reason for his downfall. If Darkblade had been a little more prepared, he definitely would've been able to avoid Ryan's attack. Magic always releases a magical fluctuation, doesn't it? But Ryan had noticed this, so when he released the Wind Blade, he deliberately distracted Darkblade with his words, drawing his attention away. However, Darkblade, as a level 5 thief, wouldn't have taken a young mage seriously. He didn't know that Ryan's mind was that of an adult and that Ryan could cast first-level spells instantaneously, which was highly abnormal. Typically, a level 1 mage needed at least two seconds to cast a spell, and there was a success rate involved. It wasn't that other mages didn't try hard, but they were limited by their magical and mental energy. Usually, a level 1 mage could cast only about 20 spells before exhausting their mana. A level 2 mage, on the other hand, would need at least two days to replenish their mana. But Ryan was different—he could instantly cast spells and had perfected almost 400 spells, a feat that would take any regular mage more than two months to achieve. If Darkblade had known this, he would've waited in hiding to ambush Ryan or gone back to retrieve his crossbow. But since he didn't know, he didn't.
"What did you say?" Ryan slowly walked over to Darkblade, who was already coughing up blood and gasping, as though he had something to say. Ryan kicked the dagger out of the way and leaned in to ask.
"Heh... It depends on your luck," Darkblade managed a grin, then spoke in a language Ryan didn't understand. Immediately, Ryan felt a surge of magical energy. Ryan knew something was wrong, so he quickly rolled to the side.
"Such a strong magical fluctuation... and it's space magic!" The Grand Elder was flying above the forest, sensing Ryan and Quillin's group from a distance. But the massive surge of magical energy disrupted him. Upon arriving at the scene, the Grand Elder saw broken branches, bushes, blood, and a dagger stuck in the tree, along with the strong magical fluctuations left behind by the space magic.
"A random scroll... this is trouble," the Grand Elder muttered as he carefully analyzed the magic wave and took a moment to sense it.
"What's a random scroll?" Delis, having heard the Grand Elder's explanation, asked with a puzzled look.
Quillin quickly explained to Delis, "A random scroll is a space teleportation scroll. It's a life-saving item, but it has a drawback. While it can teleport you to a random location within 50 kilometers, the destination can be anywhere—up in the sky, underground, or even inside magma or next to magical beasts. These scrolls are extremely rare, and no one has made them for hundreds of years."
Delis, upon hearing Quillin's explanation, immediately fainted. With the Grand Elder's mental power, sensing a target within a 50-kilometer radius was easy. The Grand Elder's expression, however, showed that he could not sense Ryan's whereabouts, which led Delis to despair. Although she had known Ryan for a short time, she had already fallen deeply in love with the boy who was much younger than herself.
The Grand Elder looked at Delis, and even his calm heart seemed to stir slightly with emotion. He left a few words behind: "It's not impossible for him to survive. There are intelligent beings underground. With that boy's talent, he'll definitely come back." With that, a six-pointed star appeared beside the Grand Elder, and Quillin, Delis, and Alice disappeared with him.
"Quillin, what did the Grand Elder mean by that?" When Delis woke up, she found herself in the Mage Guild. Hearing Alice's recounting of the Grand Elder's words, Delis quickly asked Quillin.
Quillin smiled wryly and explained, "It's a place known as the Exiled World, also called the Dark Abyss..."
"I'm not dead! I'm still here!" Niuniu, who had appeared from nowhere, sneered. "Who else but Big Nose is this?" It turned out that Niuniu had sensed the Grand Elder's mental power from a distance and feared that the Grand Elder would discover her identity. She had been following Ryan, but when the Grand Elder and Delis disappeared, Niuniu quickly followed. Because of the pact signed between Big Nose and Delis, it wouldn't work if they were too far apart, so Niuniu had rushed to catch up. As a result, Niuniu was several hours later than Delis in returning.
"Ugh, it's so dark!" Ryan slowly regained consciousness, finding himself surrounded by complete darkness. His body ached all over. As he slowly got up and moved his body, he realized he only had some minor scratches, but the area around him was completely black.
Ryan realized he was in a cave, as the ground felt damp and there were stone walls surrounding him. The humidity in the air was noticeably higher. Ryan tried to recall how he had ended up here. He remembered the thief had used a scroll, and after feeling a sense of weightlessness, he had woken up here.
Ryan instantly cast a Fireball spell, and immediately the wet stone walls around him became visible. The space was about 10 meters high, with uneven stones scattered across the ground. There were plants growing on the walls, and with Ryan's knowledge, he could only vaguely recognize some of them as ferns and fungi.
"Seems like I'm lucky. Falling here is definitely a stroke of good fortune," Ryan muttered. Though he had no idea how he ended up here, he noticed the soft ground where he had lain earlier, which clearly had a human-shaped indentation. Nearby, there was a protruding rock, and the head of the thief who had been with him was crushed—likely from hitting the rock. Ryan couldn't help but marvel at his luck.
Licking his finger, Ryan tried to sense the wind direction, but he felt nothing. Annoyed, he looked around in frustration. He knew that making one wrong step could lead to disaster—one wrong move and it would be like being lost in the desert, where you wouldn't even know how you died.
"Sigh! How about tossing a coin?" Ryan muttered helplessly, throwing a coin into the air. The coin landed in one direction, so Ryan followed it. Luckily, Ryan's magical power was substantial, and maintaining a small Fireball didn't consume much of it.
After tossing the coin three times, Ryan finally found a direction, as the first two times the coin fell on his head. He quickly walked in that direction, but after a few steps, he turned back to pick up the thief's dagger. There was nothing else on Darkblade's body. Ryan sighed again, "Why'd you have to drop your crossbow?" But Ryan quickly realized that if Darkblade had kept the crossbow, he wouldn't even be in a position to complain.
After walking for a while, Ryan came to a fork in the path. He carefully examined it and decided to head left. As he walked, he muttered happily to himself, "Lucky I'm clever. I know that any path leading here must have been used by animals or magical beasts, so it'll be smoother and the ground won't be so soft."
Ryan continued to think of this place as some kind of underground cave.
"Hmm? What's that sound?" As Ryan walked and rested, he used a magic core from his bag to light the way. It was dim, but still enough to see. He had to be cautious, though, as his pace slowed. Occasionally, he noticed some reptiles darting away when they saw the light, quickly disappearing into the cracks in the rocks. While the area had plenty of ferns and fungi, Ryan was wary of eating anything. Who knew if it was poisonous? He was very hungry by now—having woken up late, fleeing for his life, and fighting with Darkblade. He had no strength left, but luckily, Ryan had the mind of an adult. Otherwise, someone else might have collapsed by now. He knew that moving forward meant survival; standing still meant certain death.
"Little dwarf, you push hard, I can't hold on much longer."
"Wait, I need to drink a bit, just a bit."
"Could you two please stop arguing?"
"Yeah, if you keep it up, we're done for."
From a distance, Ryan heard the loud voices. The language they were speaking didn't sound like the common tongue of the continent, but a more ancient language, more sophisticated than the common dialect. Fortunately, Ryan had learned some of it. As Ryan stowed the magic core and walked closer, he was stunned.
Ryan peeked out of the cave and saw a red glow far on the horizon, much like the rising sun, casting everything in a red hue. However, upon closer inspection, he realized that the fiery red glow came from a massive volcano, surrounded by enormous shadowy buildings and tree-like structures. Ryan quickly recognized that he was still underground. This was a gigantic cavern, with massive stone columns connecting the ceiling to the basin below. Ryan gazed in awe at the view; it was a hundred times more beautiful than any photoshopped images from Earth.
"Ah!" A scream suddenly pulled Ryan out of his stupor. He quickly rushed toward the sound.
Not far from him, on a gentle slope, four humanoid figures were fighting a giant spider. Among them, three were warriors, and one was an archer. However, dealing with a spider-like creature required a fire mage or fire warrior, as their fiery attacks would be highly effective. But pure warriors and archers struggled with these creatures, especially when they had to deal with the sticky webs.
The scream came from a warrior who had been caught by the webs and thrown by the spider, crashing into a rock. This move pushed the other two warriors back. The spider then dragged the unfortunate warrior toward its mouth.
Just as the warrior was staring in despair at the poisonous fangs about to bite him, suddenly the spider's head began to glow. A shrill scream from the spider followed, and it recoiled.
Taking advantage of the spider's retreat, an arrow struck the spider's mouth, piercing its venomous fangs. The spider's head mysteriously dropped off, startling the two warriors who had rushed forward. They stood frozen for a moment, bewildered.
"Deff, what the hell? You almost got me eaten by a spider! …Uh? A human?" The warrior, still wrapped in spider silk, screamed at the archer, but as he sat up, he saw Ryan and his face showed surprise.
"You—you—you guys are dwarves? Gnomes?" Ryan said, using a Wind Blade to finish off the spider. Honestly, the spider was just a bit bigger than usual, but it wasn't a magical beast, so for Ryan, it was an easy task. Then he took a closer look at the four figures in front of him. Three of them had short arms and legs and carried axes, but their voices and movements didn't resemble children. They wore excellent armor that shone with intricate patterns, clearly crafted by dwarves. The archer, however, appeared like a normal human. Ryan was shocked and asked, "Wait, you guys are dwarves?"