Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

  The sky was suddenly filled with hawks’ cries.

  More than ten Giant Hawks with faintly glowing yellow eyes slowly descended from the sky.

  Their sharp claws were carrying a black horse-drawn carriage with four wheels.

  The carriage was the size of a small house, and it was unusually wide and neat.

  Bang!

  A dull noise rang out, and the carriage landed on the ground. Its four wheels shook, then rolled on the ground for a moment, before being obstructed by a few protruding stones on the floor, and ceasing all movement.

  A crashing sound could be heard as the carriage door was pulled from left to right, finally opening before two figures jumped out.

  Garen looked at the Lava Ball that cast the surroundings of the valley in a fiery glow, while a look of admiration appeared on his face subconsciously.

  "Looks like this place has been arranged pretty well."

  "There are a lot of monster nests in the vicinity, so we have no choice but to be alert at all times. However, there will be slightly more of the crystals for consumption here," said Skyharp, nodding. "Let’s go."

  Garen nodded, clapping his hands lightly. The Giant Hawk pulled the carriage immediately, and flew upwards again, before flying towards the road.

  He took big steps towards the Giant Lava Ball, and after a few strides, he had quickly crossed a distance of more than ten meters.

  Garen walked directly towards the Giant Lava Ball, before colliding into it harshly.

  Whoosh!

  After the soft noise rang out, his entire body suddenly entered the Lava Ball.

  This sequence arrangement was extremely natural, as Garen had only felt a faint gust of hot air throughout his surroundings, very mildly, as he felt that his body had only become slightly warmer.

  A sea of red appeared before his eyes, and he realized that he had already entered the interior of the Giant Lava Ball.

  In front of him was a cylindrical passage, and the bottom of the walls were completely made up of lava that was still rolling around continuously, emitting terrifying heat and red light.

  The passage extended towards the front continuously, and Garen found himself walking on the passageway unconsciously, while Skyharp followed behind him closely.

  Both of them seemed to have an invisible protective layer that separated them from direct contact with the lava, and made walking through the passageway as simple as taking a normal walk, without any differences at all.

  Garen happily looked at the lava wall surrounding him, unconsciously nodding his head slightly.

  "This Tactical Formation is not bad, worthy of Master Calingan. A simple arrangement that was enough to integrate the local environmental requirements and allow man-made work to meld into nature."

  He outstretched his hand to touch the right wall surface, and red lava stuck on his hand, releasing endless puffs of white smoke.

  "Master Calingan excelled at Heirloom research, this was the work of one of his old friends, and this lava is not actually real, but merely an illusion," Skyharp explained. "After these passages, Glittering Pond will be right inside."

  Garen nodded.

  Both of them sped up their footsteps, and continued walking down the middle of the lava passage.

  They passed through many turnings, and soon, the black exit finally appeared in front of them.

  Garen’s toes stepped on the ground lightly, before he dashed out of the passage all of a sudden.

  Before his eyes was a sea of purple and red.

  His eyes quickly got used to the constantly changing light rays, and as Garen stood at the exit of the lava passage, and looked at the scenery before him.

  Between the valley, the entire floor had been submerged by purple-red colored streams, forming a purple-red lake. It looked like a large purple-red mirror, and the lake reflected the night time moonlight, forming purple-red halos, even dyeing the night sky in red as well.

  The reflection of the purple-red moonlight shook in the water, causing the large black silhouettes that were swimming in the water to be faintly seen.

  The lava passage was at the bank of the purple-red river, and at their ends stood the stone walls of the valley.

  Initially, at the entry point of the valley, there was a large circular depression in the ground, and now it was filled with water, forming a large circular purple-red lake.

  The purple-red water inside the lake flowed slowly and silently.

  Garen walked towards the side of the lake and crouched down, before outstretching his hands and cupping some water.

  Strangely enough, when he cupped the purple-red lake water, it suddenly turned into normal clear water, and was incomparably clear.

  The cool lake water dripped out between his fingers slowly, and flowed back into the lake.

  Garen stood up, looked at the deep part of the lake from afar, faintly noticing a small isle there.

  "Hold on for awhile, the garrison in this area will come and meet us soon, since we have yet to release our arrival instructions," Skyharp said behind him quietly.

  Garen nodded.

  Both of them waited quietly, but before half a minute had passed, two little ferries floated towards them slowly on both sides of the surface of the lake. On the black ferry stood three Totem Users and soldiers in black wooden armor.

  The ferry docked beside the bank quickly, and the soldiers hurriedly disembarked onto the bank, bending on single knees on the ground in front of the two people.

  "Welcome Palace Master and Elder!" Their voices were unusually orderly, an obvious sign that this was due to prior training.

  While they spoke, dark clouds floated up from the lake suddenly, quickly forming a human figure that landed beside the bank.

  "Palace Master? Sister Skyharp, why have you arrived suddenly?" Elder Wukang still remained in his old ways. He wore a black robe, his ears adorned with large pearl earrings that were unusually eye catching.

  "Barney, you resume arranging people to patrol. Fiona, since I’m here, you return to the replenishing tower, and be alert about your surroundings at all times," Wukang commanded the Totem Users that had disembarked onto the bank earlier.

  When both of the Totem Users saw that Garen did not object, they followed their leader and left.

  Garen had transferred his authority to Wukang to manage everything here, so naturally, he had no objections.

  "Go directly to Glittering Pond," said Garen softly.

  "Alright," Wukang nodded, and walked towards the lake immediately, while a thin layer of dark clouds floated beneath his feet, lifting his body up instantly, not allowing him to touch a single drop of lake water.

  Dark clouds appeared precisely below Garen and Skyharp’s feet as well, supporting both of them, displaying Wukang’ powerful control.

  The three of them immediately moved towards the isle in the center of the lake.

  "This entire valley is Glittering Pond," explained Wukang simply. "At first, we didn’t believe it either, but after we collected water from Glittering Pond, we finally understood the relationship between these places."

  He paused. "There is an isle in the middle of the lake, on the isle is a wilted purple tree, with many purple-red peach shaped holes growing on the tree top."

  "Since they are holes, why do you say that they’re growing?" Garen asked.

  "I don’t really know how to put it." Wukang thought for a moment, as if he was thinking of words to describe it. "There are a lot of peach shaped holes on the trunk and branches of the wilted tree, and there is a purple-red membrane layer inside that lights up. It also resembles frosted glass, and cannot be broken easily. When the time comes, you will understand once you see it."

  Soon, the isle at the center of the lake gradually became clearer.

  There was a single lonely black wilted tree on the isle, and from afar, it looked like purple-red eyes were growing on the trunk of the dead tree. They released faint purple-red glows.

  Excluding the top of the trunk, the purple-red eyes covered the tree branches and tree top, as if they were embedded inside the wood, and were there naturally.

  Garen and the two others reached the isle quickly, and soon stepped onto the ground of the isle in the middle of the lake.

  The wilted tree was nearer to them now, and after stepping on the uneven ground, Garen stood in front of the wilted tree instantly.

  The ten-over meter tall wilted tree appeared threatening, like the sharp claws of a demon in the dark, looking somewhat ferocious.

  Garen’s toes moved slightly, before his whole body leaped forwards and floated upwards, while a gush of purple-red lake water appeared below his legs in midair at the same time, supporting him as he floated through midair.

  He floated in front of one of the purple-red eyes in the middle of the tree branches.

  Garen halted his silhouette, and stretched his hand out to gently touch the membrane inside the hole.

  Some of it was hard and cold, and felt like touching frosted glass. It was not as weak as it looked.

  He retracted his hand, and suddenly realized that there was a sticky purple-red liquid on his fingers.

  "That’s Glittering Water," Wukang explained behind him from the bottom.

  Garen looked at the liquid on his fingers slowly, and true enough, dots of purple-red light were faintly glowing there.

  "How much Glittering Water have we collected?" he asked softly.

  "About ten people’s worth, according to the rules, I have one portion, so there will be nine portions inside the storage. One portion should be about one liter’s worth," Wukang replied.

  The Elder in charge of guarding the mineral resources had the authority to distribute the mineral resources into tenths, and this was one of the benefits of being the stationed Elder. This rule was decided by Garen.

  Garen nodded but did not say much, since it did not matter how much Glittering Water Wukang took, because for normal people, although it had healing abilities, as for evolving effects, it could only be used for the bodies of low-levelled Totem Users. This thing was not allowed to be taken outside, and in the end, if it was not used inside the palace, it would be substituted for other resources or knowledge.

  It was just like how Blizzard spent so many consecutive days inside the hidden book collection hall borrowing books and doing research, when the price he paid in exchange for reading was only that his Contribution Points were depleted.

  Contribution Points could only be obtained by contributing inside the palace. It could be exchanged for knowledge, riches, Totems, and resources, among others.

  Now, the only person that knew that Glittering Water was useful to the Cthulhu King was Garen, as for the Cthulhu King himself, it was unlikely that he knew how useful this thing would actually be for his wounds.

  Thus, now was the best time for him to obtain Glittering Water.

  "Currently, there’s only one Glittering Pond in Kovitan, which is this one, and we have already occupied it. If other people acquire the Glittering Water from the Glittering Ponds in other areas, Elder Wukang you are in charge of purchasing some of it, and any price is acceptable as long as it is not too extreme," Garen instructed him quietly.

  "Understood," nodded Wukang. "I’m holding a banquet there, Palace Master and Sister Skyharp, let’s go together."

  "Such a coincidence that I need a portion of Glittering Water for experiments," Garen continued.

  The three of them passed the lake again, and walked towards the left side of the lake.

  Soon, the stone walls of the valley on the left side of the lake floated up again, and the passageways inside the caves had already opened up, while people stood guard inside, and many material boxes and wooden buckets were also placed inside. Some of the wooden buckets were lit with piles of candles and oil lamps on top, while torches were hung on the walls inside. They illuminated the entire cave in bright candlelight.

  The three of them walked into the largest cave inside the passage, and on the right side was the purple-red lake water, while bright moonlight shone on the ground of the cave. The scenery was extremely pleasant.

  The cave was already filled with beautiful maids that were serving food and wine, quietly waiting for the arrival of the three people.

  "I’ve already prepared Red Flying Dolphin meat. If it weren’t for the arrival of Palace Master, we would not have normally eaten this," Wukang chortled and said. "This thing can make up for many things! Mm hmm…… It will greatly increase one of our manly abilities!" He rushed towards Garen, while a wretched smile that all men understood appeared on his face.

  "Aren’t these just a few pieces of Red Dolphin rashers? They taste alright," Skyharp said simply.

  "That’s true, that’s true. Big Sis, you are an expert in this field," Wukang quickly smiled apologetically.

  "I’ve tasted various types of rashers ever since I was young, they don’t taste like much, but are just quite chewy, and are not as tasty as Mimi," replied Skyharp in a tone of trained indifference.

  Chills suddenly ran down Garen’s spine, this woman, Skyharp looked quiet, but was within her cold exterior hid a surprising amount of experience.