48: Marching into the Blazing Gracka

Jian Wuxie said in surprise, "Hey, this is rare—this old Goblin can speak the human tongue!"

The old Goblin looked utterly speechless and said in a muffled voice, "Hello, Adventurers. My name is Sherlock Goldring."

"I know you hate Goblins, and I do too." Sherlock wore a tattered hat, held a twisted branch as a cane, and had a long white beard on his chin.

"But you are a Goblin yourself, so why do you hate them?" Xiao Hongyuan asked.

"You ask me why? Because Goblins are all idiots! And I am the only Genius. Hehe." Sherlock raised his cane and spoke proudly.

Then he said dejectedly, "Alas, God is fair. He gave me the IQ of a Genius, but also gave me a frail body. In a Goblin tribe where brute force is valued as courage, I was discriminated against and oppressed by those idiots."

Xiao Hongyuan looked at the old Goblin with some sympathy and asked, "So you were driven out?"

"No, I found a way to escape. Later, I became a businessman and lived a happy life, but thinking back on those experiences still makes me burn with rage!" Sherlock spoke with increasing anger.

"Hehe, as I said just now, I am a merchant. Are you here to buy my goods?" Sherlock said with a smile.

A Fei quickly said, "Yes, we want to buy some recovery medicine."

"You have good taste, Adventurer." Sherlock praised A Fei happily and then brought out his goods.

He took out quite a few wild strawberries unique to the Gran Forest, along with Sesame Flower Leaves, and even a lot of Black Bread and rum.

"This Black Bread is also a recovery item!" Jian Wuxie picked up a piece of Black Bread, looked at it, and said in surprise.

Xiao Hongyuan picked up a bottle of rum. The faint pink liquid sloshed in the bottle, making her very fond of it. She said, "This wine can also recover Spiritual Power."

Quan Wudi said dismissively, "It doesn't matter. My Spiritual Power hasn't run out yet, but since it's alcohol, buying some to drink is fine too."

To their surprise, Sherlock laughed, "Hehe, believe me, you'd better buy some Magic Power recovery medicine. You'll soon realize how important it is."

Xiao Hongyuan and the others habitually called it Spiritual Power, while Sherlock called it Magic Power.

A Fei said with a smile, "Let's buy some of everything. We'll need it for leveling up. It's better to be safe than sorry."

Xiao Hongyuan nodded in agreement and turned to ask about the price.

"Hehe, wild strawberries are no longer suitable for you, so I recommend Black Bread and rum. They are 800 Gold Coins each."

"That's not expensive. Let's buy more then." Jian Wuxie nodded with satisfaction.

Each of them bought some. Quan Wudi couldn't wait to take out a bottle of rum, opened it, and tasted it.

"Hmm, the taste of this wine is a bit peculiar, but it's quite good." Quan Wudi laughed with satisfaction.

Just as the four were about to leave, Sherlock said, "Adventurers, if you can collect some Goblin Hand Bones, I'm willing to exchange some items with you."

"Huh? Those worthless bones? I thought they were useless and threw them all away." Jian Wuxie said regretfully.

"Alright, we'll keep them if we find more." Xiao Hongyuan promised.

The four bid farewell to Sherlock and prepared to challenge G.S.D's new quest—Flaming Grakka.

According to G.S.D, that was where the elder of the Magic Sisters, Flaming Phenoxiu, Cultivated the Forbidden Magic Book. The once lush forest had turned into a sea of fire, and she had become a Frantic Mage, attacking everyone indiscriminately.

The four took an Experience Secret Potion and entered the Dungeon Instance.

As soon as they entered, they felt a wave of scorching heat. Before them was a burning forest, bringing with it unbearable heat.

Quan Wudi wiped the sweat from his face and cursed, "Is there something wrong with those two sisters? One place is freezing to death, and another makes people go crazy from the heat."

Xiao Hongyuan said with a smile, "Alright, let's hurry up. It really is a bit too hot here." Her beautiful face was slightly flushed, and sweat could be seen trickling down her hairline. She raised her hand to wipe it away, her heroic brows furrowing.

The four moved forward along the path. As soon as they entered a room, several huge stone balls suddenly lined up and rolled toward them in an orderly fashion, threatening to crush them.

A Fei's reaction was extremely fast. He immediately used a backstep to pull away, raised his hand, and swung his sword in an Uppercut.

The huge stone ball was hit by the force of the Uppercut and rolled back quickly in the direction it came from. By then, Xiao Hongyuan had also reacted. Before being crushed by a stone ball, she jumped up and slashed at it in mid-air.

Quan Wudi said with a look of horror, "Holy crap, that scared the life out of me! Where did these stone balls come from?"

The stone ball that had been struck back gave him the answer. As it rolled back, several screams were heard.

Several Fire Goblins were crushed into meat paste by the stone ball, and two dazed Minotaurs were standing nearby.

"Good grief, these monsters have even learned to use traps. They're quite clever." While complaining, Jian Wuxie lunged forward with a Mountain Collapse Strike.

With the boost from the +12 weapon, the two Minotaurs didn't even resist before being beaten into white light by Jian Wuxie's slashes and dissipating.

Jian Wuxie held the Greatsword in front of him and marveled, "Incredible. Cutting these monsters feels like cutting through tofu—there's no resistance at all."

A Fei said, "It should be related to the Ignore Physical Defense Attack Power. The most powerful thing about reinforcing a weapon is that it can ignore a portion of the monster's defense."

Xiao Hongyuan didn't speak; she just looked at the Greatsword in Jian Wuxie's hand with envy.

Quan Wudi, though a rough man, could be observant. He happened to see Xiao Hongyuan's gaze and said softly, "No need to be envious. Once you complete your Class Advancement, you'll be able to use that light sword."

Xiao Hongyuan responded with a grateful look but did not speak.

With Jian Wuxie's +12 weapon, the four of them tore through the enemies like cutting through melons and vegetables, encountering almost no resistance along the way.

They only felt the surrounding air getting hotter and hotter, and scattered burning sparks began to appear in the sky.

"It seems that Phenoxiu is nearby. The temperature is rising." Jian Wuxie wiped the sweat from his forehead and said in a heavy voice.

The others nodded and didn't speak. The sweltering heat made them really not want to talk.

After surviving another ambush by Fire Goblins, the four finally saw a familiar scene.

A woman dressed in fiery red, holding a long staff, sat quietly on a rock covered in burn marks. She lowered her head and chanted something softly, looking very focused.