Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

Ian leaned against the rock and caught his breath; his chest was burning with pain.

The ground suddenly shook.

He suddenly opened his eyes.

It wasn't an illusion; the entire wasteland was trembling slightly, as if a giant beast was turning over underground.

In the distance, fine cracks began to appear in the distorted sky above the entrance to the underground palace.

"The space is unstable..." Ian's heart sank.

He collected all the anchor stones. With the destruction of the Soul Weaver civilization and the loss of anchoring power, this secret realm was about to be separated from the wizarding world.

We must leave immediately.

For Alyssa and Kevin's requests, he pulled out two lists from his dimensional ring.

"Never mind, it's too late."

The underground palace is like a leaky balloon, ready to explode at any moment.

Ian stood up. "Heh heh, sense it, which area has the most chaotic energy?"

The quack flew off his shoulder, wings outstretched, eyes closed.

A few seconds later, its little eyes suddenly opened.

"Down there, deep within the underground palace, the energy is surging wildly, like a boiling pot exploding!"

The voice just fell.

"Boom!"

A dull, loud noise came from deep underground.

The ground shook violently, and a crack the width of a palm appeared beneath Ian's feet, from which grayish-white dust fell in a flurry.

At the entrance to the underground palace in the distance, the distorted sky shattered with a "crack."

Behind it, a dark, swirling void of turbulent energy was revealed.

"run!"

Without further hesitation, Ian turned and rushed out of the wasteland.

But after running only a few dozen meters, a tidal wave of roars and thunderous footsteps came from behind.

Monster.

Thousands upon thousands, large and small, gushed forth from the entrance like a flood bursting its banks.

There were rock-armored scorpions the size of millstones, carrion dogs covered in pustules, and vengeful spirits floating in the air, trailing eerie green flames...

They rushed out like madmen, trampling and tearing at each other, splattering blood and bits of flesh everywhere.

"Get out of the way! Get out of my way!"

A skeletal demonic bear, over six meters tall and covered in bone spurs, swatted away several small demons blocking its path and charged toward Ian with red eyes.

Ian's eyes turned cold.

With a loose grasp of his right hand, a gravity-collapsed sphere the size of a marble instantly took shape.

"go."

The collapsing sphere flew out silently and struck the demon bear squarely in the chest.

"Buzz!"

A muffled sound of space distorting.

The demonic bear's momentum faltered, its chest caved inward, its bones cracking and shattering, its entire upper body being squeezed into a ball by an invisible, immense force.

It let out a mournful cry, and its massive body flew backward like a tattered sack, smashing over seven or eight monsters behind it.

Ian kept moving, tapping repeatedly with his left hand.

Three pale purple beams shot out in a fan shape.

Frost Ray!

"Pfft pfft pfft!"

The heads of the three rotting corpse dogs that pounced on them exploded simultaneously.

The left side froze into an ice lump, the right side burned into charcoal, and the one in the middle suffered the worst, as ice and fire clashed, and its entire upper body exploded into dust with a "bang".

The foul-smelling pieces of flesh smeared Ian's shield with blood.

The shield trembled, washing away the blood, which reeked of a foul stench.

"Left! There's a gap on the left!" Gaga screamed on his shoulder.

Ian turned his head and saw a dozen rock scorpions huddled together on his left, tearing at each other.

He pushed off with his feet, slid to the side, and squeezed through the gap.

He casually tossed out a gravity-collapsed ball.

"boom!"

The swarm exploded in the center, tearing four or five scorpions to shreds, their carapaces and internal organs flying everywhere.

Ian broke through the encirclement and glanced back.

The monsters surged out like a tide, and the sky above the entrance to the dungeon was shattered beyond recognition.

The black void turbulence stretched out like tentacles, crushing whatever it touched.

Several slow-moving monsters were caught in the entanglement and turned into dust before they could even scream.

"The secret realm is about to collapse..." Ian felt an even greater sense of urgency.

But just then, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

That timid alchemy tree is still in that laboratory.

Ian stopped abruptly in his tracks.

"Gah? What's wrong?" Gah almost slipped off his shoulder.

"Go back," Ian said through gritted teeth.

"Go back where? To the cave? Are you crazy?!" The quack's feathers bristled.

"That little tree." Ian took out the small jade box from his pocket and opened it.

Five silver fruits huddled together, fast asleep.

Lucy was still smacking her lips, as if she was dreaming of something delicious.

Ian gently poked it.

"Ugh...don't make a sound..." Lucy turned over and went back to sleep.

"Lucy," Ian whispered.

Lucy's little body trembled, and two leaves stood up with a "whoosh".

"Who? Who's calling me?" it groggily opened its eyes.

Upon seeing Ian, she paused for a moment, then burst into tears.

"You devil! Are you going to lock us up again? Vivian's new clothes aren't even dry yet!"

The other four fruits were also woken up and immediately burst into tears.

Ian suddenly felt a headache coming on.

"Don't cry, listen to me." He took a deep breath.

"Your mother, that little silver tree, is still inside, isn't she?"

The crying subsided a little.

Lucy sobbed, "Mom...Mom's back in our hometown..."

"Your hometown is going to collapse."

Ian pointed to the collapsing underground palace in the distance, "If we don't go now, your mother will be gone."

All five fruits froze at the same time.

"It...it collapsed?" Vivian's voice trembled.

"Mom..." Mili sobbed softly.

"Hungry..." Benben muttered inappropriately, and was kicked by Amy.

Lucy "looked" toward the underground palace. Although it had no eyes, Ian could sense that it was "looking".

A few seconds later, Lucy said softly, "I...I can feel Mom...she's scared..."

"Take me to it," Ian said. "I'll bring it out and reunite it with you."

"Really...really?" Lucy hesitated.

"We made a pinky promise." Ian held up his little finger.

Lucy's silver beard peeked out and gently touched his fingers.

"Then...then hurry up!" It said, its voice trembling with tears.

"Mom is easily frightened, she must be terrified right now..."

Ian closed the jade box and tucked it into his pocket.

"Gaga, let's go!"

"You're a madman!" Ga Ga cursed as he spread his wings, which instantly expanded to nearly twenty meters in length.

The man and the crow turned around and rushed against the tide of monsters towards the laboratory.

There were even more monsters along the way.

Ian no longer held back.

[Crystal Energy Barrier] Fully activated, seventy-two floating crystal guardians whistled out, like a swarm of glowing bees, weaving a dense shield and spear array in front of him.

【Frost Rays】Sprinkle them like they're free.

Wherever the pale purple beam of light passed, the monsters were either killed or maimed.

Occasionally, when encountering a cluster of people, a gravity-collapsed ball is thrown down, clearing a space with a "boom".

But there are too many monsters.

They can't kill them all, they simply can't kill them all.

Ian's chest heaved violently, and his mental energy plummeted like water from a burst dam.

He took out two vials of mental recovery potions from his dimensional ring, bit off the stoppers, and poured them into his mouth.

The cool medicine slid down my throat, barely suppressing the dizziness.

"Left! Three rock scorpions are pouncing!" Gaa screamed.

With a wave of his left hand, Ian sent three floating crystal guards flying out like bullets, "puff puff puff" and they pierced the scorpion's head.

At the same time, he lashed out a [scorching ray] with his right hand, striking a vengeful spirit that had stealthily approached from the right.

"Hiss!" The [Sunfire] effect caused the vengeful spirits to vanish instantly.

Finally, they rushed to the laboratory entrance.

The entrance had collapsed halfway, with rubble and twisted metal structures blocking the way, leaving only a gap less than two meters high.

It was pitch black inside, and a sickening "crackling" sound came from it, as if the entire underground palace was being torn apart by a tremendous force.

"Go in!" Ian ducked down and crawled inside.

Gaga followed closely behind, but the situation inside was even worse.

The passageway was twisted and deformed, the reliefs on the walls were all cracked, and fragments of those distorted human faces were scattered all over the ground, their eyes still blinking.

The ground arched and then collapsed, with dark red steam rising from the cracks, carrying the stench of sulfur.

"Which way?" Gaga asked.

Ian didn't speak, but took out the jade box from his pocket and opened it.

"Lucy, give me directions."

Lucy poked her "head" out, sensed it carefully, and then extended a silver beard, pointing to a half-collapsed fork in the road on the left.

"Over there... Mom's over there..."

Ian glanced at the road.

Stones were falling from the ceiling overhead with a creaking sound, and a half-meter-wide, bottomless crack appeared in the ground.

"Walk."

He pushed off with his feet and darted out like a raccoon.

Just as the rock was about to hit, he slid sideways into the side path.

The Gaga Shadow Shuttle activated, appearing directly in front of him.

The side road was even narrower, requiring one to almost turn sideways to pass through.

Cracks spread across the wall like a spider web, and dark green moss grew wildly, only to wither away quickly, in a never-ending cycle.

The air was filled with a strong smell of burning and...blood.

"There's something ahead," Gaga whispered.

Ian slowed his pace, his mental energy spreading out like a spider web.

Thirty meters away, around the corner, squatted three ghouls, their bodies emitting black smoke.

They were facing away from this side, gnawing on the corpse of a crimson wizard.

"Crunch, crunch..."

The sound of bones being chewed was exceptionally clear in the deathly silent passage.

Ian's eyes turned cold.

Extending his right index finger, three pale purple beams of light shot out silently.

"Pfft pfft pfft!"

The heads of the three ghouls exploded simultaneously.

The power of the ice and fire spiral caused their corpses to freeze halfway and charred black, lying motionless on the ground.

Ian walked quickly past without even glancing at the corpse.

Lucy's senses became clearer and clearer.

"Closer...very close...Mom is trembling..."

Ian quickened his pace.

The familiar laboratory door appeared ahead.

The door was deformed and stuck in the door frame, leaving only a crack.

Ian reached out, grabbed the door frame, and exerted force with both hands.

"Open it... for me!"

With a creak, he forcefully pried open the metal door.

The laboratory was a complete mess.

The lab bench collapsed, bottles and jars shattered on the floor, and various colored liquids mixed together, making a "sizzling" corrosive sound.

On the stone platform, the small silver tree was shriveled up, no bigger than a palm, its branches and leaves trembling.

The "Dark Soil Core" beneath it has dried and cracked, with cracks covering the surface of the silvery-gray mud.

The sapling sensed someone coming in and began to tremble even more violently.

"Mommy!" Lucy screamed from inside the jade box.

The sapling suddenly "raised its head".

Although it has no facial features, Ian can sense that it is "looking" at the jade box.

"Lucy... Vivian... the children..." A faint, trembling voice came through.

"It's me." Ian stepped forward and squatted down beside the stone platform.

"The underground palace is about to collapse. Come with me, and I will reunite you with your children."

The sapling hesitated.

It could sense that Ian meant no harm, but... should it leave?

It has been sleeping here for countless years; this is its "root".

"There's no time," Ian said urgently.

The entire laboratory was shaking violently.

With a "crack," a fissure appeared overhead, and rubble and dust fell down in a flurry.

A rock the size of a washbasin crashed down where Ian had just been standing, creating a crater in the ground.

The sapling trembled violently in fright.

Ian reached out and gently touched its branches.

"Trust me," he gently reassured the sapling.

"You don't want your children to be without a mother, right?"

Inside the jade box, the five fruits cried out in unison.

"Mommy! Come with us!" "There are delicious medicines outside!" "The Great Demon King may be fierce, but he doesn't lie!"

The sapling remained silent for a few seconds.

Then, it slowly stretched out its branches and touched Ian's fingers.

A clear, entrusted message came through.

"Take good care of...them..."

Ian nodded emphatically: "I will."

He reached out and carefully put the sapling together with the "Dark Soil Core".

The moment the "Dark Soil Core" left the stone platform, the last energy supply underground was cut off.

The light on the sapling began to dim, and the silvery glow faded.

Ian quickly took out a larger jade box from the ring, which was filled with soil containing life energy.

He planted the sapling, and the sapling stretched out its fine silvery tendrils, absorbing energy.

After Ian saw that the sapling was alright for the time being, he closed the box and put it away.

The entire laboratory began to collapse.

"Walk!"

Ian turned and rushed out of the lab.

The passageway had collapsed most of the way, and stones were falling from above like rain.

The quack honked ahead, its wind blades flying wildly, cleaving through the rocks blocking its path.

Ian followed behind, his Crystal Energy Barrier stretched to its maximum, causing the floating crystal guardians to spin wildly and deflect the falling rocks.

"Hey, where's the exit?" Ian roared.

"To the right! Follow me!"

It screamed and screamed as it frantically darted through the twisted and deformed passageway.

Behind them, the sound of collapse came like a tidal wave.

Wherever it passed, walls collapsed, the ground sank, and the entire underground palace looked as if it had been crushed by a giant hand.

A light appeared ahead.

It's an export!

Ian glanced back. Deep within the underground palace, darkness surged in like a tide, leaving nothing but emptiness in its wake.

He pushed off with his feet and shot like an arrow toward the last remaining gap in the exit.

"quack!"

"Here it comes!"

Gaga transformed into a black shadow, clinging tightly to his back.

A man and a crow squeezed out just before the gap closed.

"Bang!"

Behind them, the entrance to the underground palace completely collapsed.

A huge rock crashed down, sending dust billowing into the sky.