……

In the early hours of the next morning.

At 3:50 a.m., Matthew opened his eyes punctually, and after a hurried wash, he went to the kitchen to grab a loaf of bread, and left the house to the sound of birdsong in the morning light.

He didn't leave the mage zone as usual.

Instead, head towards the center of the mage district off the beaten track.

The early spring morning light is still cold.

Matthew walked past a manicured bush, drops of dew swirling down the leaves, and a few drops were still spilling on his shoes.

A few minutes later.

He had gobbled up the bread and stood in front of a two-story bungalow in the middle of the mage quarter.

"Knock knock!"

Suddenly there was such a bell in the bungalow.

This means that the time has come to four o'clock sharp.

Matthew stepped forward quickly.

He slammed the door with his right hand, and it was not until a pompous and strange face appeared on the door that he gave the order:

"The plan of the day is in the morning."

The strange face quickly cracked, revealing a dark, arched entrance.

"Good morning, Matthew, and welcome to the Crucible House."

"I'm waiting for you on the top floor, remember to press the elevator's accelerator button a few more times, and you will experience extraordinary pleasure."

A mechanical voice came from within.

Matthew walked in with his head bowed.

In front of him was an extremely large space.

The floor is paved with a strange material like mercury, the vaulted celestial vault lined with the rituals of the stars, six marble columns rise to the sky, and a sculpture-like structure on either side waits for you.

This is the Crucible House.

It is part of a certain mage tower that Archmage Ronan has opened to the public.

Here you can buy magic items and materials, borrow magic books, rent spell labs, craft magic equipment, post party requirements, and more.

It's a bit like the adventurer's guild in many online games, except that the Crucible House is limited to mages.

And its entry time is very harsh, only fifteen minutes from four o'clock in the morning to a quarter past four o'clock, and if you miss it, you can only come back the next day.

There are at least four places south of the Yongge Forest where the entrances to the Crucible House exist.

But Matthew didn't bump into anyone every time he came here.

He speculated that it might be because spellcasters in this world were still too scarce at the moment, and because the Cauldron House charged an entrance fee.

30 gold coins at a time is not too expensive, but the size is also an expense.

Take Matthew, for example.

If he hadn't asked for a book, he wouldn't have come to the Crucible House on his own.

What can I say about the things and services here - good value for money.

The materials and props provided by Archmage Ronan were much better than those outside.

But if Matthew has a choice.

He was still willing to travel hundreds of kilometers more to White Rock City to find a familiar merchant to buy.

No way.

This is the kind of place where people who are not rich in money will make people unconsciously bend down even when they enter the door.

……

Matthew walked to the nearest marble pillar - this is actually a magic elevator hidden in the pillar, you can go to the floor you want according to your needs, different floors have different structures to serve you, of course, you can also choose manual reception, but you have to add money.

As Matthew approached, he was surprised to find a woman with black-rimmed glasses and a traditional robe waiting nervously.

"Ding!"

The pillars rotated to the sides, and the car of the magic elevator appeared in front of the two of them.

"Ah, why don't you go first!"

The female mage said to Matthew somewhat unnaturally.

She seemed to look particularly cramped.

Matthew looked at her a few times, shook his head and said:

"No, it's better for you first, I'll wait for the next shift."

The female mage was a little surprised.

But after seeing Matthew's determined expression.

She nodded hurriedly and whispered two words of thanks.

Then trotted all the way into the car.

"By the way, if there's a sound that tells you to press the accelerator button, remember to say no to it!"

When the elevator doors are about to close.

Matthew smiled again and gave his advice.

In the crevices.

The female mage tilted her head in confusion.

The elevator went up in an instant.

Matthew waited patiently for a few minutes.

A brand new car unfolded in front of him.

He calmly walked in.

As a relationship with Ronan who has talked and laughed many times.

His privilege in the Crucible House was his solitary service at 177 Taling.

This greatly facilitates him to find what he is looking for in the vast ocean of knowledge.

There is no need to pay labor costs.

Matthew is very grateful for that.

The elevator doors closed slowly.

He could feel himself slowly ascending at a slow, comfortable pace.

A few seconds passed.

A stiff voice sounded in his ears:

"Sir, at the current rate, you will need 29 hours and 7 minutes to reach your desired floor, so, do you need to expedite the service? I am your sweet companion, 247 Taling. ”

Matthew immediately refused:

"No, I don't need to, don't play this trick, 177, it's not fun to play the same old tune."

A few seconds later.

And the voice said:

"Taling No. 177 has been replaced by my murder, and now the Crucible House is my No. 369 world, boy, if you don't want to fall halfway, you better be honest and press the acceleration button next to it, it will make people happy."

Matthew laughed:

"It does make you happy, but I'm sorry, I've already vomited once, and after that time I swear I'll never fool you again."

The voice sneered:

"Oil and salt don't go in? Okay, Matthew, you're going to have a long job, you don't think that you really need to order it personally, right, I'm the greatest tower spirit ever, who am I? The King of the Crucible House! If you don't know what to do, I'll help you speed it up myself! ”

Matthew grabbed the elevator handrail: "I'm ready." ”

Taling's voice suddenly became evil and ghostly.

"Are you really ready?"

"Hey, hey, Matthew, I'm going to speed up......"

Matthew closed his eyes and tightened the armrest.

"Don't be afraid, I'll be gentle, Matthew, I'm really going to speed up."

Taling is still intimidating.

Matthew's eyes suddenly opened.

"Scared at last, Matthew?" Taling was triumphant.

Matthew let go and looked at the elevator door:

"The top floor, here."

The door opened.

Matthew stepped in.

The top floor of the crucible house is a large open space.

Overhead, there is a starry sky.

in the open space.

A construct over 3 meters tall, made of clay and wearing an exaggeratedly sized suit, was walking towards Matthew.

It didn't seem to be annoyed by the failure of the prank.

Instead, he greeted Matthew in a humble tone:

"Good morning Matthew, welcome to the Crucible House, where your humblest servant, Taling 177, is at your service."

However, Matthew didn't dare to pretend in front of him.

You know, this villainous, spouse-hungry, and lonely construct in front of you has 23 class levels!

It is said to be the only legendary construct in the known city-state realm of the Human Kingdom.

Matthew's strongest bone dragon was not enough for him to punch in front of him.

"Dear Mr. 177."

Matthew gets straight to the point:

"I want to find and borrow books in both directions."

"Keywords."

The 177 that entered the working state was concise and to the point.

"The first keyword is psionic energy, and I want to find books and materials related to "charging psionic items."

Matthew said quickly:

"The second keyword is Su Guo, and the secondary keywords may be "Emperor", "Great Wall", "Jade Phoenix" and the like."

177 listened, and then 'pondered' for 3 seconds.

Then he replied:

"Books on pure psionic research are scarce, but there are a few related to the charging of psionic items. If you can make the question clearer, I may be able to answer it directly, so you can avoid a loan fee. ”

Matthew looked at him suspiciously:

"Will this be an additional consulting fee?"

He can't be careless, in the crucible house, borrowing books is much cheaper than consulting!

"You're overthinking, Matthew."

177 said calmly:

"Originally, there would have been a consultation fee, but now it has been offset by the problems caused by the second keyword."

"I'm sorry to inform you that the information related to the "Su Kingdom" belongs to the eleventh level of secrecy, and only the four guardians and the other three Tongtian mages in the entire Seven Saints Alliance are qualified to know, if you really want to know about this content, the advice here is to kill Ronan, that bad old man, and replace him as the guardian of the south, so that you can do whatever you want."

Matthew wasn't particularly surprised by this.

There must be a reason why the Soviet State is so little known on this continent.

The Seven Saints Alliance's deliberate blockade of this news must also have their considerations.

With his current strength, there is really no need to rush to collect information in this regard.

So he sighed:

"So you canceled my counseling fee out of sympathy?"

177 Positive Color Channel:

"No, I'm doing it out of indignation.

Who am I? The greatest Taling of all time!

The King of the Crucible House!

I worked tirelessly for Ronan, but when I went to check the information about the "Soviet State", I was denied access!

The old men of the Seven Saints Alliance dared to refuse the Crucible House's-well, that sub-keyword you mentioned earlier was very good, and now it's mine-the Emperor of the Crucible House!?

Of course I want to take revenge on him.

Not only is the consultation fee free, you can go down with me for a while, take whatever you like, don't worry, everything has my support for you, the best result is that Ronan dies in the astral boundary, and I, Taling 177, become the guardian of the south and enjoy the beauty of the world! ”

Matthew immediately fell silent after listening to 177's rhetoric.

"How did Archmage Ronan train Taling? 177 is covered in anti-bone ......"

He muttered to himself, then hurriedly changed the subject and explained the origin of the coughing staff.

177 said decisively:

"This is simple, the grade of this kind of psionic item is not high, and the charging method is similar, the first way is to find a psychic existence to act as your human flesh energy, go to the abyss for a few laps, some demons have psionic energy, they may not use psionic energy, but the charge is more than enough.

Here I recommend succubi, at least 1/3 of the succubi have a source of psionic energy in their bodies, but they almost don't use it, and they know to be blue all day long, considering that their physique is strong and durable, and it is very operable, and it is also a cost-effective choice. ”

Matthew rubbed his temples:

"What about the second one?"

177: "Holding the staff, imagining that you are coughing." ”

Matthew was stunned:

"It's that simple."

177 nodded:

"Of course it's simple, it's very inefficient, and you need to be mentally prepared."

Matthew silently wrote down the two ways, bowed and thanked Taling again, and then offered his farewell.

"Are you leaving?"

177's tone was a little more vivid:

"You know, Matthew, I'm lonely."

Hearing this, Matthew shuddered.

"Aren't there a lot of structures in the crucible house? Are they all difficult to get into your eyes? ”

He asked politely.

"Don't mention those vulgar fans, Ronan couldn't even understand the advanced wisdom technique later, and the constructed body he made was rubbish, I really doubt how he tossed me out in the first place, maybe he lied, I wasn't his own at all!"

177 unpleasant road:

"I've made it clear to him many times what I need, but what about him? One time I asked my spouse to be at least big enough, and he caught a dinosaur in a perfunctory way! ”

Matthew was taken aback:

"Fear? Dragon? Is this some kind of term to describe an ugly appearance? ”

177 glanced at him, shook his head, and said:

"No, literally—it's a fucking Tyrannosaurus rex, and who knows how much he lacked virtue in the first place in the project to revive the creatures of ancient mythology!"

Matthew was silent.

"But that Tyrannosaurus rex is pretty strong."

Taling added.

"And then?"

Matthew had to fight his spirits to cooperate with his confiding.

"Later? I finally got along with Xiaohua - Xiaohua is the name I gave her, she is not very intelligent, she has a short temper, and she complements me perfectly - I have a certain relationship with her, and life is no longer so dull, but that damn Ronan turned his head and took Xiaohua away, and he also said that the project was stopped by the others of the Seven Saints Alliance, and even he had to return the experiment. ”

177 said bitterly:

"To compensate me, he went and grabbed another cyclops for me, and the monster was almost 17/23 in my level, and the good news is that I was also interested in this new love at first."

Matthew nodded.

"I guess there must be bad news."

177 sighed and said:

"When I couldn't find the entrance for three days and three nights, I realized that Ronan, who had been stabbed a thousand times, was so careless that he mistook the gender of the cyclops!"

Matthew was stunned.

……

When I left the crucible house, it was already high in the sky.

Matthew came exhausted into the oak grove.

Take a nap in the hut.

He began his workflow today.

But when he carried his shovel to the northern part of the oak grove.

He suddenly realized that something was wrong!

The ground ahead was visibly erased.

If it weren't for the blessing of the oak realm.

Matthew probably didn't even notice it.

"Soldier."

He silently woke up the Knife Dancer, who had been waiting in the hut until now.

He just wanted to use the field to communicate with the oak forest.

Right now.

Several oak goblins flew out.

They poured out word by word.

"An ugly, fierce, big guy came to the woods last night?"

"He has kept you at bay from an evil blighter? Well, you waited for the Blight to be gone? ”

"The big guy didn't go far, he just hid?"

Matthew's expression changed one after another.

Finally, it becomes a little gloomy.

He probably knew who the big guy was in the goblins' mouths.

But he cared more about the withered one.

This is a druid's fallen profession.

They gain power by destroying the woods.

The woods targeted by the Blighted.

Usually it is reduced to a scorched earth.

"I see, don't worry, I'm not going anywhere until I finish off the blighter."

Matthew clenched his shovel tightly as he spoke.

A moment later.

He continued to walk in the direction of work.

No matter what happens.

Planting trees is still the first priority!

……

Night.

The moonlight is translucent.

When the first rays of moonlight shine on the earth.

The badge of the believer on Matthew's chest reacted.

……

"As a result of your performance in killing the three-headed mad guard, you have become an official member of the Moonlight Society!

……

You've got a spell: Moonfire."

……