Potion Combination
A boundless barren wasteland.
Gales howled, sending the dust hurtling through the air to cover the sky, forming a thick haze.
In this land, twelve Warlocks were hurrying along on a special giant lizard.
“This is the Forgotten Land after all. Look at how sparse the elemental particles are here!” Leylin glanced at the statistics that the A.I. Chip gave him and shook his head. Even compared to the south coast and Twilight Zone this place was too poor. Not only was the land barren, even the elemental particles were scarce. It was no wonder that Magi and other races only chose to live here if they’d run out of options.
Leylin believed that were it not for his ancestral map, even Kubler would have been forced to hang around this place.
“Regular fugitives can just flee to the Nefas, it is the city of sins after all. From the perspectives of other Magi in the central continent, going to Nefas City is akin to banishment. Only those that are truly evil who could no longer stay in their own cities and are being hunted down would choose to come here. We need to be careful.” This was not the first time Robin had warned them about this. It was evident how great the danger here was in his mind.
*Swish!* Two dense corrosive balls that were yellow in colour flew out and burst midair causing countless droplets to fall.
The moment these droplets made contact with the similarly yellow sand, they began to emit smoke, forming a pit whose descent could be seen with the naked eye.
*Chi chi!* A few black figures in the sand shrieked, fleeing far away.
Leylin saw that although these creatures had a head and humanoid limbs, they were only as large as a seven or eight-year-old child. In addition, their heads were shaped like those of mice, with two giant white teeth jutting out that looked sharp. Their bodies were covered with fur, and they all had thin black tails behind them.
‘Mouse People! They’re a type of lycanthrope, the product of experiments left behind by ancient Magi!’ Leylin quickly recalled information about these Mouse People.
The ancient era was the most glorious period for the Magus World. Not only did the ancient Magi take over many different worlds and places, they even took away creatures from different worlds to be their slaves and even guinea pigs. This was why there were so many races in the Magus World.
“Noah, what are you doing?” Robin suddenly shouted at his nephew who had launched the attack.
“Uncle, I merely…” Noah lowered his head, ashamed.
“You can’t just attack anything as you please! You’re too weak, and you’re giving the opponents a chance to get you! The Mouse People are a very united race, and the blood from their injuries will attract even more of them. We need to leave this place as soon as possible!” Robin was infuriated, but after remembering that Noah had only just come out for some experience, he could not help but soften his words.
“I’m sorry!” Noah found it hard to speak. Though he was no longer young and had long since obtained the strength of a rank 3, he might not even be as experienced as rank 2 Magi when it came to confronting enemies.
Giant Kemoyin Serpent Warlocks were precious resources in the Ouroboros Clan. They were sheltered, which was why Noah had no real life experience even if he had theoretical knowledge.
Under Robin’s command, the lizard under them increased its speed.
However, it was too late. The situation proved that Robin was not wrong in his lecturing. In less than a day, they were surrounded by a large group of Mouse People.
“Damn it, why are there so many?” Noah’s face flushed as he glanced at the Mouse People who amounted to more than two thousand. They formed a huge wave and surrounded them, the stink so bad that he was on the verge of vomiting.
“Mouse People reproduce like rabbits, and they require very little in order to survive. Other races may find it difficult to survive in the Forgotten Land, but this is not an issue for them. They make use of the rotten plants and maggots underground to live, and if they are truly desperate, they can even gnaw at sand and rocks!” Leylin explained to Noah.
“Damn these inferior beings. If we were outside-!” Noah clenched his teeth. Though they had spiritual force potions for replenishment, they still needed to be frugal.
“It can’t be helped. Regular Mouse People are very resistant to radiation and can be compared to rank 3 acolytes. Elite adult Mouse People even have the strength of official Magi. The leader of this group here is very sly, and I suspect it isn’t even here!”
Robin closed his eyes, a white eyeball appearing on his forehead. It was evident he was using detection magic to search for the tracks of the leader of the Mouse People.
In this situation, in order to keep depletion at the lowest, the best idea was to kill the other party’s leader. However, the Mouse People seemed to be aware of this as well.
“Darl, you guys, prepare to attack!”
Robin opened his eyes and exclaimed to a few of the Warlocks behind him. The five Black Horrall Snake Warlocks went forward, a great energy wave flickering from their bodies, causing an uproar amongst the group of mice people.
Robin and the others were the main force and could not afford to waste energy here. They could only have their followers take care of it.
“Prepare to provide assistance!” Kesha instructed the three Warlocks from her family behind her.
Leylin took around. He was alone and did not have any servants. “Never mind. Their spiritual force and magic power are also precious and can’t be wasted here. Let me do it.”
“Leylin, you-? … Alright. Only you are the most suitable in this situation.” Realising Leylin’s identity as a Potion Master, Robin nodded.
“Get away, or you’ll pay the price!”
Riding the lizard, Leylin went up front, the terrifying undulations of a Vapour Phase rank 3 Magus emanating from him.
The disturbance amongst the mice became even louder, but nobody left.
Leylin couldn’t help but admire them. The use of his aura to suppress them might be easy for creatures with lower intelligence, but the moment it was used on creatures with an intelligence similar to humans, it was useless. This was especially so, if they had a leader commanding them.
Of course, if Leylin used his rank 3 innate talent, Intimidating Gaze, there was no problem. After all, that was not just using his aura to suppress others, but a suppression that was similar to that of a domain.
However, Leylin thought it would be too extravagant to use a rank 3 innate spell against this group at the boundaries of the Forgotten Land.
As he watched the Mouse People pouncing at him, a silver light flashed in his hand as a few test tubes glimmering in multiple colours appeared.
“Defiant Ring of Fire!” A fiery-red test tube was tossed out with a swish and exploded in the air to form a giant ring of fire encircling Leylin and the others.
“Wind Blast!” Immediately after, another two light green test tubes flew out, and great gales broke out, blowing the flames in all directions.
“And lastly, oil roasting potion!” With another toss, a purplish-black potion exploded in the air, and something like crude oil in gaseous form was dispersed.
*Rumble!* The fire from before made contact with this oil and grew even more powerful, tongues of flame sweeping in all directions.
“Rank 3 Potion-combination Spell—Divine Prairie Flames!”
Great flames rushed along the ground, and as if pushed by a powerful invisible force, began to surround the Mouse People.
Many fire serpents engulfed the area and swallowed many of the Mouse People, the cracking sounds of meat being roasted filled the air.
*Chi chi!* *Chi chi!* They were burnt to ashes, and this horrifying scene motivated the Mouse People at the sides to flee. However, this was merely a small number.
At the end, many Mouse People were charred and became conjoined to the ground forming a single entity. A disgusting stink that was ten times worse than before was produced.
“He actually used a few rank 1 and 2 potions and simulated the effects of a rank 3 spell! He really is a Potions Grandmaster!”
Robin praised from the bottom of his heart, “Also, this battle style does not consume spiritual force nor magic power. It is the most appropriate to use in the Forgotten Land!”
“It’s only the results of an ordinary experiment.” Leylin smiled very modestly.
In actuality, those were his true thoughts. The amplification of effect from such a combination only reached around 70%, and was far from what could be produced from the Morning Star final technique that used a few spells and produced an effect that had a huge change in quality.
However, Leylin had gained a very large interest in this method of combination and had been doing research on it. This Potion combination technique was a result of one of his successful experiments.
“Everything is great, but this is a little too disgusting!”
Kesha used a gold-laced handkerchief and covered her nose, her expression revealing a look of revulsion.
The other rank 3 Warlocks were not in good shape either, especially Noah, who was deathly pale and seemed unable to hold back his urge to vomit.
After surveying this region, they realised that besides the earth under their feet, everything else had become charred. That unique stink of the Mouse People had become even denser after the burning.
“Alright. Get used to this kind of thing, because you’re going to be experiencing more of it in the future!” Robin patted Noah’s shoulders, gaze unable to conceal his admiration towards Leylin.
Over here, only he and Leylin could chat without a change of expression.
To take care of everyone, Robin quickly led and continued the journey.
With the previous experience, everyone was even more cautious this time. Even Noah exercised restraint and followed along at the back of the group, gathering experience.
After that, Leylin found that this Forgotten Land truly was a large dump. They met all sorts of strange creatures that were all the products of failed experiments who had escaped. Some of these species were very rare in the central continent.
No matter what they were, they all had a common point—they were either plagued with flaws, were corrosive, or had powerful poisons.
There was one way to sum this up. They were hard to make use of and were of no value to Magi!