In the dark underground, a small team of the "Gray Corner" mercenary group moved cautiously, and this was the fourth time they had entered the depths of the cave. Since receiving the first batch of beginner black spell materials from Landoria in Eleno City more than half a year ago, the exploration of the dark caverns has become much smoother.

The leader of the "Gray Corner" mercenary group, Owen, who made a bet with Powell, didn't expect that the young man he had met in the post town could bring so much help to the team.

Suddenly, a strange shadow flashed, and although he didn't see what it was, Owen's intuition of crisis over the years of his years as a mercenary warned him of impending danger.

"Be careful! Formation!" As Owen gave the warning, the well-trained mercenaries instantly increased their vigilance and formed a battle formation to protect the most important spellcaster in the team. The two spellcasters also drew their staffs behind them, condensing the elements and waiting for them, and it could be seen from their skillful movements that their combat power was far from comparable to those students who had no combat experience in the magic academy.

"Don't panic, it's just a shadow beast!The mage provides the lighting!Cook, Ellie, and Rune protect the mage, Vika, Ciel, and Jace prepare to attack!" Gray Horn has encountered countless shadow beasts in the exploration of the dark cave for most of the year, and it is not unheard of that more dangerous situations than this, and they have already had a set of coping methods that belong to them.

A fireball rose from Sigman's hand, floating in mid-air and condensing, the light of the fireball providing a vision of more than fifteen meters, and the shadow beast could no longer hide its form under the light, and pounced on the mercenaries who were waiting for him. The first to attack was Ciel, who was closest to the Shadow Beast, and she raised her shield forward, not only parrying its sharp claws, but also using her great strength to make the beast lose its balance under the shield strike. Vika and Jace, who followed closely behind, held their swords in both hands, and attacked the monster's flanks one left and one right.

The unbalanced Shadow Beast did not panic in the face of this nirvana, and twisted nimbly in mid-air, using Ciel's heavy shield as a pedal, and turned to pounce on Vika, who was killing with a sword on his left. Unexpectedly, Vika's attack was just a false move, leaving at least fifty percent of his strength unused, and at this time, he switched from slashing to parrying, creating an excellent attack opportunity for Jace on the other side. Ciel also put down the heavy shield in his hand, hid in his right hand behind the shield, and stabbed out with a one-handed long sword, instantly submerging into the body of the shadow beast. Jace's attack followed, slashing from top to bottom, nearly splitting the sturdy beast in two.

The heavy smell of blood spread, and in this cavern, where the air circulation was not smooth, this disgusting smell was really unpleasant. Hurriedly disposing of the corpse of the monster left on the ground, digging out the core located in the head, Owen led the team on. The attack of the Shadow Beast has been encountered too much in such a long time, and Owen has not taken it to heart.

The group continued along the rugged underground passage, and they had never gone so deep. After passing a corner, a huge pit appeared in front of it, the size of which was 100 meters in diameter. The top of the cave was full of crystals, and the black clusters shone with a faint light, allowing the group to see the inside of the cave. But at a glance, what appeared in front of them made everyone's scalps tingle, and the hairs on their bodies stood up.

"Regiment...... Captain, this ...... What is this?" asked Ciel, who was at the front, with his teeth chattering and slurring his words.

"Shh......h Pull back slowly, lightly, and don't draw their attention. Owen was also frightened, he had never seen so many shadow beasts gathered together, and at a glance, there were hundreds.

At that moment, the silence of the cave was broken by the sound of stones tumbling.

"Oh no! it's been discovered!Withdraw!" Unable to lower his voice any longer, Owen roared, "Mage, knock down this passage, don't care, even if you are buried alive, it is better than being eaten by these beasts!"

......

Seeing the sun again, Owen had a feeling of being in a different world, the experience in the cave was too terrifying, and as a veteran mercenary, he didn't want to think about it anymore. This exploration of the "gray corner" can be described as the elite exhausted, and at this time, those who are still around, counting the two spellcasters who have been protected, have less than seventy percent of the remaining combat power.

"Commander, I got this. Ciel said, carefully pulling out a black crystal fragment from his pocket.

"Toru, take this, go to Erenor City, and give it to Master Landolia. In Owen's eyes, there was a solemnity that could not be dissolved.

......

"It's been four years. Liu Li sat on the balcony of the villa, looked up at the two full moons in the sky that had become no longer unfamiliar, and couldn't help but sigh softly. I don't know if it's because of the relationship between becoming a spellcaster, or because the obsession in my heart is too strong, Liu Li still remembers life on Earth vividly. "I don't know when...... to go back. ”

"Homesick?" the squirrel sat next to Liu Li, leaning on him. In fact, she is also suffering from gains and losses in her heart, not because she is homesick like Liu Li - with Landolia, a noble senior, by her side, the squirrel does not feel too lonely - she is just thinking about where she should go if Liu Li really wants to go back to her hometown in the future.

Liu Li could feel the trembling of the soft body leaning on him, tightened his grip on the squirrel's arm, and said softly: "I won't leave you, even if you don't want to go back with me, I can come back to see you." ”

Liu Li lived a full year of life, learning new spells, adapting to new weapons, and learning the use of footwork from Kuhn. Now, although there is no change in the caster's level, he is still at the second level, but compared to a year ago, both the number of spells mastered and the proficiency in the use of spells are much stronger. In terms of martial arts, as the use of footwork becomes more and more proficient, the process of breaking through the second-order martial artist is a matter of course. Even if you don't use spells, you can also convert the three primary martial arts of shock, heavy and penetrating at will.

As for the academy's exams, counting the one that Liu Li took immediately after returning from the Elven Forest, Liu Li's results in the three exams so far have been quite good. After all, the way the academy exams are conducted is in the form of fighting against seniors or mentors, and the experienced Liu Li is far from being something that students in the ivory tower can compete with. Although those middle-level seniors have more or less received actual combat training, compared with Liu Li, who has experienced death several times, whether it is calm when dealing with unexpected situations, or those small tricks that can work wonders, they are more than a step behind. With such a big advantage, it is naturally not surprising that Liu Li passed the exam with a good score.

In this year, it was not Liu Li who improved the most in strength, but the squirrel who was leaning on him, and the outstanding effect of "talent concentrating" was vividly reflected in the learning of martial arts. Squirrels spend almost half of the year in the Elven Forest, and the long-lived elves have become accustomed to the frequent presence of a cute cat lady in their city. The happiest about this is naturally a group of goblins led by Aya, and the existence of squirrels means that these cute little guys will have endless nuts to enjoy in the next period of time.

Now the squirrel's strength in martial arts has reached the first-order intermediate level, and there is a faint tendency to break through the high-level. With the advantage of family roots, squirrels are able to track them in the lurk, even the rangers who are proficient in this way are ashamed of themselves. Now that the cultivation of martial arts has reached an advanced level, even the shortcomings of insufficient combat effectiveness are being made up for at a very fast speed. At least until this return to Eleno City, there was no one in the same tier of rangers who were a match for the Squirrel. Especially in the complex environment of the forest, this cute little cat lady can often kill with one blow by surprise. In many actual combat drills, the rangers of the same rank did not find out where the squirrels came from until they attacked.

Of course, it is not only the two of them who have improved their strength in a year, although Lin's strength has still not broken through to the middle level, but the difference is only an opportunity. Every time the squirrel returns to Alenor City, he can't put down his martial arts cultivation, after all, this thing is like a boat sailing against the current, if he doesn't advance, he will retreat; Liu Li has to be proficient in the new form of "Returning" and the footwork he just learned, and Lin has naturally become the best sparring partner of the two.

Just when Liu Li was basking in the moon and smoothing the squirrel's hair, a big mouth suddenly appeared and swallowed the two people who were immersed in the quiet night. Although in the academy, Liu Li has always maintained a state of mental communication with Landolia, but when Landolia wants to find Liu Li, she never tells him in advance, and every time a sudden black hole engulfs him. After many times, Liu Li got used to it, and even the squirrel leaning on him looked unfazed, so you can imagine how often this experience occurred.

"Yo, you two are making a lot of progress. Looking at the intimacy of the two little ones who suddenly appeared in front of her before she had time to react, Landolia couldn't help but laugh.

The squirrel blushed when he said this, but he had just teleported over, not to mention that most of the black holes that Landoria usually used to find Liu Li were added, and there was no way to get up for a while, so he could only bury his whole face in Liu Li's arms and not let Landoria see it. Liu Li now has the cultivation of a second-order mage, and is becoming more and more familiar with "flash" and "mang", and his resistance to those black arcs in the black hole is much higher than that of squirrels, at least he can barely move now. Looking at the squirrel's shy reaction in his arms, how could Liu Li let go of this opportunity, and stroked the squirrel's fluffy long tail, which usually doesn't have such a good opportunity. Although the squirrel is obsessed with Liu Li, it protects its tail well, and Liu Li usually can't find a chance to catch it.

"You give me a little bit too. Seeing Liu Li taking advantage of the fire to rob, Landolia was angry and funny.

And so the next state is ...... A small black hole hung on Liu Li's head, gnawing recklessly, Liu Li, who was paralyzed all over his body, couldn't make any effective resistance, his current state was the same as the Kuhn he saw for the first time in the underground cultivation ground, and there was saliva flowing down his face in the black hole, embarrassed. The squirrel, who had finally recovered his strength, sat next to Liu Li, gloating, just watching, with absolutely no intention of helping.

"Okay, don't make trouble, I'm looking for you two this time, I have a new task for you. ”