From Alchemy Apprentice to All-Powerful God King

The moon rises above the branches, amidst the dense forest.

Matthew strode through the valley and arrived at a messy cave surrounded by hauled-out waste materials and used magic crystal powder.

Just standing outside, you can feel the magic flowing in the air.

"If I had known there was such a good thing, I wouldn't have hurt myself."

Looking at the cave with powder floating in the air, Matthew rubbed his hands together to light a torch and walked straight inside.

Flames danced in the darkness, and shadows swayed back and forth within the cave.

Matthew followed the trail down into the mine, but all around him were stone walls that had already been mined, with only occasional remnants remaining.

After searching for a while, he finally arrived at the mining area Elena had mentioned, just before the torches burned out.

Most of the area had been ruthlessly mined by the knights with their greatswords, leaving only two or three dangerous areas the size of a bed untouched.

"I knew it wouldn't be that simple."

Matthew stared at the magic crystal mine in front of him, his brows furrowed, unsure of where to begin.

Several locations connect the upper and lower levels of the mine; if he makes a move, there is a high probability that the mine will collapse.

At that point, it won't be about how much money you make, but about whether you can get out safely.

Faced with this tricky task, Matthew could only try it little by little. Fortunately, he had a dung beetle, which allowed him to precisely control the force.

At the same time, take out the unused beetle and place it next to the stone pillar connecting to the upper level.

If it accidentally collapses, it can hold it up for a while, buying some time to evacuate.

After making all the preparations, Matthew approached the crystal mine, slowly extending his left hand into the crack in the stone wall, and then forcefully swung it.

The movements were fluid and swift, separating a small piece of magic crystal ore.

Feeling the rich magic in his hand, Matthew estimated that this palm-sized piece contained about a dozen or twenty magic crystals.

"The quantity is too small. Even if we collect them all, it might not be enough to refine a second-tier magical insect."

Matthew shook his head, put the magic crystal away, and continued mining.

He had asked Elena about it before he came.

In the Empire, one gold coin can only buy ten magic crystals of mediocre quality.

To refine a second-tier magical insect, at least a thousand gold coins' worth of magic crystals are needed, which is tens of thousands of crystals. Otherwise, alchemists simply do not have that much magic power to support it.

It's easy to give up halfway and ruin the demonic insect.

Unless you are a third-tier ability user and happen to be an alchemist, there is no pressure in refining second-tier magical insects.

Just as Matthew was pondering when he should refine the second-tier magical insects, dung beetles and burrowing beetles, a crisp cracking sound rang out from the bottom of the mine.

Looking at the nearly depleted mine in front of him, Matthew didn't dare to make any rash moves.

He is at least ten meters underground. If someone were buried in there, even a superhuman would need to drink a full pot of water to climb out.

"This can't be so unlucky..."

As Matthew watched the crack getting closer and closer to his feet, he just wanted to curse.

He had anticipated that the top of his head would collapse and the sides would collapse, but he never imagined that the ground beneath his feet would also crack.

He immediately stopped what he was doing and carefully backed away.

But the further he walked, the faster the cracks widened, as if they were watching him. Before he could even turn around and run, the entire mine collapsed with a roar.

Matthew fell along with the rocks. The howling cold wind extinguished the torches, plunging the surroundings into darkness. He could only use his magic to envelop his entire body.

At the same time, he took out armor from the Ring and quickly put it on to protect himself from attacks by beasts and demonic insects.

Several tens of seconds later, a splash was heard from below.

thump!

After a short wait, Matthew surfaced, his magic gathering in his eyes as he warily surveyed his surroundings.

"An underground river?"

The swift current made it impossible for Matthew to maintain his balance, and the explosive bug's power was greatly weakened in the water, so the small-scale explosion was not enough to get him ashore.

Adding to the weight of the knight's armor, even changing direction became extremely difficult.

Only when several huge rocks appeared in the river ahead did Matthew seize the opportunity to use the strength of the dung beetles, insert his five fingers into the rocks, and climb up in one go.

Matthew, lying on the boulder, was panting heavily, having survived the ordeal.

"Well!"

However, the next moment, the beetle slammed into his stomach.

With a weight comparable to that of an adult, coupled with a precise dive, it almost smashed a hole in the armor.

After a while, Matthew stood up again, using magic to dry the moisture on his body.

They carefully examined the underground river hidden beneath the mineral vein.

"No one in Val has ever mentioned that there is a river underground."

Matthew leaped to the banks of the river on either side and took out torches he had prepared in advance from the Ring.

As sparks flashed, the flames instantly illuminated the surroundings.

A dark river, more than ten meters wide, runs underground with no end in sight. Matthew looked up at the hole he had fallen into, which was nearly a hundred meters long. There was no way to climb back up, so he could only follow the river downstream.

Although it's called the riverbank, the river water is actually knee-deep.

To avoid the impact, Matthew could only concentrate his excess magic on his legs to maintain stability and prevent himself from being affected by the water flow.

In the darkness, time slowly passed.

Aside from the sounds of the river crashing against the rock face, causing pebbles to fall into the water, the only other sound was Matthew wading through the water.

I don't know how long we walked, but suddenly a voice came from ahead.

Matthew followed the sound and hurried forward, thinking it was the exit, only to find that it was just another hole.

"Could it be that other knights dug through here?"

However, looking at the marks around the cave entrance, it doesn't seem to be man-made; it's more like it was dug by some kind of beast with its bare hands, and there's also a very strong smell of wild animal excrement.

For a moment, Matthew hesitated.

"Continuing on might not lead to an exit, so we might as well go in and take a look."

After thinking for a moment, Matthew decided to enter the cave. After all, the strong smell of feces meant there must be something alive inside, and the exit must be there.

But the further they went in, the more serious Matthew's expression became.

The underground river water gradually receded, but it revealed more rotting corpses, all of them strange beasts, and even fragments of demonic insects.

Similarly, Matthew also felt a strong magical energy, even stronger than the area where magic crystals were mined!

He was completely dumbfounded when he passed through the hole covered with a lot of dead leaves and vines.

The flames illuminated the deep cave, and a purple light burst forth, lighting up the entire cavern.

Looking at the dense magical energy on the ground, which had formed into gas, and the piles of magic crystals around him, Matthew had only one thought in his mind at that moment.

"This time... we've really struck it rich!"

After a quick observation, there were more than a thousand already mined magic crystals around him alone.

It's more than enough even for refining second-tier magical insects!

However, Matthew was not blinded by the sudden joy. There were quite a few corpses on the way in, so he didn't believe that this was unclaimed land.

Sure enough, right after he drew his greatsword, a dark figure suddenly fell to the ground from the pile of magic crystals at the very front.

The magical smoke surged instantly, engulfing the entire cave.

Matthew unleashed his full magical power, donned armor, and wielded a greatsword, ready for battle!