Wizard: This mushroom is too fierce.

Near the dwarf town of Aksima

Roland and his entourage disembarked from the train and came to the ground.

In the distance, a procession of expressionless Black Iron dwarves slowly emerged from the city gates.

"Welcome, great wizard, to the dwarven town of Aksisima. I am Claire Bronzebeard, the dwarven lord of this place."

A bulky, crowned Black Iron dwarf accompanied the group: "You've had a long and arduous journey. Would you like to rest for a while, esteemed wizards?"

"I have prepared delicious food and fine wine for you, and I have also specially selected the most beautiful dancers from the Dark Iron Dwarf tribe. They are eager to show you the unique passion of us dwarves."

"Forget everything!" Bourne's face showed disgust. "Take us to those dwarves who have gone mad immediately."

"Our time is precious, and we don't have time to waste on these meaningless things."

"Yes...yes..." the dwarf lord said with a forced smile.

Roland followed behind them, looking at the buildings of the dwarf town of Aksimar on his own.

Dwarves are naturally skilled at mining veins and crafting tools, and they have exceptional hands-on abilities. Their small towns are mainly made of stone with iron as a secondary material. Roland noticed that every household had a forging workshop of varying sizes outside their homes.

However, seemingly because of the need to welcome the wizard, none of the forging workshops along the entire street were firing.

Roland and his group soon arrived at the mine on the far left of the city.

"Wizards...most of the delirious Dark Iron dwarves are gathered here..."

The dwarf lord pointed fearfully at the group of unconscious dwarves lying on the ground and said, "Nobody dares to go near them... I won't go in either..."

After the dwarf lord finished speaking, he hurriedly left the place with his servants.

Byrne raised an eyebrow, looking at the flustered dwarf lord Claire with a cold laugh: "Ignorant and foolish Dark Iron dwarves!"

After speaking, he went inside on his own and began to investigate the condition of the mentally unstable dwarves and gather information around the entire mining area.

Roland followed them inside and began to examine the mentally unstable Dark Iron dwarves.

Roland crouched down in front of a dwarf, pulled open its eyelids with his hands, and then pulled off its clothes, discovering that the man's body had begun to gradually shrink.

"His eyes are vacant... There are no obvious signs of alchemical contamination on his body surface, but we cannot rule out internal contamination."

Roland frowned slightly, a syringe appeared in his palm, and he then stabbed the dwarf.

After drawing a large tube of blood, Roland used his magic to create a model for the 'Bloodline Purification Spell'.

In the blink of an eye, the blood inside the syringe began to separate, with one part turning into pure blood and the other part turning into crystals that floated on top of the blood.

Roland controlled the crystals to float out and land them in his hands.

After comparing the results, Roland said in a deep voice, "Strange... all the indicators in the blood are normal, and there is no evidence of any alchemical contamination."

"On the contrary, it's more like the body is still functioning, but the mind is in a state of disorder."

As Roland pondered, he suddenly heard Bourne shout: "The source of the problem...this is the source of the problem!"

A moment later, Byrne strode out of the alchemy workshop in the mining area, a look of delight on his face. He played the recorded image through the crystal ball: "That's the problem... When the dwarves were refining iron ore, they inadvertently added a magical ore that resembled iron ore but was actually called 'Bitter Lead Marrow'."

"I once heard my teacher say in an alchemy class that if this ore is smelted by mortals, it will cause hallucinations and affect their minds."

Roland looked at the ore in Bourne's hand and asked softly, "Senior Bourne, can these delirious dwarves be restored?"

"Of course!" Byrne smiled and said softly, "As long as they are kept away from here, they should be back to normal in about half a month."

At the same time, Mira, a witch skilled in shapeshifting magic, also came over. She shook her head and sighed, "It seems that Bourne's plan was correct."

“I didn’t find any trace of dark wizards around the mining area,” Mira continued, pointing to the Dark Iron dwarves on the ground. “I also didn’t see any trace of shapeshifting magic on them.”

"It looks like Bourne is going to take the lion's share of the reward this time!"

Mira's sigh pleased Byrne, and he put away his cold expression: "Alright... now that the problem has been found, let's explain the results to the lord and then return to the academy."

A moment later, upon hearing Byrne's explanation, the paleness on the dwarf lord Claire's face vanished instantly: "Thank you, great wizard, for saving our Dark Iron dwarves..."

After everything was over, the group quickly arrived at the city gate, ready to leave.

On the eve of their departure, Roland, walking last, asked, "Claire, how long have these people been in a state of mental instability?"

"Why wasn't this reported before!" Roland's question made the dwarf lord break out in a cold sweat.

Claire explained tremblingly, "It's been about twenty days..."

"Our first thought was that they were sick..."

"It wasn't until three days ago, when that wizard passed through this place, that we realized it might be due to magic."

"I understand..." Roland nodded, his expression unchanged, and continued curiously, "Claire, I'm a wizard who's quite curious about the customs of the Dark Iron Dwarves. Could you please have all the residents of the city come out?"

"I heard you have a special welcome and farewell ceremony?"

The dwarf lord shuddered, his face turning deathly pale. "My lord... it's like this, it's already very late, and with the martial law in place, I'm afraid we won't make it in time."

"Alright..." Roland sighed, then followed Anthony and his group into the carriage, which sped off into the distance.

......

"Junior Roland, what did you discover?"

Anthony's gaze was sharp, and his expression was somewhat serious. He had also noticed something amiss, but he hadn't yet figured out what the problem was.

Mira the witch and Byrne both turned to look at Roland with curious expressions. They had boarded the carriage first and hadn't noticed Roland questioning the dwarf lord alone.

"Senior Anthony, these Dark Iron dwarves are acting strangely!" Roland said gravely, explaining in a low voice, "I'm certain that Senior Byrne's thinking has been misled by someone with ulterior motives!"

"?" Bourne looked surprised. He hesitated for a moment, his coldness softening slightly, then stood up and gave a standard wizard's salute: "Junior Brother Roland, may I ask you to tell me about your discovery?"

This time, Byrne used the word "please" and showed Roland the utmost respect.

Mira the witch also opened her eyes wide and looked at Roland, her junior. If what he said was true, then they would be in big trouble when they got back. Their year-end evaluation would definitely be low, and their year-end bonus would be canceled.

"Junior Brother Roland...please tell me about your discovery. I will listen attentively." The witch Mira sat up straight, looking like she was listening intently.