The small town of Pamela is the closest supply point to the Cotopaxi volcano. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

This is also where the apprentices are registered.

When Grim arrived in a slow stagecoach ride, it was dinner time of the day.

The small town of Pamela, a remote but not very cold town. The town is not big, with only one central street. It's one of those small places where you can see the whole town at a glance when you stand on the street.

There are more than a dozen wooden houses built along both sides of the street, and at first glance they look like ordinary houses. Add to that a tavern, a grocery store, a shabby, damp inn, and a hundred or so households, and that's all there is to the town!

As soon as he got out of the stagecoach, Grim faintly heard a loud rumbling sound coming from the mountains in the distance. This sound is not an occasional sound, but has been present since Grim approached the mountainous area. On the periphery, the sound may not be so obvious, like the muffled thunder in the winter wilderness, but when he came to this town, he immediately sensed the power of nature.

This is probably the sound of the volcano's continuous underground activity!

Thinking of the town's inhabitants living in this environment for many years, Grim couldn't help but wonder what made them willing to endure such a harsh environment and stay here.

You know, although it is almost time for the Cotopaxi volcano to take a break, heavy plumes of smoke and dust are still spewing out from the towering spires of the volcano in the distance. The town is located at the foot of the mountain, less than seven miles from the volcano, and the sky is always gray due to the influence of the volcano. Inside and outside the town, both on the buildings and on the gravel roads, there is a thick layer of volcanic ash.

Waiting for Grim in the inn was a high-ranking apprentice named Ivan, and judging by the badge he wore on his gray robe, it was supposed to belong to the local Jubel family. This Cotopaxi volcano belongs to their family's resource point, and no other wizards are allowed to enter the volcano without their permission.

Seeing that Grim's level was only advanced, that Ivan obviously didn't believe it, and couldn't help but say coldly: "Even if the inside of the volcano is in a temporary period, it is not safe, it is full of terrifying hot air currents and lava monsters, are you sure you can survive in it?"

Grim glanced indifferently around the hall of the inn, and with a few strokes in the air, a sorcery rune burning with elemental flames floated in the air. Of course, his actions also attracted everyone's attention, and the people at the six or seven wooden tables in the hall couldn't help but turn their heads to look here.

To be honest, ever since Grim stepped on the threshold of the Body of Fire, and then passed through the energy infusion of the underground lava, his body nearly 2 meters tall has been quite eye-catching. And his long dark red hair and the fierce momentum that is not contained in it condenses his unique momentum, which is particularly eye-catching.

"Well, so you're a fire apprentice!, then the underground environment will have a much less impact on you, as long as you avoid those pesky lava monsters, you might be able to go a little deeper!" the Ivan nodded, and took out a white stone and handed it to Grim.

This is his pass to enter the interior of the volcano in a few days!

"Let's go talk to them! The people in this hall are all foreign apprentices who have come here to do tasks, and if you can form a team, the task will be a little easier!" Ivan has been noticeably more enthusiastic since discovering that Grim is a fire apprentice.

After nodding in acknowledgment, Grim walked slowly down the hall, slowly scanning the many unfamiliar faces gathered around the table and whispering to each other, and finally chose to sit alone at the table.

On this trip to the underground, he was more interested in completing his body of fire, and he was not enthusiastic about the rewards of this mission, so he didn't have the heart to team up with others. Therefore, as soon as I came here, I put on an indifferent appearance that no one should approach, just to avoid unnecessary trouble.

The wizard apprentices are all sharp-minded people, and since Grim has put his posture so well, no one will come to harass him again. And Grim took this opportunity to slowly take a full view of everyone's situation and knew it by heart.

The hall of the small hotel is not large, and the light is extremely dim, and there are about 17 wizard apprentices seated, of which only 2 are quasi-witches, and the rest are the same high-level apprentices as Grim. This is actually in line with the characteristics of this task.

In order to collect resources in the underground volcano, you have to endure the extreme environmental influences on the one hand, and on the other hand, you have to deal with the elemental creatures such as lava monsters and fire spirits that inhabit them. So the senior apprentice is already the minimum threshold for this task!

Grim dared to conclude that the elemental affinity of these high-level apprentices must be the majority of the fire type, and the rest of those who were extremely confident in themselves even if they were not fire types. The reason why there are few quasi-witches is purely because tasks such as collecting resources are quite superficial.

If you are lucky, you may be able to hit the hot diamond mine that has been exposed after the lava has receded in the upper layers of the volcano, but if you are unlucky, there are many people who have found nothing during the three-month mission.

At that time, not only could I not get the task reward, but I was afraid that I would have to lose my share of the task.

So if there is no special need, the would-be witches are not willing to try their luck at the underground volcano.

After grasping the general situation of the mission apprentices, Grim hurriedly filled his stomach and plunged into his room and never went out again. He arrived early, five days before the volcano break, so during these days, he did not leave an inch, and even the three meals a day were brought directly into the house by the waiters.

In his free time, he was desperately studying the Flame Enchantment. He felt that this follow-up defensive sorcery was the most suitable for his body bathed in fire. If he could master it early, he would most likely form a protective flame similar to that of the Abyssal Fire Demon. At that time, whoever wanted to attack him would first have to bear uninterrupted fire damage, which was more in line with his insidious mentality of killing the enemy invisibly.

During this time, two or three apprentice wizards came to visit him and tried to draw him into his expedition, but Grim politely refused. Therefore, all the senior apprentices who wanted to go to the underground volcano adventure knew that there was this guy who planned to go underground alone.

Apprentices who can mix with advanced apprentices are not simple-minded. They all understand that those who dare to do this are hard hands who have great confidence in themselves, so no one has to say anything about it. But there are still a few people who are secretly waiting to see Grim's fun!

Soon, the days of waiting will come!

On this day, the rumbling sound that had been lingering in everyone's ears finally stopped.

The gray plume of smoke that ran through the sky in the distance began to become scattered, and the ash that had been spilled all day began to decrease and finally stopped.

Grim, who was reading silently in the room, sensed the changes in the outside world, pushed open the wooden window facing the street and looked at it, and immediately packed up everything around him and walked out of the room. There were many other apprentices who were as prepared as he was, and after nodding to each other in the hallway, they all gathered in the lobby of the inn.

Ivan, who was in charge of leading the team, was already waiting here.

After waiting for another quarter of an hour, and when all 20 mission apprentices had arrived, everyone rushed out and followed Ivan towards the foot of the volcano.

The journey of seven or eight miles was nothing at the feet of this group of wizard apprentices, and in less than a quarter of an hour, everyone came to a natural stone cave halfway up the volcanic cone. And the two quasi-witches of the Jubei family were already waiting here, and after checking everyone's passes, they were put into it.

The cave is not large, only more than 20 pings, and it is full of rocky peaks and limestone with interlaced canine teeth. It may be a lava tunnel leading into the depths of the volcano, where there is no moss or lichen in sight, and the sides of the rock wall are littered with thick cracks and deep gullies, from which a stream of hot air is constantly spewing out of it that can instantly burn people.

Perhaps the underground lava had just receded, and even the ground here was still hot, and the passage was filled with a pungent smell of sulfur. Without special means, ordinary people will only stay in such a foul air for half an hour, and the terrifying fire poison will invade the body, turning the tracheal alveoli into a blood-filled sac.

However, this environmental test is of course difficult to help the apprentices who dare to come here, and they are covered in colorful protective shields one after another, isolating them from outside interference. Instead of revealing his body of fire, Grim blessed himself with a high-temperature force field.

He looked around silently, and there were 8 apprentices who blessed the fire defense like himself, accounting for almost half of the 20 apprentices. The rest are either earth or wind, and there is not a single water system in sight. Presumably, those people who are friendly with the water system are not willing to come to this kind of environment to suffer.

Compared with other elemental lineages, the water system in this environment is not only extremely difficult to gather the water element, but also the power and effect of the witchcraft it stimulates will be reduced by 7%. As long as they don't have a problem with their brains, they will never come here to look for abuse!

At this point, everyone is basically taking care of their own things.

Several apprentices who formed a team got together, and the fire apprentices unified the elemental protection, and they burrowed into the passage without a word. The residual temperature in the passage has not yet dissipated, and once the narrow environment encounters an unpredictable large-scale eruption of hot air, even the life of the senior apprentice who falls into it is not a small danger.

So everyone said a word of cherishment to each other, and they scattered into different passages in twos and threes, and disappeared into the depths of the earth.

Grim noticed that the wizarding apprentices of the Jubell family did not enter the passage with the outsiders. It seems that they are more familiar with the terrain and have more convenient places to go, so they don't have to rely on luck like outsiders.

Grim shook his head and sighed, and hunched over into a lava tunnel.