I am the Arcane Archer, and all my skills are self-created.

With everything ready, Li Wu no longer hesitated.

He soon left Ironforge and headed towards Searing Gorge.

Searing Gorge, located southeast of Ironforge, is a red land shrouded in volcanic ash.

To get from Ironforge, you need to cross a plain.

The monsters on the plains are between level 25 and 27, which no longer pose a threat to Li Wu.

He traveled at a brisk pace, too lazy to even deal with the small monsters that attacked him.

After donning the Windrunner set, he moved incredibly fast; the monsters couldn't even touch the hem of his clothes and could only follow behind him, eating his dust.

About an hour later, the air temperature began to rise noticeably.

The ground also changed from soil to hard red rock.

The sky in the distance was an ominous dark red, the color of something scorched by flames.

Li Wu knew that he had reached the edge of the scorching canyon.

He slowed his pace and began to cautiously observe his surroundings.

At the entrance to the canyon, there are several huge rocks engraved with runes, warning outsiders of the dangers here.

A gust of hot wind carrying the smell of sulfur blew in from the depths of the canyon, making it difficult to breathe.

Li Wu took out a bottle of cooling potion from his backpack and drank it. A cool sensation instantly spread throughout his body, dispelling the heat.

He raised the arcane bow and cautiously stepped into the canyon.

As soon as he entered the canyon, he sensed that something was different here.

The temperature inside the canyon was at least ten degrees higher than outside.

The air was filled with fire elements, which made even this arcane archer, who mainly used fire skills, feel a sense of oppression.

The ground was covered with traces of dried lava, and some of the rock crevices were still steaming.

The monsters here are probably not easy to deal with.

Li Wu thought to himself.

He slowly walked deeper into the canyon along the only path.

He hadn't gone far when the first batch of monsters appeared in front of him.

Those were elemental creatures made of magma and flame, without a fixed shape, just a pool of flowing magma slowly wriggling on the ground.

This is a level 29 elemental creature, the Lava Slime.

Li Wu's eyes lit up; a fire elemental creature was exactly what he was looking for.

He didn't rush to take action, but instead observed the behavior patterns of these Lava Slimes.

They move very slowly, but seem to have a kind of long-range jet attack.

Li Wu found a favorable position and drew his bow behind a protruding rock.

This time he didn't use fire-based skills.

He knew very well that fire attacks were of little effect against these fire elemental creatures, and might even heal them.

He needs the energy to control them, lightning.

"Whoosh—"

A lightning bolt crackling with blue electricity shot out and struck a lava slime precisely.

-1950! (Weakness Critical Hit)

A huge damage number popped up above the slime's head.

The mass of magma let out a sharp hiss, its body trembled violently, and its size instantly shrank.

It worked!

Li Wu was secretly delighted.

Lightning energy has a natural restraining effect on these fire elemental creatures.

Without further hesitation, he began his performance.

[Chain Lightning Arrow].

A chain of lightning shot from his bowstring, bouncing back and forth between several Lava Slimes.

A crackling sound filled the air, accompanied by flashes of electricity and a burnt smell.

The Lava Slimes were completely helpless against the lightning energy, their bodies twitching from the shock and their health rapidly decreasing.

In less than ten seconds, Li Wu easily dealt with the five level 29 Lava Slimes.

Some solidified dark red rocks and a few copper coins were left on the ground.

Li Wu stepped forward and began collecting the spoils.

[System notification: You have obtained 3 lava fragments.]

[System notification: You have obtained 5 Burning Ashes.]

They are all ordinary materials.

Li Wu was a little disappointed; the [Heart of Flame] he had been most looking forward to did not appear.

It seems the drop rate is indeed not high.

He shook his head, but wasn't too discouraged.

It's normal that they don't appear since it's only the first wave of small monsters.

He continued walking deeper into the canyon.

The further you go, the higher the level and the more types of monsters you encounter.

In addition to the Lava Slime, various fire-attribute monsters such as the Flame Lizard and Hellhound also appeared.

But no matter what comes, it will only be electrocuted into charcoal in front of Li Wu's [Chain Lightning Arrow].

He manipulated lightning, unleashing a personal electrotherapy storm in the scorching canyon.

They swept through the enemy lines unchallenged.

About half an hour later, he finally killed over a hundred monsters.

Just as he finished clearing out a wave of [Hellhound] loot, a dazzling red light finally appeared among the dropped items.

It was a heart the size of a fist, radiating a red glow.

【Heart of Flame】.

"It's finally out!"

Upon seeing the [Heart of Flame], Li Wu finally relaxed.

He stepped forward and picked up the burning hot heart.

Although it was only the first one, it was a good start, proving that his plan was feasible.

He checked the time; it had been about an hour since he entered the canyon.

In one hour, more than a hundred monsters dropped one item.

The drop rate is indeed quite low!

Keep in mind that Li Wu's current luck stat is a whopping 200 points, and he gets one drop from every hundred monsters. For other people, it would probably take five hundred monsters to get one.

No wonder, each [Heart of Flame] costs 500 silver coins.

At this rate, he could earn several gold coins by playing for more than ten hours a day.

This is faster money-making than robbing a bank.

Li Wu's mood immediately improved, and he became even more motivated to grind monsters.

He continued deeper into the canyon, his goal becoming clearer.

That means finding the areas with the highest concentration of monsters and killing them most efficiently.

Soon, he discovered a vast lava lake at a bend in the canyon.

There are at least thirty or forty Lava Slimes and Flame Souls floating on the lake.

On a black volcanic rock platform in the center of the lava lake, a giant creature over ten meters tall is sleeping.

It was a giant made of magma and obsidian, its body covered with cracks from which scalding magma flowed.

Even in its slumber, the aura it emitted raised the temperature of the entire space by several degrees.

"The mission objective has been identified."

Li Wu's gaze immediately locked onto the enormous figure.

This was his other objective this time: to kill the monster required for the "Reignite the Furnace" quest.

He did not immediately rush forward to challenge them.

This big guy looks like he's not to be trifled with, and there are so many smaller monsters around him.

Once war breaks out, he will be besieged.

He needs to make a good plan first.

He surveyed the surrounding terrain.

The lava lake is surrounded by a narrow, circular stone path.

The stone path was only wide enough for one person to barely pass through.

This is an excellent terrain for trapping monsters.

He can use his ranged advantage to lure the monsters over one by one and deal with them one by one on this narrow stone path.

After clearing out all the smaller monsters, then go and fight that big guy alone.

Once the plan was finalized, Li Wu immediately began to act.

He walked to the entrance of the circular stone path, raised his bow, and fired a most ordinary energy arrow at the nearest Lava Slime.

The arrows didn't do much damage, only a few double digits, but that was enough to draw the slime's aggro.

Glug...

The Lava Slime let out a strange cry, then broke away from the main group and slowly crawled towards Li Wu.

"They've taken the bait."

Li Wu smiled.

He turned and ran, leading the slime onto the narrow stone path.

Then he stopped, turned around, and drew his bow.

Lightning Bolt!

……

Kill!

The whole process was smooth and seamless.

He began his long fishing journey using the same method.

One, two, three...

He lured out the monsters on the lava lake one by one, and then tore them to pieces with lightning energy on this path of death.

Although the process is somewhat tedious, it is very safe and efficient.

His experience bar was steadily increasing, and the number of Hearts of Flame in his backpack was also slowly growing.

An hour later.

Apart from the lava giant on the central platform, there are no other monsters to be seen on the entire lava lake.

And in Li Wu's backpack, there was another Heart of Flame.

Preparations are complete.

Li Wu glanced at his status; both his mana and health were full.

He looked at the large creature that was still asleep.

"Next, it's your turn."

He took a deep breath and summoned the Destroyer from the servant space.

"Owner."

The Destroyer's enormous body blocked most of the narrow stone path.

"Go, wake it up for me," Li Wu said, pointing to the lava giant in the distance.

"Yes, ma'am."

The Destroyer took heavy steps and stepped directly into the scalding lava lake.

The temperature of magma has no effect on this mechanical creation.

It walked step by step toward the central platform, each step splashing up large sprays of lava on the lake surface.

Soon, it climbed onto the platform and came to the lava giant.

Then, it raised its massive drill arm and, without hesitation, slammed it down into the lava giant's head!

boom!!!

A loud bang, sparks flying everywhere.

The sleeping Lava Giant was suddenly struck.

It suddenly opened its eyes, which were made of flames.

Roar! ! !

The Lava Giant let out a deafening roar.

The roar shook the entire canyon.

It angrily swung its massive rocky arm and slammed it down on the tiny creature that had disturbed its sleep!

Battle is imminent!