"One day, I will crush all those who look down on me beneath my feet, just like crushing a bug!"
"That bitch Frey, and Barton, Diego, and... Morris, that old bastard! I will turn them all into undead servants, every single one!"
Richard thought this world was very unfair. Why could apprentices like Barton and Diego, who had family backing, easily obtain various cultivation resources, while he had to search for materials to create servants himself?
Sometimes encountering the resistance of those damned mortals, he would have to waste a lot of effort!
Richard believed that he was born to become a great wizard. If he had the same foundation as others, he would not be in this state after six years on the Wizard's Road, barely condensing three Will Runes, and still only a low-level apprentice.
Whenever there was hard and bitter work to be done, his mentor would always think of him first, just because Barton and Diego had families, and even that bitch Frey could use her body.
But he had nothing, even before coming to the Wizard World, his birth was just that of a humble peasant.
Therefore, Richard hated everything in this world!
"When I find that bug, I will peel his organs out one by one while he's alive!" Remembering Lynch's earlier provocation, Richard gritted his teeth fiercely.
He knew Lynch, a lowly peasant, something as insignificant as a bug, had simply relied on luck to be discovered as having wizard talent, allowing him to come to this world that didn't belong to him.
Letting such a fool into this world was purely a waste of resources; their only value was as material to help wizards solve unknowns and doubts.
But now, this guy refused to accept his fate submissively and dared to resist!
Unforgivable!
Just then, Richard noticed the bloodstains on the ground, and his face twisted into a sinister smile: "Let's see how far you can run!"
He pursued through the bloodstains into the shrubbery ahead.
"Ah!"
However, as soon as he entered, Richard cried out in pain and stumbled backward out of the bushes.
On his face and hands were deep cuts, flesh opened, blood pouring, the wounds reaching the dermis. Fortunately, the cloak he wore, with defensive effects, covered most of his body, preventing him from being completely shredded.
"Hiss! Oh~" Richard gasped as he held his bleeding wounds.
"Damn it! Damn it!"
His anger rose again, and he pointed to a nameless shrub ahead, ordering the two undead servants beside him: "Uproot that damned thing for me!"
The loyal undead servants rushed forward, hacking at the shrub with abandon.
However, the Blade Thorns' leaves, sharp as blades, densely packed, struck back as the undead hacked at them.
By the time Richard realized something was wrong and withdrew the two undead servants, their flesh was no longer intact. Without muscle support, the undead servants struggled to function.
"Ah!!!"
Losing two undead servants immediately sent Richard's anger soaring.
"Kill him, I want him dead!"
He shouted, leading the remaining undead servants deeper into the forest in pursuit, unaware of a giant flower with a mouth-like appearance hiding beside a large oak tree just ahead.
Then,
"Snap!" With a sound, an undead servant passing by was swallowed whole.
When Richard returned and had it freed from the flower bud, the Cannibal Flower's corrosive acidic membrane had already left the undead servant unrecognizable, clearly following its companion to a ruined state.
"......"
Richard finally realized this forest was not as simple as he had thought. He tried to identify the plants but, not being an apprentice of the Dark Forest, his half-year stayed there yielded little; his knowledge of Magic Plants and Demons wasn't even introductory.
Recognizing one or two plants was barely possible, distinguishing their kinds and abilities was impossible.
"You don't think this will stop me, do you?"
"Come out soon, as long as you cooperate, I'll get you an apprentice position with my mentor. What's the difference in where you're an apprentice? The rightful path is with the Black Wizards, not the restrained White Wizards."
Richard called out loudly to the forest, observing closely. He could sense Lynch and Yuri in the thicket ahead, and Gabri's tracking mark indicated they were nearby.
"Rustle..." At this moment, a bush in the front shook slightly.
"Gotcha!"
A mass of Dark Element rapidly formed a black whip in Richard's hand, and he lashed it in that direction, receiving the signal of tangling its target.
Dark Element zero-ring low-level spell: Dark Whip.
However, before he could retract the whip, a tremendous force pulled from the other end, unexpectedly dragging Richard forward, causing him to roll.
"Crash!"
Two thorny branches squirmed quickly and wrapped around Richard's ankle, a sharp pain coursed through his leg, immediately losing sensation, as if it wasn't his own.
He hurriedly summoned the undead servants for rescue; after sacrificing two more, he was finally freed from the vines.
"Para... Paralysis Magic Vine..." Finally recognizing one type of Magic Plant, Richard's face turned, retrieving a potion of detoxification from his Space Ring and drinking it.
"Tap, tap!"
A series of crisp footsteps sounded, and a shadow fled from behind the Thorny Demon Vine just ahead.
Richard instinctively pursued, but his numbed body hadn't recovered, once again watching his target escape right under his nose.
"Gabri, you, you go!"
Having suffered several setbacks, Richard finally got wise, sending his trump card ahead to clear the way. It wasn't his anyway, even if destroyed, it wouldn't ache him one bit.
The massive Demon Alchemist moved forward, against the Paralysis Magic Vine's attacks. His arms morphed into axes and saws, chopping the thorns apart, opening a path.
Richard followed with the remaining undead servants; he was seething with only five out of sixteen servants left.
"You won't get away!" he gritted through his teeth.
Following alongside the Demon Alchemist, tracking the bloodstains forward, Richard descended a hill to find a barren plain beneath, where soul sparks dotted the black soil.
Closer! Richard felt he was infinitely close to Lynch.
He could even smell the opponent.
"Clap! Clap!"
At this moment, the flapping wings of something appeared from the sky, and a creature resembling the legendary Fire Dragon headed their way. Richard recognized it as Lynch's modified Fire Dragon Lizard.
For some reason, when this Fire Dragon Lizard flew over, the stagnant plain suddenly came alive.
He was about to order Gabri to bring down this small creature, but before he could, the Fire Dragon Lizard flew overhead, releasing something, dropping it right at Richard's feet.
Richard instinctively looked, and as he did, he couldn't help but hold his breath.
A magnificent Blue Crystal stuck to a Corrupted Tree Demon's corpse, with a smooth, clean, transparent surface, its light blue cloud-like substance twisted inside, glowing faint blue in the night's embrace, extraordinarily dazzling and enchantingly beautiful.
"Soul... Soul Crystal!"
Richard immediately recognized this well-known treasure of the Wizard World!