66: Chapter 66 What is meant by "survival of the fittest"?

The Adventurers, organized by their groups, jumped into the stone gate one after another.

Everyone shared a tacit understanding, maintaining a certain distance according to the order in which they arrived at the gate.

Zhang Mu was somewhat puzzled by this.

Even if Adventurers would beat each other senseless for a magic book, hadn't they not even entered yet?

They hadn't even seen a shadow of the magic book, so there was no need to start fighting each other, right?

Frederica's answer was that it was to maintain a habit.

Vigilance is something that, once relaxed even slightly, creates inertia; it takes time to regain a state of alertness.

But enemies could appear at any moment, releasing magic or swinging spears and swords to attack.

The end result of negligence was very likely death.

Therefore, rather than wasting energy trying to regain alertness upon entering a dangerous environment, it was better to maintain such a sensitive mental state at all times.

Zhang Mu suddenly realized why, even inside the city where no one dared to use force, Adventurers remained extremely wary of strange Professionals.

While chatting in line, it was finally the turn of the man and the four elves. They jumped into the stone gate, walked down the stone stairs, and arrived at a cavern hall.

There was light, and though the source couldn't be found, it was enough to see the surroundings clearly.

The hall was circular with a semi-spherical ceiling. The floor was paved with moss-covered bluestone slabs, and the earthen walls were covered in thorny vines.

There were over a hundred archways forming a circle along the bottom of the cavern walls, spaced about five meters apart.

At this moment, the gates were sealed by fading blue magical light screens.

These archways had no markings indicating the value of the treasures within, nor was it certain if the spaces behind any two gates were connected.

Anything was possible.

So, the Adventurer Groups basically picked one based on intuition and stood beside it, waiting for the seal to lift.

After hearing Frederica's explanation, Zhang Mu finally understood why the Adventurer Groups were scrambling to be first.

The scale of each labyrinth varied greatly, and everyone was worried there might not be enough gates to go around, so they came in first to claim one.

If there really weren't enough, then they would let their abilities do the talking.

This underground labyrinth was quite large with many gates, so Zhang Mu and the others didn't need to fight for one; they just found a random spot and stood waiting.

Taking advantage of the gap, he looked around curiously.

The Adventurers' attire and member configurations were somewhat uncoordinated.

The magicians were fine; most were like Potter, wearing robes and holding a staff or a magic sword.

The Knights who practiced Breathing Techniques didn't all look like "Knights."

A small portion looked like conventional knights, wrapped in light or heavy full-body armor, some using spears, but most using longswords paired with round or square shields.

The rest of the Knight classes used all sorts of things: iron hammers, rapiers, maces, and wore half-body light armor, vine armor, and the like.

They didn't look like knights at all.

Furthermore, the vast majority of Adventurer Groups only had magicians and knights; not a single Priest skilled in healing magic was to be seen.

Among the dozens of Adventurer Groups in the hall, only three had Priests standing with them, wearing magic jewelry that emitted a faint milky white light.

According to the common knowledge from Avril's mini-lessons—magicians with the Light magic attribute who specialized in healing magic were called Priests. This was just a title and had nothing to do with the Divine Officials or positions within the Church.

Magic jewelry emitting a milky white light was compatible with the Light magic attribute, and only Divine Officials and Priests met the conditions to use them.

Since Avril wasn't around, Zhang Mu curiously asked Frederica if there were any magicians with the Light magic attribute who didn't study healing magic.

The answer he got was that there might be, but she had never heard of it, let alone witnessed it with her own eyes.

As for why Adventurer Groups with Priests were so rare here, it was because Priests, who could save a massive amount on potions, were highly sought after.

Generally, Priests followed powerful Adventurer Groups to the central regions of the Saul Continent, where labyrinths opened relatively frequently.

Frederica also told him that during her travels across the continent, she had seen many Adventurer Groups in prosperous empires that included demi-humans, dwarves, and other non-human races.

However, the Lake Kingdom rarely had such Adventurer Groups.

Zhang Mu guessed it was probably because the Lake Kingdom was located in a remote corner of the Saul Continent.

After chatting for a while, the blue light screens sealing the archways finally vanished completely. The Adventurer Groups set off one after another, each ducking into the archway in front of them.

Zhang Mu and the others didn't hesitate either, bending slightly to duck through the gate.

The cavern hall, which had been somewhat noisy just a moment ago, fell silent in an instant. A moment later, it was filled with the sound of messy footsteps.

Fritz was the first to enter from the entrance. He looked around and saw that all the archways were open and the Adventurer Groups had all disappeared, clearly having already set out.

Without saying anything, he led his clansmen to stand in the center.

About a minute later, the team from the Marvin Magic Family also slowly entered, standing casually toward the right side of the hall.

The Burg Magic Family was stronger than his, so he said nothing when the other party domineeringly occupied the central position.

"Mr. Fritz, it's been a long time since it was this lively. The last time a labyrinth opened in Bala City was sixty years ago, wasn't it?"

Fritz shifted his gaze to the front of the Marvin Magic Family's team, where a middle-aged man dressed as a knight stood.

He had short, curly golden hair, a warm smile, and an aura like a kind uncle from next door.

But Fritz wouldn't be fooled by this deceptive appearance. His tone was cold: "Dante, what wicked thoughts are you brewing again?"

"You misunderstand."

In terms of strength, you are enough to crush me. Why would I seek my own death?"

"It's just," Dante smiled, "I accidentally heard by the river just now that your beloved son went out of the city last night to handle a mission and hasn't returned."

"And by coincidence, I learned that a lone Magic Apprentice named Zhang Mu was attacked last night."

"I wonder..."

Hearing this, Fritz narrowed his eyes. "That lone Magic Apprentice is still alive?"

"Yes."

He teamed up with four elves and entered one of the gates."

Fritz knew very well what kind of character his son had.

Although he was a bit of a troublemaker, he knew a labyrinth was opening today. Unless he was tied up by trouble, he would definitely have rushed back in advance.

Now the target of the mission was alive and well, while the son who went to execute the mission was nowhere to be found. It was obvious what had happened.

His five fingers tightened around his staff. Fritz said expressionlessly, "You are kind enough to tell me this information. Why?"

He put heavy emphasis on the words "kind enough."

"The dignity of a Magic Family must not be violated. This is our common pursuit."

This cunning ghost, what exactly does he want to do...

After a moment of silence, he turned and asked the clansman beside him, "Are you sure he's a Magic Apprentice with no family?"

"Uh..." The clansman's expression was hesitant. The news he received was indeed that he was a Magic Apprentice, but he had heard the conversation just now.

If he still said Magic Apprentice, Fritz would probably blast him to death with a spell.

"Lord Patriarch, he is definitely a lone magician, it's just that the Professional rank might... might be mistaken."

Taking a deep breath, Fritz concentrated on thinking. His idiot son was a Trainee Knight...

He looked up: "Find two clansmen who are Apprentice Magicians and two who are Trainee Knights. Have them remove their family emblems and change their clothes. Launch a sneak attack after they come out."

"Be careful not to hurt the other four elves."

"As you command, Lord Patriarch."

If the other party was disguised as a lone magician, when he was about to die from the clansmen's sneak attack, he would inevitably reveal his family background.

If it was someone he couldn't afford to provoke, then he would kill the four clansmen to silence them under the guise of helping.

If the man still didn't reveal a family background even in a life-or-death crisis, then he could just die.

Dante, listening nearby, curled his lips in an imperceptible arc and praised, "Mr. Fritz's thinking is still as meticulous as ever, considering everything flawlessly."

Heh, does Haige think I'm an idiot?

A magician that even you, the Bishop of Bala City, don't dare to personally come forward to capture, and you're tricking me into going?

I hope the family behind that little guy is strong enough. It would be best if Fritz smashes his head against them.

...

Behind the archway was a tunnel. Vag walked at the very front, with Zhang Mu, Frederica, and Alice side-by-side in the middle of the team, and Saldari bringing up the rear.

"Why didn't those two magic families rush in first?" Zhang Mu struck up a conversation with Frederica, who was in the middle of the three.

"Has Zhang Mu never entered a labyrinth before?" Alice, on the far right, poked her head forward and looked over sideways.

"This is the first time."

"Then it's not surprising." Alice looked enlightened. "When exploring a labyrinth, even magic families cannot avoid casualties among their low-to-mid-level clansmen."

"Although patriarchs generally don't care about the lives of low-to-mid-level clansmen, since someone is delivering the treasures to their hands, there's no need to sacrifice their own."

"After all, there are two magic families in Bala City. They certainly won't get along harmoniously and need strength to guard against each other."

"Most importantly, they don't have to work hard to deal with magical beasts themselves."

Zhang Mu was stunned. "What do you mean?"

"A labyrinth has only one entrance and exit." Frederica had a smile on her face, but her words were chilling.

"Be careful!" Vag, at the front, whispered a warning.

Snapping back to his senses, Zhang Mu heard faint footsteps coming from behind the corner of the tunnel ahead.